Number of catholics and priests are on the rise

Please continue to pray for our seminarians, priests and bishops!

"Hawaii's Future Priests enjoying Snow..".

Seminarians from the Diocese of Honolulu

A big mahalo to EJ Resinto for sharing this wonderful photo of our seminarians. You can tell they are from Hawaii just by looking at Hung Le :-)

Please continue to pray for these wonderful young men who have answering the call to the priesthood.

LOCAL EVENT - Invitation to Join the St. Damien Devotion Prayer Group

From Venny & Jessica Villapando, St. Damien Devotion Prayer Group

The first prayer meeting for the St. Damien Devotion Prayer Group is scheduled for Saturday, March 12th, 12:30-1:30PM, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace (by St. Damien's Relic).  Future gatherings will be held weekly every Saturday from 12:30 to 1:30 PM, immediately following the Cathedral's 12 Noon Mass. 

This Devotion Prayer Group will offer a consistent and structured prayer calling for the intercession of St. Damien for healing as well as other intentions. He was known as a tireless worker for everything he did, and through our prayers we also want our beloved saint to help the people and State of Hawaii in these difficult times.   As a way of learning more about St. Damien, the prayer group devotions will also include the Rosary and reflections on his published letters. 

The weekly devotion prayer to St. Damien has been formally approved by Bishop Larry Silva, the Father Damien/Mother Marianne Commission and the Cathedral’s Fr. John Berger. 

For more info, please call Jessica or Venny Villapando, Tel. 845-3381.

“Have scrupulous exactitude for everything regarding God: prayer, meditation, Mass, administration of the Sacraments; unite your heart with God…”  

 - St. Damien of Molokai 

Line-up of our Diocesan Priests for Prayer for the Month of March

March: Pray for priests

Hawaii’s Secular Franciscans are resurrecting an earlier practice of designating days of the year for prayers for local priests. The concept is simple: On the day listed, prayer for that priest. Here is the March lineup. The Hawaii Catholic Herald will publish the lists one month at a time.

MARCH

1 Father Thomas Acklin, OSB
2 Father Thomas Gross
3 Father H. James Bartlett, SM
4 Father Clarence Guerreiro, SSCC
5 Father Maryjoseph K. Han
6 Father Manuel Hewe
7 Father Kenneth Templin, SM
8 Father Carmelo Lim
9 Father David Travers, SJ
10 Father Joseph Pathiyil, MF
11 Father Khanh Hoang
12 Father Timothy Eden, SM
13 Bishop Larry Silva
14 your pastor or associate pastor
15 Pope Benedict XVI
16 Father Alapaki Kim
17 Father Samuel E. Loterte, SSS
18 Father Ramelo Somera
19 Father Johnathan Hurrell, SSCC
20 Father Salvador Bringas
21 Father Dennis Koshko
22 Father Joseph E. Specht, SJ
23 Father Teodulo Gaquit
24 Father Bertram Lock, SSCC
25 Father William Kunisch
26 Father Geronimo Castro, MS
27 Father Cosmenio Rosimo
28 Father Albert Garcia, SSCC
29 Father Paul Li
30 Father Napoleon Andres, MS
31 Father Mario Raquepo
For information about the Secular Franciscans of Hawaii, call one of the following: Sharon Paopao, Hilo, 961-4434; Peter Callahan, Kona, 315-7609; Cliff Arrington, Kealakekua, 328-8752; Toni Rodrigues, Maui, 878-1651; John Bonn, Kauai, 631-9320; Chad Parker, Honolulu, 259-5045.

Source: Hawaii Catholic Herald
Mahalo to Editor Patrick Downes for his permission to post this on our blog.

Mother Angelica Live Classics - Vocations - Mother Angelica - 02-15-2011

Prayer to be Said at the Priest's Communion

Picture source

O Lord may Thou find shelter and rest gently withingthe heart of Thy priest...

Make him, O Lord, a priest according to Thy Heart: meek, humble, zealous, so that all he does will be for Thine honor and glory. Mold him into a man of prayer and labor, insensible to earthly things and sensible only to Thy love, and to the graces of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Prayer source.

I do not remember if this prayer was previously posted here. It will be posted on the sidebar too.

Please pray for our priests!

A Priest's Examination of Conscience from the Imitation of Christ

"St. Jerome Penitent" by Antonello da Messina

Picture source

Some good thoughts here for us to remember.

Picture source

ABOVE all, God’s priest should approach the celebration and reception of this Sacrament with the deepest humility of heart and suppliant reverence, with complete faith and the pious intention of giving honor to God.

Carefully examine your conscience, then. Cleanse and purify it to the best of your power by true contrition and humble confession, that you may have no burden, know of no remorse, and thus be free to come near. Let the memory of all your sins grieve you, and especially lament and bewail your daily transgressions. Then if time permits, confess to God in the secret depths of your heart all the miseries your passions have caused.

- You must be full of grief and regret that you are still so attached to the flesh and the world, your passions so unsubdued, your heart so full of the stirrings of evil desire;

- so unguarded in your outward senses,

- so often immersed in foolish fancies;

- so keen on what happens outside you,

- so careless of your inner life;

-so lightly given to laughter and levity,

- so hard when it comes to bewailing your sins;

- so eager for relaxation and bodily ease,

- so slothful to do penance and to arouse your zeal for good;

- so avid for the latest news, for lovely things to look at,

- so backward in welcoming humiliation and contempt;

- so anxious to have a lot of possessions,

- so mean in giving and

- so stubborn in holding on to things;

- in speech so heedless in silence so unrestrained;

- in manner so disorderly, in action so inconsiderate;

- so lavish with food, so deaf to the world of God;

- so swift to take a rest,

- so slow to be up and doing;

- so wide awake for gossip,

- so slow drowsy for holy vigils;

- so much in a hurry to be finished, so wandering in attention;

- so careless in saying your office;

- so lukewarm in saying Mass,

- so wanting in fervor at Communion;

- so easily distracted,

- so seldom completely recollected;

- so easily put out of temper,

- so ready to take umbrage;

- so ready to pass judgment,

- so harsh in rebuke;

- so cheerful when things go well with you,

- so despondent when t hey don't;

- so often making lots of good resolutions and doing so little to keep them.


When you have confessed and deplored these and other faults with sorrow and great displeasure because of your weakness, be firmly determined to amend your life day by day and to advance in goodness. Then, with complete resignation and with your entire will offer yourself upon the altar of your heart as an everlasting sacrifice to the honor of My name, by entrusting with faith both body and soul to My care, that thus you may be 231 considered worthy to draw near and offer sacrifice to God and profitably receive the Sacrament of My Body. For there is no more worthy offering, no greater satisfaction for washing away sin than to offer yourself purely and entirely to God with the offering of the Body of Christ in Mass and Communion.

If a man does what he can and is truly penitent, however often he comes to Me for grace and pardon, “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live”* *Ezek. 33:11. I will no longer remember his sins, but all will be forgiven him

"Madonna of the Book" by Sandro Botticelli

Picture source

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis, Book IV, Chapter 7

The list of sins and failings source is The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis, translated by Robert Knox, Sheed and Ward.

Led to the priesthood through the waters of Lourdes

To say my vocation is a Marian vocation is an understatement. In fact, the only reason I am in the seminary is because of the intercession of Mary and my experience in Lourdes, France.


In 1858, the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Bernadette in the city of Lourdes and miraculously opened up a natural spring. During these apparitions, Mary called for people to come in procession to Lourdes so that they could drink and wash themselves in the water. Over the past 150 years, there have been 67 officially declared miracles and countless other nonofficial or unknown physical and spiritual healings. So now, every year, millions of pilgrims journey to Lourdes in search of healing.


Through the amazing generosity of Barbara McCullough, I was blessed to go on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 2007 with a group of students from Marin Catholic High School. Under the direction and guidance of Father Tom Daly and Charlotte Kiesel, our group went to Lourdes in order to serve the sick pilgrims and to grow in our prayer life. As one pilgrim stated, “Lourdes is the world turned upside down.”

Read the rest here

Pope urges priests to be consistent with what they preach

Father Pascual A.

On Sunday, January 23, 2011, Father Pascual was incardinated into the Diocese of Honolulu. This Sunday, February 6, 2011, Father Pascual will be installed as PASTOR for Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Check out the details for a special Mass and the rest of this post over at Our Lady of Good Counsel blog

Mahalo Father Pascual!!

EWTN Radio Network's New Series Aims To Promote Priestly Vocations & Respect for Priests

Irondale, AL (EWTN) – If you think you have a vocation or know someone who might or if you want to better understand the role of a Catholic priest, then don’t miss EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network’s newest series, “Vocation Boom Radio,” which will premiere at 5 p.m. ET, Sat., Feb. 5 – exclusively on EWTN. (Find EWTN at www.ewtn.com/channelfinder.)

There’s a reason Radio Talk Show Host Jerry Usher was so popular when he hosted the “Catholic Answers” radio show. He brings his lively, breezy, often humorous style with him as he interview priests, bishops, seminarians and their families, and other with a passion for promoting priestly vocations.

“My hope for the show is really two-fold,” said Usher, who is now Founder and President of Third Millennium Media. “First, I want it to be a source of encouragement for young men and their families as they prayerfully discern whether or not God is calling them to the priesthood. Second, I want to draw the attention of the laity to the priesthood and vocations, with the hope of helping all of us better understand and appreciate who and what a priest is by virtue of his ordination.”

Usher said he is hoping his show will do nothing less than change the way people pray, attend Mass, receive the Eucharist, view priests, pray for and foster vocations, and “create an atmosphere within the family that is not only accepting of a possible priestly vocation, but one in which a young man can feel comfortable and encouraged without being pushed in that direction.”

Will he succeed? Tune in and find out!

To learn more, and to find a host of great resources for those discerning a vocation, check out the “Vocation Boom” website at www.vocationboom.com.

Usher, a former seminarian, has a great personal story to tell! To arrange an interview, please call or e-mail Michelle Laque Johnson using the contact information above.

EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 30th year, is available in over 160 million television households in more than 140 countries and territories. With its direct broadcast satellite television and radio services, AM & FM radio networks, worldwide short-wave radio station, Internet website www.ewtn.com and publishing arm, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world.