Father Mitch Continues Teaching on Saint Paul Tonight!

Father Mitch Pacwa, continues a series on Saint Paul in St. Paul's Cathedral in Birmingham, AL, begining tonight at 7:00 P.M. Everyone is invited, there is no admission or registration. This series will continue for the next five weeks. Father Mitch will be available after the talk to autograph books and answer questions.

The video of last week's talk is on this web page. Just below this post.

Father has released a series of audio compact discs that are available from Ignatius Productions. Those using Father Mitch's St. Paul: Jubilee Year of the Apostle Paul Edition: A Bible Study for Catholics may find that these teaching cd's to be a great aditional resource to using the book. Topics include:

• Introduction to Saint Paul


• St. Paul on Baptism


• St. Paul on Confession


• St. Paul on Confirmation


• St. Paul on the Eucharist


• St. Paul on the Priesthood


• St. Paulon Marriage, Culture and the End Times

Check out Ignatius Productions for more details!

Pope on Saint Paul

The continuing Catechesis:

The Pauline concept of apostleship went "beyond that of the group of Twelve" explained the Holy Father. "It was characterised by three elements: the first was the fact of having seen the Lord, in other words of having encountered Him in a way that marked his life. ... Definitively then, it is the Lord Who confers the apostolate, not individual presumption. Apostles do not make themselves but are created so by the Lord". 

  The second characteristic is that of "having been sent. In fact, the Greek term 'apostolos' means envoy, ... the representative of a principal. ... Once again the idea emerges of an initiative arising from someone else, from God in Jesus Christ, to Whom one is duty-bound", of "a mission to be accomplished in His name, putting all personal interests aside".

   "Announcing the Gospel and the consequent founding of Churches" is the third requisite. "The tile of apostle", said Pope Benedict, "is not and cannot be a merely honorary title. It truly, even dramatically, involves the entire existence of the person concerned". 

  St. Paul also defined apostles as "servants of God, Whose grace acts in them", said the Pope. "A typical element of the true apostle ... is a form of identification between the Gospel and the evangeliser, both share the same destiny. Indeed no-one so much as Paul highlighted how announcing the cross of Christ is a 'stumbling block and foolishness' to which many react with misunderstanding and refusal. That happened then and it should be no surprise that the same thing happens today".

  "With the stoical philosophy of his time, Paul shared the idea of tenacious perseverance in all the difficulties he had to face; but he went beyond the merely human perspective by recalling ... God's love and Christ's. ... This is the certainty, the profound joy that guided the Apostle though all those events: nothing can separate us from the love of God, and this love is the real treasure of human life".

   "As we may see, St. Paul gave himself to the Gospel with all his life", said the Holy Father in conclusion. "He undertook his ministry with faithfulness and joy that he 'might by all means save some'. And though aware of his own relationship of paternity - even, indeed, of maternity - towards the Churches, his attitude to them was one of complete service, declaring: "I do not mean to imply that we lord it over your faith; rather, we are workers with you for your joy'. This remains the mission of all the apostles of Christ in all times: to be collaborators of true joy".

Father Mitch Pacwa/Saint Paul/ Baptism

A Response to Senator Biden

From Archbishop Chaput:

On August 24, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, describing herself as an ardent, practicing Catholic, misrepresented the overwhelming body of Catholic teaching against abortion to the show's nationwide audience, while defending her "pro-choice" abortion views. On September 7, Sen. Joseph Biden compounded the problem to the same Meet the Press audience.

Sen. Biden is a man of distinguished public service. That doesn't excuse poor logic or bad facts.
Asked when life begins, Sen. Biden said that, "it's a personal and private issue." But in reality, modern biology knows exactly when human life begins: at the moment of conception. Religion has nothing to do with it. People might argue when human "personhood" begins - though that leads public policy in very dangerous directions - but no one can any longer claim that the beginning of life is a matter of religious opinion.

Sen. Biden also confused the nature of pluralism. Real pluralism thrives on healthy, non-violent disagreement;it requires an environment where people of conviction will struggle respectfully but vigorously to advance their beliefs. In his interview, the senator observed that other people with strong religious views disagree with the Catholic approach to abortion. It's certainly true that we need to acknowledge the views of other people and compromise whenever possible - but not at the expense of a developing child's right to life. Abortion is a foundational issue; it is not an issue like housing policy or the price of foreign oil. It always involves the intentional killing of an innocent life, and it is always, grievously wrong. If, as Sen. Biden said, "I'm prepared as a matter of faith [emphasisadded] to accept that life begins at the moment of conception," then he is not merely wrong about the science of new life; he also fails to defend the innocent life he already knows is there.

As the senator said in his interview, he has opposed public funding for abortions. To his great credit, he also backed a successful ban on partial-birth abortions. But his strong support for the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade and the false "right" to abortion it enshrines, can't be excused by any serious Catholic. Support for Roe and the "right to choose" an abortion simply masks what abortion is, and what abortion does. Roe is bad law. As long as it stands, it prevents returning the abortion issue to the states where it belongs, so that the American people can decide its future through fair debate and legislation.

In his Meet the Press interview, Sen. Biden used a morally exhausted argument that American
Catholics have been hearing for 40 years: i.e., that Catholics can't "impose" their religiously based views on the rest of the country. But resistance to abortion is a matter of human rights, not religious opinion. And the senator knows very well as a lawmaker that all law involves the imposition of some people's convictions on everyone else. That is the nature of the law. American Catholics have allowed themselves to be bullied into accepting the destruction of more than a million developing unborn children a year. Other people have imposed their "pro-choice" beliefs on American society without any remorse for decades.

Father Mitch Pacwa at Birmingham Cathedral Tonight!

Father Mitch Pacwa, will present a series on Saint Paul in St. Paul's Cathedral in Birmingham, AL, begining tonight at 7:00 P.M. Everyone is invited, there is no admission or registration. This series will continue for the next six weeks. Father Mitch will be available after the talk to autograph books and answer questions.

Father has released a series of audio compact discs that are available from Ignatius Productions. Those using Father Mitch's St. Paul: Jubilee Year of the Apostle Paul Edition: A Bible Study for Catholics may find that these teaching cd's to be a great aditional resource to using the book. Topics include:

• Introduction to Saint Paul


• St. Paul on Baptism


• St. Paul on Confession


• St. Paul on Confirmation


• St. Paul on the Eucharist


• St. Paul on the Priesthood


• St. Paulon Marriage, Culture and the End Times

Check out Ignatius Productions for more details!

Year of Saint Paul Resources

On Corinthians:

On Saint Paul overall:

Pope Benedict Continues Catechesis on Saint Paul

From Asia News Italy:

Christianity "is not a philosophy or a moral norm; we are Christians only if we encounter Jesus". As for Paul on the road to Damascus, this encounter changes both our way of thinking and our life itself, clearing away what was essential up until that moment, while it is "only life in Christ that matters". To the 8,000 people present today in the audience hall at the Vatican, Benedict XVI again spoke of the figure of St Paul. Last week, he had sketched out his biography, while today he dwelt upon the meaning of the "experience on the road to Damascus, what is commonly called his conversion".

"The decisive moment in Paul's life took place during the third decade of the first century. Much has been written about this from various points of view, and it is certain that here there was a turning point, a change of perspective". "He began to think about everything that had constituted the reason for his existence up until then as a waste of time, as rubbish".

The pope recalled that Luke narrates the event in three sections of the Acts of the Apostles. "The average reader", he adds, "dwells upon the details, like the light from the sky, the fall, the blindness . . ." But these details "are all related to the center of this episode: the Risen One appears like a splendid light and speaks to Saul; he transforms his way of thinking and his life itself". In the ancient Church, baptism was also called illumination, because it makes us see the light. "What is referred to theologically takes place physically for Paul. Paul was transformed not by any thought of his own, but by an event, by the presence of the Risen One. This encounter is the center of Luke's account; it changed [Paul's] life, and in this sense it can be called a conversion".

St Paul himself speaks of his "conversion" in his letters. "He never talked about the details", Benedict XVI emphasized, "and I think this is because he was able to assume that everyone knew the story about how he was changed from a persecutor into a disciple". "Although he does not speak about the details, he mentions various times that he, too, is a witness of the Resurrection of Jesus, from whom he received directly his mission as an Apostle". The pope cited the letters to the Romans, the Corinthians, and the Galatians in this regard. In the latter of these, in particular, Paul talks about when "he who chose me from my mother's womb" called him to proclaim him among the pagans, and thus he "emphasizes that he is also a true witness of the Risen One" and "has his own mission, received directly from Jesus".

"This new direction for his life", the pope emphasized, "was not the result of a psychological process, of a moral and intellectual maturation, but came from the outside; it was not the result of his maturation, but of his encounter with Christ, an event that transformed him". "in this sense, he died, and the resurrection was his own as well; the past was dead, and he rose with the risen Christ". "No amount of psychological analysis can clarify this, only the event itself; the encounter is the key for understanding what happened. In this deeper sense, we may speak of a conversion, of a real event that changed all of the standards; what had been essential is now rubbish, and only life in Christ matters".

This means that Christianity is not a new philosophy or a moral norm for us either; we are Christian only if we encounter Jesus". "Of course, he does not appear to us in this dazzling, irresistible way. but we can encounter him in the liturgy, in life with the Church". "It is only in this personal relationship with the Risen One that we truly become Christians, and thus open our reason to all of the wisdom of Christ, to all of the richness of the truth". "Let us ask", he concluded, "for the gift of a lively faith, for a large and open heart, for a charity for all of that renews the world".

Refugees

Spotted on the streets of Birmingham, AL--the Sister Servants of Mary from New Orleans, here in exile waiting out Hurricane Gustav.

Pope: Take Up Your Cross

From Asia News Italy

Taking his cue from today’s liturgy, the Pope said that “if to save us the Son of God had to suffer and die crucified, this is certainly not part of a cruel plan by the Celestial Father. It is due to the gravity of the illness from which he had to heal us; a very serious and deadly illness that require all his blood. It is in fact with his death and resurrection that Jesus defeated sin and death and re-established God’s lordship. However, the struggle is not over yet,” he added. “Evil exists and resists in each generation, even in our day and age. What are the horrors of war, the violence on the innocent, the merciless misery and injustice of the weak, but evil’s opposition to the Kingdom of God? How can we respond to so much wickedness if not with the disarming strength of love that beats hatred, of life that does not fear death? It is the mysterious strength that Jesus used at the price of being misunderstood and abandoned by his own people.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, to fully achieve the work of salvation, the Redeemer continues to have men and women join him and his mission in taking the cross and following him.

As it was for Christ, carrying the cross is not optional for Christians but a mission to embrace out of love. In the today’s world, where the forces that divide and destroy appear to rule, Christ never stops to extend his clear invitation to all: Those who want to be my disciples must reject their selfishness and carry the cross with me.”

What Did Saint Augustine Really Say?

About Abortion? Thanks to Father Z:

Abortion: Augustine, in common with most other ecclesiastical writers of his period, vigorously condemned the practice of induced abortion. Procreation was one of the goods of marriage; abortion figured as a means, along with drugs which cause sterility, of frustrating this good. It lay along a continuum which included infanticide as an instance of "lustful cruelty" or "cruel lust" (nupt. et conc. 1.15.17). Augustine called the use of means to avoid the birth of a child an "evil work": a reference to either abortion or contraception or both (b. conjug. 5.5).

Augustine accepted the distinction between "formed" and "unformed" fetuses found in the Septuagint version of Exodus 21:22-23. While the Hebrew text provided for compensation in the case of a man striking a woman so as to cause a miscarriage, and for the penalty to be exacted if further harm were done, the Septuagint translated the word "harm" as "form," introducing a distinction between a "formed" and an "unformed" fetus. The mistranslation was rooted in an Aristotelian distinction between the fetus before and after its supposed "vivification" (at forty days for males, ninety days for females). According to the Septuagint, the miscarriage of an unvivified fetus were vivified, the punishment wa a capital one.

Augustine disapproved of the abortion of both the vivified and unvivified fetus, but distinguished between the two. The unvivified fetus died before it lived, while the vivified fetus died before it was born (nupt. et con. 1.15.17). In referring back to Exodus 21:22-23, he observed that the abortion of an unformed fetus was not considered murder, since it could not be said whether the soul was yet present (qu. 2.80).

The question of the resurrection of the fetus also exercised Augustine, and sheds some light on his views on abortion. Here again he referred to the distinction between the formed and unformed fetus. Though he acknowledged that it was possible that the unformed fetus might perish like a seed, it was also possible that, in the resurrection, God would supply all that was lacking in the unformed fetus, just as he would renew all that was defective in an adult. This notion, Augustine remarked, few would dare to deny, though few would venture to affirm it (ench. 33.85). At another point Augustine would neither affirm nor deny whether the aborted fetus would rise again, though if it should be excluded from the number of the dead, he did not see how it could be excluded from the resurrection (civ. Dei 22.13).

--from John C. Bauerschmidt, "Abortion", in Augustine Through The Ages: An Encyclopedia, edited by Fr. Alan Fitzgerald, OSA, p. 1.

To learn more about Christian history, read more about the Catholic Mass here.

Pope Benedict Continues Catechesis on Saint Paul

From today's general audience, from Asia News Italy:

Today, he sketched a biography of the apostle to the gentiles, leaving the subject of his conversion, "the fundamental turning point of his life", until next Wednesday.

Benedict XVI first highlighted that Paul - born in Tarsus, probably in the year 8 - "spoke Greek, even though he had a name of Latin or Roman origin". He was "a meeting point of three cultures" - Jewish, Greek, and Roman - "and perhaps for this reason as well was able to mediate between cultures, in a true universality".

Paul was educated in Jerusalem by the rabbi Gamaliel, "according to the strictest norms of the Pharisees", for which reason he believed in a "profound orthodoxy that saw a risk, a threat in the man called Jesus". "This explains the fact that he clearly persecuted the Church of God. He was on the road to Damascus precisely in order to prevent the spread of this sect, as he himself said". From that moment, the persecutor of Christianity "became a tireless apostle of the Gospel, and passed into history for what he did as a Christian, or rather as an apostle".

The pope then recalled his apostolic activity, which "is subdivided on the basis of the three missionary voyages, to which is added a fourth, when he was taken to Rome as a prisoner". Among the various moments in Paul's life, Benedict XVI recalled his famous speech in the agora in Athens: "In the ancient cultural capital, he preached to the pagans and Greeks. In the agora, he gave a model speech for explaining to the Greeks that this God is not foreign and unknown, but one they had been waiting for, the deepest response to their anticipation".

In conclusion, Saint Paul "dedicated himself to the proclamation of the Gospel, without holding anything back", making himself, as he wrote, "the servant of all, confronting harsh trials". "I do everything", he said, "for the sake of the Gospel". "This commitment", the pope said, "can be explained only by a soul that is enraptured with the light of Christ", by the conviction that "it is truly necessary to proclaim the light of Christ to the world, to give a glimpse of the beauty and necessity of the Gospel for all of us". "Let us ask", he concluded, "that the Lord may show his light to us as well, and that we may also give the world the light of the Gospel, the truth of Christ".

Bishop Baker on Reading Saint Paul

Bishops Respond to House Speaker

From the USCCB, Pro-Life Activities:

All persons, not just Catholics, can know from the scientific and medical evidence that what grows in a mother's womb is a new, distinct human being. All persons can understand that each human being -- without discrimination -- merits respect. At the very least, respecting human life excludes the deliberate and direct destruction of life -- and that is exactly what abortion is.

Catholics are also pro-life because our Christian tradition is pro-life. As Pope John Paul II says, Christians believe that "all human life is sacred, for it is created in the image and likeness of God." Aborting an unborn child destroys a unique creation which God has called specially into existence.

Christian teaching also obliges us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, who spoke and acted strongly and compassionately in favor of the most despised and vulnerable persons in society. Jesus touched lepers, spoke with prostitutes, and showed special mercy and tenderness to the sick, the poor, and children. Our society today has many vulnerable persons --- including women in crisis pregnancies as well as unborn children whose lives may be legally ended at any time during pregnancy and for any reason. In the tradition of Jesus Christ, Catholics have a responsibility to speak and act in defense of these persons. This is part of our "preferential option" for the poor and powerless.

The Church's mission to defend human life applies over the entire course of life, from conception to natural death. And so the Catholic Church has been a strong supporter of the civil rights movement and a leader in international relief and development efforts. Catholic hospitals and other health-care facilities form the largest network of private, not-for-profit health care providers in the United States. Catholic Charities USA --- one of a number of Catholic charitable groups --- is currently the single largest provider of social services to all Americans, regardless of race, creed or national origin.

The Catholic Church strives to be a prophetic voice, speaking out to protest injustices and indignities against the human person. Catholics will continue in this work, whether our words are popular or unpopular.

Since its beginnings, Christianity has maintained a firm and clear teaching on the sacredness of human life. Jesus Christ emphasized this in his teaching and ministry. Abortion was rejected in the earliest known Christian manual of discipline, the Didache.

Early Church fathers likewise condemned abortion as the killing of innocent human life. A third century Father of the Church, Tertullian, called it "accelerated homicide." Early Church councils considered it one of the most serious crimes. Even during periods when Aristotle's theory of "delayed ensoulment" led Church law to assign different penalties to earlier and later abortions, abortion at any stage was still considered a grave evil.

When biologists in the 19th century learned more about the process of conception, the Church altered its legal distinction between early and late abortions out of respect for reason and biology.

Since that time, science has only further confirmed the humanity of the child growing in the womb. Official Church teaching insists, to the present day, that a just society protects life before as well as after birth.

The reasons are not difficult to understand. One official Church document on the subject puts it this way:



"The first right of the human person is his life . . . It does not belong to society, nor does it belong to public authority in any form to recognize this right for some and not for others; all discrimination is evil. . . Any discrimination based on the various stages of life is no more justified any other discrimination. . . . In reality, respect for human life is called for from the time that the process of generation begins. From the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor of the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth."Declaration on Procured Abortion, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1974), paragraphs 11-12.

Email us at prolife@usccb.org
Pro-Life Activities 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000 © USCCB. All rights reserved.

St. Paul's Simple Guide to Daily Living

The title of a talk that I'm giving twice in September. Btw...it is simple, but it's not easy...

September 28th:

• Our Lady of Sorrows, Birmingham AL at 10:00 a.m.


• Holy Spirit Parish, Huntsville, AL at 6:00 p.m.

Perhaps this could appear as "A Pocket Guide" similar to two that I've written already: A Pocket Guide to the Mass and A Pocket Guide to Confession which is part of a series of "pocket guides" that include titles by Dr. Scott Hahn: A Pocket Guide to the Bible , Peter Kreeft:A Pocket Guide to The Meaning of Life (Pocket Guide Series), Patrick Madrid: A Pocket Guide to Catholic Apologetics, A Pocket Guide to Purgatory , and Fr. George Kosicki's:A Pocket Guide to Divine Mercy (A Pocket Guide to)

Pope Benedict on Today's Gospel

From Asia News Italy:

“Even today we want to proclaim this with innermost conviction,” said the Pontiff. “Yes, Jesus, you are Christ, the Son of the Living God! We are aware that Christ is the true ‘treasure’ for whom it is worth sacrificing all. He is the friend who never abandons us for he knows the innermost expectations of our heart. Jesus is the ‘Son of the Living God’, the promised Messiah, who came on earth to offer humanity salvation and satisfy the thirst for life and love that dwells in every human being. What advantages would humanity get if it welcomed the announcement that brings with it joy and peace!”

Following the Apostle’s confession of faith Jesus conferred upon Peter his mandate (And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.).

“It is the first time that Jesus spoke about the Church whose mission is to implement God’s grandiose plan to unite in Christ the whole of humanity as a single family. Peter’s mission, and that of his successors, is to serve the one and only Church of God, which includes Jews and pagans. Its indispensable ministry is to ensure that it does not identify with any one nation or culture, but that it is a Church for all peoples, so as to make present among people, who suffer from countless divisions and contrasts, God’s peace and the renewing strength of his love. It must therefore serve the inner unity that comes from God’s peace, the unity of those who have become brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. This is the unique mission that falls upon the Pope, Bishop of Rome, Successor of Peter.

Lastly “before the huge responsibility of this task I feel ever more the importance and the duty of serving the Church and the world that God placed in me. For this reason I call upon you, dear brothers and sisters, to help me with your prayers so that, faithful to Christ, we can together announce and bear witness to his presence in our times. May Mary enable us to obtain this grace! We call upon her, full of trust, as the Mother of the Church and the Star of Evangelisation.”

Parents of St. Therese to be Beatified

On October 19th:

- LOUIS MARTIN E ZÉLIE MARIE GUÉRIN, laici, sposi e genitori: Domenica 19 ottobre 2008, a Lisieux (Francia), nella Basilica di Santa Teresa del Bambino Gesù, alle ore 10.

Porter Wagoner

	Porter Wagoner - The Rubber Room
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Pope: Set the Example When You Drive

Something to think about this Sunday, from Asia News Italy:

In his reflection before the Angelus, he commented on the liturgy of the 20th Sunday in ordinary time, in which "the universality of salvation" is emphasized in various ways: "The Word of God thus offers us the opportunity to reflect on the universality of the mission of the Church, made up of peoples of every race and culture. This is the origin of the great responsibility of the ecclesial community, which is called to be a house of welcome for all, the sign and instrument of communion for the entire human family".

The pope said that "it is important, above all in our time, that every Christian community deepen this awareness more and more, in part for the sake of helping civil society to overcome any temptation of racism, intolerance, and exclusion, and to organize itself with decisions respectful of the dignity of every human being! One of the great achievements of humanity is, in fact, precisely the overcoming of racism. Unfortunately, however, there are worrying new signs of this in various countries, often connected to social and economic problems, which nonetheless can never justify disrespect and racial discrimination. Let us pray that respect for every person may increase everywhere, together with the responsible awareness that only in the reciprocal welcome of all is it possible to build a world marked by authentic justice and true peace".

Benedict XVI then dedicated a thought - and a prayer intention - to all the victims of vehicles or accidents in recent days (especially in Italy). "We must not", the pontiff said, "grow accustomed to this sad reality! Human life is too valuable, and it is unfit for man to die or be crippled by causes that, in most cases, could be avoided. A greater sense of responsibility is certainly necessary. Above all on the part of drivers, because accidents are often due to excessive speed and imprudent behavior. Driving a vehicle on the public roads requires a moral sense and a civic sense. In promoting the latter of these, a constant effort of prevention is indispensable, the vigilance and deterrence on the part of the competent authorities. As the Church, in fact, we feel ourselves directly involved on the ethical level: Christians first of all must make a personal examination of conscience of their own conduct as drivers; the communities should moreover educate all to consider driving as an area in which to defend life and concretely exercise love of neighbor".

No More "Yahweh" Songs

In Catholic worship, from CNS:

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the not-too-distant future, songs such as "You Are Near," "I Will Bless Yahweh" and "Rise, O Yahweh" will no longer be part of the Catholic worship experience in the United States.

At the very least, the songs will be edited to remove the word "Yahweh" -- a name of God that the Vatican has ruled must not "be used or pronounced" in songs and prayers during Catholic Masses.

Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, announced the new Vatican "directives on the use of 'the name of God' in the sacred liturgy" in an Aug. 8 letter to his fellow bishops.

He said the directives would not "force any changes to official liturgical texts" or to the bishops' current missal translation project but would likely have "some impact on the use of particular pieces of liturgical music in our country as well as in the composition of variable texts such as the general intercessions for the celebration of the Mass and the other sacraments."

John Limb, publisher of OCP in Portland, Ore., said the most popular hymn in the OCP repertoire that would be affected was Dan Schutte's "You Are Near," which begins, "Yahweh, I know you are near."

He estimated that only "a handful" of other OCP hymns use the word "Yahweh," although a search of the OCP Web site turned up about a dozen examples of songs that included the word.

OCP is a nonprofit publisher of liturgical music and worship resources.

Lunch with the Pope

"He's a good listener."

From the LA TIMES:

The lunch took place July 18 at Pell's residence in Sydney. Cervantes and the others were led into a room with a circular table. Place cards directed them where to sit. Security guards swept through the room, then the group was told to wait: The Holy Father would be with them shortly.

"All of us didn't know what to say," Cervantes recalled. They joked about not knowing which fork to use and warned those who would be seated next to the pope not to accidentally use his bread plate. They also peeked through the drawn blinds, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pope arriving.

When Benedict arrived with Pell, the two men quickly put the young delegates, who were all in their 20s, at ease. Share who you are and what you do, the pope told them.

Cervantes had memorized facts about his diocese and it was clear the other diners had also prepared facts to share. But that's not what the pope wanted. "He would bring us back to talk about us," Cervantes said.

He talked about his parents, both immigrants, and his work in youth ministry. The pope asked their names and where they had come from, and if Cervantes had siblings. "I didn't think he would ask any of that," Cervantes said.

But he answered the questions. His parents, Alicia and Fermin Cervantes, immigrated from Mexico. He has a sister, Vivian, and a brother, Miguel. The pope also asked about Orange County and if the church was multicultural. Benedict seemed pleased, Cervantes said, when he talked about the large presence of Spanish- and Vietnamese-speaking Catholics.

Another delegate, when asked, spoke of his work as a teacher. Benedict, a longtime academic, perked up at that.

"What do you like to teach?" he asked. Then a man representing Australia's aborigines -- his chair was decorated with a kangaroo skin -- said he hoped to inspire other indigenous peoples.

A thread connected most of the personal stories:

"That all of us had a struggle, a conversion or a transformation -- and that all of us had a desire to help other people," Cervantes said.

The conversation was held mostly in English, but the pope switched to Spanish and French at times. With a Korean man to his right, he spoke in German. Benedict was like "a grandfather trying to get know about his grandchildren," Cervantes said.

The diners took a break for the pope to see some gifts each person brought. Cervantes and his youth groups wanted to give the pope something classically American, so he brought a basket with assorted gifts. Among the items was a book of blessings from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In a nod to baseball, there was an Angels visor.

There was also an orange stress ball, the kind overworked people like to squeeze to relieve tension. "What is this?" Benedict asked.

Cervantes explained, prompting a laugh. "Seeing him smile and seeing him laugh was worth it," he said.

Then came the classic Orange County gift: A Mickey Mouse hat. As any kid knows, it has to have your name on it. So embroidered between the ears was "Benedict XVI."

But Cervantes had a serious message for the pope as well: "There is hope and there is faith in the U.S."

Two days after the lunch, Benedict delivered a homily during a Mass held at the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. "The Church especially needs the gifts of young people, all young people," he told the crowd. "She needs to grow in the power of the Spirit who even now gives joy to your youth and inspires you to serve the Lord with gladness."

The homily hit home for Cervantes. "This is a person who truly cares, who lives what he preaches," he said.

In the weeks following his lunch with the pope, Cervantes has reflected on the experience -- "It's definitely given me more inner strength" -- and has realized that what surprised him then makes sense now. "His writings talk about making personal connections," he said.

That explains all the questions about family and personal journeys. And why the pope didn't really say much himself.

"He's a very good listener," Cervantes said. "You're used to seeing him take charge." But with the young people, he "just was listening to us."