Reading 1
Ez 34:11-12, 15-17

For thus saith the Lord God:
Behold I myself will seek my sheep, and will visit them.
As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day
when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered,
so will I visit my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places
where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
I will feed my sheep: and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.
I will seek that which was lost: and that which was driven away, I will bring again:
and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak,
and that which was fat and strong I will preserve, and I will feed them in judgment.

And as for you, O my flocks, thus saith the Lord God:
Behold I judge between cattle and cattle, of rams and of he goats.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6

R. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.
The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.
He hath set me in a place of pasture.
R. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.
He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment:
He hath converted my soul.
He hath led me on the paths of justice,
for his own name’s sake.
R. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.
Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me.
Thou hast anointed my head with oil;
and my chalice which inebreateth me, how goodly is it!
R. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.
And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.
R. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.

Reading II
1 Cor 15:20-26, 28

But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that sleep:
For by a man came death: and by a man the resurrection of the dead.
And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.
But every one in his own order: the firstfruits, Christ: t
hen they that are of Christ, who have believed in his coming.
Afterwards the end: when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father:
when he shall have brought to nought all principality and power and virtue.
For he must reign, until he hath put all his enemies under his feet.
And the enemy, death, shall be destroyed last:
For he hath put all things under his feet. And whereas he saith:
And when all things shall be subdued unto him,
then the Son also himself shall be subject unto him that put all things under him,
that God may be all in all.

Gospel
Mt 25:31-46

And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him,
then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty.
And all nations shall be gathered together before him:
and he shall separate them one from another,
as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left.
Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand:
Come, ye blessed of my Father,
possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
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.
Then shall the just answer him, saying:
Lord, when did we see thee hungry and fed thee: thirsty and gave thee drink?
Or when did we see thee a stranger and took thee in? Or naked and covered thee?
Or when did we see thee sick or in prison and came to thee?
And the king answering shall 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.
Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand:
Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire,
which was prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me not to eat:
I was thirsty and you gave me not to drink.
I was a stranger and you took me not in: naked and you covered me not:
sick and in prison and you did not visit me.
Then they also shall answer him, saying:
Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison
and did not minister to thee?
Then he shall answer them, saying:
Amen: I say to you,
as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.
And these shall go into everlasting punishment:
but the just, into life everlasting.

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The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of Roman Rite of the Catholic Church in the USA, but are from The Challoner Douay Rheims version of the Sacred Bible, a source free from copyright and entirely in the public domain.

The Challoner Douay Rheims version was prepared by Bishop Richard Challoner, about A.D. 1749-1752, by revising the original Douay Rheims version and by comparing it to the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? What traditions do you observe that make this holiday special?

To share, e-mail MetroCatholic at gvogt4@dfwcatholic.org. Please include your name and location.

NOVEMBER

 - Saturday 29: At 5 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, First Vespers for the first Sunday of Advent.

 - Sunday 30: First Sunday of Advent. Pastoral visit to the Roman basilica of San Lorenzo for the 1,750th anniversary of the martyrdom of the deacon saint. Mass at 9.45 a.m.

DECEMBER

 - Monday 8: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At 4 p.m. in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna, homage to Mary Immaculate.

 - Wednesday 24: Vigil of the Solemnity of the Birth of Our Lord. Midnight Mass in the Vatican Basilica.

 - Thursday 25: Solemnity of the Birth of Our Lord. At midday from the central loggia of the Vatican Basilica, “Urbi et Orbi” blessing.

 - Wednesday 31: At 6 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, First Vespers of thanksgiving for the past year.

JANUARY 2009

 - Thursday 1: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and 42nd World Day of Peace. Mass in the Vatican Basilica at 10 a.m.

 - Tuesday 6: Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. Mass in the Vatican Basilica at 10 a.m.

 - Sunday, 11: Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. Mass in the Sistine Chapel at 10 a.m., conferment of the Sacrament of Baptism upon a number of children.

 - Sunday 25: Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle. At 5.30 p.m. in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, celebration of Vespers.

On Monday the Beaufort County Council heard a request from Saint Gregory the Great Church in Bluffton to rezone land for a proposed expansion.

The website of Saint Gregory the Great Church, whose pastor is named Father Ronald Cellini, reports it is seeing “unprecedented growth of this parish family,” increasing by more than 5,000 souls since 1995.

During a land management committee discussion, Laura Von Harten explained she would oppose the request of the parish at the full council meeting later in the week. Although Von Harten does not serve on the land committee, she took the floor to make plain her views about the Catholic Church.

According to the Beaufort Gazette, she cited “human rights issues” as a reason for her opposition.

“I could not have Father Cellini’s job or the Pope’s job if I wanted it and it’s an affront to my dignity as a woman and all of womankind,” said Von Harten, who is reportedly a Unitarian Universalist.

“I don’t want to support anything that will perpetuate that kind of ideology that would prevent me from being an active leader in an organization, and I don’t like the way they want to control women’s uteruses, and I just don’t want to do anything that would perpetuate that.”

If land must be rezoned, she said, “I want it to be to create a loving inclusive mixed-use community and that’s the only way I will give up rural land… I just have to vote in favor of love and against hate when I see hate.”

Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, went so far as to call for the councilwoman’s resignation.

“Without the slightest provocation, Laura Von Harten decided to bash Catholicism,” Donohue said in a Wednesday statement. “This suggests an animus so deep as to call into question her fitness for public service. She should do more than recuse herself on matters Catholic—she should resign from her post as councilwoman. There is no legitimate role for bigots in public life.”

Following criticism of her remarks, Von Harten on Tuesday said she would abstain from any votes on St. Gregory the Great’s rezoning.

She made what she called a formal apology for her remarks on Wednesday, saying her reference to human rights pertain to “the Catholic Church as a political entity, with a seat at the United Nations, but I acknowledge that I offended individuals in my own community.”

The Holy See in fact has a permanent observer mission to the United Nations but no voting seat.

Saying she intended no infringement of anyone’s religious freedom and did not intend to disparage any individual member of the Church, she added:

“I respect the rights of all people to worship in the church of their choosing. Given the history of persecution endured by members of the Catholic Church, I regret my insensitivity on this matter.”

Saying she was “truly sorry” for having “interjected” her concerns about the Catholic Church into a zoning discussion, she claimed she had “meant only an extension of my overall opposition to development that restricts access on the basis of factors such as race, age or gender but it was an inappropriate forum.”

“Please be assured that I have been reminded of the importance of separation of church and state in matters of land use, and have learned a great deal from this incident,” Von Harten continued, asking for forgiveness and pledging “to approach my duties as councilwoman from a more restrained and objective viewpoint.”

An anonymous report issued last year revealed that tubal ligations were being performed for contraceptive purposes at Texas Catholic hospitals.  The report cited hospital inpatient discharge data that was reported to the Texas Health Care Information Collection Center for Health Statistics, as evidence for the claim.
 
The report said Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler had reported 1619 sterilizations, and Christus St. Michael in Texarkana had reported 188 sterilizations between the years 2000 and 2003.
 
Bishop Alvaro Corrada, SJ, initiated an investigation following the report and has today issued a public admission of guilt after finding that Catholic hospitals were in fact illicitly carrying out sterilizations. (See: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008_docs/tylerbishopstatement.pdf) 

“As a Bishop, I am deeply saddened and upset by this news,” said the Bishop. He added: “As Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, I have to admit my failure to provide adequate oversight of the Catholic Hospitals as regards their protection of the sacred dignity of each human person.”
 
In the statement the Bishop explained that the hospitals were engaging in “serious mis-interpretation” of Catholic health care directives.  He noted further that he is working “directly with the Catholic Hospitals in the Diocese of Tyler, and with my brother Bishops in the state of Texas, to bring an end to immoral procedures and to put in place some method of ongoing accountability and transparency of monitoring both protocols and actual practices.”
 
In the statement the Bishop noted that “in response to their own investigation of the matter, CHRISTUS St. Michael’s in Texarkana has discontinued all tubal ligations.”  With regard to Trinity Mother Frances, the Bishop explained that it “is a large health care system and is developing plans to protect the sacred dignity of each human person through compliance with an authentic interpretation” of the Catholic health care directives which prohibit “direct sterilization.”

To read the complete statement by Bishop Corrada, go to: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008_docs/tylerbishopstatement.pdf

TRENTON, NJ (LifeSiteNews.com) - A New Jersey man has won a settlement forcing eHarmony.com, a leading dating website founded by Christian Dr. Neil Warren, to offer homosexual dating services through an equivalent website, entitled “Compatible Partners.”

The settlement ended a 3-year court battle in which eHarmony was accused of discriminating against homosexuals by operating a setup that did not extend searches to include partners of the same sex. In addition to setting up the new website, the settlement requires eHarmony to advertise its new site on gay websites and include pictures of same-sex matches in the “Diversity” section of the eHarmony website. 

eHarmony will also pay a settlement fee of $5,000 to the plaintiff and $50,000 in court costs.  The settlement acknowledges that eHarmony was not found to have violated New Jersey law.

“Although we believed that the complaint resulted from an unfair characterization of our business, we ultimately decided it was best to settle with the Attorney General since litigation outcomes can be unpredictable,” eHarmony explained in a statement, adding that they, “look forward to moving beyond this legal dispute, which has been a burden for the company.”

An eHarmony lawyer also told World Net Daily that the legal battle, which began in 2005, had become financially burdensome to the company.

During the dispute last year, Chemistry.com capitalized on eHarmony’s exclusivity to male-female couples.  The dating site, which is configured to facilitate homosexual matches, ran an advertisement featuring a man flipping through a magazine featuring semi-nude female models. After a while he closes the magazine and declares, “Nope, still gay.” The ad then declares that he was “rejected by eHarmony.” “Who knows why eHarmony has rejected over a million people looking for love?” says a woman’s voice, adding that people can come to Chemistry.com “as you are.” 

eHarmony said the ads were misleading and asked to have them removed, but their requests were denied.

Dr. Warren had in past years defended the heterosexual structure of eHarmony as based on compatibility research that dealt only with heterosexual couples.  Warren also argued in 2005 that eHarmony was geared toward legal marriage, and therefore did not pertain to homosexual unions.

The compatibility system foundational to eHarmony was first popularized through Focus on the Family, which gave the exposure that helped launch the website to its current status as one of the most popular dating websites available. 

“No one would have ever dreamed that something like this could happen here,” said a MassResistance report in response to the settlement. 

“This is exactly what the homosexual movement had in mind when they pushed so hard a decade ago for Civil Rights laws to include ’sexual orientation,’” it continued.  “It won’t end here.”

Some pro-family voices are critical of the settlement decision, saying Warren kowtowed too easily to homosexual pressure.

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth wrote a strongly-worded letter to Dr. Warren chastising him for having “sold his soul (or at least eHarmony’s).”

“You could have set an example to Christians and freedom-loving Americans everywhere by fighting on principle for your company’s First Amendment right not to be bullied into submission by a politically correct state bureaucracy,” said LaBarbera.  “Instead, you capitulated.

“In addition to hurting the cause of Christianity, you have damaged the cause of freedom and particularly religious freedom in America. It appears that eHarmony is no longer a ‘match’ for Integrity.”

To view the official settlement, go to: http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases08/pr20081119a-eHarmony-SA.pdf

To contact New Jersey Civil Rights Division:
PO Box 090
Trenton, NJ 08625-0090
phone 609-292-4605
  
New Jersey Attorney General J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo:
P.O. Box 080
Trenton, NJ 08625-0080
phone 609-292-4925

To contact eHarmony.com:
888 E. Walnut Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101
phone 626-795-4814

WASHINGTON D.C. (LifeSiteNews.com) - In spite of pro-abortion anger and the looming pro-abortion Obama administration, President Bush is poised to sign regulations that will help protect the rights of doctors and nurses to refuse to perform abortions on moral or religious grounds.

The regulations will enforce existing federal law that requires taxpayer-funded medical institutions not to discriminate against medical personnel who conscientiously object to performing abortions or assisting “in the performance of any part of a health service program or research activity,” including the distribution of abortifacient contraceptives. 

Pro-life advocates have hailed the regulations as a much-needed reminder to medical establishments of their employee’s religious rights under the Constitution. In recent years pro-life doctors frequently claim to have been discriminated against for refusing to perform procedures that went against their consciences.

Abortion supporters, however, continue to wage war against the regulations, denouncing them as a threat to women’s access to abortion.

Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced legislation Thursday to halt the regulations, accusing President Bush of “again putting ideology first” in a “last-minute attempt to undermine women’s health care.” The legislation cites a directive from White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolton that discourages the submission of regulation proposals late in an administration.

Though the proposed regulations do not change federal law, both abortion groups and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency assigned to enforce such regulations, complain that they are redundant and will result in a reduction of abortions.

“It’s unconscionable that the Bush administration, while promising a smooth transition, would take a final opportunity to politicize women’s health,” said Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt sponsored and vigorously defended the regulations throughout the verification process.

“Federal law is explicit and unwavering in protecting federally funded medical practitioners from being coerced into providing treatments they find morally objectionable,” Leavitt told the New York Times. 

The religious and civil rights coalition Catholic League released a statement urging President Bush to “move with dispatch” on the regulations, before the Obama administration can snuff them out. 

Catholic League President Bill Donohue noted that the religious rights of Catholic hospitals were soon to be gravely threatened by the Freedom of Choice Act, which would make it illegal for a doctor to refuse to kill an unborn child.  Passing regulations as a last stand for religious rights, says Donohue, will help set up the case against Obama’s extreme agenda against life and the civil right to conscientious objection.

“If Obama wants to undo them, it will set up a confrontation he will surely regret,” Donohue stated.

“We’re saddened to learn Gonzaga University, a Catholic school, has refused to accept ‘We Know Better Now,’ our pro-life advertising supplement for ‘The Gonzaga Bulletin,’” said Joe Langfeld, Deputy Director for Human Life Alliance. “As a non-profit organization dedicated to educating students on the humanity of the pre-born child and gruesome realities of abortion we use college newspapers to reach 19-24 year-olds who are the number one age group of abortion participants.”

When asked to run the advertising supplement, officials from “The Gonzaga Bulletin” rejected the inserts stating, “There are articles in the insertion that cast a negative light on various organizations or individuals. While these statements may be true, we simply cannot insert them in our paper per our advertising policies.”

“Of course some statements in our publication are objectionable to ‘various organizations or individuals.’ We present documented truth about the largest abortion chain in the nation, Planned Parenthood, and its founder Margaret Sanger,” noted Langfeld. “The business of abortion is ugly and we think college and university students have a right to read the facts from someone other then abortion providers.”

The Gonzaga denial comes on the heels of another rejection at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA last week.

“Fortunately, there’s good news to report from Allegheny. After phone calls, emails and a visit form a local HLA supporter, student editors have agreed to insert ‘We Know Better Now’ in the January 19, 2009 issue of ‘The Campus’ student newspaper, Langfeld said. “We’re thrilled these students have communicated with HLA and agreed to give us a voice on their campus.”

Reading 1
Rv 11:4-12

These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks t
hat stand before the Lord of the earth.
And if any man will hurt them,
fire shall come out of their mouths and shall devour their enemies.
And if any man will hurt them, in this manner must he be slain.
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy:
And they have power over waters,
to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

And when they shall have finished their testimony,
the beast that ascendeth out of the abyss shall make war against them
and shall overcome them and kill them.
And their bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city which is called spiritually,
Sodom and Egypt: where their Lord also was crucified.
And they of the tribes and peoples and tongues and nations
shall see their bodies for three days and a half:
and they shall not suffer their bodies to be laid in sepulchres.
And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make merry:
and shall send gifts one to another,
because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the earth.
And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them.
And they stood upon their feet: and great fear fell upon them that saw them.
And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying to them: Come up hither.
And they went up to heaven in a cloud: and their enemies saw them.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 144:1, 2, 9-10

R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
Blessed be the Lord my God,
who teacheth my hands to fight,
and my fingers to war.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
My mercy, and my refuge:
my support, and my deliverer:
My protector, and I have hoped in him:
who subdueth my people under me.
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
To thee, O God, I will sing a new canticle:
on the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings
I will sing praises to thee.
Who givest salvation to kings:
who hast redeemed thy servant David
from the malicious sword:
R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

Gospel
Lk 20:27-40

And there came to him some of the Sadducees,
who deny that there is any resurrection: and they asked him,
Saying: Master, Moses wrote unto us:
If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he leave no children,
that his brother should take her to wife and raise up seed unto his brother.
There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife and died without children.
And the next took her to wife: and he also died childless.
And the third took her. And in like manner, all the seven: and they left no children and died.
Last of all the woman died also.
In the resurrection therefore, whose wife of them shall she be?
For all the seven had her to wife.
And Jesus said to them:
The children of this world marry and are given in marriage:
But they that shall be accounted worthy of that world
and of the resurrection from the dead shall neither be married nor take wives.
Neither can they die any more for they are equal to the angels and are the children of God,
being the children of the resurrection.
Now that the dead rise again, Moses also shewed at the bush, when he called the Lord:
The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
For he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live to him.
And some of the scribes answering, said to him: Master, thou hast said well.
And after that they durst not ask him any more questions.

————————————————————————————

The readings on this site are not official for the Mass of Roman Rite of the Catholic Church in the USA, but are from The Challoner Douay Rheims version of the Sacred Bible, a source free from copyright and entirely in the public domain.

The Challoner Douay Rheims version was prepared by Bishop Richard Challoner, about A.D. 1749-1752, by revising the original Douay Rheims version and by comparing it to the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible.

Official Readings of the Liturgy at – http://www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml

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