Fr. Mike inspires capacity crowd for John Paul II Center event

Crowds poured into the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Phoenix on March 21 for a chance to listen to Catholic podcaster Fr. Mike Schmitz, known globally for his blockbuster “Bible in a Year” podcast.

Fr. Schmitz was on hand to deliver the keynote address at the Witness to Hope gala, the annual fundraiser for the Diocese of Phoenix’s John Paul II Center for Theology of the Body.

Michael Villanueva, coordinator of the center, welcomed guests as a video that featured footage of Pope St. John Paul II played on large screens at the front of the sold-out ballroom.

“Theology of the Body is the key to understanding the burning questions of the human heart,” Villanueva said in the voiceover of the video. “The world needs men and women to be missionaries of the Good News about love, sex, marriage and the human body. We need Theology of the Body to spread like wildfire.”

As Fr. Schmitz acknowledged in remarks that alternated between humorous and theological, a lot of people have learned about the groundbreaking teaching of Pope St. John Paul II, but not many are able to articulate what exactly it is.

For the next 60 minutes, Fr. Schmitz set about explaining the basics. As the director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth as well as the chaplain for the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, he’s had years of experience working with young people and expounding upon the Church’s teaching on marriage and human dignity.

“God is good and He made this world and you good and on purpose,” Fr. Schmitz said. “You are not an accident.”

Pope St. John Paul II wanted to discover what it means to be human, Fr. Schmitz said. In the process, he developed what has come to be known as the Theology of the Body which he shared with the world through a series of 129 lectures he gave during his Wednesday audiences from 1979-1984.

The teachings have had a major impact on the way the Church thinks and teaches about marriage and human sexuality.

The late pontiff, Fr. Schmitz explained, asked himself “why we find it so difficult to love the person we love the most.” Those who are married are called to love their spouses the way God does.

Fr. Schmitz earned plenty of laughter with this line: “You guys, it’s so easy. God isn’t saying pack all your stuff up sell it move to Calcutta … just love the person you love the most. Simple.”

In his hour-long address, Fr. Schmitz broke down the basics of Theology of the Body, beginning in the Garden of Eden.

Though God created Adam and Eve and made them good, “sin broke the world,” Fr. Schmitz said. And there were consequences, as God told them.

The pain that women experience in childbirth is not a curse inflicted by God, but a remedy, Fr. Schmitz explained. This child that you love so much is “going to cost you something. You’re going to have to learn that love always involves sacrifice.”

For men, earning their bread by the sweat of their brow is similarly not a curse. It is sacrificial love that motivates a man to toil in support of his family, often in difficult or unpleasant circumstances.

As Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden, God clothed them in leather garments, meaning that animals gave their skin to become leather.

“Here is God who clothes His children to say, ‘I love you but from now on, love involves sacrifice. In order to love you something has to die,’” Fr. Schmitz said.

In his remarks to the gathering, Bishop John Dolan, noted that “when we focus on Theology of the Body, we recognize that Jesus did not give himself to us spiritually. He gave himself to us physically.”

During his prayer for those gathered, Bishop Dolan pointed again to Theology of the Body: “Everything about our God-made-man is for us. Help us never to lose sight of that … help us to celebrate the goodness of Your life in our life…. help us learn what it means to be witnesses of hope.”

One notable aspect of the yearly fundraiser is the bestowal of the Witness to Hope award upon a person who has provided “exceptional Christian witness and extraordinary contributions to the evangelization of culture,” the evening’s written program stated. This year’s recipient was Fr. Schmitz.

Laurie and Ron Giery, who relocated to the Diocese of Phoenix a few weeks ago, read about the Witness to Hope celebration in their new parish bulletin and decided to attend. They are huge fans of Fr. Mike they said but didn’t know anything about Theology of the Body.

“He has changed our lives in such an amazing way, Laurie said, pointing to the Bible in a Year and Catechism in a Year podcasts. Both podcasts have risen to the top of the charts and have many tens of thousands of subscribers.

“He’s just the most touchable, reachable person,” Laurie said. “We came to hear Fr. Mike and now we want to go and learn way more about this.”

Link to ABC-15 Interview

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Triduum – A holy ‘Do-Over’

When we share stories of loved ones or historical figures we usually start with their birthday. We include significant events in their life and if they have died, we include that too. The summary of a human life- birth, life, death. But as Christians, every Easter, we get to glimpse the mysterious and holy experience of a do-over. We get a chance to be reborn into the life that God has imagined for us but that every year we fall short of living. This is both beautifully unique and blessedly communal.

Of all our Catholic liturgical celebrations, the Triduum is my favorite. We enter the holy space of our human events sanctified by the holy: washing, meal, prayer, carrying our daily crosses, agony, despair, love, betrayal, violence, a crowd becoming a mob, bribery and greed, death and……. wait for it…… (many disciples could not wait), rebirth – what we traditionally call Resurrection. And we get to do this every year because we need it every year. I would love to say that I am not treacherous, swayed by peer pressure, afraid, hungry, impatient every single year but sadly I am. So, when the Triduum rolls around again, I need it- every single year! And, by celebrating it with my faith community and my family who know me fully, I bring my whole self, flawed and yearning and am lifted up, united in prayer, absolved in forgiveness and nourished to be strengthened for the journey of the next year.

One year, my husband and I celebrated Triduum with our JustFaith community. JustFaith at that time was a 30-week immersion into the Catholic Social Teachings of our Church. We were a very diverse group of 15. We each had exceptionally different world views, ages, family demographics, careers, and approaches to Church life. What we had in common was a deep desire for understanding and putting meaning to the WHY of our worship and faith. We sought to grow in deeper relationship with God, our Church, each other. This intimacy and confidence propelled us into a new relationship with those whom we did not know but who in fact God leans toward …. the forgotten, the lonely, the widow, the marginalized …. the other and the stranger. Our often-uncomfortable journey into the margins echoed what we celebrate at every Sunday liturgy, but especially at Triduum- a holy do-over with God. God welcomes us into this holy place we call the human family which includes each and every one of us and requires of us to truly see each other’s humanity and dignity due to the nature of being formed in love by God and redeemed by Christ.

Every year during Lent and Triduum and Easter season, we are called to reflect, acknowledge and act on where we need a ‘do-over’ in proclaiming and living God’s Good News of love and mercy.

The past year brought us many opportunities and many communities that desperately need Good News: the Middle East, Ukraine; downtown Phoenix teeming with the unsheltered, children vying with cell phones for their parents affection and attention, colleagues battling depression, seniors facing hunger, the sick facing the bad news of a broken medical system, families suffering from the destruction of addictions and so much more. This seems like such despairing, bad news but it’s not- it is simply the human condition embedded in our current culture. God has the last word and that last word is Resurrection into a new relationship with God, with our community, with our families and with the ‘other’ whom we don’t know yet. I am moved to tears by God’s grace in allowing me this ‘do over’ once again.

Young people are the living hope of a missionary church, pope says

By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Young people need to understand how much Christ loves them unconditionally and how much the church needs their voices and presence, Pope Francis said.

“Dear young people, you are the living hope of a Church on the move! For this reason, I thank you for your presence and for your contribution to the life of the Body of Christ,” the pope told the world’s young people in a written message.

The pope’s message was released by the Vatican March 25 to mark the fifth anniversary of his apostolic exhortation “Christus Vivit” (“Christ is Alive”), published in 2019 and reflecting on the 2018 Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment.

Pope Francis said he wanted to reach out again to young people with a message that could be “a source of renewed hope for you.”

Christ is alive, he said in his message, and “his love for you is unaffected by your failings or your mistakes. He gave his life for you, so in his love for you he does not wait for you to be perfect.”

“Walk with him as with a friend, welcome him into your life and let him share all the joys and hopes, the problems and struggles of this time in your lives,” the pope wrote. “You will see that the path ahead will become clearer and that your difficulties will be much less burdensome, because he will be carrying them with you.”

“In today’s world, marked by so many conflicts and so much suffering, I suspect that many of you feel disheartened. So together with you, I would like to set out from the proclamation that is the basis of our hope and that of all humanity: ‘Christ is alive!'” he wrote, and “he loves you with an infinite love.”

“How greatly I want this proclamation to reach every one of you, for you to accept it as living and true in your own lives, and feel the desire to share it with your friends!” the pope wrote.

Pope Francis noted that April 14 will mark the 40th anniversary of the first great gathering of young people that, during St. John Paul II’s Holy Year of the Redemption, “was the seed of the future World Youth Days.”

Pope Francis recalled his first World Youth Day as pope in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, and how “I urged you to make your voices heard! ‘Hagan lio!’ Make a mess!”

“Today, once again, I ask you: make your voices heard! Proclaim, not so much in words but by your life and your heart, the truth that Christ is alive! And in this way, help the whole Church to get up and set out ever anew to bring his message to the entire world,” he wrote.

He encouraged young people to never “leave us without your good way of ‘making a mess,’ your drive, like that of a clean and well-tuned engine, and your own particular way of living and proclaiming the joy of the risen Jesus!”

Editors: The pope’s message can be found here in English and other languages: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2024/documents/20240325-messaggio-christus-vivit.html

Discernment is essential to discipleship, papal preacher says

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Holy Spirit is like a line prompter at a theater, behind the scenes and constantly whispering to Christians the words of Jesus, said the preacher of the papal household.

“However, he does not mechanically suggest the words of the Gospel, like from a script, but explains them, adapts them and applies them to specific situations,” Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa told Pope Francis, cardinals and members of the Roman Curia.

Concluding his series of Friday Lenten meditations March 22, Cardinal Cantalamessa insisted that listening to the Holy Spirit and discerning what the Spirit is saying to individuals and to the church at large is an exercise essential to following Jesus.

“We don’t start out knowing the concrete path of holiness God wants for each of us,” he said. “God reveals it step by step, so it is not enough to have a well-crafted plan and then follow it. There is no model of perfection that is identical for everyone.”

God does not produce saints with a cookie cutter — “God does not like cloning,” he said. “Every saint is an original invention of the Spirit.”

Faith, for a Christian, is not just a belief or even a feeling of love for the Lord, the cardinal said, it is a call to follow Jesus concretely in the way one lives and shares in the mission of the church.

And that, too, is different for each person, he said.

A person comes to understand their unique call through prayer, meditating on Scripture, speaking with a spiritual guide and following the teaching of the church, he said. But especially important are the promptings and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which also give the person “the necessary strength and often the joy to accomplish it if the person consents.”

Of course, Cardinal Cantalamessa said, understanding that call requires discernment, which is not as easy as judging something as good or bad.

“The most delicate problem about inspirations has always been to discern those that come from the Spirit of God from those that come from the spirit of the world or from your own passions or from the evil spirit,” he said.

Jesus told his disciples that a true or false prophecy can be judged by the fruit it produces, the cardinal said, which is a helpful thing to keep in mind as the universal church continues to grow in the process of synodality and its encouragement to listen and pray together to discover the promptings of the Holy Spirit for sharing the Gospel today.

“In the moral field,” Cardinal Cantalamessa said, “a fundamental criterion is the Spirit’s coherence with itself. One cannot ask for something that is contrary to divine will as expressed in the Scriptures, in the teaching of the church and in the obligations of one’s own state in life. A divine inspiration will never ask one to do something the church considers immoral.”

“The flesh,” he said, tries to make its own arguments and sometimes they sound good, “for example, that God is love and everything that is done for love is from God.”

St. Ignatius of Loyola taught that “what comes from the Spirit of God brings with it joy, peace, tranquility, sweetness, simplicity, light. What comes from the spirit of evil, instead, brings with it disturbance, agitation, anxiety, confusion, darkness,” he said.

“But it is true that in practice things are more complex,” he said. “Inspiration can come from God, and despite that, cause great disturbance. But this is not due to the inspiration, which is sweet and peaceful like everything that comes from God. Rather it is born from resistance to the inspiration or from the fact that we are not ready to do what we are asked to do.”

However, he said, “if inspiration is accepted, the heart will soon find itself in a deep peace. God rewards every little victory in this area by making the soul feel its approval, which is the most beautiful thing, the purest joy that exists in this world.”

Brophy Prep establishes debt-forgiveness initiative targeting low-income Maricopa County residents

PHOENIX – We at Brophy College Preparatory are proud to have spent the past two weeks exploring the impact of debt on the dignity of people and communities through the keynotes, workshops, prayer service, and other events of our annual Summit on Human Dignity. Halfway through our two-week Summit, we were especially thrilled to learn of Gov. Hobbs’ partnership with RIP Medical Debt to use $30 million of COVID-19 relief funds to forgive $2 billion of medical debt for 1 million Arizonans.

One reason that the Brophy community was excited to hear of the governor’s plan was because, exactly one week earlier, Brophy unveiled its own debt forgiveness initiative for people across Maricopa County and surrounding areas in partnership with ForgiveCo. At our Summit’s opening keynote address, Craig Antico — the co-founder of RIP Medical Debt and the co-founder and CEO of ForgiveCo — announced that ForgiveCo was working with Brophy to raise enough money to forgive at least $1 million of debts of necessity for lower-income individuals and families concentrated around the Maricopa County area. While our school does not have the same funding levels as the state of Arizona, this amount of debt forgiveness by a single school represents a substantial commitment to the dignity, wellbeing and financial security of those members of our local society most marginalized by debt, which tends to accumulate and hold back people disproportionately along socioeconomic and racial lines.

Brophy’s debt forgiveness initiative — known as the Bronco Jubilee in honor of the biblical year of Jubilee in which God called upon the ancient Hebrews to cancel all debts every 50 years — is a part both of our annual Summit on Human Dignity (this year focused on debt as our theme) and our annual Lenten Drive, through which students participate in almsgiving by donating money in their classrooms or online. With the generosity of our students, parents, educators and staff, paired with that of Mr. Antico, we are proud to announce that we will be able to forgive at least $1 million of debt for low-income people in our region, and we will continue to drive up our total as we collect donations from our school community until Easter.

We are glad the governor has joined us in our efforts to erase debt as a factor holding back those whose circumstances have too often left them stuck in financial distress. We pray that our efforts, combined with those of the state of Arizona, can contribute to a city, county, and state committed to the dignity and wellbeing of all its members.

About Brophy College Preparatory
Brophy College Preparatory is a Jesuit, Catholic school for young men established in 1928 that seeks to instill competence, conscience, and compassion and to educate Men for Others to Serve the World.

Diocese welcomes new leaders to Pastoral Center

The Catholic Diocese of Phoenix welcomes two new directors to the Diocesan Pastoral Center in downtown Phoenix, as Mary Permoda has been named the director of mental health awareness in the Office of Mental Health Ministry and Diane Saunders has been appointed the director of evangelization, discipleship and spirituality.

Permoda most recently served as the director of pastoral activities at St. Patrick Catholic Community for the past 14 years. She holds a Master of Arts in Theology and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of San Francisco. She is also a certified Spiritual Director and has served in the Diocese of Phoenix in various capacities within multiple parishes for 38 years. Permoda is passionate about developing communities and partnerships, building teams and system and advocating for social justice and outreach.

Throughout her academic studies alongside husband, Kevin, Saunders has engaged in parish and diocesan ministry across various parts of the country, including a year spent as a young family in the Old City of Jerusalem. She holds a Master of Arts in education and Theology from Boston College, graduate studies in Art and Religion at Graduate Theological Union and has actively served as the program coordinator of the Women’s Studies in Religion Initiative, collaborating with an inspiring group of interreligious women scholars. Saunders is committed to creating enriching opportunities for the growth of the Catholic faith within the Catholic Community of Phoenix.

Bishop Dolan “All In” for Our Lady of Joy’s new ministry

Hosted by “All In,” a new parish ministry for people with special needs, Bishop John Dolan participated in a Easter Retreat at Our Lady of Joy Catholic Church in Carefree, Ariz., this past weekend.

“The event was fantastic and it opened my eyes to new possibilities,” said Bishop Dolan.  “I would love to see special needs ministry in every parish in our diocese in some fashion. I think it is possible because we had that in parishes in San Diego.  I see it as a great opportunity.”

The ministry hosts free monthly events for adults with special needs and or mental illness and their caregivers. The Easter Retreat included many fun activities, including singing and dancing, a church tour, Easter crafts, live baby chickens, building Easter baskets, selfies with Bishop Dolan and lunch.

Learn more about how others are serving those with special needs in the Diocese of Phoenix in this episode of The Bishop’s Hour.

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NEWS BRIEF: Bishop Dolan celebrates Feast of St. Joseph

Bishop John Dolan began the Feast of St. Joseph on Tuesday as a speaker at the annual Hope in Motion Breakfast for Foundation for Senior Living (FSL). Held at the Arizona Biltmore Resort, he also led the 400-plus attendees in the opening prayer. The event raises money for FSL, who served nearly 42,000 Arizonans in 2023 and makes Arizona a safe place to age.

At midday, Bishop John celebrated a special Mass at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, as March 19th also marks the 129th anniversary of the hospital that was founded in 1895 by the Sisters of Mercy. The current facility opened in July of 1953 and has thrived at this same location for going on half a century.

“Both FSL and St. Joseph’s really point to our outreach, but also in the spirit of St. Joseph, who welcomed Mary and the Christ child into his home as directed by the angel,” said Bishop Dolan. “In essence that’s what we do. We welcome people into our home, especially through a very tangible way, through Foundation for Senior Living, but also in the hospital. People are coming and they need assistance and we put them up and we give them all the care that we could possibly give them to bring them to a level of wholeness.”

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Catholic in Recovery: Bringing Jesus back into the 12 steps

Is it possible to recover from addiction without the grace of God?

The founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) answered with a clear “no.” In the face of true addiction, will power alone is not enough. Even if moderation is intended, it is impossible to maintain and the most powerful desire to stop is useless.

For Catholics, this may sound like a familiar story because it is the story of redemption. Christ came to save those who could not save themselves – those who were helpless on their own. The person suffering from addiction passes through death and hell, but to recover, they must be resurrected by God.

“The first thing I had to learn in my recovery was that there is a God and it’s not me,” said Janet Manecke, who organizes a chapter of Catholic in Recovery (CIR) at St. Timothy Catholic Church in Mesa, Ariz.

Catholic in Recovery, a movement founded by alcoholic in recovery Scott Weeman, puts first things first in the journey to freedom. The sacramental life that the Catholic Church offers is primary and everything else in recovery is built on this foundation. In his book, The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments, Weeman demonstrates the deep connection between the Twelve Steps and the practice of Catholicism.

“[In modern times] the New Age movement has really hijacked the recovery movement so it’s all about ‘mother earth’. People often change God into ‘the universe’ and I get that because our first image of God is our parents. If you had a bad childhood, you are going to have a bad image of God,” continued Manecke.

“At one meeting I went to they prayed, ‘Give us this day our daily strength’ instead of our daily bread. They clearly did not understand the concept of our daily bread: the Eucharist.”

Twelve-step groups do not maintain a particular religious affiliation, and this can be beneficial for those who are weary to dip their toes wholeheartedly into religion. However, “a Higher Power,” or a “Power greater than ourselves,” to be effective, cannot remain abstract.

Weeman knew, as the founders of the AA movement did, that a personal encounter with God (the reality of God in Jesus Christ) is what is necessary for lasting recovery. CIR recaptures this original intent and sets it again at the forefront.

“I heard a long presentation about Catholic in Recovery on EWTN radio,” Fr. John Greb, Pastor of St. Timothy’s recalled.

“I thought, ‘This is what we’ve needed because often in 12-step programs, you can speak about your higher power but only in a general way. This wasn’t true in the very early programs that were connected to the Oxford Groups – Jesus was very much in front – but over the decades that changed to keeping things on a general basis. There is some good reason for that – we don’t want to scare away the newcomers who may be from a different faith tradition. But it also felt like we were dumbing down the reality of our higher power.’”

“St. Timothy is often a parish of firsts so, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if we started the first group in the state of Arizona?’”

Since then, Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix also founded a chapter of Catholic in Recovery in April, 2023. At St. Timothy’s the Catholic in Recovery core team formed in September of 2023 and weekly meetings began in November.

“We are all in different recovery programs,” Manecke explained.

“I am in Adult Children of Alcoholics, there are members of Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Overeaters Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous and people from all different 12-step programs. This is not supposed to be your main program but a supplement that helps you build your recovery around your faith.”

“The beauty of this program is that we all come together in a way that is based on our faith. We can share how adoration has helped us through our recovery, how God has revealed things to us in the Eucharist or how God has healed us through Confession.”

Fr. Greb issues this invitation:

“I want to welcome anyone in the diocese participating in a 12-step recovery program to consider stopping in to St. Timothy’s CIR.”

Meetings take place on Thursday evenings at 6:30pm in the Christy Center, a house adjacent to the back of the church. Questions or inquiries can be addressed to Janet Manecke at 480-688-2469 or jlmanecx2002@yahoo.com.

“You’re only as sick as your secrets,” Fr. Greb concluded.

“I tell people, ‘Stay the course! You can’t see it right now, but following the twelve steps will bear fruit: if you work with a sponsor, if you pray on your knees, and if you receive the sacraments, things will change.’”