The 3 Simultaneous Popes & Links in the Chain

Did you know that at one time there were 3 different men who were considered the pope at the same time?  I sure didn't...until today!  Today's class was quite interesting!  The chapter in our book covered a TON of information, and a lot of it was hard to decipher, but we made it through thanks to Dale!  :)  

But we learned a lot, as I said.  So let me mention the 3 popes.  Benedict IX, Gregory VI, and Sylvester II.  Benedict IX was a 20 year old pope who decided that he didn't want to be pope anymore because he wanted to get married, so he SOLD the papacy to John Gratian, who became Gregory VI.  This would be called simony, and it went on quite a bit during this time period.  Well, the people didn't particularly like that this happened so they took it upon themselves to elect a pope, Sylvester II.  THEN, Benedict IX decided that he wanted to be pope AGAIN, so he re-appointed himself.  (Isn't it something what a little power and the loss of it will do to people!?!?!)  So now, there were 3 popes.  To resolve this, Gregory VI, who was the "true" pope decided that he would hold a council to settle this silliness.  To make a long story short, he ended up resigning and Benedict IX was returned to power.  I don't know about you, but I sure would not have wanted to live during this time!

Now to our 2nd part of the class...the links in the chain.  Wondering what that is?  Well, think about this first.  Do we really, truly trust God to handle everything in our lives for us?  I know that there are plenty of times that I've said, "Not now, God.  I can handle this."  But was I able to?  I can't recall a single time that I was able to handle something fully on my own and have it go exactly like I wanted it to.  It's kind of like that saying, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."  Also, think about this...how often do we judge people?  Even if we don't think we are, we are all judgmental at times.  Did you ever see a homeless person and think, "He's probably just a drunk and will take any money I give him and spend it on liquor" or see a person who you can tell doesn't have much money and think, "Well, they are probably just too lazy to get a job."  Now, did you ever think that those thoughts are judgmental?  We all just think them to ourselves and never think about the fact that God still knows we are judging.  We ALL do this!  We don't necessarily do it intentionally, but we still do it.  Humans, by our sinful nature, are independent, judgmental creatures.  So how does this relate to links in a chain?  The weaker a link is in a chain, the more likely the chain is to break eventually.  We are all links in the chain of the Catholic Church and the chain of Christianity.  If we choose not to let God handle every part of our lives or if we choose to judge everyone, we make that chain weaker because we become weak or broken links.  We must become spiritually connected to who we are as Catholic Christians.

To tie this in with our lesson, the Catholic Church is a 2,000 year old chain FULL of links.  Some are weak, but the strong ones have outnumbered the weak ones for 2,000 years, and that is why she has lasted and stood strong throughout this time.  So, do you want to be a weak or a strong link in that 2,000 year old chain?  I think I want to strive to be that strong link.  What do you think?

I hope you all are enjoying the blog.  And remember, if you'd like to make a comment, please go here to the blog's site (champsofhope.blogspot.com) and make a comment.  That way everyone can see them, not just me! 

Have a great week!

Prayer Requests, Other Business, Etc.

Hey everyone. We had a great class today, even though the attendance was slim. I know everyone is busy with Memorial Day so it was expected today. We missed everyone! Here are a couple of prayer requests for this week.

• Stephanie Geibel
• Adam (Geni & Wayne's son-in-law, right?) is in Afghanistan.
• Geni (hoping to get the gift shop manager's position)
• Patsy's sister who recently lost her son
• And I'd like to add Robbie Favazza who will be ordained June 6 and then will be at our parish as assistant priest (yay!) and also for Fr. Kirk & Fr. Carroll who have been doing a great job, too!

Also, don't forget to bring the money for the sisters' bedspreads to class next Sunday!

Have a great week!

Don't Quit

I was cleaning out my e-mail "saved" folder tonight and I came across a meditation that Dale wrote almost exactly one year ago when he was at the Cancer Treatment Center of America.  It touched me then, and it still touches me now.  So for those of you who didn't get the Livin' a Dream meditations a year ago, I wanted to share this with you.  Sometimes everyone needs a little uplifting, and I think this will do the trick!  So for this blog post, I'm giving Dale the full credit.  I hope this touches you as it did me.

This is a special meditation for me, the last three days I have been at The Cancer Treatment Center of America in Zion, IL seeking hope and inspiration for continued good health. While there as it usually happens I met people that were struggling with their own diagnosis, and prognosis. I wanted desperately to reach out and let them know that we are all united in this battle, and Christ will offer comfort to those who seek it. While searching for something uplifting to write about I came across a poem called Don’t Quit, and it became clear that, that was the message I was to convey this week.

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit
Life is queer with its twist and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out,
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow
Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit

God has a plan for each of us. Never give up the fight, the hope, the dream, remember that today holds a special gift, and tomorrow a brighter light, and Christ our lord is with us through the fight.
Lord you are my rock and my salvation. Grant me peace, wisdom, and courage to live according to your will.
In your holy name


AMEN

Thank you, Dale, for your wonderful insight and leadership! We love you!!!

Christendom, the barbarians, and Pope St. Gregory the Great

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J.M.J

The first question asked in our class discussions was "What is Christendom?"  Is it just the Christian world? Is it just the hierarchy?  What is it?  It is really easily defined, actually.  Christendom is when the Church, the political parts of the empire, and the social parts of the empire were joined together.  During this time is also when the papacy begin to gain political power which lasted to 1870.  

During this time you also had groups such as the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths, the Vandals, the Franks, and I could go on and on.  These groups were considered the barbarians, or non-Romans.  These groups would go into the cities in the Roman empire and pillage for goods and even sometimes kill the citizens.  In fact, this is where the word "vandalize" comes from!

So what about the papacy during this time of vandalization and even murder?  The "stand-out" figure in the papacy during this time was Pope St. Gregory the Great.  He was the first pope to have true political power and the first one to make the Bishop of Rome a head of state in a sense.  Gregory the Great also somewhat helped form the papacy into what it is today.  He said that the popes were servants of the servants of God, or in other words, the popes serve the people of God (the Church).  He also began the practice of private penance in place of the way it was previously done, which was in public.  So, truly, Pope Gregory was definitely deserving of the title of Great!

Also covered in this chapter was St. Benedict and the monks, especially the Irish monks.  Have you ever given thought to what Christianity would be like if we had never had the monasteries?  To be honest, it wouldn't even be close to what we have today.  The monks, especially the Irish, were missionaries to so many places that had pagan worship.  They were scribes and able to copy the Scriptures down for churches to use.  And they created a way of life that we all sometimes strive for.  

The Benedictines especially gave us a Rule to live by--Balance, Moderation, & Reason.  If we have these things in our life, we will be even closer to God.  We live and work in a secular world that causes us to be out of balance and to constantly be competing with each other in materialistic things.  This, in turn, causes us to lose reason in our lives.  So what would life be like if we were able to balance everything, have everything in moderation, and to know the reason for living?  It would be wonderful!  

Some great points were made in today's discussion.  Often we are told to give 10% to God.  Roughly 10% of our time each week would be about 17 hours.  It was mentioned that most of us probably don't give anywhere near this much to God.  But what if we did?  Think about how much better your life is when you spend even just one hour in prayer?  I don't know about you but I know that I feel so much better when I have spent some time in prayer.  Today's gospel tells us that God is Love.  So why don't we try to strive for that, too?  Why don't we give to God before we do anything else?  The reason for life is God and Love.  So here's my challenge to ALL of us this week.   Try to spend some time with God--at home, at Mass, ANYWHERE! If you drive a lot, why not pray while you're driving?  If you work at a desk and you have a little free time, get on the Internet and go to a website like EWTN and read the daily readings or read some prayers.  Another couple of great websites for those of you who work at a desk and at a place that doesn't mind you having religious things on your computer and such are 2 Hearts Network, which has Catholic wallpaper for your computer, and Virtual Rosary, which is a website where you can download the rosary to your computer desktop.  Those are some easy ways to spend more time with God.

I hope you all enjoy reading this blog and that you get something out of it each week.  Have a blessed week, and I'll see you Sunday!

Prayer Requests, Other Business, Etc.

What a great class today!!  We had several prayer requests today:  

• We need to continue to pray for Stephanie, Dale, Patsy Cole (who's cancer has spread to her brain) and all those who battle with cancer
• Also, Mary Ann's great granddaughter is hoping to get a cornea transplant and is in the hospital
• Also remember the family of Cara Allen who passed away recently
• Geni & Wayne wanted to send a prayer of thanks for their son who passed his tests and is now a paramedic (yay!)
• Finally, I ask that you remember all the high school and college graduates who are having commencement exercises and starting a new life.  Many schools have already had graduation; Chester County's is tomorrow night.  So, please remember these students as they begin a new part of their lives.

We didn't have much business today, but we want to remember that we are going to sponsor a child to send to the Area Relief Ministries Camp this summer.  It costs $200 and Patsy will be getting us more information soon.  Also, next week remember to bring money to help buy the bedspreads for the sisters' new convent.  Each bedspread costs $80 (they need 9) and each Sunday school class is hoping to pitch in to help them buy these.  Finally, lets try to be thinking of what we can do this summer to keep meeting even though the school will be closed.  James Allison recommended meeting a different houses and that is a great idea.  If Sunday morning is too hard to do something like that because of interfering with Mass, maybe we could try Sunday afternoon or even a day or evening during the week.  Another thing I thought of was to maybe have a cookout either at someone's house or if everyone was willing to drive to Henderson, we might be able to use the big pavilion at Chickasaw, too.  It is something to think about, so let me know if you have any other ideas.

I hope you all have a great week and I'll see you Sunday!

Angels & Demons

Most of you remember Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code that came out not too long ago.  It claimed that Jesus had a wife and descendants, which is something most Christians (including Catholics) don't believe in.  While a really good work of FICTION, and an apparently entertaining movie, it still shook the Church and other Christians alike.  I know of many people that took it seriously, and it made them really question their faith.  

Well, tomorrow (5/15) Dan Brown's Angels & Demons comes to the big screen.  To quote the Wikipedia, the book "revolves around the quest of fictional Harvard University symbologist Robert Langdon to uncover the mysteries of a secret society called the Illuminati and to unravel a plot to annihilate Vatican City using destructive antimatter. The book uses the idea of a historical conflict between science and religion, particularly that between the Illuminati and the Roman Catholic Church." 

So I just wanted to caution anyone that might go see this movie, read the book, or encounter someone who challenges your Catholic faith.  Just be prepared!  Remember that it is a work of FICTION and that it is just entertainment.  I've already had people question me about the movie and the Church's stance.  

I know the members of our class won't take it as reality, but I wanted to throw this post out there for anyone who reads the blog that might not be strong in his or her faith, or that might not be Catholic.  I read the book before I became Catholic and found it to be just as entertaining as his other books, but I had to keep in mind that it was fiction.  The portrayal of the Church did bother me when reading the book, even though I wasn't Catholic yet, or even thinking about it!

Here is a link to the Catholic Bishops' review of it.  They had a pretty positive review and believe that the movie ends with a pretty good portrayal of the Church today.  I hope that it does.  Here is a short quote of what they said regarding it:

Highly improbable but mindlessly entertaining sequel to “The Da Vinci Code” - adapted from Dan Brown’s prequel written in 2000 -- in which religious symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) and a scientist (Ayelet Zurer) join forces with a church official (Ewan McGregor) to try to prevent the destruction of the Vatican and the murder of a quartet of kidnapped cardinals by following a trail of clues left across Rome by the secretive Illuminati cult of anti-Catholic intellectuals. Though director Ron Howard has toned down some of the book’s most egregious elements, the historical church is still portrayed as a relentless and at times violent foe of science, but the film ends on a positive note from a faith perspective and the final image of the Church is relatively positive. L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (PG-13) 2009

Reading their review, it sounds like it might not attack the Church bad at all, but you never know.  I do know that the Vatican would NOT let them film inside the walls, so that speaks volumes in my book.   In fact the full review from the USCCB says at the end:  "So see it if you must, for its thriller aspects, or for its highly picturesque Catholic trappings. But seek the truth elsewhere."

Just some of my opinions!!  See you all Sunday!

Prayer Requests, Other Business, Etc.

Hey, everyone!  I'm so sorry that it has been so long since I've posted a blog.  I've been really stressed with getting the students through finals this week, getting research papers graded, and getting my own final done, too!  But, I'm finally done and only 3 more days to go!!  

We had a few prayer requests this week:

• Patsy asked that we pray for her family...her nephew was murdered during a robbery in Memphis.  He was only 22 years old, I believe
• Also, as always, we continue to lift up prayers for Stephanie, Dale, and everyone who has had cancer touch their families
• Also, remember the family of the lady at Dale's work who took her life when she found out she was laid off.
• I ask that you remember all my students and the other students who will be graduating this year (probably in the next couple of days).  It seems like something always happens as far as drunk driving and things are concerned around this time.  Just keep them in your prayers!
• Finally, please pray for me and a few of my students who will be traveling to a color guard clinic on Saturday, that we arrive there and back home safely and that no one is injured during the clinic.  Believe me, it hurts to get hit with a flag or rifle that they toss!! :)

As far as business goes, don't forget about our Open House on Sunday!! We want a full class!!  :)  

Also, we need to think about sponsoring a child for the Area Relief Ministries camp this summer.  It is $200 to send a child to camp.  Patsy is going to get some more info for us.  This would be a GREAT thing for us to do!

I hope that I have not missed any announcements of prayer requests this week.  It's been a crazy week for me!  I hope everyone has a great weekend, and I'll see you Sunday!

-Kristy

St. Augustine

For those of you who missed my riveting lesson (just kidding) on St. Augustine, here are some things you might find interesting.

Augustine was quite an interesting character, to say the least!  Born in Thagaste, Africa, to a Christian mother (St. Monica) and a non-Christian father, he did not immediately become a Christian.  He was a very smart man, and while he was attending school in Carthage, he met a girl and they eventually had a child, who was named Adeodatus.  For 15 years, Augustine stayed with this girl.  

Augustine went through many changes and changed his beliefs many, many times.  Finally, due to the fervent prayers of his mother, Monica, he converted to Christianity.  His conversion experience was sealed when he heard a voice cry out to him saying, "Take up and read!"  He then read one of Paul's letters that showed him the error of his ways.  Augustine was baptized on Holy Saturday in 387 by Bishop Ambrose.  He then became the Bishop of Hippo until his death.

That was just a short few facts about St. Augustine.  Hopefully you learned a little something!  I hope everyone has a great weekend, and I'll see you Sunday!

New Forums!!!!

At the request of several class members, I have set up a forum for us to use!!!  You can find it by following this link:  Champions of Hope Catholic Forums.  And the actual link is http://champsofhope.forumotion.com in case you need that.  I have also added a link to it on the right side of the blog right under where I put the pictures.  You do have to register to post.  I didn't register everyone simply because you pick your own password, user name, etc. so I thought everyone would want to do that.  If you would like me to register you, email me and I will do so.  you can change your password to something you will remember once I register you.

The forums are set up into four categories:  Catholic Life, Apologetics, Liturgy & Sacraments, and The News.  Those are divided into sub-forums.  All you do once you register is to click on a category, then click on a sub-forum, then click "New Topic".  You should be set to go!

Also, please spread the word in the parish and the community about the forum. I have made it a general Catholic discussion forum so I think it would be of interest to many.  

Prayer Requests, Other Business, Etc.

Hello, everyone!  I sincerely apologize for not doing a good job posting new blogs and things this week.  I've been extremely stressed at school with finals coming up, but I promise I'm going to get back on track!  

We had a great and very productive class this week.  Here are some of our prayer requests for this week:

• Sickness in the community & parish:  Continue to pray for Stephanie Geibel and her chemotherapy, Patsy Turner's mother who has cancer, Steve Perkins who also has cancer, the Tousant (sp?) family, & Cara Allen (sp?)
• Also, we tend to forget to pray for our facilitator, Dale Childress, who has battled cancer and who continues to lead us and take an active part in the parish with a HUGE smile on his face all the time!  We love you, Dale!
• Also, let's please pray for Father Kirk.  He is such a wonderful and holy man who gives so much more than he receives.  I know I can speak for everyone when I say how much he means to everyone in our parish.  Please keep him in your prayers.
• Also, Lela's daughter recently lost her job, so please keep her in your prayers.
• Also, I ask that you please pray for my dad's church, Milledgeville United Methodist Church, where he is the pastor.  Some of you know about the ordeal over the man trying to claim their parking lot, tearing down the wall surrounding it, and so much more.  He has also now done something almost indescribably sacrilegious....he has placed a cross inside a toilet with toilet seats surrounding it with a "for sale" sign in front of it next to the church's parking lot.  It is a horrible sight!  WBBJ is doing a follow-up story to their original piece regarding the lawsuit over the parking lot because they found out about the cross he put up.  They are going to film a segment tomorrow (Saturday) at the church.  Please keep them in your prayers, as I fear that this could turn quite ugly and the man who is doing all of this could possibly turn violent as well.

I hope that takes care of the prayer requests for this week.  If I have forgotten anyone, please let me know; it was not intentional!

Now for some business...

• We discussed Sunday that we are going to try to eat together at the next Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast.  Dave is going to check about this to make sure.
• Also, we are discussing setting up a phone call committee to contact members, prospective members, etc.  If you are interested, please email me at kds786@mac.com
• Also, there are talks of having a Sunday School Open House after Mother's day in order to invite the entire parish to see what Sunday School is all about.
• Plus, what would we like to do to recruit some members?  Think of some ideas.
• Also, when you get the emails that have the new blog posts on them, please don't reply to that email because it doesn't always work.  It was set up to just get the posts out there to you.  If you need to contact me personally, just email me at kds786@mac.com.  If you would like to comment on the blog post itself, come to the blog and under the blog you want to comment on, you will see something that says "0 comments" or will have a number and then the word "comments".  Click there and you can comment on the post.  I will try to get a hard copy of the blog and give it to you all on Sunday so you can see what I'm talking about.  
• And finally, don't forget that this is OUR class!! We can arrange it and do it any way we want to!  I've been thinking of having get-togethers during the summer so we wouldn't forget each other.  What do you think?