Respecting Life

This homily has already brought a lot of responses from many people who have shared with me how their family was treated because they came from a big family. I hope that this homily helps people realize that every life is a gift from God, and that we need to see every human life as something good, not bad. As mentioned in the homily, we are not called to judge, rather we should ask God to open our eyes, so that we can see as he sees.

Sharing your Faith Story

    If you have yet to read Archbishop Nienstedt's pastoral letter on the new evangelization here is a link to it, I strongly encourage you to read it.
    Here are a couple of recommendations if you decide to post a video response to my challenge. If you could keep it to 3-4 minutes that would be great. I know that is not a long time, but on average that is how long people will probably watch the video (even though the video above is 5 minutes, I wish that it was shorter). The video can be recorded in any quality, just make sure that we can hear you. Also, when you post it to youtube, I will need you to let me know what the link is, so that I can share it with other people. Maybe you are thinking that you do not want to be the only person who posts a video, because you think that would be embarrassing (which it would not), then I recommend that you challenge a friend to make a video as well.
    If you really want to do this and do not have the proper equipment to upload a video, just let me know and I am sure that I can help you out. If you want to you can come to the office and I will even video tape for you and do all of the editing, etc.. So, the only question that remains is if you are actually going to do this or not, my vote is that you do (if you don't who will?).

The Beauty of Redemptive Suffering

Deacon Rip Riordan preached this weekend, and was nice enough to let me share it with all of you. Enjoy!!

Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor.

Defending and Promoting Marriage

Open Hours

When I was in college, one of the things that I took advantage of frequently was the open hours that professors would offer for the students. I would often just stop in their office for a couple of minutes and ask a question or two. Of course it always helped to ask them questions, but the real advantage of this was that I was able to develop a relationship with them over the year. Looking back at those
times I realized that I probably learned just as much in those one-on-one brief conversations as I had learned in class.
When I was ordained a priest one of the things that I quickly found out was that people want to talk to me (not because of who I am, but because I am a priest), but do not necessarily feel like they have something important enough to schedule an appointment with me for. So, at my last parish I started offering “open hours” for the parishioners to come on by without scheduling an appointment. These “open hours” were very successful, as many parishioners would stop on by and just talk. It also gave me an opportunity to get to know the parishioners, and in turn, the parish better. So, I am going to start to offer “open hours” here at St. Ambrose starting on October 6th. The Open Hours will be every Saturday in October and November from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM, and for the most part will be in the Fr. Pingatore room. If they are successful I will continue to offer them in following months.
You may be asking yourself, what would I discuss with Fr. Carlson during these “open hours”? Well, anything is fair game. Maybe you have a question about the faith that you really want to talk to someone about. Or maybe you are working through a situation and would like some advice from a priest. Or maybe you just want to stop on by because you are afraid that I am going to be bored. All of these are good reasons to come on in. Once again there is no need to schedule an appointment for this. Of course, I will still be available throughout the week to meet with people, so if that works out better for you, don’t hesitate to call.
I often tell people the reason why I got ordained a priest was not for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a priest. But the reason why I got ordained a priest and am a priest is for you, the people of God. I hope that these “open hours” are a way for me to serve you better.
Fr. Carlson 

A Modern Day Fire and Brimstone Homily