Twin Cities Catholic

Twin Cities CatholicConnecting the Twin Cities to

Christ’s Church

PublisherParsons Media

PresidentRyan Parsons

EditorsRyan Parsons

Debbie Parsons

Media and MarketingKelly Kracht

Visit us online atwww.twincitiescatholic.com

Dear Friends,

Heading into March, there is so much activitywithin the Church that it is difficult to wrapmy head around. We are preparing for a newpope, the initiation of so many into full communion with the Church, and the joyful celebration of Easter.

Our lives are busy with so much activity, so many things to process and prepare for each day, that it can seem overwhelming at times. But during this season of Lent, let us make a conscious effort to live examined lives.Amid the discipline of fasting and the chaos of conclaves, let us not lose sight of what God is calling each of us to do during this season: to pray, fast, and give alms with increased fervor.

At the highest points of the liturgical year, it seems that the most distrac-tions rise to the surface. During this season, now, let’s make sure to take time for examination and stillness. God wants to do great things in your life. Use this season of Lent to examine what that remarkable calling is -- and pray for the courage to trust Him enough to see it through.

With Joy,Ryan ParsonsEditor

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Inside

The Trajectoryof LoveLove doesn’t stop,it transforms.

Who said...businesses have tobe boring.

Catholic AppsYep. The Church hasan app for that.

True Story:“Because I’ve neverbeen invited.”

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Who said Businesses have to be boring?

A series by Catherine Huss looking at faith, life, and keeping the two together.

A recent trend in businesses is the mission to give back. These companies provide quality products while serving the less fortunate with their proceeds. You’ve seen it done popularly with Toms Shoes©, and a local start up is doing just that. “Hope Headbands” is making a beautiful product while giving back and helping those in need. Lindsey Landgraf, a student at the University of St. Thomas, started Hope Headbands in 2011. She got the idea when she decided to make Christmas gifts for all her friends, and people liked them so much she decided to sell them. Then, after plans to travel to South Africa to vol-unteer at an orphanage, she chose to use the money she made from the headbands to give to the orphanage. When she finally arrived in South Africa, she met the women there and quickly grew

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to love them. She had a great desire to somehow help these women, and she knew just how to do it with the headbands. Over the four months Lind-sey was in Capetown, South Africa, she taught a group of women there how to make the headbands. Now the headbands get shipped to the US, and all the proceeds go back to the women who handcraft these works of art. With each headband and its maker comes a story. You can read and learn about each woman who makes the headbands on the website. These women rejoice at being able to raise money for themselves and their families, and they have fun letting the creative juices flow. Also, the headbands are a sustainable endeavor, as all the fabrics and beads used have been recycled and donated.

For more information about Hope Headbands, Lindsey, the women of South Africa and how to purchase a headband, visit http://www.hopeheadbands.com/.

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See you at Mass?

(...no joke. I’m going to be looking for you.)

There is a trajectory to love.

Many people think that love is a feeling that takes place in a single moment.

But love, true love, has a course.

It has a path.

It is a journey of sorts.

Once you have love your life begins on this journey.

Once you have true love, you never leave it.

At the beginning, there are certain feelings.

At the end, there is a feeling of certainty.

At the beginning, you contain it and process it.

The Trajectoryof Love.Simple reflections by Ryan Parsons

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At the end, you can’t help but express it.

In the beginning, the manifestations of love are elaborate.

In the end, the simplest things become the most grand manifestations of the reality of your love.

Looking at the world today, I find that most people believe love to be only one thing. To grasp. To hold. To have.

They try to hold onto that one thing for their whole lives. They try to find that feeling of excitement and bottle it up. They search for a certain level of passion or that extravagance that makes them constantly feel a specific way. Beautiful as these all are, and as much a part of love as they might be, they are not love in its entirety They are only one aspect

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in a broad progression of love.

Fall in love. Go ahead. But don’t remain as you are. Let it transform you through the good times and the bad. Love is a perspective on life, an em-bracing of each other regardless of circumstance or emotion.

You love, then you go on your way with it.

Walking in its light.

Smiling.

On a journey.

A trajectory to a life fully alive.

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There’s a

Catholic App

for that.

There’s an app for that is a common phrase that we all hear. Many individuals buy/ get apps on

a daily basis, and out of all of the iPhone/iPad apps out there, roughly 700 are Catholic. Out of all the apps you have purchased, how many are Catholic? I had to ask myself this question, and for me I realized it was very few. I had forgotten to use these great resources as a way to learn more about our faith, and support Catholic app makers! Therefore after learning from my mistake, I wanted to share four great iPhone/iPad apps with you! I recommend you download these and other Catholic apps that you find useful in growing your faith.

By Kelly Kracht

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The Catholic Popes by Elegant Recursion Inc. ($.99)

Are you a history buff, or just want to learn more about past popes before our new Pontiff is appointed this month? Inside this app you will find an exhaustive list of all the Popes throughout history. Better yet, your experience is not lim-ited to what the app provides, as the application ties directly into web services to provide additional images and other resources so you can continue to explore and learn. Search for keywords, bookmark your favorites, browse images, and have fun.

iMissal by Cantcha ($4.99)

iMissal has been granted an official Imprimatur from the Catholic Church and is approved for use! In addition, iMissal is the only Catholic app of its kind that does not require WIFI/Cellular to accessMass Readings! You get access to Mass Readings for any day of the year; includes new Mass Translation (3rd Edition). iMissal has been one of the top sellingCatholic applications in iTunes since its inception.

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Confession: A Roman Catholic App by Little i Apps ($1.99)

Designed for use in the confessional, this app is the per-fect aid for every penitent. With a personalized exami-nation of conscience for each user, password protected profiles, and a step-by-step guide to the sacrament, this app invites Catholics to prayerfully prepare for and participate in the Rite of Penance. Individuals who have been away from the sacrament for some time will find this app to be a useful and inviting tool.This app has also received an Imprimatur.

Rosary Deluxe Audio by Handech International ($2.99)

Rosary Deluxe Audio is the only application with complete text and audio of Rosary, Divine Mercy and Litany on iTunes. The graceful touch screen interface design willbring you a fabulous praying atmosphere on the go to use in the car, in thegym, or while cooking dinner.

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“Because I’ve never been invited.”

The Wheaton College professor went on to explain that he was raised protestant and had simply always been protestant, and honestly did not have a good reason he wasn’t Catholic.

During my Junior and Senior years at Wheaton College, I felt inspired to meet with professors or other evangelical Christian leaders who I thought would have an informed answer and

“Because I’ve never been invited.”By Brantly Millegan

“Because I’ve never been invited.”By Brantly Millegan

ask them the question: “Why are you not Catholic?” I related another such story in my post TrueStory: Undercover Catholic.

I wanted to ask this particular professor my question because I had heard about a recent happening in one of his classes that had caught my attention: apparently, in a recent theology course he was teaching, a person asked a question wondering on what author-ity those who subscribe to sola scriptura have accepted their biblical canon, and he responded: “Did everyone hear that? He just pulled the whole rug out from under us.” Unfortunately, it was at the end of class, and there wasn’t time for further discussion.

I was struck by three things in his response to my question: that he didn’t have a reason why he wasn’t Catholic, the humility in his honest response, and his indictment of Catholics: he had never been invited to be Catholic.

As our conversation continued, the ques-tion of Church authority came up, and he explained that he accepted the early Church councils, such as Nicaea, and that he wanted to believe that they actually had authority, that they actually settled something.

“So if you accept Nicaea, why not Trent?” I asked.

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He paused for a moment. “Good question. I don’t really have a good reason. If I ac-cept Nicaea, why don’t I accept Trent?”

I was stunned, in the very least by his utter transparency to a student on these foun-dational issues. Now, he certainly was not just about to join the Catholic Church. But here was a Bible/Theology professor at the Harvard of evangelical schools, a place that does not allow Catholics on staff, ad-mitting that his beliefs regarding the early Church councils seem to imply he should accept all of the Church’s councils, includ-ing one that condemned basic Protestant doctrines.

Since he had said that he accepted Nicaea and other early councils, I asked what he made of the line in the Niceno–Constanti-

nopolitan Creed: “I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church”. He said that the word ‘catholic’ wasn’t used as a proper name in the early church. I told him that actually it was and directed him on his computer to Augustine’s Against the Fundamental Epistle of Manichaeus, in which Augustine clearly speaks of the Catholic Church as a specific Church separate from other groups of people who call themselves Christians (see ch 4). He said he had never seen that before.

We shook hands and concluded our con-versation.

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a parsons media production