Living Faith - Catholic Sentinel

Bringing joy to the masses

It’s contagious. It’s attractive. It’s as sought after as it is rare. It’s joy. It’s not a smile or a huge laugh. It’s more internal than that. And for evangelizers everywhere, it is key to bringing people into communion with Christ.
LIFE: Day of Prayer for Creation

Are our eyes open to God’s handiwork in all of creation — the snow-capped mountains, the fluffy white cloud floating across the horizon, the first star in the evening sky, the unborn child, the middle-aged man suffering from schizophrenia?
Encyclical on birth control sparked a contentious moment in modern church

In the summer of 1968, a time even more roiled than our own, Pope Paul VI issued an encyclical that caused an uproar. The pages of the Catholic Sentinel from August of that year show that parts of the church went different ways on the question of artificial birth control within marriage.
Archbishop Vlazny to offer Mass

The Sisters and Donnes of Reparation have invited the public for a Mass of Thanksgiving with Archbishop John Vlazny, former head of the Archdiocese of Portland.
WATCH: Formation program enters second year

At an end-of-term retreat for adult theology and pastoral ministry students, Father Matt Libra had a message: “Jesus revealed his Sacred Heart and not just a sacred mind.”
Cracking jokes before breaking bread

Prior to his retirement this summer, Msgr. Charles Lienert, who recently celebrated his 50th jubilee, laughed and chatted about the day’s menu with Jeffery Kelly, a cook at St. Francis Dining Hall in Southeast Portland.
Not natural, not good for couples

Father Tad Pacholczyk accepted an invitation to one of the most pro-choice, organic-loving states in the union to spread a seemingly audacious message: Artificial birth control is a chemical affront to the natural order and a blockade to full love in marriage.
Grant helps nuns deal with aging

MOUNT ANGEL — As the towering sequoia fronting Queen of Angels Monastery gets older, it gets bigger and stronger. Not so for the two dozen nuns inside.
Dissecting public and private prayer

BROOKINGS — Carol Richardson recalls the Corpus Christi processions from her childhood in Santa Cruz, California — flower girls in white dresses trailing behind a large cloth canopy that shaded the monstrance. The procession gives a sense of awe and wonder, she says. The wonder came back to her as she marched in the Eucharistic procession with the rest of the Star of the Sea parishioners here in June.
Sisters of Providence honor 16 jubilarians

Sixteen Sisters of Providence in the Mother Joseph Province mark 25, 50, 60, 70 and 75 years of religious life Aug. 4 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Seattle. Seven of that number served in the Archdiocese of Portland or hail from the archdiocese.
Prayer for women religious

In addition to compiling a list of priests serving in the archdiocese, the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women now will include lists of religious brothers and sisters, along with deacons and seminarians, in order for the faithful to hold all in their prayers.
Liturgical readings

Here are the readings through Aug. 19.
Archbishop Sample’s schedule

Here’s what the archbishop is up to for the next few weeks.
Finding a faith community

Lifelong Southern Baptists aren’t known for converting to Catholicism. But that’s exactly what Drew White did. The South Carolina native entered the church this past Easter after finding his faith community at St. Mary Cathedral in Portland.
LIFE: Unemployed and underemployed

Our Catechism asserts, "Remuneration for work should guarantee man the opportunity to provide a dignified livelihood for himself and his family on the material, social, cultural, and spiritual level, taking into account the role and the productivity of each, the state of the business, and the common good.”
WATCH: A veteran with traditional views, Fr. Jim Graham fits in

NORTH BEND — By many measures, Father Jim Graham is a good fit for Oregon’s south coast.
August prayer for priests

“A Year of Prayer for our Priests” is a ministry of the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women. We share the joy of this devotion with all Oregon Catholics. A day each month is set aside to pray for the names of priests serving in the Archdiocese of Portland. Please remember them and all priests, deacons and religious in your daily prayers.
Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon honor 2018 jubilarians

BEAVERTON — The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon recently paid tribute to seven religious sisters who are celebrating significant anniversaries of vowed religious life.
Archbishop Sample’s schedule

Here’s a look at what Archbishop Alexander Sample has been doing the past few weeks.
Movie night with Sisters of Reparation

The Sisters of Reparation are inviting the public to their Southeast Portland convent for a summer movie night. On Friday, July 27, at 6:30 p.m., the sisters will screen “The Staircase,” based on the story of the miraculous stairway at the Sisters of Loretto Chapel in Sante Fe, New Mexico.
St. Rita Retreat stations here to stay

GOLD HILL — An outdoor public Stations of the Cross in Southern Oregon has more staying power.

A wooded path that helps worshippers participate in the last hours of Jesus’ life now has signs made of ceramic, not laminated paper.
New book from USCCB on Pope Francis' vision for permanent diaconate

WASHINGTON (CNS) — A new book titled "Pope Francis: Deacons — Servants of Charity" available from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops "draws the reader into the sacred ministry of the diaconate."
The Catholic Church: Universal, multicultural

As a Catholic, you can travel to Rome, Brooklyn, Nairobi, the highlands of Peru, the outback of Australia or Shady Cove, Oregon, and you will find a spiritual home, a community that will welcome you as a brother or sister.
LIFE: Food

Martha, Jesus's friend, is the patron saint of cooks.
The meaning of life

We must keep our eyes focused on this purpose, not lose sight of it. We must embrace it and seek to live it with an abiding joy. We must have intense gratitude for the gift that is the hope of eternal life.
A champion for the lay people’s participation

Father John Betts promoted greater lay participation, with a pastoral advisory council, lay-led fundraising aiming to reduce the parish debt, and through Renew, a program for adult spiritual education. He praised that program for opening the door for alienated Catholics.
Before Mater Dei Radio moves, it hosts breakfast to help bring faith to daily life

Four Catholic business leaders last month helped a breakfast crowd consider ways to live out the Catholic faith while being successful in the workaday world.

“Help us begin the day knowing how much you love us,” Father Jeff Eirvin prayed to start the June 6 breakfast meeting, convened by Mater Dei Radio.
Fr. James Dieringer is 60 years a priest

Once upon a time, Father James Dieringer called the cafeteria at Lane Community College in Eugene his office. During his work in campus ministry at the college, he would talk to students there.

“I would just stake out a table,” he says. “People knew where to find me.”
Prayer opportunities with Reparation Sisters

The Sisters of Reparation welcome the public to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Mass on Sunday, July 15, at 2120 SE 24th Ave. in Portland. Father Timothy Mockaitis, pastor of Queen of Peace Parish in Salem, will celebrate the Mass.
LIFE: Community

July 11 is the Feast Day of St. Benedict. His philosophy rests on two foundations: a proper balance of work and prayer, and the value of community life. We can apply this principle to our own lives.
‘I’ve tried to do it well’

“My greatest satisfaction comes from celebrating the liturgy with people, praying with people and being part of their journey at critical times — marriage, having children, death,” said Msgr. Charles Lienert.
A skilled administrator with zeal to serve

LAKE OSWEGO — Father Joseph McMahon has tried to live according to the Gospel. As a man of prayer and a skilled administrator, he also has attempted to abide by what Mahatma Gandhi said: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
Three Benedictine monks celebrate ordination jubilees

ST. BENEDICT — Three Benedictine monks of Mount Angel Abbey celebrated ordination jubilees with their monastic community, family and friends May 27 at the abbey church.
Prayer for Priests

“A Year of Prayer for our Priests” is a ministry of the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women. We share the joy of this devotion with all Oregon Catholics. A day each month is set aside to pray for the names of priests serving in the Archdiocese of Portland. Please remember them and all priests, deacons and religious in your daily prayers.
LIFE: Politicians

Oregon's primary season has passed. As we prepare for our local elections, let us ask St. Thomas More, whose feast day is June 22, to grant the gift of wisdom and statesmanship to all politicians and people engaged in politics.
Liturgical readings

Here are the liturgical readings July 8.
Working in a role dominated by women

TIGARD — Stay-at-home dad: It wasn’t a title Frank Canepa expected. For one thing, he spent much of his adult life pursuing celibacy. On top of that, the idea of a man staying home with his kids isn’t really embraced by society. But that’s the life he leads.
How did the Eucharist get the form it has now?

Whenever we come to try to explain the Mass and its form we cannot do much better than to take ourselves back to the upper room, the place where the Last Supper occurred.
Portland to host Hispanic delegates in preparation for Encuentro V

Later this month, Portland hosts a gathering of Hispanic Catholic delegates from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. They will discern needs and opportunities for Latinos in the church, input that will go to a national gathering in Texas in September.
Tending to the flock

LAKE OSWEGO — When one thinks about parish nursing, it’s common to focus on blood pressure checks. But the ministry isn’t limited to that. Donna Barton and the health ministry at Our Lady of the Lake Parish are proof.
Archbishop Sample’s schedule

Here’s Archbishop Alexander Sample’s public schedule for the next several weeks.
LIFE: Poor

The Catholic Church believes that all life is sacred and deserving of dignity from conception to when God calls us home naturally, and all life in between. We always have believed this.
WATCH: Benedictine women’s spiritual work alive and well

MOUNT ANGEL — At Queen of Angels Monastery here, spiritual ministry is thriving.
Converts can evangelize cradle Catholics with their curiosity and zeal

If you have ever gone on a walk with a toddler, you likely have learned to marvel at your neighbor’s rocks, contemplate a bug on your lawn and discuss whether or not that tall tree on the corner might reach the moon. Toddlers, in their task of learning, help us see the wonders right under our noses.
Abbey renovating guesthouse to meet new demand

ST. BENEDICT — The travails of modern life, with its flashy media and rudeness, seem to have caused a surge in requests for retreats at Mount Angel Abbey.
Why so many divisions in the church?

Our religious commonalities are much stronger than our differences, says Holy Names Sister Cecilia Ranger, a longtime world religions teacher at George Fox University in Newberg.
Archbishop Sample’s schedule

Archbishop Alexander Sample’s schedule through June 18.
June prayer for priests

“A Year of Prayer for our Priests” is a ministry of the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women. We share the joy of this devotion with all Oregon Catholics.
Hispanic youths encouraged to authenticity before Jesus

TURNER — At an annual Easter season retreat, scores of young Hispanic Catholics were urged to reveal just who they are to God. The theme was “Just Be.”
High tea time for seminarians

Glorious hats dotted the tea-drinking crowd at the Archbishop’s Seminary Tea.

Every room of the clubhouse at the Portland Golf Club was filled with patrons wanting to show their support for the Archdiocese of Portland’s seminarians.
LIFE: Memorial Day

The men and women who sacrificed their lives while in military service were committed to protect the lives of their fellow citizens. They wrestled with death to protect and create a culture of life back home.
Our faith has 'all the answers'

Claudette Jerez could be any young, hip Portlander at a pub on a given Saturday night. She dresses with pizzazz. She’s outgoing and warm. And she likes microbrews.
Memorial Day Masses set for cemeteries
LIFE: THE COMMON GOOD

In the first reading for the First Sunday of Easter, "the community of believers was of one heart and mind … they had everything in common. … There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need" (ACTS 4:32-35).
A Portland priest helps people from diverse faith backgrounds benefit from ancient Christian tradition

When you really deal with the living God, it’s dangerous.
Archbishop Sample’s schedule

Archbishop Alexander Sample’s schedule through June 3.
June 3 procession to include multilingual rosary

On Sunday, June 3, a Catholic eucharistic procession in central Portland will include a public rosary said in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Tagalog.
Liturgical readings

Liturgical readings through May 20.
WATCH: Steve and Barry Brophy, the 'Rosary Brothers,' have kept pro-life vigil for decades

Like Moses and Aaron, who prayed around the clock as the Israelites fought off attackers, the Brophy brothers help one another endure in a righteous cause.
Adoring the Lord

“We have 168 hours in a week. Can you not give back at least one hour to the Lord?” Jean Marie Majka tells the parishioners at St. Joseph Parish in Salem.
LIFE: Mental Health

Life is messy and mental illness is difficult to deal with. It is just the place where the healing presence of Christ is most needed.
New Holy Cross priest to stay in Portland

Holy Cross Father Christopher Brennan was ordained to the priesthood April 7 at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana.