Storify: News from Rome as Catholic Church Gets New Cardinals

Love That Lasts

There's lots of talk about love today, naturally since it is Valentine's Day. 


What you should know about me is I am a sucker for a good story. And love stories for me are always good stories. 


In my mind, Jesuit Father Pedro Arrupe summed it up rather nicely in his reflection about love: "Fall in Love, stay in love, and it will decide everything."


So, at a time when headlines scream about destruction and strife, here is an post for the holiday that celebrates the love of couples:


Joseph and Georgia Monnerat, longtime parishioners of Most Blessed Sacrament Church, Atlanta, recently celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.


In the beginning  ... 


They met on a blind date at the Army’s Camp Blanding, Florida, in 1941. 


Georgia, who grew up in Wayne County, GA was serving as a nurse, and Joe, a Yankee from Waterbury, Conn., was a young Army lieutenant.

They were married Jan. 12, 1942, by a military chaplain, known only in family lore as “Chaplain Scully.”

Their honeymoon was celebrated with a spaghetti dinner in St. Augustine, Florida. Georgia returned to the nurses’ dormitory at Camp Blanding before curfew and Joe packed the next day for deployment. 


Today ...


The couple celebrated their wedding anniversary on January 25, 2012. 

Joseph is Catholic and Georgia is Baptist. Both are members of the Knights of Columbus Council 4422 in Hapeville.

Their daughters and son-in-laws are Joan and William Campbell of Torrance, Calif.; Georgia Ann Monnerat of Lake Jackson, Texas; and Carolyn and Terry Mestnik of Eagan, Minn. Their grandchildren are Grant Mestnik, a pilot in the Navy in Jacksonville, FL and Stephanie Mestnik of Eagan, Minn.


Father Bruce Wilkinson, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church, knows the family well.
"Although their health keeps them homebound these days, both of them a a great sense of humor.  Joseph is a faithful tither, and when his children come to visit he usually asks them to bring him to Most Blessed Sacrament when they attend Sunday Mass," he said in an email. 

Atlanta Media Reports on Controversial Federal Birth Control Mandate

I've put together a collection of Atlanta media coverage about the federal Health & Human Services mandate that would require employers to provide some birth control services in its health benefits to employees. 


Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory and other church leaders have vowed to fight the mandate. They believe it violates the constitutional principle of freedom of conscience. They object to having to pay for services that are contrary to church teaching. If they don't pay, the church would be fined. 


The federal government provided a religious exemption. However, church leaders object that the exemption are too narrow and would still require Catholic affiliated organizations to pay for services they find morally objectionable.  




--Andrew


Georgia Bulletin: www.georgiabulletin.org


Atlanta Journal-Constitution: http://tinyurl.com/7ftzrpj


WABE 90.1 FM:  http://tinyurl.com/89myzg2






11 Alive TV:



Fox 5 TV

Catholic Leaders Oppose Health Care Mandate: MyFoxATLANTA.com

WSBTV Channel 2 TV

Feeling Humbled and Loved By Jesus At the Same Time

I enjoy being a Catholic press photojournalist and covering the news of the church, but I would be telling a lie if I said I approached every assignment with the same enthusiasm and zeal. On Tuesday night when I was asked to attend the second night of a three-night parish mission at All Saints Church, Dunwoody, featuring Sister of St. Clare Sister Briege McKenna and Vincentian Father Kevin Scallon, I saw it as a routine assignment. In my mind I was going to be there for the end of Mass and the beginning of the healing service. That way I could take my shots and be out of there. But it didn’t happen that way. Jesus had different plans for me.

God has a way to humbling us and loving us at the same time. I arrived at the church at 7:30 p.m., Mass concluded at 8:30 p.m., and the healing service started immediately afterwards. I was getting a little antsy. I thought I should have been finished at that point.     

I moved down to the front to get a photo of Sister Briege as she was praying, and at the same time I tried to get a photo of Father Kevin as he was carrying the monstrance up and down the aisles and around the church. I only took a few photos because I was trying to be selective, waiting for those moments when Father Kevin would walk out of the shadows and into the momentary pockets of light. Once I took my shots, I retreated to very back, left corner side of the church – out of the way I thought.

But Father Kevin made a left turn and began heading toward me and my corner. I was kneeling down with the camera at my side. He stopped right in front of me and held the monstrance above my head for a few seconds. I think Jesus knew what was on my heart before I walked in the church that evening. I felt embarrassed and guilty for having approached the evening with such a cavalier attitude.

With the real presence of Jesus in front of me, all I could think to say was a silent prayer: “You know what I’ve been thinking tonight, but while you’re here, would you bless and anoint my work tonight?” Needless to say, I stuck around for the entire healing service and benediction.

I confess that’s not the first time I had planned to “go in and get out,” but ended up staying You’d think I would know by now. Whenever Jesus is the main attraction and headliner, you can’t leave. Why would you?  As in Mark’s Gospel I had read earlier that day, the works and love of Jesus leave us “utterly astounded.”  

Michael Alexander, Staff Photographer

Photos for Catholic Schools Week 2012

Award-winning photographer Michael Alexander can be found in the schools of the Atlanta archdiocese, where he captures student life and classroom activities for readers of the Georgia Bulletin. 


The national celebration of Catholic Schools Week takes place in the last week of January.  


These photos are to be displayed at a banquet to honor Catholic educators. We are happy to  share them with everyone here. And in the future, the prints will hang in the education hallway at the archdiocese chancery.  (Please see more of his work at the Georgia Bulletin's Smugmug page.)

 

'A matter of grave moral concern.'

Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory signed a letter that called the recent health care mandate from the federal government "a matter of grave moral concern."

You can read the letter below.

Letter from Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory To Be Read at all Masses in Parishes in the Archdiocese of Atlanta During the Weekend of January 28 – 29, 2012

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am writing to you on a matter of grave moral concern -- freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception.  Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those “services” in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.

In so ruling, the Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled either to violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.

I stand in unity with Catholic bishops throughout the United States and other religious leaders vowing to fight this mandate. 

Along with my brother bishops and other religious leaders, I insist that this is a direct attack on our religious freedom and our First Amendment rights. I will work with the bishops, other religious leaders and our fellow Americans to remove this unjust regulation. 

If the administration will not rescind this violation of our First Amendment rights, we must call on our elected leaders to do so. I ask you to pray that wisdom and justice may prevail, and work together to restore our religious liberty. 

Please join me in continuing to follow the development of this important issue and contacting our elected representatives to seek a just resolution. 

Through our Georgia Bulletin, archdiocesan and Georgia Catholic Conference websites and other media, I will keep you up to date on the progress of this important issue.

Sincerely yours in Christ, 

╬ Wilton D. Gregory 

Archbishop of Atlanta

Word Cloud of Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory's homily at the Mass for the Unborn

This is a word cloud of Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory's homily at the Mass for the Unborn, given on Monday, Jan. 23, at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Atlanta.

The complete homily is on the Archdiocese of Atlanta website.