Michael Jones, a member of St. Columbkille Parish in Papillion, said he came to the third annual Heartland Catholic Men's Conference August 4 in Omaha to meet others in fellowship and learn more about the faith of the church. Such opportunities for inspiration and formation were lacking when he was raising children, said Jones, 63, noting that although ages of participants varied widely at the conference, many who had gathered there were about his age. "Maybe we just all got hungry (for spiritual growth) at the same time," Jones said. Similar sentiment -- a strong desire for sharing in faith formation -- appears to have been the spark that more than a dozen years ago ignited what has become a growing Catholic men's movement in the United States, said Peter Kennedy, administrator of adult faith formation in the Omaha Archdiocese's Office of Evangelization and Catechesis. And the movement is being fueled in part by concerns about a loss of male spiritual leadership in the midst of declining morals and a secularization of society, he said. "There's a genuine spiritual hunger," Kennedy told the Catholic Voice, Omaha's archdiocesan newspaper. Many men now being schooled through men's groups that concentrate on spirituality and teachings of the church say things like "I never heard this before," Kennedy said. Some aspects of Catholicism -- the centrality of the Eucharist and the church's insistence on social justice -- were taught well over the past 40 years, he said. But other aspects of catechesis often were insufficient, such as church teaching on baptism and penance, the dangers of contraception and the importance of marriage and family life, Kennedy said. At the same time, many Catholic men pursued success in the workplace and left the spiritual formation of their families to their wives, Kennedy said.

A little self-reflection every now and then never hurts. Some call it prayer; others a retreat. Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day, co-founders of the Catholic Worker, called it "clarification of thought." No matter how it's pegged, something worthy usually emerges. Stephanie Gyldendan, head organizer for ESTHER, a faith-based organization addressing social justice concerns in Neenah, Wis., finds such reflection a good thing. Members of the organization, a recipient of funding through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, have begun to reflect more deeply on their work at the behest of the campaign, the U.S. bishops' domestic anti-poverty campaign. And they liked what they saw, Gyldendan told Catholic News Service. "It really brought in a rich discussion on why our faith traditions call us to engage in the community and work for justice," Gyldendan said. Under revised guidelines developed in 2010 as CCHD underwent its own "review and renewal" after a period of reflection, organizations seeking church funding for anti-poverty work are being asked to consider how work on affordable housing, immigrant rights, police protection and school reform enhances Catholic moral and social teaching. ESTHER, which stands for Empowerment Solidarity Truth Home Reform, is an interfaith organization that includes seven Catholic parishes as partners. Gyldendan said CCHD's new guidelines provide "room for conversation" to better understand how faith motivates action. CCHD-funded organizations are finding that the revised guidelines leave no doubt that Catholic teaching must be upheld in all activities and affiliations.

They crossed 2,000 miles of mountains and prairie, sun and sleet, city and country to spread the Catholic Church's pro-life message. "They" were mostly college-age volunteers who walked from coast to coast in four separate groups, protesting at abortion clinics along the way, before arriving in Washington for a rally Aug. 11. The walk was challenging at times, volunteers Matt Rochefort and Stephanie Culy told Catholic News Service in an interview a day before the rally. Rochefort's group braved wildlife, including a bear sighting at night. Meanwhile, Culy's group trekked up the Cascade Mountains to cross Washington state, but they remained dedicated to their mission. "We were climbing 1,600 feet in five miles, and it was windy and raining," said Culy, but any adversity they faced was worth it to take a stand against "the culture of death. This is the kind of culture we're working against. I thought of Christ walking to Golgotha. That image really stuck to me," she said. Rochefort believed the clinic protests were effective. "Not many people engaged us -- most people didn't know what pro-life is. I think a lot of the problem is the ignorance of abortion," said Rochefort. "But we don't use graphic pictures or signs. We try to be a peaceful presence. We were very enthusiastic after the first mile in Santa Monica, and this teenager, his name was Gabe and I will never forget, walks up to this group of us in pro-life shirts and begins to argue with us. It was just so amazing; he really cared about the women. I think it took a lot of courage for Gabe. We prayed for him for the rest of the walk, and I really believe he'll turn around" and see that abortion is wrong, Rochefort said.

America is a great country and as President Reagan said, "a shining city on a hill." That quote is based on the scripture passage from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount recalled in Matthew 5:14 which says, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." Francis Cardinal George, who leads the Archdiocese of Chicago and writes a blog about all things Catholic in Chicago, jumped into the Chick Fil A fray this week, addressing the issue of religious freedom in his blog. He said, "Recent comments by those who administer our city seem to assume that the city government can decide for everyone what are the “values” that must be held by citizens of Chicago. I was born and raised here, and my understanding of being a Chicagoan never included submitting my value system to the government for approval. Must those whose personal values do not conform to those of the government of the day move from the city?" Amen brother. As our country's leadership continues to espouse the ideals of Socialism, many folks have simply folded up their tents and retreated into their homes. This isolationism has caused our nation to sink into an abyss of gridlock most exemplified in the lack of results by our political leaders. Cardinal George refuses to do that and thank God he lives in America where despite the best efforts of some, the First Amendment is still alive. He goes on to say, "The value in question is espousal of “gender-free marriage.” Approval of state-sponsored homosexual unions has very quickly become a litmus test for bigotry; and espousing the understanding of marriage that has prevailed among all peoples throughout human history is now, supposedly, outside the American consensus. Are Americans so exceptional that we are free to define “marriage” (or other institutions we did not invent) at will? What are we re-defining?" Bigotry has become the most overused (and usually incorrectly) word by those who follow the agenda of humanists. Bigotry is defined as stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own. Make no mistake, I am not saying that there are not Catholics, Christians or religious people who may be bigots. What I want to add is that many of the humanists who support gender-free marriage are solid bigots in their own right. It galls them that people refuse to abdicate their religious beliefs in favor of a world view. The misunderstanding stems usually from a lack of awareness about faith and belief. Catholics believe the teachings of God, brought to us in human form by Jesus Christ. We believe that marriage is a sacrament celebrated through a holy ritual joining one man and one woman together for life in matrimony. It is more than a civil union. It is a commitment before God and community. The loving union joins the couple with God. The union is also about hope that God will bless the couple with children. Cardinal George again speaks clearly on this issue when he says, "Marriage exists because human nature comes in two complementary sexes: male and female. The sexual union of a man and woman is called the marital act because the two become physically one in a way that is impossible between two men or two women. Whatever a homosexual union might be or represent, it is not physically marital. Gender is inextricably bound up with physical sexual identity; and “gender-free marriage” is a contradiction in terms, like a square circle." Amen, I say again.