On Eag le ’ s Wings

7 Themes of Catholic Social Teaching

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you...I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father....This I command you: love one another. (John 15:12-17). This month, our On Eagle’s Wings newsletter will look into the “Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching.” However, it will only be a taste of what the Church has to say about them. I went to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) website to refresh my memory about the seven themes. As I looked over them I was drawn to the theme: “Call to family, community and participation.” The USCCB says, “The person is not only sacred but also social. How we organize our society—in econom-ics and politics, in law and policy—directly affects human dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow in community. Marriage and the family are the central social in-stitutions that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. We believe people have a right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together the com-

mon good and well-being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable” (from “Call to Family, Community and Partici-pation”). Reading some of the highlights of the theme, I began to realize this theme aligns with our current parish theme: “Be Christ to One Another.” The family is where it all begins. The family should be the foundation of where we learn to love and respect others in the world around us. Something that struck me as I continued to read about the theme is a quote from the Second Vatican Council: “But God did not create man as a solitary, for from the beginning ‘male and female he created them’ (Gen. 1:27). Their companionship produces the primary form of interpersonal communion. For by his innermost nature man is a so-cial being, and unless he relates himself to others he can neither live nor develop his potential” (The Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes), #12). For me, it all has to do with the Scripture with which I began this article. Jesus calls us to love one another; to lay one’s life down for another is the greatest selfless act one can do for anoth-er. How are we as family and a faith-filled community living this Gospel message? Our families have to be the place where we begin to experience the love God has for us. If we fail to instill in our children to love their neighbor, how will it ever be experienced in the community or in the world? Jesus chose us to bear fruit, to live out the Gospel, to be Christ to one another. Let us be families that answer the Gospel call. Have a great month!

Father Don West

This Month’s Highlights Page 2: Business Manager Report Parish Directory Page 3: Lenten Reflection 5 Ways to Pray Page 4: Resolution or Mission? Lenten Mission Page 5: Going Green St. Gabe Update Page 6: Growing Closer to God Page 7: Lent/Easter Calendar

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Easter is just around the corner and soon we will be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. Can you believe that he gave his life for us? While we are human and imperfect, we should always see ourselves in the light of Jesus’ great love. Faith means that we trust that God is always with us and watching over us. I pray for you every day and I ask that you continue to pray for me as well. As many of you have read in the local paper or have seen on the news, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has created a foundation for the establishment of a trust and a fundraising body that is meant to help us secure our Catholic faith into the future. This foundation has a goal of raising $130 million over the course of the next five years. As a large parish, we are an important part of our Archdiocese. We depend on one another and our goal is the same—we want our Catholic faith to grow and flourish. Our parish fundraising goal is to attain commitments for $1.67 million. The fundraising campaign is called “One Faith, One Hope, One Love.” You will be hearing more about the campaign during our March Masses and can find more information at www.1faith1hope1love.org. The fund-raiser has five priorities to carry out the work of the Church: Caring for retired Diocesan Priests; Catholic school programming and tuition assistance to ensure a high quality education that is accessible, available, and affordable for all families; local parish priorities to fortify, renew, and expand parish life, the center of our faith; support of vocations through the education and faith formation of our seminarians, clergy, and lay faith leaders; honoring the commitment to care for our retired diocesan priests; and Catholic charities and social services to expand our minis-try of serving the needy and vulnerable throughout our archdiocese. If you want to help with our fundraising effort or would like more information, please email us at onefaith@stjohnwc.org. An important part of our parish life is our wonderful Family Festival. This year’s festival will be on August 7, 8, and 9, so mark your calendars! We are looking for a few key positions to be filled on our festival committee this year. These positions will work with current committee members this year and then take over the job for next year. Lots of coaching and assistance will be provided. We need the following positions to be filled: Outside Silent Auc-tion Chair, Purchasing Co-Chair, Sponsorship Chair, and Festival Co-Chair. Please call or email me if you are inter-ested in any of these positions at 777-6433 (ext. 124) or jseibenick@stjohnwc.org. This is a great way to give back to our parish community, and the friendships created while working on our festival will last you a lifetime. I have worked closely with this group for the past seven years and these are some amazing people! The entire month of March is in the Lenten season this year. Make sure that part of your Lenten sacrifice is not just “giving up” but also “giving to.” Please spend some time helping others this month! You could work at a Fish Fry, volunteer at our Easter Egg Hunt, or many other parish or community activities. Remember to be Christ to one another! Joan Seibenick, Business Manager

From the Business ManagerFrom the Business ManagerFrom the Business Manager

Download Our New Parish App! Our new St. John App is now available to download for iPhone and Android smart phones. Stay connected with our parish throughout the week with instant notifications, an easy-to-access event calendar, and the ability to quickly reply to or share messages via Facebook or Twitter. Also enjoy many additional features like prayers, daily read-ings, helpful reminders to silence your phone before Mass or Confession, and much more. The prayer feature is a great way to become more involved in your prayer life during Lent. You can set reminders to say a certain prayer each day and there are many Catholic prayers to choose from in the App. Help foster a stronger parish life at St.

John and better engage the New Evangelization. Download the app at myparishapp.com or search your phone’s App store for “myparish.”

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Being Catholic Means Being Kind

When I think of the seven themes of our Catholic social teaching, two words always come to mind: “Be Kind.” All of the pillars of our faith come back to what Jesus would want us to do. Here are the seven themes:

Life and dignity of the human person. Life is sacred from conception to natural death.

Call to family, community and participation. Marriage and the family are to be strengthened; our society should always seek to respect human dignity.

Rights and responsibilities. Every person has a fundamental right to life and human decency. We are to care for each other.

Option for the poor and vulnerable. All members of society must care for the most vulnerable—our poor and vulnerable.

The dignity of work and rights of workers. The economy must serve people first; people should not be servants to the economy.

Solidarity. We are one human family. Love thy neighbor. Work for justice and peace for all people.

Care for God’s creation. We must be good stewards of all that God has given us—the earth and all its creatures.

In today’s society, we often forget about the importance of these seven themes. It is easy to become focused on ourselves and our immediate family. Instead, we need to remember that Jesus wants us to take care of all of God’s children. Pope Francis speaks frequently on the seven themes. He once said, “Francis of Assisi tells us we should work to build peace. But there is no true peace without truth! There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth.” He is telling us that we must always think of all people. We cannot only apply the rules that we think fit best for us. It is not for us to decide who deserves to receive things. Jesus wants all people to be treat-ed fairly and justly. Pope Francis also said, “Fighting poverty, both material and spiritual, building peace and constructing bridges: these, as it were, are the reference points for a journey… But it is a difficult journey, if we do not learn to grow in love for this world of ours. Here too, it helps me to think of the name of Francis, who teaches us profound respect for the whole of creation and the protection of our environment, which all too often, instead of using for the good, we exploit greedily, to one another’s detriment.” Our Pope wants us to focus on the seven themes of our Catholic faith. He wants us to be aware that the earth was given as a gift from God, and it is our responsibility not only to care for the earth, but to care for all its creatures. We are not to expend God’s gifts, but to nurture these gifts and share them with others. Ultimately, the seven themes point to kindness. We must be kind to all other people, we must take care of the poor and vulnerable, we must take care of the environment. If you are ever wondering what the right thing to do is, just remember that Jesus wants us to be kind and he wants us to be caretakers. If our actions are not aligned with this, it may be time to reflect on our seven themes and spend some time in prayer with them. God bless you and your families! Joan Seibenick, Business Manager

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Dorothy Day & Solidarity

I was first introduced to Catholic Social Teaching through the writings of Dorothy Day. Her story is a complex one, full of difficult choices, simple living, and profound belief in solidarity with the poor. Day said toward the end of her life, “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.” As a young woman, she began a career as a journalist and led a wild life. She finally settled down with a common-law husband who wanted nothing to do with religion, but as Day carried her second child, she found herself drawn to reading the Bible and walking the beach in prayer. Her choice to baptize her daughter into the Catholic Church (a gift that she wanted to give her daughter, since she herself had wandered morally for so long) resulted in her husband leaving her. At the same time, her decision drew her more fully into the Church, particularly in the aspect of caring for the poor.

Day didn't just advocate for the poor and suffering through her writing in The Catholic Worker newspaper which she founded. She also lived, ate, and struggled in solidarity with the poor and suffering her own home that became known as the Catholic Worker House. During her life, many people criticized the concept of the Catholic Worker House because they lived precari-ously poor, only being sustained day-to-day by the generosity of those who helped to keep it open through donations. Day expressed that the business of keeping the houses open was not the point she was trying to make, instead she emphasized, “Only through voluntary poverty will we have the means to help others. We cannot even see our brothers and sisters in need without first stripping ourselves [of our own comforts].”1 She freely chose to become poor and humble enough to blend in among those she served, and thus her life is a wonderful example of what Jesus speaks about in the Beatitude to “be poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). This does not mean that she thought it was better for everyone to remain poor. She expressed in her journals, “I am sure that God did not intend that there be so many poor. The class structure is of our making and by our consent, not His, we must do what we can to change it.”2 What a wonderful challenge that extends to us today. Day’s radical approach to poverty may seem strange to many—like something that we would never able to practice in our own lives. But there are many ways that we can practice solidarity with our brothers and sis-ters in Christ. For solidarity is present in the direct conversations that we have with our neighbors and co-workers, in the choices of what we buy and wear, on the substance of what and where we dedicate our time. In my own life, I taught for a year in an inner-city school where many of my students did not have access to Internet at home; I decided that I would go without Internet in my home for the year. While this made it difficult to create lesson plans and meant I had to spend many early mornings in coffee shops, I found it to be one way to keep the reality of my student’s situation present. The struggle that they had to obtain a good education was always in my mind. Many people are surprised to find that Day was a woman of prayer and rose early to reflect on the Scripture and attend Mass before her “guests” arrived at the Catholic Worker House. Her faith strengthened her to continue serving even when there was no money to pay the bills or the bread and soup ran short. Day said, “We must practice the presence of God. He said that when two or three are gathered together, there He is in the midst of them. He is in our kitchen, at our tables, on our breadline, on our farms.”3 Thus our solidarity with neighbor extends and grows as we are connected with our God. Dorothy Day is one of the Bas Reliefs in St. John Church. Currently, she is given the title Servant of God, the first step to-wards sainthood. Let us ask her to join us in prayer for all of us seeking to be in solidarity with all our neighbors: “Dorothy Day, pray for us.” To read more about Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement, check out her books: The Long Loneliness and By Little & By Little: The Selected Writings of Dorothy Day or this website: http://dorothyday.catholicworker.org/index.html and the Catholic Worker Website: http://www.catholicworker.org.

Anna Peloquin, Pastoral Associate of Children’s Faith Formation

1Dorothy Day, "The Long Way Home," By Little & By Little: The Selected Writings of Dorothy Day. (New York: Orbis, 1992), 109. 2Dorothy Day, "Works of Mercy," By Little & By Little: The Selected Writings of Dorothy Day. (New York: Orbis, 1992), 111. 3Dorothy Day, "Works of Mercy," By Little & By Little: The Selected Writings of Dorothy Day. (New York: Orbis, 1992), 92.

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The First Principle of Catholic Social Teaching: Life and Dignity of the Human Person

Firmly rooted in our Catholic teaching is the notion that all human life is sacred from “the womb to the tomb,” as the old saying goes. We of course stand against direct abortion believing that human life begins at conception. If there is ever a doubt, watch the video “The Miracle of Life” which shows a child developing in the womb over a period of nine months, from a zygote to birth as a fully developed child. Clearly what begins as a mass of cells is human life, which is not to be killed, nor the object of experimentation.

However, when someone is on “death row,” it may be more difficult to see the person as human. Then Pope, now Saint John Paul II stood firmly against capital punishment. He believed that all human life is sacred, and execu-tions only contributed to the “culture of death” that is pervasive in society today. Furthermore, because the poor and black have a greater chance of getting the ultimate sentence, the punishment is not equitably distributed. For these reasons, His Holiness stood against executions to the point whereby he wrote the governor of Florida asking that the life of serial killer Ted Bundy be spared. What about taking human life in the case of self-defense or in times of war? On these questions, Catholic teaching is clear. We are allowed to use the degree of force necessary to stop an unjust aggressor from hurting or killing us. If simply subduing the person is sufficient, so be it. If killing the person is required to protect ourselves, then it is morally justified. What is the Church’s stance on warfare? Our Tradition offers two options: Pacifism and fighting in combat if it is a “Just War.” Saint Francis, St. Claire, and St. John of the Cross, to name a few, all advo-cated that non-violence is the stance Christians should take when confronted with an enemy. (The Church be-lieves pacifism can only be applied on a case-by-case basis, rather than as a general posture). The other position, fighting in a “Just War,” must follow a set of time-honored principles. They are:

1. Last Resort 2. Just Purpose (Objectively) 3. Declared by a Competent Authority 4. Comparative Justice (Are the values at stake critical enough to over-ride the presumption against war?) 5. Right intention (Subjectively) 6. Probability of Success (can’t be just an exercise in futility) Once war has begun: 7. Proportionality (Good intended outweighs the evil incurred during war) 8. “Discrimination” - avoiding “collateral damage”, i.e., killing of non-combatants

Finally, the Church stands against euthanasia (“mercy killing”). God is the author of human life. It is not our place to decide when someone is to live or die. We can stop medical treatment if it is no longer efficacious, but we can-not induce death. Being “Pro-Life” from birth until natural death can be difficult, but nevertheless it is what our faith calls us to be. Let us pray we can rise to the challenge. Deacon Jerry Barney

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Update from St. Gabriel Consolidated School

By Principal Nicole Brainard The Fine Arts are alive and well at St. Gabriel Consolidated School! We are blessed to have two wildly creative and outstanding teachers on staff to bring this curricu-lum alive with our children. Mr. Rob Bethune, our music teacher, works diligently to make music fun and hands-on for his students. He teaches the recorder, a won-derful gateway to other instruments, and puts a variety of percussion instruments in the hands of the children including drums, marimba, chimes and even a gong. His

creativity extends to the iPad where he teaches the older children using Garage Band and a variety of other musical apps. His musical programs at Christmas and for our Grandparents Day Celebration never cease to amaze those who see them.

Mrs. Sandy Osborne teaches art to the children of SGCS. While she does not have the luxury of a stand-alone art room, Mrs. Osborne brings fabulous art projects to the children in their classrooms. The colors of stained glass, seasonal artwork, chalk and paint brighten our hallways. Mrs. Osborne works collaboratively with our teachers to help tie artwork with the curricu-lum. She has been known to assist with the construction of paper mâché planets for third grade astronomy, and has even drawn Mt. Rushmore to include the faces of some St. Gabriel faculty members for Curriculum Week!

In addition to these vital pieces of our curriculum, Mrs. Osborne also serves as the director of our 7th and 8th grade plays. Each fall, the 8th grade puts on a production and the 7th grade gets their turn in the spring. Following the success of the 8th grade production of Headin’ for the Hills, this month, the 7th grade Thespians will present Squeal! on the stage at Glendale Ele-mentary March 12-13 at 7 p.m. Admission is $1 or a canned good, and a good time is guaranteed to be had by all.

St. Gabriel also offers multiple extracurricular opportunities in music. Beginning in grade 4, students can choose to partici-pate in the school band under the direction of Mr. Chuck Lauterbach. Advanced band continues in grades 5-8 with the op-portunity for students to participate in a regional Honor Band in grade 8. Students in grade 6-8 also have access to group guitar lessons. These lessons are offered after school once a week and are taught by Mr. Larry Arszman.

The Fine Arts are an important part of the curriculum and lives of our students. We are blessed to have such talented teach-ers and children in our St. Gabriel Community.

Who Will Roll Away the Stone? Companions On The Journey: Grief Support Group

In the last chapter of Mark’s Gospel (16:1-8) he describes Mary Magdalene, Mary (mother of James), and Salome going to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body. On their way, they wondered “who will roll away the stone” but when they arrived it had already been moved. Just as the stone was moved for them, the loss of a loved one may represent ‘the rolling away of the stone’ in your life. What you have left is an empty tomb, the emptiness that has come into your life.

The man dressed in white at the tomb told them to tell the disciples that “he is going ahead of you to Galilee.” So too it is for you that your loved one has gone ahead of you, not into Galilee, but into paradise. Mark later writes “they ran off terrified and said nothing because they were afraid.” How true is that for us as well. Many of us are terrified and afraid of what life is going to be like without our loved one. The fear, anger, sadness, running off, not wanting to talk about it are all normal and natural stages of the grief process.

The journey through Lent can be much like your journey without your loved one. Sacrifice, sadness, disbelief, doubt, fear, betrayal, loneliness are some of the things Jesus and those around him experienced during this time. These same experiences may be happening to you after the loss of a loved one. The culmination of Lent is Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, the new life. Your journey through grief can help you realize and create a new life as well.

The disciples and Jesus’ friends went through the journey of grief. They didn’t go through it alone and you don’t have to walk that journey alone either. Companions On The Journey here at St. John will be starting back up with a kick-off presentation Walking the Journey Through Grief on Thursday, March 12, from 7-8:30 p.m. in the Hospitality Room. We will then contin-ue to meet on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. God Bless, Ron Meyer

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2015 Lent & Easter Schedule St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church

Weekly Lenten Fish Fry in the Center 4:30-8 p.m. Fridays during Lent

March 6, 13, 20, 27

Stations of the Cross in the Chapel 7-8 p.m. Fridays during Lent

March 6, 13, 20, 27 Noon on Friday, April 3

The Light is ON for you! Quiet Prayer & Opportunity for Confession at every parish in Archdiocese.

Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m.

Lenten Reconciliation Services St. John, Thursday, March 12 at 7 p.m.

St. John, weekly on Saturdays at 4 p.m. (except April 4) St. Maximilian-Kolbe, Saturday, March 14, at 10 a.m. and Thursday, March 26, at 7 p.m.

St. Susanna, Monday, March 9, and Wednesday, March 18, at 7 p.m.

Kids/Parents Show ‘N’ Tell Mass Monday, March 9, 7-7:45 p.m. in the Chapel

Eucharistic Adoration in the Chapel 7:30-8:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 24 (following Mass)

Easter Egg Hunt Sunday, March 29, 12:30 p.m.

Food in the Center and Egg Hunt in the Grove

Archdiocesan Chrism Mass St. Peter in Chains Cathedral Tuesday, March 31, at 7 p.m.

Holy Thursday, April 2 7:30 p.m. Mass

Eucharist Adoration from 9 p.m.-midnight in the Chapel

Good Friday, April 3 Noon - Stations of the Cross in the Church

7:30 p.m. Veneration of the Cross/Communion Service in the Church

Holy Saturday, April 4 Blessing of Food at Noon

Easter Vigil Mass at 9 p.m. in the Church (no Reconciliation or 5 p.m. Mass)

Easter Sunday, April 5 Masses at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. in the Church

Our Prayers and Sympathy Go Out To…

January Robert Walker on the death of his father Todd Askren on the death of his mother Ruth Fenton on the death of her mother

Donna Denning on the death of her sister-in-law Betty Grothjan on the death of her husband Ralph Grothjan

Janet Rogers on the death of her sister Tim Harmon on the death of his mother

Mike Byrne on the death of his brother Alexis, Lucy and Emma Laude on the death of their grandfather

The family of Stephen Canfield

February Kathy Strack on the death of her brother

David Thomas on the death of his brother

May God’s blessings flow to all parishioners who have suffered the loss of a family member or friend.

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