Adoration Chapel's Holiday Schedule

Dear Adorers,

The following schedule will be followed for Christmas:

Tabernacle panels will be closed from 4 PM on Dec. 24 to 6 PM on Dec. 25 due to the Mass schedule in the church.

Questions? Email us at adoration@sjboc.org

Appreciation and Thanks

Dear Friends in Christ,

As we approach the end of 2007, I would like to show my appreciation to various groups in the parish who work very hard to make St. John the Baptist Church the great worshiping community that it is. First, I must thank the priests who collaborate with me:

Fr. Norbert, Fr. Philip, Fr. Pascal, and Fr. Luke.

They are brother priests, confreres, and a great support in ministry. May the Lord reward them for their service. Next I would like to recognize a group of lay persons who are members of the Liturgy Committee:

• Bob Grant - Music
• Edgar Rojo - Extraordinary Ministers
• Jay Smith - Ushers
• Arnis Dela Cusack- Youth and Confirmation
• Zomy Herman - Environment
• Maryann Ngo - Vietnamese Community/ Environment
• Santiago Loera - Spanish Community/Music
• Dean Dobkins - Lectors
  

These persons help in planning parish liturgies, especially those that involve larger celebrations in 3 languages. They have helped plan our Thanksgiving Day Mass, Easter Vigil, and Corpus Christi Mass and Procession. I am grateful to them for the time and talent they have shared for the benefit of our community. With 25 Masses celebrated here weekly, there is much to keep them busy.

Do you have a talent or interest to share? Is it music? We have a wonderful parish choir. Is it teaching? We have an excellent Religious Education program with fine young students eager to learn. Even if you don’t teach, you could be a classroom aide. Those who are active in the parish make friends and find fulfillment. We also have an altar society to care for our altar and linens. Those interested in the Bible should attend our Wednesday Bible study, which could lead to a ministry as lector. There are many other groups and ministries in our parish that offer opportunities for service and personal enrichment. Finally, there is our Perpetual Adoration. This is a blessing waiting to happen to you! Those of you who have already signed up to spend an hour with the Lord know how He has blessed you. I invite others to join us.

Have a blessed week.

Fr. Hildebrand

The Golden Compass and Catholicism

Dear Friends in Christ,

It is the duty of the pastor to protect his flock from any dangers that threaten. It is in that spirit that I write to you about the recently released movie, The Golden Compass. The promoters of this movie are marketing it as a children’s film and have cleverly chosen the Christmas season for its release because it is based on a trilogy of “children’s” novels by Philip Pullman, a professed atheist from England. While the movie appears to promote ethical values, it openly ridicules Christianity. Many Catholic and other Christian organizations have come out against this movie because it opposes all organized religion.

The hope of the producers is that people will see the movie and then buy the three book series for children as Christmas gifts. Even atheist societies are somewhat critical of the movie because it doesn’t go as far as the book does in bashing Christians. That is what makes this so dangerous. The movie is a wolf-in-sheep’s clothing because it clothes its anti-religious message as a children’s fantasy tale. You may think that this is just another children’s movie like the Chronicles of Narnia, but Phillip Pullman has gone on record that he dislikes C.S. Lewis. Not only that, he openly states that his purpose in writing the trilogy “His Dark Materials” is to kill the idea of God in the minds of children. We can only hope that the mixed reviews the movie has already received will be enough to limit its audience.

You who are parents should read the reviews of this movie. A very informative website is www.snopes.com. It is not Catholic or Christian, but it simply an informative website that investigates urban legends to find out whether they’re true or not. They have extensive information on The Golden Compass. Philip Pullman’s claim that all organized religion is evil is not fair. While everyone would admit that organized religion includes individuals who commit terrible crimes, we are not thereby permitted to conclude that organized religion is itself evil. That our Church has had its share of first class sinners is proven by history (and even by contemporary events). However, the presence of sinners in the Church is not a proof of her illegitimacy as a divine institution. Even St. Paul admitted that he was a sinner, and so are we all. The Church’s legitimacy (and the legitimacy of Christianity as a whole) is derived from the holiness of her divine Founder, our Lord Jesus Christ. He came to this earth and was born to save man kind from sin. That some choose to reject His way and follow the path of evil is a sign of their free will. God does not force anyone to love Him. He wants us to make that choice freely.

Pullman’s writing shows that he does not understand the constitution of the Church. He makes a caricature of the Church and sets that up as the evil force that crushes people’s freedom. But his sense of absolute freedom from moral norms sounds like the freedom St. Peter warns against when he says, “Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil” (I Peter 2, 16).

Happy Advent,

Fr. Hildebrand

Advent 2007

Dear Friends in Christ,

The season of Advent begins a new year of grace for God’s people. Grace is a free gift from God, not something God owes us for good deeds or good behavior. Nevertheless, the good works that God inspires in us can gain us his grace because of our union with Jesus in Baptism. “Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God’s gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace… making us ‘co-heirs’ with Christ and worthy of obtaining ‘the promised inheritance of eternal life.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2009)

Of the different ways that we can merit God’s grace, the corporal works of mercy deserve special mention during this season of giving. Among these works are feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless. During this season some of our parishioners are serving at the Armory in Santa Ana or helping at S.O.S. (Save Our Selves) or other charitable works. When we serve our brothers and sisters in need we know that we are serving Christ Himself because He identifies with the hungry, the homeless, and all those in need.

During this holy season of Advent we remember that Jesus came among us in the poverty of the stable 2000 years ago. He will come again at an unknown time in glory to judge all people. Let
us make it our aim to receive Christ when He comes today in the poor and the outcast. Thus we will make this season a time of grace and salvation with a joy beyond our expectations.

Sincerely,

Fr. Hildbebrand