YEAR OF FAITH: The purpose of Christian faith and life...

The purpose of Christian faith and life is not to satisfy the curiosity or appetites of believers, but to recruit them into the action of God’s Spirit in building the kingdom of God. Faith and the Christian life introduce a person into a new kind of life and relationship to the world that entails spiritual growth for the sake of the world’s salvation.

The Priesthood of the Faithful. Key to a Living Church, Paul J. Philibert, Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 2005.

CATHOLICISM IN THE USA

“Numerically, the Catholic Church in the U.S. is growing rapidly. The 2000 CARA Report, Catholicism Today, puts it rather dramatically: in the year 1900 one out of seven Americans was Catholic (11 million in a population of 76 million). Today more than one in five Americans is at least nominally Catholic (60 millions in a population of 267 million). The factors that account for this demographic development include the impact of immigration, intermarriage leading to adult reception of spouses into the Catholic Church, and, of course, natural increase through family growth. All of these factors have made the Catholic Church the largest single denomination in what was for two centuries a dominantly Protestant country.” A Portrait of the Catholic Church in the United States, Bryan T. Froehle and Mary L. Gautier, Maryknoll, New York, 2000.

October 21, 2012: Canonization of Native American Kateri Tekakwitha

YEAR OF FAITH: Official Website

http://www.annusfidei.va/content/novaevangelizatio/en.html

YEAR OF FAITH LOGO

The logo is composed of a square, bordered field on which a boat, symbolizing the Church, is represented as sailing on a graphically minimal representation of waves. The main mast of the boat is a cross from which sails are displayed in the form of dynamic signs which compose the trigram of Christ (IHS). The background to the sails is a sun which, associated with the trigram, refers also to the Eucharist.

October 24: Saint Anthony Maria Claret

October 23: Saint John of Capistrano

October 20: Saint Paul of the Cross

October 18: Saint Luke

October 17: Saint Ignatius of Antioch

October 16: Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

October 16: Saint Hedwig

October 15: Saint Therese of Avila

October 9: Saint John Leonardi

October 6: Saint Bruno

October 4: Saint Francis of Assisi

October 2: Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

October 1: Saint Therese of Lisieux