Friday, August 8, 2014

Catholic Campaign for Human Development Awards Money to.......guess who?

Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon is a group of liberal churches that promote many anti-Catholic moral values.  For the decades we have been affiliated with this "ecumenical" group no Catholic values have seemingly been even debated.

The deep connections we have with EMO confuses and most importantly make Oregon Catholics complicit in their agreement with abortion and same-sex marriage.

The next post will remind us of what a devout Catholic Priest and devout Protestant pastor want to share regarding this "strange bedfellow" that we have with EMO.



According to Oregon Live's   Community Helpers, Portland, Oregon please click for more info.:

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development in Oregon awarded 

$2,000 to Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon

$1,500  to Outgrowing Hunger  

$ 1,500 to Vocoform

and $1,000 to Salem HUB for community-based projects.

  CCHD - USCCB website (just click)

 Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon violates some of these basic Catholic values. 

For example, applicant organizations that support or promote same-sex marriage, discrimination, capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, or punitive measures towards immigrants are not eligible for CCHD funding.


  This organization is "incorporated" yet does not have a Board of Directors on it's webpage.  We would like to know who vetted this group that warranted our money.

  VOCOFORM

Values

  • Peace: Bringing wholeness to our fractured world.
  • Justice: Standing in solidarity with oppressed individuals and participating in changing the systemic elements that leave any person feeling less than human.
  • Reconciliation: Regarding one another; being fully human requires pursuing more than what is good only for the individual.
  • Beauty: Recognizing the special and unique elements in what others consider mundane.
  • Place: Living out our stories alongside others in a specific location.

Address:

Vocoform Incorporated
PO Box 17190
Portland OR 97217
503.902.4823

Board

We believe the board is an extension of those served and Vocoform is developing a board that represents just that. From the beginning we have acknowledged that the more unique the voices, the greater perspective we bring back to serve our stakeholders. We are devoted to a board that represents diversity in race, intergenerationality, and gender. If you have a desire to find out more about board participation please contact scott@vocoform.com

+++++

Here are some guidelines for the recipients.  We need to have "Catholic" money going to things that don't go against Christ's teachings.  As you can see, these are not followed.

Criteria

1.  Applicant organizations must not participate in or promote activities that contradict the moral and social teachings of the Catholic Church and must in no way work against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' priorities to defend human life and dignity, strengthen family life and the institution of marriage, and foster diversity. For example, applicant organizations that support or promote same-sex marriage, discrimination, capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, or punitive measures towards immigrants are not eligible for CCHD funding.
2.  The application must focus on creating or expanding a stand-alone Economic Development Institution that will create income and/or assets for low-income people and communities.
3.  Members of the poverty group must have a strong voice in the leadership of the applicant organization. At least one-third of those who plan, implement, and make policy for the applicant organization (usually the board of directors) are low-income.
4.  At least one-half of the intended beneficiaries from the EDI must be low-income.
5.  The applicant has a complete plan for the EDI that documents all three of the components listed below:
      A.  An assessment and analysis of pertinent community needs, resources and regional     economic conditions that establish the EDI's strategic direction

      B.  A clear, comprehensive, and detailed strategic plan that establishes how the EDI will develop and operate over the next three to five years. This component must include:
            a.  Program description with goals, objectives, and the anticipated outcomes for job creation and/or asset development (see Guidelines, below).             b.  An EDI ownership structure that results in asset ownership within the low income community.
            c.  A multi-year financial strategy for the start-up and ongoing viability of the EDI.
      C.  A commitment and strategy for ongoing leadership development on the EDI Board of Directors, at least one-third of whose membership is composed of low-income people.
6.  Matching funds—in addition to any in-kind contributions—are committed to the EDI at a level at least equal to the request for CCHD funds.

Guidelines

CCHD has established the following threshold outcomes to ensure its funding will be directed to EDIs that have the potential for substantial job creation and/or asset development within their communities.

EDIs in underserved or distressed areas of the country (e.g., some rural and reservation communities) may receive special consideration, determined by regional standards.


EDIs must create ten or more new jobs that pay a living wage as determined by regional standards, or must develop asset ownership for more than ten individuals or families while also benefiting the larger community.

The EDI plan needs to relate the anticipated outcomes for asset development to the specific economic conditions of the EDI's community.

An application should establish that its EDI team—staff, consultants, institutional partners, and board—has the organizational capacity needed to ensure implementation.

An applicant organization should demonstrate a growing base of support (both financial and/or in-kind resources) that reflects valuable relationships in the community.


Priorities

Priority to encourage collaboration

An applicant organization should describe how it collaborates or plans to collaborate with other organizations in the course of implementation.
An applicant organization should demonstrate a willingness to participate in CCHD's education and promotion efforts.

Priority to link economic development with community organizing

An applicant organization should describe how it will use or promote community organizing among the EDI's beneficiaries so they could work together and with others on additional efforts to effect institutional change.

Priority to facilitate the development of information systems in organizations

An applicant organization should develop and regularly use a monitoring and evaluation system that relies on the active participation of beneficiaries and leads to increased EDI capacity and performance.
An applicant organization should establish an interest in sharing data with other organizations (including CCHD) for the purposes of peer support and mutual learning.

Eligible Use of Funds

CCHD funds may be used for general operating expenses, including staff salaries/training, procurement of technical assistance, board development costs and other overhead costs.
For business development, CCHD funds may be used as part of a financing package for start-up or expansion, including start-up costs or working capital.
For real estate development, CCHD funds may be used for pre-development or continuing operating expenses.
Funds may not be used for capital expenditures (e.g., real estate, vehicles, equipment).

Not Eligible for Funding

Economic Development Institutions structured without opportunities for participatory control and ownership by low income people
EDIs structured without opportunities to develop community-held assets (e.g., sole proprietorships, simple partnerships, or fee-simple housing projects are not eligible)
EDIs owned or controlled by governmental agencies (federal, state, or local), educational, or ecclesiastical bodies
EDIs whose primary focus is direct service (e.g. job training, business consulting, financial literacy, savings programs, or homeownership education programs by themselves are not eligible). Such services may complement an eligible EDI, but they cannot be the EDI's primary focus.
EDIs not structured to stand on their own as sustainable institutions
EDIs that intend to re-grant CCHD monies to other organizations.


Friday, August 1, 2014

From Johnny Rotten to Johnny Reverent in One Easy Step …Remember "Second' First Saturday Devotion...August 2nd.

… Does your son fidget and act unruly during mass? Or does he get bored and sit there like a listless lump zoning out?

Do you wish he’d be more attentive, prayerful, or respectful and listen to the homily for stinkin’ once?!?
Now you too can have a new improved, wonderfully well behaved son accompanying you to mass each week with Altar Boy 2.0*!
Here’s how it works in one easy step.

Step 1 — Make your son be an altar server.
I don’t care if he wails and kicks and says you live to make his life miserable. Of course you do. That’s besides the point.

Engage your Catholic Mom Guilt powers and insist he make this one sacrifice for the Lord our God who died on the Cross for his ungrateful hump.

Ask him how many waking hours he spends a day watching TV, playing video games, hanging out with friends, or playing sports. Then ask him how many of those same waking hours he uses in prayer. Bust out your saddest, most disappointed mom face and ask why he can’t make time for Sweet Baby Jesus to serve at His altar?

If getting him good and guilted doesn’t work, appeal to his boy senses. Tell them there’ll be fire. And smoke. Lots of smoke.





And if he still doesn’t want to serve… who cares. Make him. And when he asks “why” give him the mother of all reasons. The Reason that’s been used for all of time, since your parents and their parents before them.

Because you said so.

Trust me, moms and dads. It’s worth the fight. The aggravation. The wailing and crying. Trust me.
Eventually over time your precious spawn will learn his protests are futile and he’ll begrudgingly succumb. And when he does something marvelous will happen.

He’ll learn the mass better than any way you can teach him, learning all the parts of the liturgy and their significance. He’ll even learn to take pride in his appearance.

But most importantly your sons will learn holy reverence and respect.

Isn’t that worth putting your foot down? In a few years you’ll thank me when you have a wonderfully polite young man accompanying you to mass.

You’re welcome.
*Altar Boy 1.0 included the use of girls and proved ineffective.


Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thecrescat/2014/05/from-johnny-rotten-to-johnny-reverent-in-one-easy-step.html#ixzz332b5NS1x
Some results.  It can't get any better.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Archbishop Sample: "A Summer of Change". What's Going on at the Archdiocese of Portland?


A summer of change
Archbishop Alexander K. Sample
Catholic Sentinel June 30, 2014
http://www.catholicsentinel.org/images/cleardot.gif
 

It is almost a cliché to say that “no one likes change.”  
I don’t know if that is true or not for most people, but one thing I do know: 
Change, even when it is needed, is not always easy.

We have been going through some very significant changes at the Pastoral Center, the “headquarters,”

if you will,of the Archdiocese of Portland, serving the many parishes and schools of western Oregon. 
I can say without hesitation that these changes are not easy,
but that they are timely and needed for us to move forward with the work of the New Evangelization
 in this local Church.

When I first arrived here as the new Archbishop over a year ago, I decided that I would spend my

first year getting to know this local Archdiocese of Portland.  I did the best I could to listen, observe
and learn. 
This involved assessing the current state of affairs, both within the Pastoral Center offices
and throughout the Archdiocese in western Oregon. 
 It also included an attempt to objectively identify the needs of this local community of faith in the
Archdiocese.

Coupled with the above, I have spent much time in prayer and reflection on the mission that

the Lord Jesus has entrusted to me here as the shepherd called to minister to and lead this local
Church according the mind and heart of the Good Shepherd.  I am by no means perfect in this regard,
and I do not individually enjoy the charism of infallibility (just ask my mother!), but as they say,
my heart is in the right place. 
I desire only what God wants for us and what will help us all achieve the goal of our faith, i.e. salvation.

I have already identified some of my top priorities moving forward.  They include, but are not limited
to the following:  The education, catechesis and faith formation of our people, from the earliest days
of childhood and into the senior years; the revitalization, renewal and reform of the divine worship we
offer God in the sacred liturgy and in the sacraments of the Church; and the service of charity to all
of our brothers and sisters most in need.  Included in all of this is an acute awareness of and
attentiveness to the cultural diversity present in our local Church.

These are the “three fronts” of the New Evangelization, i.e. faith formation, divine worship and the

service of charity.  There are many other needs, for example marriage and family life and young adult
ministry, but they are essentially related to these three areas of focus.

After spending my first year here, I decided to bring in outside consultants who are experts in the

reorganization and restructuring of Church entities.  They came to us highly recommended by others,
and they have proven to be invaluable in helping us assess the current state of affairs and chart a way
forward. 

In all honesty,  they confirmed in many instances my own observations, but also surfaced some
other things of which I was unaware.

As a result of this study, my assessment of their observations and recommendations, and my

own observations over this past year, we have begun to implement significant changes in our
Pastoral Center operations. 
We do this in order to better respond to current needs and to be more effective in responding
to those needs, keeping a sharp focus on the mission of the Church and the priorities that have been
identified.

A major part of this reorganization involves changes in staffing.  In order to allow me to move ahead

with this new vision and plans for our future together, several key staff persons are departing their
service as employees of the Archdiocese.  

In addition, one long time employee has taken the opportunity
to retire. All have agreed to assist us for a month with the transition.

I want to publicly and sincerely express my gratitude to these fine individuals for their years of

faithful service to Christ and his Church here in the Archdiocese.  We will be forever grateful for
the contributions they have made to build up the Body of Christ.  Their departure should in no way
diminish their significant roles in the story of this local Church.

So, change is difficult and involves some sense of loss as we see longtime friends depart.  It is to this

point that I wish to express one final point.  I suppose it is natural to see such deep and significant
 changes as being somehow a criticism or rejection of the past.  I sincerely do not want it to be seen
in this way.  I have nothing but the deepest respect and gratitude for these fine people.  Almost all of
them were here during some very difficult and challenging times for the Archdiocese.

It is largely due to their dedication and hard work that this local Church came back from bankruptcy
and began to rebuild.

But with changing times come changing priorities and needs.  For us to move forward and meet

the challenges we face today and in the future, reorganization and “re-tooling” are needed at this time. 

It is with a tremendous sense of mission and enthusiasm that we move forward together.  There will
be some restructuring of the offices even as we begin to fill vacated positions and staff new positions. 
I humbly ask your prayers as we begin to rebuild and look to a future full of hope.
And please remember the staff members who are leaving and their families.  May they find a new path
as God continues to lead and guide them.

Friday, July 25, 2014

Archdiocese of Portland Job Opportunities. Know anyone?



Saint John Cajean, patron saint of job searches.
Glorious Saint Cajetan, acclaimed by
all people to be father of providence
because you provide miraculous aid to
all who come to you in need, I stand
here before you today, asking that you
present to the Lord the requests that
I confidently deposit in your hands.
(Mention here the
graces desired.)
May these graces that I now request
help me to always seek the Kingdom
of God and his Righteousness,
knowing that God — who dresses with
beauty the flowers of the field and
abundantly feeds the birds of the
sky — will give me all other things. Amen.[source]
       

Here is a list of job opportunities from the Archdiocese of Portland.  Although many have expired as of July 1st. it is interesting to see all the changes. 

You will notice the resurrection of the Office of Marriage and Family Life.  The last director slowly had his job eliminated and was the end of the "welcome" we all desire when going to our Pastoral Center. 
  
  

Archbishop Sample Reorganizes the Pastoral Center. Six resignations.

Director of worship leaves archdiocese
Sr. Jeremy Gallet
Sr. Jeremy Gallet

Sister Jeremy Gallet, archdiocesan director of the Office of Worship, is leaving her job. Her resignation adds to the list of five other Portland archdiocesan staffers who left their jobs earlier this month.

The department heads and key staff are departing as part of a reorganization of Pastoral Center operations.

Archbishop Alexander Sample said the changes are part of the archdiocese's effort to streamline operations and better communicate with the Western Oregon parishes and  schools the Pastoral Center serves.

The reorganization is the result of a months-long review of pastoral center practices by a firm retained by the archdiocese.