Catholics dedicate the month of June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in veneration and in gratitude for His merciful heart and His redeeming love for mankind.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS AND MASS CHANGES
June 11th Mass time changes: St. Philips at 9am and St. Marys at 10:30am
CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION
On Sunday, June 11th, the Mass at St. Philips will be at 9am and the Mass at St. Marys will be at 10:30. The 10:30 Mass will be followed (weather permitting) by a Eucharistic Procession through the streets of Gays Mills with three altars/tables set up along the way; one altar/table for each parish. Prayers will be said at each altar/table for the living and deceased members of that particular parish. Benediction will conclude in the church after the procession. In case of rain, adoration and prayers concluding with benediction will be done inside the church. Please come and show your love and belief in the Real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
Trinity Sunday Homily by Bishop Barron
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey2A8bvUk8Y
Pentecost Homily by Bishop Barron
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPfiRqRcv9A
The Ascension of Jesus by Bishop Barron
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktH4PnwWnZ0
Normal Mass Times At The Three Parishes
Weekends:
Saturday 7pm at Saint Patrick Parish in Seneca
Sunday 7:30am at Saint Patrick Parish in Seneca
Sunday 9am at St. Mary Parish in Gays Mills
Sunday 10:30am at St. Philip Parish in Rolling Ground *
* (Eucharistic Adoration & Confessions on First Sundays following the 10:30 Mass)
Weekdays:
Monday - Wednesday - Friday 8:30am * at St. Patrick Parish
* (Eucharistic Adoration on First Fridays following the 8:30am Mass)
Tuesday 8:30am at St. Philip Parish
Thursday 8:30am at St. Mary Parish
Suicide, Depression, and a ‘Crisis of Hope’:
Offering Real Help to Our Youth in Despair
COMMENTARY: Our young people’s sadness, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts are a desperate cry for this attentive love in the midst of their existential and ever-urgent questions by Father Landry taken from the Catholic Register Website
It’s obvious that there is a crisis of hope underneath the persistent sadness and the consideration of ending one’s life. This is linked to a crisis of meaning, of the “why” of living, of what gives motivation to be able to change one's own circumstances for the better, not to mention change one’s environment and the world.
This crisis of hope is linked to a crisis of faith. Gen Z, those born between 1999 and 2015, are experiencing a rapid decline of faith in God. Since 2010, religious practice among high schoolers has dropped 27%. Thirteen percent now define as atheist and 16% as agnostic.
In his 2008 encyclical of Christian hope, Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict described hopelessness as St. Paul once did to the Christians in Ephesus, connecting those living “without hope” to those living “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Hope comes from recognizing, Pope Benedict said, that God is with us in the world, bringing good out of evil, bringing justice to victims, helping us find eternal meaning even in the most ordinary activities. The failure to transmit the faith effectively to younger generations, and the rise of secularism with its practical atheism spurring people to live as if God doesn’t exist, is doubtless abetting the crisis of our young.
Similarly, the multi-pronged crisis of the family has to be a contributing cause. The trauma of divorce, the absence of father figures, the loneliness that comes from fewer brothers and sisters leading the young to try to earn friends outside the home, the competition for love and attention against parents’ new boyfriends or girlfriends can all create a crisis in the sense of feeling genuinely and stably loved. Being unconditionally and firmly loved is the real source of joy, of what can provide hope in the midst of setbacks and contradictions.
Young persons’ perceptions of that love cannot be taken for granted, especially when they are struggling in authentic self-love while experiencing rapid changes within and around them.
For the full article in the Catholic Register with the link below:
https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/rising-suicide-rates-cdc-real-hope-landry
Abortion Regret
by Scarlen Valderaz
Article taken from The Patriotic Post on March 16, 2023
The pro-choice activists market abortion as a procedure that will lift every pregnant woman’s burden and empower her to live her “best life.” We see marketing campaigns such as “shout your abortion” on social media. Celebrities go on talk shows to tell the audience how abortion saved their life or allowed them to fulfill their career. To every pro-choice activist, life after an abortion is all sunshine and rainbows.
What the pro-choice activists don’t want to hear is that many women regret their abortion and have trouble coping with what they have done out of pressure or lack of information. It is inconvenient for pro-choice activists to listen to women who have become depressed or suicidal after the loss of their baby. This behavior does not fit the abortion industry’s narrative of abortion being healthcare or the right thing for a pregnant woman to do.
A simple Google search leads to pages of TikTok videos about women speaking of their abortion regret. Recently, a young woman went viral for posting about her abortion regret on social media. In her video, she says no one talks about how hard abortions are on women and how, at the time, she believed she was doing the right thing, but a month after her abortion she hates herself. She goes on to say that she had all the means in the world to care for her baby on her own, but she felt an abortion would benefit her and those around her.
This woman’s heartbreaking testimony would be inconvenient to pro-choice activists like Jane Fonda, who recently called for the murder of pro-life politicians on the show “The View.” When Fonda was given the opportunity to backtrack on her statement, she refused clarity. This rhetoric is common among pro-choice activists and has led to actual attacks toward pro-life activists and pregnancy resource centers. The vile attitude and actions of pro-choice activists may be leading to women keeping their abortion regret to themselves. A woman hurt by abortion may decide it is best to keep her regret to herself rather than face the angry pro-choice mob.
The reality of abortion is dark and leaves women hurt and ashamed while abortion facilities continue to profit. Abortion is a lucrative industry preying on misinformed or desperate women. Those who judge a woman who has had an abortion rather than come alongside that woman with compassion and love also perpetuate the hurt and shame she feels.
One of the best places a woman experiencing abortion regret could be is a local pregnancy resource center. Pregnancy resource centers outnumber Planned Parenthoods, and their services are usually free. These centers are equipped and trained to help a mother in any stage of motherhood, including abortion regret. Most pregnancy resource centers operate solely on donations and volunteers. If you have a pregnancy resource center near you, consider volunteering your time or donating funds to help it provide important lifesaving services.
END OF LIFE QUESTIONS ON PALLATIVE CARE
INCLUDING MORPHINE:
Catholic Understanding and Teaching concerning Morphine Drip
Isn't a morphine drip just another way to hasten a terminal patient's death? What is the difference between that and assisted suicide?
A morphine (a strong opiate that offers the best, most common approach to severe pain relief) "drip" or continuous infusion (an efficient and convenient intravenous application) is often used when a terminally ill patient is experiencing progressive or intense pain. A morphine infusion (drip) is not prescribed to hasten a terminally ill patient's death, but to provide comfort to the patient. There is a method of gradually increasing strength of pain medicines as the pain changes with disease progression. Both the dosage and type of medicine can be changed to meet the individual's unique needs for relief and prevention of pain and discomfort. Beginning with mild, to moderate to strongest medications, the physician has options to maintain control over the person's pain over time.
There is a distinct difference between the action of prescribing pain medication for a terminally ill patient and prescribing a lethal drug for a terminally ill patient. In the first case, the intent of the prescriber is to relieve pain and the drug of choice would be an opiate such as morphine. In the second case the intent of the prescriber is to purposefully hasten death and the choice of drug would be a barbiturate. While it is true that the terminally ill patient's life may be somewhat shortened as a result of the ingestion of an opiate-that is not the intent of the prescriber. Catholic moral theology recognizes and accepts this situation-calling it the "rule of double effect. " (See discussion below.) Often the person who has struggled with pain for some time may be finally able to "let go" and die peacefully once they are no longer suffering. This can happen simultaneously but is rarely a direct result of the medication. The health care providers must assess and monitor and adjust the medication to achieve the proper dose and comfort balance.
"It is worth recalling here a statement of Pius XII that is still valid. A group of physicians had asked: 'Is the removal of pain and consciousness by means of narcotics... permitted by religion and morality to both doctor and patient even at the approach of death and if one foresees that the use of narcotics will shorten life?' The pope answered: 'Yes, provided that no other means exist and if, in the given circumstances, the action does not prevent the carrying out of other moral and religious duties... death is by no means intended or sought, although the risk of it is being incurred for a good reason; the only intention is to diminish pain effectively by use of the painkillers available to medical science.'"
What is the rule of "double effect"?
The rule of double effect, found in Catholic moral theology, has a long history of use by bioethicists and philosophers as a means to resolve a particular type of ethical conflict in clinical cases. Basically the rule comes into play when a proposed action (such as administering morphine to a terminally ill patient in pain) has two known outcomes. One outcome is intended and desired (relief of pain). The other outcome is neither desired nor intended (hastening death), although it may be foreseen.
Is it wrong to offer increasingly high doses of morphine to a terminally ill patient in severe pain? Won't the patient become addicted?
No, it is not wrong-even knowing that the medicine may actually, although not intentionally shorten the life of a terminally ill person (See discussion of "double effect.") A well informed physician is not worried about "addiction" but about providing adequate pain relief. Addiction is only a problem for those who are receiving curative care and who anticipate resuming ordinary life, or who have no underlying cause for pain and are taking strong pain medicine for the emotional high or escape from the euphoria. When a physical cause for pain exists it is utilized by the body and may need to be increased over time as the body adapts to it and changes occur in condition.
One of the primary purposes of medicine in caring for the dying is the relief of pain and the suffering caused by it. Effective management of pain in all its forms is critical in the appropriate care of the dying. Patients should be kept as free of pain as possible so that they may die comfortably and with dignity, and in the place where they wish to die. Since a person has the right to prepare for his or her death while fully conscious, he or she should not be deprived of consciousness without a compelling reason.
Medicines capable of alleviating or suppressing pain may be given to a dying person, even if this therapy may indirectly shorten the person's life so long as the intent is not to hasten death. Patients experiencing suffering that cannot be alleviated should be helped to appreciate the Christian understanding of redemptive suffering. When a person is more comfortable they have the energy and ability to focus on family, relationships, living as well as possible for whatever time they have. Relief of pain can improve the time and duration of life and provide a window of meaningful celebration of one's life. Family can then use the time to share stories, have gatherings, create lasting loving memories, using the time well with good pain relief. Family's benefit from pain relief just as patient does. When one suffers, the other does too.
A terminally ill patient (or those advocating for him or her) would be wise to seek out a physician who is well informed about pain management. One of the advantages of hospice care is that the medical personnel are well informed and well trained in the application of adequate and appropriate pain medication. Adequate pain relief is a right of every person and should be expected with good hospice or end of life care as well as during earlier treatment phase, as needed.
Staff
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Church News
Information on what is brain dead and organ donation: uploaded on 10/26/21:
https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/brain-death-and-organ-donation
Information on Conscientious objection to covid 19 vaccines: uploaded on 10/26/21:
News and Announcements
updated on XX/XX/21
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