Main Website: http://www.arimatheachurch.com
THE NOISELETTER... Dedicated to the proposition that Christians need to make more noise! DECEMBER 2014
As I write this, it's he Friday before the first Sunday of Advent, according to the Orthodox Old Calendar. Advent is a time of reflection. We take two weeks before it begins to bring ourselves before the Lord and determine what it is He would have us work on this year. What "besetting sin," or habit, is standing in the way of our spiritual progress? We call this our "Advent project," and we reinforce it with spiritual reading and bodily prayer--otherwise known as fasting. Iconically, we use the anticipation of Christmas--the Lord's first coming-- to reflect on His Return. We spend time in the Eschatological prophecies, and look forward to "that day," when the Bridegroom will return for us. And we do our best to make sure there will be oil in our lamps when He does. Of course, we realize we can't keep our lamps filled on our own, and this inspires us to ever more rely upon and yield to God's Grace--not to excuse us, but to forgive us--and to work within us to bring us closer to being the people we want to become in Him. Whether you keep the Old Calendar or the New, may your Advent be holy and productive, and may you have the merriest of Christmases! THE LATEST CONGRATULATIONS to His Eminence, +HILARION, First Hierarch of ROCOR, and to His Grace, +JEROME, Bishop Emeritus of our Western Rite. Both celebrated the anniversaries of their episcopal consecrations, this past December 10th. For the Metropolitan, it was his 30th! May God grant them both many, many happy years! SUE'S CHRISTMAS CANTATA, on the 7th, was a success! The place was packed, the Salvation Army provided a nice reception afterward and everyone had a blessed time. DAUGHTER ALYSSA reports there was another "save" outside the abortion mill in South Bend. Week after week, sidewalk counselors and prayer warriors brave weather and other discomforts (including occasional attempts to run them over) in order to save the lives of pre-born babies. Please keep them in your prayers. THE HANDMAID OF GOD, PATRICIA BYRD went to be with the Lord on November 18th. The Funeral was on November 21st. Patricia was a new convert, and was one of the most delightful people I have ever known. A life-long smoker, she had lung cancer that had migrated to her brain. By the Grace of God, she was clear- minded and cheerful until the end, looking forward to the rest of her life. When she passed, she simply and peacefully fell asleep. Memory Eternal! THIS MONTH'S EDITION OF MY PERSONAL BLOG can be found at http://itinerantmoralist.weebly.com. NEEDS Thank you! to the wonderful people who have responded to our need for funds. Our deficit for the year is still a little over three thousand dollars, and if the Lord is leading you to send something to help, we would be most grateful. You can reach me at the Rectory: 219-324-8364. Also, the need for a vehicle has become urgent. If you by any chance have one that runs, that you could donate, please give me a call. NOVEMBER 2014
A new lease on life, or just a short-term rental? Fr. James Rosselli Last Tuesday (as I write this it's four days after the election) the American electorate went to the polls and demonstrated their will for national survival. It was no less than that. I am convinced our nation could not have survived two more years of the moral squalor which has been inflicted upon us over the past six. So, God has given us a chance. He has handed us the opportunity to restore sanity,. civility and the rule of law to our crippled nation. Opportunities, however, do not fulfill themselves. A gift must be opened before it is truly ours, and used if it is to fulfill its purpose. We have two years to do three very hard things: work, pray and forgive. What's that? Forgive? Yes. Our human adversaries--the ones who have used their power to implement an "educational" program that systematically corrupts children and violates the privacy of their homes; who have adopted ecstatic sexual perversion and the murder of children as their only stable principles; who have betrayed us to our enemies and who have opened our borders to criminals and to deadly disease--are not creatures of hell. They are its servants, but they are also--and more importantly--its victims. Hell wants these people damned, and it delights when we--God's people--who have the power to bind and loose--damn them. Hell rejoices when we curse them, and especially when it can lure us into joining it in hating them. So, I have a radical--and very difficult--proposal: even as we oppose what these people do, even as we work against their re-election, we must dispose ourselves to love them, and to be concerned for their souls. We need, personally, to forgive them for the damage they have done personally to us, which will untie at least one tether they have to the pit. Evil is defeated by Good. Hatred is defeated by Love. Our nation is in the condition it's in because our leaders have turned us away from God. The wonderful seed that was planted last Tuesday will take solid root and flower if we turn it back. THE LATEST... CONGRATULATIONS TO METROPOLITAN HILARION, AND TO ALL IN ROCOR'S EASTERN AMERICA DIOCESE! On November 14th and 15th, the Eastern America Diocese celebrated its 80th birthday at a festive celebration at St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Howell, NJ. An on-the-spot report from His Grace, Bishop +JEROME, our Western Rite Bishop-Emeritus, follows: There were 9 of us bishops: 3 Metropolitans (Metropolitan Hilarion Kapral, Metropolitan Alexander from the Ukraine, and Metropolitan Jonah); Archbishop Gabriel, Bishop George, Bishop Nikolai Soraich, myself, Bp. Nikolai Olhovsky, and Bishop John the new representative of the Moscow Patriarchate at St. Nicholas Cathedral on 97th St. There were far more priests and deacons than I could count, and several hundred worshippers. The EAD used the opportunity of this celebration to honor the First Hierarch of our Church, His Eminence Metropolitan +HILARION, on the thirtieth anniversary of his episcopal consecration. The actual anniversary date is December 10th (November 27th on the Julian Calendar). This is also the anniversary date of Bishop +JEROME's consecration. This has been a festive time indeed for Metropolitan +HILARION. who celebrated his Name Day this past November Third (October 21st on the Julian Calendar), the Feast of Saint Hilarion the Great, of the Desert Fathers. May God grant many, many years to His Eminence, His Grace and the Eastern America Diocese! A BABY'S LIFE IS SAVED ON THE PRAYER PATIO! Every Friday, my daughter Alyssa is out on the Prayer Patio across the street from the abortion mill in South Bend, This last Friday, they had a "save." A young mother turned away from the voices that would have her kill her child, and toward those offering help and support. Please pray for this young mother, for a healthy pregnancy and a robust new person to grow in the Light of the Lord. --------------------------------- UPCOMING CHRISTMAS CONCERT: My wife Sue is directing a Christmas Concert on Sunday, December 7, at 3:00 PM, at the Salvation Army Center, 3240 Monroe Street, La Porte IN. Admission is free. If you're in, or going to be in the neighborhood, make plans to come. It promises to be a good--and Godly-- time. UPCOMING... Advent's on the way. Do you have an Advent Project? That is, have you identified a besetting sin to particularly place before the Lord? Advent is when we contemplate the coming celebration of the Birth of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and in that contemplation anticipate His Return. Let us have lamps that are trimmed and filled with oil, as we await the Bridegroom (Matthew 25: 1 - 13). Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! NEEDS... Our automotive situation has just become desperate. The vehicle Sue uses for work (she visits and cares for home-bound people) is hanging on by a thread, and we don't have the six hundred dollars it would take to fix it. If the Lord is leading you to help us out, please do. Get hold of us at [email protected]. Thanks! OCTOBER 2014
Abortion, and the New Secular Paganism Fr. James Rosselli Have you had an abortion? have you urged your girlfriend or wife to have an abortion? Have you offered a positive opinion to someone who was seeking your advice about what to do about her "problem," who subsequently had an abortion? I have some good news and some bad news for you. The bad news is that you are either a murderer or are complicit in murder. Oh, I know the law won't say that to you, and we'll be getting around to that in a minute. But in your heart you know that you have been the agent of, or a participant in, the premeditated and deliberate putting to death of an innocent and defenseless human being, I'm sure it's grating on your conscience at some level, and that you have exerted, and continue to exert, effort to keep your conscience quiet. You have probably told yourself, over and over, that tired, desperate--and wildly inaccurate--line, "but I'm a good person!" But you aren't. Neither am I. Neither is anyone. We are all tragically flawed. We all have a dominant tendency to ignore what is good, and right, if it conflicts with our convenience. This tendency guarantees we will permit ourselves to be ruled by our own proclivities and urges, and what we shallowly and at the moment interpret as our "self-interest," rather than by the Law that God has written in nature for all to see, and revealed in plain language in the Old and New Testaments. As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” Romans 3: 10-12. The good news is that you can be forgiven, your slate wiped clean and your life made new. You can start over. Not by any "self-help" or "self-esteem" mumbo-jumbo, not by psychoanalysis or thinking good thoughts, or "making declarations." All that does is try to deal with the wound by piling stuff on top of it and hiding it. But you don't need to hide it. You can really be healed. God--He Who created you and loves you unconditionally, and Who wants you set free, has made provision for you in Jesus Christ. Abortion, you see, is not a "choice." It isn't a court ruling, It isn't a political position. It's a hunger. It's the hunger of a demon-god who has afflicted mankind from ancient days, who has called itself by many names: Molech, Milcom, Baal, Tialoc, Tanet, Asherah, Astaroth, Chemosh, Aphrodite, and more. Now it calls itself "Choice." But under whatever guise, by whatever name, its purpose is the same: to feed on innocent blood. This hunger overtakes societies that are in the process of becoming weak and unstable, whose moorings to Truth are slipping, and with it their power. In their desperation to find new sources of power (instead of simply returning to the ways that work), they become receptive to the voice of evil. That voice offers them a new religion, one which is powered by human sacrifice. And when it reaches a certain state of barbarism and depravity, the society buys it--and rapidly thereafter declines, the demonic hunger now pervasive, its victims ever multiplying. One of those victims is you. Yes, you're a perpetrator, but you're also a victim--a casualty in evil's ongoing war against those who are beloved of God and made in His Image. Like you. God wants to set you free. Write me. Let's talk about it. You can write me, at: [email protected]. THE LATEST... Welcome, PATRICIA JANE (HEDWIG) BYRD, to Christ's Holy Orthodox Church. We received Pat, by Chrismation and Profession of Faith, on Tuesday, October 14th (October 1st on the Julian Calendar). Every Orthodox church in the world is now your home! --------- My daughter Alyssa and I are out at the South Bend Prayer Patio every Friday, She does sidewalk counseling outside the abortion mill, there, and I volunteer at the St. Joseph County Right to Life office and the Apostolate of Divine Mercy Life Center. This past (as I write this) Friday, October 17th, I was treated to a truly impressive sight: the KNIGHTS FOR LIFE of MARIAN HIGH SCHOOL OF SOUTH BEND showed up in force to lend their prayer support. God bless these young people, who selflessly volunteer their time to do God's work! --------- The Mayor of Houston, a Lesbian, has subpoenaed "all the sermons and communications" of Houston clergy. She wants to see if any have advocated for the referendum against open bathrooms and school showers in the city. Hilariously, she claims that such action would "breach the separation of Church and State!" And her action does...what? There is, of course, a lawsuit to block the ridiculous over-reach, and the area pastors aren't complying. Well, one of my Orthodox brother priests sort of did. He sent her a pile of his sermons concerning same-sex marriage, homosexuality, abortion and the like, adding that in a free country, he would continue to speak freely, thank you very much. ----------- My wife, Sue, is directing a Christmas concert here in La Porte on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7th at 3:00 PM. It will be held at the Salvation Army Center, 3240 Monroe Street, La Porte Indiana. All are welcome. It's free, and promises to be proof that you can get lots more than you pay for! ------------- PLUG: A Protestant minister by the name of Eric Holmberg, founder of The Apologetics Group, has done some impressive scholarship on the topic of abortion and its relation to human sacrifice. It's called, "The Abortion Matrix," and you can access it on You Tube, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKo0oUUReUM. Or, you can buy the DVD for use in your adult groups, or just to have at home, here: http://bit.ly/18BSvmx. Full disclosure: I don't get a dime out of it. PRAYER PROJECT... Abomination piles on abomination. Our President's Open Borders policy, fully supported by every legislator in his party, has systematically filtered young illegal-alien drug gangsters and other adolescent criminals into our cities. It has admitted terrorists across our borders. Now, it has brought the deadliest virus on the planet into our midst. The Democrats are refusing to curtail travel from ebola-intensive areas, guaranteeing further infection. Please pray--and take action--that the upcoming election will reintroduce sanity to our government. This isn't a political matter, anymore, it's a moral and spiritual imperative. And please pray for the salvation of those responsible for these, and other culturally-suicidal, decisions. UPCOMING... Please join me in a co-ordinated prayer effort to overcome our cultural descent into oblivion. Write me, at: [email protected]. NEEDS... We're still running about four thousand dollars behind our budget. Anything you can contribute will be gratefully accepted and well-used. We could use a church van. If anyone in or near La Porte knows how to repair cars, we have a 1993 GMC Jimmy that needs significant work. -------------------------------- SEPTEMBER 2014
If you were really a Christian... Fr. James Rosselli
Every day, the world tries to shut Christians up. “We feel bad when you disagree with us, and if you were really a Christian, you wouldn’t make us feel bad,” we’re told. The suggestion is that, as “Christians,” our function in the world is to make people feel good. In a way, this is true. Being in Christ feels better than not being in Christ. If we bring someone to Christ, that person will experience clinically / empirically verifiable health benefits, both physical and psychological, that result from personal transformation, regular prayer, worship and fellowship. People who are walking in the Lord do in fact feel better than those who are not. The “feeling good” part, however, is not our job. The “bring someone to Christ” part is our job. The “feeling good” part is His job. The “feeling good” part can’t be our emphasis. Much of the message to nonbelievers will tend to make them feel bad, and we can’t let that make us hesitant. For instance, the central message of the Gospel is not, “God has a wonderful plan for your life.” The central message is that we are sinners in need of salvation, and that salvation is available, in Christ. The “Wonderful Plan” part is a corollary message, but it is dependent: it depends upon realization and confrontation of one’s sinfulness, and repentance and turning to God in Christ in search of His forgiving and healing Grace. Without that we can’t follow His Plan, so to the worldly man the Plan is irrelevant. The Gospel—the Good News—is that there is a cure for our terminal disease. The “Bad news” of the Gospel is that we indeed have a terminal disease—one which we would much rather ignore, or, even worse, celebrate the effects of. Our disease, Original Sin, or Pride, “sets us free” to ignore God and make up our own rules as just another species living in nature by fang and claw and the sweat of our face. So, we regard our brother and sister human beings as objects for our use. We want to prove we’re better than they are, and we call it “gaining status;” or seduce them into bed or into buying things, and call it “initiative;’ or defeat them in physical or intellectual battle, and call it “resoluteness.” We pamper our vanity and call it “enhancing our self-esteem,” or get all stuffy in an exalted position and call it “being an example of good order.” We do charitable things for others, but in return we want to be recognized and feted.. These, and countless other celebrations of our fallenness, are the rules and the rubrics by which the world lives. Their standard of self-sovereignty has one ethic: I will respect your absolute sovereignty to create your own world as long as you will respect mine. There’s a hitch… It can’t be done. We are not gods. We are not sovereign. We cannot create our own world. The most we can do is insulate and isolate ourselves within a web of our wants, ideas and desires, and pretend we’re creating a world. We cannot “respect each others’ sovereignty,” because it is inevitable that sooner or later my world will touch yours and I will insist that you play by my rules, or you will insist I play by yours. It’s all make-believe. It’s all a way of buffering the dread knowledge of the chasm that inevitably looms before us, into which we will inevitably fall, and deadening ourselves to the potentially shattering effect of that knowledge. To a worldly person, introducing objective Reality, particularly Ultimate Reality, into his life is to dangle him over the chasm and destroy whatever he has managed to cobble into a feeling of well-being. He is aware that Christians are supposed to be “good people,” and to him the definition of a “good person” is one who is “compassionate” enough not to dangle him over that chasm; not to keep him from feeling good; not to interfere with his illusions. Hence, If you were really a Christian… The things worldly people say to us descend from the pleadings of the spirits the Lord cast into the swine in Matthew 9: 28-32: “Please, leave us alone! Your presence torments us! Look, we’ll make a deal with You—let us go into these unclean places that are alien to You! If you are a kind and merciful God, surely You will let us do at least that!” (Painfully Revised Father Jim Version). Have you ever had a worldly person say to you, “How dare you condemn me!” when you weren’t condemning him (or her) at all? Have you even heard him say, “Just let me do what I do!” when you had no desire for—or even any awareness of—power to “let” or “not let” him do anything? Such things reveal the person’s instinctive awareness--however unwilling--that God finally has the authority; that what Jesus says to the whole Church in Mathew 18:18 is true: what we bind on earth is bound in heaven, and what we loose on earth is loosed in Heaven. It is why the Bible speaks so eloquently, in James 3: 12, about the incompatibility of blessing and cursing in the mouth of a Christian. Evil cowers and rages, whines and wheedles and is in real pain in the Presence of God. In the same way, the spirit of mammon, which inhabits the worldly, reacts in them much the same way in the presence of the Church. Mammon is the environment worldly people inhabit, by whose backward ethic (see Isaiah 5:20) they are blinded, It’s why we’re told to love our enemies, to bless rather than curse them. They live in a world of cursing. The devil, who holds them in thrall and desperately wants them cursed, despised and abandoned by the Church, delights in our cursing them. We are their only hope, and there will be no fulfillment of that hope if with our words on earth we bind in Heaven their destruction. Our job is to warn and invite, not to condemn. We need to pray for these captives, that God will reach them. We need to pray to bind the power of the spirits that deceive them, and to pray that they will—for just a moment—permit a crack to appear in their armor, that the Holy Spirit may enter, that they may be led to Jesus, and to the protection and new life offered in His Church. Bottom line: we must not permit ourselves to be shut up. We need to speak out. Not because we are these peoples’ enemies, but because—whether they know it or not—we are their lifeline. Their institutions, from first grade through grad school, are corrupt. Their entertainment is corrupt. Their news media are corrupt. They live in a sea of corruption, and they are drowning in it, enslaved to its nastiness and brutality, having no information beyond the devil’s Orwellian insistence that “slavery is freedom.” (George Orwell, 1984: Martin Secker & Warburg, Ltd, Publishers, London, 1949). If we don’t speak out against the things they have been taught to think of as right and loving and caring and normal, they will have no information at all about the difference between good and evil. If I am really a Christian, I am evil’s enemy and a fisher of men--men who are drowning in a sea of sweet molasses that makes them progressively more sluggish until it swallows them. If we don't fight for them, who will? You'll find more commentary at "Ponderings from the Porch," at our main website: http://www.arimatheachurch.com. THE LATEST..
Sue and Alyssa performed at the La Porte Fellowship Fest on September 6th, which, incidentally, was also Sue's birthday. Your humble, etc., manned the LaPorte County Right to Life information table and was pressed into service as a judge in the chili cook-off (not that I put up much of a fight). The Lord granted us a beautiful, brisk Fall day, and fantastic music. Thanks to Dr. Ben Carson’s "Run Ben, Run" prayer team, for having given me the great honor of delivering the opening prayer at their first (conference call) meeting. This good man, who makes no bones about his commitment to Christ, is worthy of our prayers. Blessings to St. Joseph County (Indiana) Right to Life, and thanks for a great spread at their Thank You breakfast for volunteers and supporters on Tuesday, July 22nd. And thanks to Bob, whom I met (actually re-met) at the Republican State Convention in early June, who suggested I write a newsletter. Well, Bob, here it is. Upcoming… Will you be in La Porte, Indiana on Saturday, September 13th at 12:30 PM? If so, please join us for a prayer gathering at the memorial to murdered pre-born children at Sacred Heart Church, 120 Bach Street. For the second year in a row, my friend Father Ian, Pastor of Sacred Heart Church, is hosting the event. Call me for more information, at (219) 324-8364. Let us gather and pray in each other’s company to end the atrocity of abortion. For more information about the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children and a list of locations: http://www.abortionmemorials.com. |
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SUE'S WEBSITE My wife, Sue, is a very gifted musician. She's the real deal, with a BA in music from the conservatory at Fredonia College (SUNY), an MA from the Manhattan School of Music and an ABD from Columbia University. Before we moved to Indiana, she was Music Director of the Long Island Opera. She teaches piano and voice and composes sacred music, and is available for scoring and charting at any level of complexity. You can visit Sue's website and hear selections of her published music at, http://suerosselli-singanewsong.weebly.com or call her here at the Rectory, at (219) 324-8364. |
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We hope you can help us meet some needs...
We're looking at about a four thousand dollar budget shortfall for the year, and would be grateful for any help you
could give us. Checks should be made out to "St. Joseph of Arimathea Orthodox Church," or simply "SJAOC," and
mailed to: St. Joseph of Arimathea House, 402 Niesen Street, La Porte IN 46350.
We're looking at about a four thousand dollar budget shortfall for the year, and would be grateful for any help you
could give us. Checks should be made out to "St. Joseph of Arimathea Orthodox Church," or simply "SJAOC," and
mailed to: St. Joseph of Arimathea House, 402 Niesen Street, La Porte IN 46350.
~ARCHIVE~
LITURGY FOR LIFE, IN SOUTH BEND
Fr. Jim celebrating at the portable Altar made by friend Tom Uebbing, at the
Gazebo at The Prayer Patio, Mishawaka, Indiana. The Patio and Gazebo are
directly across from an abortion business, and are flanked by The Life Center
and the St. Joseph County Right to Life offices.
Congratulations to the newly-formed Apostolate of Divine Mercy, whose ministry at The Life Center includes an adoption agency and crisis counseling activities.as well as continuing to co-operate with St. Joseph County Right to Life in support of the sidewalk counseling outreach outside the neighboring abortorium.
Gazebo at The Prayer Patio, Mishawaka, Indiana. The Patio and Gazebo are
directly across from an abortion business, and are flanked by The Life Center
and the St. Joseph County Right to Life offices.
Congratulations to the newly-formed Apostolate of Divine Mercy, whose ministry at The Life Center includes an adoption agency and crisis counseling activities.as well as continuing to co-operate with St. Joseph County Right to Life in support of the sidewalk counseling outreach outside the neighboring abortorium.
Here's Matushka (one of the many names for an Orthodox priest's wife)
Sue, who led the Chant, handing out the Prosphora (unconsecrated blessed bread) after the Liturgy.
NEW JOB FOR ALYSSA
Daughter Alyssa (far right) with other Sidewalk Counselors, ministering on the Prayer Patio in Mishawaka (South Bend) IN. The Patio is directly across the street from an abortion business, and these truly fine people are on the front lines of the battle to save the lives of pre-born infants. Heat or cold, rain or shine, they're out there convincing expectant mothers not to take the lives of their children.
Alyssa was voted onto the Board of Directors of St. Joseph County Right to Life, and was inducted at the June meeting.
Alyssa was voted onto the Board of Directors of St. Joseph County Right to Life, and was inducted at the June meeting.
SAINT JOSEPH COUNTY RIGHT TO LIFE HELD ITS 6th ANNUAL CLERGY PRAYER DINNER April 9 at the Kroc Center in South Bend. 180 people attended including 22 clergy or religious. Prayer leaders included Pastor Lornce Applewhite of Grace A.M.E Zion Church, South Bend; Sister Ngozi Udoye of Saint Joseph High School, South Bend and Father Jim Rosselli of Saint Joseph of Arimathea Orthodox Church, LaPorte.The Washington High School Gospel Choir provided the musical portion of the program. Essay contest winners were Meghan Russell and Nicholas Kloska of Saint Matthew Grande School, David Schena II of Marian High School and Madison Woods of Penn High School.
Rev. Calvin Johnson, Master of Ceremoinies.
Sr. Ngozi Udoye, IHJ led us in a responsive prayer.
Fr. Jim, ever politically-incorrect: "Who here does not believe that consenting to the murder of a pre-born infant is an intrinsic evil?" (No hands went up). "Okay--how did you vote?"
Tom Gill, President of St. Joseph County Right-To-Life, with essay contest winners
(L-R) Nicholas Kloska, Meghan Russell, Madison Woods and David Schena II.
Soloist Aundrea fronts The Washington High School Gospel Choir, an exciting and accomplished group of young people. Washington High School's budget ran out of money to support the choir, who continue the group by meeting on their own and raising their own funds.
Story and Photographs: Tom Uebbing, Today's Catholic.
BISHOP +JEROME IN BRITAIN
Our Western Rite Bishop-Emeritus, His Grace +Jerome, made a visitation to our two Western Rite parishes in the U.K. In the process, he celebrated the first Western Rite Orthodox Pontifical Liturgy (a Liturgy celebrated by a bishop) since the Norman Conquest of 1066! Pictures and more are here: http://westernriteorthodox.weebly.com/news.html
JANUARY 23rd Prayer for Life.
The National Pro-Life Action League sponsored a nationwide prayer event on January 23rd, the 40th anniversary of the ill-conceived Supreme Court decision in the Roe vs. Wade case. All over the country, people gathered in front of abortion memorials for a quiet moment of prayer.
Here in La Porte, Fr. Ian Williams, Pastor of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Pastor Jesse Moore, of Faith Fellowship Church of God and I, Your Humble Servant, gathered in front of Sacred Heart's memorial to the victims of abortion. We were joined by my intrepid daughter, Alyssa (it was about 8 degrees F. at the time). Abortion is our great national disgrace, and we prayed for an end to it.
We also commemorated the souls of all of the innocent children slaughtered in abortion mills , prayed for forgiveness for their families and offered prayers of repentance for the Church's failure to properly safeguard the culture God has entrusted to us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and God the Son, have mercy on us sinners.
Here in La Porte, Fr. Ian Williams, Pastor of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Pastor Jesse Moore, of Faith Fellowship Church of God and I, Your Humble Servant, gathered in front of Sacred Heart's memorial to the victims of abortion. We were joined by my intrepid daughter, Alyssa (it was about 8 degrees F. at the time). Abortion is our great national disgrace, and we prayed for an end to it.
We also commemorated the souls of all of the innocent children slaughtered in abortion mills , prayed for forgiveness for their families and offered prayers of repentance for the Church's failure to properly safeguard the culture God has entrusted to us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and God the Son, have mercy on us sinners.
La PORTE, INDIANA HOSTS ITS FIRST STAND-UP RALLY
Our own Father Jim, with lots of help, was the Rally Captain for La Porte's participation in the third Stand Up For Religious Freedom Rally.
See the details at http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com. Scroll down to La Porte.
A week later on the 27th, Fr. Jim and daughter, Alyssa, participated in the Rally at South Bend.
See the details at http://standupforreligiousfreedom.com. Scroll down to La Porte.
A week later on the 27th, Fr. Jim and daughter, Alyssa, participated in the Rally at South Bend.
FATHER JIM RETIRES FROM THE MILITARY.
After twenty-one years of service in the State Guards of three states (New York Guard, New Mexico State Defense Force and the Indiana Guard Reserve), Chaplain (Lieutenant Colonel) James Rosselli retired from the Military after eight months on Terminal Leave. The ceremony was held on Friday, 28 October at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.
The ceremony was full of the very real military family-feeling which is, for the most part, why people stick around for The Twenty. I was very honored to be inducted into the "Legion of Hoosier Heroes," and awarded the Indiana Guard Reserve Medal of Merit, by our Commanding General, Major General F. Barry Green. Of course, we all know it's the family members who make the real sacrifice, and my wife Sue was inducted into the "Legion of Hoosier Heroines."
I have been privileged to have spent two decades serving with and serving America's Best. They are engraved on my heart forever. HOOAH!
The ceremony was full of the very real military family-feeling which is, for the most part, why people stick around for The Twenty. I was very honored to be inducted into the "Legion of Hoosier Heroes," and awarded the Indiana Guard Reserve Medal of Merit, by our Commanding General, Major General F. Barry Green. Of course, we all know it's the family members who make the real sacrifice, and my wife Sue was inducted into the "Legion of Hoosier Heroines."
I have been privileged to have spent two decades serving with and serving America's Best. They are engraved on my heart forever. HOOAH!
OUR FIRST BABY!
Here's Jenifer, holding her grandson Collin Phend, whom she brought to the September 16th, 2012 Liturgy. Collin, at age two and a half months, is reportedly
already scooting forward on the floor to get himself around!
Collin is already a very outgoing young guy, with a great smile, and we look forward to having him back with us soon.
already scooting forward on the floor to get himself around!
Collin is already a very outgoing young guy, with a great smile, and we look forward to having him back with us soon.
COLLIN WITH ALYSSA
Our own daughter, Alyssa, will of course let no baby remain un-held by her. Here she is, cuddling Collin. Actually, looking at both of their grins, it's difficult to tell just who's cuddling whom...
ROCOR WESTERN RITE CONFERENCE, AUGUST 7 - 10, 2012
Four days of beautiful Gregorian Chant echoing off the marble walls of a gorgeous chapel, meetings that actually accomplished things, presentations that met real and present needs, all attended by Franciscan hospitality and fabulous food. Metropolitan +Hilarion and Bishop +Jerome were both there, participating with us in everything, for the whole conference. An
atmosphere of respect, co-operation and good
fellowship pervaded, and none of us really wanted to
leave.
Thanks and kudos to the Franciscan community at
the Mount Alvernia Retreat House in Wappingers
Falls, New York, who were very gracious to their
Orthodox brethren and made us feel right at at home.
Photo: Fr. Aidan Keller
atmosphere of respect, co-operation and good
fellowship pervaded, and none of us really wanted to
leave.
Thanks and kudos to the Franciscan community at
the Mount Alvernia Retreat House in Wappingers
Falls, New York, who were very gracious to their
Orthodox brethren and made us feel right at at home.
Photo: Fr. Aidan Keller