You know when I started this blog, nominating myself as a Josephologist, I didn’t think I would be so silent about everything. Unfortuantely, that has been the state of this blog. Perhaps, when I find full time employment my thoughts will be more readily accessible to you via this blog. Until that or whatever it takes, I appreciate you stopping by, dear reader.
December 30, 2010
Is this where the Catholic Church in America is?
Posted by Tomas Fuerte under UncategorizedLeave a Comment
This was posted today over at realcatholictv.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChX29XelFXU
I think it is a disconcerting point that Mr. Voris makes. It is a strange place we find ourselves. Never more clear has it been that we lay faithful must gather and defend the Catholic Faith that continues to be watered down and lost to future generations who are too busy with their ipods…. or ipads… or Wiii. More to come later, as i am in Canada at the moment….
December 13, 2010
You have to wonder why so many people freak out about this especially if you have ever driven across Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Colorado…etc, etc., or flown across Europe, etc., etc.
December 11, 2010
This week I have applied to five different Universities. I am excited at the prospect of teaching young adults again. Working at Christendom was a great joy, but it was unfortunate that the position was not set up for a family with young children. Since then we have been living back in Denver with my parents, in the house that we used to live in while I worked at St. Jude Parish.
There are a great many things that have made this last week stressful, not least of which was my turning 36 years old. However I found out today that there is a significant new reason to rejoice for us Americans. Today, there was a new development in the life of the Catholic Church in America. Just a few days ago Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay approved the first Marian apparition to have taken place in the United States. What is siginficant about this, and the reason for the title of my post, is that the Blessed Mother appeared to a young Belgian immigrant woman in Wisconsin, to specifically encourage her to catechize the youth of this “wild country.” Now more than ever this is of immediate importance, as America continues to restore the Church here. As she says, “Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.”
While working at St. Jude I sought to do exactly as the Blessed Mother told the 28 year old young lady (again I am now 36) to whom she appeared in Champion, Wisconsin. The Blessed Mother noted, “Teach them their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the cross and how to approach the sacraments.” The question is whether we adults know these things as well. It’s very interesting to go to Mass on any given Sunday to find how few adults actually act like they KNOW HOW to sign themselves with the sign of the cross. Interesting that many in the Catechetical field would note that since the Second Vatican Council there has a been a relaxing of the teaching of the actual doctrines of the Church summarized in the catechism. This has seemed to inevitably lead to the relaxing of the four elemental points of the Catholic Church’s Faith: doctrine, liturgy, morals and prayer (as delineated in the four parts of the Catechism). Most vital to the sacramental life of the Church is actually approaching the sacraments. And yet, from some of the most recent polls many Catholics will not attend Mass to receive the Blessed Sacrament, and more importantly to make the intimate and personal effort to confess their sins to the priest that they might receive the Mercy and healing of God. In spite of all of this, the call of the blessed Mother, given at what is known today
as the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, remains the same to each of us who hear and understand her. As she told the young woman, who later became a Franciscan, Adele Brise, “Go and fear nothing, I will help you.” Let us never fear to teach the faith to all those young and young in faith who are open to coming to know the salvation offered by Jesus Christ.
Check out the Green Bay Diocese article on this at: http://www.gbdioc.org/newsevents/news/857-worthy-of-belief.html
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=8505
December 8, 2010
I will soon have been unemployed for 6 months. Today is my birthday. What a mixed bag of blessings. My wife and I have grown decidedly closer during these last six months and that has been a huge joy. I have had the time to enjoy my kids, which, again, is a brilliant joy. Unfortunately, our savings dwindle almost daily and I am no closer to finding a job. Today I have applied to a few Universities, in the hope that I can proclaim the Gospel in their various locales.
The funny thing about all of this is that I find myself often at peace about how this has all played out. In my quiet moments, I am sure that God has been guiding as us we continue to seek and to do His will. Today, the Solemnity of Immaculate Conception, is also my birthday, and something about making it this far in life is very comforting realizing that I share a wonderful feast with the Blessed Mother of God. Turning another year older makes one reconsider the moments of one’s life when faith was most important, and when it wasn’t as important as it should have been. All in all, I am left in gratitude knowing that God is Our Father. He knows what we need when we need it and that He alone holds the future in His hand. I used to have a poster, that I left at St. Jude’s Youth Center in Lakewood, that had a picture of Jesus holding the world in his hand, and it said, ” I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.”
In the near future I will be going to Canada to see my wife’s parents. I am extremely grateful to them for having their daughter. After Canada, I am hoping to go to Rome to see if I can find a moderator for my Doctoral Dissertation. In the midst of all of this, I have recently been gifted with a new laptop. This means, dear reader, that I am back in business on this blog. While I was giving up hope to ever return to this blog, God found a way of providing what I needed for this blog. I hope that you will hear from me soon and more frequently. May you have had a glorious feast of the Immaculate Conception, because, at the end of the day, before Our Lady was conceieved the world was at its darkest, and that is when He who is the Light of the World came into it. May His light be reflected in the words and thoughts which follow this post.
October 28, 2010
I feel like Star Wars, the first three movies (Episodes IV, V, and VI for you millenials out there). More and more it seems like I am somewhere in the middle of things happening. All of a sudden I am in a “New Hope.” I am not unemployed for four months, and no real potentials on the horizon. I knew that working for the Church would not be a get rich-slow scheme, but I thought I would at least be able to support myself. At this point, I am just hoping that I can be useful to somebody in gainful employment. I have returned to Colorado and am currently living with my parents again – welcome to the American economy of 2010, right?
I have not given up hope on this blog just yet…. I just need to get internet first. I am currently working out of a friend’s house because my parents still have dial-up… yeah, I know, and yes it does still exist! Any way, if you have read this, then I hope you will return another day when i finally get this blog going.
Tomas
April 23, 2010
After about 9 months of stress, my wife and I have decided that this program is way to stressful on both our marriage and our family and we are have resigned. Nevertheless, the one benefit is that I have almost completed my Doctoral Seminar at the Angelicum and will hopefully soon have approval to begin my Disseration. Please, any reader of this post, PRAY FOR ME that I CAN GET APPROVED SOON!!!
September 20, 2009
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August 20, 2009
It will happen… it will happen… it will happen…
Posted by Tomas Fuerte under Uncategorized[4] Comments
If anyone is still checking this, I will eventually get rolling on this blog. I am currently submersed in planning a program, preparing a class, and actually enjoying my children’s youth in the time since I was so decidedly removed from St. Jude.
As a teaser, of what is to come, I found this great article about a group coming to meet the Pope, which I received from Zenit.org:
Muleteer Pilgrimage Going to See the Pope
CASTEL GONDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 20, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is preparing to welcome some 200 pilgrims who have been traveling the 140 miles from Assisi to Rome since Aug. 10.
The pilgrimage, which includes carts pulled by donkeys and mules, will be received by the Pope at his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, some 18 miles from Rome.
These pilgrims, from Association of the Friends of the Road to Santiago, come from Salamanca, Spain, and other European countries.
One of the members of the group, Juan Carlos López Pinto, told ZENIT that one of their objectives is to highlight “the importance of Europe’s roads in the making of Western culture.”
The pilgrimage has also consisted in a series of workshops, facilitated by the donkey carts.
Each cart carries an exposition of a different theme: St. James the Apostle, St. Peter, St. Paul, the Blessed Virgin, children, music, culture, the environment, solidarity and trade.
In this way, the group is promoting a more profound reflection on the cultural, environmental, monumental and religious aspects of the “Road of St. Francis” (Francigeno) between Assisi and Rome.
As they pass through Italian villages and cities, the pilgrims are dressed in garments that recall ancient muleteers and traditional occupations.
The group also includes a number of children, as young as age 2.
June 25, 2009
I am drawn back to the day m wfie and I went to Auschwitz as we watch a movie tonight called, “Forgiving Dr. Mengele.” It is the story of Eva Kor who was one of many twins who were experimented by the Nazi doctor, Joseph Mengele. It is an incredible story…
In case you can’t tell, we have finally begun to get some sanity in our house. We are watching our second movie, which was not one we probably would have chosen for our time of unpacking and trying to get our house organized, as we are also trying to organize our students for their time in Rome this Fall. Things are getting interesting there, but it is beyond the scope of this blog.
At any rate, I have also begun the book “The Heresy of Formlessness” by Martin Mosebach, a german. He wrote a book some time ago arguing for the return to the Traditional Latin mass. The title of this book was intruiging to me, and as well, my dear friend Steve Skojec, who is now almost my neighbor, recommended it sometime ago in our dicussions. I am interested to see his point of view, but so far he has had some great wisdom. I would love to post something… but I am in the middle of this movie… and it is good… ah well, I suppose this is what happens when you are trying to relax in an apartment with too much stuff and too much to do and not being sure what to do next… but luckily I am now typing from our recently issued laptops through our new wireless router…. phew… well it somehow makes it easier, I hope, to type our these posts….
man, who knew that moving and trying to squeeze a 4 bedroom house into a 2 bedroom apartment would be so stressful and time-consuming….
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