I’M CATHOLIC. NOW
WHAT? By Shaun McAfee – a book review
by Deacon Marty McIndoe
Shaun McAfee, founder of EpicPew.com, blogger at National
Catholic Register, contributor to Catholic Answers Magazine and many other
Catholic resources has written a new book published by Our Sunday Visitor. Personally I think that this is the best book
he has written; and I really enjoyed his other books. When I first saw the pre-publication
announcement for this book, I immediately put in an order for it. The title and description led me to believe
that this book would be a great resource for my parish RCIA program. I have been involved in the RCIA (Rite of
Christian Initiation of Adults) program for many years and know that those who
have gone through it need a really good resource book to continue their journey
after the time in the program has finished.
After reading this book I not only realized that the book is perfect for
that, but that the book is perfect for all Catholics on their journey of living
out the beauty of the Catholic faith.
The author of this book is a convert and has gone through
the RCIA process to become a Catholic.
How I wish that all of the people who go through RCIA become as good a
Catholic as Shaun and his wife have become.
Shaun’s overall knowledge of the Catholic faith and Catholic Theology (he
has a graduate degree from Holy Apostles College) is amazing. The way he lives out that faith with his wife
and family is even more amazing. Faith
is made to be put in to action and Shaun certainly does that. I have followed Shaun and his family on
Facebook for almost six years and although I have never met him in person, I
see the faith filled life that he leads.
That faith filled life pours over in to this book. Shaun tells us all the things we need to know
to be a good Catholic and he gives us personal examples of how to be a good
Catholic.
This 335 page book consists of 100 chapters that give us a
lot of information on the Catholic Church and why we do the things that we
do. I find it very refreshing that he
takes the times to not only tell us the things that we should be doing to be a
good Catholic, but also tells us why we do those things. He often refers to the Holy Scriptures as
well as the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
He also uses stories from the early church Fathers and the Saints to
explain. Besides that, he gives us plenty of personal examples
from his own life. He covers just about
everything that you can think of that speaks of Catholicism. He not only covers different topics but also
gives us things to do. For example, not
only do we learn about Baptism, but he also gives us ideas on how to celebrate
our Baptism day. He talks to us about
the priesthood and then encourages us to invite a priest over for dinner.
Shaun’s section on BEING A MODERN CATHOLIC has so much
richness to it when discussing evil, relativism (a must read), marriage,
sexuality, abortion, euthanasia, immigration, gossiping, giving, and
consumerism. His discussion of the
current sex abuse scandal and cover up is enlightening. He deals with all of the current issues in
the Church today. His way of facing
these issues clearly shows the HOPE that we as Catholics are called to
have. Shaun ends his book with a section
on EVANGELIZATION: IT’S FOR EVERYONE. The
chapters in this section remind us of our calling as Catholics to share the
Good News that we have received. He
explains the “New Evangelization” and encourages us to reach out to those
around us, especially to our children.
I highly recommend that ALL Catholics read this book. The book covers serious subjects but is very
easy to read. It is informative as well
as interesting. It is a wealth of
information on the Catholic faith. This
book is not only for those who have just recently come in to the Church,
although it is great for them, but it is for all of us on our journey towards
Jesus in His Church. We can all benefit
from the explanations and the suggestions that Shaun makes in this book. As I write this, we are approaching the
LENTEN season. I highly suggest that
every Catholic get this book and read it and study it and live it out for
Lent. It might be the best thing that
you ever did for Lent.
WOMEN AND THE POWER OF GOD – by Deacon Marty McIndoe
In Genesis we read, “When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God; he created them male and female.” Even though we call God “Our Father”, and Jesus was a man, I believe that the true likeness of God cannot be seen by just looking at the masculine; nor can it be seen by just looking at the feminine. To truly see the image of God we must look at both the masculine nature and the feminine nature of humankind. Throughout the scriptures there are plenty of examples of both but there does seem to be preponderance of the masculine. Too often the women of scripture are in the background and don’t get the attention that they deserve. This is probably due to social and cultural partiality. I want to bring to the reader’s attention some of the women of Scripture that show God’s power at work. Since there are so many, this article will be in three parts. One, the women of the Hebrew Scriptures; Two, the women of the New Testament; and Three, women Saints of the Church.
PART I – POWERFUL WOMEN OF THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
EVE: In the creation
account, Eve is seen as the mother of the living. She is also seen as Adam’s companion and
helper. In Christian traditions, Eve is
the one who led Adam astray by sharing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge with
him. When God confronts Adam about his
disobedience he blames not only Eve for his transgression but also blames God
for giving him Eve. Eve in turn blames
the serpent for tempting her to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. While it is easy to think of Eve as being
weak because of this, we must remember that Eve had to be a strong woman. She, according to the Genesis account, was
the first mother. She had no one else to
be an example of what motherhood was all about.
She had no mother to show her how to take care of her children. She had no other women friends to help
support her. In the Genesis account she
was the only mother. It is in her that
humanity receives life. The Church
traditionally recognizes Eve as a Saint, along with Adam and celebrates their
feast day on December 24th.
SARAH: Sarah was the
wife of Abraham and is the first woman mentioned in scripture after Eve. She had to be a strong woman to accompany
Abraham on his long journey to the Promised Land. She also was a woman with a good sense of
humor. When God told Abraham that he and
Sarah would bare a son, even though they were a century old, Sarah
laughed. However, she also was a woman
of faith because she took God at His Word.
The letter to the Hebrews tells us that, “By faith even Sarah herself
received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she
considered Him faithful who had promised.”
Can you imagine how much strength she would have to have to bring up
children at her age?
SHIPHRAH AND PUAH:
These two women were Hebrew mid-wives in Egypt who were ordered by
Pharaoh to kill the newborn Jewish boys when they were born. Pharaoh felt that the Jewish people were
getting too strong and too powerful so he ordered the midwives to kill the baby
boys. Shiphrah and Puah knew the sanctity of life
and did not do this and lied to Pharaoh about it. They knew that their stand on life could cost
them their own life, but they were strong enough to follow their conscience. They are a great example to us of people who
hold life sacred and of people who can stand up to an evil government through
civil disobedience. Because of them,
many Jewish lives were saved, including Moses.
SOBEKNEFRU: Was the
daughter of the Pharaoh who had ordered the Hebrew children killed. She is the woman who found the baby Moses
floating in a basket. She had the
strength and courage to go against her father and raise Moses as her own
child. Fortunately, she used Moses real
mother, Jochebed as the nursemaid.
Jochebed must have had a lot of strength and love for her son Moses to
disobey Pharaoh and keep her son alive.
MAHLAH, NOAH, HOGLAH, MILCAH AND TIRZAH – THE FIVE DAUGHTER
OF ZELOPHEHAD: Zelophehad was a
descendent of Joseph who left Egypt with Moses and died in the wilderness. He had five daughters and no sons. Under the Jewish law only sons could inherit
the property of their father. The five
daughters of Zelophehad went to Moses and Eleazar and petitioned them to change
the law. Through divine intervention, God
told Moses to give the land to the daughters and to change the law so that if
there were no male offspring, the estate could go to the daughters who would
rightfully own it. Because of the vision
and persistence of these women, Jewish law was changed forever. They had the strength to stand up against the
established leaders and fight for equality.
God honored their fight.
TAMAR: Tamar was
married to Judah’s son, Er. Er was a
wicked man and died and Judah asked his other son Onan to provide offspring for
Tamar (a Levirate union) so that the family line would continue. Onan slept with Tamar but because he didn’t
want her to have a child, he kept “spilling his seed on the ground”. Onan was more interested in a larger share
of Judah’s estate, than continuing the Family line. Tamar knew that it was necessary for the
family line to continue so she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with
her father-in-law, Judah. He did not
recognize her. From that Union she
brought forth twin sons to continue the family line. The one son, Perez is an ancestor of Jesus. Even though Tamar’s action seems odd in today’s
world, Tamar received a great deal of respect from Judah for the bold thing
that she did. Not only was she strong
and bold to do this, but she was very bright to come up with a way to prove
that Judah was the father (read Genesis 38).
Because of her strength and cunning, the Davidic line continued on.
RAHAB: Rahab, who is
listed in the genealogy of Jesus, is a most unlikely person to be an
ancestor. First of all, she was not a
Jew but was a pagan Canaanite. Secondly,
she was a prostitute. Rahab lived in the
city of Jericho and when the Jewish people were ready to attack that city
Joshua sent in some spies. Rahab, was
quite intelligent, perceptive and well informed. She recognized the two Jewish spies and told
them that she had heard of their God and how He had set His people free from
the Egyptians. She told the spies that
all of the Canaanites were fearful of the Jews and their God. She even spoke a phrase of faith by saying, “For
the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below”. She told the spies that if they could spare
her and her family, she would help them.
Rahab went against her king and and her country and religion and she hid
the spies in her home. Because of this,
they were able to obtain tactical information.
The Jews conquered the city and spared Rahab and her family. Rahab later married a Jewish man and
continued the Davidic line to Jesus.
RUTH: During the time
of the Judges rule of Israel, there was a famine in the land. Elimelech and his wife Naomi left their home
in Bethlehem with their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion to go to the land of the
Moabites and escape the famine. They
were there several years and Elimelech died.
Both sons had married Moabite women.
Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion married Orpha. After about ten years both sons died and
Naomi decided to go back to her homeland.
She told both widowed daughters in laws to return to their families and
to remarry. Orpha did return to her
family, but Ruth decided to stay with Naomi and go back to Bethlehem. Ruth said to Naomi, “For wherever you go, I
will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and
your God my God.” Ruth went with Naomi
to Bethlehem. It must have been very
difficult for Ruth to leave her homeland and her family and to travel to an
unknown land. Her relationship to Naomi
and the witness of faith that Naomi provided gave her the strength to do go to
Bethlehem. There Ruth supported herself
and Naomi by gleaning in the fields of a man named Boaz. Boaz had heard of Ruth’s loyalty to her
mother in law and saw her great kindness.
He also saw her as a hard working woman.
Boaz was a close relative of Naomi’s deceased husband Elimelech. He bought the land that Elimelech had owned
and married Naomi. Together they had a
son named Obed and a grandson named Jesse who would be the father of King David.
HULDAH: Most of the
time when we think of Prophets, we think that they are all men. In the book of Kings, there is one female
Prophet named who was most important to the Jewish heritage. She was one of seven women prophets (Sarah,
Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail and Esther) mentioned in scripture. The scriptures tell us that Hidlah was a prophet
who the priests and royal officials would often consult. She could tell them of their fates and the
fates of surrounding nations. She spoke
stern commands to the leaders and was seen as someone who could determine if
writings were from God or not. When they
were rebuilding Solomon’s temple, a script was found and brought to Huldah to
determine if it was God’s Word. Huldah
declared that it was God’s Word and that the temple and people would suffer because
they had failed to follow it. She told
King Josiah that because of his repentance he would be spared. Her prophecies about destruction came
true. Huldah was a woman who could stand
up to anyone, commoner or king. She was
well respected for her gifts of discernment and was a woman who helped turn the
people back to God through repentance.
We can see that God chose these women, and many more
besides, to help continue the Line of David and to help bring people to
Him. Even in the Middle East several
thousand years ago, when women were seen as subservient to men, God used their
strength and their cunning and their faith to help build his Kingdom. This concludes Part I on the Hebrew
Scriptures (Old Testament). In a few
days we will take a look at Part II, Women of the New Testament.
1969: WITH GOD ALL
THINGS ARE POSSIBLE – by Deacon Marty McIndoe
1969 was a very special year of great accomplishments. Today, July 20th, we celebrate the
50th anniversary of man walking on the moon. That same year the New York Mets won the
World Series and Casey Stengel began calling them the “Miracle Mets”. In 1969 the huge Boeing 747 was first
introduced. The extremely fast French Concorde jet also debuted then. In 1969 the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am the
epitome of the American muscle car was introduced. The Woodstock Rock festival brought in an
estimated 350,000 to 500,000 people. In
October 1969 the first communication was sent over the ARPANET, the predecessor
to our INTERNET. And most
miraculously, the average cost of a house was under $5,000.00 and a brand new
Toyota Corona cost $1,950.00 and a gallon of gasoline was 35 cents. I personally had a lot of great achievements
that year. In 1969 I graduated from
college with a Bachelors degree in Scientific Management – Computer Science and
ten days later I married my beautiful wife Martha. Within three months of my marriage I enlisted
in the U.S. Army. All three of those
events changed my life for the better and I still reap the fruits of those
events.
1969 also had a lot of sad events. Members of a Cult let by Charles Manson
brutally killed five innocent people.
Senator Edward Kennedy had his Chappaquiddick Affair in 1969. That year an accidental explosion on the US
Enterprise killed 27 people. Abbey Road
would be the last album the Beatles would do together and 1969 became the last
year they toured together. During 1969
the Vietnam War continued to grow and the US began the Draft. In 1969 Richard Nixon became President of the
United States. The “Troubles” in
Northern Ireland escalated as British Troops used extreme force. In Mississippi, Hurricane Camille hit hard
killing 248 people. Australian light
aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne sliced the destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half
killing 82 of her crew. !969 became a
year of rising inflation worldwide.
Throughout the years good things happen as well as bad. It is just a fact of life. There is one good thing in 1969 that I would
like to look at. For the first time in
history, man was able to walk on the moon.
Apollo 11 was certainly a remarkable task. Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins and Neil Armstrong
took off in a ten foot by 12 foot 913 pound capsule made out of aluminum, steel
and titanium that was attached to a 363 foot tall Saturn V rocket. That rocket weighed over 6.5 million pounds
and had three stages. It was 58 feet
taller than the Statue of Liberty. The
Rocket carried the capsule as well as the Lunar Module. The Lunar Module could hold two people. Once they reached the moon, Mike Collins
remained in the capsule while Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong went to the
surface of the moon in the Lunar Module.
Neil Armstrong was the first man to set his foot upon the moon. He said, ”That’s one small step for man, one
giant leap for mankind.”
Just before the Lunar Module landed, there was some serious
concern. First the computers that were
to do the landing began acting up so they shut them down and decided to land
with manual controls. All of this used
up extra fuel and the low fuel light came on.
They were able to successfully land the Module. Many years later, when Armstrong was visiting
troops, one of the troops asked, “Mr. Armstrong, weren’t you nervous flying
over the moon with all those rocks and craters, knowing that you only had a few
seconds of fuel left?’ Armstrong
grinned at the young soldier. “Well,
young man, Everyone knows that when the fuel gauge says empty, there’s always a
gallon or two left at the bottom of the tank.”
I love to see the human spirit respond to such difficult tasks. The moon landing was a cooperative effort
that included over 400,000 people. Neil
Armstrong was right in saying that his step was small but mankind’s step was
huge. The whole world cheered the event
and the common cry was, “WE did it!”
What is really amazing is that we accomplished this mission
over 50 years ago. The on board
computer, which was state of the art at the time, is weaker than the computers
that we carry around in our pockets on our smart phones. I truly believe that man can accomplish great
things, through the help of God. Many
people in the Space program had a deep relationship to God and I am sure that
there were a lot of prayers for the mission.
The mission commander, Buzz Aldrin, described the mission as “part of
God’s eternal plan for man”. Aldrin
was an ordained Presbyterian elder and decided that he wanted to take communion
to the moon. When he first spoke to NASA
about this they were reluctant to allow it because Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the
famous Atheist, had brought a lawsuit against NASA for reading from the bible
during Apollo 8. But Aldrin insisted and
was given permission, but he was told to keep it quiet. He brought with him bread, wine and a small
chalice. He pulled out the Chalice and
bread and wine and announced over the radio, “This is the LM pilot. I would
like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and
wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the
past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.” He then silently read John 15:5, “I am the
vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much
fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”
After that he performed the Presbyterian ritual over the bread and wine.
It is interesting that Pope Paul VI was watching the lunar
landing from the Vatican Observatory going between the televised version and
the Observatory Telescope. He greeted
and blessed the astronauts in English: “Here,
from His Observatory at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, Pope Paul the Sixth is
speaking to you astronauts. Honour,
greetings and blessings to you, conquerors of the Moon, pale lamp of our nights
and (our) dreams! Bring to her, with your living presence, the voice of the
spirit, a hymn to God, our Creator and our Father. We are close to you, with our good wishes and
with our prayers. Together with the whole Catholic Church, Pope (Paul) the
Sixth salutes you.” The pope later met
the Apollo 11 astronauts and their wives at the Vatican.
Buzz Aldrin took a small part of the bible with him to the
moon. Later, in Apollo 12, the full
bible was brought there. Many people are
unaware of the faith of the people in this program. I personally feel that it is their faith and
prayers that made the mission successful.
As Buzz Aldrin read (from John 15:5), “I am the vine, you are the
branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you
can do nothing without me.”
This Olive Tree was planted by St. Pope John Paul II in 2000 on Mt Nebo at the beginning of a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands. This is where Moses looked over in to the Promised Land.
Happy National Arbor Day. There are so many ways that we can find God. So often people look at the beauty of nature and see God there. We know that our God is the Creator and to be quite frank, he did a wonderful job of creating the world we live in. Everywhere you look in nature you can find true beauty. The poet Joyce Kilmer, in her poem, “Trees” declares the beauty of the tree and ends her poem with, “Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.” Although man can make some beautiful structures, and some beautiful pictures and art, it all pales compares to what we find in God’s creation.
One of the most popular Saints in the Catholic Church is St. Francis of Assisi. He is known for his love of God’s creation, plant and animal. His songs of Praise of God always mention the beautiful pieces of creation. He even sees the close link between our creation as a human and the creation of plants and animals. To Francis, we are all brother and sister to one another. He knew that there is a strong link between all the plants and animals. Modern day scientists tell us that we need plants just to live. They give off Oxygen and take in Carbon Dioxide while we take in Oxygen and give off Carbon Dioxide. There is a real balance between all of the parts of creation.
The Catholic Church has seen this from even further back then St. Francis and has called for a special honoring of all of creation. In modern times, Pope Paul VI, who had a deep love for the outdoors and for all of creation, decided to do something. He knew that our modern society was helping to destroy the environment so in 1971 he published an apostolic letter entitled Octogesima Adveniens— “A Call to Action.” In the letter, he listed 11 new social problems that the Church should confront, including the environment. He wrote, “Man is suddenly becoming aware that by an ill-considered exploitation of nature he risks destroying it and becoming in his turn the victim of this degradation.” He even went on to address the United Nations Conference on the Environment in 1972. In 1991 the Conference of American Bishops issued a pastoral letter arguing that environmental ethics are an integral part of Catholic teaching.
Pope John Paul II, a year after being elected Pope, named St. Francis of Assisi the patron saint of ecologists. In 1990, he issued a statement where he warned that the Earth was in danger not just from a nuclear arms race, or regional conflicts, but also a “a lack of due respect for nature, by the plundering of natural resources and by a progressive decline in the quality of life.” He added that things like “industrial waste, the burning of fossil fuels, unrestricted deforestation, and the use of certain types of herbicides, coolants and propellants” all contributed to the degradation of the environment.
Arbor Day began back in 1872 in Nebraska where over one million trees were planted. Since then Arbor Day is to help remind us of the beauty of nature, as well as our responsibility to care for it. As Catholics, we are supposed to do our share in caring for the environment. Perhaps this year you might want to plant a tree, or better yet, plant an idea in others about the need to care for the beauty of God’s creation.
