The Prayer Before the "Indy 500" last weekend

This prayer is offered by the "new" Bishop of Indianapolis: Bishop Chris Coyne. And he's right on target. Enjoy, I sure did:







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This is good!

The followng line is one that I read about the present confrontation between the HHS and the Catholic Church. The writer is speaking to the Bishops of the United States. I love this:

Every bishop is given a crosier upon his ordination to the episcopacy. A crosier is a shepherd's staff. It is a six to seven foot long staff that a shepherd uses to beat the crap out of wolves. That's your job. Beating the crap out of the wolves - not killing all of the sheep yourself so that there is nothing left for the wolves to eat.
MAN UP!!!! FIGHT, YOU FOOLS!!!

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Happy Memorial Day: 2012

Memorial Park: Pensacola (below)

Confirmation: Round Two

Front: Tyler Jacobs / Back left Raymond Borras / Back right Travis Freddie

Celebrating Pentecost 2012 with the Sacrament of Confirmation:

Summer Officially Begins this Weekend:

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Celebrating a Birthday at the Ball Park

The field:

The Pensacola Wahoos:

The gang celebrating: Sunnie Gates, Sister Maureen, Theresa (Birthday girl), and Brenda Long

The park:

The gang:

Prison Chaplain not allowed to celebrate Mass:

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If you haven't read this, you should: (my comments at the end)

For a quarter century, Monsignor Ed Lofton has served as one of 86 volunteer chaplains at the Charleston County jail. Bringing calm to inmates and jailers alike is considered essential to his mission.



But carrying wine into a facility where alcohol is labeled as contraband hasn’t come without controversy. He has fought and won that battle before.

For 15 years, he has consumed 1 ounce of sacramental wine during Mass without incident. Inmates partake only in the bread.

But this week he lost a fight.

Chief Deputy Mitch Lucas, the jail’s administrator, has told Lofton to replace the wine — brought to the jail in a TSA-approved container designed for holy water — with grape juice.

He booted the chaplain Tuesday after he refused to do so.

Lucas said the move was necessary because Lofton had threatened to sue on the basis of a civil-rights violation. He didn’t want the chaplain to continue visiting the jail and “gathering evidence” for a court claim, Lucas said.

The action has denied inmates a First Amendment right and a religious rite that’s “at the heart of what the Catholic Church is all about,” Lofton said. He added that he would ask for Lucas’ firing during a meeting today with Sheriff Al Cannon.

“They pull this on me after I’ve been doing this for years,” said Lofton, who leads St. Theresa the Little Flower Catholic Church in Summerville. “It’s pretty bad that I have to fight for something the Constitution allows. But this is religious freedom, and I’ll fight for it again.”
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Fortunaltely, the State of South Carolina just changed this policy (hurray for publicity!) and Mass can be celebrated.
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My comments:

In the 1970's when I was a Chaplain to 5 of Florida's State Prisons, celebrating Mass could be a real chore. Even though these guards knew me, I went every week, every time I showed up I was patted down and searched. NO Alcohol! And that meant NO Mass wine allowed. So, for a few of the institutions I was only permitted to have a Communion Service. However, in Florida State Prison, our major center at the time, I WAS ALLOWED to celebrate Mass and so I did.

It was a very hostile situatuon on the part of the Guards, not the prisoners.

I say no more.

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My great-niece, Adrianne and my great-nephew, Brandon

My Niece, Frannie

First Holy Communion, 2012

Today is the Feast day of St. Matthias

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The first act of the apostles after the Ascension of Jesus was to find a replacement for Judas. With all the questions, doubts, and dangers facing them, they chose to focus their attention on finding a twelfth apostle. Why was this important? Twelve was a very important number to the Chosen People: twelve was the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. If the new Israel was to come from the disciples of Jesus, a twelfth apostle was needed. But Jesus had chosen the original twelve. How could they know whom he would choose?


One hundred and twenty people were gathered for prayer and reflection in the upper room, when Peter stood up to propose the way to make the choice. Peter had one criterion, that, like Andrew, James, John, and himself, the new apostle be someone who had been a disciple from the very beginning, from His baptism by John until the Ascension. The reason for this was simple, the new apostle would must become a witness to Jesus' resurrection. He must have followed Jesus before anyone knew Him, stayed with Him when He made enemies, and believed in Him when He spoke of the cross and of eating His body -- teachings that had made others melt away.


Two men fit this description -- Matthias and Joseph called Barsabbas. They knew that both these men had been with them and with Jesus through His whole ministry. But which one had the heart to become a witness to His resurrection. The apostles knew that only the Lord could know what was in the heart of each. They cast lots in order to discover God's will and Matthias was chosen. He was the twelfth apostle and the group was whole again as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit. That's the first we hear of Matthias in Scripture, and the last.


Legends like the Acts of Andrew and Matthias testify to Matthias' enthusiastic embrace of all that being an apostle meant including evangelization, persecution, and death in the service of the Lord. How does one qualify to be an apostle? Clement of Alexandria says that Matthias, like all the other apostles, was not chosen by Jesus for what he already was, but for what Jesus foresaw he would become. He was elected not because he was worthy but because he would become worthy. Jesus chooses all of us in the same way.


St, Matthias is usually pictured with an open Bible, for his preaching the word, and an axe, the instrument of his beheading.

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Our new Bishop-elect visits Pope Benedict XVI

Every 7 years the Bishops of the world must meet with the Holy Father as well as meet with other Vatican office heads. Pictured first: Bishop-elect Gregory Parks, 6'8 with Pope Benedict, 5'4:

Bishop-elect greets Pope Benedict:

The Bishops of Florida and Pope Benedict XVI:

Stronger: by Kelly Clarkson

Video from Seattle's Children's Hospital: .