VALUABLE RESOURCE - FORMED

DISCLAIMER - I submit the following post about FORMED.org solely to encourage brothers and sisters in Christ to enjoy the content and learn more about their Catholic Faith. I am not doing so for any commercial purpose, and do not receive or expect any compensation whatsoever for promoting this most valuable resource. I find the content on FORMED to be extremely entertaining and helpful and want only to share this information with others so that they may also enjoy it and grow in their faith.  

If your parish has a a subscription to www.FORMED.org, the video found at the bottom of this post will instruct you step by step on how to register using your parish's ACCESS CODE. You can obtain the parish ACCESS CODE by calling your parish office.

To register using the ACCESS CODE, log on to www.formed.org and scroll to the bottom left corner of the page where you will see the following then click on ENTER CODE.

This will bring you to the box shown in the photo below- fill out the fields - check the box acknowledging TERMS OF SERVICE and PRIVACY POLICY - then click on CREATE ACCOUNT.

You will then be sent an email to confirm your account. Log into your email and confirm. Once you do that you are good to go. Your FORMED account is ready. Just log in using the email address and password you used to register.

The video at the bottom of this post may be helpful in creating your account.

Once logged in you can browse through the various contents of the site by clicking on the following options (STUDY - WATCH - LISTEN -READ - SEARCH) shown in the photo below and found at the top of the FORMED home page.

You may also scroll to the bottom of the page and click on CONTENT LIST where you can pick a topic that is of interest to you. 

There is plenty of GREAT CATHOLIC CONTENT for you to enjoy using FORMED! Using FORMED will help you grow spiritually and increase your knowledge of the Catholic Faith which in turn will result in a more profound appreciation for what we have in the Church established by our Savior!

You may also download the FREE FORMED APP on your mobile devices and smart phones to access FORMED on the go - anytime - anywhere. 

Why Belong to a Church? I Can Pray and Worship God on My Own!

We often hear things like, I don't need to belong to a church, I'm spiritual and can worship and pray to God on my own. Here is a good video in response to such philosophies.

The Catholic Church Is Perfect! Why?

Do you know someone who no longer practices their Catholic Faith, and claims that it was the sexually deviant behavior of some members of the clergy, and the failure of the Church to address the issue that finally caused them to leave the Church?

As repulsive as pedophilia is, especially when committed by a man whom we know has been ordained to represent Christ on earth in the administration of the sacraments, we must remember that the MAN has not been made perfect through the sacrament of Holy Orders. The priest is still a man and thus remains subject to the tendency toward sin along with the rest of humankind.

It is not man that makes the Catholic Church PERFECT, it is Jesus Christ who founded the Church and instituted the sacraments. As Catholics we must remain focused on Christ, truly present in the Eucharist, the very center of our Faith! If we are looking for perfection in a man, we will fail to find it in any church on earth!

John L. Barger, founder of Sophia Institute Press, in a debate with his daughter over the perfection of the Catholic Church, presents a powerful yet brief argument which I encourage all to read here.

Year of Evangelization

This is the most important invitation anyone can receive! The logo to the left is so beautiful! A depiction of our Lord Jesus Christ welcoming all to return home with open arms! Imagine!

The following explanation of the meaning of The Year of Evangelization is taken directly from the F.A.Q. page of the website Year of Evangelization - Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.

Please take some time to peruse the website and share it with others!

Thank you for visiting! May the peace of our Lord be with you always!

There's No Place Like Home!

Karla Wilkinson was a "lukewarm" Catholic until events in her life caused her to come home to the richness of her faith. Karla went on to write a book entitled Holy Habits.

The following article by Karla Wilkinson, which appeared in the May/June 2002 Issue of Lay Witness Magazine briefly describes what caused her to completely embrace her Catholic faith. I am sure you will find it informative and inspiring, and something that all of us Catholics keep in mind!

A Recovering Lukewarm Catholic Discovers Holy Habits

Karla Wilkinson

From the May/Jun 2002 Issue of Lay Witness Magazine

I always thought it was enough to be a halfhearted Catholic. After all, I was a nice person who seldom hurt anyone, with a little religion thrown in for good measure. Then something deeply painful happened- and I learned that "nice" was not enough and "lukewarmness" was no match for tragedy.

Five years ago, suddenly and without warning, my infant son died. Two weeks later my mother died. My heart was crushed. After the funerals, when things grew quiet . . . read more

Lenten Parish Mission

Click on the title of this post and you will be able to hear Father William Casey, C.P.M., in his Lenten Parish Mission presentation seen on EWTN this month, present the truth about the Catholic Church as it undergoes an onslaught of attacks brought on by Satan's longstanding desire to destroy it!

Remember, the Church has come under attack many times during its past 2000 year history, but still remains and will remain until the end of the age!

Why?

Because Jesus said these words to Peter, "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt 16:18)

Fr. Casey's message is timely for all Catholics, especially for those who have drifted away! So please take a few minutes to seek the truth!

Look, Here is the Messiah! No, There He Is!

Whenever I think of how much Christianity has divided since the time of the Great Schism in the year 1054 to the present time, in which there are now literally thousands of Christian denominations and movements throughout the world, I think of the following words Jesus spoke to the apostles in the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24:23-28 NAB)

23 If anyone says to you then, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it.
24 False messiahs and false prophets will arise, and they will perform signs and wonders so great as to deceive, if that were possible, even the elect.
25 Behold, I have told it to you beforehand.
26 So if they say to you, 'He is in the desert,' do not go out there; if they say, 'He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.
27 For just as lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

I think of these words also whenever well-meaning Christians, who I'm sure were genuinely concerned about my salvation, have said things to me like, 'why are you still remaining in the Catholic Church, it's a cult based on pagan practices,' or there is no biblical basis concerning the practices and doctrine of the Catholic Church, I immediately focus on the Jesus' words, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'There he is! do not believe it.'

Christ warned in verse 24 of this passage, that false prophets and false messiahs would be able to deceive even the elect. You have to ask yourself the question, how is one so easily deceived? The answer is a lack of genuine knowledge about our faith!

I am not being judgmental here because I have certainly been guilty for many years of not taking the time and putting the effort into learning about my Catholic faith, but how many of us spend tremendous amounts of time to engage in meaningless activities, yet can never find the time or the energy to learn about our faith.

Please! Take the time to learn about your faith and put it into practice. It's been Christ's gift to us for the past 2000 years! When you sincerely seek the truth about it, you'll find it to be a beautiful source of spiritual strength and nourishment that is intended to sustain us until our Savior's return!

Peace!

Market Religion

An authentic religion by its very nature is an established religion because God himself reveals it. Once God has revealed himself to mankind, man’s only valid choice is to make that religion, that revelation, his own. To do otherwise is to contradict the very idea of revealed truth. What the English speaking world has inherited via the kindness of William and Mary is a fractured Christianity, a faith which embraces certain aspects of revelation and ignores other features. Thus the Bible is embraced at the expense of the sacraments; preaching is favored to the detriment of sacrifice; the congregation is preferred to the priesthood; the church’s spiritual mediation is forsaken for individual access. Certainly today’s Catholic is not immune to this market place Christianity. Today’s Catholic will go to Mass on Sunday but never go to confession on Saturday. Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation are prized events in Catholic life but contraception, cohabitation and divorce are frequent options. Some parishes are big on social justice; others are renowned for their piety. Angels, vigil lights and the blessing of Rosary beads remain popular while sin, hell and a firm purpose of amendment are forgotten. The American government might not have a legally established religion. But God does. And believers ignore it at their peril. . . . this is the last paragraph of an article entitled, Is God Well Served by ‘Market Religion’? . . read the entire article @ http://thericatholic.com/stories/1344.html.
You may read many other articles by this prolific and Spirit-filled author, Fr. John A. Kiley, which you can find arranged by topic @ http://www.stfranciswarwick.com/The%20Quiet%20Corner%20by%20topic.htm

Learned of this website on EWTN

Check out this great site. It is a wealth of information for Catholics and Non-Catholics alike. The videos on the homepage and the Real People - Real Stories page are extremely well done.

The Mission: Catholics Come Home, Inc. is an independent non-profit Catholic apostolate that creates effective and compassionate media messages and broadcasts them nationally and internationally, in order to inspire, educate and evangelize inactive Catholics and others, and invite them to live a deeper faith in Jesus Christ, in accord with the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. (http://www.catholicscomehome.org/)

The Need: Here is the evidence that the need for Catholics Come Home is great:

In 2005, Catholics accounted for nearly 23% (64.8 million) of the U.S. population, yet according to the CARA Catholic Poll (CCP), only 33% of U.S. Catholics attend Mass on a weekly basis. That means that approximately 42.7 million U.S. Catholics are not even regular worshipers!

The number of Americans identifying themselves as non-religious/secular increased 110% from 1990 to 2000. It is now 13.2% of the total population.3 Comparing this statistic with the previous one, non-religious-secular individuals outnumber active, Mass attending Catholics by 58% (13.2% vs. 7.59%). Imagine the negative impact these individuals have on culture and public policy.

As many as 100,000 baptized Catholics in the U.S. drift away from Church each year.4
One-third to one-half of Catholic marriages now ends in divorce.4
72% of Catholics have not tried to win a convert to Christ.4

For every four Protestants, there is one convert. For Catholics, the numbers were 250 to one. That is about one convert for every 807 Catholics.4

If every Catholic brought one person into the Church each year, it would only take only three years to be a totally Catholic society.4

Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, reiterated the present state of the world's spirituality when he addressed a congress of ecclesial movements on March 9, 2006. He pointed out the obstacles that face the Church's evangelizing efforts.

An expanding secularization and an authentic dictatorship of relativism (Benedict XVI): This sad truth manifests itself in a suppression of any public religious expression and the belief that truth is relative only to the individual who wants to believe it. Immoral acts such as abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage are seen as legitimate choices and the rights of a free society. The new god of the secular world is the feeding of one's appetites.

In the vacuum left by the suppression of traditional Christian religion an invasion of religious sects and New Age attitudes and lifestyles has occurred. Pseudo religious phenomena such as magic and the occult have now come into vogue. New age philosophies propose that individuals are the center of their own universes and no rules apply to anyone.

Lack of religious formation: Children are being brought up in faithless households without Christian values or boundaries to their behaviors. The liberal press, television, and other media have become the new source for education and values, emphasizing money, power, and social position. While many parents are distracted pursuing their own goals, the TV has become their children's default educator.

3 World Christian Encylopedia's Comparative Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World

4 Claveau, Victor The 7% Solution, A Guide to Evangelization at the Parish, Community or Diocesan Level ( http://www.catholicscomehome.org/ )