Denver, Colo., Dec 2, 2018 / 02:29 pm (CNA).- “Insincerity was an evil which sprang up within the Church from the first,” wrote Blessed John Henry Newman in 1839. “Ananias and Simon were not open opposers of the Apostles, but false br… […]
Steubenville, Ohio, Dec 2, 2018 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- When Mike and Alice Hernon started their podcast on marriage and family in 2015, they didn’t think anyone would listen, outside of their family and maybe a few close friends.
Both from big families – Alice the second of 10 siblings, and Mike one of six – and parents of 10 children themselves, the Hernons would often get asked for parenting advice at extended family gatherings.
At the urging of their siblings who were benefiting from their advice, the Hernons started a marriage and family podcast.
“At the beginning if you listen to our first two or three episodes, we kind of start off by saying something like, there are probably just like five of our brothers and sisters and their friends listening,” Alice told CNA.
But over the past three years, the podcast grew from a small fanbase of friends and family to 10,000 listeners per month.
“We literally did zero marketing! We didn’t do anything” to promote the podcast, Alice said.
“We didn’t have time,” Mike added. They were too busy with work and with their own family life.
Sensing a growing need among parents and families for guidance and support, and with the support and partnership with Our Sunday Visitor Institute, Alice and Mike have decided to expand their podcast into a full-time marriage and family ministry called The Messy Family Project.
In addition to the podcast, the Hernons will now offer their advice, support and encouragement through videos, downloadable resources, and live events such as retreats and workshops.
“One of our taglines is: ‘we’re not experts’ because neither of us have counseling degrees, we’re not professors, we’re not doctors,” Alice said. “We are really just older parents who are ahead of most of the people who are listening to us, so what we want to do is just kind of give that encouragement, that practical advice, but without being dogmatic.”
They’ve gained their wisdom from their own families of origin, from years of experience raising their own children (who are now ages 6-23), and from the teachings of the Catholic Church, and from interacting with families through various ministries over the years.
Their mission: “to empower parents, strengthen marriages and bring families to Christ.”
This mission has been on the hearts of the Hernons for a while, Mike said, because “we believe it’s more challenging to raise children today than maybe it ever has been.”
They offer their wisdom as older siblings who have been there, rather than as parents of a different generation, Mike said.
“There are challenges that our parents didn’t have,” he said, “everything from technology to all of the cultural issues that are bearing on our children and our family life.”
They wanted to offer their support and advice for Catholic families to build their own unique cultures instead, which will look different depending on the individual family, Mike said.
“We don’t try to say – this is the perfect plan. We try to share experiences, also the principles from the Church, because we believe the Church is an expert in humanity, an expert in real living.”
Creating a strong, welcoming and unique family culture, built on a Catholic identity, is one of the best ways to combat the cultural messages that are antithetical to Catholicism and family life today, the Hernons said. “The best defense is a good offense,” Mike said.
“Our ‘offense’ is creating your own family culture,” Alice said.
“Families need to not allow their children to be influenced by the world’s culture more than by their own family culture, because when you create your own family culture…that culture is a very powerful influence on our children because it’s an unspoken set of beliefs and expectations.”
A strong family culture also allows parents to enforce values without being judgmental of other families, Alice said.
“Because when a child says, ‘Oh well Susie is allowed to wear that dress to prom,’ you can say ‘Yeah, but Susie’s not a Hernon, and this is who we are,’” she said.
Family culture is communicated primarily through relationships, the Hernons said – the relationship of the parents with each other, the relationships parents have with individual children, and then the relationships children have with each other.
“The grace for your family flows from the sacrament of marriage,” Mike said.
“More is caught than taught, and kids need to see what that marriage looks like, and you model for them in so many ways what true love is, what it means to lay down your life, what it means to have a vocation, a mission of service.”
The Messy Family Project offers resources that cover a wide variety of topics related to family culture – including discipline, growing spiritually as a family, managing screen time, fostering sibling relationships, strengthening marriages, and building community with other like-minded families.
These resources include downloadable worksheets for parents to work through together, because spouses are each other’s own best parenting resource, the Hernons said.
“One of our themes is that parents need to work together and listen to each other as the experts,” Alice said. “More than they listen to us, more than they listen to anybody else out there, they need to listen to each other. So we have worksheets for parents to go through and have conversations with each other.”
Much of the Hernons’ inspiration comes from Pope St. John Paul II, and his teachings on marriage and family.
“Each family finds within itself a summons that cannot be ignored and that specifies both its dignity and responsibility: family, become what you are!” Pope John Paul II said in his 1981 apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio.
That quote “sums up the goal” of The Messy Family Project, Mike said in a press release.
The Hernons said they are also inspired by St. Mother Teresa and the Little Flower of Therese, who found joy and holiness even in the little things of life.
They are also inspired by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who said in a 2017 address: “When young people ask me how to change the world, I tell them to love each other, get married, stay faithful to one another, have lots of children, and raise those children to be men and women of Christian character. Faith is a seed. It doesn’t flower overnight. It takes time and love and effort.”
Alice said she hopes Catholic families can find inspiration and hope, even in troubling times in the Church and in the world, through The Messy Family Project.
“I think a lot of times, Catholics look at the (Church sex abuse) scandals and say – ‘How can we change the Church?’”
“That’s important and we need to do that, but start with your family. That’s the most influence you can have, is over your family, and I think that people forget that.”
Los Angeles, Calif., Dec 1, 2018 / 03:56 pm (CNA).- Hundreds of Catholics processed through Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in a special Eucharistic procession for the poor this month.
The event was organized by the Beloved Movement, a forum that promo… […]
Washington D.C., Dec 1, 2018 / 02:28 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The suicide rate in the United States is at its highest in at least 50 years, and is contributing to a decrease in the nation’s life expectancy, the federal government said Thursday.
Life… […]
Des Moines, Iowa, Nov 30, 2018 / 06:03 pm (CNA).- Dozens of Iowa inmates have filed a lawsuit challenging a ban on pornography which has affected the state’s prisons in recent weeks.
The law, which took effect Nov. 14, prohibits pornographic mat… […]
Washington D.C., Nov 30, 2018 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- An order of religious sisters in Pennsylvania has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the drilling of a government-sanctioned gas pipeline through the religious order’s property. The Adorers … […]
Washington D.C., Nov 30, 2018 / 03:40 pm (CNA).- Congress looks set to pass a compromise version of the Farm Bill, which would reauthorize billions in government funds for nutrition assistance and agricultural support, but strike a plan to expand work … […]
Greensburg, Pa., Nov 30, 2018 / 02:40 pm (CNA).- The Bishop of Greensburg, Pennsylvania is in recovery after suffering a mild heart attack over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Bishop Edward C. Malesic, 58, underwent a cardiac catheterization Friday, a proce… […]
Washington D.C., Nov 30, 2018 / 08:45 am (CNA).- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th circuit issued an order Thursday vacating a 2014 District Court decision against the Eternal Word Television Network in its lawsuit against the so-called contr… […]
Washington D.C., Nov 30, 2018 / 03:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- To the outside viewer, crystals are pretty rocks.
Perfectly curated pictures of the pretty stones pepper the social media feeds of scores of millennials, as they have become increasingly popular on necklaces and as part of a “wholistic”, wellness-minded life. But, more than just a fashion statement, crystals are believed by some to have healing properties, related to their energy or vibrations.
The Catholic Church rejects all things associated with New Age beliefs, including the trendy crystals, as heretical and dangerous.
At the same time, the Catholic Church embraces the veneration of relics.
To the outside viewer, relics are likely strange at best, and morbid at worst.
Relics are pieces of the body, clothing or other objects that have a direct association with a saint or with Jesus Christ. They may be pieces of bone or vials of blood collected after a saint has died, or a piece of their cassock, a book they used, or items that have been touched to these things.
Relics are venerated, often with a touch or a kiss, for the sake of the worship of God, and to ask the prayers of those saints.
So why is it ok for Catholics to kiss a vial of St. John Paul II’s blood and pray for his intercession, but not ok for Catholics to cure their negative energy by wearing a rock around their neck?
It’s all about who you want to establish a relationship with, explained Fr. Jim Orr, the director of St. Anthony’s Chapel in Pittsburgh, which is home to 5,000 relics.
“The importance of the relics is their association with the saint, because while the saints would be in the glory of heaven, their body is still their body, so it’s that association that makes the relics important, and, if you will, creates the connection,” Orr told CNA.
“When one venerates a relic, one is essentially making a connection with the saint in the glory of heaven. So what is going on spiritually is a kind of prayer to the saint, invoking their intercession.”
What makes a saint holy or worthy of veneration is not some kind of “spiritual radioactivity,” Orr noted, but their holiness, which is how well they loved God and neighbor.
“Holiness is the difference between the world and those who follow Jesus Christ, and it’s a difference of behavior,” Orr said.
“Look at God’s great commandments: love God with all your heart, mind and soul, love your neighbor as yourself, love one another as I have loved you. This is how they will know you are my disciples, by your love for one another.”
“And any of the great saints, if you look at them, (that love) is the characteristic of their lives. So when we look at relics, or blessed or consecrated objects, it’s about how they help us make the connection with those who have gone on into glory (in heaven),” he said.
In some ways, crystals are similar to relics, in that they are physical objects that can establish a spiritual connection. But it would be a mistake to think of them as anything but harmful, Orr said.
“It’s far from harmless. This is thinly-veiled so-called witchcraft, which really is playing with demons,” he said.
In the Vatican document “Jesus Christ: The bearer of the water of life”, the Church teaches that all things associated with New Age beliefs, including crystals, must be rejected, as they claim to offer an alternative to the Word of God: “From the point of view of Christian faith, it is not possible to isolate some elements of New Age religiosity as acceptable to Christians, while rejecting others. Since the New Age movement makes much of a communication with nature, of cosmic knowledge of a universal good – thereby negating the revealed contents of Christian faith – it cannot be viewed as positive or innocuous.”
Furthermore, the Catechism rejects New Age beliefs and the use of crystals: “All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to ‘unveil’ the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.”
Father Gary Thomas, an exorcist for the Diocese of San Jose, told CNA that relics only obtain spiritual significance because they are associated with the saints. Saints are recognized as holy through the authority of the Church, which has its authority in God through apostolic succession, starting with the first Pope, St. Peter.
Crystals can have “perverted” spiritual energy through spells or pagan rituals that are performed with them, he said.
“Crystals can be used as conjuring objects for the demonic,” Thomas told CNA. “I have had people come to me for deliverance who have been involved in the practice of using crystals for demonic musterings.”
Orr, who has also been involved in exorcism ministry, said he too has seen people who have established connections with the demonic through their use of things like crystals.
“The demons go along until they can get their hooks into this person, and then they turn on them, and that’s when we in the ministry see them, when they finally realize what they’re dealing with, and they can’t disassociate themselves from the demons,” he said. That’s when they come seeking the help of exorcists.
“So in that sense, that’s how crystals are like relics. It’s who you’re creating a relationship with. The relics create a relationship with the saints and the glory of heaven; crystals create a relationship with demons.”
© Catholic World Report