Pope Benedict XVI called on young people to not pursue power, money and prestige, but to find true joy in Christ and live a life of generous service to others. In his message for World Youth Day 2012, he told the world's young Catholics to start making the world a better, more just and humane place right now, even while they continue to pursue their studies, talents and interests. Do not be content in giving the minimum, he said. "The world needs men and women who are competent and generous, willing to be at the service of the common good," the pope said. The Vatican and most dioceses around the world will mark World Youth Day on Palm Sunday, April 1. International celebrations of World Youth Day are normally held every two-three years. In the message, released by the Vatican in English, Spanish, Italian and French March 27, the pope chose the theme from St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians: "Rejoice in the Lord always." The pope said: "Joy is at the heart of the Christian experience." In a world marked by so much sorrow and anxiety, "joy is an important witness to the beauty and reliability of the Christian faith." He told young people to recognize that the many temptations and false promises of modern-day culture veer people away from true and lasting happiness. People are often pressured "to seek immediate goals, achievements and pleasures" as the dominant culture "fosters fickleness more than perseverance, hard work and fidelity to commitments," he said.

The 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council is an opportunity to revisit the clear teaching of its documents and reject distortions and false interpretations that have gained traction in the Catholic Church, according to a council scholar. Alan Schreck, professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, spoke at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center in Garrison March 13 on "Vatican II: World Church or Church of the Little Flock?" Vatican II is still a sure compass for the church today, Schreck said, and each pope since the council reaffirmed its teachings as "God's teachings in our time." Nonetheless, he said, there has been tumult as the postconciliar church sought to understand what the council meant and how to implement it. Schreck said extreme responses vary from those who thought the council did not go far enough to create a democratic church to those who thought it wrought too many changes and opened the door to secularism and modernist heresy. "The documents of Vatican II are among the great unread documents of our time," said Schreck, a theologian, author and scholar of the council. "People are not sure what it said. A lot of things that are blamed on Vatican II are not in the documents." Here is an excerpt from Lumen Gentium promulgated by Pope Paul VI in November 1964. "Moreover, let the laity also by their combined efforts remedy the customs and conditions of the world, if they are an inducement to sin, so that they all may be conformed to the norms of justice and may favor the practice of virtue rather than hinder it. By so doing they will imbue culture and human activity with genuine moral values; they will better prepare the field of the world for the seed of the Word of God; and at the same time they will open wider the doors of the Church by which the message of peace may enter the world." It is very relevant for a time so filled with wrong-headed thinking and a society that appears to seek to destroy the Catholic Church.

Actress Shari Rigby sat right across from her interviewer, her legs crossed. On the instep of her right foot was a tattoo of a flower. She was asked what it was. "Her name would have been Lily," Rigby answered, "and so that's there to remind me." She was talking about the baby she had aborted 20 years ago. Rigby plays a relatively small part in the new movie "October Baby," but it's a pivotal role: She plays the birth mother of Hannah (Rachel Hendrix), but Hannah was born as the survivor of a botched abortion; Hannah's twin brother only survived a handful of days after the abortion attempt. But the kicker is that brother directors Andrew and Jon Erwin, when they sent Rigby the script for her consideration, had no idea she had ever undergone an abortion. In fact, Jon Erwin told Catholic News Service, it wasn't until after the movie had been shown to several focus groups that Rigby went in front of the camera again to address moviegoers about her own abortion experience, which has been added to the film's closing credits. "There are millions and millions of post-abortive women out there," Erwin said. "October Baby," which debuts March 23 in about 360 theaters, details the revelation to college student Hannah about the circumstances behind her birth, and her quest to find the woman who tried to abort her. The movie also stars John Schneider ("The Dukes of Hazzard," "Smallville") as Hannah's father and Jasmine Guy ("A Different World") as the nurse from the abortion clinic all those years ago. I can't wait to see this movie. If you are in a smaller city, you should request that your local theater show it. Then gather all of your fellow parish members and support this movie.

Tammy Becht and her family sought shelter in the basement of their Floyd County home when tornadoes ravaged small towns across southern Indiana. About an hour later, she began seeing the devastation through live TV reports from the affected towns. "I realized that we were dealing with a massive amount of destruction," said Becht, a member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in New Albany. "And that meant that people were going to want to respond." Becht soon sent a message through the Internet social networking website Facebook to her pastor, Father Eric Augenstein. Becht was ready to help in large part because of her experience more than five years ago in leading four relief trips to the Gulf Coast in the months immediately after Hurricane Katrina ravaged that region. "(Helping after Katrina) impacted me in so many ways," she said. "I realized how much power we have as a faith community to be able to reach out to other people. It doesn't matter if they're in our backyard or not. If we feel called to help in some way, then God is going to enable us to be able to do something with it if we're faithful to it." Approximately 50 Catholics across the New Albany Deanery felt that call and attended a meeting at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church about 18 hours after the tornadoes to begin organizing relief efforts. "This is what a Catholic community is all about, the support for one another," said Father Augenstein after the meeting. "It is always heartwarming. But it's not surprising to see the support that we have from the community to reach out to those in the greatest need. I know that our people always band together." Let us pray this Lent that Catholics throughout the world respond to all the needs including the aggressive attacks against the Church.

Just like the disciples, every follower of Jesus needs a "mountain-top" experience of light and of closeness to the Lord to get them through life's difficult and painful moments, Pope Benedict XVI said. Celebrating a morning Mass March 4 at the Church of St. John Baptist de la Salle in a Rome suburb and reciting the Angelus at midday with visitors at the Vatican, Pope Benedict commented on the day's Gospel account of the Transfiguration. Jesus told his disciples that he would have to suffer and die, but they did not understand him and, in fact, they objected to the idea, the pope told the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square for the Angelus. "For this reason, Jesus took three of them up the mountain and revealed his divine glory, the splendor of truth and love. Jesus wanted this light to illuminate their hearts when they would pass through the thick darkness of his passion and death, when the scandal of the cross would be insupportable for them," the pope said. "All of us need interior light to overcome the trials of life," he said. "This light comes from God, and it is Christ who gives it to us." If you have had a mountain top experience, you are armed with the tools to make a difference for others. Don't hide that experience but allow God to use you because of it. Share it with others, especially those who are hurting, depressed, or lonely. St. Paul tells us that we can plant and water but only God can grow. Are you planting the seeds of faith in others? Are you bringing people to God's church? Are you bringing people to God through your actions? Lent is always a good time to begin a new habit. I am praying that those with illuminated hearts will share the light with those who have not said yes to God yet.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty went before Congress to urge rescission of the Department of Health and Human Services' contraceptive mandate or passage of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. Bishop William E. Lori's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee focused on some of the "absurd and surreal consequences" of the mandate and the "accommodation" announced by President Barack Obama, which the bishop called "a legally unenforceable promise to alter the way the mandate would still apply to those who are still not exempt from it." He said: "'Without change' suddenly means 'with change.' 'Choice' suddenly means 'force.'" The bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., who addressed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee February 16 on a similar topic, was joined at the hearing by a Muslim-American attorney, the director of the Family Research Council's Center for Human Dignity and a physician who chaired the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Preventive Services for Women. Following the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine panel, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced last year that nearly all health plans -- with only a very narrow religious exemption -- would be required to cover sterilizations and all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives, including some that can cause an abortion. Obama's revised mandate says religious employers could decline to cover contraceptives if they were morally opposed to them, but the health insurers that provide their health plans would be required to offer contraceptives free of charge to women who requested such coverage. But Bishop Lori said the mandate "has suddenly turned the world upside down" by making commonly understood words mean something entirely different.