The Catholic Imagination: A Call to Conversion

“There is a crowd of people who have let American politics influence the lens of their faith, rather than using the lens of their faith to look at politics.” -Gloria Purvis

What is the Catholic Imagination and how can it animate and inform our conversation on addressing the personal, social and institutional sin of racism? If you google “Catholic Imagination” this is what you’ll come across: “the Catholic viewpoint that God is present in the whole creation and in human beings” and that “human beings are channels and sources of God's grace.” It takes discipline and commitment in training our eyes to look into the world with the eyes of faith, hope and love, because after all, as Gloria Purvis puts it, our “allegiances are to Jesus Christ.” The Catholic Imagination challenges us to stay focused on the “Kingdom of God” in the midst of a deeply wounded, chaotic, and unjust society.

As Christians we’re not called to spectate the world from a window, removed from the current social challenges facing the human family, rather our faith compels us to action, to be engaged in the world, to live in the footsteps of Jesus and serve as “channels and sources of God's grace.” We are called to lift our voices wherever human dignity is threatened. To promote a consistent ethic of life, from conception to natural death and everything in between.

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Fr. Ronald Sibugan, A.A., had his first hiking trip with Filipino priests and doctors who live and work in El Paso, 2 weeks ago. They hiked Franklin Mountain, the highest peak in El Paso with 7.200 feet.

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A Letter from
Emily McCall

Come & See

How much easier would it be if the deepest questions of our hearts could be found in a quick Google search or scroll on Instagram? How much simpler it would be if I could just ask Siri “hey Siri, what is the meaning of my life?”

It is too often the case that the very questions we deeply long to have answered are the ones we most often run away from or numb altogether either because we are afraid of the answer, or like many of us, we are afraid we will not receive an answer at all.

“Come and see” says a young Nazarene to two men searching for the answer to life’s biggest question. “Come and see” says He who created you and who knows the deepest longings of the heart. “Come and see.” Are these not the words we ache to hear in the recesses of our own hearts?

Jesus responds to the deep longing of your heart with such tenderness and eagerness in his eyes. “Come and see.”

This February 4-7th we are digging deep into these questions and more with over 12,000 college students from around the country as we gather for SEEK21, an interactive digital experience created for you by FOCUS.

come. hear. see. encounter. You are worthy of this encounter.

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The Augustinians of the Assumption (AA) also known as the Assumptionists will celebrate its 15 years of presence here in the Philippines on January 25, 2021.

Join us as this page launches "ASSUMPTIONISTS 15x15" as we take a look into our journey in the past years. For 15 days before our 15th year, we will post interesting facts and historical bits about the beginnings and the early years of the Assumptionists here in the Philippines.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yHjXZeN4hJ6jcqbh8

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A Letter from
Scott Brill

January 18^th of this year will mark the beginning of the 104^th Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU). These eight days are framed by two unusual feast days in the Church (unusual in that they mark events rather than people): The Feast of the Confession of St. Peter (1/18) and the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (1/25).

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Today’s guest post is written by Fr. Peter Precourt, A.A.

Fr. Peter is a member of our new community in El Paso, Texas, which recently began ministry at St. Francis Xavier Parish. Our efforts at the parish will focus on meeting the spiritual and material needs of migrants; our presence along the U.S./Mexico border will allow us to carry out this work that is at the heart of our Assumptionist charism "to go wherever God is threatened in man and man threatened as the image of God."

Where do I begin? We are no longer at the Pastoral Center of the Diocese of El Paso. We are now living in our “new home”, the rectory of St. Francis Xavier Parish, since September 18, 2020. The parish is situated just before the bridge into Mexico.

We arrived just as the Diocese was opening church attendance to 25% capacity for all the parishes. This was the opportunity for us to meet some of the parishioners for the first time. We were warmly received by the community. This a very poor parish where almost all work is done by volunteers, especially the Knights of Columbus.

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