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Dear
e-link
Subscriber,
Linda, Jim, and I would like to thank each of you for all
you've done to build a culture of life and dignity in 2009.
We hope that your Christmas celebration is filled with joy and
that the New Year brings blessings of a deeper faith and a more
profound commitment to serve Our Lord in those whose lives are
in jeopardy and those who live on the margins of society. May
"Caritas in Veritate" be ever more fully in our hearts and
minds as we all seek to build the Kingdom of God in our region!
Health Care Reform Alert:
Please remember to stay involved in the ever-changing sea of
health care legislative reform at the federal level. Sign up
(see just above) and become a member of the Catholic
Legislative Network. It won't take but a minute or two
to sign up and only a few minutes per week to add your voice to
thousands of Catholics throughout California and the country who
are participating in this important debate.
As always, we remind current members and inform new members that
past e-link bulletins and this current bulletin can be viewed at
www.osmelink.org.
Have a blessed
last few hours of Advent!
     
Thursday, December 24, 2009 e-link Bulletin #82
Table of Contents
Remarks from Pope Benedict XVI
- an address given on Gaudete Sunday
Key Upcoming Culture-of-Life
Gatherings/Projects (please join us)
1. The Restorative Justice Program of the
OSM has initiated support groups
for 1) crime victims and their families and friends, and
2) family members
of those who are incarcerated - please call for
information
2. Two local January Respect-life Events in 2010
- Mass for the Protection
of Human Life on the vigil of the
Anniversary of Roe v. Wade with Bishop
Brom on Thursday, January 21, 7:00 p.m.
at Our Lady of the Rosary and
A Public Prayer Rally on the Anniversary of Roe
v. Wade, on Friday,
January 22, 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at
the corner of Grape St. and Pacific
Highway, Downtown San Diego - Please join us for
these two important
events
3. Join with more than three hundred thousand
Christians of various
denominations to sign The Manhattan Declaration
- a statement
on moral truths that are foundational to human dignity
and the
well-being of society: respect for human life,
traditional marriage, and
religious liberty
Short Reports on Office for Social
Ministry Related Issues/Events
1. An Unlikely Friendship Humanizes Death-Row Inmate
- Southern Cross
article on OSM Director's visit to inmate on San
Quentin's Death Row
2. Southern Cross article on Bishop Brom's visit to 40
Days for Life Prayer
vigil in San Marcos, CA
3. Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice works
on behalf of low-wage
workers and their families in San Diego and
Imperial Counties - attend the
ICWJ monthly meeting at Christ the King Parish to see
how it all works
4. St. Martin of Tours students participate in
Reverse Trick or Treating and
share the good news of Fair Trade
Web and e-mail-based Resources
- Visit the California Catholic
Conference web site to learn more about
how we, as Catholics residing in California, can
influence public policy
that more fully reflects Catholic Moral and Social
Teaching
Local and Regional
Events/Gatherings/Projects
1. Attend the San Diego Friends of Fair Trade
monthly meeting on Wednesday,
January 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the Open Door Book Store in
Pacific Beach
2. "Get Acquainted with Detention Ministry"
monthly information/training
session offered by Deacon Walsh at the Pastoral Center
- Call for the
January training session date and time
3. North County prayer witness at the
Carlsbad Planned Parenthood Clinic
scheduled for every third Monday of the month from
10:00 a.m. to
10:30 a.m.
4. Prayerful witness for life at two locations in
San Diego County - every
Saturday and Wednesday at 7340 Miramar Road, just east
of the Pyramid
Building, adjacent to Carroll Road, and the second
Saturday of every
month at 15546 Pomerado Road in Poway
5. St. Dismas Guild sponsors two weekly hours of
prayer for the unborn
in front of the North County Women's Medical Clinic on
Craven Way
6. St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Carlsbad
also supports the St. Dismas
Guild prayer ministry in front of the North County
Women's Medical
Clinic on Craven Way
7. St. John the Evangelist Parish in Encinitas
Pro-Life Mass and Rosary held
on the first Monday of each month
8. Prayer Vigil at Planned Parenthood -
First and Grape Street, San Diego –
Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
9. Most Precious Blood Parish in Chula Vista
Rosary Prayer Vigils held every
Wednesday at 8:45 a.m.
10. Prayer partners are needed at 1079 Third Ave.,
suite 3, in Chula
Vista - abortions are performed at this facility - Meet
each Wednesday
from 8:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
11. Join neighbors and friends to pray in front of
the new Planned
Parenthood facility in El Cajon on Fridays
and Saturdays
12. The Goretti Group is offering a chastity prayer
gathering and a speaker
training monthly along with a Mass to celebrate
chastity
Article/Statement for December 24, 2009
- Sermon given by Deacon Jim Walsh on
"Christ the King" Sunday
Remarks from Pope Benedict XVI
VATICAN
CITY, DEC. 13, 2009 - Address given by Benedict XVI to pilgrims
gathered in St. Peter's Square on "Gaudete Sunday," the Third
Sunday of Advent
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
We have now arrived at the third week of Advent. In the
liturgy today there echoes the invitation of the Apostle Paul:
"Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice ... the Lord is
near!" (Philippians 4:4-5). Mother Church, while she accompanies
us
 toward
the holy season of Christmas, helps us to rediscover the sense
and the taste of Christian joy, so different from the world's
joy.
It is a beautiful tradition that on this Sunday the children
of Rome come to have the Pope bless little statues of Baby
Jesus, which they will place in their crèches. And, indeed, I
see many children and young people, together with their parents,
teachers and catechists here in St. Peter's Square. Dear
friends, I greet all of you with great affection and I thank all
of you for having come. It is a cause of joy for me to know that
in your families you continue the custom of making the crèche.
But it is not enough to repeat a traditional gesture, however
important. It is necessary to try to live every day what the
crèche represents, that is, Christ's love, his humility, his
poverty. That is what St. Francis did at Greccio: He represented
the scene of the Nativity to try to contemplate and adore it,
but above all to know better how to put into practice the
message of the Son of God, who left everything behind and became
a little child out of love for us.
The blessing of the "babies" -- as one says in Rome --
reminds us that the crèche is a school of life, where we can
learn the secret of true joy. This does not consist in having a
lot of things, but in feeling loved by the Lord, in making
oneself a gift for others, in loving. We look at the crèche: The
Madonna and St. Joseph do not seem to be a very fortunate
family; they had their first child in the midst of great
hardships; and yet they are full of deep joy, because they love
each other, they help each other and above all they are certain
that God is at work in their history, God who made himself
present in the little Jesus. And the shepherds? What reason
would they have to rejoice? That newborn certainly would not
change the facts of poverty and marginalization in their lives.
But faith helps them to recognize in the "child wrapped in
swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" the "sign" of the
accomplishment of God's promises for all men, "whom he loves"
(Luke 2:12, 14), even them!
Behold, dear friends, what true joy consists in: It is
feeling that our personal and communal existence is visited and
filled by a great mystery, the mystery of God's love. To be
joyful we do not just have need of things, but love and truth:
We need a God who is near, who warms our heart, and responds to
our profound desires. This God is manifested in Jesus, born of
the Virgin Mary. This is why that Baby, whom we place in the
stable or the cave, is the center of everything, the heart of
the world. Let us pray that every person, like the Virgin Mary,
may welcome into the center of their lives the God who became a
Child, font of true joy.
Upon you and your families I invoke joy and peace in Jesus our
Saviour.
A girl holds a figurine of baby Jesus as Pope Benedict
XVI leads the Angelus prayer from the window of his apartment
overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Dec. 13. The
square was packed with children and families who brought their
Nativity figurines to be blessed by the pope. (CNS/Paul Haring)
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Key
Upcoming Culture-of-Life
Gatherings/Projects
Number 1:
The Restorative Justice
Program of the OSM has initiated support groups for crime victims
and their families and family members of those who are
incarcerated
1) Support for Crime Victims or
Family Members of Crime Victims
2) Support for Friends and Family
of Incarcerated Persons
If you are in need of spiritual support and
would like give or receive support from other people like you in
similar circumstances, two separate support ministries are being
established. Please contact us for information on locations and
times.
Fr. Bruce Orsborn, Pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in San
Diego, prays with an inmate in the Segregation Unit at R. J. Donovan
State Prison
Following are comments from those who have attended support
groups:
“I enjoy the meetings and sharing the same experience with others.”
“Want to thank you all for entering into my life. I’m grateful for
your friendships and what we share together.”
“I just want to let you know I am thankful to you for the kindness
and help you have offered. I’m thankful that a Catholic group
reached out to a non-Catholic and offered help! It absolutely
refreshes my faith in humanity and makes me grateful to God.”
“I want to thank you for facilitating the group meeting last week.
It was SO helpful to me. I look forward to getting to know the
other people better. Perhaps in time, I can be of help to THEM.
Thanks again for including me. I am grateful for your kindness.”
Also, if you have an interest in a leadership role for
either of these groups, please contact the Restorative Justice
Program at the OSM.
The Diocese of San Diego Office for
Social Ministry - Restorative Justice Program
858-490-8375; email:
jwalsh@diocese-sdiego.org
Web site:
www.diocese-sdiego.org/restore
Number 2: Since
1973, those of us who value human life from conception to natural
death have gathered to remember the pre-born children that have been
lost since Roe vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that
legalized unrestricted abortion in all 50 States - Join Bishop Brom and
fellow Christians on Thursday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m., and join
hundreds of fellow pro-life activists on Friday, January 22, at 4:30
p.m. to remember the unborn and pray for all those who have been
harmed by abortion
Love Life - We Do!
Join Us for Two Roe vs. Wade Anniversary Events
On Thursday, January 21, 2010 - at 7:00 p.m.
Mass for the
Protection of Human Life on the vigil of the
Anniversary of Roe v. Wade with Bishop Robert Brom
on Thursday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. at
Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church, 1629 Columbia St. in San
Diego (Little Italy) - A reception will follow Mass in
the parish social hall with displays from local pro-life service
organizations
Friday, January 22nd, 2010 - at 4:30 p.m.
A
Public Prayer Rally/Candle-Light Vigil on the
Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, on Friday,
January 22, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the
corner of Grape St. and Pacific Highway, Downtown San Diego
For information or questions contact Kent Peters at
858-490-8324
Number 3: U.S.
religious leaders pledge renewed commitment to conscience issues and
ask all Christians and people of goodwill to join them in signing
the Manhattan Declaration - promoting human life, traditional
marriage, and religious liberty
Please Sign "The Manhattan Declaration" - A Call of Christian
Conscience
Dowload and Sign the Declaration at:
www.manhattandeclaration.org
As of 10:43 a.m., Wednesday, December 23rd,
308,852 individuals have signed the
Manhattan Declaration.
Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their
faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly
to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society,
beginning with the family.
We are
Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians who have united at
this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the
common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and
non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:
- the
sanctity of human life
- the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
- the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
Inasmuch as these truths are
foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they
are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly
under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled
today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit
ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are
brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them.
We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but
as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is
the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Short Reports on OSM Related
Issues/Events
Number 1:
An Unlikely Friendship Humanizes
Death-Row Inmate
From The Southern Cross
Catholic Newspaper
By Denis Grasska
SAN DIEGO — The biblical Book of Sirach says, “A faithful friend is
a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure.”
Kent Peters, director of the diocesan Office for Social Ministry,
would agree: He clearly treasures his friend Jim. Over the course of
seven years, Peters said, the two have developed “a closeness and an
intimacy ... that is rare among friendships.”
 There
have been lighthearted games of gin rummy and Scrabble, as well as
hours of deep conversation about their lives and families, their
struggles and their faith in God.
“I know him probably better than anyone alive [does],” Peters said.
But the depth of their friendship will make it all the more
difficult when the time comes for Jim to be killed.
For about 15 years, “Jim” (not his actual name) has been sitting on
death row at San Quentin State Prison in Marin County, Calif.,
awaiting execution for a murder he does not deny committing. Peters
said Jim will likely be executed within the next 10 years and
possibly as soon as two years from now.
The two men began corresponding as part of a project sponsored by
the local chapter of California People of Faith Working Against the
Death Penalty. In 2001 and 2002, Peters was one of about 15 people
from the San Diego area who took part in the project and started
writing letters to an inmate on California’s death row.
The intention, Peters said, was to give a face to the condemned
prisoners and to share their stories with a society that considers
them “monsters.” Though his friendship with Jim began for these
“somewhat utilitarian reasons,” he said, “what’s really happened is
we’ve become gifts to each other.”
Over the years, Peters has exchanged hundreds of letters with the
man he refers to as “my condemned friend.” He said he currently
receives a letter from Jim every month and writes a letter of his
own every two or three months. In his letters, he has told Jim about
his wife and children so often that the inmate now has “a vicarious
sense of being part of a family.”
On a few occasions, Peters has also visited the prison, including
once with his teenage daughter. His most recent visit took place
Nov. 7 and 8.
The friendship is mutually beneficial, said Peters, who regrets that
he is sometimes so preoccupied at work and at home “that I have not
been the friend to him that he has been to me.”
As head of the diocese’s Social Ministry Office, Peters often speaks
about the death penalty, sometimes using details from his
correspondence “to make the people on death row human again, take
them out of the ‘monster’ category, into living human beings with
histories and maybe circumstances that make them less of a monster.”
In the case of his “condemned friend,” Peters said, these
circumstances include a long history of abuse, which dates back to
early childhood and left Jim with “distortions in his personality”
and a deep-seated belief that God hates him.
“When someone has experienced that much trauma, they need to be
reminded over and over again [about who God really is],” said
Peters, “and my life’s goal will be to be that reminder of God’s
love right up to [his death].”
Peters has told Jim that the abuse the inmate suffered as a child
played a large role in landing him on death row. But this is not an
excuse for his terrible crime, said Peters, who would not advocate
for his friend’s release.
“No, we need to be protected from Jim because of who he became,” he
said, adding that Jim himself agrees with that assessment.
However, despite Jim’s crime and inability to be reintegrated into
society, Peters is passionately opposed to the death penalty.
While admitting that the Catholic Church has never issued “an
absolute prohibition” against capital punishment, he said the Church
teaches that executions should be a last resort, used only when
society cannot adequately protect itself through non-lethal means.
He added that he shares the “prudential judgment” of Pope John Paul
II, Pope Benedict XVI and “a vast majority of Catholic prelates,”
who believe that the current criminal justice system, with such
penalties as life imprisonment, makes the majority of executions
unnecessary.
“This death-row inmate has been absolutely humanized in my mind,”
Peters said of his friend Jim, “and when he is executed, I will
understand the fact that we didn’t need to do that, for many, many
reasons.”
For more information about writing to death-row inmates or local
efforts to advance alternatives to the death penalty, call the
diocesan Office for Social Ministry at (858) 490-8323.
The Southern Cross
Number 2:
San Diegans Devote 40 Days to Prayer,
Public Witness for Life - Landmark effort receives Bishop Brom’s
support
From The Southern Cross
Catholic Newspaper
By Denis Grasska
SAN MARCOS — The 40 Days for Life campaign made its debut
in San Diego County, Sept. 23-Nov. 1, where it met with the approval
and vocal support of Bishop Robert H. Brom.
Praising the effort as “laudable
 and
practical,” Bishop Brom told local organizers of the campaign that
it would “undoubtedly change hearts, minds and, God willing, bring
about greater legal protection for life, from conception to natural
death.”
“Your efforts,” the bishop wrote in a letter of support, “imitate
the life of Christ, who prayed and fasted for 40 days in the desert
before beginning His public ministry.”
During the campaign, local pro-life advocates committed to 40 days
of prayer, fasting, public witness and community outreach. A
continuous prayer vigil was held outside the
 North
County Women’s Medical Clinic every day of the campaign, often for a
full 24 hours each day.
By participating in the campaign, pro-life San Diegans were joining
in solidarity with their counterparts in 45 states and the District
of Columbia, as well as five Canadian provinces and even a city in
Denmark, all of which marked the same 40 days in a similar fashion.
In San Diego County, the campaign was spearheaded by a coordinating
committee composed of Elena Di Ventra, Gene Villinski, Rhonda Oertle
and Marie McRoberts.
“40 Days for Life offers a simple, practical way to begin a process
of transformation,” Di Ventra said. “By setting a time aside when an
entire community comes together in prayer and peaceful activism, the
campaign has proven to be an agent of concrete change.”
Rallies were held at the beginning and conclusion of the local
campaign, as well as at the halfway mark.
Several organizations “adopted” one of the 40 days, ensuring that
representatives of that organization would be present at the vigil
site for a full 24-hour period. St. Joseph Academy adopted one day,
with each grade level spending an hour at the site and school
parents present for the remaining non-school hours. St. Stephen
Parish in Valley Center arranged for 155 parishioners to pray at the
site in a single day, and Calvary Chapel Church in Vista sponsored
six days.
“I would not hazard a guess at how many thousands of rosaries were
said [at the vigil site],” Villinski said. “People were there at all
hours of the day and night.”
Though the majority of participants were Catholic, he said, there
was also a sizable number of Christians of various denominations who
took part.
Villinski said one of the largest crowds — which he places at about
250 people — assembled on Oct. 22 when Bishop Brom prayed at the
site and offered words of encouragement to participants.
“Ordering temporal affairs according to the plan of God is the
vocation of the laity, which flows from baptism and confirmation,”
the bishop said. “Unfortunately, it is too often forgotten. You,
however, have taken this responsibility seriously.”
In his remarks, Bishop Brom drew parallels between abortion and the
crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary. He said that “Calvary is extended
to every time and place where there is human suffering and death”
and that, at abortion clinics, Jesus is “present in the flesh of
unborn human beings.”
In conclusion, the bishop said, “Thank you for remaining with Jesus,
for your compassion, for mourning the unjust taking of human life
and for your prayers and abiding commitment.”
In fall 2004, the first-ever 40 Days for Life took place in
Bryan/College Station, Texas. About 1,000 people participated in
that campaign, after which the number of abortions in the area
dropped by 28 percent. Similar success stories were told in the
years that followed, as the campaign expanded to other cities. By
fall 2007, it had gone nationwide.
40 Days for Life came to San Diego County this year thanks to Life
Matters, a pro-life group based out of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in
Carlsbad.
“I hope that whatever started during these 40 days will keep growing
beyond the campaign,” Di Ventra said, “and that many new people will
join prayer vigils in front of abortion clinics everywhere in the
county and will start volunteering in crisis pregnancy centers or
other pro-life ministries in churches or in the community.”
Reflecting on this inaugural campaign, Villinski said, “We have no
idea how many lives we might have saved. At this point, we have to
leave that for only God to know.”
The Southern Cross
Number 3: The
Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice - laboring for justice since
1998 - bringing hope to low-wage working families in San Diego and
Imperial Counties
For more than a decade, The Interfaith Committee for Worker
Justice (ICWJ) has convened on the first Friday of every month at
Christ the King Catholic Church in San
 Diego.
In front of Christ the King Church stands a statue of Jesus without
hands. They were broken off years ago in an act of vandalism. The
parishioners and clergy of Christ the King opened their doors to the
ICWJ because they extend themselves as the hands of Jesus in a
broken world. So ICWJ members gather there: clergy and people of
many faith traditions representing dozens of congregations, leaders
of the labor movement as partners, and workers who will tell their
stories and share their struggles to sustain their families.
Sometimes elected representatives are invited to explain policy
concerns, such as California’s budget crisis, and listen to ICWJ’s
message advocating for public policies that will benefit
working-poor families.
Those who attend witness the struggles of working families and
become engaged in campaigns that change the future for workers and
their children. The group hears from women and men who work in a
variety of positions: from janitors cleaning office buildings
throughout the county, from those who work in hospitals providing
meals for the infirm, from those who clean operating rooms, from
landscapers who keep the UCSD campus looking beautiful, from
 groundskeepers
who care for our city parks, and from home healthcare workers who
care for the disabled and allow them to remain in their homes rather
than be relegated to institutions. When there is success, those
attending celebrate the hard-won victories of working people taking
a step out of poverty through better wages, benefits, healthcare,
and a voice on the job.
Another very important reason people of faith attend ICWJ monthly
meetings is to encounter and visit with others who share the meeting
table with them. Because diverse faith traditions are represented,
members meet and get to know people who they might never have
otherwise encountered. By working toward one mission, economic
justice and ending poverty, group
 members
are able to work together and get to know one another in deep and
meaningful ways that emphasize common beliefs and minimize
differences.
The ICWJ heartily invites clergy and people of faith to join the
ICWJ on the first Friday of every month at Christ the King Church at
10:00 a.m. Indeed the members of the ICWJ are the hands and voice
of God in the world as they raise their voices for justice and
embrace working families and their struggles to take a step out of
poverty.
For more information on the work of the ICWJ and its monthly
general meeting, please contact Lisa at Elizabeth@icwj.org
Number 4: St.
Martin of Tours Academy students participate in "Reverse
Trick-or-Treating" and share the good news of Fair Trade
From The Southern Cross Catholic Newspaper
Students from St. Martin of Tours Academy in La Mesa celebrated
Halloween this year by practicing “reverse trick-or-treating.”
During Halloween night, costumed students in the fifth through
eighth grades did more than simply accept the candy given to them by
their neighbors. They also used the occasion as an opportunity to
educate those neighbors about the Fair Trade movement. The
trick-or-treating students handed out Fair-Trade-certified chocolate
and Fair Trade information cards.
Fair Trade is an alternative approach to international trade that
seeks to provide farmers and artisans in developing countries with
fair
 prices
for their products. In addition to ensuring just wages, Fair Trade
certification also prohibits the use of abusive child labor and
encourages the adoption of safer, chemical-free farming methods.
Products with fair trade certification include coffees, teas, cocoa,
chocolate, rice, sugar and fresh fruit.
Look for the Fair Trade label on products everywhere.
To become involved in local Fair Trade efforts, see #1 in the
Local and Regional Events/Gatherings/Projects
section below.
Web and
e-mail-based Resources
The California Catholic Conference consists of the Cardinal
Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Archbishop of San Francisco, and the
ten diocesan Bishops in the State of California and their
Auxiliaries.
www.cacatholic.org
The mission of the California Catholic Conference (CCC) is to
advocate with the legislative, administrative and judicial branches
of state government for the Catholic Church's public policy agenda
and to facilitate common pastoral efforts in the Catholic community.
The CCC also enables ecumenical and interfaith dialogue and action.
Most importantly, you may join the Catholic
Legislative Network on the home page of the CCC web site.
New
Local/Regional Events and
Gatherings
If you are planning an event that falls within the mission of social
ministry, send the particulars four to five weeks in advance to the
Office for Social Ministry via e-mail,
osmelink@diocese-sdiego.org. The OSM reserves the right to
publish or not to publish any proposed event information. We hope
this will assist your local efforts to rebuild a culture of life.
1. Attend the San Diego "Friends of Fair Trade" monthly
meeting
San Diego Friends of Fair Trade is a coalition of non-profit
organizations and congregations attempting to advance the cause of
fair trade. They work to insure that all individuals who toil, both
at home and around the world, to provide consumers with commodities
are paid a living wage, one that can sustain a life with dignity.
The next SD Friends of Fair Trade meeting will be on
Wednesday, January 13, 2010, at 6:30 p.m. at the Open Door
Book Store on 4761 Cass St., Pacific Beach - For more information,
please contact Carolyn Lief at
fairtradesandiego@gmail.com
2. Get Acquainted with Detention Ministry in the Diocese
of San Diego
Join Deacon Jim Walsh each month for an Information and Training
Seminar on detention ministry and restorative justice at
the Diocesan Pastoral Center, 3888 Paducah Drive, San Diego, 92117
Visit the OSM Restorative Justice Web site:
www.diocese-sdiego.org/restore
For the month of January...
The next Information and Training Seminar will be scheduled soon.
Please check with Deacon Jim (see below) to receive training dates
and times for January.
Sorry, no walk-ins. Contact Deacon Jim Walsh for reservations or
questions: 858-490-8375 or e-mail Deacon Jim at jwalsh@diocese-sdiego.org
3. North-County prayer witness at the Carlsbad Planned
Parenthood Clinic
North County parishioners meet the third Monday of every month
from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. to peacefully pray the rosary in front
of the Carlsbad Planned Parenthood Clinic. The clinic is located at
1820 Marron Rd. (in the shopping center just west of Plaza Camino
Real Mall). For more information, contact Jahna White of St.
Margaret Parish at 760-586-6356.
4. Prayerful witness for life at two locations (7340 Miramar
Road in San Diego and 15546 Pomerado Road in Poway) in San Diego
County
Helpers of God’s Precious Infants weekly rosary prayer vigil from
8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. every Saturday and Wednesday at 7340 Miramar
Road, directly above Metro Flooring in the complex with the Pyramid
Building, adjacent to Carroll Road. Prayer warriors also needed as
early as 7:30 a.m.
Call Roger Lopez at 619-276-7525 for more information.
Second Saturday of the month: 20 decades of the Rosary are prayed
in procession past 4 clinics following the 7:30 a.m. Mass, 15546
Pomerado Road, Poway. For more information, call 858-748-2109.
5. St. Dismas Guild sponsors two weekly hours of prayer for
the unborn in North County
Join members of St. Dismas Guild for a rosary picket at North
County Women's Medical Clinic, 120 S. Craven Way, San Marcos,
(across from Cal State San Marcos), Tuesdays, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00
a.m.
The Guild also sponsors prayer (the rosary) in front of PayLess
at Mission Avenue and Escondido Blvd., 347 W. Mission, on Thursdays,
10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. For information on these prayer vigils,
call 760-751-8541.
6. St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Carlsbad has a tri-weekly
prayer ministry in front of the North County Women's Medical Clinic
on Craven Way - San Marcos on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays
Please join the St. Elizabeth Seton "Life Matters" Culture of Life
prayer vigils at 10:00 a.m. to Noon every Tuesday, Thursday, and
Friday morning at "North County Women's Medical Clinic": 120 Craven
Road, San Marcos -
http://www.womensmedicalclinic.com/. Those interested can
carpool from St. Elizabeth Seton's upper parking lot at 9:30
a.m. Those who do not want to carpool, please feel free to meet us
at the Abortion Center at 10:00 a.m. or at any time between 10:00
a.m. and Noon. These vigils are not confrontational. We give
witness by being present in prayer and entrust our message to the
Blessed Mother. Contact Gene:
ejzoval@yahoo.com or 760-804-9656 for more information.
7. St. John the Evangelist Parish in Encinitas Pro-Life Mass
and Rosary held on the first Monday of each month
The first Monday of every month is designated Pro-Life
Monday at St. John the Evangelist Church, 1001 Encinitas Blvd,
Encinitas. The 8:00 a.m. Mass will be followed by a Rosary for
Life.
8. Prayer Vigil at Planned Parenthood - First and
Grape Street, San Diego – Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Prayer vigil contacts: Luis Mendoza 619-259-3906 or Roger Lopez
619-276-7525. Rosary processions the first Saturday of every month
from Our Lady of the Rosary, Date & State St., after the 7:30 a.m.
Mass.
9. Most Precious Blood Parish Rosary Prayer Vigils held on
Wednesdays each week
The Pro-Life Prayer Group from Most Precious Blood sponsors a
Rosary Prayer Vigil in front of "A Woman's Choice" Clinic abortion
facility at 1550 Broadway, Chula Vista, every Wednesday at 8:45
a.m. For more information, please call Shirley Henry at
619-420-7096 or Luis Mendoza at 619-259-3906.
10. Prayer partners are needed at the office of Feliciano
Rios M.D., 1079 Third Ave., suite 3, in Chula Vista - Dr. Rios
performs abortions at his medical facility - Meet each Wednesday
from 8:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
Please contact Luis Mendoza, a Missionary of The Gospel of Life
Lay Associate, at 619-259-3906, with questions or to share interest
in this prayer ministry.
11. Pray in front of the Planned Parenthood facility located
at 1685 East Main, just off the Greenfield Drive exit in El Cajon -
join friends and neighbors
According to the PP website, chemical (RU-486) abortions
only are done at this location - not surgical abortions. They do
refer women for abortions to their surgical center on First Ave.
Join the group each Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and Saturday
from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Contact:
mfowler@nethere.com
12. The Goretti Group offers chastity prayer and speaker
training monthly
Every First Friday of the month, the Goretti Group
will celebrate a St. Maria Goretti Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary,
1654 State Street, at 6:15 p.m.
Every Second Monday of the month: ChasteMasters Meeting at Our
Lady of the Rosary, Giovanni Room, 7:00 p.m. Please join us in
prayer, a roundtable discussion, and providing feedback as chastity
speakers refine their talks.
For more info please visit:
www.thegorettigroup.org or call David at: 619-733-8439
Watch for OSM e-link bulletin
#83 around Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Article/Statement for December 24, 2009
Witness to Truth
A Sermon by Deacon Jim Walsh - Given on "Christ the King"
Sunday
Why do we recognize Christ as a king? Why do we have a special
feast day of Christ the King? The feast day was instituted by Pope
Pius XI in 1925. He recognized, to use his own words, that
“manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority
of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives;
that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics:
and… further, that as long as individuals and states refused to
submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful
prospect of a lasting peace among nations.”
Pope Pius and his successor popes and other bishops
saw the people of the world submitting to the slavery of secularism
– with governments based on central control that wrung out the
freedom and truth that Christ brought to human hearts.
I’m sure that Pius recalled the Israelites who at
one point desired to return to slavery back in Egypt after they met
with the hardship of freedom on the journey away from Egypt toward
the Promised Land. They also grew tired of waiting for Moses to
return from God’s holy mountain with the Law, and they reverted to
selfish pagan worship.
Pius decided that people needed to be reminded that
there is One greater than all the governments, all the nations, so
he instituted the Feast of Christ the King as a reminder.
The Communists asserted that everything people
worked for belonged to the state. They were convinced that they
knew best how to distribute the wealth. The Communists even
concluded that people’s lives belonged to the state. How did that
work out for the Russians and the Eastern Bloc?
Is it working out well in China? After all, a lot of companies are
trying to break into China. Not as many individuals are emigrating
to China, but lots of corporations are.
Other totalitarian schemes took over Italy and
Germany. Colonialism was rampant around the world, too.
There was at least one place in the world, imperfect
though it was, where people witnessed to the truth. These people
had a writing that was almost sacred to them that said, “We hold
these things to be self-evident; that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable
rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.”
I believe that they meant:
LIFE: not murder for the sake of convenience
LIBERTY: not guarantees
HAPPINESS: not mindless self indulgence, but inner peace and joy.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness… those
words are taken from a writing that was almost sacred to those
people called the Declaration of Independence. The people that
wrote those words were rebelling against regimes that imposed
specific religions and other burdens on people.
Many people escaped those oppressive regimes, and
they moved far away and agreed on a writing that was almost sacred
to them called the Declaration of Independence.
The Nazis (before they were defeated by the people
who had a writing that was almost sacred to them) even began to
transform Christmas. They didn’t much like the whole scene with
Mary and Joseph and Jesus. After all… all three of them were Jews.
Did you know that the Nazis attempted to persuade
German families to bake holiday cookies in the shape of swastikas,
and to put up ornaments shaped like iron cross medals? They
replaced the figure of St. Nick with the Norse god, Odin.
The German totalitarians attempted to revert
Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ the King,
back to a winter solstice celebration (from which Christmas
originally was adapted). The ancient originators of winter solstice
celebrations worshipped pagan gods, who they thought had power over
the world and over their lives, similar to what the ancient Greeks
and Romans believed.
Imagine someone trying to force us to change
Christmas into just a winter holiday celebration!
But eventually, the people who had the writing that
was almost sacred to them, called the Declaration of Independence,
grew impatient with their ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness. Many were persuaded to embrace a culture of death,
government guarantees, and the pursuit of instant gratification and
obsessions.
Oh a few of their own tried to persuade them to
redirect and take another hard look at that almost sacred writing
they used to call the Declaration of Independence, but most people
didn’t seem to have the time or interest. They, too, began to
worship the golden calf, and why not, when gold was worth over
$1,000 an ounce?
They substituted the slavery of political
correctness and moral relativism for truth and freedom. They
embraced winter solstice celebrations in place of the birth of the
King of Kings. Happy holidays.
And yet, some of us have rebelled in our own hearts,
and with our families and friends and faith communities. We strive
for life, liberty and happiness that can only come from,
- accepting absolute Truth, Jesus Christ,
- the spiritual governance of unconditional Love, the Father, and
- the Creator who is a greater power than all the worldly kings who
ever existed or will exist.
We must be in the world but not of the world.
Ultimately, our allegiance must be to the personification of Truth -
Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. In the world, many people have
died to protect and save their king. In spiritual reality, the King
died to save His subjects, us.
Remember when Jesus asked, “Who do people say that I
am?” And He asked His disciples, “Who do you say I am?” In John
18:37 one secular ruler, Pilate, asked the King of Kings, “are you a
king?” Jesus said, “You say I am a king.” In effect Jesus is
saying, “King is your word for me. I was born into the world to
witness to Truth.” Truth with a capital T.
Then Pilate, who symbolizes corrupt power, political
correctness, and moral relativism, asked, “What is truth?” But he
did not wait to hear the King of King’s answer.
Pilate simply released from prison the guilty
Barabbas and handed over the innocent Lamb of God to the
self-centered, hypocritical crowd, people imprisoned in their own
beliefs. They led Jesus to the slaughter so that the world could
have the opportunity for all time to read and believe the very
sacred writing He called the Gospel, and to enjoy everlasting life,
liberty and happiness eternally in the Kingdom of God. |
