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News and Notes WHY CONSCIENCE IS IMPORTANT During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Americans shone the light of the Gospel on a dark history of slavery, segregation, and racial bigotry. The civil rights movement was an essentially religious movement, a call to awaken consciences. In his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. boldly said, “The goal of America is freedom.” As a Christian pastor, he argued that to call America to the full measure of that freedom was the specific contribution Christians are obliged to make. He rooted his legal and constitutional arguments about justice in the long Christian tradition: “I would agree with Saint Augustine that ‘An unjust law is no law at all.’… A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.” Some unjust laws impose such injustices on individuals and organizations that disobeying the laws may be justified. Every effort must be made to repeal them. When fundamental human goods, such as the right of conscience, are at stake, we may need to witness to the truth by resisting the law and incurring its penalties. The church does not ask for special treatment, simply the rights of religious freedom for all citizens. Rev. King also explained that the church is neither the master nor the servant of the state, but its conscience, guide, and critic. Catholics and many other Americans have strongly criticized the recent Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate requiring almost all private health plans to cover contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs. For the first time in our history, the federal government will force religious institutions to fund and facilitate coverage of a drug or procedure contrary to their moral teaching, and purport to define which religious institutions are “religious enough” to merit an exemption. This is a matter of whether religious people and institutions may be forced by the government to provide such coverage even when it violates our consciences. What we ask is nothing more than the right to follow our consciences as we live out our teaching. This right is not only about our ability to go to Mass on Sunday or pray the Rosary at home. It is about whether we can make our contribution to the common good of all Americans. Can we do the good works our faith calls us to do, without having to compromise that very same faith? Without religious liberty properly understood, all Americans suffer, deprived of the essential contribution in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and social services that religious Americans make every day. What is at stake is whether America will continue to have a free, creative, and robust civil society—or whether the state alone will determine who gets to contribute to the common good, and how they get to do it. USCCB Nationwide Bulletin Insert June 2012 What can you do to ensure the protection of conscience rights?
•
The U.S.
Bishops have called us to get informed, pray and advocate. To send your message
to HHS and Congress telling them to uphold religious liberty and conscience
rights, go to
www.usccb.org/conscience
• The Bishops have called for a Fortnight for Freedom - June 21-July 4, 2012. Please go to www.fortnight4freedom.org for more information on this important time of prayer and action!
President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500 (202) 456 - 1111
Senator John Cornyn 5001 Spring Valley Road Suite 1125 E Dallas, TX 75244 (972) 239 - 1310
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson 10440 N. Central Expressway Suite 1160 Dallas, TX 75231 (214) 361 - 35000
Congressman Joe Barton 6001 West Ronald Reagan Memorial Highway, Suite 200 Arlington, TX 76017 (817) 543 - 1000
Free Ministry to traveling Catholics. For Nationwide Mass Times And Locations: Call 1- 410-676-6000 or visit www.masstimes.org
Communion for Shut-Ins - If you have a friend or loved one who needs communion brought to their home or other place of residence due to health reasons please call the Parish Office at 817-460-2751. We have parishioners who are trained and ready to respond to this need
1910 - Centennial - 2010 249 W. Thornhill Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76115. From I-35, go west on Seminary Drive, then south on Town Center Drive. The new campus is straight ahead on West Thornhill Drive. Contact Kristy Brown at 817-413-3924 or kbrown@ccdofw.org or visit their website at Catholic Charities for more information.
MSGR. NEU grave marker installed - Msgr. Neu, our pastor from April 1981 to 1996, was honored with a marker at his grave site at St. Peter's Church in Lindsay on the occasion of his 60th anniversary of Ordination (May 30th, 1951). Lindsay is located next to Gainesville, TX which is a short day trip north of Arlington on Interstate 35W. The Church in Lindsay is a large parish built in the 1900's with a school, gym and parish hall. Msgr. Neu's gravesite is located at the south side of the Church Cemetery, just across the field from the football stadium for the Lindsay ISD. Take the road on the South side of the cemetery until you come to a small family Chapel built by the Neu family. Some of our members have already visited the site and from all accounts, St. Peter's Church and St. Mary's Church in nearby Muenster are two old German churches worth the tour.
E Everyone is invited to join this 1. Praying and fasting for an end to abortion during the 40 days 2. Join the peaceful prayer vigil during the Campaign at Planned Parenthood at 301 S. Henderson, in Ft. Worth (Park along Adams Street and stand only on the sidewalk on Daggett Street across from Planned Parenthood). Spread the word to others about this important life-saving effort. You may also visit www.40daysforlifeftworth.com or email 40daysforlifeftworth@gmail.com to sign up for a shift. CLOSING RALLY is regularly scheduled and details can be found by following the links above. In 2001, by the 27th day of the campaign, 361 abortion- minded mothers changed their minds as a result of seeing the 40 Days of Life prayer volunteers! Reports came in from all over this country as well as from England, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Canada and Australia about the positive effects of the campaign. The Forty Days For Life and other Pro Life efforts are responsible for a 8351 decrease in abortions for years 2009 - 2010.
Paper Recycling at MBS - Wondering what to do with all those paper products that are piling up? Recycle them at MBS and help reduce the waste at our landfill, while benefiting our parish financially.We accept:• Newspapers• Magazines• Catalogs• Mail• Envelopes. The recycling bin is located on the south side of the building. www.paperretriever.com
Childhood Discovery Center at Most Blessed Sacrament Church -
Open registration begins in
March for our Childhood Discovery Center's Summer, Fall & Enriched sessions. The
summer session generally is scheduled the last week of June through the last
week of July with no classes the week of July 4.
St. Maria Goretti Catholic School - They offer an educational opportunity for students that develop their maximum potential - mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically. A few openings are available in grades Pre-K, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th. You may call the school office at 817-275-5081 to learn more about the school or to schedule a tour.
The Diocese of Fort Worth's Pope John
Paul II Institute School of Lay Ministry is accepting registrations
of first year students. Parishioners who want intensive training in
lay ministry and current lay ministers who desire updated training
may contact Fr. Carmen Mele, O.P., at the Catholic Center
(817-560-3300, email
cmele@fwdioc.org). Complete
information and an application are also available on the diocesan
webpage at
http://www.fwdioc.org/catechesis/pjp2_institute/school_lay_min/Pages/default.aspx
Most Blessed Sacrament is joining with every parish in the Fort Worth Diocese in support of the All Things Possible Campaign. The Diocese of Fort Worth web site, www.fwdioc.org , explains this enormous effort. Go to the Most Blessed Sacrament Church All Things Possible Campaign link for more details.
Go to USCCB Health Care Reform website USCCB
USCCB
Most Blessed Sacrament Church is participating in the WHY CATHOLIC? program sponsored by the Diocese of Fort Worth. All members of our parish are invited and encouraged to visit the above web sites and watch for more details in our weekly bulletins or go to our Why Catholic? link. Pass the word on to your parish group and to your friends and family.
Ulster Project - Attention Teens Ages 14-16 - The Ulster Project was formed to help young Catholic and Protestant potential leaders from Northern Ireland become peacemakers by providing a safe environment where they can actively work together to heal the differences that divide them. Each July, Catholic and Protestant teenagers from Northern Ireland are hosted by American families with teens of the same age, gender, and faith. Together, the teens participate in activities that are designed help them build strong bonds and learn new ways to address prejudices and stereotypes. After returning to Northern Ireland, these teens typically maintain strong friendships, and their influence extends to their peer groups and extended families there. As a result of the Ulster Project and similar programs, violence in Northern Ireland has diminished in recent years. The Ulster Project continues to strive to make a difference by helping to foster a depth of reconciliation and understanding that will lead to real and lasting peace. For information, contact Ken Simon at President@upatx.com, or visit the Ulster Project Arlington website: www.upatx.com
A distribution hub for Meals on Wheels is currently operating from Most Blessed Sacrament Church . If you would like to volunteer to separate, pack and hand out the meals to the drivers or drive one of four routes planned in our vicinity to deliver the meals each day, or would like to be a substitute, please call Sylvia Davis at 817-261-3110 or Jan Arnold at Meals on Wheels in the mornings at 817-277-3705 for the current needs and for more information.
Partners in Ministry and Spirituality is a division of Ministries Outreach affiliated with the Catholic Renewal Center. Searching for God in our lives - the "new" old story: finding the Spirit of God in Jesus, in prayer, the Scriptures, the Sacraments, the revelations today, and the community of the church. "PIMS" meets one Saturday a month, 8:45 am - 3:00 pm, from August through March at St. Andrew's Pastoral Center, 3312 Dryden Drive, Fort Worth. There is an overnight retreat held in April. Facilitators are Sisters Kay Kolb and Pat Miller, SSND, along with Ray and Christy Szempruch. For more information, call 940-382-3594 or email ministry643@yahoo.com. You may also contact Joe Camperson at 817-470-4037 for more information.
The
Knights of Columbus are still collecting cell phones and ink jet
cartridges for recycling with proceeds going to support the Fort
Worth Diocese Seminarians.
Child Abuse Prevention
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