Holy Rosary Catholic Church February 8, 2015 — Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Rev. Fr. Bryan W. Jerabek, J.C.L., Parish Administrator Fr. Jerabek may be reached at St. Barnabas Catholic Church, 205-833-0334

Sunday Mass – 8:30am

Wednesday Mass – 8:00am

Rosary – Before all Masses

Confession – Sunday 8:00am a nd u pon r e q u es t

7414 Georgia Road

Birmingham, Alabama 35212 http://www.holyrosarybirmingham.com

holyrosarybirmingham@gmail.com

205-595-0652

Mailing – P.O. Box 321576 – Birmingham, AL 35232

Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time – February 8, 2015 – Rising very early…he prayed.

Parish Mass Intentions

Sunday 2/8 Liz Berman+ Wednesday 2/11 Bishop Foley’s Intention Sunday 2/15 Celebrant’s Intention

Our Prayers Go Out

For an end to the brutal murder of Christians and the destruction of Church patrimony in the Middle East.

For the sick, especially Miss Moore, Deb & Michael, Chris, Mary (Father Tony’s sister), Mildred, and Mary Alice.

For the repose of the souls of Richard “of Hollywood” and David Marple.

For all of Holy Rosary’s generous volunteers – both from our parish and from others. We pray this week especially for our long-time volunteers.

For a special intention for Romel.

Bulletin Notices

Contact Mike Geerts at mhfgeerts@gmail.com or 205-266-3065 if you have a bulletin notice (including birthdays, anniversaries, or other news of interest to parishioners).

Scripture Readings for Next Sunday – 2/15

1st Reading: Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46 Responsorial: Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 11 2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 Gospel: Mark 1:40-45

A reminder that Father Jerabek will be away February 11-14. Please pray for safe travels.

RCIA – Instruction in the Catholic Faith

Class will not meet this week. Class will resume on Thursday, February 19 at 6:30pm in the Fireside Room (basement) of St. Barnabas. February Jubilee Year Mass

The next Mass (with plenary indulgence) will be on Wednesday, February 11, at 8:00am. This is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes (whose image is on our high altar), and also the World Day of the Sick. Bishop David Foley will be our guest celebrant! Confession will be offered before Mass, from 7:30 to 7:50am. Going to the Post Office?

One of our larger office expenses is postage. We have tried to reduce the amount of mailing that we do over the past several months, but a certain amount remains necessary or at least difficult to change at present. Here’s an idea: please consider dropping a book of stamps in the collection basket from time to time! Every little bit helps. Thanks!

Strong Men, Strong Faith Evening Conference

The 12th annual “Strong Men, Strong Faith” conference will be held at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Hoover on Monday, February 16 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. This will be an excellent way to prepare for the season of Lent! The speaker this year will be Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers. Ladies, please encourage your husbands, fathers, and sons to go! For more information and for a discounted registration rate, go to http://strongmenstrongfaith.org.

TIMBER!

You may have noticed that the tree near the basketball court is now gone. It was obvious that there were problems with dead growth and rotting; upon having it cut down, however, it was discovered that the trunk was completely rotted-out in the middle – the tree could easily have fallen if there were a strong gust of wind! Thank God that both our rectory and the basketball court were protected, and that we could remove the tree in time.

NEW! Ash Wednesday Schedule & Lenten Rules

Masses on Ash Wednesday (all at St. Barnabas) will be at 7:00am, 8:30am (School Mass – all welcome), and 7:00pm.

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.

The norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. Pregnant women and others for whom fasting would be perilous to their health are exempted. Those fasting are permitted to eat one full meal; two smaller meals may also be taken, but not to equal a full meal.

The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding for all from age 14 onwards. Broths made from meat (as long as there are no pieces of meat in it) are permissible according to the letter of the law, though perhaps not fully coherent with its spirit. Vegetarians do well on days of abstinence to give up a certain food or dish that they regularly enjoy, since they already give up meat, not for penitential reasons, but as a way of life.

NEW! Lenten Devotionals

Copies of the Magnificat Lenten Companion will be available on the table in the front of the church starting next weekend.

NEW! Stations of the Cross and Lenten Meals

All special Lenten devotions will take place at St. Barnabas this year. Please join us for our delicious Lenten Meals (no cost!), followed by Stations of the Cross and Benediction!

Lenten Meals (Fridays only): February 20, February 27, March 6, March 13, March 20, and March 27, 5:30-6:30pm in the School Cafeteria.

Parish Stations of the Cross and Benediction: Fridays of Lent at 7:00pm in the church. Next Pastoral Council Meeting

Monday, February 16 at 6:30pm in the St. Barnabas School Cafeteria.

GENERAL PARISH INFORMATION

Baptisms – Contact Father Jerabek, preferably during the pregnancy so as to be able to schedule the baptism soon after birth.

Weddings – Contact Father Jerabek no less than six months in advance, to begin preparations.

Anointing of the Sick – For those who begin to be in danger of death due to serious illness and/or old age. Discuss with Father Jerabek to determine if now is the right time for this sacrament; in sacramental emergencies, call Father at 833-0334 at any time, day or night.

Knights of Columbus – Contact Mike Geerts at 508-3070 for more information about the Cathedral of St. Paul Knights Council # 9862.

Food Pantry and Clothes Closet – Open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10am – 12pm for residents of the 35212 zip code; registration required. Volunteers always needed to help. Speak with Don Monin.

Youth Program – Monday to Friday, 3pm – 5pm. Open to students from Gate City. Tutors are available to assist with homework, then games are available on the basketball court (inside the Oratory in case of rain). Contact Coach Allen Murphy at 595-0652.

Our Wonderful Catholic Faith

Obama’s Take on the Crusades

This past week at the National Prayer Breakfast, our President repeated a particularly beloved historical fallacy or legend of our time – about the Crusades. These types of fallacies are falsifications of history that many people, if not the majority, come to accept and use as a means of criticizing and intimidating certain groups. President Obama did this very thing by comparing the recent unspeakable atrocities committed by ISIS/ISIL in the Middle East to the Christian Crusades of the Middle Ages. He said, “Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ”. Many people were understandably offended by this comparison, since it is an anti-Catholic misrepresentation of history. Have things gotten so bad that our President cannot find speech writers who know history? Anyhow, since there is a great deal of confusion about the Crusades, I copy here an article which helps to set them properly in context. It is by the historian Steve Weidenkopf, published on Catholic.com.

he Crusades are one of the most misunderstood topics in Church history. Movies and TV present as established fact an outdated anti-Catholic narrative

about them that stays alive by sheer repetition. Not only do secular critics of the Church use this narrative to attack Catholicism (and religion in general), but many Catholics uwittingly accept it as true.

The negative “spin” on the Crusades began in the sixteenth century with the Protestant revolutionary Martin Luther, who saw them as an outgrowth of papal authority and power. Later Enlightenment authors such as Voltaire and Edward Gibbon shaped modernity’s negative view of the Crusades by portraying them as barbaric projects undertaken by greedy and savage warriors at the behest of a corrupt papacy. Modern-day Crusade historians, thankfully, eschew the anti-religious prejudices behind this view, and are bringing to light an authentic understanding of these Catholic events from the perspective of those who participated in them. But such scholarship has not eradicated the popular myths.

In order to properly understand the Crusades, we must recognize them as authentically Catholic events in an age of faith. This does not mean that everyone in the Middle Ages was a saint, or that society was perfect; but it was an era in which people made radical life decisions, such as going on Crusade, because of their faith in Jesus Christ and his Church. The modern secular-humanist world, lacking faith, struggles to understand the authentic religious worldview of the medieval period and so is handicapped when trying to understand the Crusades.

The Crusading movement was a Catholic movement. Popes called for Crusades, clerics (and saints) preached them, ecumenical councils planned and discussed them, and Catholic warriors fought them for spiritual benefits. The Crusades cannot be properly understood apart from this Catholic reality. The modern world's historical amnesia on this point is curable, and the cure begins with Catholics learning the authentic history of their Church

and the culture it created. Like the Benedictine monks of old, we modern Catholics can maintain the inheritance of Western Civilization, and correct the errors and biases of our age, through a commitment to learn our history and take pride (where appropriate) for the actions of the men and women who came before us in the Faith.

Many Catholics cringe at the mention of the Crusades, either because they know an anti-Catholic attack is coming, or because they feel embarrassed. But I propose that rather than trying to change the subject or dodge the criticism, we should recognize the “glory” of the Crusades.

What does that mean?

After Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they sinned against God by worshipping the golden calf. God wanted to destroy the Israelites for their idolatry, but Moses interceded for the people and the Lord relented. Moses’ special relationship with God included the gift of being in the presence of the Lord in the meeting tent, where he spoke to God face to face. Moses pleaded with God for his presence to remain with the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land so that the other nations would see their uniqueness.

Moses also begged the Lord to show him his glory (Ex. 33:18). The Hebrew word for glory used most often in the Old Testament is kabod, which means “heavy in weight” or something of great importance. In this sense, the Crusading movement—which occupied 600 years of Catholic history—cannot be seen as anything but glorious. That does not mean we whitewash or ignore their bad parts, but simply that we give due attention to their import in the life of the Church.

We live in a time ripe for a reinvigorated sense of Catholic identity, and a thorough knowledge of the Crusades helps us build it. Catholics need to know the authentic history of the Church in order to defend it from its many critics in the modern world; however, for a truly vibrant Catholic identity to take root and flourish, defending the Church is not enough. We must go on the attack, and present the story of our Catholic family with vigor, courage, and resolve.

In the words of Walter Cardinal Brandmüller, president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for the Historical Sciences: “[W]e should finally stop being like the frightened rabbit that stares at the snake before it is swallowed by it. This defeatist attitude, this whining self-pity that has gained so much ground… in Catholic circles, is an insult to God. What is needed is a new, forceful consciousness of being Catholic.”

Recognizing the “glory” of the Crusades is one way that we can take pride in our Catholic identity and contribute to a forceful and positive resurgence of the Faith in the Western world.

For more information about the correct history of the Crusades, I recommend that you also read the article by Steve Weidenkopf called “Crash Course on the Crusades”, located at http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/crash-course-on-the-crusades. Next week – the Inquisition!

— Father Jerabek

T