MEANING TO OUR LIVES

Anthony Robbins, a leading authority in the field of leadership psychology tells us: "It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute ... that gives meaning to our lives."
You get pleasure from reading a book. You get purpose from teaching a child to read. You have fun going out with your friends. You receive fulfillment when visiting and consoling a sick friend. The most passionate people in life are those who wake each morning with the goal to better themselves and the world around them. And you’ll know when you get there because your life will feel complete - every day.
And what are those actions if not everyday actions of the practice of the virtue of CHARITY? The first and principal principle of our Order - The Knights of Columbus.

Saving Lives in the Capital

Congress is on track to support President Obama’s decision to fund abortion with your tax dollars in the District of Columbia. Legislation is coming down the pike that weakens the Dornan amendment, a longstanding policy to restrict tax-funded abortions in our nation’s capital.Tomorrow evening the House Appropriations Committee will have an opportunity to change this decision. Representatives Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) and Lincoln Davis (D-TN) will offer a bipartisan amendment to restore the ban on taxpayer funded abortions in the District of Columbia.
Why does this matter? Put simply, laws save lives. When the government isn’t subsidizing abortion on demand, we see fewer abortions.Even the other side recognizes this. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, routinely issues reports showing that when public funding is not available, we see 30% fewer abortions among women who are eligible for Medicaid. That means at least 30% of babies whose mothers receive government subsidized health care survive because of abortion funding restrictions like the Dornan Amendment.This is why it is so important that you act now to support this amendment. We can still save the lives of precious unborn children in the District of Columbia.
Click here now and contact these important Members of the Appropriations Committee and tell them pro-life laws like the Tiahrt/Davis Amendment save lives!
http://www.sba-list.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=ddJBKJNsFqG&b=4179747&aid=12529

Obama Sacks Bioethicists From Bush Years, Wants More Policy, Less Philosophy

WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 25, 2009 (Zenit.org).- U.S. President Barack Obama gave an early termination notice to bioethicists picked by his predecessor for an advisory board.

According to a New York Times report from last week, Obama wants the committee to focus more on "practical policy," rather than discussion of issues.He thus ended the bioethicists' terms a few months early (they were originally to serve in the position until September), and will appoint new members to the board.

According to ethicist E. Christian Brugger, the "push to get practical in bioethical discourse is a bad sign."Writing for the Culture of Life Foundation, Brugger said this shift "signals a turn away from urgent questions such as whether human embryos deserve full moral respect or whether 'human dignity' means that all persons, even the disabled and dying, possess equal value.""It turns discourse from the question of 'should' to the question of 'how,'" he lamented.Brugger contended that the chief virtue of the Bush appointees was "a willingness and ability to formulate and struggle with ethical questions."

He noted that their conclusions sometimes differed from the Catholic view, but that "the commission in general took seriously the kind of people we become as a result of asking the questions. It knew that scientific advancement doesn’t always translate into good moral options."

Bush appointed the council in 2001. U.S. presidents since Jimmy Carter have had a bioethics advisory council, but their leanings depend on the personal outlooks of the president.

START OF THE YEAR OF THE PRIEST

This Friday June 19th, 2009, is the eve of the Feast of the Sacred Heart. The evening will mark the beginning of the worldwide celebration of the Year of the Priest, as designated by Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. The Archdiocese of Miami will usher in the Year with a Mass at 7:00pm at St. John Bosco parish followed by Eucharistic Adoration throughout the evening and early morning hours. The Mass will be celebrated by Fr. Roberto Garza, the Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Miami, possibly joined by the archbishop and one or more of the auxiliary bishops of the archdiocese.

The Eucharistic vigil will close with a dawn Mass celebrated at 5:00am on Saturday morning.

Fr. Garza has invited all men and women of the Archdiocese of Miami to join this special celebration of the Year of the Priest by attending one or both Masses and spending time with the Holy Eucharist at St. John Bosco this Friday June 19th. Your attendance is a wonderful opportunity to show your love and support of your archdiocesan priests. Please make every effort not to miss this time of special grace.

St. John Bosco Church is located at 1358 West Flagler Street, Miami, FL.
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Editor: I thank Brother Gerry Wood, Miami Council 1726, for the above information on the start of the Year of the Priest Celebration.

URGE CONGRESS TO SUPPORT HEALTH CARE REFORM

U.S. Senate and House committees are expected to debate healthcare reform bills in mid-June.In our Catholic tradition, health care is a basic human right. Access to health care should not depend on where a person works, how much a family earns, or where a person lives. Instead, every person, created in the image and likeness of God, has a right to life and to those things necessary to sustain life, including affordable, quality health care.For more information, please see:

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Action Alert on Healthcare Reform, June 2, 2009
Statement for the Record, Bishop William F. Murphy, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, May 20, 2009

ACTION: Please contact Senators Nelson and Martinez and your congressional representative to urge them to support health care reform that respects human life and dignity, from its earliest beginnings to its natural end.Click the link below to log in and send your message: http://www.votervoice.net/link/target/fcc33985117.aspx

FIRST RELIC OF CRISTIANITY IN THE NEW WORLD

The Cross of Parra (tree indigenous to Caribbean countries), the oldest symbol of Christianity in America, was planted in 1492 by Christopher Columbus during his first voyage to the New World, in the extreme north eastern Cuba.

Diego Velázquez, a Captain accompanying Columbus on his second voyage to America, was in Hispanola (present day Dominican Republic), received the title of Advance Governor from King Ferdinand of Spain, to the island of Cuba, and the authorization for the search of gold, the founding of towns and evangelizing Indians. Pursuant to the Royal Order, Velázquez, aided by some companions of the first voyage of Columbus, was fortunate to discover in perfect condition, the Cross of Parra, planted twenty years before, and founded there, in 1512, the first town of Cuba, known as Our Lady of the Ascension of Baracoa.

The appearance and possession of the Cross was considered a good omen in the colonization and evangelization in actual implementation of the royal mandate. The primate Spanish villa on the island was only a village of forty huts, but following the formalities of the time, Velázquez gave it the title of city, gave it his coat of arms, the plaza, symbolically and installed the first bishop of Cuba.

Columbus, during his first voyage to America (1492), planted 29 of these crosses in many places in the New World and the one in Baracoa, Cuba, is the only one that is preserved. The Cross of Parra was made of wood and the ends are protected with uvilla brass silver lining to prevent the faithful from pulling their chips as a relic. Scientific research (including the carbon 14 test by an American university), confirmed the antiquity of the Christian symbol.

Residents and visitors to the first city pay respectful tribute of admiration and faith at the location of the Cross of Parra, relics of incalculable historical value to Cuba and humanity.

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I thank the Most Rev. Carlos de Jesus Baladrón, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Guantánamo Baracoa for providing this Blog with a copy of the article published in the magazine "Claras Luces" of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Cuba which was written by Fr Valentín Sanz González, CM.

Florida State Council 400 Club

The Florida State Council through its Director of Membership, SC Peter Bishop, has just announced the 400 Club for the month of June 2009.

If the Jurisdiction of the Florida reaches the goal of 400 new members in June, the State Council will make the following gifts: A Grand Knight (GC) who recruits 2 new members will receive a gift card of $ 25.00; if the GC recruit 4 new members, he will win a gift card for $ 50.00; the GC who recruits the most members during the month of June will win a gift card of $ 100.00.

If all the Councils in a District participate in the 400 Club, the District Deputy will receive a gift card for $ 50.00, the district that recruits the most new members in the state will win a gift card of $ 100.00 for its District Deputy.

BROTHER KNIGHTS, LET'S GO OUT AND RECRUIT ALL THOSE PRACTICING CATHOLICS FOR OUR ORDER!

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Special Olympics and the K of C

The June 2009 issue of Columbia features the Order’s partnership with Special Olympics and its service to people with intellectual disabilities. The issue also includes a powerful pro-life speech given by Rep. Henry J. Hyde, the late Congressman and Knight, and a reflection on St. Paul by Msgr. James C. Turro. Lastly, read a preview of the 127th Supreme Convention and First International Marian Congress and Guadalupe Festival, to be hosted in Phoenix in August.

http://www.kofc.org/un/index.cfm