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Featured Article: A New Dawn For Haiti - Catastrophe struck the nation of Haiti on January 12, 2010. Scientifically classified as an earthquake, the residents, global aid workers, and others interpreted it as the end of the world. Already without too many resources, proper living conditions, the citizen's despair was overwhelming. News reports of men, women, and children dashing through the streets, scattering in groups among collapsed buildings and dilapidated homes and businesses became rampant. As the remainder of the world looked on in fright, it was difficult to understand a fraction of the terror those in Haiti were feeling. 
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 A New Dawn For Haiti
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April 10, 2010
 Symposium on the Vocation to the Priesthood
May 3- 5, 2010
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 2010 Annual National Underground Railroad Summit
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 American Catholics in Solidarity with Haiti
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 NBCC Featured Article

Lent to Easter: Preparation for Celebration


It hardly seems that Christmas is over and already we are in the midst of Lent. Such is sometimes the case with the moveable feasts of the Liturgical year. As the calendar falls, we have a very early Lent this year. Only five weeks into Ordinary Time and Ash Wednesday was beckoning us to the annual spiritual journey of repentance, conversion, and rededication to the mysteries to which we were first introduced when we were baptized. "Remember, Man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return!" "Repent and believe in the Gospel!" Both of these acclamations broke into our post-Christmas lull and once again reminded us that the Christian Life calls us to be ever-poised to be in the service of the Lord, to be on the "Battlefield" for Our Lord. Our Marching Orders don't come on our time schedule but on the Lord's. The great question that remains to be answered is whether or not we are ready to respond.

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One of the great benefits of the Liturgical Calendar is that it structures the faith life and prayer life of the Church in such manner that the Sacred Mysteries of salvation are regularly placed before our hearts and minds for contemplation, prayer, and active response. It goes without saying that this quality of the Liturgical life of the Church will only have an impact on the lives of those who actively integrate it into their own spiritual lives. In other words, if one is to live a fully Catholic spiritual life, keeping in mind that the spiritual life itself must be integrated into every other aspect of one's earthly sojourn, then one must live a truly Liturgical life. Hence the seasons celebrated by the Church must also be celebrated by the believer, individually, in the home, in school or the workplace, wherever the Christian finds him or herself.

That is why, even though it seems that Christmas was just yesterday, we Catholics must now be fully in tune with the spirit, the themes, the signs and symbols, and the meaning of Lent, as Lent leads us through the purgative experience so necessary for a truly meaningful and rightly joyful celebration of the Easter mystery. Our Christian calling and our Catholic faith require us to be in a state of extended meditation on the mystery of Jesus' Passion and Death, as that mystery is unfolded during Lent. This becomes ever more clear as the Lenten Season culminates with Holy Week and the uniquely beautiful and instructive celebrations of the Easter Triduum. The Catholic who opts out of these celebrations is like the student who skips class. When exam time comes, he just won't be prepared!

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Pastoral Letter: "What We Have Seen and Heard" Celebrates 25th Anniversary

Fundraising as Ministry: Vision, Invitation and Conversion

The Experience of God's Presence

The Basics of Being Married in the Catholic Church

Building a Bridge over Troubled Waters

Reading as a Subversive Act: Libraries as the Guide to Liberation

Son, They Have No Wine! Reflections on the Importance of Devotion to Mary

Tenth National Black Catholic Congress

Appreciative Inquiry: Become a Positive Force for Change

Catholic Campus Ministry

Fundamentals of Appreciative Inquiry (Part I)

Fundamentals of Appreciative Inquiry (Part II)

His Greatest Gift

Joannes Paulus II, Magnus

Lent to Easter: Preparation for Celebration

Mary - Mother, Woman, Disciple

Research That Matters

Silent No More: A Major Crisis in the African-American Community

The Best Kept Secret

The Food Crisis in Niger

The Passion of Mel Gibson's "Passion"

To Marry or Not To Marry - That is the question!

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