Thursday, October 30, 2008

Update from conference

Sorry for the late update everyone!

As you all know I was at a conference in Columbus, OH last this weekend/week.

For the new people joining these updates, welcome! These updates are sent out every week and lets everyone know what is going on with the Catholic's at Liberty and what's going on in my life.

The Coming Home Network put on a conference in Columbus, OH this past weekend and man was it AWESOME!!! I have learned so much about the Catholic Church here in America (and it really answers a lot of questions I have had about the Catholic Church). All I am going to say is, YOU BETTER COME NEXT YEAR!!!

It was great to meet a bunch of new people (especially from the Arch-diocese's of Cincinnati), and also Jim Anderson and Mary Clare who are with the Coming Home Network. There were also some very nice people that set me up with books and cd's on the faith in some areas that I am not as strong in. So thank you!

The retreat was just amazing! It was so good to meet other Protestant Minister's who have come into the Catholic Church. It was a great encouragement to me and everyone. Great friendships where made and I know they will last a life time. It was hard for me to say good-bye to them all on Wed.

As for the ride back to Liberty...It was probably the worst ride ever! I got a speeding ticket for thinking the speed limit was 65 and it was 55. Then about 4 hours later, my back tire blew. What was supposed to be a 7 hour trip turned into 10 hours. But, it was a time to be thankful because my tire blew out right in front of a gas station (out in the middle of nowhere and so God provided).

Sorry it was long, but this is worth a week and a half so the next one this Sunday will be very short! :)

God bless,
Chris Osgood

Sunday, October 26, 2008

God is GREAT!!!

Hey everyone!

This post is going to be very short for a few reason's, one I don't have time and two, I can't put how great God is into words!!!

This past week we had our weekly dinner and 10 people showed up (4 of which weren't even Catholic)! It is great to see how God is working in student's lives here on campus. Most of the Catholic's couldn't come to the dinner due to the sports.

As for the rest of week, I have been here at Deep in History Conference put on by the Coming Home Network. I can't even tell you all that has happened here because I can't put it into words. But what I will say is that ALL OF YOU NEED TO COME NEXT YEAR!!!

Well, as I said it is a short email, I would talk more about this past week but we are going to the retreat now for the clergy converts. I will send out another update just for the conference and the retreat on Wed. night.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Update October 13-19


I want to start off by apologizing for it being so long. And also welcoming the new people who are just joining this update list! I can't believe how big this list is getting...It started out my first year here at Liberty with just the ones from Louisville/New Hope, KY (3 or 4 people) and I probably sent just a few a semester (unless I had questions about the Catholic Church), to now where we have over 50 people and it is every week! We serve a great God!!!

What an interesting and exciting week!

On Tuesday I went to a Holy Spirit (Charismatic) prayer group. It was different from what I am used to, but I did enjoy it! There I met a man from Kenya, he is a principal of a school there. What an amazing guy!!! He is here in America trying to raise support for his school. He will actually be speaking in chapel here at Liberty, this upcoming week. His name is Patrick and here is some of his websites incase you feel lead to donate or find out more info about him and the school: https://webmail.liberty.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=f65a97cd7f5647eb97815be283be6aaa&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.newsfrommcc.blogspot.com%2f and https://webmail.liberty.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=f65a97cd7f5647eb97815be283be6aaa&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.mercycarecentre.com%2f anything you give to the second site is tax deductable!

On Wednesday we prayed the Rosary at the chapel at St. Thomas More, then Jake and I went to Lynchburg College to hang out with the Catholic Campus Ministry there (free ice-cream). That was a very fun and interesting night. I wish I got to spend more time over there (I did my internship with them last school year), but this year most of the time is spent with the Catholic's at Liberty.

On Thursday a small group of us got together in the chapel and prayed the Rosary for Liberty University (founder, students and the whole campus). It was great! Thank you all by the way that prayed with us at 7 pm (no matter where you were in the country)! It's amazing to think that pray can and does bring us all together!!!

After the Rosary on Thursday we had our weekly dinner. We had a nice turnout for it. I think it was the longest time we spent together for dinner. Even though not everyone could make it (due to last minute study groups), it was a lot of fun. We actually decided to throw a cook-out this Sunday after Mass and just have a chance to hang out.

On Friday, we planned on going down to Danville to hear Josh Johnson's testimony at Theology on Tap. As many of you know, those plans ended up changing at the last minute. (Thank you to everyone who kept Josh and Katie in your prayers)!!! Since there was a last minute emergency with Josh and Katie, I ended up giving my testimony at ToT. It was a lot of fun, and I think it really inspired the people who came! (Side note: Cincinnati got a new Archbishop!!! https://webmail.liberty.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=f65a97cd7f5647eb97815be283be6aaa&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.catholiccincinnati.org%2findex.php%3foption%3dcom_content%26task%3dview%26id%3d434%26Itemid%3d1023)

On Saturday, I spent most of the day with Juan and Jake. We went to Wal-Mart to buy the food for the cook-out (never let 3 guys go buy food with no list, it was horrible! We spent 3 hours in Wal-Mart). After going shopping, we went to the football game. Liberty was 6-0 this season, but ended up losing the game. So the three of us went to grab some dinner, and came back to watch the women's soccer game. They WON!!! And Maria scored in the beginning!!! After the game Antonio, Kristi and I hung out for awhile.

Then today (Sunday), we went to Mass and had our cook-out (I have attached pictures). It was a great time! We stayed for probably 3 or 4 hours. It was a lot of fun!

The only other thing I want to say is that on Saturday we met another Catholic at Liberty! He is on the football team and we just keep meeting more and more!!! Thank you for the prayers, and please keep praying for us!!!

God bless,
Chris Osgood

Sunday, October 12, 2008

WHAT AN AWESOME WEEK!!!!


Greetings!

I know I say this just about each week, but WOW, what a great week!

Tuesday night we had a dinner with the Catholic Students on campus, and it was a small group that showed up, but a new person came! It is a funny story, her roommate is dating my friend Jon (who wants to become Catholic), and they found out she was Catholic, so they brought her to the dinner!


Then on Wed. there was a girls soccer game, so they were aloud to miss classes on wed. So Maria came to daily Mass with me and there we met another Liberty Student (Jeremy) he is on the basketball team. So this week alone, we have met 2 more Catholic's on campus! We just keep growing!!!

Then on Friday and Saturday, Josh and I went to Mount St. Mary's in Emmetsburg, MD for a Marian Symposium. It was a lot of information on Mary, but very fun! I will say that the Arch-bishop of Baltimore is AMAZING!!! He did the Mass on Friday and it was the most beautiful Mass I have been apart of! There was just something about Arch-bishop O'Brien that I can't even explain into words. The only way I can put it, is that when he walked into the room, it seemed as if Jesus Himself walked in. WOW!!!

After the Mass, he consecrated the grounds of Mount St. Mary's to our blessed mother Mary! After that, Josh and I got a chance to get our picture taken with him (I have attached it).

Josh and I also went to both shrines there and learned a lot about America's FIRST saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton.

Other than that, we went to confession with Msgr. Magee. It was the most powerful confession I have been to yet! And I just can't put it into words.

AS FOR THIS UPCOMING WEEK, WE ARE GETTING THE STUDENTS TO PRAY THE ROSARY ON THURSDAY NIGHT AT JERRY FALWELL'S GRAVE SITE. WE ARE PRAYING FOR HIS SOUL IN PURGATORY. I ASK THAT YOU ALL TOO WILL JOIN US BY PRAYING FOR HIS SOUL ON THURSDAY!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Birthdays!!!


Hey everyone!

I think this is the first update in awhile that I am getting out on time.

This week was probably one of the best weeks we have had in awhile. It has been the usual week, with the dinners and lunches, but there is a young man from New York that has moved here to Lynchburg and he started a Wed. night Rosary Prayer group. So now every Wed. night at 7 pm we are praying the Rosary!!!

This week, right after the Rosary we went to a place on campus called Doc's (it is a really nice restaurant on campus). We have been having one dinner a week there with all the Catholic's that want to come, and this week was our biggest turn out (even though many already left to go home for fall break). This past Wed. we celebrated birthdays! It was Jake's, Antonio's and Jay's. I have attached some pictures of the party to the email (I think this is our first group picture).

After the party many people had to go and get ready for the weekend. It was Fall Break and just about everyone had to leave this weekend for sporting events or to go home and relax with family. I however ended up staying on campus, in hopes of doing a lot of homework. Well, I got most of the homework done, I am just working on my last paper right now (which is due on Tuesday).

It was a very relaxing weekend and nice to just get away from everything. I was able to go to Eucharistic Adoration on Thursday night and on Friday morning! Man, I love going to that! I wish I had the chance to go more often!

Well, I hope everyone has a great upcoming week!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Eucharistic Host

Greetings,

As many of you have probably heard by now, there are videos up on Youtube about the desecration of the Eucharistic Host. I have already received countless emails from many Catholic's who are very upset about this (I too am very upset).

However, it is not good to forward these emails on because of one reason. IT HAS THE LINK TO WATCH THE VIDEOS ON IT. So instead of saying that we need to click on the link (that has the videos on it) to voice our opinion, instead we should write and/or call Youtube at:

YouTube, LLC
901 Cherry Ave.
San Bruno, CA 94066
USA
Phone: +1 650-253-0000
Fax: +1 650-253-0001

This is one reason why we should be more careful on how we receive the Blessed Host. I strongly believe that issues like this would less likely happen if we would receive the Eucharistic Host by having the Eucharistic Minister place the Host on our tongue instead of in our hands (then we put it in our mouth). When we have the Host in our hand, it is just asking for trouble.

Another reason we should receive by tongue is because, "Particles may fall off and get lodged in your hands and then fall off on the floor. This is why even if you do receive via the hand, you should always carefully check to ensure no tiny bits have fallen. You also must take care between hands out position and mouth. Having the priest and/or server do this for you makes things easier." (Brian).

I know this may upset a lot of people, but this is Jesus we are talking about! If we want others to treat Him with respect, then shouldn't we?!

God bless,
Chris Osgood

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Last week

Hey!

Last week was a great week!

The usual lunches with Antonio took place (its starting to grow by 2 or 3 more people). Then on Wed. I met with Deacon Cartwright again (this is helping me so much with our discussions and his encouragement)!

Then something that I haven't told many people about is that I have had a few job interviews for Youth Minister Positions. Although I am still discerning the priesthood, I am starting to feel that it would be to soon for me to enter seminary. Although, I know I want to go into the ministry, I don't know if I am ready to make the commitment to the priesthood. One of my biggest passions is working with youth and sharing/showing God's love to them!

Then on Thursday Maria called me and told me to meet her for dinner at the restaurant on campus. So I showed up and apparently she called all the Catholic's that she knew cause when I walked in there where 7 or 8 of us all at one table. It was great!!! Everyone loved it because we got to meet each other and start building the friendships! We have already planned on making this a weekly event. So we plan on getting together tomorrow night (although not many will come since its the start of fall break).

On Friday I had dinner with Fr. Richard at the school cafeteria (we call it the rot). And then on Saturday I went to the women's soccer game to support Maria and Kristi (we ended up losing).

On Sunday I got sick from something. I think it was some bad chili from my friend (but he tells me it was something else). But Sunday night, St. Thomas More had cooked the "Catholic's at Liberty" a really nice dinner! It was no less than a 5 star dinner!!! We had salmon, salad, ice cream and much more!!!

Please pray for the women's soccer team one of the players lost a really good friend on Sunday night. I don't know any of the details, but the team is taking it very hard. And just last night (Monday) they found out that another player lost her best friend in a car accident. Please keep them in your prayers!!!

As for this upcoming week, it is fall break so many of the students are going home (athletes are traveling to games) so I plan on getting a head in school work and doing a personal retreat.