Summer, 2012

Tom and Kari Curran and Family - 2012

Dear Friend,

We are not living in ordinary times. As a Catholic and an American, I sense the moment has come as never before in my lifetime to stand up as Faithful Citizens and Faith-filled Citizens. There is so much at stake right now. Our great nation is at risk of alienating and isolating Catholics like you and me through laws and policies being proposed and passed right now! I am doing everything I can to take a stand against these attacks and inform, inspire and equip Catholics to take action as Faithful Citizens and Faith-filled Citizens. More than ever, I am asking for your prayers, for your financial help, and for your involvement in this battle.

Laws Contradicting the Wisdom of the Catholic Church’s Teaching are Destructive

Forty years ago, the disastrous Supreme Court ruling, Roe vs. Wade, unleashed an unprecedented attack against the vulnerable unborn. We Catholics did not do enough to mobilize and engage by promoting the Gospel of Life as the antidote for the poison of the Culture of Death. The result: a “slaughter of the innocents” in our day - 50 million unborn babies gone. In 2008, another wave of attacks against the Church’s teaching on the preciousness and dignity of life from conception “until natural death”. You probably remember the horror of the insidiously named “Death with Dignity Act”. Sadly, we failed again as Catholics to do enough to stand with conviction and courage against the forces determined to advance the Culture of Death. So today, the travesty of physician assisted suicide is legal and spreading.

This time we can’t be caught off guard and we must not remain on the sidelines. We are here again, at a crossroads for our state and our nation. We are facing not one, but TWO major battles that touch the heart and soul of who we are as American Catholics.

1. Authentic Marriage vs. the Redefinition of Marriage (Referandum74) - You have hopefully heard or read the National Organization for Marriage‘s simple statement, “Gays and Lesbians have a right to live as they choose, they don‘t have the right to redefine marriage for all of us.” That’s right! God’s design for authentic marriage is full of truth, goodness, and beauty. But if we don't stand up for this truth, then who will?

2. Religious Freedom (HHR mandate) – The Dept. of Health and Human Services is mandating that private companies, including those that are Catholic, include in their insurance plans services that include contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing drugs like “Ella” that violate our deeply-held doctrines on the sanctity of life. This is a violation of the fundamental beliefs of Catholics and many others in this country. That includes you and me.

This time we can’t afford to be caught off guard or complacent. We must do something; we all have a part to play! I am committed, this ministry is committed, to informing, motivating and equipping Catholics like you and tens of thousands of others to engage in the call of this moment. But I can’t do it alone. I need your help.

How My Catholic Faith Ministries Is Taking Action In This Battle

“Stand Up for Religious Freedom” Rallies – Over 300 of these rallies have taken place nationwide in opposition to the HHS Mandate. It was my privilege to speak at both Seattle rallies and to challenge attendees to “stand up, stand out, and do something outstanding before God and before our nation”. If you were in attendance, thank you for your involvement! I plan to speak at more events such as these in the coming months.

Fortnight For Freedom –The Bishops of the United States called for 14 days of “prayer, catechesis and public witness” leading up Independence Day to call attention to the irreplaceable role of religious freedom in America. To support the call of the Bishops, I dedicated all of my Sound Insight radio programs during the fortnight to the topic of religious freedom and how we as Catholics can do something to overcome the HHS mandate. I so appreciate the many positive comments I received from listeners regarding these programs.

Outreach to Seminarians and Bookstores - The U.S. Bishops are heroically fighting the HHS mandate concerning insurance coverage for services such as sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs and devices, and contraception. But many Catholics have not grasped what is at stake. According to a recent USA Today article, 58% of Catholics do not understand the battle against the HHS mandate or support the mandate because they misunderstand the Church's teaching on contraception. I am dedicated to helping change this troubling statistic. My Catholic Faith Ministries has embarked on a major initiative to give away, for FREE, Janet E. Smith’s Contraception: Why Not CD (the most distributed and compelling single talk on the Church’s teaching on contraception available today), to EVERY seminarian in the country, as well as EVERY Catholic bookstore in the country. Your contribution today will help us continue this effort.
 

I Need Your Help

These are a few of the actions that My Catholic Faith Ministries is taking right now. And we want to do more over the next 6 months as the battle intensifies. But I cannot do this alone. I need your help. Summertime is especially difficult as donations are low and our budget is stretched very thin. If you give today then you are saying, “Yes, Tom, keep preaching this message, keep standing up for the truth and stay strong. Here is my contribution to fund your work and keep you in the fight.”

Peace and all good things,
 



 

Tom Curran, Executive Director

P.S. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve you in ministry. Your donation right now makes it possible for me to fight for the true, good and beautiful foundations of our faith.

Martin Luther King Jr., a Faithful Citizen and Faith-Filled Citizen in his time faced hostility and ultimately death in his fight for civil rights. He said,

“Standing up for the truth of God is the greatest thing in the world. This is the end of life. The end of life is not to achieve pleasure and avoid pain; the end of life is to do the will of God come what may.”

Dr. King lived out this creed with conviction, passion and sacrificial commitment. And our nation is better for it. Now it is OUR time to step up and play our part in history. I believe that if we do, these next months could be a turning point in the battle to preserve our Catholic-Christian way of life. So much is at stake right now. Please give generously if you are able. Thank you for your support.

SOUND INSIGHT RADIO: Transforming LIVES

Listen in on 1050AM (Seattle), 970AM (Spokane) and 1360AM (Amarillo, TX) every weekday morning. Sound Insight radio program reaches out daily to tens of thousands of listeners who long to hear scriptural truth and Church teaching. This teaching is expressed in a real and personal manner, with words that bring hope, healing and wisdom to listeners who might be facing difficult life circumstances. God has blessed me with a call to reach out to these listeners.

Sound Insight radio program is produced by My Catholic Faith Ministries and is funded solely by donations.  We do not receive of compensation from any other source.  It is financial contributions from people like you, who believe in us, that sustain this program.

Books Published by My Catholic Faith Press

The Mass: Four Encounters That Will Change Your Life and Confession: Five Sentences That will Heal Your Life continue be sold in greater and greater numbers at bookstores across the nation. These books have sold over 21,000 copies to-date, and as I travel to parishes giving talks on these topics (and meeting many of you!) I hear countless testimonies from Catholics whose lives have been transformed by the messages in these books. The following testimonies are from parishes on the East Coast who are using The Mass book in class settings in conjunction with The Mass DVD series.

Pro-life, pro-family resources by Prof. Janet E. Smith

Contraception:Why Not - Revised and Updated
Now in Spanish!

My Catholic Faith Ministries stands strong in our pro-life position and we proclaim this message whenever possible. This is why we are proud to be the sole producer of Prof. Smith’s CD and DVD materials, including the world-famous talk Contraception: Why Not (which we now produce in Spanish!) and 18 other straight-shooting, pro-life presentations. In fact, we just added four brand new CDs to the line up of pro-life resources on our website. These new titles include:

• Healthy Passion: Understanding the Owner's Manual
• The Eucharist, One Flesh Union, and Self-Giving Love
• Why Human Life Is So Highly Valued

Prof. Janet E. Smith interprets the Church’s teaching on issues related to human sexuality in a way that is understandable and relevant to our culture today. In fact, many of her talks are presented at college campuses to young adults. Her messages are bold, they cause people to encounter the truth, and they cause hearts and minds to make decisions for life. Over one million copies of Janet Smith’s Contraception: Why Not message have been distributed worldwide and most of these have been given away for FREE. This method of free CD distribution has been a highly effective tool for evangelization and the spreading of the pro-life, pro-family message so clearly stated in this presentation. Please help us to continue to distribute these powerful resources, both nationally and internationally, and counteract the culture of death that is so prevelant in this world with a message of life and hope for all who are open.

Digital Outreach and Social Media

The internet is here to stay. We are becoming a digital culture that looks online for everything from social interaction to quality faith formation. This is why My Catholic Faith Ministries is actively using the internet and social media to reach out to Catholics and form their faith whenever we can. Here are some examples:

Daily Scripture Reflections

Log on to MyCatholicFaith.org and check this out. Right there on the home page you will find a daily 2-3 minute video of Dr. Tom Curran reflecting on the Scripture of the Day and giving valuable insight and practical tools to help you apply these truths to your life. These video clips are also posted on Facebook daily and are one way that we are providing faithful, relevant and accessible formation to Catholics worldwide on a daily basis. We get regular and very positive feedback from our Facebook audience about these posts. Here is one of them:

RosaryLive.com

RosaryLive.com is an online prayer room where someone from our team is praying the Rosary live for an hour at least once each weekday. During this live hour of prayer, those that enter the online prayer room may submit prayer requests that are prayed for live during the hour. Here is a testimony from someone who recently participated:

Facebook – Become a Fan of “I Love My Catholic Faith”!

Our Facebook fan page is growing by the day and we currently have 18,129 fans of “I Love My Catholic Faith”. Fans receive numerous daily posts, which include links to the Daily Scripture Reflections by Dr. Tom Curran, the Sound Insight radio podcast of the day, the Question and Quote of the day, and daily invitations to come and pray on Rosarylive.com during the live prayer hours; all of which invite fans to share their own walk of faith through comments and shares. Facebook is the most powerful interactive social tool available today and we are using it as a means to reach out to the digital natives of our culture with the truth of the gospel.

P.S. Our Free Gift to You

Have you thought about a New Years resolution for 2012? My challenge for you is to ask the Lord what HE is saying to you for 2012; what does He resolve to do in your life? I asked Him this for 2011 and His answer for me was two words - “Totus Tuus” (Totally Yours). For me it means that I am called by God to be completely His, but at the same time, I’m very aware of my inability to fulfill this call without His empowerment in my life. This knowledge of my poverty before Him keeps my heart open to receive as my soul cries out, “I am Totally Yours, My Lord.” This is where God led me this year. But my question is, where does He want to take you?

As you contemplate where God is resolved to take you in 2012, I’d like to offer you a FREE GIFT. I have recorded my “Totus Tuus” journey, and the insights that the Lord gave my along the way, onto a two-talk series entitled Totally Yours: Growing in Your Relationship with God. If you would like this gift, you may choose to receive these talks in one of two ways:

• Download the MP3 files for FREE at www.mycatholicfaith.org/freeresources
• Donate and you will be given an option to receive the CDs in the mail
• Or send us an This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your name and address and we will send you the Totally Yours 2-CD series.

As you listen to these talks, my prayer is that you will desire Jesus Christ to draw close to you, live in you and radiate from you. Not because of the great things you can do for Him, but rather because of His desire to do great things in and through you. May God richly bless you in 2012. And if you are able to financially support me and our ministry to help meet our year-end need, I am truly grateful and appreciate your gift.