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Faithful Until Death | A Regnum Christi Retreat Guide on Heroic Youth With Fr. John Bartunek, LC

Faithful Until Death: A Retreat Guide on Heroic Youth

October 4, 2018 / Retreat Guide

The future of the Church, and of society in general, depends to a large extent on the quality and the formation of the younger generation. And yet, in spite of that undeniable reality, our popular culture’s overriding attitude towards young people tends to be either condescending or pessimistic. Older generations typically complain about the decadence of youth. That pessimism can overflow into a dismissive or otherwise unproductive treatment of young people. But Jesus had a different point of view. If we want to contribute to a promising future in the Church and the world, we need to adopt that attitude and believe in our young people. This Retreat Guide will help us do so.

The First Meditation profiles the inexhaustibly inspiring example of St. Agnes.
The Second Meditation unpacks the more recent but equally stirring experience of Mexico’s teenage martyr, St. José Luis Sánchez del Rio.
And the Conference offers reflections about how to help young people develop their full spiritual potential, even in a post-Christian world like ours.

The Personal Questionnaire/Group discussion questions are available in the Companion Guide Book or Small Group Companion Guide. Either download the PDF Companion Guide Book or purchase it. The Companion Guide Book is available for purchase at Amazon or in Kindle. Pause the video at any moment to go to the Companion Guide Book or continue to the next meditation. Let’s begin by turning to the Holy Spirit, and humbly asking him to guide us in this Retreat.

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Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: What If I Think a Leader Is the Antichrist?”

October 2, 2018 / Ask a Priest

Q: I am having a very difficult time accepting a certain horrible leader. I pray every day that he would be gone. What else can I do? To me he is the Antichrist. – R.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: When we look around the world, there are plenty of reasons for not putting too much faith in political leaders.

Leaders are human like everyone else, and sometimes their flaws are easy to spot.

Perhaps a few suggestions might help.

First, and this might be counter-intuitive, instead of praying for a leader to be gone (which can take a while), try praying for the person. This isn’t a novel idea.

For St. Paul exhorted, “I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

This was remarkable advice, considering that many secular leaders of Paul’s day were not sympathetic to Christians.

Second, try to keep the picture in view. Christ is the king of the universe. Every other leader will come and go. The key thing is to work on promoting Christ’s Kingdom in the here and now.

You could do that by your prayer life, your sacramental life, by your works of charity.

Third, if the news is too depressing for you, think about limiting your exposure to it. One suggestion: Try to limit yourself to getting news from a newspaper or two.

Newspapers are nice because you can pick them up and read them at your own pace. In 5 or 10 minutes you can get an overview of what is happening in the world – and then you can leave the news behind until the next day. Try it. You might be surprised at how relaxed you feel the rest of the day.

Above all, keep your sights on Jesus. He didn’t come to support political parties or individual politicians. Maybe that is a good lesson for all of us to recall.

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First ECYD Camp in the Ivory Coast

October 2, 2018 / Weekly Message Blog

Regnum Christi members and Legionaries organized a week-long camp for teenagers in the Ivory Coast this July.

Dr. Alain Kouamelan, a member of Regnum Christi’s first team in the Ivory Coast gave a little background: “Ten years ago, my wife Roselyne began directing the NET program with the first collaborators we had here.  See now that after the crisis this restarts and grows in the ECYD it is very beautiful.”

Brice Hervé Kouadió, Bernadin Ossohou, Gervais Onené and Rosa Maagné are members of Regnum Christi of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. They organized, on July 7-15 the first formal ECYD camp in Africa, in Bonoua, Ivory Coast. Br. Melchior Poisson, LC, directed the camp.

Fr. Alejandro Páez, LC, chaplain of the camp, explained: “The objective of everything was to introduce children to the ordinary life of a member of ECYD, to show the goodness of work, the apostolate and team life, as well as present the type of relationship that a member of ECYD has with Christ.”

Fr. Alejandro Páez, LC, continued with plans, “Next Holy Week we are going to start Missionary Youth with the young women’s section and we also continue working with the  families at the Kindergarten. The field of mission in Africa is vast and is an extremely fertile land with souls of great size, capable of a commitment that truly moves.  I hope that this first ECYD camp will be the beginning of a great evangelizing work in what the Popes have called the continent of hope.”

The idea of Africa being a “continent of hope” comes from John Paul II in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa. The Pope said to the Christians of the African continent: “Today you are the hope of the Church that is two thousand years old: being young in the faith, you must be like the first Christians and radiate enthusiasm and courage, with generous dedication to God and neighbor; In a word, you must take the path of holiness. Only in this way can you be signs of God in the world and revive in your countries the missionary epic of the primitive Church. And you will also be fostering a missionary spirit for the oldest churches.”

Back to the camp, each day, the 23 boys and girls who participated in the camp prayed the ECYD prayers, attended a guided meditation and participated in Mass.  ECYD and its spirituality were covered in talks, such as: (1) What is ECYD? (2) the pledge of friendship with Christ, (3) ECYD’s mission, (4) charity, (5) holiness, (6) the Eucharist, (7) love for Mary, etc.

Apart from the recreational and spiritual formation activities, the teens were offered various workshops such as theater, guitar, cooking, singing, dancing, and movies with discussions.

At the end of the camp, the teens’ parents were invited to participate in a closing ceremony to present ECYD and announce the launch of the year’s activities.  On that occasion, those who participated in the theater workshop presented the parents with a work representing the life of the camp and “one day in ECYD.” The participants of the singing workshop lead the songs at the closing Mass and those of the cooking workshop prepared the dessert for the meal with the parents after the mass.

Fr. Jean Baptiste Akwadan, diocesan chaplain and one of the first members of Regnum Christi in the Ivory Coast, commented: “It is very beautiful to see that ECYD organizes the children into teams where they can continue to form and carry out the apostolates that they have learned in the camp. This is something that we have not seen in Africa in a long time and that, without a doubt, will help to form Christians who are more active and aware of their evangelizing mission.”

Read the original on Regnum Christi news in Spanish.

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A Consecrated Woman Reflects: To whom would we go?

October 1, 2018 / Blog

The Church has been through the wringer. In a much smaller way, so have I. My mind has been inundated with information, data, speculations, and questions. My heart has been bleeding for the pain of those victims and the courage that they have had to come forward and share their stories. Every moment of prayer and each daily mass, when I enter the church, the recent events of abuse fill my mind and heart. Seventeen years ago I consecrated myself to Christ and His Church as a consecrated woman of Regnum Christi and I find myself asking: ‘what I am supposed to think and feel about this?’ These are horrific actions – and at the hands of men who have also dedicated themselves to Christ and the Church.

Every time I enter a church and look up at the crucified Christ, He seems to answer me silently and with a penetrating gaze. His Heart is pierced and bleeds. His Heart feels the pain and shame of every sin and every sinner and every victim. He has taken the full weight of sin upon Himself on that salvific cross. Used to the crucifix in our Catholic churches, I now see Him in a new light. From His cross, He speaks to me in a new way. He understands. He hurt. He is hurting right now. And my small offering of my own suffering heart each mass and moment of prayer, I pray can in some way be a reparation for the sins that have been committed. …

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“Ask a Priest: Should I Date Someone Whose Wife Left Him?”

September 28, 2018 / Ask a Priest

Q: I am a Catholic and have been getting to know someone I recently met. This person brought to my attention that he was married at 19 after finding out that his girlfriend was pregnant (he is 25 now), and his spouse ended up leaving him. Neither of them is Catholic. The guy is actually agnostic but says he wants to believe. (In the past he dated a Catholic for three years.) But I do not want to create a relationship with someone who is considered still married, and I assume that since it’s a natural marriage he is still married. If this is true and the marriage is valid, do you think it is likely an annulment could be granted? Or should I just move on? – C.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: There could be grounds for annulment. It sounds as though it was a bit of a forced wedding, and the subsequent abandonment by his wife indicates that she might not have been ready for a lifelong commitment.

Obviously, this kind of thing would need to be decided by a marriage tribunal. (Here I’m assuming that there has already been a civil divorce.)

It might be good, in any case, to proceed with a lot of caution.

Objectively you have a man who in six brief years impregnated a woman out of wedlock, saw his marriage crumble, and now seems to be developing a relationship with you. In short, he has been on something of a roller coaster.

You might want to pause and ask yourself if this is a promising prospect for a stable relationship.

For the record, if he went through a proper wedding, the Church considers him still married. He is still a husband. So you would want to conduct yourself accordingly. Enough said.

It might help to intensify your prayer life and sacramental life. It might be helpful to find a solid, regular confessor or a spiritual director who could guide you. It would help a lot to have a wise person who can give you some perspective.

A young man who has already been in and out of a three-year relationship and has seen a marriage crumble likely has some issues to deal with. It might take counseling, as well as your prayers.

This isn’t to say that you can’t have a good influence on him. But you need to consider the downside. You wouldn’t want to risk your own faith and emotional well-being for the sake of someone who might not be ready or able to pursue a lifetime commitment with you.

There are a lot of factors that need attention. You would want to be prudent and to take things one step at a time – and to look for signs of genuine progress in your friend.

For further reading you might consider How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul. I hope some of this helps. Count on my prayers.

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Bicycle Pilgrimage to Lourdes

September 27, 2018 / Weekly Message Blog

Fr. Clemens Gutberlet, LC, recently cycled from Rome to Lourdes with a group, as both a spiritual pilgrimage and fundraiser.

Fr. Clemens works in the office of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in the Vatican and is the general procurator of the Legion (liaison between the Legion and the Vatican). He is also an avid cyclist. On July 22–29 he and a small group of other cyclists traveled almost 1,000 miles (1,600 km) by bicycle, from St. Peter’s Square to the Grotto in Lourdes.

He spoke with us after the trip.

Fr. Clemens, can you please tell us how this bicycle pilgrimage came about?

Fr. Clemens: Well, it came about because one of my friends, Giuseppe Fatato, who was a professional cyclist, mentioned that he had a debt with Our Lady of Lourdes because he was cured in an unusual way. So, he promised to do Rome to Lourdes on a bike to thank Mary for the grace of being cured in a special way.

The other reason was that the Athenaeum, Regina Apostolorum, was celebrating its 25th anniversary. We spoke about that, and they thought it would be a nice way, during this Jubilee, to do a little fundraising by going from Rome to Lourdes on a bicycle. So, those are the two reasons why we did this.

Third, I just like cycling.

How many days were you on the road, and what was the ride like?

We planned it for eight days to do over 1,550 km. First, we divided it into 8 equal parts, but they became a little different, as we had to find accommodation. The first day ended up being 230 km and the second day was only 180 km. In the end, it was 1,600 km.

Did you have a spiritual experience while cycling? What was on your mind? Actually, before starting, I invited anyone I talked to about the pilgrimage to give me intentions. So, I really had a long list of prayer intentions in my bag, in my mind, and in my heart. The spiritual journey was praying for these and also offering up the difficulties – both organizational and physical, such as tiredness – for these intentions. I felt relieved when I arrived in Lourdes and I could just leave all these prayer intentions at the foot of Our Lady in the grotto.

Who else went with you besides Giuseppe Fatato?

The whole thing is also about formation. Cycling and formation don’t necessarily seem so related. We went as a group of eight cyclists: six were young men between 15 and 18 years old. They are semi-professional cyclists who used it as a training ride. I noticed that it is so important for them to get not only training, but also formation: human and spiritual formation.

For next year, I’m planning to do something similar but with the explicit goal of offering integral formation to a group like this during the week. It shouldn’t just be a cycling tour but also integral formation to them.

How much did you raise and what is the money going towards?

Well, the money is for scholarships for the students in our Athenaeum, Regina Apostolorum. I’m not sure of the final amount that came in: we proposed €30,000 as a goal but I don’t think we got there – I think we reached about €10,000. People can continue to support this on CrowdRise or on the Athenaeum’s website [Note: CrowdRise allows US and Canadian Dollars but the Athenaeum’s site only takes Euros.]

If you want more, you can see a complete photo gallery on Facebook (the same page also has a few videos) and donate money to sponsor Fr. Clemens.

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CCC of America Continues its Mission with Lukas Storyteller

September 26, 2018 / Weekly Message Blog

In 1983, a group of young Mexican Regnum Christi members, armed with holy audacity and a vision to change culture through mass media, decided that the place where they would have the most impact was Hollywood. Jose Carredano, Johnny Williams and Jorge Gonzáles recognized how mass media, film production, and entertainment had become a vital part of contemporary culture. After securing financial support for their vision, they went to Los Angeles and created one of the first Regnum Christi apostolates in the United States, Hombre Nuevo. From 1983-1986 they produced the Hombre Nuevo television show on channel 46 KHIS, a daily 2-hour long show that looked at contemporary issues in the light of human and Christian values. After this project ended due to economic difficulty, Hombre Nuevo created an award-winning feature film, Crystalstone, in 1987.

During the 1990s it became clear to the team at Hombre Nuevothat the Hollywood culture and infrastructure would not support the growth of Catholic entertainment, so they began their own production and distribution company called Creative Communication Center of America (CCC). The dynamic enterprise of CCC of America was founded to produce and distribute high-quality entertainment for the family that was not only enjoyable but also conveyed Christian moral values. CCC created a series of popular 30-minute animated features called the Saints and Heroesseries. These videos, which told the stories of 11 saints and heroes through high-quality animation, were completed in 1999 and have been available on DVD ever since. They have been dubbed into more than ten languages and sold in more than 22 countries.

Three years ago, as technology changed and the market for streaming digital media grew (while DVD sales fell) Juan Carlos Carredano was asked to come on board as the new CEO of CCC with two primary objectives, to “take the old materials to new platforms and produce new original content.”

Working towards the objectives that Juan Carlos signed on for, CCC now has its Saints and Heroes series on the Augustine Institute’s Formed.org platform. They have also created a new series of HD animated content for children called Lukas Storyteller. The first season is made up of 14 episodes which feature Lukas, a fish who met Jesus. The high-quality HD animated production follows the adventures of Lukas in the lives of different saints, with each episode also highlighting a virtue. The series is available on DVD, as well as on the new streaming platform that CCC offers. Next year, they will expand to iTunes, Netflix, and other mainstream platforms.

CCC operates as an independent international corporation with offices in Mexico City and Dallas, and continues to be an apostolate of the Regnum Christi Movement with the same mission that motivated its creation in 1983, the transformation of culture through mass media.

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“Ask a Priest: How Can I Trust When I Am Waiting to Be Engaged?”

September 25, 2018 / Ask a Priest

Q: I have a boyfriend, and it is very serious even though we are not engaged yet. I am so worried that my boyfriend will go and that we will never be wed. He tells me to trust in the Lord, but practically I do not know how. I just want some kind of firm thing to say that things are moving. Please, I’m at the end of my strength. Help! – V.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: Without knowing more about your situation, I can offer only general advice.

You say the relationship is very serious and that you are “not engaged yet,” but that you fear your friend will leave. This makes one wonder whether the relationship is serious from your boyfriend’s point of view?

It might be good to sit down and speak with him about how he sees the relationship and where it is going.

If he doesn’t want to commit, then you have to decide whether to wait for a possible commitment or to move on.

Perhaps you might consider a time frame. For example, if nothing happens within six months or a year, it might be time to rethink whether an engagement is a possibility or just a mirage.

This might not be easy to face. There can be a tendency to think this is the last person you will ever love, and that life will lose its meaning if he leaves.

If that is the case, it is good to put things in perspective. The only man who has always loved you and who will never leave you is Christ. In fact, Christ is at the center of all healthy relationships.

So it might be good to intensify your prayer life and sacramental life. Stay close to Our Lord, in other words.

This will: 1) remind you that you are deeply loved by Christ, and 2) improve your chances of making good decisions in regard to your boyfriend. On this note, you might want to take a look at our Retreat Guide called “Who You Are: A Retreat Guide on the Sacrament of Baptism.”

Be careful not to project too many unfounded hopes into this relationship. Learn to look for evidence that your boyfriend is really becoming committed to you and that the relationship is maturing.

You don’t want to fantasize about things that aren’t there. If months from now your friend doesn’t seem to move closer to popping the question, then you might ask yourself whether he is the right person for you.

To help get perspective on your situation, it would be good to find a regular confessor or spiritual director who can guide you.

If you think your friend needs time and space to decide, then you might suggest that he attend a spiritual retreat. A few days of silence and prayer might help nudge him toward a definitive decision about the relationship.

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23 RC Missionaries in Kazakhstan

September 25, 2018 / Weekly Message Blog

23 Regnum Christi missionaries from Poland recently did missions in Kazakhstan together with two Legionary priests.

From July 18-29, a group of 23 Regnum Christi members and members of Młodzież Trzeciego Tysiąclecia (Youth for the Third Millennium) Missions traveled to Shchuchinsk, Kazakhstan for an evangelizing parish mission. Fr. Mariusz Kiełbasa, LC, and Fr. Matthew Devereux, LC, accompanied them. Fr. Rafał and Sr. Rufina ran the parish where they did missions and took care of logistics for the mission.

Fr. Matthew Devereux, LC, commented: “Kazakhstan is a Muslim country with a population of 18 million.  Of course, the Word of God cannot be restricted, but there were some limitations when it came to evangelizing.  Open evangelization is illegal and that is why we dedicate ourselves to participate in the life of the parish and to help people in whatever need they have.

“We visited the parishioners in their homes, we pray and sing with them.  Most people just wanted to talk, sing and pray together.” Fr. Matthew continued, “Since it is illegal to evangelize, Catholics are committed to an hour of worship before each Mass.  Since they cannot talk to people about Jesus, they tell Jesus about the people.”

The parish that the missionaries were evangelizing had 70 members, the vast majority of them with Polish ancestry who only speak Russian.  Fr Matthew explained communication between the missionaries and parish members: “Because Polish and Russian belong to the same Slavic language family, in a couple of days communication was no longer a barrier.  The Poles with whom we had contact are descendants of those sent to the Soviet Gulags or simply exiled to inhabit the Russian hinterlands.  Most of them were very happy to listen, pray and sing Polish anthems. It was interesting to note that, although they could not speak it, they knew by heart Polish prayers.”

This story was translated from the international Spanish-language Regnum Christi site.

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First ECYD Camp in the Ivory Coast

A Consecrated Woman Reflects: To whom would we go?

“Ask a Priest: Should I Date Someone Whose Wife Left Him?”

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Bicycle Pilgrimage to Lourdes

CCC of America Continues its Mission with Lukas Storyteller

“Ask a Priest: How Can I Trust When I Am Waiting to Be Engaged?”

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