"Purgatory is where you will have the capacity to see how the world would have been (your family, your neighborhood, your community, your world) had you done what God called you to do," so said presenter, Mary Jo Anderson to the nearly 60 women who gathered yesterday for the first day of the Benedicta Leadership Institute for Women being held here in Sacramento, CA.
The Institute is an outgrowth of Women of Grace and seeks to identify, educate, develop and train Catholic women to be active leaders and mentors of the day in accord with their state in in life. Its hope is that Catholic women will infuse the institutions, organzations, and governmental agencies of our day and time with Catholic moral and social teachings so as to bring about the culture of life.
The presenters of this year's Institute are Catholic Journalist Mary Jo Anderson and Camille Pauley, President of Healing the Culture.com. Yesterday both speakers encouraged the women to enter the marketplace of ideas armed with Catholic truth and ready to help make converts out of secularists who seek to separate the society of man from a godly perspective and godly principles.
Today, Pauley has led the women through a workshop experience in which they can apply the principles they have learned to real life situations. This practical application helps the women develop communication skills and team approach efforts to resolve issues and problem-solve solutions.
Demographically, the participants range in age from early thirties to mid sixties.
Following are some quotes from yesterday's session that seemed particularly poignant to me. I hope they will give you pause for pondering and reflecting:
"Communities do not reflect the values of the people who live there. They reflect the values of the people who participate."
"Separation of Church and State originated from the French Revolution and literally meant the separation of the State (France) from the Catholic Church."
"Don't view the secularist as your enemy, but rather as a potential convert."
"It is not permissable for anyone to remain idle."
The Women of Grace National Conference opens later this afternoon with a liturgy celebrated at the downtown Cathedral by Bishop Soto.
Check my blog for further updates this weekend live from Conference headquarters.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Students across the nation will be gathering around the flagpoles of their schools before classes begin on Sept. 24 to pray for their schools, teachers and the country in order to exercise their First Amendment right to pray at their schools.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
The Family Research Council (FRC) released a study yesterday demonstrating that state parental involvement laws are very effective in reducing abortions among minors.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
New Age “angels” are becoming the hottest new trend in Ireland with so-called “angel teachers” instructing the public on how to “spread the light of angels, ascension and the sacred mysteries of the Universe.” Publishers are already fighting over the rights to publish one best-selling book on the subject in the U.S.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
New Age “angels” are becoming the hottest new trend in Ireland with so-called “angel teachers” instructing the public on how to “spread the light of angels, ascension and the sacred mysteries of the Universe.” Publishers are already fighting over the rights to publish one best-selling book on the subject in the U.S.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
A new movie to be released Sept. 19 is causing outrage among pro-family groups because it features a nine year old girl being raped, a scene which the film’s director describes as an innocent experience.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
For the first time in recent memory, the nation’s bishops have requested a private meeting with presidential candidates Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) before the election in order to discuss vital issues.
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By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
With the 2008 election only weeks away, the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization is launching the “Is This What You Mean?” campaign which is aimed at forcing abortion advocates to drop the clever “choice” rhetoric and make them admit to the ugly reality of the procedure they are supporting.
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by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Even though the Rosary has long been a symbol of Catholicism and devotion to Mary, its adoption as a fashion statement by gang members is causing trouble in schools for Catholic students.
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Today is the feast day of St. Robert Bellarmine, a feast that reaches back to my early roots. I attended St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic School in East McKeesport, PA located on Fifth Avenue. My days there were happy ones and the Vincentian Sisters of Charity who taught there inculcated the truths of the Faith deeply into my heart.
I remember each one of those gifted women with great fondness: Sister Mary Concepta, 2nd grade; Sister Mary Euphemia, 3rd grade; Sister Mary Theophane, 4th grade; Sister Mary Denise, 5th grade; Sister Mary Gabriel, 6h grade, Sister Mary Philip, 7th grade, and Sister Mary Hermona, 8th grade. I attended a different Catholic school for first grade and was taught by a Dominican sister, Sister Mary Lois. She had the gift of prophesy though I don't think she knew it -- she routinely referred to me as Little Miss Talking Machine! Ha!
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