The following comes from a November 4 Angelus article by J.D. Long-Garcia:
LAKEWOOD — Scott Hahn, the internationally-known Bible scholar and best-selling author, spoke before 400 gathered for the annual Archdiocese of Los Angeles Faith Formation Day for Faculty.
He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1982 at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, Virginia. Yet, as he studied the early Church fathers, a growing restlessness persisted.
“I had to go and find a Church that matched what I found in the Bible,” Hahn said. He described attending his first Mass, seeking out a priest and learning more about the faith.
After much soul searching and conversations with his wife, Hahn felt that delaying a conversion to Catholicism would be disobedient.
He was set to enter on Easter Vigil in 1986 when the topic he’d been avoiding came up: confession. Why not just confess your sins directly to God? Why go to a priest?
“It’s not the priest, it’s Christ who he represents,” the answer came.
Hahn prepared for his first confession, filling two notecards front and back, and spent two hours in the confessional. He received his penance, which Hahn described as meager given what he had done.
Hahn left the confessional a different man. He entered the Church and began making frequent use of the sacrament.
Msgr. Sal Pilato, superintendent of Catholic High Schools, said the faith formation days are an initiative of the California Catholic bishops. The program, which aims at ongoing faith formation for faculty, was developed with a four year cycle and reflects themes in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
“Ongoing formation is a recognition that constant conversion is a part of our life,” said Msgr. Pilato.
Hahn spoke at St. John’s Seminary and on Oct. 28, he spoke to a packed house of mostly young adults at St. Therese. They mobbed him afterward, lining up to take selfies with the author while he asked them for prayers.
“He spoke to us as one Catholic to another,” said Margarett Hernandez, who teaches English at St. Joseph, noting that she related to his examples. “He didn’t talk over our heads.”
Hahn spoke to faculty gathered at schools throughout the archdiocese, including Bishop Alemany, Bishop Diego Garcia, Bishop Amat and St. Mary’s Academy. He taught high school for five years, an experience he called formative to his speaking and writing.
“All my theology is filtered through my teaching,” he said. “You don’t learn it until you teach it. And you don’t really learn it until you teach it to high school kids. It forces you to teach it well.”
Thanks to all those who participated. Whether you administrated, presented, or attended, this work is important. God Bless you all!
I love the work of Scott Hahn!
Now, I wish he would have A GOOD WORD with the pastor of Star of the Sea Parish here in San Francisco, who is neglecting his duty to provide Eucharist for the faithful.
Just recently, my wife was shocked to witness Father Joseph Illo, who has made too many headlines already, refuse Holy Communion to a woman at Mass.
Why? She had arrived late.
Humiliating for her, wrong of Father Illo, and unjust because she had arrived late due to traffic problems, rather than a matter of habit.
Sebastian,
I was late once because of traffic but thank goodness I knew better than to receive the Eucharist. I was taught that if you arrived after the Gospel, your Sunday obligation had not been fulfilled. So, I stayed for the next Mass. Father Illo did the right thing. He was more concerned for her soul than humiliating her.
in Truth and Light,
P
How humiliating, and what a heartbreaking punishment! Is this any way to treat the faithful? I hope Father Illo has never been late for anything in his entire life, and I hope NEVER late to Mass for any reason! I like and admire Father Illo, but this is going too far. Perfection is difficult to achieve in this world. So is finding a parking space at many Catholic churches. Even walking into a church for a handicapped person is an incredible challenge for some people, and I hope this publicly shamed woman, denied communion, was not one of our handicapped seniors. When Father Illo gets older, if he needs a wheelchair, let’s make sure we all contribute to his getting a POWER chair so he is never late to Mass and denied communion!
Traditionally, if you have arrived after the offertory, you should not approach for communion and should attend another Mass. However, if the reason is beyond your control and there is no other Mass, one would not be guilty of not meeting your Sunday obligation. but this does not mean it is OK to be late to Mass.
I like Scott Haun. He is a good devout holy teacher. God bless him and his family!
Keep close to the Catholic Church at all times, for the Church alone can give you true peace, since she alone possesses Jesus, the true Prince of Peace, in the Blessed Sacrament. ~Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
What a blessing to Catholicism Scott Hahn is, and how wonderful that he could come to California to share his amazing font of information and insights with so many grateful attendees. Just learning from him on EWTN is enough to make me want to study everything possible under his brilliant guidance. He is the greatest Catholic educator on television since Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, and that’s saying something, because there are so many outstanding Catholic teachers. Thank God for Scott Hahn, and thank God for EWTN and for all of our faithful Catholic teachers.
No. You can “learn” the faith without teaching it.
Any Bible Study group that uses the materials from ” St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology” – by Scott Hahn – are excellent.
I also recommend the – RSV-CE “Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition” Bible
https://www.ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/Home+Page/BOOKS/Bibles/RSV+CATHOLIC+EDITION+BIBLE+-+LARGE+PRINT.axd
along with a Bible Dry Highlighter – so marking won’t bleed through the pages.
And the CCC for learning/studying the Doctrine of the Faith.
https://www.ignatius.com/Products/CCC2-P/catechism-of-the-catholic-church.aspx
CCC: ” 133 The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts ALL the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures.
Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”
And Popes St. John Paul II, Benedict, and Francis – have told us to also study the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition”
For quotes from our Popes: “What Catholics REALLY Believe SOURCE”
https://whatcatholicsreallybelieve.com/
Many people do not know that they can gain a plenary indulgence for themselves or a deceased person by reading a Catholic Bible for 30 minutes or more,
and completing a few other easy requirements.
I very highly doubt that Fr. Joseph Illo denied Holy Communion to a woman just because she arrived late. Fr. Illo is a smart man, and even a priest with the most basic of intelligence would know that this goes against Canon Law https://canonlawblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/how-much-of-mass-can-i-miss-you-know-and-it-still-counts/
It is not clear from the original post exactly how late this woman was for Mass, nor fully why, but yes, there are and should be limits. But denying communion to a faithful Catholic who has obviously gone to some trouble and had some trouble arriving on time is quite an extreme act on the part of any priest, even the much-admired Father Illo. I invite Father Illo to explain his decision. Why are so many divorced and civilly remarried people allowed communion, so many of our leading pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians, openly homosexual men and women, even active member of the Mafia given communion when an ordinary faithful Catholic woman who is still attending Mass but is late is made a pariah and shamed before God and her fellow…