If they are in the pews, you already reached them.  The Catholic church needs to destroy the Vatican II documents and get back to where it was pre-Vatican II, when the churches, seminaries, and convents were full-when there were long lines at confession, when a large majority adhered to the teachings of the church. 
We need priests to bring back the fire and brimstone sermons.  They need to be shepherds of their flocks, and tell them where they have gone wrong.  The flock needs to hear about mortal sin, the devil, evil, the evils of abortion, homosexuality.  They need to be told to go to confession before rec. communion, especially if they had committed mortal sin.  We see 2 people at confession on sats. and the whole congregation rec. communion of Sundays.  This has to be addressed.

I hear the post-Vatican II clergy talking about God’s unconditional love for us.  Sorry, there are conditions for his love, namely, the 10 commandments, and other laws and prohibitions. If God gave us unconditional love, there would not be a hell.

The confessional in our church has been very busy and our priests have been wonderful in talking about all the issues you list.  The talk of God’s unconditional love was addressed by many Saints long before Vatican II.  St. Teresa of Avila talked about the Sun living in a beautiful castle with prayer being the way in; but sin was like throwing a blanket over the castle.  The light still remains, but hidden.  The love of God remains and is unconditional, but it is our sinfulness that hides and separates us from that love.  Vatican II never did away with the impact of sin on the separation of the person from God.  The loss of faith in our country isn’t just the current generations fault, and if anything, instead of losing what they were given they are building up a new church, and in the face of rising public criticism and persecution.

Bring Back a reverent Liturgy of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Bring back the Reverence of the True Presence of Christ in the Tabernacle.

Bring Back the Tabernacle to its rightful place- The centre of the sanctuary

Preach the Truth of the gospel without sugar coating and inclusive language that is misleading.

Preach Jesus Christ.

Bishops and Priests, be examples to your flock by your reverence in the way you offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

How you give Holy Communion

How you pray in church

How you dress - this is your outward sign of separation from the world.

How you interact with us - with us, yet as set apart from us and the world.

How you stand up for the truth without playing politics.

Preach with the fire of the Sacred Heart of Jesus- PREACH THE TRUTH.
You will see results…

Nope, Father, you didn’t touch my soul, mind or heart in what you had to say. 

Joe DeCarlo mentioned above about pre-Vatigan II, that Confessions had long lines.  I remember more the large numbers of people who sat back in the pews to let people go by to Communion.  About half or more of the people sat back to let others go by.  I went away to college and fell away from the Church and eventually returned to the Catholic Church some eight years later, after testing out some Protestant churches for a few months before hand.  I remembered how surprised I was to see that everyone in Mass got up and went to Communion; I thought to myself, “Did Catholics stop sinning while I was gone?”

The Catholic priest don’t give us “meat” in their sermons, nothing to walk away with.  That is a major factor mentioned in a paper J.C. Willke, MD, the former President of National Right to Life, entitled, “Why Clinton Got the Catholic Vote,” wrote after the 1996 election.  He said, “The reason why evangelicals vote according to their beliefs is because how those positions are preached forcefully in the pews by the pastors, contrary to what Catholic pastors do.”  He also identified the “profound impact of the Catholic ‘seamless garment,’ and the Chancery offices of the Bishops” as to why 50% or more of Catholics vote for the pro-abortion party, while 70 to 76% of evangelicals vote against that party, which was the case, again, in the 2008 and 2012 elections. Heck, half the priest who are registered to vote, give their name and support to the pro-abortion Democrat Party, and in Chicago, it is 75 to 80%.

Well first even if the priest gives us what we need -he can’t make people listen.  I sit at the very back of the church. Parents don’t watch the altar at the consecration and don’t make their kids either. They have no idea what is happening on the altar! Our priest mentions how we dress and then the ushers come in baggy shorts and big floppy Tshirts! Some girls have plunging neck lines and some come with no straps and skirts to their crotch. The tight pants are in—and their is no question to their form.
I have seen seemingly good catholics take kids to the bathroom with their backs to the elevated host during the consecration! Other people use the bathroom during the consecration and still go to communion.
Even the “new” vatican II priests carry on conversation with people in the pew before mass. The priests are not “getting” to the people.
Maybe it’s the job of the good catholics to teach the others somehow. Let’s start posting at the door, QUIET God is on the altar. Or similar ways. 
I think the priest needs to yell at the congregation- and ask them to look at the crucifix and tell them who Jesus is! He also needs to remind them that they are made of two substances, a body and a soul. That body will either take their soul to hell or heaven.  FOR ETERNITY. Best to make the body accept it’s “cross” that we all must go through as Jesus did, subddue it’s desires and comfort and take care of the soul so it can live in heaven with God someday FOR ETERNITY

I attend the Latin mass.  We have about a 95% attendance rate.  We have so many young people at mass and you would never know it.  You can hear a pin drop before during and after mass.  The pastor lets his flock know when they are doing wrong and when the rest of the world is doing wrong.  Everything is NOT love.  When mass, which takes about 1 l/2 to celebrate , is over, the people don’t rush out, almost stepping on the heels of the priest.  Most stay and say prayers of thanksgiving. Oh, and we have a dress code, which is in the church bulletin. You will not see one ill-dressed person enter our church.  This is the way is was pre-vatican II.  I remember it well.  Vatican II was a complete disaster.  There was no reason for it.

One big step to help get and keep Catholics in the pews, is to explain “in detail” about the Divine Mercy Sunday. But of course, you would have to make arrangements to actually open the churches and have priest who are willing and have the capacity to help people make a “GOOD and Thorough” confession.
Not just 1/2 hour before the one mass on Sunday.
Since this is the one time of year a person has the chance to really save his soul, wouldn’t you think the church would be promoting this even more then Christmas or Easter. Isn’t that why we have priest? Isn’t that their job? Just wondering???

We often say, “We need to get rid of Bad teachers in our schools so our children can learn”.  Can we get rid of Bad priests and Bishops?  Like a Bad teacher who doesn’t teach, a Bad priest or Bishop is one who doesn’t lead or sheppard his flock.  Christ talks about this bad sheppards who allow their sheep to be ravaged by wolves. How many of you hear nothingness drivel from the pulpit?  Pray that God will hand out the “Pink Slips” to these Bad priests and Bishops and replace them with good and holy men who will lead and sheppard their flocks.

We are blessed to have all of these things. Come visit us at Our Lady Help of Christians in Huntsville Al. Diocese of Birmingham.  I promise you you will be very grateful to witness everything you are talking about.

It is a Latin Rite Diocesan Parish though, (only one in the U.S.)  under a Diocesan Bishop.

Celinedesilva and Stillbelieve - all I can say is Amen.

Isabel killian,  is your parish in Berlin, NJ, because my parish has the Latin rite and its a diocesan parish.

Joe DeCarlo,

My parish was just consecrated this past week by Bishop Robert Baker of the Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama.  The difference is that our Diocesan parish can never celebrate the Novus Ordo.  You may have a Tridentine Mass in a parish that also celebrates the Novus Ordo or that is offered by The fraternity of St. Peter, but we are a Latin Rite Diocesan Parish Church under the Roman Catholic Bishop of Birmingham Alabama. We have a diocesan priest as our Pastor, Fr. Alan Mackey.  For two years we had to celebrate the Tridentine Mass in another Parish Church while we saved for our own parish Church.  Recently, we bought the property and the Bishop consecrated our Church, Our Lady Help of Christians, Latin Rite Catholic Church in perpetuity.  I don’t believe there is another parish church like this in the Country since our Bishop told us there wasn’t and I have not been able to find any on the internet.  It would be very joyful to learn there is another though!

Isabel,our parish is completely the Latin mass.  No Novus ordo.  It is like going back to the pre-vatican II days

Isabel, our church was consecrated by the bishop too

Isabel, and we have two diocesan priests.

Joe, What is the name of your parish church?  I am very interested because we have never been able to find another in the Country like ours.  This would be wonderful news to many people!

Isabel,  the name is Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, NJ.  It has a website.

Isabel, we celebrated our 10 anniversary in 2010.

I Just found it!  I had no idea that you existed!  It is wonderful to know and I hope you are just as happy to learn that now we are two!  If I am ever in NJ I will be at home. Thank you so much for giving me this information.  I will be certain to pass it on!

Hi Joe - does your church bulletin have the dress code archived on the website. I need to get it, and present it gently to our well meaning but trying to please pastor. Yesterday there were so many people decked out for secular St. Paddy’s day (which we don’t observe on a Sunday in Lent if I’m correct)- the only thing missing from the pews was plastic cups of green beer. Women wore green t-shirts tucked into skinny jeans with the “see how many sequins I can glue on my derriere” accents. Kids had green sparkly headbands, and sadly the pastor, rather than clarify that we were celebrating the Holy Mass, opened with “top of the morning to you”. I got so angry and ended up being grumpy with my family afterwards I now need my own trip to confession. During football season, our church looks like a tail gate party - the parents are as bad as the kids. The irreverence is maddening, I am so glad your parish has standards.

Joe - does your parish website have the dress code archived online so that I could access it and suggest it to our pastor? Yesterday for St. Paddy’s Day (not observed on Sunday during Lent I believe), the only thing missing from the pews was green beer. It just blew my mind the green t shirts tucked into skinny jeans, the lack of reverence is very disturbing. So glad your parish has standards.

Jennifer, no, not on the website.  The website bulletin only has the inside of the bulletin.  The dress code is on the cover.  I threw away my copy of the bulletin, but next Sunday I will give you word for word for the dress code.

Thanks Joe - that’s nice. Can I find you on Facebook to get the dress code text, as it would be easier than trying to re-connect? I’m too paranoid about putting my email up on these feeds. Thanks again. Jennifer

Jennifer, yes, I have a facebook account.  I’ll put it on there.

Joe, you’ve largely assigned what the culture has produced to Vatican II.  If you want perhaps the most informed perspective available to us I’d recommend you (and Jennifer and Isabel) read George Weigel’s new book “Evangelical Catholicism”.  You’ll not only gain a valuable historical perspective, but a very thoughtful insight to the reality of the fruitful new direction the Church is likely embarking on in response to the call of both John Paul II and Benedict XVI to the New Evangelization.

For those people that dislike what happened after Vatican II, I think they may find more changes coming that will draw their ire.  We no longer have a pope that’s accustomed to sitting on a sedan chair, lifted high into the air upon the shoulders of young men, being fanned with peacock feathers, while wearing a tri-leveled bejeweled crown.  No more red shoes either.

Looks like we have a real man with common sense as our pope this time.  Pope Benedict did the right thing too, by breaking a 600 year-old tradition.  Pope Francis spoke about the Prophet Jonah, as if he were a real person & not a “myth”... as did Jesus.  The horror of it all, for pre-Vatican II advocates.

Reach the people in the pews with the Truth of the Gospel.  Preach and teach the New Testament Epistles, in their fullness and in context, in a verse-by-verse, expository fashion.  Even children will be held, spell-bound.  Our society would become healthier.  Christians of all stripes will come together (those that honor God, and not those that choose to be apostate, over morals.) God’s word will not return to Him, void.  No need for fire and brimstone.  Just preach truth.  Let the Holy Spirit work through us.

Joe - I just checked Facebook and there are a zillion Joe DeCarlo’s. I don’t want to compromise your privacy by asking too many questions to narrow it down, and FB now charges 1$ to send messages to “non-friends” - how about I email the author of this piece, you can do the same, and we can email about the dress code? Thanks

Bob,

I love the direction the Church is taking!  I am home in a Latin Mass parish with the greatest of reverence, and Christian Charity I have ever known. I am overwhelmed by the faith, and holiness of our parish family and my joy is abundant.  God bless everyone!

Jen, just email me.  I don’t care who has my email.  I’ll just delete them.  jacobhalo11@hotmail.com

Bob canto,  the direction that the church took after Vatican II can be seen by the results of the council.  I hope that the new evangelization does well.  I’m all for it.  I won’t read Weigel because he is in the bag with the novus ordo crowd.

The question is:  “How do we best reach the people in the pews?”  The “we” is the clergy.  How about preaching the gospel—and dump the socialism gospel.  Helping other people is one thing.  Enabling the less fortunate for a lifetime creates a plantation mentality to vote only for Democrats who also espouse socialism.
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It’s about time priests use their 7 or 8 minutes of homily to actually teach those in the pew how to make purposeful application of the gospel in their lives.  Hey, Fr. Barron, how about chastising your fellow priests to stop mailing it in with 15 minutes of prep time before Mass or by using a worn out homily from last year.  And while you’re at it, don’t you find it wholly distasteful and inappropriate to use preaching time to cajole the parish into more giving?  Most of us are numbed out by donor fatigue.

Joe, et.al.

I sincerely appreciate your love of our faith, but novus ordo is not a perjorative that has any real meaning in the context of the church today.

Allow me to suggest that it’s not about what you or I prefer for ourselves that matters, but what we as a member of the body of Christ, do to accomplish the divine mission of the church.  The church is mission, and we are missionaries meant to bring the love of Christ to a world so desparately in need of it.  If we allow something other than that to become our guide we lose our way.

I would never suggest anything even bordering on heterdoxy, but changing the manner we carry the message and perform the mission is not at all the same as changing the message.  We all can aggree that is fixed in the unchanging Truth we have been given.

Remember that Paul specifically fashioned the way he preached to the Greeks to one that embraced the way they spoke and thought in order to enable them to hear the message.  In his landmark Catholicism series Fr. Barron gave a number of examples of how through the ages the Church has assimilated anything that is good from the culture and used it for the glory of God.  Think of Plato, Cicero, natural law, the Pantheon and a lot more.

Society is always changing and while we carry the same message we must put the interests of those we would carry it to ahead of our own.  Going back to nothing but the Latin rite isn’t a path that will accomplish what both you and I want. 

I care deeply about things like the defense of marriage and ending abortion.  But to convince someone who holds opposing views I can’t roll our Scripture or Church Tradition -  it holds no authority for them.  A means some wise persons are now using is beginning the discussion without reference to morals or our religious beliefs, and relying on good science and historical facts.  That can start to change someone.  Fr. Barron has argued that to help someone see why you are a believeing Catholic, start first with the beauty associated with the faith, then gradually move to the goodness of the faith, and only last delve into the reasons the faith holds real Truth.

The world is changing rapidly and we have to the resources it provides in service of the Church’s mission.  I understand longing for what has been satisfying, but ask yourself if you’re doing so for yourself or others.  I respect the Latin rite and am glad we have it.  But using it as the lens to view the proper trajectory of the Church just isn’t on target.

Hi Bob, Joe and others: Bob above is right on how we gently prod the prodigal sheep, if I understood the above entry. We just after a LOT of hand-holding had a speaker at our parish who talked about the beauty of the Truth of the Catholic Church, how today’s relativistic culture is toxic, and she used specific scripture to defend non-Catholic’s assertions that we aren’t saved/haven’t accepted Christ into our heart…But so many priests I feel are reluctant to really preach this as they have bills to pay and pews to fill - but the speaker was from a different parish and it allowed our pastor to share the truth via a different voice i.e. can’t be a prophet in your own town. Thanks for great insights, I so enjoy learning from these posts, and thank you NC Register.

Bob, if you don’t abide by the teachings, all the teachings, of the church, you were (are) considered a heretic.  You can’t pick and choose what you want to believe.  That is what the pope and the bishops have to address.

@Joe DeCarlo:  [“Bob, if you don’t abide by the teachings, all the teachings, of the church, you were (are) considered a heretic.”].
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If you bother to read the NT letters, you will see how Paul tailored his letters differently to the churches at Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Rome and even Thessalonika to address differences in the Body of Christ.  Were these people “in”—or merely “sort of in” the Body of Christ?
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Your approach runs totally counter to Ephesians 4:5 There is ...“one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”  Enjoy your rules and regulations.  The Pharisees also preferred your kind of legalism.  In your world, grace appears to be an abberation.

I have already written a comment that I would like to expand on. Again, this is for Catholics:

Bring back a reverent Liturgy of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, devoid of mariachi bands, guitar music that sound like the Gather Gospel hour, liturgical dancing, clapping in church, charismatic fainting and flailing and clown Masses.  Stop calling the Mass a celebration of a meal rather than a Sacrifice:

Here is the interesting recipe Martin Luther had for destroying the Catholic Church and the Papacy.

“Martin Luther regarded the concept of any true sacrifice in the Mass as an abomination, and he expressed his viewpoint in the forceful manner for which he was noted:

It is indeed upon the Mass as on a rock that the whole papal system is built, with its monasteries, its bishoprics, its collegiate churches, its altars, its ministries, its doctrine, i.e., with all its guts. All these cannot fail to crumble once their sacrilegious and abominable Mass falls.

[Martin Luther, Against Henry, King of England, 1522, Werke, Vol. X, p. 220.]

Casting Crowns,

We are not converted by words but by Grace.  And remember, Love has it’s rules. 

The Best way to reach anyone is by being authentically Catholic, adoring God in Faith, Hope and Love, praising God for being God and for calling us into being. Loving other people especially those who are ignored in our families and parishes. Talk to them, listen to them, learn from them.  Lift them up by giving them beautiful Churches, gardens and sacred music. TEACH them The Gospel of Jesus Christ and not mush from the world. Never mix the two either.  Stick to the Gospel because Faith comes by hearing and not by reading.  Live an authentic Catholic Life.  Get rid of all things in your home that would offend God. Then get to work on your mind and heart.  This is hard but with the great gifts of grace in the Sacraments we can succeed!  Try to go to Mass more and behave as if you are really at Calvary because you are. Go to confession more often because most of us have more sins than we want to admit and are weaker than we want to admit.Confession strengthens us.  The Priest must help people to know God because if we don’t know Him we can not love him. The priest should be a fairly joyful person because he knows God and he should have a certain peace because he is Mary’s son whom she is very jealous of and who is watched over by her in every moment of his life.

Isabel, that was beautiful.  Thank you.

Very quickly ~ I am not sure this is the whole complete question to be asked. The question goes more of something like; How do you reach the people in the pews to better engage them to want to listen, transform, live and preach the faith? 
My simple answer is prayer.  Catholics (lay primarily) do not, and I mean DO NOT know how to pray.  I was struck that Pope Francis began that night of 3/13 with his election, with an *Our Father*, Hail Mary, Glory Be WITH THE CROWD.  Very telling. I think he wasn’t just telling us something, HE WAS SHOWING US. Please Fr. Barron ~ please teach your young seminarians to find their prayer styles and then to help teach others to find theirs…it is the way to move minds and change hearts. (Fr. Barron’s book ~ The Strangest Way and a youtube video explaining what a parish can do to move hearts as he spoke of the adoration chapel/time are good too!) One of the best things that E. Pope Benedict XVI did was bring back the beauty of the liturgy.  Now, I have been a Catholic all my life, And always knowing that the mass is full of prayers it took a shift in a new way of thinking to realize the whole mass is a PRAYER.  I have not looked at it the same way since. I can only give you my own brief,abbreviated testimony here for myself.  I grew up Catholic and in Catholic school and lived with perpetual rosary *pray~ers*.  All my life.  The rosary is beautiful, but my prayer life was *meh* so~so SO boring!  How did Christ put up with me?  UGH!  Only as an adult have I learned my style of picking up a book to help me empty and connect my head did I learn there was a Catholic style of praying this way ~ in Lectio Divina.  I was never introduced to it or knew of it until I reached about the age of 40?!  How could that be?  This beautiful way of praying had been moth eaten and moss covered for too long ~ ugh! The funny thing was when I was introduced to it by a prayer group, instantly recognized it because it resembled so closely to a make shift version of it that I was self performing anyway, it is a type of prayer that is as natural as breathing to me.  It is moving me to then work toward better habits of prayer in the mass, rosary, adoration etc…now I don’t look at praying, mass, adoration etc… as a task I have to perform, but rather now am always looking for what I have to get done in my days and weeks and where I can fit it in next. :) I get antsy and cranky if I have to go too long and cannot pray, connect and have my peace.  If there is a way of leisure that a person enjoys, I can guarantee there is a Catholic form of prayer they will be able to relate too. We as a culture must reclaim our leisure time and put it to work in valuable ways. Prayer moves you away from some of the idle/dead mind~numbing, culturally shallow activities. The saints, novenas, divine reading, divine conversation, chants, music, latin mass, adoration, absorbing and connecting through nature & culture, scripture, service, rosary, stations of the cross, on and on and on….  If you help people sort through, breakdown and move through the overwhelming gifts the Catholic faith offers in prayer and you will go a long way into tapping into and making preachers and apostles of the faith….for life.  The deliberate habit of prayer is the *hook* and what makes IT stick. Being lead to Christ by prayer is EVERYTHING and ultimately the full understanding and leading to the Eucharist for a permanent, (and hopefully eternal) relationship.

Fr. Barron speaks the truth with a butter knife, I don’t need butter on my toast I need a sword to pierce my heart.

I love the Latin Mass.  But I think we are fooling ourselves if we obsess over the form of the mass, what the priest wears, etc. True, the old way was better than the new, vapid, tasteless, colorless thing that we got after Vatican II.
What we need to do is follow Francis’s lead. Everything changes then, if we all act like Christians 24 x 7.
The Latin mass, and the rest of it is all window dressing. You can see how Francis immediately captured the imagination of the world, by living out true Christianity every day. By focusing on what we can do for others rather than what we need to make others do. 
Feed the poor,

The reason that Traditionalists are upset at the mass is that Vatican II changed the mass to placate the Protestants.  There were 6 protestant ministers on the Liturgical committee at Vatican II.  They were supposed to be “observers.”  The Catholic mass lost its identity-it was unique.  There very little difference between a Novus Ordo mass and a Protestant service.

I won’t participate in this discussion beyond this comment. 

Joe, your last comment is simply bizarre.  Being in touch with reality is simply a fundamental to a discussion. 

I wish you well, but mostly I wish you to not be estranged from the genuine fruitful work of the Church.

Some people might say the fruit is rotten, Bob.  Most Catholics don’t know the faith. They practice contraception ( a grave sin against the first Commandment (replacing God with oneself according to Pope John Paul II, Thousands of parishes have closed, Catholic women kill their unborn children at a rate that is about the same as non Catholics, many if not most Catholic couples seeking marriage live together before hand or have engaged in sexual intercourse.  Homosexual priests were permitted to go unchecked while they abused other males, Catholic politicians go about mocking the Churches teaching with impunity, Catholic Colleges and Universities are practically pagan and on and on and on.  Perhaps you don’t want to participate in a discussion that forces you to face what is true.

@Isabel Kilian:  Only the power of God can change politicians who masquerade as “Catholic” and those clergy who sanctimoniously parade around at Mass in fancy vestments while abusing children and impregnating women.  This includes Bishop Zavala of the Los Angeles Archdiocese who has fathered 2 children.  You apparently enjoy your role as a Catholic cop yet fail to take the Bishops and Cardinals to task for the state of the church.  The “Blessed” JP2 appointed most of these guys who were too spineless to fire anyone.  For this, you wish to install him into sainthood.  Cardinal Mahoney deserves jail time for admitting he deliberately circumvented CA law enforcement by sending criminal priests out of state.  Meanwhile, Cardinal Dolan enjoys yakking it up on TV time with Matt Lauer (The Today Show) and on CBS with Scott Pelley.  His Eminence (Dolan)  denied and then finally admitted he used diocesan money to pay off pedophile priests to leave.  That’s not what our Sunday collection money is to be used for.  And there’s Bishop Finn in Kansas City and the good Monsignor Lynn in Philadelphia who used the Nazi excuse at Nuremberg of “I was only following orders” to not report pedophile priests to law enforcement.  Perhaps your argument would be more compelling if you first concentrated on those who are suppose to be setting and example of integrity.  It’s true, you know,—that fish stink from the head down.

Posted by Isabel Kilian on Sunday, Mar 24, 2013 12:05 AM (EDT): “Some people might say the fruit is rotten, Bob… Perhaps you don’t want to participate in a discussion that forces you to face what is true.”

It is not just Bob.  I realised on another post, the National Catholic Register is doing the same thing.  They selectively post comments and leave out those that are true and direct.

A doctor has a responsibility to truthfully inform a patient of the serious illness diagnosed.  IF the doctor pettifogs and tells the patient everything will be OK when it is not, he commits a crime because it could cost the patient his or her life.

I have seen some terrible comments by readers that are total fallacies posted on the NC Register blog. The National Catholic Register should post all comments especially when they are true and have a factual backing. 

Teach People to look at the life of Jesus Christ – True God and True Man.  Not a Christ of our own making.

As we approach Holy Week – It is important to remember That Holy Thursday is when Jesus Instituted the Priesthood and the Holy Eucharist – His presence among us until the end of time.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, during His public ministry: taught in the temple and chose 12 apostles who leaving everything followed Jesus.  He went to feasts and weddings changing water into wine.  He is accused of being a glutton; of eating with sinners and publicans. He visited His friends for dinners and sat talking to them.  He took the little children close to him and blessed them and their parents. Jesus got angry and chased the money changes from the temple, cursed the fig tree and cursed those who scandalize and hurt especially little children.

He preached His Gospel and fed the multitudes.  He drove out devils from those possessed by evil spirits.  He cured the sick, gave sight to the blind and made the crippled walk.  He raised the dead to life. HE FORGAVE SINNERS, INCLUDING THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY TELLING HER “SIN NO MORE.” 

As was His custom, He went to the mountain to pray in solitude.  He allowed Himself to be tempted by satan and vanquished him showing us how to overcome temptations of pride, false humility-to be seen by men; quest for power and the worship of the world, the flesh and the devil and everything thing the world stands for.

Jesus gives us His example and direction on how to live: For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you covered me: sick and you visited me: I WAS IN PRISON, AND YOU CAME TO ME. … The King answering will say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.

On Palm Sunday, knowing full well what was to come, Jesus did not refuse to ride on a donkey through the streets of Jerusalem where many spread their garments and boughs from the trees in the way to their adulation and went before and followed Him, saying: Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.  Jesus shows us how to be humble even when we are praised by others, yet soon to prove how short-lived such praise can be.

Yet, on Holy Thursday Jesus is not on the road, on the hilltop, in the soup kitchen, in the hospital or visiting prisoners.  He is not with His friends eating by the wayside or by the sea shore or in a fishing boat as He frequently did.

On the eve of His Death and Resurrection for the Salvation of the mankind, on this Solemn Holy Thursday, Jesus is with His Twelve.  Not even His Mother is there.  Jesus asks His disciples to “go and prepare the Upper Room which was A LARGE FURNISHED DINING ROOM,”  “Where I may eat the Pasch with my TWELVE disciples.”  The Greatest Miracle and Gift to the world was about to be given.
 

Jesus did not wash the feet of His mother or the feet of Mary Magdalene or any other woman.  Jesus washed the dirty feet of these twelve men who followed him, including the feet of Judas who was about to betray Him.
He then goes on to make them His Priests by instituting the Holy Priesthood and The Most Holy Eucharist – His True Presence - His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, to be in our midst until the consummation of the world.

According to our station in life and calling or vocation, the greatest act of humility, is in giving up ones own will to follow God’s plan and will for each of us;  in silence, obscurity and love.  This applies also to the Pope who is not just the Bishop of Rome; he is not the first among equals; he is the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church that is over two thousand years and made up of over a billion souls.

Especially when in position, knowing that cameras follow us and the eyes of the world are constantly upon us, TRUE CHRIST LIKE humility is not deliberately showing off and standing out with outward actions contradicting and sweeping aside what was done for hundreds of years if not more.

Humility is Truth. 

Jesus said: Woe to you when men shall bless you…Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.

Casting Crowns.  I could have written your post myself but not as well.  I am grateful to you.

Celinedesilva,  Can’t say how many times I have gotten the message referring to Spam here.  It is very often though.

Isabel, I’ve put a number of quotes from the bible here, and it was called spam.

Bob Kanto, what part is bizarre?  What I posted is the truth.  There were 6 protestant ministers at Vatican II.  Go to a protestant service and there is very little difference in the presentation.

If killing of a fetus is legal (abortion) then how is it possible for person who kills a pregnant woman to be charged with a double homicide?  According to pro-abortionists, a fetus is just a blob of tissues, not person, which the word homo-man,  Another words, a mother is allowed to kill her baby, but not another person cannot.  That is very confusing to me.

Castings, read the Catechism of the church and its definition of a heretic.

Paul Walsh, he that believes and is baptized will be saved, the that does not believe will be condemned.  Mark16:16.  “He who is not with me is against me.”  Matthew 12:30.

Hmmmm.

NCR, What happened to my comments to Bill S on Freedom of Relgion?

Celinedesilva, are you 100%, absolutely & without a shadow of a doubt positive that Jesus our Christ washed Judas Iscariot’s feet, His betrayer,
along with His other 11 apostles?

If so, by whose authority do you claim this?  Knowing how you came to this statement is of utmost importance to me.  While I question a couple of your other claims, that claim far exceeds the others, in its implications for all of us.  Thank you in advance, for responding.

Convert them to Christianity.

Tell the TRUTH!  REQUIRE your priests to preach/teach/answer questions with Magistirium approved information.  Tell them that they MUST be examples of the true Faith.  Accept that this might empty many pews for a time, but will ultimately draw those seeking God with their whole hearts.  No more telling someone helping a friend get an abortion is “a matter between [them] and God”.  No more silence from those instructing the Marriage Prep classes on the issues of birth control.  No priest ever again saying from the pulpit ” ....the devil, if you actually believe in the existence of a devil…”.  No more priests having women read the part of Jesus in the Passion because they still suffer discrimination.  No more marriages performed for couples openly living together.  No more Catholic grade schools teaching that homosexual couples are merely another form of family.  These are all instances I am personally familiar with, and there are many more.  PLEASE REQUIRE THE TRUTH FROM THE PULPIT AND THE SCHOOLS.

Amen Roberta!

Jennifer and Roberta, if you have a liberal Bishop, or a spineless Pastor some of these things will continue at the parish level.  And especially if you have a feminist nun as the Pastoral Associate who acts like a Mommy controlling the Pastor.  Even if you have a Conservative Bishop, he likely is not aware of everything happening at the parish.  The problem is the average pew Catholic would rarely go over their parish leadership and report these things to the Diocesan Chancery Office.  And even then, will the diocese really do anything?  The just like people in the pew to remain as sheep.

Hi Casting - boy I wish there were more people like you who get it. We have an outgoing Bishop who even before his health declined seemed to be on the passive side. At my parish level, we don’t have a nun, but rather a very liberal leaning faith formation director who controls anything/everything related to any kind of beyond the pew evangelizing, and the results are a pro-Obama loving congregation, zero discussion on the perils of gay marriage, and pews filled with gum smacking, ho-humming Sunday-only Catholics.  Please pray for us.

Jennifer:  What you’re talking about are people both clergy and laity who walk in spiritual blindness.  They are under deception without even realizing it.  Neither sacramental ordination nor lay ministry accreditation means the Holy Spirit is present in them.  Were the Holy Spirit present, the things you describe would not be happening.  In fact, both Peter and Paul warn of these people in their NT letters.  This kind of teaching distorts the truth of the gospel.  Paul calls them false teachers.  The problem in our Catholic culture is that people in the pew cannot imagine this can ever happen.  In Matthew, however, Jesus said it can happen.