msLogoMay 2011

The Metro

 The Newsletter of the Serra Club of Metropolitan Dallas 

In This Issue
May 2011 Calendar
Beatification of John Paul II
Destination Serra
Chaplain's Message
Catechism on the Priesthood
Come and See
Saint of the Month
Jerusalem 2011

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USCCB  
Who Would You Like To Have Speak To Our Club?
If there is a speaker that you would to have invited to address the club at one of our breakfast or luncheon meetings or a topic that you would like to have covered, please contact Pat O'Brien, our Vice President - Programs. Pat is hoping to have each one of the pastors for our assigned parishes, speak to us during the upcoming year.
EWTN Coverage of the  Beatification of John Paul II
EWTN will provide complete coverage of Pope John Paul II's Beatification. Vatican events include (all times Central):
  • Vigil in Honor of the Beatification on Saturday, April 30 at 12:30 pm (encore on April 30 at 7:00 pm).
  • Beatification on Sunday, May 1 at 1:30 am (and encores on May 2 at 1:00 pm and May 7 at 1:00 pm).
  • Mass of Thanksgiving on Monday May 2 at 3:30 am (encore on May 2 at 4:30 pm).

For additional details check the EWTN website.

John Paul II Video

Watch this video on the life of Pope John Paul II prepared by the USCCB on the occasion of JPII's May 1st beatification.

 

John Paul II Memorial Video
John Paul II Memorial Video

 

Heroic Media

Mike Murray of Heroic Media expressed his thanks for the opportunity to speak to us at the March meeting. He asked that if anyone has further questions, advice, speaking opportunities or referrals to please contact him at 214.491.0026 or [email protected]

Heroic Media 2

Religious Women's Appreciation Dinner

A reminder that the 2011 Religious Women's Appreciation Dinner will be held, Sunday, May 1st. The dinner is at the Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park, 1515 South Harwood from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. 
SPREAD THE WORD
If you have a friend that is interested in the work of Serra, consider forwarding our email newsletter or invite him or her to visit our website. Better yet extend an invitation to join you as a guest at a First Friday Mass or one of our monthly luncheons. 
  
  

President's Letter by Peter D'Apice

Dear Serrans:

What a great time to be Catholic....the Church is strong and pulses with the energy of renewal.  Our Diocese brims over with wonderful priests and religious and lay people like all of you who labor in the trenches to nurture our treasured Faith.  Many thanks to all of you for your tireless commitment to Serra.  Happy Easter!

Siempre adelante! 

Peter

May 2011 Calendar

Sunday, May 1st - 3:00 pm - 2011 Religious Women's Appreciation Dinner - Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park, 1515 South Harwood. 

 

Friday, May 6th - 6:45 am - First Friday Mass and Breakfast - Saint Monica. Speaker: TBD - Look for email announcement.

 

Saturday, May 14th - 9:00 am to Noon - Officer Training - Holy Trinity Seminary.

 

Sunday May 15th - World Day of Prayer for Vocations

 

Thursday, May 19th - Installation of Officers and New Member Induction Banquet - Campus of the University of Dallas; Mass at 6:30 pm in the Church of the Incarnation; Reception and Dinner following in the Haggar University Center; RSVP by Tuesday, May 10th; $35 per person; No cost to new members and spouse. Click HERE to make your reservation through PayPal.

 

Friday, May 20th - No Luncheon Meeting

 

For more information or to view the complete Metro Serra calendar, click HERE.

Beatification of John Paul II Set For May 1 

 
JPII

On May 1, 2011, the man who canonized more saints (482) than any other pope in modern history will be one step closer to sainthood himself when he becomes "Blessed John Paul II." Pope Benedict VXI will preside at the beatification ceremony in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on the Second Sunday of Easter, the last day of the Octave of Easter, also known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

 

The date has much significance in John Paul II's life. In 2000, he presided at the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska, a countrywoman from his native Poland, on the Sunday after Easter and declared that day should thereafter be known as "Divine Mercy Sunday" in honor of the saint's lifelong effort to shed light on the mystery of divine mercy. Pope John Paul II died on April 2, just a day before the 2005 celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. The beatification ceremonies for John Paul II will begin with an open air evening vigil on Saturday, April 30, at the Circus Maximus, the site of the ancient Roman racing grounds between the Palatine and Aventine hills. The actual beatification ceremony will begin at 10:00 a.m., Sunday, May 1, in St. Peter's Square. 


According to Monsignor Guido Marini, Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, the beatification ceremony will have the same characteristics of every beatification ceremony, including the proclamation of the newly Blessed during the Mass and the reading of a brief summary of the life of John Paul II. Following the proclamation, an image of John Paul II will be unfurled to hang from the central balcony in front of St. Peter's Basilica.

 

Immediately after the ceremony, the remains of the newly Blessed John Paul II will be placed in front of the High Altar in St. Peter's Basilica for veneration. On Monday, May 2, at 10:30 a.m., Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will preside at a Mass of thanksgiving in St. Peter's Square.


Following this Mass, Pope John Paul II's remains will be reinterred in the side chapel of St. Sebastian, in St. Peter's Basilica.


 The beatification of Pope John Paul II comes on a rare fast track just six years following his death. The speedy process was made possible when the Congregation for the Causes of Saints waived the usual five-year waiting period that is normally required before a cause for beatification and canonization can begin. It follows a precedent John Paul II himself set when he beatified Mother of Teresa of Calcutta in 2003, just six years after her death.
 

Destination Serra
Have you ever wondered what goes on in Serra Clubs outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth area? Starting this month, we will post a link to the website of a Serra Club outside of our area. See what makes their club successful and how they support and foster vocations in their area. Just click on the name of the club. This month we will visit the Serra Club of Boston.
  

Chaplain's Message by Father Sal Guzman 

The Garden

 

After Jesus had the Last Supper with His disciples and washed their feet (Holy Thursday), He moved to a place to pray with them.  In the Gospel reading for Good Friday, we read:  "Jesus went out with His disciples across the Kidron valley to where there was a garden, into which He and His disciples entered."  It is there that He will be apprehended; His passion begins in the garden, if you will.   The Good Friday Gospel ends:  "Now in the place where He had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.   So they laid Jesus there..."   On The Vigil and on Easter Sunday, we have Mary Magdalene come to the garden to visit the tomb of Jesus.   John, Peter and the other women will come to the garden where the tomb is.  

In ancient times, the garden (an enclosed place) was the place for lovers.   Think of Genesis:  God walking with His beloved creation-Adam and Eve.   This place of lovers is where we are invited to enter and meet the Risen Lord.   Our beloved God, Jesus, brought His Apostles to the garden where He was to show them the depth of His love; the passion begins in the garden and ends in the garden with the empty tomb.   He has conquered death out of love for his disciples, for us.  

 

 

Father Sal

 

 

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Catechism on the Priesthood
The following is extracted from the book"The Little Catechism of the Cure of Ars" by St. John Vianney. Many thanks to Don Wetzel  for forwarding a copy of Chapter 9 from this work. The entire catechism is posted on the club website - just click on the title above. Also, check out the videos below. 

Catechism on the Priesthood 

Go to confession to the Blessed Virgin, or to an angel; will they absolve you? No. Will they give you the Body and Blood of Our Lord? No. The Holy Virgin cannot make her Divine Son descend into the Host. You might have two hundred angels there, but they could not absolve you. A priest, however simple he may be, can do it; he can say to you, "Go in peace; I pardon you. " Oh, how great is a priest! The priest will not understand the greatness of his ofvianneyfice till he is in Heaven. If he understood it on earth, he would die, not of fear, but of love. The other benefits of God would be of no avail to us without the priest. What would be the use of a house full of gold, if you had nobody to open you the door! The priest has the key of the heavenly treasures; it is he who opens the door; he is the steward of the good God, the distributor of His wealth. Without the priest, the Death and Passion of Our Lord would be of no avail. Look at the heathens: what has it availed them that Our Lord has died? Alas! they can have no share in the blessings of Redemption, while they have no priests to apply His Blood to their souls!

 

The priest is not a priest for himself; he does not give himself absolution; he does not administer the Sacraments to himself. He is not for himself, he is for you. After God, the priest is everything. Leave a parish twenty years without priests; they will worship beasts. If the missionary Father and I were to go away, you would say, "What can we do in this church? there is no Mass; Our Lord is no longer there: we may as well pray at home. " When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest, because where there is no longer any priest there is no sacrifice, and where there is no longer any sacrifice there is no religion.

 

When the bell calls you to church, if you were asked, "Where are you going?" you might answer, "I am going to feed my soul. " If someone were to ask you, pointing to the tabernacle, "What is that golden door?" "That is our storehouse, where the true Food of our souls is kept. " "Who has the key? Who lays in the provisions? Who makes ready the feast, and who serves the table?" "The priest." "And what is the Food?" "The precious Body and Blood of Our Lord. " O God! O God! how Thou hast loved us! See the power of the priest; out of a piece of bread the word of a priest makes a God. It is more than creating the world. . . . Someone said, "Does St. Philomena, then, obey the Cur� of Ars?" Indeed, she may well obey him, since God obeys him.

 

If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place. St. Teresa kissed the ground where a priest had passed. When you see a priest, you should say, "There is he who made me a child of God, and opened Heaven to me by holy Baptism; he who purified me after I had sinned; who gives nourishment to my soul." At the sight of a church tower, you may say, "What is there in that place?" "The Body of Our Lord." "Why is He there?" "Because a priest has been there, and has said holy Mass."

 

What joy did the Apostles feel after the Resurrection of Our Lord, at seeing the Master whom they had loved so much! The priest must feel the same joy, at seeing Our Lord whom he holds in his hands. Great value is attached to objects which have been laid in the drinking cup of the Blessed Virgin and of the Child Jesus, at Loretto. But the fingers of the priest, that have touched the adorable Flesh of Jesus Christ, that have been plunged into the chalice which contained His Blood, into the pyx where His Body has lain, are they not still more precious? The priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus. When you see the priest, think of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Priesthood Part I - St. John Vianney
Priesthood Part I - St. John Vianney

 

Priesthood Part II - Saint John Vianney
Priesthood Part II - Saint John Vianney

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Come and See

 

Come and See

by Rev. John A. Harden, S.J.

Chapter 11 - Mary, Mother of Vocations

When Mary told the angel at the Annunciation, "Behold, I am the Handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38), she became the patroness of every priest and religious until the end of time. Her acceptance of God's invitation to become His Mother made her the Mother of all vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life.

 

When she conceived Jesus Christ, she brought into the world the One from whom every vocation is derived. Except for Him, no one would be called, and except for His call, no one could respond. Mary is, therefore, Mother of Vocations because she is the Mother of the Great High Priest who calls others to share in His priesthood, and she is Mother of the First Religious who invites others to follow in His footsteps.

 

Mary is Mother of Vocations also by her example. It is by imitating her practice of faith, hope and charity that men and women are inspired to give themselves to her Son in the priesthood or the lifetime practice of the counsels. Only believers have a vocation; only those who trust implicitly in God's promises respond to God's call; and above all only those who love God in others deeply are preserved in priestly or religious commitment. In all of these, Mary is their model, and the more devoted they are to her, the more secure is their consecration.

 

Finally, Mary is the Mother of Vocations by her heavenly intercession at the Throne of God. It is through her maternal prayers that Christ gives certain people the grace to give themselves entirely to His service. She obtains from Him the grace for them to be called; but she also tells them, as she told the servants at Cana, to be sure to do whatever He tells you (cf. Jn 2:5).

 

There is no more effective way of fostering vocations than asking the Mother of Jesus to ask her Son to extend the invitation. And there is no more effective way of remaining firm in the priesthood and the religious state than to beg the same Mother for the grace of perseverance.

 

"Mary, Mother of Vocations, pray for us," should be our daily invocation.

Fr. John Harndon, S.J. wrote extensively on vocations including Come and See - Theological Reflections on the Promotion of Vocations, a short treatise that gets to the heart of vocations. Divided into 12 short chapters, a chapter will be included in this and future issues of The Metro. For your own copy, order through the publisher. To read on our website, click on the title above.

 

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Saint of the Month - Saint Damien of Molokai (1840 - 1889) - May 10th

When Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, few people in Europe had any firsthand knowledge of leprosy (Hansen's disease). By the time he died at the age of 49, people all over the world knew about this disease because of him. They knew that human codamien youngmpassion could soften the ravages of this disease.

 

Forced to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm, six years later Joseph entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, taking the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr. When his brother Pamphile, a priest in the same congregation, fell ill and was unable to go to the Hawaiian Islands as assigned, Damien quickly volunteered in his place. In May 1864, two months after arriving in his new mission, Damien was ordained a priest in Honolulu and assigned to the island of Hawaii.

In 1873, he went to the Hawaiian government's leper colony on the island of Molokai, set up seven years earlier. Part of a team of four chaplains taking that assignment for three months each year, Damien soon volunteered to remain permanently, caring for the people's physical, medical and spiritual needs. In time, he became their most effective advocate to obtain promised government support.

Soon the settlement had new houses and a new church, school and orphanage. Morale improved considerably. A few years later he succeeded in getting the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by Mother Marianne Cope (January 23), to help staff this colony in Kalaupapa.

Damien cDamien stained glassontracted Hansen's disease and died of its complications. As requested, he was buried in Kalaupapa, but in 1936 the Belgian government succeeded in having his body moved to Belgium. Part of Damien's body was returned to his beloved Hawaiian brothers and sisters after his beatification in 1995.

Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 11, 2009.

When Hawaii became a state in 1959, it selected Damien as one of its two representatives in the Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.

Some people thought Damien was a hero for going to Molokai and others thought he was crazy. When a Protestant clergyman wrote that Damien was guilty of immoral behavior, Robert Louis Stevenson vigorously defended him in an "Open Letter to Dr. Hyde."

During the beatification homily, Pope John Paul II said: "Holiness is not perfection according to human criteria; it is not reserved for a small number of exceptional persons. It is for everyone; it is the Lord who brings us to holiness, when we are willing to collaborate in the salvation of the world for the glory of God, despite our sin and our sometimes rebellious temperament."

 

Source: www.americancatholic.org. To receive "Saint of the Day" as an email from St. Anthony Messenger Press click here.


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Jerusalem 2011

SI 2011 Convention

Serra's 69th International Convention will be held in Jerusalem July 14-17, 2011. Pope Benedict XVI was recently quoted as saying: "We are all pilgrims." With that in mind, 2011 convention attendees will have the option of participating in a guided 7-day pilgrimage which will begin in Nazareth on Monday, July 11, include two days of exploring many of the holy sites in Galilee, followed by a one-day reflective journey to Jerusalem where, for the next three days, visits to holy sites and convention sessions will be intertwined in a fascinating and memorable fashion.

 

The convention sessions will be held in the historic Pontifical Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center whose location provides excellent access through the New Gate to the old city of Jerusalem.

 

For more information or to register click HERE.

 

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