Saturday, July 2, 2016

Faith Resources Newsletter - Number 62 - May 2016



Piety must be habitual, not by fits. It must be persevering, because temptations continue all our lives - and perseverance alone obtains the crown. Its means are - the presence of God - good reading, prayer, the Sacraments, good resolutions often renewed - the remembrance of our last ends - and its advantages - habits which secure our predestination, making our life equal, peaceable and consoling-leading to the heavenly crown where our perseverance will be eternal!  St Elizabeth Ann Seton

Message from the Manager
Welcome to the Cardinal Newman Faith Resources May Newsletter. May marks the 99th Anniversary since Our Blessed Mother‘s first apparition at Fatima. During the next six months she impressed upon the three children, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, the importance of fasting, almsgiving and most significantly prayer, especially the Rosary. She warned that if we failed to heed her message the world would suffer through great wars and the spread of Communism. Despite the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Our Blessed Mother’s message is even more poignant today as Russia’s errors regarding the destruction of the family and Christianity have infiltrated each and every government without exception. We have some listening and reading material that will keep us informed and help us enhance our spiritual life. May God continue to bless our readers and their families.

Gai Smith
Manager

Featured items

The 13th Day DVD
This film is the most beautiful and effective film ever made about Fatima, as well as one of the most historically accurate. Sister Lucia's memories are imbued with an aura of reverie and contemplation by striking visuals, an effective score and a stark, simple narrative. It succeeds in being both artful and reverent. Also available:
The Way of Beauty by David Clayton
David Clayton describes how a true Catholic education is a program of liturgical catechesis and culture that aims for the supernatural transformation of the person so that he can in turn transfigure the world around through the divine beauty of his daily action.  The book is an inspiration not only to artists, architects, and composers, but also to educators, who can apply its principles in home and classroom for the formation and education of children and students of all ages and at all levels in the family, homes schooling, high school, college, and university.

Way to Inner Peace by Fulton Sheen
When asked about inner peace Archbishop Sheen pointed to the way of the cross. Humility, love, and service are the virtues recommended to pave the way. Sorrow for sins, patience with others, and a healthy sense of humour are considered almost equally important. Written fifty years ago this classic gives forgotten age-old truths surprisingly and specifically appropriate to the needs of our own times. Rich in psychology and richer yet in New Testament spirituality, these pages will provide an invaluable guide to all those who, for whatever reason, are seeking the way to inner peace. Also available by Fulton Sheen:

Five Anti-Catholic Myths by Gerard M Verschuuren
One curious feature of our times is the biased historical scholarship of earlier centuries, which has become entrenched in the minds of millions. Scholarship of recent decades, however, has thrown new light on these matters, and is finally allowing the real history to become more widely known. This book is an unadorned laying bare of the full facts. The five myths analysed by Gerard Verschuuren ensure that Catholics know the truth about the Crusades, slavery, the Inquisition, Galileo and the Holocaust. Also available from Angelico Press:
Wounds in the Heart: The Healing Power of Forgiveness by Javier Schlatter
Dr Schlatter helps us out of the vicious cycle of bitterness and the suffering that comes with it by leading us into a deeper understanding of forgiveness and its importance in our lives. He shows that our health and real happiness can depend on our ability to forgive. Also available on this topic:

Brother Francis 12: The Sacraments DVD
The latest Brother Francis DVD has arrived earlier than anticipated and is now in stock. It is an excellent way to teach children about the seven sacraments. The companion workbook which reinforces the lessons taught by the DVD is also available: Brother Francis 12: Colouring and Activity Book $4.25
Other children’s titles in stock for May:
History Books Set by Dorothy Mills Special
Dorothy Mills has an uncanny and unique ability to write history that is interesting and at the same time based on sound scholarship. The publisher has undertaken to reprint the highly-prized six volumes of her historical works as part of its effort to offer texts ideally suited to the needs of a new generation of teachers and students. In a world where the quality of education has so deteriorated, may the reissue of this wonderful historical series shine as a beacon to a new generation of young (and not so young) scholars! The prices for each title are below:

Catholic Family Catechisms
Fr Tierney's catechisms continue to be available. These books were written to be used by families and Catechism classes to transmit the fullness of the Faith in a way that is easy to understand and memorise. The Apostles' edition is suitable for ages 12 to adult and the Disciples' edition for ages 6 years and up. They are excellent resources for instruction in the Faith. A rule of good catechesis is that it is simple and easily memorised so that the answers are echoed in our hearts.
The price of each is $5.00
New Boys Go Bush Again
The newest book in the Bush Boys series by Fr James Tierney is available in pre-publication form. The book is expected to be available in the near future.
The other books in the Bush Boys series are:



Cardinal Newman Catechist Consultants — 2nd May, 2016 — HANDOUTS n. 133
“Clear, brief and easily assimilated by all”
“Go, teach all Nations”
Download as a PDF
 
Sample Letters to a Newspaper
Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you, yet to do so with gentleness and reverence.
1 Peter 3:15
MISTAKEN EQUALITIES
Some inequalities are worth preserving:-
Truth does not equal error.
Beauty does not equal ugliness.
Good docs not equal evil.
God does not equal the Devil.
Choosing those second alternatives makes for unhappy living, isolation from others and social disintegration. The nobler choices are the basis of science, philosophy, art and ethics. A Religion that upholds natural morality and asserts the evil of murder, adultery, theft and lying, might be harder to practise but is more practical. Indeed, it underpins civilization and real freedoms, and avoids the horrors of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Polpot.
There is a piece of trickery in elementary algebra that proves that two equals one. Actually, it is a fraud, a cheat, even a lie. Similarly, by chopping a square into two triangles and two quadrilaterals, and rearranging them, it is possible to deceive the unwary that 64 = 65.
Similarly, it is neither helpful nor truthful to ignore the different wiring of the brains of men and women — or of their reproductive organs. Experience and modern science agree. It is not bigotry to say so, nor is all discrimination evil.
Mistaken equalities are handy for rabble-rousing soap box oratory.
Before today's aggressive promotion of atheism and amorality, marriage always involved male and female, even if aberrations like concubines and harems were tolerated. True equality is not getting just anything you want but respecting differences. That’s fair!
BEST BET ON GOD
SOME AGNOSTICS, atheists and other irreligious persons would like everyone to convert to them and thereby ensure peace in the world — reversing our Gospel of converting others to God and Godliness.
A good test of any religious or non-religious faith is which is the most noble in its teaching and practical results. The more noble the teaching, the harder it will be to practise — and the more shocking the failures. Not surprisingly, people struggle with Christianity. We have to love our enemies and those who hate us, and alas, sometimes we find ourselves even hating our friends!
Pascal, who gives his name to air pressure in tyres, was given to gambling. He reckoned it was best to bet on God since we would never know if we were wrong! At least, that’s a starting point for enquiry.
SANTA CLAUS
NICHOLAS of Myra was a fourth century saintly Christian bishop in what is now modern Turkey. He was famous for the small bags of gold he gave to three maidens as the dowries they needed for honourable marriage.
Thus he became the patron saint of children and of giving them presents. In eastern Europe, children are given presents on his feast day, 6th December.
For English speakers, such presents developed into Christmas presents on 25th December, with parents acting for St Nicholas, Santa Claus, “Sinte Claus” in Dutch. A bishop is a “father in God”, so he is called “Father Christmas”.
Far from being a rival to the Baby Lord Jesus, he reminds us of God’s supreme Christmas present to mankind, Jesus Christ, His Son and our Saviour.
MAKING MOTHERS
NOTHING is the same as matrimony. While the word “marriage” comes from the making of a husband, “matrimony” says more, for it means the making of a mother.
Only a woman can be a mother. Only a man can make her so. One young man’s proposal of marriage was, “Can you hear the pitter patter of little feet on the floor?”
No substitute is possible for matrimony. Nothing has equality with marriage.
It’s one of God’s greatest inventions. It’s a living symbol of His union with creation, with humanity, and with His Church. It’s a symbol which makes His purpose present from generation to generation. Without such a vision, the people perish.
GOOD AND EVIL
ACCORDING TO the old Sunday School chorus, “The best book to read is the Bible”.
So, once upon a time a boy I know wagged Sunday School by pretending to be sick. He offered to sit in the wintry sunshine and read the Bible, starting from Genesis. Genesis means the Beginning.
Genesis was chock-a-block with good and evil, ranging from the noble to the obscene, from God to the Devil:
Some was inspiring. Let there be light. Increase and multiply and fill the earth. Tend the Garden and keep it. Not good for man to be alone. Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed but a few days because of the greatness of his love. Lots of parental affection.
On the other hand there was murder, slavery, masturbation, rape, sodomy, fornication, prostitution, incest, polygamy, theft, lies, false witness, false pretences, sibling rivalry, jealousy. Wow!
And life in society. Big government, centralized economy. A high-rise tower, fire, flood, famine. Tragic infertility. Remarkable obstetrics and animal husbandry. Sharp bargaining, even with God!
Actually, it’s just like today. All that’s missing is abortion and euthanasia, where we have sunk lower.
However we are also far better off, with a Saviour from sin, His moral code and power-packages to live Godly lives.
INTELLECTUAL MARXISM
ARE THE elected politicians of our democracy gradually legislating civilization out of existence? Are we to be trapped in a Nineteen Eighty Four scenario of totalitarian domination by governments?
Is total promiscuity the latest sop for a Brave New World without religion and its morality, without marriages and its families, and with children unplanned, unwanted bi-product?
Democracy never was enough. After the 1989 fall of Russian communism, Solzhenitsyn, that true patriot, said democracy would not suit the Russian people because what they needed was a dictator who would be responsible to God and to his conscience.
Read Dr Paul Kengor’s 2015 book, TAKEDOWN, From Communists to Progressives, How the Left has sabotaged Family and Marriage. Its back cover is headed “Exposing the Radical Movement to Redefine Family and Marriage”. It traces the Neo-Marxism take-over of academics and education and its morphing into Freudian-Marxism.
Good Old Father Jim
by Mrs Michele Vieira for the celebration on 26th September, 2015, of his Golden Jubilee of Priesthood and 80th Birthday.
Tune: The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
FR JIM has been a priest for 50 years today, He has taught us all to worship God and how to kneel and pray
He has written books and handouts, lots of letters every day: Our priest is Fr Jim
CHORUS
Glory be to God for good old Fr Jim (thrice)
He is our beloved priest.
2. He grew up out at Beecroft, went to school at Homebush High
He learnt to read and write at school, to add and multiply
He went to Sydney Uni then on to Sydney seminary He learnt to be a priest.
3. As Fr Jim he went to work in service of Our Lord
In Penrith, Ryde and Naremburn, his priestly life outpoured
With weddings, Baptisms, confessions and his preaching — no-one was bored
They all loved Fr Jim
4. When families came to see him all upset and all distraught
For they sent their kids to Catholic schools but the faith there was not taught
So he wrote his catechism and his Confirmation kit
And taught them in the park
5. When it was heard that teachers did not know the truth to teach
He started courses for them all so the children they could reach
With the truths of our great Catholic faith through timeless recipes
Of passing on the faith
6. The Newman Centre blossomed out of this apostolate
It’s grown and grown in spreading truth in books and pamphlet (pronounced pamph-el-et)
With statues, pictures, rosary beads, advice all given free
The faith is passing on
7. Homeschooling next became the grounds for Fr Jim’s advice
Encour-aging the mums and dads to try was no surprise
He’s our unofficial chaplain, champ -i- on for all our needs
He helps us teach our kids
8. He retired from active ministry and moved to Tarlo town
He never stopped his priestly work but grew in high renown
Answering letters by the dozen, providing all our spiritual needs
He continued being God’s priest
9. These days he goes more slowly, walks with staff and hat and boots
He tells us all the stories of his childhood and his roots
He drinks a pint of tea each meal, lights fires with just one match,
And prays for us each day
10. We hope he lives upon this earth for decades yet to come
Still sharing the faith, encouraging us — the kids, the dads and mums
To persevere, to do our best to be God’s holy ones
He still serves God today.
What’s his Apostolic Agenda?
ANSWER: Activating the lay apostolate.
·         Writing Handouts from his Daily Log Book of Ideas.
·         Researching answers for letters, faxes, phone calls.
·         Writing Letters to the Editor of the Goulburn Post.
·         Getting New Boys Go Bush Again into print.
·         Recreation writing of New Boys' Bush Rescue.
·         Major revision of Heart Speaks to Heart prayer book.
·         Completing how-to-teach Catholic Family CatechIST..
·         and talking and listening to young and old.
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
Father James Tierney

© The Rev. B.J.H. Tierney. Handouts are free and may be copied for any non-profit teaching purpose. However, donations to defray costs are welcome and should be made to the publisher and distributor, the Cardinal Newman Faith Resources Inc. PO Box 359, St Marys NSW 1790; phone 02 9673 2235; fax 02 9623 3181 email <fr@eardinalnewman.com.au>



THIS APOSTOLATE NEEDS YOUR HELP
All donations large or small are gratefully received from benefactors to assist in our valuable apostolate. Please be assured that you are remembered in our prayers. To help you, we have purchase an extensive new range of stock and are upgrading our on-line services. You can assist by:
  1. Being a Volunteer on a roster for a few hours a week; a regular 2 hours or more would be great
  2. Making a donation, either by direct deposit or by using the form below
  3. Buying books and religious goods from us
  • Direct Deposit - ANZ Bank: BSB 012408  Account: 227329572  Please cite your name as our reference. For notification of the direct deposit  remittance: fr@cardinalnewman.com.au or fax: (02) 9623 3181
  • credit card, cheque, money order - please return the form below to: Cardinal Newman Faith Resources Inc  PO BOX 359 ST MARYS  1790

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