Your Good News

Do you have any good news in your lives?  Let us know what it is.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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44 Comments

  1. pberginjr says:

    Went to confession on Saturday, it’s my birthday, and taking my 8 m/o son to see his first hockey (Blues training camp) today.

  2. RafqasRoad says:

    I attended my third TLM this evening, preceeded by a very good confession where the dear Fr. set me right on things that had been really disturbing me re my own sinfulness; he is a gentle, godly, humble soul – Please pray for Fr. Wong!! After this mass, I ran into someone who recognized me from our local Maronite parish (close to my home whereas the TLM is some drive, and when I’ve got to be driven, it puts out my husband who drives me but does not attend – remember, I became Catholic long after marrying, and my husband is so very supportive of my walk – pray for him to come to Holy Mother Church also). Oh, and its my birthday tomorrow!! (25th September)!! Praise be to God for another year!!

    Fr. gave a lovely sermon at mass this evening; one thing he focused upon was Our lady of Ransom and the order that She inspired. (never knew there was an ‘Our Lady of Ransom’ :-) ) I also learnt through a fellow student at university today that a priest was ‘commissioned’ (don’t know the correct word) into the Anglican ordinariate this Sunday past; he was at the service, attended by prelats from the AO, several Eastern Catholic Rites, and I think some RR Catholics; Please pray that the AO grows also. Also, Please pray that either the MR, TLM or AO make it down to the Shoal haven – there’s a lovely little Catholic Church 150m from my new home that I and my husband shall be moving into as at 3 December this year – its only open for one mass on Sundays at 9:30, so there’s plenty of Catholic room for any of the abovementioned groups to make a home there without stepping on or pushing out the congregants who meet for Sunday Mass there. Please pray for me when I move to the Shoal haven also and am brushing up against Atheist family more increasingly (never formed in faith). The day when I can report that they’ve all given their lives to Christ and His Church is the day I long for re an entry into the ‘good news’ spot on your blog, Fr. Z.

    Blessings,

    Soon to be South Coast Catholic (Aussie maronite).

  3. Gregg the Obscure says:

    On October 1 I start a new job that: (1) gets me away from a serious ethical problem at the old job, (2) avoids a couple of bone-headed projects imposed by leadership at the old job, (3) saves me 45 minutes of commuting per day, (4) gives me an increased salary, (5) gives me opportunity for long-term advancement, (6) is located very near a Catholic church that I can frequent for confession and some weekday Masses, and (7) brings my year of job-hunting to a close.

  4. coeyannie says:

    I have only bad news today. The following link is about all I can stomach in one day. http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_24159020/archdiocese-st-paul-and-minneapolis-knew-priests-misconduct. This article is circulated around our work unit, because I work for the MN Dept. of Corrections, Sex Offender Unit. I defend the Church whenever I feel it’s being trashed, but this is a form of humiliation that beats all. There is nothing I can say today to defend anyone in this Archdiocese.

  5. coeyannie says:

    On the other hand, my good news is that I woke up this morning. Thank God.

  6. JuliB says:

    Ooh – those are angry comments on the article as well. The ticker at the bottom linked to this article as well: http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_24160162?source=jBarTicker “As Catholics rethink views on gays, so do their schools”

  7. Over the weekend I finally found a candle sconce that seemed to fit my newly renovated prayer kneeler and prayer area. Since leaving religious life, I have struggled to find a balance between all the time I had in the monastery to visit our house chapel and pray and now not having much time at all to find time to pray. Unfortunately I don’t have my camera with me with my most recent picture of the candle addition, but here is what the recently renovation looks like: http://wp.me/a1jBEo-yh

    Last week my Priest allowed me to take a charcoal home from the sacristy and last night I smoked my room out thoroughly with some amazing frankincense & myrrh incense. Needless to say, my room smells like the inner sanctuary to a beautiful old Church.

    Other than that.. other good news is that I just finished a new website for a food pantry out in Colorado that counts as my donation to the poor. Oh and the really good news… I have notoriously never finished one single novena.. not at least for the last 10 yrs or more. That being said, I am on a roll, I’m just finishing up my 3rd 9-day novena in a row. I usually get busy and miss a day or forget that I was even praying it… so I am happy that I am able to focus more on it now. I also just started to teach RCIC at Church, first time teaching it or any CCD class for that matter. Needless to say.. it is interesting and sad, most of my kids (ages 13-17) don’t go to Church and really have no knowledge of their faith.

  8. StWinefride says:

    I have decided to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit for the first time.

  9. Wow.. great job StWinefride!! I am a HUGE fan of LOTR/Hobbit. I once thought of talking a class to learn how to speak elvish.. yes.. I am a nerd. You will LOVE those books..

  10. Oh, I meant to add one more thing to my earlier comment. For those who looked at the picture I posted (http://wp.me/a1jBEo-yh), if you saw the picture of the Pope on the wall next to the cross, it is a first class relic of Pope St. Piux X. =) It contains his hair below the glass.

  11. JoAnna says:

    Baby #7 (#5 here on earth) is now 38 weeks gestation… I was hoping s/he’d arrive on Padre Pio’s feast day, but s/he disagreed. Now I’m hoping for St. Vincent de Paul (9/27), Feast of the Guardian Angels (9/29), St. Therese of Liseux (10/1), or St. Francis of Assisi’s feast day (10/4) instead.

  12. happyCatholic says:

    To follow up on Rafqas comment: We all should know about the feast of Our Lady of Ransom. Our Lady was responding to the persecution of Christians by Saracens (Muslims) in 1218!!! I hate quoting a cliche, but it fits:”The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

  13. happyCatholic says:

    Here is a FAQ from the website Our Lady of Mercy.org, the order formed to help Christians persecuted by Muslims:
    1. Who is the Order of Mercy, or Mercedarians?

    The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy (Order of Mercy, or Mercedarians) was founded in 1218. Originally structured as a military order, the Mercedarians were later given mendicant privilege to support the work of ransoming captive Christians from the Saracens. The Mercedarians pledged to use themselves as ransom if there was no more money, yet a possibility of freeing a captive. This developed into the characteristic “Fourth Vow” of the Mercedarian Order: to give one’s life for someone in danger of losing their Christian faith

  14. Bea says:

    StWinefride says:
    24 September 2013 at 9:42 am
    I have decided to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit for the first time.
    Me, too, StWinefride. Now if I can just find my adult and now gone adult children’s copies I’ll start Ipso Facto, if not I;ll have to wait to make a trip to an out of town bookstore.

    My good news:
    Last week after praying for 34 years the wife of a friend informed us that her husband was baptized, confirmed and received his first holy communion. This was done at our novus ordo parish, but they have been going to TLM Masses out of town. Hmmm?? I wonder if that had anything to do with his new-found Faith?

    One of my sons coming to visit for 2 weeks next month. Yippee.

  15. Interesting HappyCatholic… that was my former religious order.

  16. eyeclinic says:

    +Bp. Bernard Hebda has been named coadjutor of Newark. Good news for them, bad for us. The state of Michigan loses +Sample, +Carlson, and now +Hebda. Woe is me…

  17. happyCatholic says:

    saint.michael.the.archangel,
    That was your former order? How fascinating! Well, a charism rescuing Christians from Muslim persecution is as timely today as it was 895 years ago! If there were not such a charism extant in the Church, it would have had to be developed now. I had never heard of the order until just a couple of years ago. I was sort of poking around their website looking for information on their third order just today.

  18. happyCatholic says:

    pberginjr,
    My twenty-something daughter just moved back here to the St. Louis area mid-summer– she wrote for a blog covering Washington Capitals, and her goal is to make some of the Blues training camps (along with getting the NHL network on our DIRECT-TV so she can still follow the Caps ;-) )! She has also already attended one of the Rams training camp evenings, too.

  19. Happy Catholic,

    I can put you in contact with one of the brothers who is involved in the 3rd Order if you are interested. If you are, feel free to email me at: michael@monk2be.com and I’ll send you the contact info for one of the brothers. They are small here in the States, only around 40 guys stateside.

  20. ocleirbj says:

    With the recent transfers of priests around our diocese, our church has lost its associate pastor and there is only one priest now. This seems like not-good news. However, things seem to be going very well regardless. Even though there is one less priest, there are still two masses on weekdays, with more confession times, and they have just begun a First Saturday mass [very few churches here have non-Vigil masses on Saturdays]. The website was properly updated earlier this year [finally someone in the office knows how to put a computer to good use], and last week there was a well-produced insert in the bulletin encouraging us to commit some of our time to God in parish activities [many good suggestions]. Last week after Mass, Father introduced two young men of the congregation who announced the upcoming Life in the Spirit seminar for adults, and gave an enthusiastic account of their own spiritual transformation and new love for Jesus when they attended one as teens a few years ago. We don’t usually hear things like this! Then this past Sunday, a young woman was called up after Mass to speak about a new youth group starting up in partnership with another parish across town. She gave a passionate account of the power of prayer in her life, particularly the persistent, faithful prayer of a very small group of people, of which she is now one of the fruits and so is a young priest who served in our parish a couple of years ago. She asked everyone to pray for the success of the new youth group, and particularly for the lonely, ill and unhappy to offer up their sufferings on its behalf. I wonder what we will hear about next week …? :-)

  21. happyCatholic says:

    saint.michael.the.archangel,
    Thanks! I will email you!

  22. StWinefride says:

    saint.michael.the.archangel: Thank you!

    Quis ut Deus?!

  23. StWinefride says:

    Bea: Excellent – my children have The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring so I can start right away – hope you find the books soon!

  24. lucy says:

    Even though our newest bishop said no yet again to the FSSP coming into our diocese, and even though we are still having Mass at 3:30pm every Sunday, and even though we still have no traditional parish life, we DO have the two best priests in the diocese for our traditional Mass. They always give excellent sermons that preach about right and wrong. They always give us meat to chew upon the coming week. They provide confession prior to Mass every Sunday. We are blessed even though our bishop has thwarted what God has asked for through his servant, Pope Emeritus Benedict. Thanks be to God!

  25. maryh says:

    My father died last Saturday, after receiving the sacrament of Extreme Unction (in Latin) on Friday. He had been away from the Church for 15 years, and loved Latin. Although he had refused a priest, the doctor said he was “hanging on”, so I brought in the Canon from the St Gianna Oratory with the understanding that he would have to leave if Dad became agitated (I had spoken to him earlier about the situation).

    Dad was unable (physically) to make a confession, but the Canon and I (and the others in the room, I think) believe he died reconciled to the Church (through an interior confession, I think it’s called). Dad not only did not get agitated, he was more peaceful afterward, and passed away less than 24 hours later.

    All those who witnessed the Sacrament and the way the Canon acted were very impressed by the Canon’s kindness, and one fellow asked for his contact information (most were not Catholic, and I was the only “hard identity Catholic”).

    Thank you to all the people I have been asking to pray for Dad! And especially thank you to Canon Richard Menshengen, who accomplished what I had so hoped for.

  26. VexillaRegis says:

    Dear Maryh, in paradisum deducant eum angeli. This was very moving. Losing one’s father is so hard for a daughter, but what a joy that he died so peacefully!

  27. cl00bie says:

    This Wednesday, I begin an intensive course in Pastoral Care Education.

    When I was considering applying for diaconal formation, my wife mentioned to me: “You’re not very pastoral”. I tend to agree. I have never been trained in pastoral care, so I have never involved myself in pastoral ministry because I don’t like to do things I’m not competent in. So I told my wife to make sure whe put it in her application form under “concerns”. We made sure to let the committee know exactly what raw material they were working with.

    The committee had a few concerns:

    1. They required pastoral care education prior to their final decision (which the diocese would pay for).

    2. They considered me “a bit traditional”. (And said to the director of fomation: “a BIT?” :))

    3. They want my wife and I to have at least 6 sessions with the diocese marriage counselor (not for any problems, but to solidify the skills we’ll require should I be ordained).

    So I get marriage counseling and personal enrichment paid for by the diocese, however they decide! I’m excited to start. :)

  28. Woodlawn says:

    It was a wonderful and spiritually rewarding weekend at the Catholic Identity Conference in Weirton, WV, this past weekend. Full report, with photos, here:
    http://www.catholicidentity2012.com/page7/2013report.html

  29. Bosco says:

    My good news is had every day I can visit Father Z.’s blog and receive good solid advice, news, analysis, and spiritual direction from Father Z. and exchange ideas with my fellow Catholics and Christian brethren.
    No fooling, Father Z.. Your a godsend in these times we’re all living through. Thank you!

  30. iPadre says:

    My voice is finally improving and the UTI infection seems to be gone, finally. I’m celebrating a Missa Cantata for the External Solemnity of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 6th.

  31. Lucy C says:

    On Sunday, our beloved pastor, Father Ben, will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of his ordination! Thank you Lord, for giving us such a holy and faithful priest!

  32. Kerry says:

    The coming Michelmas, Sept. 29th, my wife and I leave the Land of 10,000 therapies for Tripp, SD, a 119 year old house and two acres. Among other things, we will raise bees. And prayers.

  33. frroberts says:

    I have been posted as administrator at two parishes for less than three months. Religious education enrollment has more than doubled and we are introducing Eucharistic Adoration.

  34. CaliCatholicGuy says:

    On Sunday, my wife and our extended family celebrated the baptism of our son. He is our first child, the first grandchild for both my parents and my wife’s family. Even more special my maternal grandparents and paternal grandmother are still alive in their late 80’s or 90’s and we were blessed to have them there. Our wonderful Deacon and his wife who run RCIA at our parish and were instrumental in my wife’s conversion and he was able to perform the baptism and his wife is our sons godparent. (We consider them both his godparents, but he can only sign one line on the baptismal register).

  35. The Cobbler says:

    My family is well, my interests wander back to things I need to return to, and a personal project I’ve had on the back burner for a while has made excellent progress of late.

  36. Heather F says:

    Last year, my friend and I started up an RCIA program in our parish which had not had one for many years. We had two people come into the Church last year (one of whom had been attending our parish for years but had never gotten her sacraments).

    This year, we’ve got more than ten people in our group so far! (And that’s not even including a couple of lapsed-and-returned Catholics who are attending the sessions to get a better grounding in the basics of their faith.)

    We could wish for another volunteer or two to help us out (particularly to start up a children’s program as several of our adults have children of catechetical or close-to-catechetical age) but we are beyond thrilled to have so many people showing up!

    Also, I found out yesterday that I have more vacation days left to use than I thought I did. Huzzah!

  37. jfish313 says:

    I’m having a baby!

  38. Indulgentiam says:

    @jfish313- Sursum corda! Another soul to glorify God. Congratulations! What the world needs is more Louis-Marie de Montfort, Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, Mary or even Mariea, Terasa. Just thought I’d throw a few suggestions out there :)
    I prayed to St. Ann and St. Elizabeth Seton when I was expecting. Had the easiest labor ever.
    God bless you and yours!

  39. Bea says:

    More added good news.
    My married son is coming for about a week with his 5 youngest children.
    His wife and the 2 older ones can’t come unless they rent a mini-bus or drive down in 2 cars.
    Theolder ones are in their upper years of homeschooling and it seems they want to concentrate on that at the time.
    His visit will coincide for a day or 2 (hopefully) with another son coming for 2 weeks.

    StWinefride:
    I found the Lord of the Ring books but volume 1 was missing. only 2 and 3 and a prelude to the books. The Hobbitt was there, as was Silmarillon and a book of poems and essaiys. So I’ve got something to start on. They’re a little battered (pocketbooks) but readable. The kids must have read them over and over again. One of them (must have been my husband’s) was a pocketbook that cost 85 cents. Talk about old. Hah
    Hope you enjoy yours. Happy reading

  40. jesusthroughmary says:

    CaliCatholicGuy –

    It is permissible for the officiant at baptism to also serve as a sponsor. I’m not sure who told you otherwise. Also, it is wonderful for your grandparents to be around for the fulfillment of the nuptial blessings: “May they see their children’s children to the third and fourth generation.” My one living grandparent is my father’s mother, and my cousin is currently pregnant with her 35th great-grandchild, and she has attended the wedding of her oldest great-grandson and has two great-great-granddaughters.

    My good news is that my oldest son is receiving First Penance and First Holy Communion this year. We just got the paperwork sent home for the first penance enrollment. So it’s only going to e a few months until the great day when, if he misbehaves, I can pass along Fr. Z’s sage wisdom and tell him to GO TO CONFESSION! ;)

  41. Lucchesi says:

    It’s been a month (and a few days) that I’ve been in Pisa, Italy. I’ll be here for a year (exchange program, “Science Without Borders”).

    I have access to a weekly (every Saturday evening) mass in the Extraordinary Form, in a church quite close to the Leaning Tower.
    (the famous tower is actually the Cathedral’s “campanile”, housing its bell, built separate due to eastern influences)

    To top it off, it is not too far, so I can get there walking (everything in Pisa is in walking distance, so…) (I usually take the bus, though)

    Also, this Monday (feast of Padre Pio) I finally went to the sanctuary of St Gemma Galgani, in Lucca =)
    (only a 30min train ride away from Pisa)

  42. momoften says:

    We did lose Bishop Hebda, but that is good news. He is incredibly talented, everyone (Catholics and non-Catholics alike) LOVES him in our diocese, because he is truly a great shepherd. What is good news for our church that we have so another talented leader to lead in our Church. For that I am grateful. We were so blessed to have him for such a short time. God Bless him always. We will miss him horribly not only as our Bishop, but friend.

  43. RobW says:

    Experienced joy while suffering. I thank the Lord for everything in my life even things I don’t understand. I thank our Lady for guiding me and leading me to her Son.

  44. westham1 says:

    Here’s some good news for everyone! Our local Cheltenham Young Catholic Adults group, for example, has produced 4 marriages in the last few years! The national Young Catholic Adults weekend goes from strength to strength (here in England) – our next one will be at Cold Ash Retreat Centre (Berkshire) 18-20th Oct 2013. See http://www.youngcatholicadults.co.uk/events.htm.

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