Partial Birth Abortion Ban

California Catholic Bishops’ Statement on the Supreme Court Decision Upholding Ban on Partial Birth Abortions

SACRAMENTO – The California Bishops, gathered in their semi-annual conference in Sacramento, released the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 18, 2007 ruling Gonzales v. Carhart which upheld the constitutionality of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said “The government has a legitimate and substantial interest in preserving and promoting fetal life.” He also points out that the “government may use its voice and its regulatory authority to show its profound respect for the life within the woman” and acknowledges that “respect for human life finds an ultimate expression in the bond of love the mother has for her child.”

The U. S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Gonzales v. Carhart is an unqualified victory for life and for common sense. In such uncertain and troubled times, what a ray of hope this decision is for the nation and for all of us striving to promote respect for life, including life of the unborn.

It has been over 34 years since the U. S. Supreme Court created the constitutional right to abortion-on-demand, thereby invalidating all existing state laws which banned or curtailed the practice. In 2003, Congress passed an Act which banned the “partial-birth” abortion procedure resulting in lawsuits by abortion proponents challenging its constitutionality in the federal district courts. Although the ban was ruled unconstitutional in all the lower court decisions, the U. S. Supreme Court’s Gonzales v. Carhart reverses all of those decisions, and affirms the constitutionality of the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

As Bishops, we wholeheartedly welcome this significant decision which both reclaims the State’s legislative prerogative to regulate actions affecting the common good and restates our society’s interest in preserving life.

We grieve for all who have been hurt by abortion and hope and pray for the day when no woman will want, or feel that she needs, to make such a choice.

Chapel and Festival

Dear Parishioners,

There are a few practical matters I would like to address in this week’s letter.

Just before Holy Week you who are registered parishioners received an envelope which contained a letter, our Holy Week/Easter schedule, and a card with a return envelope. The card was made out so that you could update your family’s address, sacramental information, and other data. I wish to apologize to you over the fact that the card did not actually contain our current information on your family and so you were not informed as to what we currently have on file. Due to the need to move quickly to get this mailing out I failed to explain the nature of our request. Fortunately many of you have sent back the cards filled out with various changes so that we can more efficiently serve you. This will also help save postage and time here at the rectory office.

Regarding Sunday envelopes, if you have moved or have recently registered in the parish, it may take up to 2 ½ months before you receive envelopes by mail. Our office and the company that prints our envelopes need that much time to process changes in addresses. Thank you for being patient.

Please continue to be patient as we secure our Blessed Sacrament Chapel from possible vandalism. We have already installed some further security locks, and we are looking for a digital locking system for the outside door so that persons can enter with a special code.

Our Parish Festival of St. John the Baptist is set for June 23-24. We will have a novena of Masses with special guest homilists for this great event. As an aspect of stewardship I am asking you to seriously consider helping us with the festival. You can reach me through the rectory office or simply submit your name and number to me after Mass.

A blessed Easter season to all.

Holy Communion

Dear Parishioners,

Last week I presented certain guidelines for the reception of Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. As Catholics we welcome non-Catholics to worship with us, but we do not practice “open Communion” because we cannot deny the unfortunate but real differences that exist between our Church and other denominations, even those who are Christian. These differences involve important points of doctrine about the divinity of Jesus Christ and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, doctrines that we Catholics hold very firmly.

Today, I would like to recall some rules of etiquette that govern our worthy reception of Holy Communion. The best way to prepare to receive our Lord in Communion is by making a good Confession. As I mentioned last week, any Catholic conscious of grave sin is not to receive Communion without prior sacramental confession except for a grave reason where there is no opportunity for confession. In this case, the person must make an act of perfect contrition with the intention of confessing as soon as possible. Now, Sunday Mass is a grave obligation for Catholics. Therefore, if a person has missed Sunday Mass through his/her own fault, he/she is to go to confession before receiving Communion.

The Eucharistic fast is often misunderstood or forgotten by many. I often see persons chewing gum in church and then coming up to receive Communion. Remember, the gum has sugar and other things in it and therefore is a form of food The Church asks us to fast from food and drink for one hour before Communion. Water and medicine may be taken at any time. Persons who chew gum during Mass show a lack of respect for God’s house and the sacred mysteries celebrated here. In addition, they are breaking the Eucharistic fast. Please do not chew gum in church.

In the past we have explained the proper way to receive Communion. There are two ways to receive, on the tongue and in the hand. The preferred and simpler way is to receive on the tongue. This manner of reception has been the practice in our Church for many centuries until about 25 years ago.

Communion in the hand is a recent development. Permission was given to bishops conferences in certain countries, including the United States. At that time the correct way to receive Communion in the hand was explained. Here is how St. Cyril of Jerusalem explained it: In receiving the King, make your right hand a throne for your left.

See Figure Below. This illustrates the correct way to receive Communion in the hand. Again, it is a matter of reverence and respect due to Our Lord in this most Holy Sacrament.

A happy Easter season to you.

“The Lord is Risen, Alleluia!”

Dear Parishioners,

“The Lord is risen, alleluia!”

With the joy of the Easter season, I would like to extend best wishes to all of you and especially to our newly baptized and those who have completed their Christian initiation.

All of us are renewing our Baptismal promises at this time and we should renew our commitment to live more profoundly our faith, especially our faith in the Eucharist. Pope Benedict XVI’s recent Apostolic Exhortation “The Sacrament of Love” made clear that the Eucharist should be the center of our lives as Catholic Christians.

The reception of Holy Communion at Mass is a very special moment of encounter with Christ, who is truly present under the appearances of bread and wine. Here are some important guidelines to remember that I have taken from our American Bishops Conference.

In order to be properly disposed to receive Communion, Catholic participants should be free of grave sin and normally should have fasted for one hour. A Catholic who is conscious of grave sin is not to receive Communion without prior sacramental confession except for a grave reason where there is no opportunity for confession. In this case, the person must make an act of perfect contrition with the intention of confessing as soon as possible (Code of Canon Law #916).

Non-Catholics are welcome to pray with us at Mass; however non-Catholics are not to receive Communion. Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship, non-Catholics are not admitted to Holy Communion. The very word “communion” implies a full union of mind and assent to everything the Church teaches. Persons belonging to other Christian denominations and non-Christian religions do not share that fullness of unity that would permit them to receive Communion in our Church. Special conditions for receiving Communion apply to the Orthodox and other churches. Members of these churches should approach a priest before receiving Communion in our Church.

Next week I will explain some points of etiquette that govern our reception of Communion, including Communion on the tongue or in the hand.

May the risen Lord bless you and your families.

"Guest column" from St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (John 18: 10-12)

"Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. And the servant's name was Malchus." This is the only evangelist who has given us the very name of this servant, as Luke is the only one who tells us that the Lord touched his ear and healed him. Luke 22:51 The interpretation of Malchus is, one who is destined to reign. What, then, is signified by the ear that was cut off in the Lord's behalf, and healed by the Lord, but the renewed hearing that has been pruned of its oldness, that it may henceforth be in the newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter?

Romans 7:6 Who can doubt that he, who had such a thing done for him by Christ, was yet destined to reign with Christ? And his being found as a servant, pertains also to that oldness that genders to bondage, which is Agar. Galatians 4:24 But when healing came, liberty also was shadowed forth. Peter's deed, however, was disapproved of by the Lord, and He prevented Him from proceeding further by the words: "Put up your sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" For in such a deed that disciple only sought to defend his Master, without any thought of what it was intended to signify. And he had therefore to be exhorted to the exercise of patience, and the event itself to be recorded as an exercise of understanding. But when He says that the cup of suffering was given Him by the Father, we have precisely the same truth as that which was uttered by the apostle: "If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all." Romans 8:31-32 But the originator of this cup is also one with Him who drank it; and hence the same apostle likewise says, "Christ loved us, and gave Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet-smelling savor." Ephesians 5:2

"Then the cohort, and the tribune, and the officers of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound Him." They took Him to whom they had never found access: for He continued the day, while they remained as darkness; neither had they given heed to the words, "Come unto Him, and be enlightened." For had they so approached Him, they would have taken Him, not with their hands for the purpose of murder, but with their hearts for the purpose of a welcome reception. Now, however, when they laid hold of Him in this way, their distance from Him was vastly in creased: and they bound Him by whom they themselves ought rather to have been loosed. And perhaps there were those among them who then fastened their fetters on Christ, and yet were afterwards delivered by Him, and could say, "You have loosed my bonds."

The Saving Power of Christ

Dear Friends in Christ,

The last two weeks of Lent are here, and we are offering extra opportunities to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance. The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that Christ, the physician of our soul and body, instituted this sacrament because the new life that He gives us in Baptism can be weakened and even lost because of sin. Therefore, Christ wanted his Church to continue his work of healing and salvation by means of this sacrament.

The Church also obliges us to receive Holy Communion at least once a year during the Easter season (Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday) and the Compendium also reminds us that all Catholics who have reached the age of reason is bound to confess his or her mortal sins at least once a year. Most people usually confess before Easter or shortly thereafter in order to fulfill their Easter duty of receiving Holy Communion.

Now I would like to add here that I hope that people confess and receive Communion
more often than once a year. These sacraments of mercy and love are so valuable for our relationship with God that we should make use of them regularly. In the past century Our Lord’s message to St. Faustina Kowalska underlined the importance of seeking His Mercy. For this reason our late holy father John Paul II instituted the feast of Divine Mercy for the Second Sunday of Easter. This feast is traditionally preceded by a novena of prayers and intercessions which begins on Good Friday.

We will pray this novena in our church beginning on Good Friday, April 6 and ending on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 15. Each day prayers will be offered for different classes of persons who need God’s mercy. On the last day, April 15 we will conclude with exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and a veneration of the relic of St.Faustina. Our Lord revealed to St. Faustina: “I will grant a complete pardon to the souls who will go to confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My Mercy”(Diary of St. Faustina, #1109). It seems to me that a person could go to confession a week before the feast and receive Communion on the feast and still fulfill these requirements. I encourage all to join in the celebration of the Novena and closing rites of Divine Mercy.

The covered images in our sanctuary remind us of the proximity of the Passion and Death of the Lord. May these outward signs also inspire in us a change of heart that leads to true reconciliation so that we might celebrate Easter renewed in spirit.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Hildebrand

Easter

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today I would like to give you some explanation of the Easter Vigil,
which we will celebrate here in our church on April 7 with all three of our language groups present. There is a great tradition in our Catholic Church regarding this vigil. Here is a short history.

“This vigil opened with the blessing of the new fire, the lighting of lamps and candles and of the paschal candle. St. Cyril of Jerusalem spoke of this night that was as bright as day, and Constantine the Great added unprecedented splendor to its brilliancy by a profusion of lamps and enormous torches, so that not only basilicas, but private houses,streets, and public squares were resplendent with the light that was symbolic of the Risen Christ. The assembled faithful gave themselves up to common prayer, the singing of psalms and hymns, and the reading of the Scriptures commentated by the bishop or priests. The vigil of Easter was especially devoted to the baptism of catechumens who, in the more important churches, were very numerous. On the Holy Saturday following the deposition of St. John Chrysostom from the See of Constantinople, there were 3000 catechumens in this church alone. Such numbers were, of course, only encountered in large cities; nevertheless, as Holy Saturday and the vigil of Pentecost were the only days on which baptism was administered, even in smaller churches there was always a goodly number of catechumens. Rabanus Maurus, an ecclesiastical writer of the ninth century (De cleric. Instit., II, 28), gives a detailed account of the ceremony of Holy Saturday. The congregation remained silent in the church awaiting the dawn of the Resurrection, joining at intervals in psalmody and chant and listening to the reading of the lessons. These rites were identical with those in the primitive Church and were solemnized at the same hours.”

Today, the Easter Vigil takes place after dark on Holy Saturday night much like it did inthe times of St. Cyril and Rabanus Maurus. The rites celebrated also reflect those earlier times. The vigil is divided into four parts:

1. Service of Light during which the Paschal Candle is lit and we walk
in procession into the church singing “Christ, our Light!”

2. Liturgy of the Word, which includes Biblical readings from both
Old and New Testaments that recount the history of salvation.

3. Liturgy of Baptism, during which our catechumens will be baptized
and confirmed and we will renew our baptismal promises.

4. Liturgy of the Eucharist, at which Christ our Paschal Victim offers
Himself to the Father and gives Himself to us in the first celebration of Easter.

May the Lord bless you during this Lenten Season.

Pope You Tube Video

Incentives for PSA Phase 2

DVD and CD rom will soon be available to donors who make pledges of $2000 or $1000.

Retreat and Vacation

Retreat and Vacation

Next week, Aug. 7-12, I will be on retreat. The following 2 weeks I will be on vacation. See you all on August 27.

If you're interested in a good Catholic bookstore check out this site.

www.crusadestores.com