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Hi, Maureen —
Thanks for the question.
Although my colleague is correct,
I think you bring up a good point
that the Holy See should consider.
Seeing we have so many things in
the Church:
- to celebrate
- to proclaim
- to be blessed with, or
in my words, to party
about . . .
I think it would be great, especially
for the youth, to have something
to celebrate and proclaim on an
annual basis.
We could dedicate each year to any
number of things:
- to the seven virtues
- to the twelve gifts of the Holy
Spirit.
- to each of the seven sacraments
- to special saints for special
activities that will be taking
place that year
- to doctrines that may have been
overlooked, misunderstood, and, in some cases, forgotten.
(e.g. Purgatory and the forgotten
Holy Souls.) for short, an apologetics-oriented issue.
Remember, the most ecumenical
thing a Catholic can do, is be
unmistakably Catholic and as Pope St. John Paul II said, Be not
afraid.
We could also dedicate years to issues on problems
we are having in the Church and turn those issues into
a positive: Like:
- a year dedicated to praying
for a pure, holy seminarian culture
worldwide at all Catholic seminaries
- a year dedicated to praying
solely for seminary professors who train and influence our next generation of priests. (my preference)
- a year dedicated to praying
for seminarians, or
- a year of reparation for the sins of Catholic clergy at all levels
You will never convince a closed-minded
secularist, but you will show the
sincere-seeking
non-Catholic that we have nothing
to be ashamed about and a lot to
be thankful for.
In the process,
you will demonstrate we have a lot
to celebrate and rejoice over; that
we are not
the
Church of No, but the
Church of True Love and Logic.
Why?
- Because it's the Lord Jesus'
Church, and
- because, He created us with
the help of our parents,
He knows what's best for our
bodies and souls.
Like I've told my niece and nephews,
in the same way a car has a car manual,
we have our own car manual. It's
called the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
If you haven't read it, check out
my 12
reasons I enjoy being a Catholic.
Mike
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