Could Abe Lincoln Be Elected Today?  Watch this video and ask yourself this question.  It will make you wonder about the political ads you will watch during 2012

The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

There are classic philosophical proofs for the existence of God that one learns in seminary – Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, and others – all of whom asserted that you can prove God exists via rational argument. Are their arguments compelling? “Yes” for some, “Perhaps” for many, “No” for others. Why such a variety of reactions? On one hand these are not “proofs” in the same manner as say, mathematics. But that is OK, God can’t be empirically proven because God doesn’t work that way. God doesn’t appear in the world as the conclusion to a mathematical equation. God appeared to us as Jesus, come into the world, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Continue reading →

SH Church Decorating 2011. Fr. Zack took some great photographs of our community hard at work getting the sanctuary ready for Christmas. Enjoy!

CNS STORY: Lay missionaries prepare for two-year service trips.

A very nice article about our recent commissioning of three folks, all heading overseas for a time of mission in Kenya and Bolivia. You can read more about FMS at their web site. There you can read the blogs of our missioners already serving in Bolivia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. (CNS) — Calling the dignity of the human person “a primary doctrine” of the Catholic Church, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York told an audience at the University of Notre Dame Dec. 6 that it must prompt Catholics “to treat ourselves and others only with respect, love, honor and care.” That doctrine also means people must not be identified “with our urges, our flaws, our status, our possessions, our utility,” but each seen as “a child of God, his creation, modeled in his own image, destined for eternity,” he said…. Continue reading →

This morning all the Friars of our Province received this very sad news: “Fr. Harry Monaco, OFM, 48 years of age, a professed Franciscan friar for 6 years and a priest for 2 years, died last night in his sleep, at Holy Name College in Silver Spring, MD, after a long struggle with cancer.”  Harry was a wonderful person and we are saddened in our loss.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ; Continue reading →

A cautionary tale about why to back up iTunes content locally — Apple News, Tips and Reviews.  At the core of the issue is cloud ownership which is inherently fraught with questions.

As Americans celebrated Thanksgiving this past week, our Franciscan brother, Michael Duffy, OFM, a team member at St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia for nearly 25 years, offers thoughts on the meaning of these holidays and on the needs of many who frequent our nation’s feeding centers and soup kitchens.  Fr. Michael has headed our friar province’s soup kitchen in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia for more than 25 years.