Internet can be a blessing

Excellent. It is so evident that the Internet can be a blessing to help people grow spiritually.
-- Sister Rose, FCP

Re: Medjugorje

Re: Top Story - Stop Medjugorje Marian apparition claims, bishop tells visionaries (07/14/2006) All of the skeptics at Fatima were proven false.....too bad the Bishop that included Medjugorje has a closed mind. And the "good" bishop will be proven wrong also. Millions of people who have visited Medjugorje have come away convinced that Our Lady is appearing.
-- Al Powers

Many are called.....

It must give you so much satisfaction and joy to be of service to your parish and community. I am sincerely very happy for you that you heard your true calling from the Lord. Many of us are called upon but are so busy doing other things to even hear it. Keep up the good work. Your community is very blessed to have you among them.
-- Victoria

His heart beams with joy

Congratulations! The magazine is well done! Keep up the wonderful work... Whenever Filipinos rise to the occasion to become proactive leaders in parishes, my heart beams with joy. It suggests that we have something meaningful to share in our Churches and not only spectators. Again, my congratulations to you...
-- Fr. Romy, MS

The Lord is good!

Hi Wally, I'm happy to know that you are doing something for the Lord now. It's excellent work that you have done. As you said, nothing to lose and everything to gain! My wife and I joined Couples For Christ, a catholic based community serving the Lord in all levels of society. It's now a worldwide community serving our Lord. We hooked up with the CFC group here in Long Island, New York. The Lord is truly good when we serve Him. He really takes care of all of us. So, keep up the good work. Take care, and God Bless.
-- RMV

Thoroughly impressed

Awesome job, I visited every section and am thoroughly impressed. I hope people take advantage of all that this offers. Thanks!
-- Tim M.

Will endorse it to all her friends

I like the look of your new magazine. Quite impressive. I've read some of your articles and they are written well. I haven't have the chance to forward yet to my friends. However I will forward it to them and endorse it for reading. Keep it up.
-- Jocelyn

Awesome!!

You are awesome!! And the rest of the magazine is wonderful. You have a good variety of articles to read from. It makes me want to see more. I am trying to think of more articles or ideas for your magazine. Thanks for such a great idea.
-- Joan

A great site!

What a great site you have constructed and filled with stories. It is very easy to get around. Thank you so much for all of your hard work. I enjoyed it.
-- Susan Frasca

Never had a better read or a more wonderful time!

As I awoke ( for who knows what reason) at 3 am this morning, I decided to really give ParishWorld Magazine a real hard look and read. It is now 5:30 AM and I have never had a better read or a more delightful time! What a wonderful magazine. It is my hope that our parish family will make use of this very special gift from you and your staff to really get to know the inner workings of parish life and be encouraged and catechized by the information available to us. The many changes the Church has experienced over these past years have not always ( and sometimes never) really been explained to us. As a cradle Catholic of 73 years, I find each day a new learning experience in my faith. Our new mag. has given me much food for thought and I look forward to future issues. Bless you for paying attention to that whisper from the Lord and undertaking this project utilizing your Godgiven talent and gifts.
-- Peggy Powers

Many will benefit from it

Thanks, Wally. It's wonderful and you did an excellent job. It is so professional that I know many will read it and benefit greatly from it. God Bless You.
-- Msgr. Tom

Phenomenal!

This is a phenomenal web-publication for the parish and community. Something of this quality requires a tremendous amount of work and dedication. It shows.
-- Warren Henderson

Spreading the faith

God bless you in your ministry of spreading the faith!
-- Fr. Ed

WOW-WOW

OK - found a computer and got in - WOW - WOW - great job to you - lots of work -
easy to manuever - love it!!!
-- Kirsten

Cover to cover?

Looks good...I read it from "cover to cover."
-- Maria

As an internet magazine we don't quite have cover pages, but we know what you mean. :-) Thanks for the support. -- Editor

Looking for a LIFE TEEN parish

Congrats on the excellence of ParishWorld. It's really looking good... I've been trying to find a life teen church out in San Diego but I don't know where to look. Any thoughts?
-- Kevin

You can check out www.lifeteen.com and see all the San Diego parishes with Life Teen programs. Thanks. -- Editor

Very colorful

Very colorful and relatively easy to navigate through. Kudos to you!.. Looking forward to the next issue....
-- Maria

Really impressive!

CONGRATULATIONS! The magazine is really impressive! It is both informative and formative. "Well done, my good and faithful servant...."(Mt. 25:23)
-- Isabel

WOW !!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just spent a few minutes looking through parishWorld and boy am I impressed. Congradulations on a remarkably great job. Since I do our parish Knight of Columbus bulletin that goes out every two months I have a small idea of the effort you put into it. I definately plan to revisit the magazine and look forward to having a ParishWorld for my parish. I'm curious as to what sources of help did you have? Again. Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-- Mark A. Ramirez

Dear Mark, Thanks for the multiple exclamation points. It does take a lot of effort and the resources required are gargantuan. But everything is well worth it. God bless. -- Editor

Keep the flame burning

CONGRATULATIONS! I AM VERY HAPPY ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT NOT ONLY IN TERMS OF TECHNOLOGY BUT THE SPIRIT OF THE COMMUNITY...KEEP THE FLAME BURNING! GOD BLESS!
-- Fr. Tony Abuan, MS, Apple Valley, CA

Telling all his friends

I believe that our parishioners are very slow in looking at new things on the Internet. Many of them do not have Internet service. Many of them too, are "workers on wheels." By that I mean they work a distance away from their homes and they don't have time to look at their E-Mail when they get home. Many of them only check their E-Mail on weekends. I have had a difficult time trying to get our ministry leaders to look at the Worship Commission link to the parish website. However, I keep trying. But I am enjoying the magazine and I am encouraging my children and my friends to take a look at it. Thank you for the work you are doing.
-- Morris

Kudos!

Very nice and informative. Keep up the good work.
-- FR. Jose Nacu, MS

Praying for priests

Just wanted to let you all know how great I think the magazine is. You are all doing a fantastic job and I thank God that we have such awesome caring priests and staff to support us on our journey of faith. I will remember you all in my daily prayers from now on. Sometimes we forget to pray for the priests because we feel they are so close to God and might not need our prayers. But I can see now, that is not the case. As you pray for us, I will pray for you. God Bless you.
-- A humble parishoner

A wonderful feeling

This is great! What a wonderful feeling to read the stories and comments of our wonderful parish life. Of course I'm particularly proud of our young children and youth here, they are such a blessing to our parish, and I'm for sure going to send this "magazine" off to other parishes and family and friends to share.Thank you for your gifts that make this possible!
-- Chris Robbins

Very accurate

This magazine will prove to be a great resource for those person who are too ill to take part in the daily masses. The magazine certainly can't replace the celebration itself. However, it will keep everyone up to date as to what church activities are taking place and even more so, your information is very accurate. Your articles will sincerely assist all Catholics deepen our faith and will prove to be a great source for evangelization. Now if we can only readers to "write a few articles." Good luck and keep it up!
-- Arlen Gaynor

A terrific job!

I just checked my email for the last time today, as I am leaving on vacation tomorrow morning.
What a wonderful way to finish up my computer time! You guys have done a terrific job!
CONGRATULATIONS!
- Joan

Receiving the blood of Christ

I have a rather curious question, concerning the receiving the blood of Christ. I am from the old school, raised in catholic schools in Beirut, Lebanon. For a long period of time I was not involved much in the church until the last couple of years. I am proud to say that I brought Jesus Christ back into my heart and soul.

I seem to have trouble drinking the wine after receiving the Holy Eucharist. Even though the Eucharistic Ministers wipe the cup after someone had drunk from it, should that person have some kind of illness, the germs still exists and basically is passed on from one person to another. Why can't we just dip the Holy bread instead of drinking from the cup?

Personally, I simply don't receive it and for some reason, I don't feel fulfilled. Back in the old days, 35 years ago or so, the priest would dip the wafer and give it to the communicants. Please advise me. Thank you.
-- Theresa

Theresa, we asked ParishWorld blogger Paul Dion, STL to answer your question since he is more educated about the subject matter than we are and the following is what he said. -- Editor

"You bring up some very good points about receiving the Sacred Blood from the same cup. I too have some reservations about the practice and in many cases I too just pass. Sometimes though, when the Sacred Host and the Sacred Blood distribution centers are not very far apart, I take the Host in my hand and slide over to the Cup and dip the Host and therefore have satisfied myself. I have been to some Eastern Churches and have seen that they distribute Communion with unleavened bread and use a small golden spoon for the purpose. That leaves me with the same reservations as I have for sipping from the same cup.

When the liturigical regulations first came out regarding the reception of Communion under both species, it was permitted to dip the host. After about a year or two, the regulations were changed and the dipping of the host was forbidden as a regular practice. That is why we now have what we have.

I frankly do not think that there is a satisfactory answer to this process. I have heard some rather challenging opinions about the situation. The strangest one being that "This is the Blood of Christ. You can't get sick from it." This is not a good reason to rely on. It is the Blood of Christ under the species of wine. The wine retains all its ingredients and all its material characteristics, so germs introduced into it by a common sipping would be just as dangerous to humans as if they had been ingested somewhere else. Notice that I haven't addressed the problem that I feel about the rim of the container being contaminated.

My greatest comfort comes from the knowledge that most people drink from common containers in their domestic lives and seem to be doing OK. That is what makes me approach the cup of the Sacred Blood if I am not too far down the line.

Finally, it is important to note that Holy Communion is whole and entire no matter how much of the consecrated species you ingest. Receiving under both species will always carry some negative aspects with it. Please do not feel left out or negative about your feelings concerning this part of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The real presence of Jesus is a powerful grace within us. Enjoy it and thank Him every day for the heavenly relationship that you maintain with Him.

You may receive further comments about this question and they may help you more than this one. "

Non-factual and Nonsense

I read the article in the Parish World and have some issues with it. My source of reference is the Cathechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, Revised in accordance with the official Latin text promulgated by Pope John Paul ll, August 15,1997.

Page 545
Legitimate Defense
paragraph 2263 to 2267.
pay particular attention to paragraph 2267.

There are times that the "death penalty" can be applied. I am not a scholar by any stretch of the imagination but it is apparent that the author of the article didn't read the cathechism, or chose to ignore it. The article was not factual and it is this kind of "nonsense" that sows discord and division, within the Church.
--Al Powers

Thanks for your comments, Al. There is definitely room for healthy discussion in the pages of ParishWorld. - Editor

Looking forward to the next issues

Thank you. I am always looking forward to the next issue. Always informative and very inspiring. Thanks again.
-- Max Arzu

Getting them to read without pushing

This is great! I usually get tons of good and mostly bad humor in my email. I don't forward stuff. Your funnies page will be my exception. It is a good way to introduce people we know to Parish World. Maybe get them to reading without "pushing."
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink!"
-- Guillermo

A DAUNTING PROJECT

Wally, Thanks for your inspirational thoughts - and for bringing me up to speed with the ParishWorld project. Sounds like you were called upon to do this ministry, and who better to take upon a project like this - you've always taken on daunting projects and have come out shining. That's great that you and Alex are working together. Take care and, yes, I'll keep you in my prayers.
-- Hope Bianchi Sjursen

Thank you

Thanks for the Santo Nino article at PARISHWORLD.net. It was so very complete and informational. We are surely blessed that you are here with us to lead the the Pastoral Council and the electronic PARISHWORLD magazine in St. Patrick's. I realize that it had expanded coverage by now. Congratulations ! I know that through the goodness of God, it will soon be nationwide ( probably worldwide).
- Robert de Leon of Moreno Valley, CA

Really impressed!

I really find the articles interesting and I don't want to miss an issue. I'm really impressed.
- Ruby from Vancouver, Canada

Attention Catholic Aviators!

Dear Friends of Catholic Aviation, The Society of Our Lady of the Skies [SOLOS] of California is a new statewide Catholic aviation ministry. The SOLOS is seeking pilots to help with a national recruiting booth. The SOLOS USA booth will be set-up at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association [AOPA.org] Convention Nov 9-11, 2006 in the Palm Springs Convention Center. FMI please share this information and visit www.soloscan.info call air mobile 813-784-4669.
- Neil Cosentino

TGIF Jokes

This is good! It was the first time I saw this section. It made me laugh. I can say it takes a lot to make me laugh, that's how I know this was very funny. They say laughter is the best medicine. Thank you for adding this section to Parish World.
- Dolores of La Puente, CA