Amy Welborn Interviewed

You can read part one of an interview that Amy Welborn did with the Catholic Match website here.It’s about the book Wish You Were Here: Travels through Loss and Hope.. 

The Random House website for that book is here.

The Amazon page for the book is here. 

 

May is Mary’s Month

Michael Dubruiel conceived and put together the small hardbound book, Praying the Rosary. 

Click on the cover for more information.

And read “Rosary Walk” – a post from 2003 by Michael Dubruiel, in which he describes on of his lunchtime walks in Huntington.

Confirmation Gift Idea

The How to Book of the Mass  by Michael Dubruiel would be a great gift for a newly-confirmed Catholic.

The How-To Book of the Mass is the only book that not only provides the who, what, where, when, and why of themost time-honored tradition of the Catholic Church but also the how.

In this complete guide you get:

• step-by-step guidelines to walk you through the Mass
• the Biblical roots of the various parts of the Mass and the very prayers themselves
• helpful hints and insights from the Tradition of the Church
• aids in overcoming distractions at Mass
• ways to make every Mass a way to grow in your relationship with Jesus

If you want to learn what the Mass means to a truly Catholic life—and share this practice with others—you can’t be without The How-To Book of the Mass.

Discover how to:

• Bless yourself
• Make the Sign of the Cross
• Genuflect
• Pray before Mass
• Join in Singing the Opening Hymn
• Be penitential
• Listen to the Scriptures
• Hear a Great Homily Everytime
• Intercede for others
• Be a Good Steward
• Give Thanks to God
• Give the Sign of Peace
• Receive the Eucharist
• Receive a Blessing
• Evangelize Others
• Get something Out of Every Mass You Attend

“Is this not the same movement as the Paschal meal of the risen Jesus with his disciples? Walking with them he explained the Scriptures to them; sitting with them at table ‘he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.”
1347, Catechism of the Catholic Church

Find more about The How to Book of the Mass here.

Know a new Catholic?

…they might enjoy reading The How to Book of the Mass.

The Power of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel

Good Friday is coming…remember you can download the free e-book The Power of the Cross (pdf file) here at this page. 

Amy Welborn interviewed

Here’s an interview Amy Welborn did with Kris McGregor of Discerning Hearts about her book: Wish You Were Here: Travels Through Loss and Hope.

A Pocket Guide to Confession by Michael Dubruiel

It’s that time…for a brief, pointed and helpful guide, check it out:

All of Michael Dubruiel’s books listed on Amazon.

The Power of the Cross free download and audio files.

The New Version of the Stations of the Cross link

Novena time

If you would like to know more about novenas, this book is a great resource.

The Church’s Most Powerful Novenas by Michael Dubruiel  (title of first edition: Mention Your Request Here – which is the changeable part of every novena, when you insert your own personal intention.)

The Power of the Cross

Here’s a link to a page with a free download of Michael Dubruiel’s book The Power of the Cross.  

It’s in .pdf format.

Also on the page is a link to a series of interviews Michael did with Catholic radio station KVSS on the book. 

Michael Dubruiel 1958-2009

Michael Dubruiel died on February 3, 2009 after suffering a heart attack while on the treadmill at the Mountain Brook, AL YMCA.

This blog will remain online indefinitely, as will his webpage.

If you would like to assist Michael’s family, please consider buying his books.

You may read about Michael’s passing at his wife Amy’s blog here.

The last column he wrote for the diocesan newspaper, the night before he died, is here.

Thank you for your prayers for Michael’s soul and for his family.

We Need Change…

Some Seed Fell...column

I was in Washington, D.C. last week, not for the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, but for the annual March for Life. I was not there alone, but in solidarity with a crowd of 300,000 (one television station’s estimate), including many from our Diocese and even more from our state of Alabama. Something that will surprise those who have never participated in such a March (we have one in Birmingham every year too) is the overwhelming majority of the marchers are very young people, in their teens and twenties—those who are most likely to be confronted with life’s realities of the abortion issue. This is in stark contrast to the few opposing protestors who show up on the other side: they are old and clearly beyond their child bearing years. In other words, it is not even their issue.

The Catholic side of the March begins each year at the Verizon Center in Washington with a youth rally. If you are not there a good three hours before it starts, you don’t get in—and thousands don’t. Students from John Carroll found that out last year, and this year they arrived really early to insure that they had a place at the Lord’s table. Bishop Baker compares this Youth Rally to a mini World Youth Day. There are testimonies, music, and most importantly prayer—all culminating with Holy Mass.

The over 20,000 youth, gathered at the Verizon Center then march to the Mall where people of all faiths assemble to hear a series of talks. By the time our group arrived at the Mall the talks had already begun, so I did not hear all of them. However, the one that impressed me deeply was delivered by Pastor Luke Robinson, an African Methodist Episcopal preacher from Quinn Chapel located in Frederick, Maryland.

Pastor Robinson recalled the events of the week, beginning with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and the inauguration of the first black president the following day. He praised the partial fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream.

Pastor Robinson then spoke about President Obama, “I am praying that God’s hand will lead him in righteousness and justice.” He continued:

 

“Today, Thursday, Jan. 22, we come here to deal with some unfinished business as it relates to the dream. We need change now more than ever. We are calling on the  President of Change, President Barack Obama to be an agent of change as it relates to the lives of over one million children who will be slaughtered in this, his first year as President, by a horrible practice called abortion and ‘a woman’s right to choose.’ We need change, Mr. President, because every day about 4000 babies die by abortion. Every day, Mr. President, people with your ethnic background and my ethnic background die in astounding numbers. Abortion is the number one killer of African Americans in this country.”
“We make up about 12% of the population and about 34% of all abortions are black babies. In the last 36 years over 17 million African American babies have died by abortion alone.  We need to change this picture. We need to stop this slaughter of the innocent preborn. Please, Mr. President, be that agent of change that can commute the sentence of over 1400 African American children and over 3000 children from other ethnic groups, sentenced to die every day in this country by abortion. We need change and we need it now. I pray with so many others that your administration will preside over the end to abortion and to the black genocide in America. At the conclusion of your term in office, may it never be said that you presided over the largest slaughter of innocent children in the history of the country and that African Americans became an ever increasing minority under your hand.”

Pastor Robinson received a huge ovation at the end of his remarks.  He said eloquently what so many of us hope that President Obama will really be—a president of change. Unfortunately, if the first days of his office are any indication, not much has changed since the last pro-abortion president was in office. On Friday the newly elected president signed an executive order, once again funding foreign agencies that provide abortions—many in countries where the populace is rightly opposed to the practice.

I hope that all who read this column will make a special effort to pray Bishop Baker’s prayer for our new president and all political leaders, that they will experience conversion and become consistently pro-life in all issues. May they work tirelessly to end war, as well as the war against the unborn. May they see life as a gift, not as a threat to their children’s future.

When it comes to protecting the innocent in this country, to quote Pastor Robinson, “We need change and we need it now.”

New Version of Way of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel and Amy Welborn

John Paul II’s Biblical Way of the Cross(It is also available in an IPhone App) – a new version of the Way of the Cross (or Stations of the Cross)

And check out this page on Michael Dubruiel’s book The Power of the Cross - available in a free .pdf download here. 

What Would Have Happened?

Conversion of Saint Paul

Pope: Happy Chinese New Year!

From Asia News Italy:

Benedict XVI extended his Best Wishes for Chinese New Year to all the peoples of East Asia who follow the Lunar Year and who will start celebrating the Year of the Ox tomorrow.

Speaking at the end of the Angelus prayer to the faithful gathered in St Peter’ Square, the Pope said: “The peoples of the various countries of East Asia are preparing to celebrate the Lunar New Year. To them I express my Best Wishes that they may experience this celebration in joy. Joy is the expression of when we are in harmony with ourselves. And this can only come when we are in harmony with God and his creation. May joy always be alive in the hearts of all the citizens of these nations, so dear to me; may it shine around the world!”

China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Koreas, Vietnam and all the countries will large Chinese communities like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines celebrate this event.

Saint Paul’s conversion, which the Church celebrates today, was however the main subject in the Pope’s reflections ahead of the Marian prayer.

“If truth be told,” said the Pope, “in the case of Paul some prefer not to use this term because,” they say, “he was already a believer; in fact he was a fervent Jew, and thus did not go from no faith to faith or from idols to God; nor did he abandon the Jewish faith to join Christ. In reality, the Apostle’s experience can be a model for every true Christian conversion.”

Paul’s conversion, the Pope went on to say, “took shape in the meeting with the Risen Christ. It was that meeting that radically changed his life. On the way to Damascus what happened to him is what Jesus calls for in today’s Gospel. Saul converted because, thanks to divine light, he believed in the Gospel’. This is his and our conversion: believing in the dead and risen Jesus and opening ourselves to the light of divine grace. In that moment Saul understood that his salvation did not depend on good deeds performed in accordance with the Law, but in the fact that Jesus also died for him, the persecutor, and had risen.”

For each Christian, baptism is the sign of conversion. “Converting,” explained the Pontiff, “means, also for each one of us, that Jesus, by dying on the cross, “has [. . .] given himself up for me” (cf Gal, 2:20), has risen and [now] lives with me and in me. By putting my trust in the power of his remission and letting myself be taken by His hand, I can escape the quick sands of pride and sin, lies and sadness, selfishness and false security, to find out and live the richness of his love.”

Benedict XVI also said that this afternoon he would preside over the solemn Vespers in St Paul’s Outside the Walls Basilica along with Rome’s ecumenical leaders.

“We Christians have not yet achieved the goal of full unity,” he added, “but if we allow ourselves to be continuously converted by the Lord Jesus we shall certainly get there.”

The Pope also mentioned important another event, the 56th World Leprosy Day. “I am happy,” said the Pope, “that the United Nations, in a recent statement by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, has urged states to protect people living with leprosy and their families. For my part, I can assure them that they are in my prayers, and I encourage once more all those who are fighting by their side for their complete recovery and social integration.”

A special greeting, said with “great affection”, was dedicated to the children of Rome’s Azione Cattolica, who were involved throughout the month in meetings, reflections, and activities connected to the “Caravan of Peace”.

At the end of the Angelus two children and the Pontiff together released two white doves.