HEADLINES

Christ the King’s 1st Annual Spring Fling! Saturday, May 19, at 6:30pm in the CTK School Gym. Your $50 ticket buys you a welcome drink followed by an awesome food selection to be provided by Abuelo’s, beer & wine, casino chips to play at multiple gaming tables, and a reverse drawing that gives every ticket holder a chance to win great prizes including an all-expense trip to Las Vegas!
There will also be a live auction and other fun activities throughout the night! Spring Fling tickets are on sale now in the church & school offices!

SOAR is an opportunity for our middle school youth to experience being the hands and feet of Christ in our world and living our Baptismal call to love our God and our neighbor, during the week of June 13th - 16th, 2012. The cost for youth participants is $35. Adults are free. For more information contact Greg Brown at Saint Elizabeth Parish,include “SOAR” in the subject line, (806)762-5225 or Sister Jane Venhaus, include “SOAR” in the subject line, (806) 792-3943 extension 230.

Don't let work conflict with family, Pope cautions audience
The Pope said that work should serve the needs of the family, “helping it to be open to life and to enter into relationship with society and with the Church.” The proper relationship between work and family is lost if family life suffers because of excessive demands on the job, he said.

USCCB renews call for nuclear arms reduction
An official of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined by representatives of arms control groups and the Union of Concerned Scientists, met with a deputy national security advisor on May 7 and presented him with a petition to “end outdated U.S. nuclear war-fighting strategy, dramatically reduce the number of U.S. nuclear weapons and the number of submarines, missiles, and bombers that carry those weapons, and take U.S. nuclear weapons off high alert.”

Catholic Social Doctrine: The Theology of Ecology
Man, who is made in God's image in a manner entirely distinct from the rest of nature, has a special responsibility to it. Indeed, Christians believe that the Lord "entrusted all of creation to [man's] responsibility, charging [man] to care for its harmony and development. (Cf. 1:26-30)." (Compendium, No. 451) Creation participates in God's Logos, his ratio, his wisdom. Man, who participates in God's ratio in a preeminent degree, is able to see nature as "the word of God's creative action," and not "as a dangerous adversary." It is not man against nature, but man in nature.

Vatican prelate reflects on Year of Faith
Writing for L’Osservatore Romano, the president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization said that the forthcoming Year of Faith “is aimed primarily at the whole Church, so that in the face of the dramatic crisis of faith which touches many Christians, she will be able to show once again and with renewed enthusiasm the true face of Christ.”

Scott Hahn appointed to endowed chair in theology, evangelization
“Through his work at Franciscan University, his scholarly research and publications, his popular writing and countless speaking engagements, Dr. Scott Hahn has done the very thing the Fathers of Vatican II called upon Catholic scholars to do,” Fr. Henry, who succeeded Fr. Scanlan as the school's president, said in his announcement.

Vatican says reconciliation talks with SSPX still ongoing
Reconciliation talks between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X have not reached their conclusion but will continue, the Vatican said May 16, after members of its doctrinal congregation examined the latest communication from the head of the breakaway traditionalist group.

Physician's Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment: Helpful or a New Threat?
A brightly colored document that is one page, printed on both sides, with boxes to be checked off regarding medical treatment — or the withholding of treatment — the Physician’s Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (Polst), in an instrument for dealing with end-of-life decisions if the patient is incapacitated. Once signed, the Polst accompanies the patient to any new medical facility. Some critics say that it is difficult for a patient to make changes in the document.

First video game about Jesus launches on Facebook
On the heels of its widely-popular “The Journey of Moses” Facebook game, Lightside Games is venturing into historic territory by creating the first-ever video game based on the life of Jesus.

Around the Web – Catholic Blogosphere Wrap-up

Brain Damage and the NFL: Is Watching Football Immoral?
the most popular, the most watched, the most lucrative sport in the United States has a serious problem on its hands. People are still watching, buying tickets and expensive satellite TV packages. The NFL is still making money hand over fist. They don’t have a financial problem, they have a moral problem. And, we, the fans, have a moral problem. Last week four players were suspended for their roles in a bounty program designed to give players bonuses for injuring the opponent.

Coffee and Ritual
As part of the morning routine, coffee is made–a process and ritual in and of itself, especially in places like Italy, where “coffee” means “espresso.” As it brews, the aroma is savoured. It is then poured and drunk slowly, with both the taste of the coffee and the beauty of the fresh new morning being enjoyed together. In America, however, coffee is frequently reduced to a mere utilitarian tool: “I need my coffee or I won’t function.”

6 Types of Catholic Churches: The Basics
Listers, there are many kinds of Catholic Churches, and each kind has further subclasses which make for a rather confusing classification system. Here is a quick list comprised of highlights from the Catholic Encyclopedia pages on various kinds of Churches.

Pay Us What We're Worth
Matt likes to highlight the pay discrepancies between CEO and entry level employees. In fact, the need for just wages and equitable pay is prevalent throughout Catholic social teaching. And the importance of just wages is presented as more than just something employers ought to offer; instead, they’re the foundation of society as a whole. In the words of Pope John Paul II: “Hence in every case a just wage is the concrete means of verifying the whole socioeconomic system and, in any case, of checking that it is functioning justly.”(Laborem Exercens) But equitable pay is something that applies at every level and type of work.

Why You Don’t Have to Use NFP
There is a faction of Catholics who, in their desire to promote Natural Family Planning as the antidote to contraception, have overstated its importance in Christian marriage. They are rightfully reacting against contraception, which is always intrinsically evil. (CCC 2370) But in their desire to steer people away from contraception, they sometimes become overzealous in their promotion of NFP: they insist that Catholics have a duty to learn it and use it.