Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world
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Catholic:
This year is only a few days old, but Pope Benedict has already posted his prayer intentions for 2013.
Two that strike me as especially interesting:
September
General: That people today, often overwhelmed by noise, may rediscover the value of silence and listen to the voice of God and their brothers and sisters.
October
General: That those feeling so crushed by life that they wish to end it may sense the nearness of God’s love.
[...] The Pope has published his prayer intentions for next year. (H/T Deacon Greg). For September: That people today, often overwhelmed by noise, may rediscover the value of silence [...]
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To answer your question, I pray daily for the Holy Father’s intentions. I also pray for my family (living and deceased), friends, Lay Carmelite community and its members, the Church, including deacons, world peace, and to end legalized abortion. My prayers also include specific intentions for which others have asked me to pray. I will continue this practice in 2012.
Thanks Deacon Greg, these are beautiful…
I wish that they would be included in the prayer of the faithful throughout the church each Sunday. Imagine the power of 1.2 billion people praying with the same intentions!
A reverse in the decline in the Catholic Church.
More U.S. Catholics are attending Masses at fewer parishes staffed by a rapidly declining corps of priests, according to a new report on “The Changing Face of U.S. Catholic Parishes.”
CARA found that the number of Catholic parishes has declined by 1,359 since the year 2000 to 17,784 in 2010, representing a 7.1 percent decrease. The 2010 number is roughly equal to the 17,637 U.S. parishes in 1965 and 1,836 fewer than the peak number of U.S. parishes in 1990.
But the Masses are being celebrated by a corps of priests that declined by 11 percent in the past decade.
The total number of priests, men and women religious and deacons in the United States was 117,080 in 2010, a decline of 41 percent from the 197,172 in those categories in 1980.
In other areas, George, the glass is half full:
For more stats, check this site.
Wow, good info Deacon Greg. Loved the prayer intentions because of some things going on with our family and especially with my wife Greta battling cancer and our old age.
Might be a good idea to have a small corner on your blog page with the Pope’s prayer intention for the current month that pops up when someone arrives at the blog. Seeing it might induce prayer and could have an impact on how we post. I know I need help in this area after a wonderful retreat to Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky with my sons. We said a prayer for my daughter who died in an abortion mill and tried to bury a little bit of the bitterness and hate.
I agree. I think we should be reading both intentions at every Mass on Sunday.
If only 1.2 billion Catholics were attending Sunday Mass!