Lake County Ohio Weal

  A Flourishing Apostolic Church “It’s simply a letter about how we can draw closer to Christ, and there is no controversy in that,” Bishop Malesic said. “Let’s just pray 15 minutes a day; join a small group; invite your Catholic neighbors and friends together to have a cup of coffee and talk about ‘Why are you Catholic?’; ‘How can you become a disciple of Jesus?’  I think these are the basic things.”  I invite every Catholic in the Diocese of Cleveland to read this pastoral letter in its entirety, as I have written it with each of you in mind. Make notes and underline your copy of the letter; Consider reading it more than just once. then, meet with some other Catholics who have read this letter and discuss it in a small group. Over the next year I would like this letter to be at the forefront of conversations around the diocese.  OVERVIEW OF LETTER AND POST Underlines Sketches Overview      Part I: The Paschal Mystery We Catholic Christians first...

Can we in the United States, specifically in Lake County, learn anything from the lives of the first Christian hermits who lived in the deserts of the Middle East?  Almost a third of the households in Lake County are single person: 17.1% are female, 14.1% are male.  Can these households develop and share spiritualities that are more appropriate to themselves than to the remaining groups?  Households Persons HOUSEHOLD TYPE # % # % Single Person Female 17580 17.7 17580 7.6% Single Person Male 13905 14 13905 6.0% Married Persons 46086 46.4 Cohabiting Persons 7449 7.5 Female without Spouse 9932 10 Male without Spouse 4370 4.4 TOTAL 99324 ...

One of the many delights of responding to the bishop's letter has been the discovery that both Merton's original Seeds of Contemplation and its revision New Seeds of Contemplation are available on the internet as pdfs. That means that now on any electronic device they are instantly available from this post. Moreover, on a laptop computer with a monitor attached on can place them on separate screens for comparison.  The pdf pages numbers are different from the original book page numbers in case one has the original books. However, they are both out of print. In the following excerpts I have made Merton's language more inclusive and indicated where he changed SEEDS in NEW SEEDS,   In the additional material added below in NEW SEEDs Merton adopts the "we" style that I use in rereading SEEDS. The "man" language in the original is nota reflection of male language as in the Latin word (vir) rather it is a reflection of the Latin (homo) and Greek (anthropos) i...

  MY COMMENTS ARE IN BOXES No other document, whether from the Pope, or the American Bishops, or any diocese or any parish has been as relevant to my life as this letter. It indeed seems as if the bishop has written it personally just for me. Why is that?   How can that be? First, the bishop asks us to do simple basic things . He asks us to read the letter carefully as something meant for us personally.   He asks us to begin talking about it with others.   He asks us to devote fifteen minutes a day to improving our relationship with God. He asks us to find a social network where we can share the story of our lives and discover support for our concrete unique missions of service in the world.   Second, the bishop recognizes the dignity and worth of each person and the value of personal initiatives. He suggests we personalize the letter by underlining it and making notes. He wants the letter to facilitate our conversations...

 Moving Forward on Any Project in a Contemplative Manner Using Fifteen Minutes A Day In his Pastoral Letter, A Flourishing Apostolic Church, the bishop encourages each of us io deepen our friendship with God by spending at least fifteen minutes of day in whatever form of prayer we find most conducive. My blog, Saint Gabriel Hours encourage everyone to use virtual resources for the Hours at least fifteen minutes a day to discern the place of the Hours in their live  One of my graduate mentors, Robert Boice, wrote a book Advice to Young Faculty members demonstrating from his research that is young faculty member who spent small amounts of time regularly in writing, preparing lectures, or interacting with their fellow faculty members were more likely publish, be successful teaching, and get the approval of their colleges. Setting aside large amounts of time did not work as well. Boice collected a number of principles to guide faculty members in how to use small amounts of time on...

  Rank in Importance in first column   Rank in Being Well done in second column     Difference:   Minus Indicates Deficiency; Plus indicates better than importance 1 21 -20 Masses that are prayerful, reverent and spiritually moving 2 18 -16 The parish as a supportive, caring community 3 8 -5 Promotion of respect for human life 4 19 -15 The parish exhibiting a spirit of warmth and hospitality 5 7 -2 Religious education for children 6 24 -18 New members of the parish are welcomed 7 29 -22   Parish leadership that listens to the concerns of parishioners 8 17 -9 Support for families who have experienced death 9 1 8 A church large enough for worship 10 15 -5 Outreach to the poor 11 16 -5 Ease in obtaining help and answer when calling the parish 12 2 10 Well-maintained parish facilities and grounds 13 3 10   Easy access to the church and facilities for the physically disabled 14 13 1 Attention to the spiritual and sacramental needs of the sick& shut-in 1...