About

ABOUT THIS BLOG, AND ABOUT ME

1.  About This Blog   

  This blog is primarily written to help us become 21st century, American expressions of Christ, in and for today's society.  I am happy to report that this blog has attracted spiritually searching people from 100 countries.  I welcome everyone!

                                                                           

                                                                       ~~~

   Our church teaches that God speaks to everyone in the world, and everyone responds in their own way. The catholic (small "c") purpose of our church is to help all people grow, evolve and flourish, as together we build a world that reflects God, namely a world that is marked by Wholeness in Love, with a special option for the sick, poor, vulnerable and outcastg.

   Regarding us Catholics in particular, God does not speak exclusively to the pope, who then speaks to the bishops, who speak to a passive laity. God speaks and gives the truth to the whole church.  We reach a clearer and ever evolving understanding of what God is saying to us in two ways:  a) through church teachings that have developed throughout our history, and b) through discernment and communication among the laity, theologians, bishops and pope, communicating together.

   All the People of God are called and empowered to participate and collaborate in discerning what God is saying to us today, so that the Magisterium can then authentically teach what the whole church believes.  (1)

   The church also teaches that the laity are spiritually empowered and responsible to act, within our rich, living faith, on their own initiative, to elevate and humbly and lovingly correct today's society and culture, in the saving grace of Christ.  This empowered activity is called our prophetic activity.  We are called to act prophetically by using our gifts, talents, possibilities and opportunities, namely, our personal vocation and interests, e.g., marriage, education, work and professions, politics, business, economics, science, the arts, etc., for the good of our society and culture. (2)

   Even though these Vatican II teachings on discernment and prophetic action are in the Catechism, they have never been fully implemented. One result is that for the past half century, the church's spiritual influence in our society and culture has been diminishing.  
   Happily, Pope Francis is now calling us to live discerning and prophetic, Gospel-inspired lives in imitation of Jesus, especially by becoming a church for the poor, sick, vulnerable and outcast.  In very important areas such as today's radical individualism and killing competition, political and economic dysfunction, and conflicts over women's rights, gay rights, religious freedom, etc., we must walk our way together by learning as much as we can about our faith, by discerning God's presence and intentions within us and our society, and by acting prophetically to work with all people of good will to peacefully elevate and correct today's society and culture in the loving grace of Christ.  .   

   The time in now!  People and the environment are suffering now!  We can help one another right now.    

   I invite all Catholics, especially the disaffected and young, to whom much spiritual power is given, along with all others of good will, to walk our contemporary way in Christ together. (3)

 Anthony T. Massimini
Massimini7@gmail.com

(1)  Vatican II, The Church, No. 12, Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) No. 91-95
(2)  Vatican II, The Church in the Modern World, No. 12; The Church No. 33, 35, 37.
           CCC 899-913 .
(3)  Of course, people from other countries will express Christ in their own particular way

About Me

 Anthony T. Massimini, Ph. D.

Ordained for Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Rome, 1959
Dispensed by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and returned to the laity
Married in a Catholic ceremony, 1972

Attended first session of Vatican II, 1962 (See Vatican II pages in this blog)

Doctorate in Spiritual Theology, (Faith, Psychology of Personal Development, and Evolutionary     Cosmology)  Gregorian University, Rome, 1963  (S.T.D. accepted as Ph. D.  by Middle States Accreditors, and Th. Jefferson Medical University)

Certificate in Psychiatry, Hahnemann Medical School, 1970

Taught Latin, Greek, Spirituality, Theology, and Philosophy at Philadelphia's  
     St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, and at various colleges and universities in the Phila. area          (1963-70)
Ecumenical speaker on Vatican II to Protestants and Jews throughout the Phila. area, 1963-68 
     (Silenced by church authorities in 1968) 

Assistant at Newman Hall, University of Pennsylvania 1966-70

Psychotherapist and member of faculty, Thomas Jefferson Medical University, Phila., PA 
       1971-80

Psychotherapist and Administrator, CATCH Community Mental Health Center, Phila. 
      1980-88
Wrote Educational Vision for ChARTerTECH High School, Somers Point, NJ 1998
Member and theologian for Voice of the Faithful 2002-2006
Lives with wife among the Amish people in Lancaster County, PA 

Adjunct Instructor in Philosophy and Ethics, and Student Counselor,  PA College 
    of Art & Design, Lancaster, PA 2002-7

Named, "Leader in Religion," by the Fox Leadership Program at the University of                         Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia, PA 2013

Publications:

   Wrote book reviews and articles for the "National Catholic Reporter."
   Editor and Translator: Council Speeches, Third Session of  Vatican II, with William K. Leahy 
  Author:  The New Dance of Christ--Discovering Our Spiritual Self in a New,  Evolving World, Xlibris Publishers, 2000  
                  Running Into Infinity, 2012, E-Novel available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, et al.

To contact me:  Massimini7@gmail.com  I'd like to hear from you.