March 20, 2008

Concert Series Continues with Memphis Brass Quintet

The final concert of the SBA Crossroads Concert season will be held on Sunday, April 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the SBA Performing Arts Theatre, located at 8250 Varnavas Dr. in Cordova.

Featured performers will be the University of Memphis Rudi Scheidt School of Music Memphis Brass Quintet. SBA's instrumental groups will also perform.

The Memphis Brass Quintet is the professional brass ensemble of the U of M School of Music and has developed a reputation for outstanding artistic concert presentations.

All seating is reserved. For tickets or information, call 901-260-2840,visit www.sbaeagles.org or send an email to crossroads @sbaeagles.org.

Catholic Charismatic Renewal to Host Mass, Healing Service

In anticipation of the Feast of the Divine Mercy, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Memphis will celebrate a Healing Mass at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 28 at Holy Rosary Church, located at 4851 Park Ave. The celebrant will be Father Jim Martell, pastor. There will be a reception after Mass in the Family Room.

Jesus continues to heal us today as He did 2,000 years ago. At the Healing Mass, participants bring their needs and infirmities to the Lord through the Eucharist.

"As Catholic, we believe that Jesus is present in the Eucharist and we ask for His healing to come upon us as we say before Communion, `Lord, I am not worthy to receive you but only say the word and I shall be healed.' Every Eucharist is a healing celebration. In it we receive the Lord Jesus. We are transformed by Him, and we let Him meet us in our needs. In every Mass, we celebrate God's love for us. With the priest we offer ourselves in sacrifice, giving thanks to the Father, through Jesus, our great High Priest, in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is He who makes us a community who worships God in Spirit and Truth," said Jan Courtney, Communications Chair, Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Memphis.

The Blessing of the Holy Spirit imparts a gift of understanding that both heals and renews the wounded heart. Christ, our Healer, frees the heart to love and to trust while renewing the inner spirit, bringing fresh hope and new life.

Healing also occurs when the faithful learn to forgive one another and ourselves. The message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is that God loves all no matter how great the sins. He wants all to recognize that His mercy is greater than sins, so that believers will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy.

It is a message that can be lived by simply by remembering the ABCs.

A: Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.

B: Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.

C: Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

For further information about the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Memphis, contact Carlene Inzer at 901-545-4256 or visit the website at www.catholicstuff.org.

Vanderhaar Symposium Planned at CBU

The Third Annual Vanderhaar Symposium will focus on the relevance of Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy in the twenty-first century. Rev. Bryan Massingale, S.T.D. will speak at the Dr. Gerard A. Vanderhaar Symposium, Thursday, April 10, from 7:00 _ 8:30 p.m. in the Canale Arena on the Christian Brothers University (CBU) campus.

A Catholic moral theologian who focuses on liberation theologies, Massingale's topic is Dr. Martin Luther King's Vision and Practice: His Legacy, Present Struggles and Future Hopes.

"It is all too easy to keep Dr. King safely memorialized and merely recall his accomplishments," Massingale recently explained.

"I want to retrieve the faith that inspired his passion for justice and nonviolence, and then show how that passion can shed new light on the contemporary justice challenges we face. I want to end on a note of hope, as that is something sorely needed to sustain our struggle for justice in the face of formidable obstacles."

An Associate Professor at Marquette University, Massingale is a prolific writer who has authored more than thirty articles, book chapters, and book reviews.

Also that evening, a Mid-South university student will be recognized with the Dr. Gerard A. Vanderhaar Student Peace Award. The award is given annually to a student who best exemplifies the spirit and practice of nonviolence consistent with Dr. Vanderhaar's life and work. The recipient will make a presentation of his/her work prior to the lecture.

The Vanderhaar Symposium was founded in honor of Dr. Gerard A. Vanderhaar, a professor of religion for 28 years at CBU, who spent his lifetime promoting peace and active nonviolence. Each year, the Symposium invites a noted scholar and/or activist to the CBU campus to address a social and moral issue related to peace and justice and/or Catholic social teaching.

The Symposium is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a reception. Parking is available in the CBU Central Avenue lot at no cost. For more information, call 901-321-3270 or visit www.gvanderhaar.org.