Lifenite - Right to Life

Here's yet another case where murder is justified.

Terri Schiavo is a woman who faces death through starvation and neglect. We hear many arguements about this. "I wouldn't want to live like that so she obviously wouldn't want to." "By keeping her alive we are taking away her right to die." "She's brain dead and can't possibly know what's going on." "By keeping her alive we're keeping her from heaven." "It's an issue of quality of life."

To answer those-
-It's not what we want or don't want it's what God wants and He tells us to love our neighbors as He loves us. So we need to take care of those who need the care.
-No one is ever refused the right to die in this world. It is a right "granted" to us through the sins of Adam and Eve.
-From a number of different testimonies by doctors, nurses and her parents; Terri wakes up on her own, responds when spoken to, has eaten and swallowed food on her own. That doesn't sound like a brain dead person. There's no doubt that she can feel pain. I wonder how painful it is to have each organ shutdown systematically as they die from starvation?
-Albigensianism was a heretical religion based on the belief that the body is evil. Believers of this would starve themselves after Baptism to free their soul from their body and go to Heaven immediately. Does it make sense to do sin (murder) in order to do God's will? The answer is simple - NO!
-Who are we to judge Terri's quality of life. When she's well fed and her parents and friends come to visit her, maybe she's very happy with that. Who's to say that her quality of life won't improve even more in time given the neccessary therapy and care.

This is what we covered on Sunday night at our Lifenite. All human life is valuable and worth saving. Call, write or email your congressman and tell them the same.
http://www.aidsstories.com/states/ga.html
http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm

God Bless!

Mission Confirmation - Success!!!!!

Confirmation was a complete success!!!

Archbishop Wilton Gregory is an amazing man! Even after suffering through some of Atlanta's infamous 400 traffic he remained spirited and totally ready to greet and confirm about 110 of our teens and adults.

Yes, he does use the right to ask questions of all those going through Confirmation. Many of his questions pertained to the saints and he demonstrated his vast knowledge of them. Though he asked many questions he did open himself up to being questioned as well.

Thanks go to all those who helped teach and guide all of the newly confirmed, to our pastor Father Paul Flood for all of his support, to the band who gave us some wonderful music, Archbishop Gregory for his amazing presence, all of St. Benedict's staff for everything they've done, and last but definitely not least our incredible youth minister Cassi who put so much of herself into every aspect of Confirmation to make sure all though who truly wanted to be confirmed fulfill all of the requirements to do so. You all are such a blessing!


Here's Father Flood and Archbishop Gregory thinking of the hardest question he can ask.

Today's the BIG day!!!!!!

Happy Confirmation!!!!!!!

This is the day many of you have been waiting for, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and attain your full identity and become aware of your mission in the Church and the world.

"The seal of the Holy Spirit therefore signifies and brings about the disciple's total belonging to Jesus Christ, his being always at the latter's service in the Church, and at the same time it implies the promise of divine protection in the trials he will have to endure to witness to his faith in the world." - John Paul II

It's exciting to think about, you'll have Jesus' divine protection as you live your life for Him! That's better than any bullet proof vest!!

Reminder: Confirmation is at 7:30pm tonight at St. Benedict in the sanctuary. There will be a reception afterwards in the PLC so come and stay to meet the Archbishop!!!

God is in control, not you, me or Tim the Mad Scientist!

What is our purpose in life?

To know, love and serve God and to ultimately be with Him in heaven.

How do we do that best?

We have to turn away from selfish things and put our faith and trust in God. Stop trying to control every facet of our lives living for ourselves and instead turn over that control to God and live our lives for Him.

It's crazy to think about how our world is justifying so much murder. We're taking lives because they are inconvienent, too costly, or unwanted. A life is too valuable to be taken so lightly. We're not animals, we're human beings and each person is required to treat everyone else as such. It goes hand in hand with attempting to control that which God should be the only one in control of. Not only that how we treat others is a fundamental part of our faith, we are commanded by Jesus to "Love one another even as I have loved you."

That's what our lifenite was about this past Sunday. Many thanks go to everyone in the skit, our wonderful YM (youth minister), Cassi, and for all the PM's (peer ministers) who helped plan and put on the night.

Go forth and serve!

PS. This upcoming Friday is the sacrament of Confirmation for many of our youth group so please keep all of them in your prayers throughout the week. Feel free to come if you can and meet our new Archbishop Wilton Gregory. Starts at 7:30pm.

God Bless!!!

Confirmation Retreat #2 - "Been there, done that!"

Yep, that's right, now all those going through confirmation can say they've been on the retreat!

I would almost say there could be legends written about this last retreat...it was that crazy/good (both in equal measure). With our almost 70 retreatants sharing space with a group of almost 100 Search retreatants the camp was a loud (sometimes bass thumping) and at times crowded scene. The weekend included some great talks by our leaders, some intense discussion in our small groups, pranks, late night walks through the woods, open Q&A with the leaders, a wonderful witness by our own Katie, pranks, trips to the waterfalls, some healthy competition in ultimate Frisbee, pranks, smores by the bonfire (thank you Brad and his fire stick), stargazing by the lake, and of course more pranks.

Overall, I think everyone got a clearer understanding of what it means to be confirmed in the faith. Friendships were made and I definitely saw some future leaders who I hope will stay with us even after confirmation.

Stay posted for some pictures and more!

God Bless!!!

Confirmation Retreat Meeting

Last night we had a dinner meeting with some PM's (peer ministers for those in the know) about this weekend's confirmation retreat. Like the previous one we'll be at Covecrest which has fantastic facilities for retreats. We're really lucky this time to have Father Randy with us on most of Sat. So far there will be somewhere in the neighborhood of over fifty teens. We don't want to give away too much, though no two retreats are ever the same so we'll see how this one can top the other!

For all of you going, get your bags packed and ready for a great time!!

For those not able to join us, keep us in your prayers!

God Bless!

Welcome to St. Benedict's Youth Blog

Hello all Teens, Peer Ministers, Core, and whoever else may stumble upon this,

This is St. Benedict's Youth Ministry blog. It is a place where we'll post updates on the latest happenings with the youth group. You'll get to read all the fun, exciting and spiritual things we do on Sunday nights, XLT, retreats and mission trips. We'll also have links to pictures, current calendars and other catholic news sources.

As the first posting, I must include some of what we did this past weekend.

Fri., we acted out Stations of the Cross for the parish. Tim did a wonderful job as Jesus and Joey and Laura totally added to the emotion of the whole thing with their playing and dialog. Mary, the weeping women, the guards, Simon and Pilot were great in their supporting roles as well.
Sat., we got to hear some of the talent that will be displayed at Teen Idol! Can't wait for that.
Sun., we got to see what it's like for the filthy rich and for the opposite spectrum the filthy poor. It's time we stop taking for granted all that we have and start giving back to those who have so little.

Keep posted for further updates!

God Bless!