As you may have seen in news media, the city’s public transit system is in a crisis situation right now.  It is quite possible that without dedicated funding sources it may have to discontinue services this summer.  Together Baton Rouge(TBR)  has been researching this issue and our parish TBR Target Group members have been active in learning more about this very important issue for our community.  TBR is organizing three Civic Education Sessions around the city, each hosted by a cluster of congregations that are interested in improving public transportation. Our parish will be clustered with St. George and St. Paul the Apostle Catholic, Star Hill Baptist, and others.  We will all gather together on Tuesday, January 24th at 6:00 p.m. at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, 3912 Gus Young Avenue.  We would like to have a delegation of about 30 people from SJV to represent our parish.  It is important that we participate fully, as one of the options for improving the bus system includes a route on O’Neal Lane.   This would be a significant impact economically for our community.  If you are interested in participating as a delegate, please contact Lori at 753-7950, or .

                         **   Ten Parishioners Needed  **

If you care about public education in our community, then you will want to be a part of Together Baton Rouge’s citywide meeting on Public Education, Thursday, January 12th, 6:30 p.m. at Shiloh Baptist Church, 185 Eddie Robinson Drive.  This meeting will launch TBR’s 2012 strategy of community visits to 20-25 public schools in the Baton Rouge area.  In our parish area, visits will be made at River Oaks Elementary (Jan. 24) and Sherwood Middle Magnet (Jan. 31) schools. We need ten parishioners with an interest in public education and who are willing to be part of a team that will gather information from the above mentioned schools during school hours (8:30 a.m.-noon).  If you would like more information about the citywide meeting, or to participate in the Education Action Team visits to the schools, please contact SJV members Cindy Tracy, 752-6232 or Vicki Dauterive, 756-4796.

Congratulations to our Emergency Assistance Program for winning $1000.00 from the Alberston's Store Community Partners' Challenge held this fall.  Parishioners who participated in the challenge by voting online for this minstry helped to secure these funds.  The $1000.00 check, an award certificate, and a cake from the Alberston's bakery were presented by store manager, NAthan Teford, to ministry representatives,  Lori Aucoin, Ingrid Matens and Ann Wolf.

Our parish has been an active participant in the Together Baton Rouge grassroots organization of churches and institutions for the past two years.  The TBR organization has grown in membership and in the number of issues it is addressing in our city.  This month St. George and St. Paul the Apostle Catholic churches also joined TBR.

Parishioners of SJV who serve on our TBR Target Group are active in all of the TBR Research Action Teams addressing the issues of Crime, Health, Food Access, Public Education, and Public Transit.  Recently, we participated in the TBR action to clean-up the Gilbert Memorial Cemetery, one of Baton Rouge’s historical cemeteries.  And, the opening of the Blue Grass Bridge will take place on November 19th, the first issue that TBR successfully addressed earlier this year.  TBR is making significant strides in addressing the public transportation issue our city faces relative to lack of funds to run an adequate transit system.  We will be offering more information on this particular issue in the near future as it affects our community.

If you have an interest in any of the above mentioned issues, please contact one of our parish’s TBR Target Group members, Vicki Dauterive, 756.4796, or Mike Barrios, 751.7120.

The Internet and the invention of the personal computer are perhaps the most significant creations of the twentieth century, offering unprecedented communication and information sharing possibilities, however, this great blessing has been marred by the dangerous presence of Internet predators and the possibility of addiction.  There are not many significant studies that have been completed and published, but there are still ways we can apply what we already know about child development to Internet use.  The following information is by no means to be considered a comprehensive account, but merely a starting point.

Children at this age are beginning to explore on their own, but it is very important that parents are in close contact as the children explore the Net.  For children this age, it is recommended that their Internet use be restricted to only sites a parent has visited and feel is appropriate.  It is important that children in this stage have positive results from Internet use and avoid sites that may be frustrating to them.

During this stage of life, a child will begin to look outside of the immediate family for new information, and peer pressure begins to become an issue. It is also a time when children begin to look for more independence.  For these children, consider having the computer in a central location where the child can explore, but is also not alone with the computer.  This way, they are independent, but less at risk.  It is at this stage that parents must begin to be concerned about how long their child spends using the Internet.  There is no magic time that is “too much.”  Addiction, compulsion, and behaviors that reflect these are not that simple, but monitoring the time spent now will aid in the positive development of behavioral patterns.

Age 12-14

Children this age are experiencing an ever-increasing need for independence. This, combined with the sexual development of the adolescent, can be a very dangerous and difficult situation to navigate concerning the Internet.  This interest in things sexual is normal and healthy development, unfortunately our children are given unhealthy models and opportunities for manifestation in the media and popular culture and can have difficulty dealing with their own development in a productive way.  During this early period of exploration, it is especially necessary for children to understand that their actions are being monitored. The Internet is awash with pornography and sexually explicit sites that are easily detected and blocked by available software, but research has shown that children are very adept at finding inappropriate material regardless of this software.  Parents must be aware that there are pornographic sites that do not use sexually explicit language, acting as Trojan Horse filled with unsuitable material. Teenagers are also more likely at this stage to begin taking risks, so they need to further explore the concept of self-control. They will soon be adults, and in the event that the Internet is misused, it is recommended that they not only lose privileges, but also be seriously engaged in discussion and encouraged to explore their own conclusions about how to use this tool effectively and safely.

Please review the contract on the back with your child, initialing each item and post it by your computer.  This is an excellent opportunity to teach a double lesson—Internet safety and Integrity. Internet Use Contract

____    I will not give out personal information to anyone online without discussion.

____    I will inform my parents right away if I come across material that makes me uncomfortable.

____    I will never agree to meet anyone from online without permission.

____    I will never send a picture to someone I meet online without permission.

____    I will not respond to any messages that are mean or make me feel uncomfortable, and I will ask an adult for help in dealing with the situation.

____    I will set rules with my parents concerning sites that I may visit and the time of day and length of time I am allowed online.

____    I will check with my parents before downloading any software or documents that may harm the computer or compromise the safety and privacy of my family.

____    I will be a good online citizen and not do anything that hurts other people, including spreading rumors or blogging in an unkind or hurtful way.

____    I will help my parents understand fun things about the Internet.

Entered into on this ____ day of _______, ______

Signatures of Parties Present:____________________________

Fifteen parishioners joined approximately one hundred individuals from across the city on Tuesday, July 26th to participate in a training excercie on "Research Actions" offered by the Together Baton Rouge organization.  The issues previously identified in "house meetings" across the city are public education, crime, public transportation, food access, and healthcare.  These issues and others provided the core of the training which focused on how to develop preliminary organizing teams to research and gather information useful in developing a strategy towards action.  Together Baton Rouge is in the process of organizing Citizen Research Teams in the areas of the five issues identified.  These teams will help to move the organization forward in being able to address these issues.  Several members from our parish will be serving on these teams.  We are proud of the number of parishioners that are coming forward to be a part of this community  effort.  The next TBR community noon lunch meeting will be August 9th at First United Methodist Church.  All are welcome, but must RSVP for the meal by emailing contact@togetherbr.org. 

Members of the Master Plan Committee, Parish Finance Committee, School Finance Committee, Parish Council and Parish Staff met with Mr Bernard DuMond of the Institute of School and Parish Development

on Wednesday, July 20 to receive the Attitudinal and Financial Feasibility Report on the proposed Master Plan project. The results were very positive.

The Master Plan Committee is reviewing the results and will make a recommendation to Fr. Tom about the next steps during the month of August.

Thanks to the many, many parishioners who have been a part of this entire process.

Stay tuned!  

Catholic Identity

A new series from Catholic Life Television

Of the Diocese of Baton Rouge

(225)242-0218

In response to Bishop Richard Malone’s suggestions at the National Symposium on Catechesis that dealt with Emerging Catechetical Trends in the United States, Catholic Life Television in conjunction with the Office Evangelization and Catechesis presents Catholic Identity. This series explains various aspects of our Catholic identity including Spirituality, Prayer, Family, Sacraments and Sacramentality, Spreading God’s Word, and reclaiming our Catholic identity. The Church’s teachings are given in a clear, concise manner though conversations with priests, deacons, religious and catechists. In addition, people from across the diocese serve as witnesses who strive to live out their Catholic Identity based on these teachings.

Catholic Identity series begins Sunday, July 10, 2011 exclusively on Catholic Life Television on the following days and times:

Baton Rouge, Cox Communications, Channel 15

Sundays @ 8:00am

Tuesdays @ 1:30pm

Thursdays @ 8:30pm

Fridays @ 11:00am

Saturdays @ 7:00pm

New Roads, Cobridge Communications, Channel 44

Thursdays @ 8:30pm

St. James Parish, Charter Communications, Channel 10

Thursdays @ 8:30pm

Beyond the viewing area please watch via our website at www.catholiclifetv.org by clicking the “Watch” tab then “Catholiclife LIVE Webcast” during the same times listed in Baton Rouge.

June 4 and 5th

You may have heard that beginning on the First Sunday of Advent at the end of November, there will be some changes to the words that we use at Mass. The Mass will not change, but the words will change.

These changes are the result of years of work by translators to more accurately reflect the meaning of the Latin texts from which our Mass is derived. That Latin text is known as the Roman missal. The translators worked to make our English version more accurate, more Scriptural in its imagery and more noble in its tone.

Over the next few months we will prepare for those changes by taking a few minutes at each Sunday Mass to review the Liturgical Principles that guide those changes and then to review the changes themselves.

In 1963 the Bishops of the world gathered in Rome for the Second Vatican Council to assist Pope John 23rd in bringing about what he called “aggiornamento” or renewal in the Church.

The first document to come out of that four year meeting was the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy…which describes some basic principles that guide our Catholic worship. It is these principles, these basic beliefs about how we worship that will not change.

The Bishops understood that our worship expresses our deepest belief….As we worship, so we believe.  And as we believe, so we worship.  We will spend a little time covering these basic principles in the coming week.  Remember, it’s the same Mass, just a few different words…

June 11th and 12th

Last week we heard about the Constitution on the Sacred liturgy,  the first document to come out of the Second Vatican Council, which was called by Pope John the 23rd to bring about a renewal in the Church. 

Remember that this document contains some basic principles about Catholic worship, and though the Roman Missal translation is changing, these basic principles will remain.  The first of these principles is that Christ is present in the liturgy.

This may sound obvious to you, but for some, meeting Christ in the Liturgy is not the primary reason for attending Mass.  People may go for a wedding or a graduation, but find it more difficult to attend mass just to attend Mass. Every single Mass, regardless of what celebrations we attach to it, is about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  So a wedding Mass, a funeral Mass, a graduation Mass—all of  these are about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Unless we have celebrated, thought about, spoken about, and sung about life, death, and the resurrection of Jesus, we have not participated in Catholic Worship. 

This is the first basic principle of Catholic worship.

Christ is present in the liturgy.

Christ is present in the person of the priest; Christ is present in the Eucharistic elements (the Body and Blood of Christ); Christ is present in the Sacraments, in the words of Scripture and as Jesus tells us in St Matthew’s Gospel, in the people gathered for prayer.

“Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them”

June 18th and 19th

The Document generated from the Second Vatican Council that guides Catholic worship is called the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. In this document are various principles that have and will remain unchanged concerning what we believe about worship and the liturgy.  The first of these unchanging principles is that Christ is present in the liturgy.

The second is that the earthy liturgy, the liturgy we are celebrating now, is a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy, meaning that when we unite as Catholics to celebrate the Mass, we unite as a Church, a community of pilgrims, journeying toward Christ, who sits at the right hand of God. 

We worship as the whole body of Christ because, as Church, as community, we are the body of Christ.  It is Christ who leads us in worship, and in this worship, this union, we get a glimpse of what heaven is like…all of us, before God, in community, calling each of us to our best selves.

This sense of community leads us directly into our third principle, that the liturgy is the source and summit of the Church’s activity and power.  We worship for two reasons, to give praise to God and to become holy. It is through the liturgy that these two ends are most effectively achieved. 

Every activity of the Church…prayers, devotions, education…are meant to help us praise God and to achieve holiness, and it is in the liturgy that we are united through common prayers and actions that are universal to us all.  Christ is present in the liturgy, as our first principle reminds us, but it is through these two or three gathered in his name that gives the liturgy the power it has and points us toward the greater heavenly reality.

No matter what our vocation in life, we are all called to be holy through our baptism.  As creator of universe and the source of every good gift, God is deserving of our praise.

June 25th and 26th

Our first three principles, as documented in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, that will remain unchanged when the Roman Missal translations take effect are that Christ is present in the Liturgy, the earthly liturgy is a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy, and the liturgy is the source and summit of the Church’s activity and power. 

The document lists a fourth basic principle of Catholic worship…that the church earnestly desires that all the faithful be led to that full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgical celebrations called for by the very nature of the liturgy.  

The church recognizes that in order for worship to be best expressed, the worshippers themselves must understand what and why we do what we do.  This is best achieved by our engagement and participation in the liturgy.  Each person who attends or presides, or participates in the celebration of the Liturgy has a role.  If that role isn’t fulfilled, the full potential of the power of the liturgy is not reached.  Remember it is through the gathered community at the liturgy that we praise God, achieve holiness, and understand a little better what heaven is like.

There are different kinds of participation and each has its appropriate time in the context of the Mass.  There is outward participation, inward participation and even a place for silence.  We will look more closely at these next week.

July 2nd and 3rd

Our fourth principle of Catholic worship, as stated in the Constiytution on the Sacred Liturgy, is that we are all called to full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgy.  There are two types of participation, exterior or outward participation and interior or inward participation. 

Exterior participation is that which can be observed.  We participate outwardly by all the things we do as people in the pews…singing, praying, sitting, kneeling, eating, drinking, and responding.  Even silence has its proper place.  There are times in the mass when prayerful silence is observed.  This is a time to reflect on what you have just heard or done.

After the Second Vatican Council recommended that the Mass be celebrated in languages other than Latin, the scope of how we could outwardly participate broadened greatly.  This was a monumental change in our church, and enriched the ways we could participate more actively.

Outward participation is an important component of our worship as Catholics, but more is required of us than merely singing songs, saying words, and kneeling appropriately.  It is equally important that the words we say, the songs we sing, the postures we adopt, and the Eucharist we take are experienced by our hearts and not just our bodies.  We want to experience the liturgy more than just an automatic response to the parts every one else plays while we remain distracted or disengaged

We want to have inward participation in the Mass.  We are called to be intentional about what we are saying and doing.  We are called to approach the liturgy with the thought that we are going to participate to the best of our ability.  We may not get every word or sing every note, but it should be our intention to listen to what God has to say to us…and then to take it with us into our lives outside of the liturgy.  It is the liturgy, the coming together in community and praising God—the living, dying, and rising with Christ—that  informs our very lives throughout the week. 

In other words, what we do on Sunday should affect how we live Monday through Saturday.  It is a privilege and a duty of every baptized person to participate in the liturgy.

Life Teen Youth Nights have moved from Wednesday evenings to Sunday evenings, following the 5:30pm Sunday Mass. Food, conversation, learning, fun, sports, food, faith, --waiting for you. Come and see. 

A number of parishioners have and will attend the scheduled diocesan workshops on the changes that are coming to the words used at Mass as given in the Roman Missal , beginning with the first Sunday of Advent of this year.  The Roman Missal  is a collection of prayers and rites which are used for the liturgies of the Church, including the celebration of Mass.

The workshops [go to www.diobr.org for more information] focus on the principles of Catholic worship that are not changing, how we pray the liturgy, non verbally and verbally, and a look at the actual changes to the wording at Mass which will affect what we say when we pray. The Parish Adult Faith Formation Committee is currently working on a timeline of implementation of the new Roman Missal in our parish 

 Over the past several years you may have heard much through newspapers, blog postings and Twitter about the forthcoming revised translation of the Roman Missal. You may be wondering “what is the Roman Missal, and how does this new translation affect me and us?”

Take notice of the red book which the priest uses most often during Mass. This red book is call the Sacramentary, which together with the Lectionary for Mass [the book of the readings for Mass] make up the Roman Missal.  This missal is the collection of prayers, chants and instructions [rubrics] use to celebrate Mass. It includes such prayers as the Sign of the Cross, Glory to God, Creed, Eucharistic Prayers and other such prayers. The majority of the prayers we recite or sing at Mass are contained in this book and it is these prayers that have been retranslated from the original Latin into English.

The new translation of the Roman missal will begin to be used at every Catholic Mass liturgy beginning the first Sunday of Advent, November 27th 2011. Some of the prayers that you may be used to reciting or singing with certain words or that you may be used to hearing prayed or sung by the priest at Mass will change.