FREE Catholic Men's Webinar
This Sunday, Joe McClane from The Catholic Hack! (www.catholichack.com) will be hosting a FREE Catholic Men’s Webinar. Please check out this webinar on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 @ 5 pm central at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/catholichack. This online men’s conference will include Fr Phillip Chavez and Joshua LeBlanc (from Catholic Underground). Please take advantage of this great opportunity.
Check out more details on Joe’s website, www.catholichack.com, or by clicking HERE.
Man up!
Being Great At What You Do
My father-in-law is great at what he does. He loves what he does. He eats, sleeps, breaths and talks about what he does. In his case, what he does and who he is really equal up. (That’s not usually the case in people.) I want to take a few words and honor his dedication to what he does and to how faithfully, fervently and excitedly he does it.
My father-in-law, Gary, is the Director of Catholic Music at the Air Force Academy. I have the privilege of working with him on the Catholic staff at the Academy and I know, firsthand, that he is incredibly dedicated to his portion of our ministry. See, what Gary does is he puts his passion to work for the Lord and he doesn’t hold anything back. Sunday was a great example of that when he showed his mastery of fine choral music with a concert by the Catholic Cadet Choir, Men in Blaque (a men’s vocal group from the Univ of California, Irvine), In the Stairwell (a men’s a capella group from USAFA) and the Cadet Orchestra. The concert was a resounding success and Gary is at the heart of that success. Yes, the voices and instruments make it, but he put his heart and soul into the logistics, planning, timing, musicianship and professionalism of the concert. To that, a job well done Gary!
My point with this today is that we should all be putting our passion to work for the Lord. Find what it is that God created you to do and do it, fervently and with joy! For Him! If more men would live out their passions in life, we’d all be better off.
Man up!
Evangelization Linebacker Follow-Up…
Yesterday I posted a hilarious video, the “Evangelization Linebacker”; check out the post so you know what I’m referencing today. So, for some folks, in your face evangelization-tactics work. For most, it pushes others away. Therefore, you can’t be “blowin’ people up” and expecting them to “come with you” on the journey. It’s imperative that you create a relationship with the other person and allow them time to gain trust in you. Once trust is gained, respect usually falls in place and then you gain moral authority with them; moral authority allows you to speak the Truth to open and willing ears. If you don’t have trust, respect or authority, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle. [Always remember, respect is received ONLY AFTER respect has been given.]
Gaining the trust comes from meeting people where they are. If it’s young people, you have to get in their lives and meet them in their element. For me, with the cadets, I spend as much time with them doing fun, social stuff as possible so they can see that I’m normal and easy to talk to. Once they come to fun stuff, they’re more likely to join us for religious education stuff and then to start joining us for Mass regularly. Once that happens, they are willing and capable of listening to the Truth of Jesus. We can’t expect people to immediately change their ways and “get it”. It takes time, and usually, some pushing, challenging and proding.
Most of the time, it’s scary for a person to step out and evangelize, but the Linebacker’s got it right… we’ve got to share our faith. You need to do it the specific/unique way God created you to do it. And always, without fail, you must back up your words with your actions. I’ve written about this a lot, but it requires LOVE and LOVE is a verb. Go and live Love!
Something, besides fear, that holds people back is their lack of knowledge and/or readiness. Lots of people think that they aren’t ready because they don’t have enough knowledge, experience or time as a Christ-follower. You’ve got to start somewhere, so today’s the day. Go out and, even in little ways, be an example of Christ to the world.
Wanna know more? Email me at proveritasspeakers@gmail.com.
Man up!
Evangelism Linebacker
Maybe tomorrow I’ll blog about a few ways that you can evangelize without “blowin’ people up!”. But today, check this out…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvYFvhx1dcY]
Man up!
The People Only Make Up The Church…
The people only make up the Church, they don’t make it. Truth makes the Church. I have two examples in two days of people missing the boat on what “the Church” is all about. First example: I just watched a video of a pastor who spoke complete blasphemy about what the Church does. He said something like “the church is one of the biggest hindrances to conversion.” Obviously, this pastor is from a church that is wishy-washy and not centered in truth. (It appeared, from the video to be an amphi-theatre style mega-church where laser lights and smoke machines play the role of sacramentals.) His church, most likely, is centered on “whatever feels good” and “whatever it takes to “save” someone”. It’s sad, really. He’s missing the boat.
He told this story about a pastor who was fear-mongoring people into not having sex. The young lady that he took with him (a young, single mother in an extra-marital affair) wasn’t ready to hear that message, so this pastor was essentially blaming the Church for this poorly-delivered message, that most likely was “off” when it comes to sound doctrine. He’s aligning everything that one or more individuals may do with the Church as a whole and totally missing the point. See, Christ set up the Church to spread the Love of the Father, the Truth. He set it up to bring people to the Father, not to push them away from it. We grow closer to God through the Church.
Second example: yesterday, I was talking with a woman who said to me “I was raised Catholic, but I don’t go anymore. Is that bad?, it’s bad, isn’t it? I don’t like going because of all the hypocrisy… I’d see people there on Sunday and then they’d be talking bad about people the rest of the week.” This lady went on and on about it being “bad” that she doesn’t go any more. Then, she said to me “I used to like Fr. S0-and-So because his sermons were good. Once he left, I haven’t been back. Is that bad?” I said to her, the people only make up the Church, they don’t make it. If the people inside the Church are bad, it doesn’t mean that the Church is bad. You should go, give it a try again. It was very obvious to me that this lady doesn’t know what the Eucharist is.
It’s frustrating when people make condemning judgments (especially when they are made out of ignorance) like this that really affect the lives of others. In the first case, the pastor is going to have to answer for his blasphemy and how he led many people astray. The lady is going to have to answer for leading her kids astray, as well as herself. If you are reading this and understand what I’m saying, you realize that it’s a big responsibility to be a servant of the Lord. What are you saying or doing that may lead others closer to Christ? What are you saying or doing that make lead others away from Christ?
Man up!
Latest BK Commercial
I can’t believe this commercial. Burger King is trying to sell food because it contains a Sponge Bob Square Pants image… they’ve taken distasteful to a whole new level. Or should I say dis-tasteless? – (I’m not a fan of BK’s food regardless of this commercial.) Watch it and see what you think.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gMZ62PsvRM]
The thing that gets me is this… with all the “booty” and sexual references throughout the video, the commercial is supposed to be selling KID’S MEALS! Can you believe this mess?
Yuck.
Man up!
Not-a-Catholic (Dame) University
Although I have some cousins that went to Notre Dame and frequently watch Irish football on NBC, I don’t have any direct ties to the school. I’ve been seeing plenty of traffic in emails, on Facebook and through the news about ND’s choice to have Obama visit and present the commencement speech in May. Lots of stink has been made about ND being a “Catholic” institution and how appalled people are at their decision(s). I heard it best from a fellow Catholic on Facebook: “Why is everyone getting upset now, after years of anti-Catholic behavior at Notre Dame? They haven’t been Catholic for a long time.” Just putting the title “Catholic” on something doesn’t make it, or any individual, actually Catholic. Being Catholic means that you profess, uphold and defend the True Teachings of the Church. [Ironically, their mascot appears to be “fighting”, but they haven’t fought to uphold Catholicism for years. I feel bad for actual Catholics that go there that have to deal with this.]
I came across this letter that backs me up on this… Thanks Bishop…
Reverend and dear Father Jenkins,
Permit me to add my name as well to the long list of Bishops of the Catholic Church who are utterly appalled at your dedication to immorality and wrong-doing represented by your support for the obscenity called “The Vagina Monologues” and your absolute indifference to the murderous abortion program and beliefs of this President of the United States.
The fact that you have some sort of past connection with the State of Nebraska makes it all the more painful that the Catholic people here have to see your betrayal of the moral teachings of the Catholic Church.
I can assure you of my prayers for your conversion, and for the conversion of your formerly Catholic University. I am,
Sincerely yours in Christ Jesus,
The Most Reverend Fabian W. Bruskewitz
Bishop of Lincoln
Man up!
