Seven Secrets Jesus Offered

Become all you were created to be!

– A reflection by Rob Kerby, Senior Editor of www.beliefnet.com

Secret 1. You can do anything!

And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith … even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.” Matthew 21:21

There’s an incredible promise in those verses. If you can do anything in God’s strength, then you certainly can change yourself. Furthermore, Romans 12:1-2 and Ephesians 4:23 both promise us that we can be changed, in fact completely transformed by renewing our minds. What does that mean? To live differently, we must think differently. We must not seek to be like the world but yearn to be in God’s service. 2 Corinthians 8:5 tells us of Christians who practiced generosity because they first gave themselves to the Lord. What motivates us to want to do that? 1 John 5:3 tells us it is our love for Him. Love is one of the strongest forces in existence. If you are having difficulty changing yourself, read 1 John 2:15-17, Matthew 10:34-37, Matthew 22:37-40, John 14:15 and 2 Corinthians 5:14-17. God’s blessings and mercy are vast. He loves you!

Click here to read the other 6 Secrets on beliefnet.com>

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“Where are the Catholics” Video Series

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We’ve created a series of videos of an honest sharing of Prison Ministry volunteers to help you discern if prison ministry is the  right path for you. We hoped you are touched an inspired to act by listening to their stories.

For more ways to get involved click here> 

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Ignite Your Catholic Faith

“C4: Ignite Your Catholic Faith” is a series of videos created by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Celebrating the year of Faith, these videos are meant to answer questions about our faith and how we live it, as well as fuel a passion with in us to take action as Catholics.

As Dismas Ministry continues our “Where are the Catholics?” Awareness project, we wanted to share the video where Bishop Don Hying, who is the Archdiocesan Delegate on Dismas Ministry’s board of directors discusses “What’s God’s Plan for Me?”.

As you watch take time to reflect on how prison ministry could fit into how God’s plan for you to learn to love and to serve others.

Click here to go to our Act page for ideas on how to become involved>

 

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Dismas Ministry asks, “Where are the Catholics?”

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A National Catholic Prison Ministry in the works. 

Dismas Ministry launches a National Campaign striving to bring awareness to the over 300 Catholic dioceses in the United States that are in desperate need of Prison Ministry Volunteers. This National Prison Ministry Awareness project titled, “Where are the Catholics?” strives to shed the light on the severe lack of Catholic involvement in Prison Ministry.

Many religious organizations provide prison ministry to the incarcerated but, the Catholic community is severely lacking in its ministry to answer the call of the gospel.  One Catholic prison chaplain states, “Non-Catholic volunteers outnumber Catholic volunteers by nearly 40-1.

The Word of God is clear–outreach to the imprisoned is enjoined on all Catholics by the Christ himself who not only gave us his words “You visited me when I was in prison” (Matt. 25:36) Yet the sad truth is that the Catholic community has not always responded to this often neglected work of mercy. Many parish and diocesan websites do not include prison ministry among the list of ministries, and many parishes and dioceses do not have a prison ministry coordinator or prison outreach. We want to recognize and celebrate that there are parishes and dioceses that are already doing a tremendous job of bringing pastoral care to inmates within the boundaries of their parishes, however we are far from meeting the growing need.

Through this National Prison Ministry Awareness project Dismas Ministry is asking all the over 13,000 Catholic Parishes to do the following:

• Give prison ministry a prominent place on your parish website,
• Ensure that someone is appointed as prison outreach coordinator to recruit and train volunteers,
• Visit the inmates within your parish boundaries at regular intervals,
• Include prison inmates and victims as well as their families in the prayers of the faithful.

As part of our effort to raise awareness of the need for a stronger Catholic prison outreach, we invite you to share what you are already doing, or would like to do, to bring pastoral services to inmates. The hope of this Nation Campaign is to encourage a national support network as well as a response that equals or surpasses the efforts of non-Catholic prison volunteers. Contact Dismas Ministry and let us know what you are doing in your parishes! Go to www.dismasministry/ACT to share with us your ministries.

 

 

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