Pope Francis' Apostolic Letters on the Annulment Process

You will be reading all over the secular media that Pope Francis has made significant changes to the annulment process. Rather than trust their reporting, I suggest you actually read the text of both letters. You can find their links below:

Mitis et Misericors Iesus

Mitis iudex Dominus Iesus

Overview of Pope Francis' Encycylical

Below is video from a press conference from the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas. The speaker is Dr. Benedict Nguyen, who was one of my professors during my studies at the Institute for Pastoral Theology at Ave Maria University.

Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey, Diocese of Corpus Christi on:The 2nd Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis. Laudato Si' (On The Care For Our Common Home) Part 2of 2: Dr. Benedict NguyenView the 06/18/2015 press conference
Posted by Diocese of Corpus Christi on Friday, June 19, 2015

Download Pope Francis' 2nd Enclycical:Laudato Si

From Outsidethebeltway

Pope Francis has published his much anticipated second encyclical entitled Laudato Si (Latin) or On Care for Our Common Home. Here is the Laudato Si LINK.

Video: Pope Francis One Year Anniversary

As we acknowledge the one year anniversary of Pope Francis being elected, here's a video reflection on Year One from Outside Da Box:
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Video: Pope Francis Speaks to Protestant Conference

Pope Francis is up to his surprises again. He recently sent a brief video greeting to Protestant evangelist, Kenneth Copeland, praying for unity among all Christians. Here is the short version of Pope Francis' message:


Here's the longer version with the opening sequence featuring Bishop Tony Palmer (Anglican). For a full transcript of Pope Francis' greeting visit Aggie Catholics.

Happy Birthday Pope Francis

Pope Francis is 77 years old today. Let us celebrate his birthday with a short prayer for him.

V. Let us pray for Francis, our Pope.

R. May the Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. [Ps 40:3]

Our Father ...

Hail Mary ...

O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Francis, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Fr. Barron on Pope Francis Being Named Time's Person of the Year

Pope Francis Named Time's Person of the Year

Source: Time

Person of the Year
Today, Time Magazine announced that it had selected Pope Francis as their 2013 Person of the Year. One of the reasons cited for his selection is the historic nature of his election as the first Latin American pope. According to Nancy Gibbs, Time’s managing editor, Pope Francis was recognized “as someone who has changed the tone and perception and focus of one of the world’s largest institutions in an extraordinary way.”

Third Pope
Pope Francis is the third pope to be named Time's person of the year. Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II were named in 1962 and 1994 respectively.

Fr. Robert Barron Discusses "The Joy of the Gospel"

Download Pope Francis's First Apostolic Exhortation:Evangelii Gaudium, Joy of the Gospel

Source: Wikipedia

Pope Francis officially concluded the Year of Faith by publishing his first Apostolic Exhortation. The document is entitled Evangelii Gaudium, which translates to the 'Joy of the Gospel, is Pope Francis's distillation and response to the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.

The document is available to view, print or download as a PDF at the Vatican website. Additionally, Carl Olsen has posted a Vatican summary on his Insight Scoop blog.

Pope Francis Appoints New Bishop of Ft. Worth Diocese

Crest of Ft. Worth Diocese

According to the Vatican news feed, Pope Francis announced yesterday that Monsignor Michael Olson will be new bishop of the Ft. Worth Diocese. Olson will be installed as the new bishop on January 29th at a Mass to be celebrated at the Ft. Worth Convention Center. Msr. Olson is a "home grown" priest from the Ft. Worth diocese. 

Let's continue to pray for him as he prepares to take on his new duties.

Pope Sets Example for New Evangelization

Source: ABC News

No Stuffy Evangelization

Pope Francis continues to give us an example of how we are to live out the New Evangelization in our daily lives. Today, ABC News published a picture of Pope Francis wearing a clown nose with a newly wed couple who are part of a clown ministry. It seems to me, that Pope Francis is telling us through his actions that we don't need to be stuffy in our approach to evangelization. As I read the brief article on the new site, I was surprised to see so many positive comments from non-Catholics in the combox. Pope Francis's humble, down to Earth approach is moving the hearts of people. We can learn a lesson or two from this.

Witnesses to the World

Sometimes we get too caught up in creating new apostolates or new programs of New Evangelization and we forget the personal aspect of evangelization. Perhaps what Pope Francis is telling us through his actions is that the best way to evangelize is to be authentic human beings, made in the image and likeness of God; to reflect that image back to others. Pope Francis continues to show us evangelization is not implemented or executed with words, but by the witnesses of our lives.

Pope Francis: Be Apostles

In Wednesday's General Audience, Pope Francis urged us to be apostles of the faith, to live our lives as witnesses of the Gospel. He warned against turning inwards, of being a "closed Church." Instead, we have to take the Gospel out to others where they are.

Fr. Barron Talks About the Pope's Big Interview

Vatican Announces Date for Canonization of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII

Pope Francis has announced today that Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII will be canonized on April 17, 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday.

Pope Francis Borrows Idea From Joe Catholic

Pope Gives Homework
I have been sharing with RCIA groups and Joe Catholic for years that we should celebrate our Baptism Days as our Re-Birthdays. Today Pope Francis pretty much said the same thing in his general audience and assigned everyone listening "homework" to go and find out their Baptism dates.

Baptism is a Big Deal
It goes without saying that Baptism is a big deal and it should be treated as such. In the interest of full disclosure, the truth is I got this idea from reading an article a few years ago on Catholic Culture that talked about the practice of celebrating Baptismal days like birthdays because they are our re-birth days. Our family now celebrates the anniversary of our re-birthdays. I recommend you do the same with your family. Treat your family member to their favorite meal, make them a cake and reflect on the readings from that day. You can also use it as an opportunity to review the Church teaching on Baptism. I assure you that doing all of this will enrich your lives. In preparing for a talk I was going to give to RCIA a few years ago, I discovered I was baptized on the traditional Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th. Now this feast day has even more personal meaning to me.

Find the Date
Take some time out in the next few days to discover the dates of your Baptism and those of your family. Mark the date on your calendar and plan on celebrating. If you don't remember the date, I have a few recommendations. First, if you received your marriage certificate from you parish, they would have had to confirm your previous sacraments. Additionally, you can contact the parish or diocese in which you were baptized. I was surprised that my old parish where I was confirmed had my records. This was fortunate since the church I was baptized in no longer exists. Even if that is the case, the diocese will have a record of the Baptism. If you were not Catholic at the time of your Baptism, it may take a little bit more work. Chances are you had to do this as part of the RCIA process. If not, try talking to some of your relatives that may remember. Most churches keep records of Baptisms.

Faith is Not Irrational:Fr. Barron's Commentary on Lumen Fidei

From The Practicing Catholic

There is an urgent need, then, to see once again that faith is a light, for once the flame of faith dies out, all other lights begin to dim. The light of faith is unique, since it is capable of illuminating every aspect of human existence. A light this powerful cannot come from ourselves but from a more primordial source: in a word, it must come from God. Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can lean for security and for building our lives. Transformed by this love, we gain fresh vision, new eyes to see; we realize that it contains a great promise of fulfilment, and that a vision of the future opens up before us. Faith, received from God as a supernatural gift, becomes a light for our way, guiding our journey through time. (Lumen Fidei, 4).

Faith, Hope and Charity
Last Friday, Pope Francis published his first encyclical entitled Lumen Fidei (Light of Faith). The encyclical closed out the three part series initiated by Pope Benedict on the three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity (see CCC 1812-1829). Pope Benedict began by writing on charity in Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) and followed it up later with Spe Savli (Saved by Hope). In Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis concludes the third installment on faith, which Pope Benedict had already begun writing before his resignation. Francis described the encyclical as having been written by four hands.

Faith is Not Irrational

In this video, Father Robert Barron gives an overview of the encyclical, highlighting a key point that faith is not irrational.

Lumen Fidei

By now you have heard that Pope Francis's first encyclical, Lumen Fidei has been published and made available to the public via the Vatican website. Currently, you can download the document as a PDF at the site. If you wish to read it on a your Kindle or other e-reader, you can read it as a PDF or you can convert it to any desired ebook format using Calibre (for personal use only).

For a summary of the encyclical you can read the Catholic World Report.

Ignatius Press will be releasing a hardback copy soon.
Rome Reports Video

Meet Pope Francis

Here's a great little video about Pope Francis from CatholicLink:

More on Pope Francis:

• Francis: Pope of a New World, Tornielli, Andrea
• Pray for Me: The Life and Spiritual Vision of Pope Francis, First Pope from the Americas, Moynihan, Robert

Guest Post: Making Room to be Still

Pilgrims

[Editor's Note: As part of the WordCount Blogathon, participants were encouraged to exchange guest posts with other bloggers.]

Walk - Build - Proclaim

Hello Joe Catholic Cyber Community. My name is Tracy and I am the author of Walk.Build.Proclaim. I was inspired by Pope Francis’ words to the Cardinals on March 14th, 2013, when he told them that their job was to Walk, Build and Proclaim. My blog looks at different ways that we as Christians are called to do this as well.

Making Room
I would like to start by saying how grateful I am that I was asked me to be a guest blogger on Joe Catholic. When I was told that this blog was about the universal call to holiness, my mind was racing with a million different ideas. What I finally settled on was writing about how we make room in our lives for God so we can hear and respond to the universal call of holiness. This reflection is based Psalm 4:1and my own experience drawing meaning from it.

Cleaning Tirade
The week of May 6th I was on a cleaning tirade in our house. It all started with the desire to take on one project that has eluded me for years. The major component to that project was, of course, at the bottom of the potential avalanche pile in a closet. That one project led to three days of sorting, washing, donating, walking down memory lane and throwing things out. I was on such a roll that I was able to sort, organize, donate and throw things out from a closet, three drawers, a storage area and three different kitchen cabinets.

Answer Me
It felt really good to do all of this, especially because this wasn't a project that I had started the week wanting to do. The project took on a life of its own. It wasn't until that Saturday, May 11th, that I figured out what had gotten into me. The answer was present in Psalm 4:1: "Answer me when I call, O God of my right! You gave me room when I was in distress."

An Opportunity to Make Room
Little did I know that I was being given the opportunity to make room for God in my life. You might think how can someone who spent seventeen years of their life /career working for a church not have enough room for God in their life? My answer is that physical-material things in your life can take up more space in your life than you are aware of. There is so much unseen maintenance that goes with having material things, it can almost be suffocating; not having that room can become a way of life.

Call to Holiness
Next time you're thinking about cleaning the basement, garage or closet, instead of that project being a daunting task on your "to-do" list, re-Read Psalm 4:1. Then, look at the project as a way of making a little bit more room in your life for God, as well as making some room to contemplate how you are going to answer the call to universal holiness.

Feel free to read more of Tracy's posts on Walk.Build.Proclaim. This week she has begun a series on women who are Red-Shoe Worthy. You may also join her on Facebook where they will begin sharing Francis’isms – quotations and reflections from Pope Francis’ daily homilies that inspire us to answer the call to universal holiness.