BIG C CATHOLICS

Dear Readers, If you or a loved one are in need of prayers for any reason click the feedback button on the left sidebar. Enter "Prayer Request" in the subject line then type your request. Prayers will be offered for your intention. Yours in Christ, Dumb Ox

Francis Arinze became the youngest Roman Catholic bishop in the world when he was ordained to the episcopate on 29 August 1965, at the age of 32. He was appointed titular bishop of Fissiana, and named coadjutor to the Archbishop of Onitsha, Nigeria. He attended the final session of the Second Vatican Council in that same year along with the 45 year old Archbishop of Krakow, Poland, Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II. Following the death of the Archbishop of Onitsha in February 1967, Arinze was appointed to the position a few months later, on 26 June 1967. He was the first native African to head his diocese, succeeding Archbishop Charles Heery, an Irish missionary. On 8 April 1985, Arinze resigned from his post in Onitsha, and the Pope named him a Cardinal Deacon, with the title of S. Giovanni della Pigna, little more than a month later in the consistory held on 25 May 1985; he was raised to the rank of Cardinal Priest in 1996. Two days following his elevation to Cardinal Deaco

Besides Jesus, there may be no better model for priests than St. John Vianney, who is the patron of parish priests. Only a handful of parish priests have been canonized. Most are religious priests, missionaries, bishops, cardinals and popes. Vianney lived from 1786 to 1859. For forty-one years, he was the Cure (pastor) of the French town of Ars. He is known for his prayerfulness and piety. People would travel for miles to attend his Masses, hear him preach, and go to confession. As a result, the small town of Ars became a center of virtue and faithfulness. There is an excellent novena in honor of Saint John Vianney here .

Fr. Phillip Neri Powell The following is an excerpt from the article “Advice from Fr. Philip Neri’s Confessional,” by Fr. Philip Neri Powell, O.P., Ph.D. It's quite long but well worth the read. Visit his website here . Go here for the previous post in this series. III. Resisting Temptation 9. Temptation : Temptation is the pressure we feel when our disordered desires rise up and urge us to indulge them against God’s will for us. Entertaining a temptation is not a sin. Merely thinking about lying is not the sin of lying. However, if you decide to lie and do so “in your heart,” then you have lied whether you actually give voice to the lie or not. 10. Resistance : When you resist temptation on your own you are rejecting God’s grace and denying the victory of the Cross. There is no reason to resist temptation. You are perfectly free not to sin. Rather than steel yourself against temptation and fight like mad to resist the sin, turn and face the temptation square on. Name it. Hand it

Matthew Coffin Previously, we talked about how Adam, after naming all the animals did not find a partner suitable for him. Let us review the relevant passages of scripture immediately following the creation of man: The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it. The LORD God gave man this order: "You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die." The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him. So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the s

Much has been written about Senator Edward M. Kennedy in the aftermath of his death last month. I reflected on his life and legacy here . Much of the press and remembrances were laudatory. Some commentators did not indulge in hero worship, however, in offering more sober assessments. One of them even took the diocese of Boston to task. Colleen Carroll Campbell, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has written that not all Catholics mourn the death of "Camelot." Go here to read her article. Rev. Michael P. Orsi, a priest, teaches law at Ave Maria School of Law. He writes that granting Edward Kennedy an elaborate funeral was an occasion of scandal for the Church. See his article here . On Sunday the American Thinker published an article entitled " Senator Kennedy's Final Attempt at Salvation ."

Matthew Coffin Last time, we discussed the first creation account in Genesis as creation from God’s point of view. Today we will examine the second creation account found in Genesis 2 and 3. The second creation account is older than the first. God creates man out of the dust of the ground and breathes His spirit or life into Adam. Adam at this point, while he has a body and is therefore an “embodied” person, is neither male nor female. God presents Adam with all the animals of the garden for Adam to name. This is significant on several levels. First of all, for the ancient Hebrews, to name something or someone was to be responsible for it. God gave important figures in the Old Testament new names to signify the transformative relationship when we encounter the Divine. Parents name their children – signaling in part a responsibility to nurture their offspring. In the New Testament, Simon becomes Peter after his encounter with Christ. So Adam naming the animals signifies he has stewardsh