Ted Hurley is the Director of Youth Ministry for the English Sector of the Archdiocese of Ottawa and an indefatigible promotor of new media, especially the Archbishop's use thereof: last week he helped me videotape a greeting to the men attending the Quo Vadis priestly discernment gathering and meal, since I was otherwise committed that evening at the Corkery and Packenham parishes and could not attend.Truth to tell, he made it easy for me to become a blogger by setting up this blogsite (a turn-key operation--all I had to do was log on and get going, eventually even learning how to insert illustrations and photos on line).
Today a new gal came into his life, a fourth daughter for Theresa and him. Isn't she a cutie? Born at 1:04am today at Queensway Carleton Hospital, weighing in at 8 lbs 12 oz!
Congratulations to all the Hurleys and welcome Isabel Clare!
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MORE FROM POPE BENEDICT XVI’S LETTER TO PRIESTS
"[Vianney] arrived in Ars, a village of 230 souls, warned by his Bishop beforehand that there he would find religious practice in a sorry state: “There is little love of God in that parish; you will be the one to put it there”.
As a result, he was deeply aware that he needed to go there to embody Christ’s presence and to bear witness to his saving mercy: “[Lord,] grant me the conversion of my parish; I am willing to suffer whatever you wish, for my entire life!”: with this prayer he entered upon his mission. The Curé devoted himself completely to his parish’s conversion, setting before all else the Christian education of the people in his care.
Dear brother priests, let us ask the Lord Jesus for the grace to learn for ourselves something of the pastoral plan of Saint John Mary Vianney! The first thing we need to learn is the complete identification of the man with his ministry. In Jesus, person and mission tend to coincide: all Christ’s saving activity was, and is, an expression of his “filial consciousness” which from all eternity stands before the Father in an attitude of loving submission to his will.
In a humble yet genuine way, every priest must aim for a similar identification. Certainly this is not to forget that the efficacy of the ministry is independent of the holiness of the minister; but neither can we overlook the extraordinary fruitfulness of the encounter between the ministry’s objective holiness and the subjective holiness of the minister.
The Curé of Ars immediately set about this patient and humble task of harmonizing his life as a minister with the holiness of the ministry he had received, by deciding to “live”, physically, in his parish church: As his first biographer tells us: “Upon his arrival, he chose the church as his home. He entered the church before dawn and did not leave it until after the evening Angelus. There he was to be sought whenever needed”.
The pious excess of his devout biographer should not blind us to the fact that the Curé also knew how to “live” actively within the entire territory of his parish: he regularly visited the sick and families, organized popular missions and patronal feasts, collected and managed funds for his charitable and missionary works, embellished and furnished his parish church, cared for the orphans and teachers of the “Providence” (an institute he founded); provided for the education of children; founded confraternities and enlisted lay persons to work at his side.
Hello, my name is Sean Hogan. I don't know how to get a hold of you and I figure this is probably the best way. I was looking at St. Joseph's website today because they are known to stray from Catholic teachings at that Church. About 3 years ago, they had Alex Munter at the Church. He is a noted homosexual marriage and abortion supporter. At that time, the Archbishop's office told me that since he wasn't speaking on those topics, he is allowed to make a presentation there. Obviously, I found this very troubling as they seemed to ignore this man's anti-Christian comments he has made in the past and his associations as I've noted. As well, there were homilies given by some of the congregation during the masses there. (I don't know why Father Kelly allowed this) One sermon praised homosexual marriage. Today, I noticed that they link to some questionable websites, including Amnesty International, a supporter of abortion and homosexual marriage. Can you as the Archbishop, take a look at this? So far, Father Kelly has accepted these things and has made that Church very liberal rather than Catholic. I thank you.
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