"God, who are you?"

“God, Who Are You?”

A Retreat About Getting Back to the Basics of Faith  

Hosted by the VCU Catholic Campus Ministry

Friday, October 30^th - Sunday, November 1^st at Camp Newhope in Chapel Hill, NC.

Have you been looking for a retreat opportunity this fall? Do you feel like you are starting out on your faith journey? or restarting that journey? or don't even know where to begin that journey? or have been on the journey a while but have lost sight of the basics? or just want to spend a relaxing weekend away from campus with God and other cool college students?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then please join us for the Fall Retreat at the end of the month. I know it's Halloween weekend, but I promise there will be plenty of candy for all to enjoy.... So even if you have never made a retreat before (especially if you have never made a retreat before!) and even if you don't consider yourself a "campus ministry kid" please consider this opportunity. This retreat is designed for you.

Any student is welcome to attend from any school in the Diocese of Richmond. So even if you are not from VCU but are interested we would love to have you come join us! The cost is $30 for the weekend. If you are interested email me at nstein@richmondcathedral.org, or Kasey Miller at millerkl@vcu.edu by October 16^th at the latest!

Boaz and Ruth

Last night at the RCIA Class here at the Cathedral we had 3 guest speakers come in and talk about their journeys of ministering for Social Justice. It was a powerful night of witness.

Our Deacon Brian Bergen spoke about his call into ministry and especially his call into prison ministry.

We also had Megan Rollins, a Cathedral parishioner, from the organization Boaz and Ruth come and speak to us and she brought with her a participant in the program who brought us all to tears with her moving story.

Boaz and Ruth is one of those organizations that works miracles on a daily basis. It is is dedicated to Rebuilding, Empowering and Connecting. Rebuilding the lives of those who have been incarcerated and have been recently released from our local jails and prisons. Empowering the Highland Park neighborhood, one of the poorest in the city of Richmond, by hosting six businesses in the community who employ the recently released prisoners and as a result generate significant economic development (a similar program called Homeboy Industries has garnered national attention in Los Angeles for its success with gang members). Connecting people across racial, economic, and geographic barriers through events in the city throughout the year, and speaking engagements like the one hosted last night.

If you are looking for a way to do service work while you are a VCU student or Cathedral parishioner, or you are looking for a great organization to support financially please consider working for and supporting Boaz and Ruth. They deserve all of the love and support we can give.

October 7, 2009

Our Lady of the Rosary -- The Feast is celebrated tomorrow, and the readings of the day can be found here. The Diocesan Office of Catholic Education has passed along the following information and helpful links about the Feast Day. Please check them out! We will have Mass at 12:05 p.m. and our weekly 7:30 p.m. Mass hosted by CCM.

• October: Dedicated to the Rosary
  
  
  
  This month is dedicated to the Rosary because the feast of Our Lady of they Rosary happens on October 7. According to Rev. Matthew Mauriello in his article entitled "October-Month of the Holy Rosary" (see http://campus.udayton.edu/mary//meditations/Fcc.html) "Current scholarship traces the development of the Rosary to the High Middle Ages where it came into being in various medieval monasteries as a substitute for the Divine Office for the lay monks and devout lay persons who did not know how to read. Instead of the 150 psalms, they would pray 150 "Our Fathers" counting them on a ring of beads known as the crown or "corona." With the growth of popularity of Marian devotion in the twelfth century, the "Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary" developed now substituting 150 "Hail Marys" in place of the "Our Fathers."
  
    
  
  The 150 "Hail Marys" were subsequently subdivided into fifteen decades by the young Dominican friar, Henry Kalkar (1328-1408), with each decade referring to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary. The Dominican, Alanus de Rupe (1428-1478) further divided the episodes in the history of salvation into the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries. He also attributed the origin of the Rosary, then known as the "Psalter of the Blessed Virgin" to St. Dominic and thus spurred the Dominican Order to make the Apostolate of the Rosary their special concern. The Dominicans have, since then, promulgated the Rosary with notable results.
  
  
  
  The practice of dedicating the entire month of October to the Holy Rosary developed toward the end of the last century. Pope Leo XIII (papacy: 1878-1903) strongly promoted the increase of devotion to the Blessed Mother by encouraging the constant use of the Rosary."
  
  
  
  For information about the Blessed Mother, see the University of Dayton's Marian center at http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/liturgicalseasonsoctober.htm   
  
  
  
  Note:  The late Holy Father John Paul II promulgated an additional decade of the rosary dedicated to the Luminous Mysteries.  They may be found here: http://www.rosary-center.org/luminous.htm
  
  
  
  For a list of Marian feasts go to:  http://rclweb.com/resources/marian-feasts/ 
  
  
  
  Catholic Updates are available to be read online at no charge.  
  
  There are three of them on the rosary in their archives:  
  
  
  
  The Rosary of the Virgin Mary: Pope John Paul II Apostolic Letter on the Rosary:
  
  http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0103.asp
  
  The Rosary: A Gospel Prayer  http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0589.asp
  
  The Rosary: A Prayer for All Seasons  http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/ac0589.asp
  
  
  

Into Great Silence

October 6, 2009

The Feast of St. Bruno --  While on Tuesday's we don't have Daily Mass here at the Cathedral because it is Fr. Patrick's much deserved day off, you can find today's readings here. You can also learn more about St. Bruno here.

I love St. Bruno, a rather obscure Saint by any measure, because of the Order that he founded, the Carthusians, an obscure Order in our day by any measure. The Carthusians are known to be the strictest and most austere Christian monastic order in the world. Entering into their world, either by reading the fascinating book "An Infinity of Little Hours" or by watching the mesmerizing and meditative movie "Into Great Silence," is a wonderful treat and retreat for anyone interested in the power of silent witness and a simple life led for Christ.

So on this feast of St. Bruno, whose legacy still persists 1000 years later in remote corners of the world, let us each try to give over even a few minutes to pure silence. Happy Feast Day St. Bruno!

Birthday Fun!

On a more personal note this has been a couple of weeks worth of  birthday fun for me and I just wanted to pass along a quick word of thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday or got me a present for my 30th birthday this past Monday Sept. 28th. Thank you all so much! You all made it a birthday to remember.

But I also wanted to send some birthday shout-outs as well to Samantha, my beautiful wife, who turned 26 on Sept. 20th, Michael, my younger brother, who turned 28 on Sept. 29th, to Amy Taloma, the former Membership Services Coordinator here at the Cathedral who turned 26 on Oct. 3rd and to my Dad, a wonderful father and peacemaker, who turned 65 yesterday on Oct. 4th, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

And if you want a Birthday shout-out on Catholicities then make sure you show up in my Facebook birthday feed or just send me an email! Happy Birthday to all!

This Past Weekend....

Sorry for not posting this weekend. It was a busy, fun weekend and much happened here at the Cathedral. So here are the highlights for you, in case you missed it...

1. Infant Baptisms -- We had Baptisms at the Sat. 5:15 p.m. and the Sunday Morning Masses this weekend. So congratulations to all of the our new Catholic babies and their families -- 10 in all! You will all be in our prayers.

2. Mass on the Mountain -- Our adventurous Fr. Patrick led about 30 young adults up the Humpback Rocks Trail in the Blue Ridge Mountains outside of Charlottesville on Sunday afternoon. Mass was celebrated on the boulders on the top of the trail, and besides being a little chilly the wind was blowing things in all directions. Fr. Patrick's comment was, "This wasn't in my priest handbook!" But all had a wonderful time and are looking forward to making this an annual Cathedral tradition. Thanks to Dan Hamilla for organizing the trip!!

3. The Lectio Divina prayer group met at 12:00 p.m. for forty-five minutes of prayerful reflection on the Gospel of the Day. All are welcome! They meet again on October 18th at 4:30 p.m. in the Lower Meeting Room (basement of the CCM House).

4. This past Thursday evening Fr. Michael Renninger, the Vicar for Vocations for the Diocese of Richmond, led our Twilight Retreat on learning how to pray Lectio Divina. There were 9 in attendance, including 2 from our neighboring University of Richmond Catholic Campus Ministry!

5. On Friday night the CCM Friday Night Flix series continued with "History of the World: Part 1," and "Spaceballs." This coming Friday they will be watching "The Eye" at 7 p.m. and "Pan's Labyrinth" at 10 p.m. Please come join us at the CCM House for this fun night of thrills.

6. Christian Formation for Youth is continuing successfully and in fact the Confirmation class has a new blog of their own! Great job Mike Stone -- the new Confirmation Catechist!

7. CCM Sunday Supper keeps rolling along. Next week Caitlin Blomstrom, Jacqueline Molyneaux, and Christopher Barrett will be cooking... I think they said something about Mexican food. Knowing those three it will be something fun no matter what!

8. The "What Happened at Vatican II?" Discussion Class entered it's third week of lively discussion (and the council hasn't even opened yet in the book!) so I'm looking forward to 5 more just like it!

So all in all a busy and full weekend here at the Cathedral. Up next -- a busy week! Stay healthy.

Guardian Angels Watching Over You

Friday, October 2

12:05 p.m. -- Daily Mass with Fr. Patrick Golden. The readings of the day can be found here. It is the Memorial of the Guardian Angels and you can learn more about them here. Also, just in case you forgot, here is the prayer to your Guardian Angel. Send one up.

Angel of God, my Guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day (night) be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

Cathedral on Facebook

Can't get enough news about what is happening at the Cathedral? Check us out on Facebook. You can also check out the Cathedral's Young Adult Ministry Facebook page as well. Please send us comments and feedback as we try to enter fully into the digital age....

North Cathedral Place Closed for Sewer Work

North Cathedral Place from Laurel to Cherry streets (along the right side of the Cathedral) will be closed from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays beginning today, Oct. 1, for about three weeks while the city conducts sewer repair work. The city plans to open the street each evening and keep it open on weekends. South Cathedral Place will not be closed. The GRTC bus stop at the corner of Cathedral and Cherry will be temporarily relocated to 901 Floyd Ave. (the Sitterding House). Please note that this temporary bus stop will be used for the duration of the project, not just during business hours when the street is closed.

If you have business at the Cathedral during these hours I suggest the following:

Enter Cathedral Place from Floyd Avenue (YES, enter a one-way street from the wrong direction)!, turn your car around, and park.  We use this procedure for Marathons, UKrops 10-K, etc. Good luck to all and sorry for the inconvenience!

Today at the Cathedral

12:00 p.m. -- Daily Mass with Fr. Patrick Golden. The readings for today can be found here. It is the Feast Day of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church. You can learn more about her here.

6:00 p.m. -- Cursillo Group Reunion. A weekly prayer group for those who either have, or are interested in attending a Cursillo Retreat. For more information contact John Votta.

7:00 p.m. -- Twilight Retreat with Fr. Michael Renninger hosted by Catholic Campus Ministry. See the post below for more details.

LEXIO (sp?) WHAT?

All are invited to come join us this evening to learn a new way to read and pray the Bible. Fr. Mike Renninger, Vicar for Vocations for the Richmond Diocese, will be leading an introduction to Lectio Divina for our CCM Twilight Retreat tonight, Thursday, October 1st from 7-9pm at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. The Retreat will be held in the Parish Hall. Enter the Parish Hall through the glass doors on Cathedral Pl. along the right side of the Church. 

This is a joint program of the VCU, University of Richmond, and Randolph-Macon Catholic Campus Ministries.

Lectio Divina is an ancient prayer form stemming from the monastic tradition. You can learn more about it here from the Benedictines who started the whole tradition, here from my former professor Dan Harrington, SJ in an easy to read article, and here in a 5 minute YouTube video by Jim Martin, SJ, the author of "My Life With the Saints."

Also, if you want to practice this prayer you can join a group at the Cathedral that does Lectio Divina every other weekend. This coming Sunday, Oct. 4th they will be praying Lectio Divina in the Lower Meeting Room (the basement of the CCM House) from 12:00-12:45 p.m. following the 11:00 am Mass. And also on Oct. 18th from 4:30-5:15 p.m., on Nov. 1st from 4:30-5:15 p.m., on Nov. 15 from 8:15-9:00 a.m., on Nov. 29th from 12:00-12:45 p.m. No experience is necessary. Just show up!

We look forward to seeing you tonight!