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b'Today\\u2019s host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott\\nToday\\u2019s guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese\\nLinks from today\\u2019s show:\\n\\n\\n\\nSome of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot\\u2019s and The Anchor\\u2019s websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links.\\n\\nToday\\u2019s topics: Rite of Election; Catholic Appeal; Mary Ann Glendon; 10 ways to grow in faith this Lent\\nSummary of today\\u2019s show: Our Thursday news show had a more local flavor than recent weeks. Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, and Greg Tracy began by discussing the Rite of Election this past Sunday at Holy Cross Cathedral and then talked about the importance of the Catholic Appeal, not just to the central ministries, but to parish ministries as well. Mary Ann Glendon\\u2019s talk at the seminary on the vocation of politics called on Catholics to be engaged in the public square and Fr. Roger Landry\\u2019s editorial this week gave fodder for discussion with the top 10 ways to grow in faith during Lent. Also, a commemoration of an immigration raid in New Bedford five years ago and a suggestion to give up coffee for Lent to benefit the poor.\\n1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan and wished her a Happy March. Susan recommend listeners read Emily Dickinson\\u2019s poem about March.\\n\\nDear March \\u2014 Come in \\u2014 How glad I am \\u2014 I hoped for you before \\u2014\\nPut down your Hat \\u2014 You must have walked \\u2014 How out of Breath you are \\u2014 Dear March, Come right up the stairs with me \\u2014 I have so much to tell \\u2014\\nI got your Letter, and the Birds \\u2014 The Maples never knew that you were coming \\u2014 till I called I declare \\u2014 how Red their Faces grew \\u2014 But March, forgive me \\u2014 and All those Hills you left for me to Hue \\u2014 There was no Purple suitable \\u2014 You took it all with you \\u2014\\nWho knocks? That April. Lock the Door \\u2014 I will not be pursued \\u2014 He stayed away a Year to call When I am occupied \\u2014 But trifles look so trivial As soon as you have come\\nThat Blame is just as dear as Praise And Praise as mere as Blame \\u2014\\n\\nThey discussed their activities over the past week. Susan said she was in the Diocese of Providence for a day of prayer for diocesan employees.\\n2nd segment: Scot welcomed Greg to the show. Scot said that on the front page of the Pilot this week is a story about 500 people preparing to enter the Church on Easter gathering at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Sunday for the Rite of Election.\\n\\n\\u201cThe fathers of the Church often see Noah\\u2019s Ark as a metaphor, or a sign, of the Church. We are tossed on rough seas. Some passengers are seasick, some of the crew have mutinied, some have fallen overboard, and yet we are one billion Catholics in all sizes, shapes and colors, and speaking every language imaginable,\\u201d he said. \\u201cAlthough it is sometimes a rough ride the Lord has promised that he will always be with us,\\u201d he continued.\\n\\nSusan clarified that there are two groups in the candidates. One consists of Christians who come from other faiths and Catholics who were baptized but didn\\u2019t receive any of the other sacraments of initiation. She said adult converts to the faith often bring a special zeal to the Church with them. She also spoke about how everyone in the Church is responsible for evangelization and bringing others to our faith. Scot said Greg was himself a convert to the faith. He noted that there are so many people entering the Church that they have to hold two different services for the Rite of Election.\\nScot said Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, director of the Office for Worship, is quoted as well:\\n\\n\\u201cThey are already elect members of the Church, even though they haven\\u2019t been baptized. They gain a new status in the Church. The cardinal, the local bishop, is a reminder that for us as Catholics, it\\u2019s not just about belonging to a local parish, although that is very important. For many people their entrance into the Church is because of the outreach of local clergy and local Catholics. At this moment in their preparation they see with their own eyes and experience in the liturgy that they belong to a universal Church,\\u201d he said.\\n\\u201cThe bishop and the rite itself reminds all the fully initiated who are there present that it is our responsibility to support them with our prayers and by our example,\\u201d he said. \\u201cFor us as Catholics it is a day of great joy, we anticipate it all year round, and to see new faces, to see new people being added to the family of God in the Church brings us tremendous joy,\\u201d Father Gaspar said.\\n\\nSusan recalled being a sponsor for a candidate at one time and asking them and other after the ceremony about their experience. Many spoke of the truth and beauty of the Catholic Church. Greg said it\\u2019s significant that the ceremony is held at the Mother Church of the Archdiocese and connects them to the universal Church. The rest of their preparation is in the parish so this gives them a connection beyond the parish and even personally to the cardinal. They spoke of the importance of the physicality of the cathedral and how the statues and windows and paintings of churches is a catechism lesson in images.\\n\\n\\n\\nThe 2012 Catholic Appeal launch is this weekend and most parishes in the Archdiocese will have a recorded homily for the parish. Cardinal Sean will be personally in Amesbury and Middleboro parishes. The theme this year is \\u201cThe Good Samaritan is you.\\u201d Many of the central ministries of the archdiocese are funded through the appeal including Susan\\u2019s office for religious education. She said when she was working at her parish during Catholic Appeal time, her pastor would always tell people that if they like the programs in their parish, they should give because those ministries only do the work they can because they receive support from the central ministries.\\nGreg said Msgr. Deeley, the vicar general, made a good summary, which is that the Appeal funds that which makes us a Church. While we may be very parish centered on a day to day basis, it is the ministry of the archbishop that makes us one Church. In the end, every ministry in the parish is affected by something funded by the Catholic Appeal. He said the Pilot is not funded by the Catholic Appeal, but they are located in the Pastoral Center which supports their ministry.\\nAlso in the Pilot is a story about Mary Ann Glendon, former US ambassador to the Vatican, giving an address at the seminary about the vocation of the politician.\\n\\n\\u201cAnticipating practically every excuse most of uS would think of, [Pope John Paul II] said that \\u2018Charges of careerism, idolatry of power, egoism, and corruption, as well as the common opinion that participating in politics is an absolute moral danger, do not in the least justify either skepticism or an absence on the part of Christians in public life,\\u2019\\u201d Glendon told The Pilot. \\u201cI think he was reminding us, based on his own personal experiences in Eastern Europe, that the work of politics - despite all its frustrations, disappointments, and grubbiness- is what determines whether other human activities like philosophy. art, literature, science, and commerce, all flourish or wither,\\u201d she added.\\n\\nShe related her experience teaching at Harvard Law in which she saw idealistic students become disillusioned in their years of study about the state of politics. But where would we be if good people didn\\u2019t get involved in public service? Greg said she makes the compelling point that Catholics have an important mission not to retreat from the public square.\\nScot said the article ends with Fr. John Mulloy talking about the address and his admiration for Glendon. Scot said that describes how a lot of people feel about her. She is one of the most influential lay Catholic women in the Church worldwide. Susan said she has known Glendon for some time and she has a wonderful way of presenting the truth of the Church without stridency and with love. She is obviously brilliant. Susan cited Edmund Burke: \\u201cAll that\\u2019s necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.\\u201d\\nScot said there is also a story about an upcoming breakfast by Women Affirming Life on the topic of assisted suicide. The breakfast will take place on March 10 at Four Point Sheraton in Norwood. To register, call the Pro-Life Office at 508-651-1900.\\nScot also cited a couple of local stories in this week\\u2019s Anchor on a 5th anniversary service commemorating an immigration raid in New Bedford that detained 300 illegal immigrants and another on an initiative in Fall River asking people to give up their daily coffee from Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts and donate the money to the missions. Find out more at \\n3rd segment: This week\\u2019s editorial in the Anchor cites ways to grow in faith during Lent. It includes 10 suggestions related to growing in faith.\\n\\nLent is a time for growth in faith. It begins with our being marked with ashes and instructed to turn our backs on sin so that we may be faithfully the Gospel. There is for sure a need for us to grow in a personal, trusting adherence to God, something that happens as we seek to pray more and better, to discipline ourselves through fasting and other means, and to give of what we are and have in alms to others, confident that our Provident God will not only sustain but reward us.\\n\\nThe first three suggestions are to study the Catechism of the Catholic and the documents of the Second Vatican Council; Go on a pilgrimage, even to a local shrine; and increase one\\u2019s devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.\\nSusan suggests for studying the Catechism that people pick up YouCat for youth and the from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Of pilgrimage, she said we often just need the attitude of pilgrimage. Scot said pilgrimage could even just be going to a church you\\u2019ve never been to before.\\nThe next four are to grow in friendship with the saints as a holy, heroic witnesses to the faith; reading the writings of the Holy Father, who is one of the best teachers we\\u2019ve ever had as a pope; to attend missions and days of recollection; and attend conferences and study days. Greg said the idea of becoming more familiar with the saints can include getting to know the two new American saints who will be canonized in October, Blessed Kateri and Blessed Marianne Cope. Scot pointed out that there are calendars of events throughout the dioceses published in the newspapers and on their websites.\\nThe final four are celebrate the faith more intensely during Mass; examine your conscience on sins against the faith; give added attention to teaching the faith in Catholic school, religious educations programs and homes; and communicate your experience of faith to peers. Susan said the new translation of the Mass helps us to pay renewed attention to what is going at Mass and is a good opportunity for an examination of conscience and confession.\\nScot said there are two lengthy obituaries in the Pilot for priests who died this past week, including Fr. James Curtin and Fr. Edward O\\u2019Flaherty, SJ. There are also several articles in both newspapers about the Health and Human Services contraception mandate. Scot especially recommended an opinion column by John Garvey, president of Catholic University of America on the topic.\\nGreg wrapped up by talking a special travel and pilgrimage section in the Pilot this week.'