The Blessing Box Facebook page wrote:

St. Anthony's Catholic Church parking lot at 700 West Maumee St., Angola. Indiana is the home for their new BLESSING BOX!!! Glory to God!!

Thank you Eric Anthony for sharing about the BLESSING BOX. Some of the things he shared was:

"On a sunny but cold and windy Palm Sunday, the traditional start of Holy Week for Catholics and some Protestants, members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Angola along with representatives from St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Angola got together after 6 months of planning to erect the first >Blessing Box< in Angola. So what is a Blessing Box? It's a place where people can donate items that they think that others, especially those in need, might find good use for. And, subsequently, those in need, or who simply need something, can drive or walk up to it and take what is needed any time of day or night, any day of the week. No questions asked. All of the wood, nails and shingles were recycled from the priest's previous residence that was located at St. Anthony's and torn down when the new church was built."

Beautiful with alot of preparation!! Thank you for stepping out in Faith!!

-Blessing Box Community, Crystal Rock Cathedral, Ardmore OK

June 13th is the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, for whom our parish is named. Often simply called “The Saint – Il Santo”, Saint Anthony is beloved by millions of people who, in reality, know nothing about his life and have never read anything the man wrote. And yet they love him anyway. This is truly a wonder. It is beautiful.

This morning I was watching the children streaming in for the parish’s Vacation Bible School. Children are so full of love, even though you have to keep your eye on them every second or they’ll destroy the parish hall and everything in it. Children are innocent and explosive all at the same time. They love from the heart, without knowing the thing they love.

Saint Anthony said that our love must begin like that of a child – just as Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me” (Matthew 19:14). We approach God like a child. We meet God and start to love him with the explosive, ignorant innocence of a child.
 
But childish love does not last. If our love is to deepen, we must get to know God more deeply.
 
Saint Anthony said:
 
The child loves just because.
The adult loves, not because, but in spite of.

Here’s a little exercise:
 
Think of someone you love.
Make a list in your head of things you really like about that person, all the things that make you love them …
 
Now make a list of all the little things about that person that irritate you.
 
Often, the second list just writes itself, faster and longer than the first list.
 
Here is what adults discover: We love in spite of all these things! Not because, but in spite of. You are called to love your neighbor in spite of everything. This is a holy love.
 
Blessings for the Feast of St. Anthony
friar Bob Showers OFM Conv.
 
My inspiration for this entry:
“Saint Anthony and You: A Novena” by friar Juniper Cummings OFM Conv.
(available online at: https://www.ecatholic2000.com/cts/untitled-421.shtml)

St. Anthony of Padua Parish carried out elections for three new members of the Parish Pastoral Council on the weekend of June 2-3, 2018. Elected for a 4-year term (spring of 2018 until spring of 2022) were:

• Laurie Beard
  
• Tamera Wise
  
• Jaime Tellez

Election ballot counting committee: Fr. Bob Showers, Sam Thomas, Steve Wertman
Ballots cast: 137
Vote count: Laurie Beard 99, Tamera Wise 97, Jaime Tellez 87, Dan Caruso 85

As of now, the Parish Pastoral Council consists of: Laurie Beard, Ruth Libey, Julissa Reyna, Ben Roederer, Chris Scott, Jaime Tellez & Tamera Wise.

Fr. Bob sends his thanks and congratulations to the new PPC members, his gratitude to the outgoing members Liat Peters and Doug Osos, his thankfulness to all the candidates, and his gratitude to all those who have served this parish on the pastoral council in the past or who serve now.

Members of the group “Journey through Faith” recently concluded their last session of the season. They are part of the adult faith formation activity called "Why Catholic: the Sacraments". This group met continuously through Advent to accomodate the members who are only here in the winter - the so-called "snowbirds".

"Why Catholic?/¿Por qué ser católico?" is a faith enrichmentment program from Renew International. Many parishes throughout the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend are participating. Here at St. Anthony's, we have about a dozen groups, mostly in English, one in Spanish. Each group chooses it's own schedule to meet particular needs.

The group Journey through Faith chose to follow the parish religious education schedule. One very busy, working mother said that finds the RE schedule works perfectly as it finishes in time for her to pick up her children for Mass. She added that the Why Catholic sessions have deepened her knowledge of Catholicism, and just as importantly, she has come to know other parishioners as they share their thoughts and knowledge during the discussions.

She shared that she is now listening to Bishop Barron's Word on Fire (available free to St. Anthony's parishioners: see here) and, at the suggestion of another group member, she listens to the podcast Catholic Stuff You Should Know.

A couple new to St Anthony’s said that they were glad to be part of this Why Catholic community because it helped them make a connection with their new Catholic parish as well as a good connection with faith renewal.

The members of the Journey through Faith group appreciated Friar Joe’s insight and wisdom a great deal. He, too, commented that he enjoyed the sense of community and the opportunity to get to know more people in the parish.

The Journey through Faith small group finished the Why Catholic: Sacraments book shortly after Christmas. Rather than lose contact during the remainder of the year, especially Lent and Easter, the group decided to read from Matthew Kelly's book Perfectly Yourself.

Another Why Catholic small group, "Jesus' Rebels", decided to gather to listen to Catholic talks from the Lighthouse CD series after morning Mass every Thursday. (These CDs are available for purchase in the gathering area of the church.) The Spanish small group, Levántate, will continue to meet each Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. Some small groups are finished until next fall, and others again have found other ways to continue their ongoing formation as Catholic adults.


Together in Christ,
Anne Ferguson

On the 5th Sunday of Lent - March 18, 2018 - the Parish of St. Anthony of Padua held a "Whole Parish / Whole Family Workshop & Retreat Day in Preparation for Easter". The inspiration was taken from the challenge given by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for the parishes to celebrate multi-generational catechism days "that make Easter and Christmas come alive".

Professor Kate Mahon from the University of Notre Dame's Liturgical Theology Department came and helped us along the way. Prof. Mahon provided theological guidance as well as holding a talk for the whole parish and workshops for small groups.

The theme of the day was the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter. The different groups of liturgical ministers - from extraordinary communion ministers to ushers and greeters - held different workshops to prepare themselves to help at the many liturgies of Holy Week and Easter. Other workshops dealt with different aspects of Catholic life in the contemporary world.

A special part of the day was the children's program, organized by Cathy Bryan and our catechists. There were also workshops in Spanish, and different workshops for youth and young adults.

After the workshops, we watched the animated movie "Prince of Egypt." The day ended with a celebration of the Solemn Vespers of the Fifth Sunday of Advent.

Fr. Bob and the parish staff thank everyone who made the day a wonderful experience, "making Easter come alive for the whole family".

My daughters and I were blessed to be given the opportunity to participate in the March for Life on Washington D.C. 2018. Thanks to the Knights of Columbus for offering us a partial scholarship to cover the cost of the trip.
 
My daughters Katherine and Sarah took the initiative to get us to attend, and I was thrilled to be along. My girls had been asking me for months to go on this trip. I wasn't sure we could go and hadn't heard much about it so I didn't plan anything very far in advance. Once I decided to try to get us on a bus, I called Stan Fisher from the K of C and he directed me to a K of C bus in Indianapolis with 4 empty seats left.
 
We drove down to Indianapolis and boarded the nice, large travel bus arranged by the Knights. We were thankful that the trip was so well planned. We slept on the bus, then departed for breakfast with a little time to tour the various monuments in D.C. before checking in at our hotel.

The next morning, we rode the same bus to the march itself and collected our lunches and signs – prepared as well by the Knights of Columbus, who had gathered from all over the USA. The turn-out was enormous. The Knights led us to our positions and we listened to the National Right to Life Committee president give a brief, moving speech.
 
Then we began our one-mile march next to all the other pro-life marchers. One group said the rosary, another sang hymns. We passed a few bands who played uplifting songs. Before we knew it we had completed the march. The whole trip went so smoothly from the beautiful weather to the wonderful people.
 
Sarah said she wants to go next year already; but the next time she would like to go with the youth group so she can participate in the rally at the stadium.
 
If you would like any of the prayers or literature we prayed and handed out, ask Father Bob and we will get you a copy.
 
God Bless,
Shannon, Katherine, and Sarah Schlosser

Photographer: Ani Romero

This year, as he does every year, Pope Francis presided at a Solemn Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in honor of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Thousands of Latin American faithful participated.

In his homily, the Pontiff asked Latin America to defend "our peoples from an ideological colonization that cancels out their richness, be they indigenous peoples, African-Americans, mestizos, peasants, or slum dwellers."

The Pope said:

Today's Gospel is the preface to two great Biblical canticles: the Canticle of Mary, called the "Magnificat", and the Canticle of Zechariah, the "Benedictus", which I like to call "the Canticle of Elizabeth" or "the Song of Fertility".

Elizabeth is the sterile woman, with all that this implied for the religious mentality of her time, which considered sterility as a divine punishment due to one's own sin or that of the husband - a sign of shame in her own flesh, making her feel guilty of a sin she did not commit, making her feel worthless because he did not live up to what was expected of her. And in this context the song of Elizabeth breaks forth in the form of a question: "Who am I, that the mother of my Lord comes to visit me?."

Here we can glimpse the parallel with the poor Indian Juan Diego when he tells Mary: "I really am not worth anything, I'm just a Mecapal, I'm a Cacaxtle, beaten and broken, who must bow down before the foreign conquerors. It is not my place nor my right to go to the high places you would send me."

Here, too, we see the parallels in our own society:

• In the indigenous peoples and the African-Americans who very often are not treated with dignity or granted equality.
  
• In many women, who are excluded because of their gender, race or socio-economic position.
• In those youth who receive an education of inferior quality and are denied the opportunity to progress in their studies or to enter the workplace so they can develop and start a family.
• In the many poor, the unemployed, the migrants, immigrants, refugees, peasants without land, struggling to survive in an "alternate economy".
  
• In boys and girls, beaten and broken, forced into child prostitution or exploited by sex tourism.

And yet, alongside this "Elizabeth the sterile one", we contemplate "Elizabeth overshadowed by fertility". She was the first to recognize and bless Mary. It is she who in her old age experienced in her own life, in her very flesh, the fulfillment of the promise made by God.

In Elizabeth, we realize that the dream of God is not - and never will be - to sterilize or stigmatize or fill with shame His children, but rather to nurture in them and let break forth from them a song of blessing.

In the same way we realize it in Juan Diego. It was precisely he, and no other, who carries in his tilma the image of the Virgin: the Virgin with brown skin and mestizo face, supported by an angel with the wings of the eagle, the pelican and the macaw - the sacred birds of the Aztec; the mother able to take upon herself the traits of her children to make them feel part of her blessing.

Dear sisters brothers, in the midst of this dialectic of fertility and sterility, let us behold the richness and cultural diversity of our peoples in Latin America. This cultural diversity is a great treasure that we are called upon not only to cultivate but courageously to defend against any and every attempt at homogenization that ends up imposing - under catchy slogans - one single way of thinking, one single of being, of feeling, of living - a globalization that ends up crippling and sterilizing everything we inherited from our elders; that ends up making us - especially our young people - feel small and worhless because we belong to this or that minority culture.

In short, our fertility requires us to defend our peoples from an ideological colonization that cancels out their richness, be they indigenous peoples, African-Americans, mestizos, peasants, or slum dwellers.

Como cada año, el Papa Francisco presidió hoy una solemne Misa en la Basílica de San Pedro en Roma con motivo de la festividad de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, en la que participaron miles de fieles latinoamericanos.

En su homilía, el Pontífice pidió a América Latina defender “a nuestros pueblos de una colonización ideológica que cancela lo más rico de ellos, sean indígenas, afroamericanos, mestizos, campesinos, o suburbanos”.

El Papa dijo:

El Evangelio que acaba de ser proclamado es el prefacio de dos grandes cánticos: el cántico de María conocido como el «Magníficat» y el cántico de Zacarías, el «Benedictus», y me gusta llamarlo «el cántico de Isabel» o «el cántico de la fecundidad».

Isabel la mujer estéril, con todo lo que esto implicaba para la mentalidad religiosa de su época, que consideraba la esterilidad como un castigo divino fruto del propio pecado o el del esposo. Un signo de vergüenza llevado en la propia carne o por considerarse culpable de un pecado que no cometió o por sentirse poca cosa al no estar a la altura de lo que se esperaba de ella. Y en este contexto brota el canto de Isabel en forma de pregunta: «¿Quién soy yo para que la madre de mi Señor venga a visitarme?».

Así podemos vislumbrarlo en el indiecito Juan Diego cuando le dice a María, «yo en verdad no valgo nada, soy mecapal, soy cacaxtle, soy cola, soy ala, sometido a hombros y a cargo ajeno, no es mi paradero ni mi paso allá donde te dignas enviarme».

Así también este sentimiento puede estar en nuestras comunidades:

• indígenas y afroamericanas, que, en muchas ocasiones, no son tratadas con dignidad e igualdad de condiciones;
• en muchas mujeres, que son excluidas en razón de su sexo, raza o situación socioeconómica;
• jóvenes, que reciben una educación de baja calidad y no tienen oportunidades de progresar en sus estudios ni de entrar en el mercado del trabajo para desarrollarse y constituir una familia;
• muchos pobres, desempleados, migrantes, desplazados, campesinos sin tierra, quienes buscan sobrevivir en la economía informal;
• niños y niñas sometidos a la prostitución infantil, ligada muchas veces al turismo sexual.
  

Y junto a Isabel, la mujer estéril, contemplamos a Isabel la mujer fecunda-asombrada.

Es ella la primera en reconocer y bendecir a María. Es ella la que en la vejez experimentó en su propia vida, en su carne, el cumplimiento de la promesa hecha por Dios.

En ella, entendemos que el sueño de Dios no es ni será la esterilidad ni estigmatizar o llenar de vergüenza a sus hijos, sino hacer brotar en ellos y de ellos un canto de bendición.

De igual manera lo vemos en Juan Diego. Fue precisamente él, y no otro, quien lleva en su tilma la imagen de la Virgen: la Virgen de piel morena y rostro mestizo, sostenida por un ángel con alas de quetzal, pelícano y guacamayo; la madre capaz de tomar los rasgos de sus hijos para hacerlos sentir parte de su bendición.

Queridos hermanos, en medio de esta dialéctica de fecundidad–esterilidad miremos la riqueza y la diversidad cultural de nuestros pueblos de América Latina. Ella es signo de la gran riqueza que somos invitados no sólo a cultivar sino a defender valientemente de todo intento homogeneizador que termina imponiendo — bajo slogans atrayentes — una única manera de pensar, de ser, de sentir, de vivir, que termina haciendo inválido o estéril todo lo heredado de nuestros mayores; que termina haciendo sentir, especialmente a nuestros jóvenes, poca cosa por pertenecer a tal o cual cultura. En definitiva, nuestra fecundidad nos exige defender a nuestros pueblos de una colonización ideológica que cancela lo más rico de ellos, sean indígenas, afroamericanos, mestizos, campesinos, o suburbanos.

La Madre de Dios es figura de la Iglesia y de ella queremos aprender a ser Iglesia con rostro mestizo, con rostro indígena, rostro afroamericano, rostro campesino, rostro cola, ala, cacaxtle. Rostro pobre, de desempleado, de niño y niña, anciano y joven para que nadie se sienta estéril ni infecundo, para que nadie se sienta avergonzado o poca cosa. Sino, al contrario, para que cada uno al igual que Isabel y Juan Diego pueda sentirse portador de una promesa, de una esperanza y pueda decir desde sus entrañas: «¡Abba!, ¡Padre!» desde el misterio de esa filiación que, sin cancelar los rasgos de cada uno, nos universaliza constituyéndonos pueblo.

¡María, María! Bendita eres entre todas las mujeres y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús.

p. Roberto María Showers Arreazola OFM Conv.
12 de dec. 2017