Category Archives: Church

Awestruck’s “Life on the Rock” appearance!

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I watched on You Tube an episode of EWTN’s show, “Life on the Rock,” which featured the guys behind a new and growing Catholic Social Network, “Awestruck.”

A little bit about Awestruck (from the network’s “About” page):

“The main-stream media is not in the business of promoting the Church nor the message of the Gospel. Giant social networks like Facebook, because of their necessarily inclusive approach, often overstep the mark by tolerating and even promoting content radically opposed to the faith and to good morals. For example: Vimeo and Tumblr are infested with porn and repeated attempts to close a number of hate groups on Facebook have not been successful. This situation calls for a niche social network dedicated to celebrating the faith and promoting the Church. A trusted space where Catholics can feel “at home”, discover trusted Catholic content through our feeds, and have the tools to easily share this content to networks outside of Awestruck. That’s Awestruck in a nutshell.”

The place also has a lot of useful tools and functions for Catholic bloggers and organizations. I’ve written about that here: Awestruck for Catholic Bloggers

I highly recommend and strongly suggest that if you’re Catholic, join up! If you had before, but didn’t do much with it, try again! The place has evolved from what it looked like a few months ago, site functions and navigation are very good. It is a great place to meet and interact with Catholics from around the world! Right here: Awestruck.

The video is here:

And: My Profile.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Miracle of the Sun and Halloween

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On October 13, 1917 the final Marian Apparition at Fatima, Portugal took place.

I know I’m a few weeks late with this, but upon reflection, I decided to push back writing this until today, the Feast of All Hallow’s Eve (a/k/a “Halloween”). I’ll explain at the end.

Seventy thousand people attended the event, which was supposed to have a miracle promised by the Virgin Mary so that all may believe.

Amongst those present were representatives of the Portuguese media, all socialist and all anti-clerical (theophobes who despised the Catholic Church, professed atheism, and who cooperated in what they hoped would be the eventual destruction of the Church in Portugal. The country had undergone a revolution in 1910 which deposed the Catholic monarch and imposed restrictions on the Church.)

Our Lady appeared as promised, but not alone. St. Joseph also appeared, holding the Christ Child.

Oh, yes: the sun also danced in the sky. Witnessed by all those in attendance, and by more hundreds of miles away, the sun whirled about in the sky, terrifying the witnesses.

It also appeared to hurtle towards the Earth, convincing people that the World was ending (and this part of the Apparition is why I decided to take advantage of my posting tardiness and write this today.)

One note on the sun dancing: for anyone who may be skeptical, one evidence that “something” happened lays in the fact that it had been raining heavily all day long, so much so that the ground throughout the area was drenched. Saturated with water, and combined with the foot traffic of 70,000 attendees, it was a horrific muddy mess.

Until the sun dried it. Nearly instantly. According to all those present, after the Apparition was over and the sun returned to its normal state, the ground was hardened as though it had not seen rain for weeks.

And another note for skeptics: this was all duly reported by the anti-clerical media. The reporters had gone there hoping (or rather assuming) that the whole event would be a non-happening; that the seers would be shamed,the Church embarrassed and once and for all the foolish belivers would have their religious superstitions exposed for what they are – nonsense.

But no, they couldn’t deny the event, their skepticism and non-belief didn’t prevent them from witnessing the Miracle of the Sun, nor acknowledging the effects on the physical environment.

So much for that.

Now, as to why I “reframed the situation” and took advantage of my lateness in posting this.

As the sun plunged to the Earth the believers were understandably freaked out. They thought the world was ending.

The liturgical calendar for the Catholic Church has tomorrow as the Solemnity of All Saints, and after that the Memorial of All Souls. All Saints is for all those in Heaven, officially canonized by the Church or not; and All Souls is for the Faithful Departed who are undergoing purification in Purgatory.

These two days are there (amongst other reasons) to remind us of our ultimate end. Someday we will all die. There is no escaping that.

Maybe this is something for you to consider, before God decides to hurl the Sun at you.

(This is the last post on the Marian Apparition at Fatima, Portugal for 2014. As I’ve stated before, I plan to write on this Apparition around the anniversaries of each apparition in the months they occurred through the centenary anniversary in 2017. The Apparition happened on the 13th of May, June, July, September and October, as well as a late one on August 19th. I do this because upon my research into the the Apparitions, I find many things useful to Catholics in addiction recovery. To discover more, please see the “Fatima” category in the drop-down Category menu in the sidebar.)

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Awestruck Network USA Tour 2014

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UPDATED (see below after the strikethrough):

Some South African Catholics who’ve started the “Awestruck Catholic Social Network” will be travelling to the USA in November to film a guest spot on EWTN’s “Life on the Rock” show. This is a wonderful opportunity for you all to engage in some Works of Mercy, meet people from a far country and help the Church fill a critical need.

First, a little bit about Awestruck (from the network’s “About” page):

“The main-stream media is not in the business of promoting the Church nor the message of the Gospel. Giant social networks like Facebook, because of their necessarily inclusive approach, often overstep the mark by tolerating and even promoting content radically opposed to the faith and to good morals. For example: Vimeo and Tumblr are infested with porn and repeated attempts to close a number of hate groups on Facebook have not been successful. This situation calls for a niche social network dedicated to celebrating the faith and promoting the Church. A trusted space where Catholics can feel “at home”, discover trusted Catholic content through our feeds, and have the tools to easily share this content to networks outside of Awestruck. That’s Awestruck in a nutshell.”

The network was started a few years ago and has grown steadily. One upcoming boost in its global profile and exposure will be their appearance on EWTN next month. And hence the reason for this post.

Norm and Cris (the two “Awestruckers” appearing on the show) will be doing some travelling about the States while here. They are travelling with almost no money – trusting in Divine Providence and remembering that He sent the 12 out with not even a change of cloak!

As we read in the Gospels:

Matthew 10:10 “…no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick.”

And remember: Matthew 10: 11-13 “Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.

And here’s a biggie: Matthew 25:35 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me…”

Have you ever read those passages and wondered what you might have done if people sent by Our Lord and Saviour Himself appeared in your town and perhaps your door and needed a place to stay or some other help? Or what if the visitor was Him? Now’s your chance! While not implying that Norm and Cris are the equvalent to the Apostles or Jesus (but they are disciples of Jesus, as are you and I), they are taking upon themselves an enormous challenge in travelling all the way from South Africa to the United States on this mission that benefits the Church and Catholics worldwide.

This takes guts and heroism. Cape Town is nearly 8,000 miles (14,000 km) from New York City. A long trip, and they’re traveling another few thousand after arriving!

Their itinerary:

  • Arriving in the US on 5 November – first stop New York City for 3 nights.
  • Flying to Pittsburgh, PA on 8 November for 2 nights to visit the nearby Franciscan University of Steubenville.
  • Leaving for Dallas, TX on 10 November and staying for 1 night.
  • Onward to Birmingham, AL and EWTN on 11 November for 3 nights.
  • Then on to Atlanta, GA on 14 November from where Cris will return to Cape Town.
  • Norm to remain for the night of 14 November in Atlanta from where he will leave for home on 15 November.

***The guys are really needing some help in Pittsburgh/Steubenville, Dallas and Atlanta. Anyone around those places who can support their cause with beds and meals?***

UPDATE: They have places to sleep in all of their stops, although Dallas had to be dropped. But there is still the issue of money, for some meals and also some travel expenses.

So, since some of their material needs are being met (beds) can you help out financially? You can do this by several ways:

  • joining up at Awestruck and providing a financial contribution through a PayPal button. How to join? Again, quoting from their network on signing up: “Join thousands of fellow Catholics. The easiest way to register is to simply “Login with Facebook”, then, access all sites on the network, make friends, follow feeds, create open or closed social networks for your parish/group/organization, discover, post and share from the stream at will.” But you needn’t use your Facebook login (I didn’t, I registered and created an account separately. But that’s easy, too!) Awestruck is found here: “Awestruck”.
  • If you’re not willing to join Awestruck, you can send a donation to me through PayPal, my donation button is near the top of the blog, you can’t miss it. Please just make a notation as to what it is for (the “Awestruck Tour” will do). I will then transfer it along to them ASAP.

And if you do join, you can find me here and send a Friend Request: My profile.

This endeavor has a Group on Awestruck that you can join and learn more or give advice:
Awestruck USA Tour 2014

I sincerely hope that if you are reading this you can do several things:

  • Support Awestruck in some way, either by sending a financial contribution to their PayPal
  • and/or by helping out the intrepid Awestruck travellers in some way.
  • Just joining the network, help it grow by spreading the word about it
  • Make use of it in some way! Make it an integral part of your online life!

Finally, a greeting from Awestruck:

“Awestruck will be shooting a “Life on the Rock” show on 13 November at EWTN Studios, Birmingham which will be aired on 10 December 2014!
We are extremely keen to meet up (socially) with any Awestruckers along the way. Coffee anyone?”

Coffee?!?!? Did someone mention coffee?????

Special thanks to Awestrucker Ana St. Paul for some of the information for this post. (I hope you didn’t mind my copy/pasting of your stuff. 😉 )

Let me know what you can do via the comments or by email (sobercatholic at gmail dot com).

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

A return to regular AA meeting attendance

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This post is overdue, but a while back I had mentioned that I was returning to regular Twelve Step meeting attendance. I delayed writing this in detail just to see if it would stick, and lo and behold, it did. So, here goes:

Why did I return? Partially due to circumstance. Although I have been sober for almost 12 years (my sobriety date is tomorrow the 22nd, actually) and have had a very good sobriety that I’ll stack up against anyone’s, my periods of “sobriety” were increasingly interrupted by periods of merely “not drinking.” In other words, the RIDs were on the rise. RID in AA parlance means “restless, irritable and discontented.” It refers to a sobriety that is troubled.

Although I was in no real danger of relapsing, at first I turned to just picking up AA’s “Big Book,” and flipped through a chapter at random. And although I have read the Big Book before, maybe twice through in its entirety, and afterwards mostly just chapters at random, this chapter seemed different! It was like someone had rewritten it!

Upon investigation in the online recovery sites I mentioned in the post linked to above, this is not a rare happening. Others have experienced it, too. It usually means that the reader has gone through quite a bit of spiritual development and changes since the last time that chapter was read.

Well, no kidding!

Anyway, so I figured I’ll try face-to-face AA again, this time find a meeting and stick with it for a while. Luckily, I did not have to try too many meetings. This one is a good Group, and I’ve already made it my Home Group. Yes, I now have a Home Group after 10 years! It is rather large, and after the typical opening rituals and announcements they break up into four smaller groups: two beginner meetings, one covering Steps 1-3, the other focusing on Steps 4-9; a Big Book/Step Discussion meeting; and the general discussion table. I’ve been going to the Steps 1-3 beginner’s meeting, as I feel the need to get back to the basics.

I am only attending one meeting a week, and at 52 meetings a year this means a 5200% increase in my annual attendance. (For those bad at math, since 2004 I’ve averaged one meeting a year, except for the period around my Mom’s death in late 2005.) It is a Thursday night closed group for men. I had long thought of attending this particular one, and so I finally used this as an excuse to try it. I liked it, and now feel I probably should have tried it years ago. My experience with it is somewhat different from my original AA experience, where I sobered up from 2002-2004.

By no means does this discount anything I have written during these past seven years on Sober Catholic regarding the effectivess and worthiness of Catholic spirituality, sacramental life and devotions in maintaining one’s sobriety. As I had inferred, I have been attending on average one AA meeting a year for nine years, thereabouts. My Catholic Faith had kept my head together during all this time.

But perhaps the scalpel-like precision and focus that AA can bring to certain issues that alcohol served as a crutch for in the past was needed. I feel no need to attend more than this meeting; it is enough.

Maybe my Catholic Faith is not an issue, perhaps it is me. Maybe I haven’t “progressed spiritually” enough in the Faith to feel the full healing power of the Sacraments and the graces from Jesus, the Divine Healer. I truly do feel that ideally, religion alone can fully heal one of addictions. If the sacraments are life-giving, and all Masses are “healing Masses” (which is true, when you think of it) and the power of the Word of God to transform your life is possible, then perhaps my return to AA is more a weakness of mine, and not of the Faith.

No matter. Perhaps it isn’t any of those. Maybe I’m supposed to return for other reasons. Time will tell. But for now, I’m back in AA, at least on Thursday nights and in my daily morning meditations.

The focus of this blog won’t change. Catholicism will still be the primary inspiration. But there may be an uptick the the references to Twelve Step spirituality and AA.

Please feel free to offer thoughts and opinions in the comments…

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

God, you will not spurn

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The Responsorial Psalm from today’s Mass for Wednesday of the First Week of Lent is Psalm 51, a favorite of mine. It is also a favorite of the Church’s, as it appears often on Fridays in the Divine Office, and today is the second time since Lent began that it is used as the Responsorial. I also blogged about it last week: A heart contrite and humbled.

As it is a good prayer to use when you are truly contrite and wish to be reconciled to the Lord, it is not altogether strange that the Church emphasizes it at appropriate times. Perhaps the Church is reminding us of the need for repentannce, as well as frequent use of the Sacrament of Confession.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

A Walk with the Novena to Mary Undoer of Knots, Day 6

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Today is Day 6 in our daily walk with The Novena of Mary Undoer of Knots and we ask Mary’s intercession for us to “persevere in the living word of Jesus, in the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Confession…”

This is pretty straightforward. And for all the simplicity of the apparent intention, probably one of the most positively fruitful of them.

This is the life of the Church, and our lives in Her. Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition; the Eucharist, in which Jesus is Really Present: Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity; the Sacrament of Confession in which we humbly confess our sins to a priest and receive forgiveness from God through him. Participating in all of these, from reading and studying the Bible and authentic Church teaching, and partaking of the Sacraments helps us grow ever closer to the Lord and increases our hope of one day being united to Him in the glory that is Heaven.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Advent: Jesus is Coming

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Today is the First Sunday of Advent. As you should be aware, Advent marks the time in which we await the Lord’s first coming as and infant in the Incarnation. It is also a reminder that He will come again, as a just judge of humanity at some point in the future (perhaps near!) when history as we know it ends.

As alcoholics and addicts struggling with the various issues keeping clean and sober at whatever point along the “road of happy destiny” we are trudging along, Advent is a excellent time for us to increase our spiritual progression and development.

The Lord is coming. Are you prepared to welcome Him? Is there a place for Him in your heart and soul? Take the time to weed out the spiritual and worldy garbage that clutters up daily life. Undertake deeper examinations of conscience to root out the underlying causes of sin.

Make a home for the Lord in your life. We can ALL do better at this. There is no cause or reason to be content and satisfied with your spiritual and devotional life.

Get up, and be on your way!

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

ALL SOULS DAY

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Today the Church celebrates the Commemoration of All of the Faithful Departed, also known as: ALL SOULS DAY.

While not necessarily on the list of things that most people keep in the forefront of their minds, death and the afterlife should be for us sober (or sobering up) alcoholics. For that very reason I started Sober Catholic’s sister blog, The Four Last Things.

For we who were on the pathway to an early death have been given a reprieve, having avoided it by no longer drinking. We can now take a look at it in a different light. We can nurture the hopeful expectation that when we finally die, we can be united with God and reunited with our loved ones who have gone on before us.

Today is their day; all those who have died and are amongst the blessed in Heaven, as well as those who died in a state of some sin. These souls cannot enter Heaven yet and so must undergo purification. Another reminder that “not drinking” is not enough; we must continually develop our spirituality and virtue by amending our lives and avoiding sin.

The Four Last Things has numerous blogposts as well as links in the sidebar where you can learn more about the Catholic (and Biblical) teachings on Purgatory.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Second Lent” is upon us again!

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“Second Lent” is upon us again!”

For the past few years I have been announcing what I like to call “Second Lent,” an highly unadvertised and unannounced additional penitential period that the Church offers. It begins on the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 6th) and end on the Feast of the Exaltation (or Triumph) of the Cross on September 15th.

The link in the first sentence takes you to an earlier blogpost that talks about it more; that post itself has links about ANOTHER penitential period that is a Franciscan devotion, known as “St. Michael’s Lent.”

I love the Church. She gives us so many opportunities to find our way down the narrow path.

So, as always, if your regular Lent wasn’t satisfying, you have TWO opportunities coming to make up for it!

I plan to blog a lot through Psalm 119. Not sure how successful I’ll be, but that is the plan.

 

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

The Twelve Steps and Compatibility with Sacramental Confession

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During my interview on the “‘On Call’ with Wendy Wiese” radio show on May 1st there was an Anonymous caller at the end who asked a question on the compatibility of the Twelve Steps with the Catholic Church’s sacramental Confession. As the call was near the end of the show, I didn’t fully engage the question. Upon listening again to the show I caught a deeper sense to Anonymous’ point. Which was:

In the Twelve Steps, you review your life and bring forward all the bad stuff you did. How is that compatible with the teaching that in Confession, God forgives and forgets your sins? I think he meant that if you’ve been confessing your sins to a priest all along, why bother going through the moral inventory of Step 4 and sharing it with another in Step 5? (As well as the follow up Steps along the way.) If God forgives and forgets in Confession, what is the point of doing the Steps?

I am assuming a few things. One, is that the person in question has not dropped the practice of the Faith during their drinking career. Many do. In the context of the caller’s question, it seems as if the hypothetical person was still going to Confession and probably confessing all of their alcoholic transgressions. This is fine. They were forgiven. The slate was clean. However, chances are they committed those sins all over again. In my experience, and in the testimony of priests who generalize what they hear in Confession, many people commit and confess the same sins time and time again, whether they are addicts or not.

Another thing: although Catholics are supposed to do a thorough Examination of Conscience in preparation for Confession, I think few actually go very deep and try and get at the underlying root causes of their sins. This is the intended purpose of the Twelve Steps, particularly the Fourth one. We have to uncover not only the bad things we’ve done, but we must understand why we did them, so as to comprehend how our alcoholism affected our lives and the lives of those around us. We do that fearless and searching moral inventory not only to clean up our past and make amends, but to see the patterns and commonalities or all of our sins. We get at what triggered our behavior so we can make the required changes in our lives. Whether our past behavior involved consistently broken relationships, an inability to hold a job, or just not being able to finish “big dreams,” we see in our Fourth Step all the bad we have done, and also why. So even though we may have confessed these sins and have been forgiven, we still need to address them in the context of the Twelve Steps.

Why? So we can forgive ourselves. That may sound trite and New Age-y, but if we do not forgive ourselves we run the risk of not being able to shed our resentments over these past failures. “We remember the past, but do not close the door on it,” to paraphrase a line from AA’s “Big Book.” We close the door on our past out of shame or fear. If we forgive ourselves, we have no need to close that door to our past. We can remember it as it made us whom we are today, and we can look ourselves in the mirror because we learned from our past. And we can bring what we learned to others.

So yes, God forgives us and forgets our sins when we go to Confession; but when we work the Twelve Steps, we can forgive and forget them, too.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)