In our world today —perhaps in our own lives — there are times it seems that not too much “good news” exists.
We hear of war and natural disasters around the globe. At home, we may be afraid as we face a loved one’s illness, or financial difficulties.
In those moments, we call to mind the angel’s announcement that first Christmas, taking comfort in the message of God’s love, as it supports us every day through life’s challenges.
With Christmas festivities underway and family gatherings abounding, Christ’s birth is any Christian’s central focus.
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| Olivia Knier |
Surely this focus has brought about some thought on the Blessed Virgin’s important role in the Christ Child’s life.
The simple, yet difficult role she held in His time can hardly be paralleled with such a fast-paced culture as ours is today, can it?
With the role of women in society changing rapidly, it’s easy to lose sight of where women should stand. Involvement of a woman in society today is different from that of Jesus’ time, but still centers around the same characteristic: primary focus of service to the family.
During World War II near London, on Christmas morning, some lonely American soldiers looked for a Mass to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
As they searched, they discovered an old gray stone building. Carved over the door were the words, “Queen Anne’s Orphanage.” They knocked and a matron came to the door. She explained that the children were orphans whose parents had been killed in bombing raids.
The soldiers went inside as the children tumbled happily out of bed and hurried into the gray guest room. There were no Christmas trees, crib, or presents.
A key argument in the embryonic stem cell debate — widely invoked by scientists, patient advocacy groups, and politicians —
involves the fate of frozen embryos.
Barack Obama put it this way in 2008: “If we are going to discard those embryos, and we know there is potential research that could lead to curing debilitating diseases — Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease — if that possibility presents itself, then I think that we should, in a careful way, go ahead and pursue that research.”
The head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, embraced this same line of reasoning by
Anyone familiar with the recent election campaign or with the “reader comments” that accompany editorials and news articles knows that civility is often the first casualty in debates today.
Nearly anyone who makes a public argument finds his intelligence questioned, his motives impugned, or his basic decency assaulted. Some critics will even doubt the patriotism or Americanism of their opponents. Others call their opponents bigots or racists.
When I look at the pictures taken last year on Christmas Eve, they bring tears to my eyes and a smile on my lips.
Our family gathered as usual: eight of the 10 children and 12 grandchildren and great-grands who live in the area, not in Grandma’s house or Aunt Krissy’s, but at Countryside Nursing Home in Jefferson. Since Grandpa couldn’t join us, we joined him in the beautiful parlor with its huge fireplace and Christmas tree.
“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His great love endures forever.”
With these famous words from the Book of Psalms, we joyfully announce the ordinations to the priesthood of Jesus Christ of two of our transitional deacons.
On October 11, 2010, the day the U.S. celebrates Columbus Day, the Shepherd Center, a 132-bed spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation hospital and clinical research center in Atlanta, Ga., participated in an experiment for restoring sensation to people with spinal cord injuries.
They cooperated with Geron Corporation, a California based firm
Q:Why are parishes required to eventually convert to ParishSOFT and QuickBooks? We like our current program.
A: Parishes are currently using dozens of different software programs. Each program has different fields and different reports and it’s like we’re speaking different languages between us. It’s very important for all the parishes in the diocese to be using the same programs so the data is predictable and consistent. For instance, coding a parishioner as Active in one parish does not mean the same thing to another but our goal is that in the future, it will. We need to speak the same language with the data and terms so we both can use it to communicate with parishioners.
Our state Constitution provides that officials elected in November take office on the first Monday of the following January. That gives them eight weeks to prepare for their new duties.
Two months may seem like a long time to get ready for most jobs, but if you are governor-elect, that time will go by all too quickly.
During this eight-week period, the governor-elect must do the following:
