Earth Day the Catholic Way: Things You Can Do at Home

The Catholic Climate Covenant calls for all of us to care for the poor and God's creation.  The poor get hit first and hardest when creation is polluted or when climate change worsens.

What can you do?  Check out these concrete, practical tips for the whole family:
http://catholicclimatecovenant.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/What-You-Can-Do.pdf

· Turn off lights and unplug appliances when you leave the room.
· Unplug your cell phone as soon as it is charged.
· Replace incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient bulbs.
· Turn off water when shaving, brushing your teeth and take shorter showering.
· Ride a bike, walk, carpool, or use public transportation whenever possible.
· Use biodegradable soap, shampoos.
· Buy Fair Trade coffee, tea and chocolate
· Reduce use of disposable products by using reusable containers; if you must buy disposable, buy paper or glass products instead of plastic.
· Bring reusable cloth bags when shopping instead of disposable plastic bags.
· Buy local, and/or organic food, and purchase recycled products whenever possible.
· Organize an environmental awareness day at your parish or school.
· Plant a garden and start a compost pile.
· Eat less meat: the UN concludes that “the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems"
· Dry your clothes outdoors when possible and use the dryer less.

Learn more about the St. Francis Pledge at: http://catholicclimatecovenant.org/

The Ruth Institute promotes and protects marriage

The Ruth Institute is a nice resource for promoting and protecting marriage.  They have a nice, multi-media website (blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc).  They seem to be an interfaith group but a quick surf through their pages showed me they are in concert with Roman Catholic teaching on marriage.

Website:
http://www.ruthinstitute.org/index.html

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/TheRuthInstitute?sk=wall

YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/RuthInstitute

Father Barron's weekly homily is awesome

Ready for a joyful, insightful, enthusiastic, well crafted homily on the weekly Sunday Bible readings?

You're in luck: Father Barron has a podcast for you:

http://www.wordonfire.org/WOF-Radio/Sermons.aspx

I found Father Barron's sermons easily on iTunes under the title:

"Word on Fire Sermons"

Also available online, video, blog, etc., from his Word on Fire ministry website:

http://www.wordonfire.org/

Please write your Congressperson

Write Congress re:
Respect for Rights of Conscience Act:
http://actions.nchla.org/link/target/nchla/5yfycFN8.aspx

I just wrote my Senators to express disappointment that they voted to table this Act.

Please all Catholic voters: write in -- they can't ignore millions of us! Thanks!

Priests for Life Call for Your Prayers for Life

Fr. Frank Pavone (www.priestsforlife.org) says: "Abortion will end when local communities say it will end -- no sooner, and no later. We have the power to stop abortion, even while it remains legal. Now is the time to mobilize, sustained by prayer. Women and men who have lost children to abortion need to hear the witness of others who have experienced that pain and have found healing. 40 Days for Life is an opportunity for a local community to hear that witness. " 

To learn how you can participate in 40 Days for Life in the San Francisco Bay Area, go to: http://40daysforlife.com/sanfrancisco/

To participate nation-wide, go to: http://40daysforlife.com/

Please write your Representative today

Please write your Representative today (takes < 2 minutes).

http://www.capwiz.com/cacatholic/issues/?style=D

Our Bishops have 3 action alerts today for pending legislation on: protection of conscience, fighting human trafficking, sentencing of minors. The Bishops' website explains the legislation and the Church stance on the moral issue involved.

Please write your Senators now!

Write to your Senators at:
http://actions.nchla.org/link/target/nchla/598B7GRR.aspx


The National Committee for a Human Life Amendment sent this Action Alert:

On Thursday, March 1, the Senate is expected to vote on Sen. Blunt’s (R-MO) Respect for Rights of Conscience Act in the form of an amendment to the Transportation Authorization Bill. That amendment, also sponsored by Sen. Blunt, is Amendment 1520.

Senators should be urged to support the passage of Amendment 1520. This vote is expected to be very close. Especially if you have not yet contacted your Senators on the need to support the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, please act today! Please click on the link below to send a message.

Last August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a list of “preventive services for women” to be mandated in almost all private health plans under the new health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The mandated services include sterilization, all FDA-approved birth control (such as the IUD, Depo-Provera, ‘morning-after’ pills, and the abortion-inducing drug Ella), and “education and counseling” to promote these among all “women of reproductive capacity.” HHS’s rule allowed only a very narrow exemption for a “religious employer.” Catholic organizations providing education, health care and charitable services to all in need could not qualify for the exemption.

On February 10, despite a storm of protest, President Obama adopted this policy as a final rule “without change.” Religious organizations that cannot qualify for the exemption will have an extra year to comply; but before the end of that period, an additional rule will be issued to make sure that their employees receive the mandated coverage despite the employer’s objection.

The Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179, S. 1467) will ensure that those who participate in the health care system “retain the right to provide, purchase, or enroll in health coverage that is consistent with their religious beliefs and moral convictions.”

Thanks for all you do in support of life!

Michael Taylor
Executive Director

U Need uCatholic

Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI said “the Church and its message [must] continue to be present in the great aeropagus of social communication..." and uCatholic answered the call.

uCatholic features Catholic news, a daily catechism lesson, hymns, apologetics, Catholic studies and a list of the linage of 266 Popes, starting with Peter whom Jesus called the Rock upon which He would build his church, all the way to the present Pope Benedict XVI.   You get info on the saint of the day, the daily readings, videos, prayers and more. 

Stop on by uCatholic frequently to get your daily dose of  "Catholic Traditions in the Modern World"

You can also Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter 

Your Guide to a Catholic Lent

What is Lent? Lent is the forty-day liturgical season of fasting, special prayer and almsgiving in preparation for Easter. The name "Lent" is from the Middle English Lenten and Anglo-Saxon Lenten, meaning spring; its more primitive ecclesiastical name was the "forty days," tessaracoste in Greek. The number "forty" is first noted in the Canons of Nicaea (A.D. 325), likely in imitation of Jesus' fast in the desert before His public ministry (with Old Testament precedent in Moses and Elijah). By the fourth century, in most of the West, it referred to six days' fast per week of six weeks (Sundays were excluded); in the seventh century the days from Ash Wednesday through the First Sunday were added to make the number forty.

Follow these link to a comprehensive look at the disciplines of Lent:
http://www.hitechcatholic.com/2012/02/your-guide-to-lent-which-begins-next.html

• Stations of the Cross
• What almsgiving really means
• What are you doing for Lent this year?
• Fasting and abstinence
• Bless me, Father, for I have sinned...
• Families can make Lenten memories • Pretzels: A Lenten treat
• 10 tips for making the season more meaningful
• The story behind Passion Plays
• Lenten prayers and devotions
• 2012 Lenten message from Pope Benedict XVI

Pope on Justice, Life, Truth.

“America first proclaimed its independence on the basis of self-evident moral truths. America will remain a beacon of freedom for the world as long as it stands by those moral truths which are the very heart of its historical experience.  And so America: If you want peace, work for justice. If you want justice, defend life. It you want life, embrace the truth, the truth revealed by God."  \

-- Pope John Paul II, St. Louis, Missouri, January 1999

Stations of the Cross Around the World with Catholic Relief Services: Station 2 Jesus Carries the Cross

The Stations of the Cross Around the World with Catholic Relief Services (CRS). 
Station 2 Jesus carries the cross.  In rural El Salvador, women and children walk for hours each day to the river to retrieve and carry water that will be used for cooking, bathing and drinking.  When CRS helped build a well in rural El Salvador, 130 families in El Pedregal gained access to clean water in their homes.
http://orb.crs.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ORB-2012-Stations-of-the-Cross.pdf

Catholic Social Teaching: RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.
We must take responsibility to protect the rights of all people. These rights include the right to life, food, water, shelter, education, and employment, along with political and cultural rights.

Challenge for Lent: Work on Becoming a Decent Human Being

A friend just shared this article with me.  I read it carefully and thoughtfully, and think this is a valuable message for any disciple of Jesus Christ.

http://www.sojo.net/blogs/2011/12/27/bait-and-switch-contemporary-christianity

On a business trip this past week, I gave up my aisle seat and took a middle seat so that a mother and her little girl could sit together. Why?  Because as a Roman Catholic, I must value the family, I must value little children, I must do little tiny sacrifices to make someone else's day go better.  As the article says, it was a tiny step towards becoming a more "decent human being". 

I think I'll make this my goal to work on during Lent, while, of course, not neglecting the Sacraments and prayer.

Catholic Relief Services has Stations of the Cross for Lent 2012

http://orb.crs.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/ORB-2012-Stations-of-the-Cross.pdf

Catholic Relief Services has a nice Stations of the Cross handout for Lent 2012.  Each Station is linked to an injustice around the world, what CRS is doing about it (and you, too, through your donations and prayers), and what Catholic Social Teaching says about it.

Here is the first Station as an example:

The Stations of the Cross

station 1 Jesus is condemned
In Madagascar, the majority of the population live in rural areas and work as subsistence
farmers. Ineffective farming techniques, limited sanitation systems and frequent droughts
have condemned more than half of the population to live below the poverty line.

catholic social teaching: CARE FOR GOD’S CREATION
We are called to be good stewards of what has been entrusted to us. Through protecting
the environment in which we live, we respect the goodness of nature, a gift God has given.

Catholic Relief Services has worked with the Malagasy people to improve farming methods
and foster environmental sustainability in rural communities throughout the country.

The High Tech Catholic Blog is getting better and better!

Brought to you by St. Michael Parish in Livermore, California, we are searching the Cyber Universe to bring you excellent Catholic content on the Internet, iTunes, smartphone apps, blogs, podcasts and more!  A big thank you to the editor in chief, Tina!

Website:
http://www.hitechcatholic.com/

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/hitechcatholic

Do you only have music on that iPod?  You're missing out!

Have a smartphone?  Any Catholic apps on it?  Well, how about iMissal, iRosary and the entire Holy Bible?  Check it out!  Most apps are free!

Archbishop Niederauer to Protest Deportation, Breaking Up Families

On Saturday, January 28, Archbishop Niederauer and bishops from the Bay Area will call on Gov. Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris to stop the separation of families and to end SCOMM.  SCOMM (“Secure Communities”) is separating families by deporting thousands of people each year in California.

Read more at: http://lupitanews.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/immigration-reform-action/

I have thought a lot about this. Yes, it is wrong for people to enter American illegally.  But is it right to grab a husband and father, and suddenly deport him, leaving his wife and children behind?  To be separated for years?  With the whole family struggling financially?  That is not right either. Hence, the US Bishops continuing call for Immigration Reform to find a solution that is morally acceptable.

January is also Poverty Awareness Month

Because compassion for those who are poor and vulnerable was a central part of Jesus' mission, the USCCB's PovertyUSA Campaign seeks to broaden the general understanding of and concern for people living in poverty in America. The Campaign strives to engage as many people as possible in our shared responsibility to care for those who are in need. Help shed light on the seriousness of poverty in America and find ways to do something about it by joining the Poverty Awareness Facebook Event in January. Click on this link and join today!

Go check out the event on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/events/235829976489571/