Journeys of a Catholic Poster Girl

What does 500 books look like?

2007-05-20T16:46:00.001-07:00

Some pictures from this weekend's renovations:

We're moving!!

2007-03-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

We are moving to a new host! You can now visit Catholic Poster Girl at
http://catholicpostergirl.stblogs.com

or click here

See y'all over there!! I am going to be transferring all this stuff over there so until that's done there may not be anything new...

Oh, so that's what happened!

2007-03-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

You regular readers of this page know that I am seriously pro-life. I am a "take-no-prisoners" fully pro-life pro-lifer (if that makes any sense). Usually I find nothing about the topic funny.

However, as Mother Angelica says, "we have to laugh," and the boys at Number 1 Happy St. had this on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade :

Today, dozens of rallies have been taking place all across the country to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. If you've been under a rock, that's the supreme court decision in which a woman (Roe) wanted to terminate her pregnancy. Her unborn baby (Wade) disagreed with that course of action but was ultimately overruled by the high court. And so with that decision, the 'right to choose' was finally a reality.

Unless you are a state. In which case, you no longer had the right to choose. The federal government will be doing all the choosing from now on.

And unless you are the father of the unborn baby. In which case, your choice was already used up when you decided to go with the condoms with the plain black and white wrapper because the other ones were too expensive.

And unless you are the unborn baby. In which case, you don't get to choose because mommy knows what's best for you. I mean she's already proven that she can make good decisions which is how she ended up in the back seat of that Prius anyway. It's not every day you have the opportunity to get nailed by someone who loves the movie Mona Lisa Smile as much as you do!

It's not ha-ha funny. It's sad funny. Because there are a lot of things in there that ring true.

Good article from Mark Shea

2007-03-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

In the National Catholic Register:

Cautionary Tales

As a convert to the Catholic faith, I naturally want to see others embrace it, as well. But when I talk with folks who want to be Catholic I often find myself repeating Jesus’ counsel to “count the cost.” Why?

BY Mark Shea

March 11-17, 2007 Issue

As a convert to the Catholic faith, I naturally want to see others embrace it, as well. But when I talk with folks who want to be Catholic I often find myself repeating Jesus’ counsel to “count the cost.” Why?

One thing that concerns me about converts, especially from Protestantism, is that some seem to still be basically Protestant. Some become Catholic, not because they have concluded that the Church is the trustworthy sacrament of redemption given to the world by Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, but because they are fed up with Protestantism and are leaving it and joining the Catholics — in protest. Such folk are soon disconcerted that the people at Our Lady of Perpetual Ordinariness are not this haven of saints and scholars, but a bunch of regular people.

Some don’t know their faith at all. Some hold political opinions that are very different from the convert’s. Some don’t much take the Church’s teaching seriously. Some get their spiritual insights from Oprah, or are devout but superstitious, or have a Protestant brother-in-law who has taught them to say “Praise the Lord!” a lot.

It’s all so average to the convert who was bargaining on a safe haven from all that. And when some pope or bishop does something not to their liking, such converts not infrequently embrace some form of the “two churches/two magisteriums” theory of a pre- vs. post-Vatican II Church and (either slowly or quickly) start to hive off into some extreme form of what they call “traditionalism” but which is, in fact, yet another kind of Protestantism, albeit one with ultra-Catholic aesthetics.

What we need to remember is that the Catholic Church is and always has been the vessel of salvation for the world. That means that most of the people you meet are going to be ordinary — like you and me

They are going to have the ordinary tastes, prejudices, mediocrities, failures and virtues of their time and place. There are, to be sure, great heroes and extraordinary people in the Catholic communion. But to expect that as the norm and then be outraged and disappointed when it is not is, I think, great folly and, in the end, great pride. Remember the hellish “wisdom” of C.S. Lewis’ Uncle Screwtape, who would keep far from our minds the thought, “If I, being what I am, can consider myself in some sense a Christian, then why can’t these people next to me in the pew”?

So, though I have been appalled by some of the sins that have been revealed in the ranks of the Church in the past few years, I’ve never been shocked. What did I expect? They’re just sinners like I am, and I know what I’m capable of.

“Well then,” it may be asked, “if the average Catholic is so average, why bother joining the Church?” To quote Walker Percy, “What else is there?” After all, it is not the Church that is mediocre, but only we, her members.

The Church is, curiously, something that exists before she has any members, because she is founded not by us, but by Christ. The Church is the spotless bride of Christ, made so by the Holy Spirit in the washing with water and the Word. We, her members, are generally nebbishes and schleps.

But she is glorious and beautiful, terrible as an army with banners. And in her all the fullness of the faith subsists. In that faith, by the grace of God, I hope one day to be made perfect in love of God and neighbor.

But it is not my job to immanentize the eschaton. I can be more than merely content living in this strange, divine sea of a Church, whose members are, like me, stunningly ordinary, but whose soul, the Holy Spirit, is slowly bringing us along “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4).

So does this mean I can marry William?

2007-03-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

from The Anchoress

She’s a bit late to the game, but Queen Elizabeth II wants to “celebrate diversity” and will apparently make a public statement to the effect that “that people should see each other as being individuals who are special.”

“Special” is the most overused, meaningless word currently in use in the English language. “Amazing” is coming a close second.

If the Queen starts talking about how “special” we all are, and how “amazing” everyone looks, the takeover of mediocrity - in language, social discourse, historical reference, etc - will be complete.

Now…Your Maj - I can call you “Maj,” right, since I’m special…how about the Catholics? Are they special yet? Can William marry one and keep his throne? Are we celebrating that much diversity, yet?

ME: When I was little my mom used to mention on and off that I was older than Prince William by a few months. This greatly excited me, being weaned on the Disney Princesses as I was, so I would always say, "so I could marry him!" Then Mom would inform me that I couldn't because I was Catholic. This was highly distressing because I wanted to marry a prince. As I got older and read more about the 'reasoning' behind this rule, I began to think that perhaps the royal life wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

But seriously, isn't this a little ridiculous? I know that one of the monarch's titles is "Defender of the Faith" or something like that (Churcha nd State, anyone? Oh wait...the Church was created by the state. A ha!). But this is kind of old. If William fell in love with a Catholic he should be allowed to marry a Catholic. Sheesh. Fortunately that didn't happen. (Well, fortunately for them)

The end of the Anglican Communion?

2007-03-12T16:43:00.000-07:00

George Weigel seems to think so:

The end of the Anglican Communion
By George Weigel

There’s an Anglican church, St. Luke’s, a few blocks up Old Georgetown Road from my parish in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. St. Luke’s recently posted a large sign on the church lawn: “No matter who you are, no matter what you believe, you are welcome at our table.”

Which is, in one sense, a noble sentiment: if it’s meant to convey that, look, we’re all sinners, and no matter how awful you may think you are, you’re welcome in the communion of Christ’s Church if you’re truly repentant. Judging from recent events in the Anglican Communion, however, St. Luke’s sign isn’t a synopsis of the parable of the prodigal son and his merciful father; it’s a succinct, if unwitting, statement of why the Anglican Communion is coming apart at the seams.

No Catholic serious about the Catholic commitment to the unity of Christ’s Church can take any satisfaction from today’s Anglican meltdown. It now looks as if John Henry Newman was right when he concluded that Anglicanism was not a “third branch” on the tree of historic Christian orthodoxy, of which the other branches were Catholicism and the Orthodox churches of the Christian east; rather, Newman decided, Anglicanism was Protestantism in English guise. In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, as hopes for ecclesial reconciliation between Rome and Canterbury ran high, it seemed, briefly, as if Cardinal Newman might have been wrong. With the Anglican Communion now fracturing into a gaggle of quarreling communities no longer in communion with each other, it looks as if Newman had the deeper insight into what King Henry VIII wrought.

But neither the late cardinal nor the multi-uxorious king could have imagined that Anglicanism’s breakup would result from some Anglicans’ insistence that sodomy can be sacramental.

Yet that is precisely what is happening. As Canada’s finest Catholic commentator, Father Raymond de Souza, wrote last year (reflecting on the attempts of Dr. Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, to hold the Anglican Communion together), “Some [Anglicans] argue that [homosexual acts] are sinful; others that they are sacramental. This is an unbridgeable gap and it appears impossible for Canterbury to straddle it, try as he might.” Dr. Williams has tried mightily; he seems to have failed. There are indeed unbridgeable gaps, and it turns out that it does matter what you believe, if you wish to be seated at “our table” — at least in the minds of the majority of the world’s Anglicans, who disagree with the Episcopal Church USA’s determination to bless same-sex unions and ordain practicing homosexuals to priestly and episcopal ministry.

An American Anglican clergyperson, debating all this on PBS’s “NewsHour,” said that, if schism were the only answer, she and her Pasadena congregation would choose “the Gospel” over “the institutional Church.” From a theological point of view, no more thoroughly Protestant posing of the issue could be imagined. And what does standing up for “the Gospel” have to do with embracing the Zeigeist of the more delirious suburbs of the People’s Republic of California?

Shortly after Rowan Williams was named to Becket’s chair, we spent a cordial ninety minutes together at Lambeth Palace, Canterbury’s London headquarters. I gave him a copy of Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II; we spoke of John Paul’s theology of the body, and then fell to discussing the difference between “sacramental” and “gnostic” understandings of the human condition. The former insists that the stuff of the world – including maleness, femaleness, and their complementarity — has truths built into it; gnostics say it’s all plastic, all malleable, all changeable. The sacramentalists believe that the extraordinary reveals itself through the ordinary: bread, wine, water, salt, marital love and fidelity; the gnostics say it’s a matter of superior wisdom, available to the enlightened (which can mean, the politically correct). Dr. Williams seemed convinced that the gnosticism of a lot of western high culture posed a great danger to historic Christianity and the truths it must proclaim.

He was right. The gnosticism that infects the Episcopal Church USA has just about driven the Anglican Communion over the cliff.

Lenten Friday

2007-03-09T14:33:00.000-08:00

So that means Kashi cereal (which is really really good, let me tell you) and OJ.
Probably not what Jesus would've eatenm but it's not meat!!

The Molto Proprio...

2007-03-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

re: The Latin Mass is coming soon.

Here is an interview regarding it on Catholic Exchange.

Bookshelf

2007-03-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

Just finished re-reading Crossing the Threshold of Hope, which is just classic JP II. I love everything in there, but his passages on abortion, women, and why we should "be not afraid" are just fantastic. If you haven't read this, make it part of your Lenten prep and pick up a copy.

How Crunchy Are you?

2007-03-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

Been awhile since I've posted anything "Crunchy", so here's a quiz to dtermine your level.

I am a 28. So in the middle. It must be the make-up and the breast-feeding stuff. I got the link from Nutmeg and I agree with her when she writes that there's really no in-between on some of those questions. And I can't breast-feed so I'm out on a lot of those, if I ever have my own kids. Oh well. And I am definitely a shoe girl. Can't work at the Statehouse without shoes.

But, like Nutmeg says, I try my best. I shop at Trader Joe's when I can and try to get organic meat when it's not too expensive. I eat whole-grain bread (although I have to get that from TJ's because, dude, the Kroger stuff? Not so much. Definitely not so much.) and more fruit because it's better for me and I feel better when I do it. Does that mean I don't have cookies around? Um, no. In fact I am going to buy Oreos as soon as I can...ha ha. But I try to be as "crunchy" as possible.

Frances Kissling steps down

2007-02-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

and is, of course, lauded by the NYT: (emphases mine)

Backing Abortion Rights While Keeping the Faith
By NEELA BANERJEE

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 — Frances Kissling has been called the “philosopher of the pro-choice movement” by her friends and an “abortion queen” by her critics.

But the name Ms. Kissling wears most defiantly, to the consternation of many religious believers, is Roman Catholic. For 25 years, as president of Catholics for a Free Choice, she has angered the church hierarchy and conservative Catholics by criticizing fundamental teachings on sex.

“I’m so Catholic, I can’t get away from it,” said Ms. Kissling, who was once in a convent. “How I construct concepts of life, of justice, it all comes out of being Catholic.”

Though unknown to most lay Catholics, she has inspired and worked with politicians and activists, many Catholic, to speak out in favor of giving women access to abortions and to artificial contraception.

On Wednesday, Ms. Kissling, 63, will step down from her post, relinquishing her role as one of the most vocal of the so-called bad Catholics, those who manage to accommodate the opposing sentiments of love for the church and anger at much of its doctrine.

“The constant refrain in this office is, ‘Are we really Catholic?’ ” Ms. Kissling said here in a recent interview. “I know with every ounce of my being that you don’t have to agree with the positions of the church on issues of abortion and contraception to be Catholic.”

Many Catholics passionately disagree. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued statements challenging the right of Catholics for a Free Choice to call itself Catholic. Critics dismiss Ms. Kissling’s organization as a mouthpiece for bigger, secular abortion rights groups and a front for anti-Catholic bigotry.

“They could get special attention and get special digs at the church because of their name,” said Helen M. Alvaré, an associate professor of law at the Catholic University of America and a former planning director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities at the Catholic Bishops conference. “They had no grass-roots base among Catholics. There was nothing very different about them from other pro-choice groups in the arguments they made.”

Catholics for a Free Choice says it gives voice to the large percentage of Roman Catholics who disagree with the church’s position on reproductive issues. Its $3 million budget is largely financed by well-known secular foundations, including the Ford Foundation.

Ms. Kissling agrees with her detractors that her organization has not affected church doctrine. Instead, it has focused on working with lay Catholics and others to build momentum for its causes.

With other groups, it successfully lobbied against the naming of John Klink, a former representative of the Holy See at the United Nations, to lead the State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration in 2001. Most recently, it worked with staff members for Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, and Tim Ryan, Democrat of Ohio, to draft legislation intended to decrease abortions, partly by increasing financing for family planning.

Sitting in her Washington office, Ms. Kissling was unequivocal in her distaste for the church hierarchy. “I think that in many ways, the church has become an unjust institution,” she said. On one wall of her office was a cherub, on another a Che Guevara calendar . In a corner stood a candle that looked like a bishop’s miter, yet to be lit.

Ms. Kissling continued: “It abuses nuns, anyone who thinks, homosexuals, women who have abortions. It sexually abuses children. It treats people badly, and something has to be done to change its abusive nature.”

Ms. Kissling was born Frances Romanski into a working-class Polish family in New York, the oldest of four children. When she was a child, her mother divorced and later married a man named Kissling, which in the eyes of the church made her an adulteress, Ms. Kissling said.

Despite her frustration with such beliefs, Ms. Kissling said, she was inspired by the nuns at her Catholic school. In the early 1960s, she joined a convent, at age 19.

Convent life demanded that she look deep inside herself, she said, and she discovered that she did not agree with the church’s teachings on divorce and birth control. She left after six months to attend the New School.

Avowedly heterosexual, she said she never had a desire to marry or have children. She became active in the women’s movement in the 1960s. Then in 1970, when abortion was legalized in New York, she was asked to direct an abortion clinic in Pelham. She had no experience, she said, but neither did anyone else, so she took the position.

In 1978, she joined the board of Catholics for a Free Choice, and in 1982, she took over as president.

Critics and supporters say Ms. Kissling has a more nuanced view of abortion than many in the abortion rights movement. She said her experience working at an abortion clinic and her upbringing in the church made her believe “there was a certain void in the pro-choice movement around the questions of morality and ethics.”

In late 2004, she published an article in her group’s magazine, Conscience, titled “How to Think About the Fetus.” She said that while the fetus might not be a person, it was part of the continuum of humanity. She wrote that the fetus “is not nothing,” and that women who consider abortion know that.

Ms. Kissling said that abortion rights leaders feared acknowledging the value of a fetus because they did not want to further stigmatize abortion. But, she contends, that reticence has cast the abortion rights movement as casual about the emotional realities of abortion.

“Women know that something is inside them, and they know that something will become a baby if they don’t act in some way,” she said. “I don’t think we could say anything to them about the value of fetal life that they haven’t thought of already.”

Many abortion rights leaders said the article was damaging, especially because it came out while politicians were considering bans on so-called partial-birth abortions. But others, including some in the anti-abortion camp, commended Ms. Kissling.

“With her approach, she has found the real-life stuff,” said Representative Ryan, a Catholic who opposes abortion. “Those of us in the debate get hooked on philosophy and theory and dogma, and what Frances brings is reality: that abortion is a difficult decision for a woman.”

Ms. Kissling said she had decided to step down because she believed that her efficacy might soon wane, that she was on the “verge of becoming boring or predictable.” Jon O’Brien, 41, executive vice president of Catholics for a Free Choice, is to take over as president.

Ms. Kissling hopes to write a book about the value of the fetus, or teach, or finish the house she is building on the coast of Uruguay, she said. She has no plans to leave the Catholic Church.

“There are days when I think I can’t be a Catholic and that I want to go join a community where I am welcomed, honored, where I can join a parish,” she said. “But in the end, I don’t want to be a Methodist. I’m a member of the greatest religion in the world.”

There is so much in this that is just disgusting, I don't even know if I can go into it.

She wants to be "welcomed and honored"? Well, I'm sure that's what all the saints wanted, too, to be "honored." Humility, much? Welcomed? Well, maybe if you were actually, I don't know, Catholic . That might help.

And we're the "greatest religion in the world" (well, duh :)), but yet we “It abuses nuns, anyone who thinks, homosexuals, women who have abortions. It sexually abuses children. It treats people badly, and something has to be done to change its abusive nature.”
--abuse nuns: Haven't heard this one yet. What, they can't be priests? Hence the reason they are nuns
--anyone who thinks: I'm sure that Saints Thomas, Augustine, Terese of Avila, St. John of the Cross, JPII, and multiple others would be interested to hear that.
--homosexuals: We abuse them because we tell them to be actively homosexual is sinful? So are we "abusing" the rest of us heterosexuals by telling us we can't have unfettered sex? Hun?
--Women who have had abortions: Yup, because, you know, they can't received forgiveness via the Confessional. There's not Project Rachel or anything like that. We just tie them to the pillar. Right.
--Sexually abuses children: Well, OK. The Church is made up of imperfect people. They do bad things. We are not perfect, it's not an excuse, but this is not a solely Catholic problem. Kissling acts as if pedophila was some sort of church doctrine. Let's get real.
--Treats people badly: Yup, that's why there's a billion of us. That's why so many people will voluntarily join the Church this Easter. Because we treat people badly.

Sign of the Cross

2007-02-27T15:20:00.000-08:00

Do Protestants make it?

I was reading over at Open Book an article about this and I realized I had never noticed if my Protestant friends do or not. The only time I've been in a church with them for a service was when they went with me to Mass, and even then I didn't notice.

Anyone know?

Lenten resources

2007-02-27T15:12:00.000-08:00

Head over to Danielle Bean's site for some great Lenten web resources. It's on the right-hand sidebar.

And my favorite--lots on confession...something I need to do, again.

First Sunday of Lent

2007-02-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

OK I missed it, I'm in Shangri-la, give me a break. But apparently my church choir did very well. :)

ways to make holy the sabbath during Lent

2007-02-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

h/t Amy:

Bishop Baker calls for a new dedication ot the Sabbath:

I invite all parishes in the Diocese of Charleston to begin the celebration of the Year of the Family by reclaiming the Sabbath for God and family. Because we have become distracted, overworked, and overcommitted to outside activities, Sunday has become just another work day. I challenge each of you to restore Sunday as a gift from the Father for the family to appreciate one another. We have lost the peace that God created for our day of rest, and we all should actively seek ways to invite God into the center of our families.

Some ideas to make this a reality:

Once a month, pray a parish family Rosary, followed by a covered dish with fun activities for youth and children.

Plan a pilgrimage to one of your favorite religious sites, such as the Shrine to Our Lady of Joyful Hope of South Carolina in Kingstree or Mepkin Abbey in Monck’s Corner.

Allow a member of the family to share fifteen minutes of scripture reading.

Refrain from any labor, shopping, and any private activity that conflicts with prayer or family involvement on a Sunday.

While your children or youth may be involved in faith formation on Sunday, try organizing activities with other parents and adults to enrich your faith and friendships.

Sounds like ideas even those of us w/o families can institute...

"Ordinary People"

2007-02-23T06:03:00.000-08:00

I love this comment from Mark Shea's blog and what he would tell people that are considering joining the Church:

The main counsel I give anybody coming in to the Church is that "faith" means "you stay." The Catholic Church is and always has been the vessel of salvation for the *world*. That means that most of the people you meet are going to be *ordinary*--like you and me. They are going to have the ordinary tastes, prejudices, mediocrities, failures, and virtues of their time and place. There are, to be sure, great heros and extraordinary people in the Catholic communion. But to expect that as the norm and then be outraged and disappointed when it is not is, I think, great folly and, in the end, great pride. One of the things I came to appreciate very early was the counsel of Uncle Screwtape, who urges Wormwood to keep far from his "patient's" mind the thought, "If I, being what I am, can consider myself in some sense a Christian, then why can't these people next to me in the pew"?

Consequently, though I have been appalled by some of the sins that have been revealed in the ranks of the Church in the past few years, I've never been shocked. What did I expect? They're just sinners like I am, and I know what I'm capable of. In the same way, the stupid and tuneless OCP songs, the suburban Church of Aren't We Fabulous smugness, the Our Lady of Pizza Hut architecture, the True Meaning of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes homilies, and the other stuff that sometimes ails the Church has never been sufficient to put me off. Because they are all just reminders that the Church, thank God, has room for people like me and that this mediocrity and averageness is a sign of the tremendous mercy of God for mediocre folk like myself.

"Well then," it may be asked, "if the Church is so mediocre, then why bother joining her?" To quote Walker Percy, "What else is there?" After all, it is not the Church that is mediocre, but only we, her members. The Church is, curiously, something that exists before she has any members, because it is founded not by us, but by Christ. The Church is the spotless Bride of Christ, made so by the Holy Spirit in the washing with water and the Word. We, her members, are generally nebbishes and schleps. But she is glorious and beautiful, terrible as an army with banners. And in her all the fullness of the deposit of faith subsists, a deposit through which, by the grace of God, I hope one day to be made perfect in love of God and neighbor. But it is not my job to immanentize the eschaton. So I can be more than merely content living in this strange divine sea of a Church, whose members are, like me, stunningly ordinary, but whose soul, the Holy Spirit, is slowly bringing us along "until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." (Ephesians 4:13-16)

This is exactly why I am not scandalized by bad homilies, or bad singing, or when I hear of priestly scandals. It doesn't mean that I don't think they're wrong; it means that I'm aware the Church is made up of ordinary people, like me. If I consider what I am capable of, can I hold my fellow Catholics to any leser standard, even if they are priests or bishops? We are all human. We are all prone to sin. But yet the "gates of Hell" shall not prevail against the Church herself.

In fitting with the theme of the below posts...

2007-02-22T17:38:00.000-08:00

I wonder, for the millionth time, why it is that the only choice so many people are willing to allow is that to abort a child. --Jay Nordlinger, "Impromptus", 8/29/02

Yup.

Bill Maher opens his mouth and removes all doubt

2007-02-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

(h/t: Anchoress)

"When people say to me, 'You hate America,' I don't hate America. I love America. I am just embarrassed that it has been taken over by people like evangelicals, by people who do not believe in science and rationality. It is the 21st century. And I will tell you, my friend. The future does not belong to the evangelicals. The future does not belong to religion." --Bill Maher

As my eighth grade teacher said, "It is better to remain silent and have people think you a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."

So let's work to change it!

2007-02-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

I just did...
go to Feminists for Life and become a member. And check out their store. I love the "pro-woman, pro-life" bumper sticker. That might have to be coming to my house.

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love." --Mother Teresa

My patron saint, St. Therese of Lisieux, said essentially the same thing in her "Little Way." It's by touching one life at a time, living a life of witness and devotion to Jesus and His Church, that we can make a difference. And of course, the Rosary is a very powerful prayer, one that I don't think we use often enough. I'm as guilty of this as anyone else, although I have made a concerted effort to say a full set of mysteries daily. Some days I'm successful, other days, not. But I believe that no matter how "imperfectly" we may say it, Mary won't reject any prayers said in a devout spirit. She's our mom! How many mothers would take a child's fingerpainting that was done especially for her and criticize it? Not many! Instead it would go on the refrigerator in a place of pride. Let's pray to Mary that she exert her motherly influence on women who are considering abortion, to let them know there are so many of us out there who are willing to support, but spiritually and corporally, through this difficult time in their lives.

"Abortion is a moral good"

2007-02-22T16:12:00.000-08:00

So says one of the fired Edwards bloggers (h/t Corner): (my comments in bold)

To see that abortion is moral, you just need to look at women as human beings with lives that have value. When a woman chooses abortion, she's not indulging some guilty pleasure, like sneaking in a round of adultery at lunch, to bring up a genuinely immoral action that should not be criminal. She is probably thinking about her family's well-being and yes, her own well-being. Taking your own well-being into consideration is called "selfish" by anti-choicers, but I think valuing yourself is a moral good, even if you are female. In fact, especially if you are female, since you live in a world where having self-esteem can be an act of moral courage that requires some defiance. If I got pregnant, I wouldn't even have to suffer much mental strain to realize that abortion would be the best choice for myself, my family, and my relationship. Abortion, not just the right to abortion but the actual procedure, is a moral good that helps women and families and should be honored as such. Women who get abortions should be recognized as people who can accurately weigh their choices and make the most moral one.

Wow. One doesn't even know where to begin. But first, I think you made the choice when you had sex. Abortion gives you self-esteem? You get some kind of twisted fulfilment in killing another human being? Instead of being responsible, abortion is the anthesis of responsibility. It says that you can have sex, sleep around and then just kill off the evidence, because you can't afford the consequences of your choices.

Learning that actions have consequences is one of the most basic life lessons. An abortion is the total repudiation of this thought, and the most horrific, because not only are you refusing to be an adult and take responsibility for what you have done, but you are causing deadly harm to a perfectly innocent individual. Abortion is "the most moral" decision? In whose book?

Abortion is a "moral good that helps women and families?" How does it help families-- it destroys families. It kills children,a rather integral part of that family experience. How is it a moral good for women? Why are there so many women who are haunted by their abortions and wish they could go back, so they could save their children? How many more testimonies do we need to hear about the psychological harm that can come from this procedure? I suppose one must be incredibly morally corrupt to think that the destruction of an innocent life is a "moral good." As Mother Teresa said, "It is a crime that a child must die so you may live as you wish."

And this touches upon even broader topics, such as the Left's opposition to war. How can they be against war, which can be fought justly, if the safest place in the world--a mother's womb--instead becomes one o the most dangerous? Where millions of babies' lives are taken every year? Abortions are unspeakably violent acts towards these children. Yet the Left is against wars that free people from oppression and allow them to finally have a chance to live their own lives and not have to worry about being taken away in the middle of the night and put through paper shredders, then buried in mass graves. The Left is against the death penalty, which could be argued as just (even though I take the Church's stance-that its use is only permittable in very, very rare occasions, as society does have a right to protect itself), but supports the killing of babies . Little, soft, tiny, cuddly babies whose only crime was being "inconveniently conceived." How is this a logical discourse?

Much prayer is needed to overcome this tragedy. As Lent comes upon us, I think part of my Lenten dedication will focus on the unborn, especially since, with advanced technology, parents can--and are--aborting children with genetic diseases at an alarming rate.Who knows if I would even be here if I was concieved later, and to different parents. It's a scary, and sobering, thought. God must weep when He thinks about it.

On prayer

2007-02-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

Another good quote on Prayer from Rod, which he found in an magazine interview:

If you are successful in this prayer of repentance, you will come to understand that your prayer is your life, it is not a technique… “the technique of the Jesus Prayer.” It is not something that you are to combine with your breath, or with the beating of your heart. No, it is your life. All technical advice is something functional. Your prayer is your life - your life is your prayer. And if you are constant in this secret standing before the face of God, you will see that your heart begins to change. You will find your prayer becoming deeper and more attentive, and one day you will understand what it is to pray with all your heart, from the depths of your soul. When little children cry for something, they do it with all their being, and this is like real spiritual life. God will teach you how to conceal your pious intentions and thoughts, how to keep it such a secret that no one ever guesses what you have in your heart. You will be living a life completely unknown and unnoticed by anyone, and you will begin to love solitude as the most satisfying way of speaking with your Creator. The moment you begin to pray from your heart, asking for everything that the Holy Spirit finds appropriate and necessary for you, you will be instructed and enlightened.

Seems to me like an excellent approach to prayer to try this Lent.

prayer request

2007-02-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

I don't usually do this, but I'm going to ask for y'all to say some extra prayers for me. Healthwise, things have been nutty since right after Thanksgiving, and right now I'm currently in Children's (also known as "The Resort") for testing and monitoring, etc., etc., etc. until we find out what this current issue is. It seems like after each infection I've gotten lately, we'll get rid of it to reveal something more insiduous underneath. Oh well.For more info on all this, you can go to my other blog, Bucket of Parts. which is all about my transplant, before, after and what's going on now.

Thank you!

** Since I was here on W, I didn't get to attend Ash Wednesday Mass. I will, however, be having fish on Friday...I ordered it on the hospital menu. :)

A "kinder, gentler" Lent??

2007-02-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

Maybe in some places. This
piece from Crunchy Cons is rather disturbing.

I'm not saying I think we should all wear hairshirts and all that and go back to fasting everyday or whatever. But I do think that the penitential nature of Lent is one of (it not is sole) defining characteristic. We need a little deprivation, a little simplification, to get to the heart of things every once in awhile. Lent provides this yearly annual renewal. It is a spiritual springtime, a time of growth and reawakening. This can't come without some sacrifice, some "winter" of the soul. So give me the ashes and all that. I can't fast (I'm diabetic) but I can devote more time to God like all the rest of you. And I can certainly abstain from meat.

Speaking of Lent, what are you giving up? What spiritual practices are you adding? Does your church do anything special for Lent? Here's what I've got going on:
--Joining a Faith Sharing Group at my parish.
--Reading from Magnificat's Lenten companion
--Reading from Lent and Easter with Pope John Paul II --great book. They also have them from different saints and such, and they do them for Advent/Christmas, too.
--No meat on Fridays, like y'all. :)
--Soup Suppers at my church on Wednesdays, where different church groups make soups for the parishioners. Donations go to Operation Rice Bowl. It's a great way to make a Lenten sacrifice (both by eating a "simpler" meal and donating the money, it doesn't have to be much), and, practically, it's right before my choir rehearsals. :) So a lot of choir members have dinner together at the soup supper and then go rehearse, which is fun, because ofte they bring their families and the kids are soooo cute. :)

bookshelf: Love In the Heart of the Church

2007-02-18T09:10:00.000-08:00

I finished the Theresian spirituality book I'd begun about a week ago, and it was definitely better than I remembered it. The end, where Fr. O'Donnell talks about Therese's charisms and spiritual gifts, I didn't find quite as intellectually rewarding as some of the earlier chapters, but it is a generally good guide to her overall theology. It's more "scholarly" the most of the books I've read, so if you're just diving in, this may not be the best place to start. It was also written in 1997, before she was declared a Doctor of the Church, so the epilogue regarding if she should be named one is sort of moot by now. A revised version of this book, reflecting recent scholarship and, of course, the Doctoral designation, would make it a stronger piece of work in general. But overall, a good book, very well documented with emphasis on "original" sources, i.e., the true sources as written by Therese herself and not edited by her family or others.

Reaction to the Pope's message

2007-02-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

From Fr. Z:

Pope’s Message for Lent released
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 5:09 pm

The Holy Father’s Message for Lent was released today. I was at the Press conference with S.E. Mons. Paul Josef Cordes, President of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum", who made the presentation along with others.

The document was signed on 21 November 2006. It is very short. It constitutes quite a break with Messages of the past. This message is strongly theological, providing starting points. Messages in the past were strong practical, exploring themes like “Marginalization of the Poor” (1977) and “World Hunger” (1996). This time he is much more explicitly theocentric, returning to the fundamental building block of Deus caritas est. Cordes said that he could only speculate why the Holy Father has changed the style of the Lenten message.

Cordes, in his comments, seemed to desire to bring the discussion away from the theological dimension and right away pass to the concrete exercise of charity. In a way I had the sense that he wanted to talk about something other than the message. To accomplish this they enlisted the help of an old Italian priest Fr. Oreste Benzi, founder of the “Pope John XXIII” houses which work for the marginalized. Benizi gave a sustained fervorino (over a half hour). His experience working with the very difficult cases life can reveal reminded me that there are those who service the Church at a desk and those who serve at a gutter or a bedside.

Benizi, clearly a man who has zealous love for the poor pretty bluntly said that there should be no restraints on immigration and everyone should be given a job. I am not sure how that it is be done… perhaps some "redistribution of wealth"? Anyway, the guy had real fervor. One very insightful comment he made concerned the late and the present Holy Father and how they are seen by young people. Benizi said young people are not just following or “running after” the singer, but also after the song. This about the reaction that young people are having for Pope Benedict XVI in light of the great popularity of the late Pope John Paul II. In other words after the great cult of person that surrounded the late Pope people are very much on fire to hear what Pope Benedict has to say.

Back to the Message.

The first paragraph presents the major theme, “They shall look on Him whom they have pierced." This is strongly reminiscent of the title of a book Joseph Ratzinger published years ago: Behold The Pierced One. It also calls to mind how the late Holy Father called us to direct our gaze, through Mary with the Rosary, to Christ’s face.

The Pope in the Message returned to the theme he addressed in Deus caritas est, that is, of apage and eros.

He starts with Biblical texts and moves to Patristic texts as well as the Neo-platonic Christian writer Pseudo-Dionysius. The letter is strongly Patristic. Cited are St. Maximus Confessor (Ambigua 91, 1956), and St. John Chrysostom (Catecheses 3,14 ff) on how the water and Blood from the side of Christ are symbols of the sacraments of Baptism (water) and Eucharist (Blood). The Pope quotes a certain N. Cabasilas. I am not sure who he is right at the moment.

You can read the thing yourself pretty quickly, and I advise you to do so. I will only point out a couple things I found immediately interesting.

The Pope returned to a Ratzingerian theme of self-sufficiency. I find this often in the Pope’s writings. In the Message he wrote:

“Unfortunately, from its very origins, mankind, seduced by the lies of the Evil One, rejected God’s love in the illusion of self-sufficiency that is impossible (cf. Gn 3:1-7). Turning in on himself, Adam withdrew from that source of life who is God Himself, and became the first of “those who through fear of death were subjected to lifelong bondage” (Heb 2:15). God, however, did not give up. On the contrary, man’s “no” was the decisive impulse that moved Him to manifest His love in all of its redeeming strength.” Also in the message: “We need to respond to such love and dedicate ourselves to communicating it to others. Christ “draws me to Himself” in order to unite Himself to me, so that I learn to love the brothers with His love.”

The reference to "fear of death" is not only biblical, it is greatly expanded on by St. Augustine of Hippo, whom the Pope has long studied.

Here is a nice point for those who are married. It reminds me of something I would stress in marriage prep:

“In all truth, only the love that unites the free gift of self with the impassioned desire for reciprocity instills a joy, which lightens the greatest sacrifices.” In this phrase we have the union of agape (gift of self) and eros (impassioned desire).

"Looking on Him whom they have pierced" will help us to see people with greater respect, recognizing the wounds inflicted on humanity, but also to “alleviate the tragedies of loneliness and abandonment of so many people.” This redirection of our gaze to the Crucified Christ should bring us to concrete acts of love toward neighbor are, as the Holy Father puts it, “Only in this way shall we be able to participate fully in the joy of Easter.”

H.E. Cordes can back strongly to the idea that in this Message it is not being suggest that service of God substitute the service of man. He tried to emphasize that there is a balance needed between them. The one should be made more authentic by the other. This is also a theme of Deus caritas est.

BXVI's new Lenten message-- a change from JPII

2007-02-14T14:51:00.000-08:00

Looks like B XVI is going to take a different angle with Lent this year. From

Zenit:

Benedict XVI's Lenten message seeks to show how faith leads to charity's deepest dimensions, a Vatican official explained.

Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum," presented the papal message today in the Vatican press office.

The message is centered around the mystery of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

The prelate began his address by explaining how the command of charity is culturally accepted.

He said: "Worldwide entrepreneurs, for example, Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, establish social foundations; film stars and politicians invite to charity dinners; governments create friends for themselves in public opinion thanks to international cooperation; and great fund-raising endeavors -- at times for catastrophes -- in some cases reach considerable quantities.

"As Christians we can observe, not without satisfaction, that in social life the biblical commandment of love of neighbor seems universally accepted."

Theocentric

Archbishop Cordes pointed out that the Pope's message for Lent "is considerably different" than previous ones, written by him or by Pope John Paul II.

Previous messages have focused on "works of charity in the sense of Christians' social commitment," the prelate said. This time, the Pontiff "forcefully places God the Father of Jesus Christ at the center." Therefore, the focus is not anthropocentric but theocentric.

"The Holy Father is less concerned with the horizontal dimension, in order to bring into clearer light the vertical dimension of Christian living," he added.

"This change of thought can be observed in general in Benedict XVI's preaching," Achbishop Cordes stated.

He added that in the Pope's encyclical or in other discourses, the central theme is always the love of the Father in heaven becoming man in the Son Jesus Christ.

Bookshelf

2007-02-14T14:44:00.000-08:00

I've begun a new book of Theresian theology (well, it's not new, it was published in '97, and I've had it for a few years), Love in the Heart of the Church by Christopher O'Donnell, ODC (I think he's an ODC). The first time I read it was soon after my Confirmation, so I must've gotten it when it first came out. Anyway, at the time, it was way over my head and I didn't really know that much about the young nun I had chosen as my patron saint, other than the biographical basics and the "Little Way" idea. (I was 14, come on) But now I've gotten fairly into it, have read Story of a Soul as well as some other works about her life, so I felt ready to dive back in.

So far he's discussed her influences, the creation/finding of critical (i.e., not edited by her family) texts, and things like that. We've also covered the Oblation to Merciful Love and the difference between a Victim Soul and a Soul who has offered herself to Jesus' love, not His justice. I have found this to be an interesting distinction, since so many of us think of "victim souls" or "offering up suffering" as a Justice thing. I will write more as this develops.

Meditation

2007-02-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

From today's Magnificat meditation:

"Go on joyfully and with your heart as open and widely trustful as possible; and if you cannot always be joyful, at least be brave and confident."
--St. Francis de Sales

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

The church actually recognizes three St.Valentines, so I'm not sure who I should be talking about here. :) But my version is that he was a Roman martyr. Unfortunately, my valentine is not here (bah long-distance relationships), but if you have one, be sure to spend some time being nice to each other today. Actually, you should be doing that everyday. But I digress.

One little indian left...

2007-02-13T12:17:00.000-08:00

(OK that might not be a PC title, but whatever)

One of the infamous Edwards bloggers has quit.

But she didn't go quietly...from her blog yesterday:

No matter what you think about the campaign, I signed on to be a supporter and a tireless employee for them, and if I can't do the job I was hired to do because Bill Donohue doesn't have anything better to do with his time than harass me, then I won't do it," Marcotte wrote Monday night.

Earlier Monday, Marcotte wrote on her personal Web site, "The Christian version of the virgin birth is generally interpreted as super-patriarchal, where … women are nothing but vessels.

Here's Rod's take on it.

Rejoice O Heavenly powers!

Edwards saga continues

2007-02-12T15:08:00.000-08:00

with this Newsweek article.

Rob at Crunchy Cons discusses the article here.

And the Catholic League replies

The Edwards bloggers

2007-02-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

**Warning: this post might contain language that normal people will find offensive. I find it offensive and vulgar, myself, but find it important to post it so people know what we're talking about.

So John Edwards is running for President (we think). He hires two women to run the Internet aspect of his campaign, the "Net-roots" and the Internet, generally (I believe). Now, as any members of a national campaign would be, their credentials were examined by people othhttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifer than members of the Edwards campaign. On Tuesday we found out just what kind of people are "qualified" to work for the Edwards campaign.

So, what did we find?

I first read about the brouhaha over on National Review, where I find everything, in this article
by Katherine Lopez (K-Lo, to us Corner addicts). Some of the choice bits:

Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?
A: You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology.

That update on the Baltimore Catechism comes via Amanda Marcotte of the Pandagon blog in her “FAQ ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH’S ‘CRAZY’ TEACHINGS ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL.” In it she explains that “the intent” of “mainstream Catholic teaching” on artificial contraception “is to make women suspect their gynecologists* are out to get them and possibly kill some babies for fun.”

If Edwards cares to continue to browse through the Pandagon archives, he’ll find Marcotte reacting to a story about the Catholic teaching about limbo by comparing the Catholic Church to fascist dictators.

She continues:

There’s a pragmatic reason that the Vatican might be a little hesitant to come right out and say that there’s no limbo (definition here, for those who don’t know much about Catholicism) is because the concept is wielded by everyday Catholics to explain where the souls of unborn babies go, which is just an extra way to guilt trip women who have abortions. But it’s sort of a balancing act, as far as I can tell, because as most people understand it, unbaptized children go to limbo but when Jesus returns, they all get to go to heaven. So it’s a way to guilt trip women who have abortions without casting god as such an uncruel monster as to throw souls into hell that never even had a shot at sinning. So that’s limbo: it sucks enough to make women feel guilty about abortion, but it doesn’t suck so much as to run people off.

I suspect Pope Ratz will give into the urge eventually to come out and say there’s no limbo and unbaptized babies go straight to hell. He can’t help it; he’s just a dictator like that. Hey, fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, the Pope’s gotta tell women who give birth to stillborns that their babies are cast into Satan’s maw. The alternative is to let Catholic women who get abortions feel that it’ll all work out in the end, which is just not doable, due to that Jesus-like compassion the Pope is so fond of. Still, it’s going to be bad PR for the church, so you can sort of see why the Pope is dragging ass.

Which all brings me to recommending this great post by Austin Cline at Jesus’ General about why authoritarian types are so damn interested in cobbling people’s sex lives and meddling around in people’s private sexual decisions, like in this case why the Catholic church is so interested in making sure that people can’t make the perfectly sound decision to limit their family size while enjoying a healthy sex life—either you’re going to have to forgo birth control or you’re going to have to feel guilty to the point where you fear you’re casting babies into hellfire, by their standards. It’s a way to disrupt people’s lives so the church can get more control.

Yep, that damn patriarchy, that’s what it’s all about — has nothing to do with a sacrament of marriage or other nonsense Catholics believe.

Marcotte is clearly a staffer who should have been vetted a bit more. She represents someone John Edwards ought not be employing and serves as a warning to other candidates as they gather blogosphere supporters on their payrolls on their road to the White House. The lesson is fairly simple: Google first.

Now, to prove this isn't just a "right-wing" thing, Terry Moran of ABC picked up the thread here.

From that bit:

If a Republican candidate teamed up with a right-wing blogger who spewed this kind of venom, how would people react? Is the mere raising of this issue a kind of underhanded censorship, a way of ruling out of bounds some kinds of opinion? Are we all just going to have to get used to a more rough-and-tumble, profane, and even hate-filled public arena in the age of the blogosphere?

ON THE CATHOLIC TEACHINGS ON BIRTH CONTROL:

Last year, Marcotte blasted the Catholic Church's position on birth control: "Q: What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit? A: You’d have to justify your misogyny with another ancient mythology." (Side note: Would there be a different reaction if John Edwards "blogmaster" had insulted Islam to this degree? Is it "okay" to trash Catholicism--but not Islam?)

Um, no, Terry, I think we know the answer to that. If someone had done this to a sacred teaching of Islam, there would be widespread denouncements and probably the normal "Death to America!" There's no way they would get away with it. And we know it. But being anti-Catholic in America is the last acceptable prejudice (there's even a book about it).

Well, lo and behold, the bloggers are still around, even after some of these disgusting things:

ABC News' Kate Snow Reports: Former Sen. John Edwards' spokesperson says that contrary to some media reports, two campaign staffers have NOT been fired in the wake of criticism of their recent blog postings.

Campaign bloggers Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen are still employed by the Edwards campaign and will continue to blog, according to campaign spokesperson David Ginsberg.

"They were hired last month and nothing has changed," Ginsberg said.

Sen. John Edwards, who is running for the democratic '08 nomination, released a statement today reprimanding two of his controversial campaign bloggers for their personal writings-- but stopped short of firing them.

"The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte's and Melissa McEwen's posts personally offended me," said Sen. Edwards in a statement to media.

"It's not how I talk to people, and it's not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. . .but that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign," he said.

However the Senator didn't say he would fire his bloggers.

"I also believe in giving everyone a fair shake," he said. "I've talked to Amanda and Melissa; they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone's faith, and I take them at their word."
http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Campaign spokesperson David Ginsberg tells ABC News, "They'll be doing there jobs as they have been," he said.

The women had come under fire recently for controversial writings that they independently wrote on their personal blogs, before being hired by the Edwards campaign.

Um, OK. Sure. Just shows what John Edwards' campaign thinks about the Catholic vote. But, as Bill Donahue of the Catholic League says,

“John Edwards has apparently decided that there is more to be gained by aligning himself with the cultural left than by standing on principle and firing the Catholic bashers on his payroll. Had anyone on his staff used the ‘N-word,’ he or she would have been fired immediately. But his goal is to loot the pockets of the Soros/Hollywood gang, and they—like him—aren’t offended by anti-Catholicism. Indeed, they thrive on it.

“When Mel Gibson got drunk and made anti-Semitic remarks, he paid a price for doing so. When Michael Richards got angry and made racist remarks, he paid a price for doing so. When Isaiah Washington got ticked off and made anti-gay remarks, he paid a price for doing so. But John Edwards thinks the same rules don’t apply to him, which is why he has chosen to embrace foul-mouthed anti-Catholic bigots on his payroll.
“Edwards said today that ‘We’re beginning a great debate about the future of our country, and we can’t let it be hijacked.’ I have news for him—the Catholic League—not Edwards—will decide what the debate will be about, and it won’t be about the nation. It will be about the glaring double standard that colors the entire conversation about bigotry.
“We will launch a nationwide public relations blitz that will be conducted on the pages of the New York Times, as well as in Catholic newspapers and periodicals. It will be on-going, breaking like a wave, starting next week and continuing through 2007. It will be an education campaign, informing the public of what he did today. We will also reach out to our allies in the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities. They worked with us before on many issues, and are sure to do so again. What Edwards did today will not be forgotten.”

This whole thing just discourages me, and disgusts me, as both a Catholic and a voter. The fact that this kind of stuff is allowed in politics just seems over the line. The fact that we refuse to hold the people who represent our presidential candidates to any kind of standard (at least on the Ds side) depresses me. And the fact that the party of the only Catholic president is the one doing this is equally distressing. Where's Teddy Kennedy? Or good old Lurch? Or even Queen Nancy? Oh, wait. We're CINOs so it's OK.

Archbishop Wuerl's First Pastoral Letter

2007-02-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

here. (h/t Amy) The topic? My favorite! Confession!!

But I guess it is quite topical given that Lent begins in (gulp) almost two weeks!

Feast of St. Agatha

2007-02-05T17:41:00.000-08:00

Who is the patron saint of breast disorders, by the way, according to one of my saints books. Apparently they (the Romans?) tried to cut them off with spears but they regrew, so they did it again and beheaded her. That, apparently, did the trick. She was also a virgin, of course. Seems like all those Ancient Roman female martyrs were virgins, even if they got married.

Bishop Schori in USA Today

2007-02-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite Protestants goes at it again in today's USA Today re: the Tanzania conference and the split of the ECUSA. Here
is the bishop as she "stands for a new era."

Um, a new era of what, precisely? Hmm? She says some interesting things, like it's "Not her place" to decide who is saved. Well, of course none of us know that. That is God's domain. But at the same time, the Bible gives a good idea of sinful behavior. And homosexuality is part of it. How can you lead a church if you can't agree with what the Bible explicitly teaches?

B XVI to engaged couples

2007-02-05T17:24:00.000-08:00

From The Hermit:

If you are engaged to be married, God has a project of love for your future as a couple and as a family. Therefore, it is essential that you discover it with the help of the Church, free from the common prejudice that says that Christianity with its commandments and prohibitions places obstacles to the joy of love and impedes you from fully enjoying the happiness that a man and woman seek in their reciprocal love. The love of a man and woman is at the origin of the human family and the couple formed by a man and a woman has its foundation in God’s original plan (cf Gen 2:18-25). Learning to love each other as a couple is a wonderful journey, yet it requires a demanding “apprenticeship”. The period of engagement, very necessary in order to form a couple, is a time of expectation and preparation that needs to be lived in purity of gesture and words. It allows you to mature in love, in concern and in attention for each other; it helps you to practise self-control and to develop your respect for each other. These are the characteristics of true love that does not place emphasis on seeking its own satisfaction or its own welfare. In your prayer together, ask the Lord to watch over and increase your love and to purify it of all selfishness. Do not hesitate to respond generously to the Lord’s call, for Christian matrimony is truly and wholly a vocation in the Church. Likewise, dear young men and women, be ready to say “yes” if God should call you to follow the path of ministerial priesthood or the consecrated life. Your example will be one of encouragement for many of your peers who are seeking true happiness.

"Teach us how to pray"

2007-02-03T10:39:00.000-08:00

Great post from Rob over at Crunchy Cons about a Christian prayer life, how it evolves, and how we pray. Definitely worth checking out.

From the beginning:

Marshall McLuhan once said that he came into the Catholic Church "on my knees." He meant that the only way to truly become a Catholic (or, I think it's fair to say, a serious Christian of any sort) is through prayer. I think he's right; rather, I know from my personal experience that he's right. As I've indicated before in my writing, it was the neglect of regular prayer that set me up for a brittleness that was finally broken under the serious stresses of my spiritual life with regard to my relationship to the Church. I had made the error of thinking that as long as I had the intellectual side worked out, and fulfilled my sacramental duties, that I would be fine. But it's not true. As I look back over my life as an adult Christian, it's plain to me that the times of the greatest spiritual fruitfulness have been times when I followed a regular rule of prayer. And not just petitionary prayer, but prayer in the sense of disciplining the mind to be still in the presence of the Holy, and to seek to be filled up with God. That's so difficult for me, because my mind is always racing, always seeking stimulation. I lose focus, I get nervous, I break my rule. The rule of prayer is the one thing that will keep me on the right path, yet it is the hardest thing for me to stick to, because it requires ... stillness. I can spend hours reading books about prayer, but actually praying, well, that's the hard thing.>

Happy First Saturday...

2007-02-03T10:24:00.000-08:00

And...

--Feast of St. Blaise (blessing of Throats)
--The Presentation of the Lord (yesterday)/ Candlemass (I have always been partial to the "old-school" name of the Feast, which celebrates Mary's purification after the birth of Jesus).

How many of you celebrate First Friday/Saturday? I know that some of it involves 15 (or, I guess, 20, now) decades of the Rosary, Mass, and Confession. Anything else I'm missing? It's the confession, as usual, that kills me. One of these days I've got to get over my avoidance of this sacrament. And the Mass is hard, too, during choir season, since we sing Sunday morning. But I suppose one can go to both the Vigil and the Sunday Mass proper?

Any answers to these questions would be great. :)

Suffering has meaning

2007-01-30T15:51:00.000-08:00

From Catholic Exchange's daily Word of Encouragement feature (you can sign up using the link above):

Jan 30, 2007
Suffering Has Meaning!

Colossians 1:24
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the Church.

Some people complain that the Catholic Church's theology is a "theology of suffering." By this, they mean to accuse the Church of encouraging people to knuckle under in hardship instead of striving to right the wrongs of the world. It is an accusation that the Church is one vast attempt to make a human being into a sheep. Of course, in the next breath, such people also often accuse the Church of making people too warlike, but we won't address that contradictory complaint today. Rather, we simply point out that whether or not we have a theology of suffering, we all suffer anyway. The Church does not discourage people from fighting injustice just look at Archbishop Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day or Pope John Paul II. But it does discourage us from believing the lie that all the suffering we endure is just meaningless junk that has no purpose, goes nowhere, and does no good. Secularity, which regards pain as the highest evil, simply throws up its hands in mute helplessness at the tho
ught of suffering. The most creative thing it can think to do in the face of it is to kill the sufferer with euthanasia. Catholic belief, founded on faith in the Crucified One, rebukes this lie and affirms that even our suffering brother and sister has something to give to the Church. Today, make an offering of your sufferings to God for the sake of His body, which is the Church. You have a share in the precious gift of Christ to His people thereby. You become part of His gift.
Just a Word of Encouragement from Mark Shea and Jeff Cavins.

The Church hasn't supported her!

2007-01-29T17:20:00.000-08:00

This is interesting twist on the Church's politics from both Amy and Rob: (NOTE: The speaker is her daughter, Alexandra)

During Nancy Pelosi's speaker celebrations this month, as the Pelosi clan drove through the streets of Washington and Baltimore together, some protesters held up signs that read, "Pelosi Preys on Children" -- a reference to the speaker's pro-choice stand, which contradicts church doctrine.

" My mother, throughout her entire life, has been faithful to the church, even though the church has not been that faithful to her because of her politics. And I think that takes a lot of perseverance," she says. "And still, people protest her right to go to her own church."

Um, wow. This is really spin at its worst, because it makes no sense. She is not, and cannot befaithful to the Church if she doesn't follow Church teachings!! Hello! This is the most basic tenet of any religion. If you don't follow what it believes, then you aren't being faithful. She is rabidly pro-choice. Rabidly. We all know that. That's totally against Catholic doctrine. To have the temerity to say that the church hasn't been faithful to her is just a statement that is beyond ridiculous.

How she cannot be denied communion in D.C. is just beyond me.

More to that Shrek song

2007-01-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

I love the movie Shrek, and I especially love the "Hallelujah" song that is sung near the end, when it looks like Shrek and Fiona are parted for good. But I never knew the lyrics.
Well thanks to Anchoress, I have finally found the lyrics to that song. And there's a lot more to them than I originally thought (emphases mine):

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah

Your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah A Samson and Delilah reference?

Hallelujah

Baby I've been here before, I know this room
I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the Marble Arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah

There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
I remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah love in the physical relationship--TOB stuff, maybe? Or at least it could be construed that way.

Hallelujah

Maybe there's a God above, all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who out drew you
And it's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Wow, I mean, look at some of that. We've got King David, Samson and Delilah, the "holy dove" moving when the lovers were together. Whew! Pop culture can, occasionally, surprise us--in a good way.

Listening

2007-01-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

This post from The Anchoressreally struck a chord with me, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on it here. In a strange coincidence, I will be posting this on both this blog and my TX blog, since they have to do with both health and faith, two things very close to me.

The Anchoress talks about the day her doctor told her she was losing her hearing due to Lyme Disease. Well, having lost a good deal of my hearing due to drugs pre-tx, I can relate to her feelings of shock and dismay. And even anger. Both her sons are musicians. I am a musician. Of all the things that had been taken from me, this was the one that really hit home. I mean, it was what I did. I was a singer. I had been trained in classical singing. Music was the thing for me. In college, I really developed and ear and was coming up with good relative pitch (OK, not as good as Tiff, who has perfect pitch, but we can't all be perfect). We first noticed (well, my friends noticed) in my later years at college that I wouldn't hear them when they asked me things, or were talking to me. I chalked it up as being distracted or involved in my work. Even as a kid, when I was reading, if you tried to talk to me it could be very hard to get my attention.

But I didn't just have good hearing, I had great hearing. I could hear my name being whispered two rooms away. It drove my parents crazy. I never did the loud rock concerts, loud walkmans, whatever, that ruins your hearing. And yet, the drugs that saved my life in the end took away quite a bit of it.

Fortunately, God has blessed me with the ability to still have my music. Some of the upper, upper registers are gone but I have pretty good musical memory. And that's what singing is, hearing the pitch in your head. So if it's a song I know (and, thank God, I know many) I'm OK. I can go to musicals that I've known and loved and still enjoy them. I can learn new pieces, as well, and my musicals abilities haven't abandoned me. In regular conversation, however, it's another story. People get frustrated because I can't hear them. Well, I'm frustrated because I can't hear them. When I'm in a noisy restaurant and everyone's complaining because they can't hear each other, I always say, "welcome to my world." It makes them a bit more conscious. There's nothing more inane about being mad at someone for being unable to physically do something. It's stupid.

The Anchoress also writes about the Dark Night of the Soul, how God uses people in their weakness. I love the concept of the Dark Night. To me, it is very comforting to know that those who are closest to God can also be, at times, the farthest from him. St. Terese of Avila, I believe, calls these periods of "aridity," like being in the desert. Immediately before St. Therese of Lisieux's death, she was in severe aridity. She couldn't pray, she doubted her vocation, she doubted the existence of Heaven. Now I haven't doubted the existence of Heaven, but I have been in one of these periods lately. Not just because of the hearing problems, but because of the health issues overall, and how dependent they can make you. Dependent on other people, when we all want to be as independent as possible. We don't want other people giving us meds, washing our hair. These are things we have been able to do since childhood, or can handle ourselves. To be reduced to an almost sub-child position can be intolerable. But to not have the support is the worst of all. And when it seems God is silent...

I remember something I read once, from a letter Mother Teresa wrote to her confessor (I think). She said that sometimes she found her mission almost too hard to accept. She couldn't do it. And she would pick up her rosary, very deliberately, and just say it. The Creed. The Our Father. The Hail Marys. The mysteries. Just going through it, almost, if I may say, mechanically, until she reached the end. And it would be enough.

I have taken this strategy to heart. When it is too much, I take my beads, whichever set is handy, and just pray them, letting whatever is in my heart be opened and presented before God and Mary. They know what is there. And, in the end, it is enough.

"Silence is the ally of atrocity"

2007-01-26T17:48:00.001-08:00

Here is my cousin, Bishop Wuerl's, comments on Right to Life on Monday.

2007-01-26T17:48:00.000-08:00

housekeeping

2007-01-26T12:49:00.000-08:00

I will be upgrading my web browser this weekend so I can make this blog more user-friendly by inserting links, block quote demarcations, and things like that. Hopefully you will like the changes!

Detroit Bishop no longer a pastor...

2007-01-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

and I can't say I'm surprised.
This is from the NY Times , and the general argument is that Bishop Gumbelton is being stripped of his duties b/c of his involvement with SNAP and SB 17 here in Ohio (which I have written about previously). As many of you know, the church sex scandal didn't really affect me all that much. I wasn't outraged, I didn't lose my faith, etc. I have always known that the Church is made up of imperfect men--that's just the way it is. Yes, they do horrible things. I am not excusing them, and they should be punished for what they did. But I also take some of these sex abuse stories with a bug grain of salt, and I think that the 20-30 year gap that SB 17 here in Ohio considered was far too long. I know a lot of people have beefs with the church and these are "he said, she said" things. The church here has even set up a coounseling network and set aside money so people can get the help they need. But SNAP members write to papers and say that that's not enough. No matter what the church here does, it's not enough. And, to be honest, that makes me mad.

I found this part of the article to be particularly interesting (emphasis mine)

Bishop Gumbleton, though he never led a diocese, is known nationally in church circles as a liberal maverick. He co-founded the peace ministry Pax Christi and accompanied antiwar delegations to Haiti and Iraq. He broke ranks with church teaching by preaching in favor of acceptance of gay men and lesbians and the ordination of women.

Last January, he lobbied in favor of a bill in Ohio to extend the statute of limitations and allow victims of sexual abuse to sue the church many years after they were abused. He said he was speaking out because he had been abused by a priest as a teenage seminarian and knew how hard it was to speak publicly even decades later. Bishops in Ohio opposed the bill, which failed.

So Bishop Gumbleton doesn't exactly seem to be following the playbook, so to speak, when it comes to Church doctrine. Is it possible, just possible, that may that that something to do with it? That the higher-ups finally got wind of this stuff and decided, "uh huh, we're not having this?" Just a thought.

Here's the article:

Outspoken Catholic Pastor Replaced; He Says It’s Retaliation
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: January 26, 2007
In his last Mass as pastor at the inner-city parish in Detroit where he had served for 23 years, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton told his parishioners that he was forced to step down as pastor because of his lobbying efforts on behalf of the victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy, a stance that put him in opposition to his fellow bishops.

Enlarge This Image

Matt Sullivan/Reuters
Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton at a recent news conference in Ohio.
Last weekend, the archbishop of Detroit, Cardinal Adam Maida, sent a letter to the parish, St. Leo, saying Bishop Gumbleton had to be removed because of church rules on retirement. But as Bishop Gumbleton, who turns 77 on Friday and had already retired last year as a bishop, told his parish last Sunday, there are many pastors even older than he who are allowed to continue serving.

“I’m sure it’s because of the openness with which I spoke out last January concerning victims of sex abuse in the church. So we’re all suffering the consequences of that, and yet, I don’t regret doing what I did because I still think it was the right thing to do,” he said, as the congregation rose and erupted in applause.

Bishop Gumbleton, though he never led a diocese, is known nationally in church circles as a liberal maverick. He co-founded the peace ministry Pax Christi and accompanied antiwar delegations to Haiti and Iraq. He broke ranks with church teaching by preaching in favor of acceptance of gay men and lesbians and the ordination of women.

Last January, he lobbied in favor of a bill in Ohio to extend the statute of limitations and allow victims of sexual abuse to sue the church many years after they were abused. He said he was speaking out because he had been abused by a priest as a teenage seminarian and knew how hard it was to speak publicly even decades later. Bishops in Ohio opposed the bill, which failed.

A spokesman for the archdiocese of Detroit, Ned McGrath, said Bishop Gumbleton’s removal from St. Leo Parish had nothing to do with his lobbying on sexual abuse or his political stands.

All bishops are required at age 75 to submit resignation letters to the pope, Mr. McGrath said, and the pope has the option to accept or reject the resignation. Bishop Gumbleton’s resignation was accepted last year, and, Mr. McGrath said, “it was with the understanding that he would give up any pastoral office.”

Cardinal Maida announced in his letter to parishioners that he had appointed a new pastor, the Rev. Gerard Battersby.

In his brief remarks at Mass on Sunday, Bishop Gumbleton told the parish that after he turned 75, he had sent a separate resignation letter to Cardinal Maida asking to stay on as pastor at St. Leo’s on a year-by-year basis. He said he was surprised by his sudden replacement.

“I did not choose to leave St. Leo’s,” he said. “It’s something that was forced upon me.”

Three canon lawyers interviewed on Thursday said there was nothing in canon law that would prohibit an archbishop from permitting a retired auxiliary bishop from serving as a pastor after 75.

Bishop Gumbleton, who has already moved out of his room behind the church and plans to move into an apartment in Detroit, did not respond to an interview request. A video of his remarks during Mass was taken by a parishioner and posted on the Web site of the National Catholic Reporter, an independent Catholic weekly newspaper that publishes a column by Bishop Gumbleton.

Mary M. Black, a parishioner at St. Leo’s, said: “Almost universally, everyone in the parish is hurt and angry and upset and bewildered.”

Ms. Black said: “He talks after Mass with people, and he is there ahead of Mass to say the rosary for anybody who has problems. And we all have his personal phone number. You do not have to go through a secretary. He was a pastor in the truest sense of the word.”

Healing the trauma

2007-01-20T14:49:00.000-08:00

Here is a good article about speaking out in the post-abortion ministry. Also links to helpful organizations.

"Abortion or a son"

2007-01-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

From Catholic Exchange, this is a poignant article about one family's decision to be "pro-life." Very appropriate as Monday is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade .

As a side note, the Diocese of Columbus will hold a special Mass in remembrance of that decision on Monday at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph's Cathedral, with Bishop Campbell presiding. There will also be a "Youth for Life" rally (though all ages are welcome) at the Statehouse, corner of Broad and High, at noon.

Mary and the Evangelicals

2007-01-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

Great pots over at First Things on Evangelicals and the "Mary issue." Well worth reading. Here's a bit:

So why should evangelicals participate in and celebrate the Marian moment that seems to be upon us? The answer is: Precisely because they are evangelicals, that is, gospel people and Bible people. Mary has a pivotal and irreducible place in the Bible, and evangelicals must reclaim this aspect of biblical teaching if we are to be faithful to the whole counsel of God. When it comes to the gospel, Mary cannot be shunted aside or relegated to the affectionate obscurity of the annual Christmas pageant. In the New Testament, she is not only the mother of the redeemer but also the first one to whom the gospel was proclaimed and, in turn, the first one to proclaim it to others. Mary is named a “herald” of God’s good news. We cannot ignore the messenger, because the message she tells is about the salvation of the world.

Evangelical retrieval of a proper biblical theology of Mary will give attention to five explicit aspects of her calling and ministry: Mary as the daughter of Israel, as the virgin mother of Jesus, as Theotokos, as the ?handmaiden of the Word, and as the mother of the Church. Consider Mary’s first title, Daughter of Israel. Mary stands, along with John the Baptist, at a unique point of intersection in the biblical narrative between the Old and the New Covenants. When Mary cradles the baby Jesus in the Temple in the presence of Anna and Simeon, we see brought together the advent of the Lord’s messiah, and the long-promised and long-prepared-for “consolation of Israel.” The holy family is portrayed as part of a wider community, namely “all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).

The Church in China

2007-01-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

Apprently BXVI is getting ready to send them a letter about the current situation...

Scared Space

2007-01-20T14:36:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered, via Danielle Bean , a new daily prayer site from the Irish Jesuits called Sacred Space. OK, so it's new to me. But anyway, go check it out. It is a great way to help with your daily prayer, and you can do it at work!

Following up

2007-01-18T04:22:00.000-08:00

on my St. Elizabeth Seton post from yesterday is this comment from Peter Robinson in the corner:

Re: Questions About God [Peter Robinson]

Michael Novak writes, “I do wish our atheist brothers and sisters would learn a little more than they now know about the profound and thoughtful sorts of believers that surround them, by the millions.”

Me too. I’m always a little taken aback when someone attacks religion because life can prove painful and unjust or because prayers often go unanswered, as if believers simply hadn’t noticed. Praying in Gethsemane, for example, Jesus himself offers a petition that goes unanswered, asking to be spared the bitter cup of crucifixion. Pain? Injustice? Take a look at the Church calendar. The day after Christmas? The feast of St. Stephen, a blameless man executed by stoning. Two days after that? The feast of the Holy Innocents, the infant males whom Herod had slaughtered.

Pain, injustice, unanswered prayers—these are all difficult problems, obviously. But to suggest that Christianity has failed to grapple with them demonstrates ignorance of the scriptures, of Chrysostom, of Augustine, of Aquinas—of the whole body of Christian thought.

Tips for making a good Confession

2007-01-17T17:22:00.000-08:00

From Fr. Z's website (and, Lord knows, I need these as much as anybody!)

Fr. Z’s 20 Tips For Making A Good Confession o{]:¬)

We should…

1) ...examine our consciences regularly and thoroughly;
2) ...wait our turn in line patiently;
3) ...come at the time confessions are scheduled, not a few minutes before they are to end;
4) ...speak distinctly but never so loudly that we might be overheard;
5) ...state our sins clearly and briefly without rambling;
6) ...confess all mortal sins in number and kind;
7) ...listen carefully to the advice the priest gives;
8) ...confess our own sins and not someone else’s;
9) ...carefully listen to and remember the penance and be sure to understand it;
10) ...use a regular formula for confession so that it is familiar and comfortable;
11) ...never be afraid to say something "embarrassing"... just say it;
12) ...never worry that the priest thinks we are jerks…. he is usually impressed by our courage;
13) ...never fear that the priest will not keep our confession secret… he is bound by the Seal;
14) ...never confess "tendencies" or "struggles"... just sins;
15) ...never leave the confessional before the priest has finished giving absolution;
16) ...memorize an Act of Contrition;
17) ...answer the priest’s questions briefly if he asks for a clarification;
18) ...ask questions if we can’t understand what he means when he tells us something;
19) ...keep in mind that sometimes priests can have bad days just like we do;
20) ...remember that priests must go to confession too … they know what we are going through.

I hope that these are helpful as we prepare for Lent...and get to confession more often, possibly (maybe. I'm not making any promises here)

Today's Saint quote

2007-01-17T17:19:00.000-08:00

Can you expect to go to heaven for nothing? Did not our Savior track the whole way to it with His tears and blood? And yet you start at every little pain.
— St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

A very good thing for us to ponder, especially as Lent is coming up in about a month. People who ask, "why is their suffering in the world? Why does God permit it?" need look no farther than the Cross. If God sent His own Son to suffer and die, then how can we expect to be exempt from it? Suffering is a natural part of our spiritual growth. Some of us are called to more than others, but God knows what is best for each of us. And we have, in Jesus, a Savior who has "drunk to the dregs of human suffering" (as Fr. Benedict Groeschel writes in his Rosary: Light and Life ) and knows what we are feeling.

In Colorado--pro-life? Ehhhh....

2007-01-17T17:14:00.000-08:00

H/t Amy Welborn...

Colorado's governor is not what I would call pro-life:

Archbishop fires 1st salvo at Gov. Ritter
The Catholic leader blasts a plan to restore state funds to family-planning clinics that offer abortion.
By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 01/16/2007 10:55:04 AM MST

Archbishop Charles Chaput opposes Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to restore state funding to Planned Parenthood. (Post)Less than a week after his inauguration, Gov. Bill Ritter is getting heat from the outspoken Catholic archbishop of Denver over a familiar topic: abortion.

In his column in this week's Denver Catholic Register, Archbishop Charles Chaput calls the Democrat's pledge to lift eligibility restrictions on state-funded pregnancy prevention and family-planning programs "seriously flawed public policy."

Ritter, a Catholic who describes himself as "pro-life," wants to lift an order by his predecessor, Republican Bill Owens, also a Catholic. The order restricted groups that perform abortions from getting state money for family planning and pregnancy prevention.

Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer declined Monday to respond

Chaput's Column
Read Archbishop Chaput's complete column challenging Gov. Ritter.
directly to Chaput's criticism but emphasized Ritter is opposed to funding abortions.
Only family-planning groups that show they can segregate state funds from money spent on abortions would be eligible, Dreyer said. An amendment to the state's constitution forbids the use of state dollars to subsidize abortion directly or indirectly.

"The archbishop and the governor agree on certain aspects of this issue," Dreyer said. "The governor believes strongly it is good public policy to attempt to reduce unintended pregnancies, and that is his goal."

Calling out Ritter is in keeping with Chaput's belief that Catholic politicians must adhere to church teachings in their public life in order to remain true to the faith. The Denver prelate has gained a national reputation for his willingness to speak out.

Chaput praised Ritter's desire to improve health care and education and said his State of the State address brimmed with "good will, good sense and hope."

Much of Chaput's ire focused on Planned Parenthood, which lost nearly $400,000 in state funding under the Owens administration. Chaput highlighted a passage in Ritter's State of the State talk in which he talked about judging legislation's impact on future generations.

"It's hard to have a future 'for our children and our children's children' without children, and in practice, Planned Parenthood specializes in the business of preventing them," Chaput wrote. "Even more troubling is Planned Parenthood's long involvement in abortion 'rights' and the lethal services associated with them."

Chaput questioned whether it's possible to segregate money for abortion and family planning. He wrote that it's reasonable to believe Ritter's stated opposition to abortion and his "pro-life" label given Ritter's "engaged and active" Catholic faith.

"What his words do actually mean will become clear in the demands he places on Planned Parenthood for proof that state funds truly are segregated from abortion services and don't materially support the killing of unborn children," Chaput wrote.

But Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains may not seize the opportunity if the restrictions are lifted, given the high costs of restructuring to meet the state's demands and other factors, said spokeswoman Kate Horle.

She said Planned Parenthood also would be reluctant to take resources from smaller clinics statewide that currently receive state money for family planning.

"While I recognize it's Bishop Chaput's religious prerogative to want to believe Planned Parenthood somehow wants to increase the abortion rate in Colorado - which is what he implies - what we have always done is try to make sure every child is a wanted and a loved child," Horle said.

Jeanette DeMelo, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Chaput's chief objective in the column was to start a conversation and find common ground in the debate over family-planning funding.

Chaput did not challenge Ritter's abortion stance during the campaign.

NFP, etc.

2007-01-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

I recently have started reading Danielle Bean's blog and came across this old post in NFP, etc. I thought it was great;

Your Turn: Being Open to Life
6/26/06 9:18 PM
A reader writes:
It would be nice to know that there are others out there who struggle with the conflict of truly being open to life and loving children and wanting a big family, but at the same time being overcome by the fear of the realities of a really big family and not knowing how to “slow down.” Because NFP isn't as easy as everyone says it is and depending on one's fertility signs, it doesn't really always work. At least not for me.

Hmmmm, I do not want to get bogged down in the details of whether or not NFP “really works” here other than to mention that NFP methods test out at 98 point whatever percent effective, but what really counts for most people is “user effectiveness” which is a lower number. The simple fact is that using NFP to space or prevent pregnancy, particularly for some people, is not quite as simple as popping a pill. And that’s a good thing. Because we ought not to be using it the way some people pop a pill.

I think that with NFP, there wind up being many “accidental” pregnancies that are not truly “accidents” at all. Couples often know when they are bending or breaking particular rules or not paying close enough attention to fertility symptoms and lo and behold—a pregnancy results!

This might lead to a great deal of frustration with NFP, but as I said, I think it is a good thing. NFP is not fun. This fact likely encourages many couples to be more generous in planning their families than they would otherwise be. The seriousness with which most couples learn and use NFP is usually directly proportional to the seriousness of their reasons for using it. Personally speaking, if conception did not come easily for us and my husband and I had to actively plan every single pregnancy in the way people using artificial birth control do, we might have 3 or 4 children by now. We surely wouldn’t be expecting our eighth. We would be missing out and wouldn’t even know it.

All of which brings us to the heart of the emailer’s struggle. It can be hard—so very hard—to accept God’s plan for our families in place of our own. It is downright scary sometimes to turn something as powerful and potentially life-changing as our fertility over to God. And this works both ways. I know women struggling with infertility who want desperately to conceive and are unable to. These women too experience frustration, disillusionment, and fear in accepting God’s will for themselves and their families.

But our bodies and our fertility do belong to God. Sometimes the hardest words in the world to pray are “Thy will be done.” I know that when I pray it, my mind sometimes races through all the possibilities of what “God’s will” might be and I am tempted to add, “Oh, except for that! Thy will be done as long as it isn’t that!” Something to work on.

"You're a catfish!"

2007-01-17T17:02:00.000-08:00

Sent to me by one of my co-workers....

Each Friday night after work, Bubba would fire up his outdoor grill and cook a
venison steak. But all of Bubba's neighbors were Catholic...and since it was
Lent, they were forbidden from eating meat on Friday. The delicious aroma from
the grilled venison steaks was causing such a problem for the Catholic faithful
that they finally talked to their priest. The Priest came to visit Bubba and
suggested that he become a Catholic. After several classes and much study, Bubba attended Mass.....and as the priest sprinkled holy water over him, he said, "You
were born a Baptist, and raised a Baptist, but now you are a Catholic."

Bubba's neighbors were greatly relieved, until Friday night arrived, and the
wonderful aroma of grilled venison again filled the neighborhood. The Priest was
called immediately by the neighbors and as he rushed into Bubba's yard clutching
a rosary preparing to scold him, he stopped and watched in amazement.

There stood Bubba, clutching a small bottle of holy water which he carefully
sprinkled over the grilling meat and chanted: "You wuz born a deer, you wuz
raised a deer, but now you is a catfish."

Anglican update

2007-01-17T16:57:00.000-08:00

So what is going on with the Anglican Commuion? Amy Welborn asked, and got this answer:

The over-arching thing is the coming Lambeth Conference in 2008. Every ten years all Anglican bishops the world over gather in England for this; it lasts about five weeks, I think. Invitations from the Abp of Canterbury go out shortly. The "Global South" churches -- places like Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, the Southern Cone of South America -- are threatening to run a rump conference in Africa if the pro-gay USA and Canadian churches are not disciplined, and they're adamant that the gay bishop must not be invited. If that rump Lambeth Conference is held the Anglican Communion will be over.

Meanwhile, next month there is a meeting of Anglican primates which has been called months ago to discuss the issues raised by the "Windsor Report" (dealing with the gay issue, sexuality in general and how teachings on these subjects should be approached by the inter-related provinces of the Communion) and the USA and Canadian response to the Windsor Report.

The primates' meeting is the immediate crisis. The Global South Bishops are outraged at what they see as the inadequate North American response to Windsor. The North American bishops are offended that certain other provinces (Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda) are actually planting jurisdictions in North America, accepting oversight of formerly Episcopal congregations and even consecrating bishops for North America. And the powerful Archbishop of Nigeria (19 million Anglicans) and others are now saying that they will not sit down at the meeting with Katharine Jefferts Schori, the new Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, if she comes -- not because she is a woman, but because of her heterodox views. These Global South folks are strongly Evangelical Anglicans, and Mrs Schori seems to find regarding Jesus as the one Way to the Father excessively limiting.

Then there's England. The Global South is enraged that the Church of England is permitting its gay clergy to enter into civil partnerships (officially it expects these to be celibate unions). The Anglo-Catholic "Forward in Faith," a powerful organization, is lobbying for its own English province with orthodox bishops; now Evengelicals have told the Archbishop that they want to be free to avoid dealing with heterodox bishops and are threatening to leave. The Archbp of Nigeria has said that he believes Canterbury and the CofE should be disciplined for tolerating heresy.

Meanwhile, parishes all over the United States have been announcing their withdrawal from the Episcopal Church. They then seek oversight from a foreign bishop or one of the new American bishops the foreign bodies consecrated. The Episcopal Church Center in NYC is therefore coordinating a concerted legal strategy with the various dioceses aimed at squelching the secessionists with litigation to prevent them from taking their property.

And the Archbp of Canterbury said publicly last week that he feared he was losing control of the Communion. A website with a wealth of info on this is Virtue Online, www.virtueonline.org

Nancy and Donald

2007-01-15T14:51:00.000-08:00

No, not Trump. Wurel, as in the archbishop of D.C.

Now I understand that the U.S. bishops, with a few notable exceptions, are not really willing to publicly discipline the more "celebrity" wayward members of their flock. Especially in D.C., where most of the Catholic pols you hear about are of the lefty variety. But, in the case of Nancy Pelosi, I really feel the time has come for something to be done.

Pelosi isn't "working" on her stance toward abortion, homosexual marriage, etc. She's not "evolving." She's been a staunch supporter of these policies, and others, for years. This has not changed. She is now the third most powerful politician in the coutnry (shiver). It is time for action to be taken.

Archbishop Wuerl really needs to step up to the plate, like he did in Pittsburgh, and make it known that Church teachings have to be followed by everyone. What kind of example does it set for normal Joe and Jane Catholic, who are trying to live lives faithful to the Church's teachings, even when it's hard, when they see people like Pelosi, Kerry, Kennedy, et al., being given an essential free pass? They're going up and receving Holy Communion, even though being conscious of mortal sin means you can't receive communion. You cannot tell me that Pelosi et al. do not know how the Church feels about abortion.

From a PR perspective, would it be the greatest thing? No, probably not. More calls about how Catholics are nutty, intolerant, behind the times. But you know what? We have to preserve the integriry of our faith. We can't just let people get away with these things because they're powerful or prominent citizens. If anything, they should be held to a higher standard. We should be proud to tell our kids that the Speaker of the House is Catholic. As it is, at least we've got Roberts, Alito and Scalia for examples. And Senators like Brownback and Santorum. But American bishops must step up and set an example for everyone. You cannot divorce your faith from your life. Your life is meant to be a testimony to your faith. What kind of message are they sending? Not one I want my kids to see.

I was hopeful when Bishop Wuerl was sent to D.C. that he'd take a firm stand on this. I don't want to be disappointed.

Forgiving yourself

2007-01-11T15:01:00.000-08:00

Great article from Catholic Exchange. I don't know about you, but this is something I have often struggled with. Even though I go to confession and I know that God has forgiven me for my sins (well, once I do the penance :) ), it can still be hard to tell myself that I'm forgiven and not go back and confess it again, saying "wait, no, I'm really sorry. I don't think you get how badly I screwed it up."

***

On a recent episode of 7th Heaven, Rev. Eric Camden had suffered a heart attack and made a temporary sojourn in heaven. While there, he was able to pick out some non-traditional gifts for his children. For his oldest daughter Mary, he chose an eraser which would allow her to forget some of the mistakes of her past, thereby allowing her to stop compounding those mistakes.

What a wonderful gift! Who among us wouldn't like to forget some of the things we have done or failed to do in our lives? We know we can always seek God's forgiveness for our mistakes. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we have the opportunity to be washed clean. Jesus suffered and died to save us from our sins. We know that if we approach God with true contrition, forgiveness is ours for the asking.

Human forgiveness is not always so easy to obtain. There are amends to make to those whom we have hurt. Sometimes, sadly, there are consequences of our actions that cannot be changed. We simply have to move on and make the best of our wounded relationships.

Perhaps the hardest forgiveness to come by is the forgiveness of ourselves. Memory is a wonderful thing. It allows us to look back and recall all those different threads that have come together to weave the fabric of our lives. Over the years, the bad times also seem to recess in importance thereby making it easier to forgive others who have hurt us in our lives. And yet, we do seem to remember the times we have hurt others. We remember our bad choices, harsh words we may have spoken in anger, and times that we just chose to walk away rather than take action. Perhaps remembering these things does serve a purpose in that, hopefully, we won't repeat the same error. But once we have sought and received God's forgiveness, we need to make an effort to forgive ourselves. Our mistakes have brought us where we are and there is nothing so bad in our lives that God can't bring some good out of it. We need to put the past behind us and move forward from where we are, trusting that God is there to guide our steps.

Catholics in Public Life

2007-01-11T14:59:00.001-08:00

I have blogged about this since time immemorial, but if you need primers on what, precisely, the Church teaches about Catholics and the political life, go here:

http://www.trinitydc.edu/about/president/blog/

There are links to several USCCB docs, statements by (former) Archbishop Cardinal McCarrick of DC, and things from America magazine, although I generally hold that publication at arm's length due to some of the comments of its editors on TV.

Trinity College, btw, is Nancy Pelosi's alma mater. Methinks she should read the President's blog. But I really doubt she cares. Much like John Kerry.

Catholics in Public Life

2007-01-11T14:59:00.000-08:00

By the way...

2007-01-04T19:31:00.000-08:00

Below I listed St. Elizabeth Ann Seton as one of my favorite saints. Today is also her feast day. If you've never seen the movie on her life, A Time For Miracles , with Kate Mulgrew as St. Elizabeth, it is a great, great movie. In my all-time top 10. You can order it from Ignatius Press, since I've never seen it in a secular retail store, like Best Buy. Of course Barnes and Noble or stores like that may also be able to order it for you. It is fantastic (I overlook the fact that her husband ran for Ohio Governor as a Democrat).

While I'm on it, other good Saints' movies:
--Leonardo de Fillippis' Therese , which came out last year, starring Lindsay Youmas, Fillippis, and his wife. Great movie, gives a nice primer to her life (Therese serves are narrator) and told me a lot I didn't know about her, so it inspired me to do more reading on Therese and Theresian spirituality. Available at mass retailers (I got mine at Target, of all places). Also available via Ignatius press. There is a soundtrack, composed by a nun (a Carmelite, I believe) that is also available. Be sure to read Story of a Soul , if you haven't already. I have the Institute for Carmelite Studies, based in D.C.. version, which has all three manuscripts and a bunch of geeky scholary stuff. But if that's not for you you can certainly find a basic version just about anywhere.

--Bernadette , which is available through Ignatius press. I haven't seen this one at the mass-market stores. Haven't watched it all the way through but looks very good. There is also the "sequel", The Passion of Bernadette , with the same actress and director, but I haven't seen that one yet. I actually just finished the novel The Song of Bernadette tonight, which has recently been re-issued by Ignatius press with a new forward by George Weigel. It is long, but don't let that stop you, because it is great. I loved it. I found I really needed a dedicated lot of time to read it (yay, two hour steroid infusions at Children's!) but once you get going it has fantastic pacing and wonderfully realistic characters. Great novel and a great movie, o the same name, which won Jennifer Jones (Bernadette) a Best Actress statuette. Can you believe that??? You can get that movie just about anywhere. Black and white, I believe, but don't let that stop you!!

Catholic devotions

2007-01-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

Tagged by Nutmeg over at Life In A Nutshell (see the blogroll, I think she's there, she should be! Otherwise: http://lastthingonmymind.blogspot.com)

1. Favorite devotion or prayer to Jesus?
Morning Offering....when I remember to do it. Without a Magnificat for this month (store sold out, grrr), my morning prayer has really suffered...

2. Favorite Marian devotion or prayer?
I am an (attempted) daily Rosary girl, so the "Hail Mary" and the "memorare," whenever I have a special petition. When I was in 6th grade that meant getting to sleep over at Anne's house (my best friend). Now I use it, um, a bit more reverently. :)

3. Do you wear a scapular or medal?
I used to wear a great miraclous medal but the chain broke. So I have to get a new one...once I have the dough. I like to get nicer chains than the ones they come with because those are too clunky for me, and this is a small medal.

4. Do you have holy water in your home?
When I lived at home, we did. I have to find my font, which I brought with me in the move, and get it up.

5. Do you ‘offer up’ your sufferings?
Dude, I grew up with a Catholic Mom. It was the first thing out of her mouth. So yeah, it's a habit.

6. Do you observe First Fridays and First Saturdays?
My dad does, so I try to. When I remember. Which reminds me--this weekend is one!!

7. Do you go to Eucharistic Adoration?
I wish my parish offered it! When I go to Mass at the Cathedral I go early so I can sit in front of the tabernacle and say my rosary. When I'm driving in Pickerington and I pass Seton Parish I may go in because they have perpetual adoration.

8. Are you a Saturday evening Mass person or Sunday morning Mass person?
Sunday morning--gotta sing!

9. Do you say prayers at mealtime?
Yuppers.

10. Favorite Saint(s)?
My patron saint, St. Therese of Lisieux. St. Teresa of Avila. St. Thomas Moore. St. Gregory (patron saint of singers), and St. Cecelia (patroness of music). St. Gianna Molla. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, because she was a wife, mother, and a nun. How cool is that? St. Bernadette.

11. Can you recite the Apostles Creed by heart?
Yes.

12. Do you usually say short prayers (aspirations) during the course of the day?
The occasional "Our Father" as I'm walking around.

13. Where is your favorite place to pray?
On my couch, with my rosary and my bible, in the late afternoon, because the couch is right by my glass patio doors, so the sun comes in through the trees and warms up the room. I feel like a contented cat. :)

14. Bonus Question: When you pass by an automobile accident or other serious mishap, do you say a quick prayer for the folks involved?
I've started to. I do cross myself when I pass a Catholic church, however.

LOTR is done!

2007-01-01T11:34:00.000-08:00

OK, so much for the slow! I got so into them I just kept reading and finished them last night. Much, much better than the movies, at least I think so. Not that the movies are bad , I just like the books better. As I usually do. It was great to read more about some of the characters that the movie sort of short-shrifted (i.e., Galadriel) or eliminated together (i.e., Tom and the Dark Forest). I could've done with 1) less Gollum and 2) less Ents (wow they really annoyed me in the movies, too). But other than that, much to my surprise, I really liked them. Now all my Tolkien-obsessed friends can say "I told you so."

LOTR begins!

2006-12-30T09:30:00.000-08:00

I have begun The Fellowship of the Ring , and, I must admit, I am enjoying it much more than I ever thought possible. It is very interesting to compare what the movie did with the characters as opposed to Tolkien's original conceptions (i.e., Sam as servant, etc. ). And, of course, some of the dialogue is just hysterical. I have read 100 pages (got the books last night) and will continue to read on. I am abandoning my usual practice of the "plow-through" and am instead reading slowly and thoughtfully the first time through, which I usually do not do. Usually I just try to get the thing down in one big gulp.

Will keep you informed...

Saddam's execution

2006-12-30T09:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I can't really say, in all honesty, that I'm upset he's dead. The man killed who knows how many people and tortured countless others. It's not like he was really bringing Joy to the World, or anything. I know the Church's stance on capital punishment, but in my mind the country and the people are safer knowing that he's not around anymore. Maybe that's just me. In any event, I'm not going to waste tears on him.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

I hope you all had a glorious Christmas Eve and had fun at Mass. Our Mass went wonderfully--the Haydn rocked , and we were so proud!--and the Messiah pieces also went well. It can be hard to gauge the quality of sound since you're listening and surrounded by everyone, but we got a lot of nice compliments so I'm assuming it went well. But the Haydn just rocked. I am so proud that we got that down. Woohoo!!

Christmas morning here began at 8:00 and the Christmas Carnage began. :) After the gifts we had Mom's great Christmas breakfast of Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls and sausage links (mmmmm...if my blood sugar was low before breakfast--which it kind of was--it isn't now!) and coffee that I made for me and my siblings. Currently Dad and Bryan are setting up his new MacBook (I am sooooo jealous! I want one!) and Mel is being George Lucas with her Santa-given videocamera. I have been immersing myself in the new Pride and Prejudice gift set, which includes 3 DVDs (a bonus disc!) and the making-of book, which is very enjoyable. I am also looking forward to ravaging The Silver Spoon , the Italian cooking Bible with more than 2,000 (yes, 2,000 ) recipes. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....so much good food, so little time....

DeArdo family christmas

2006-12-24T07:55:00.000-08:00

"Clark! Audrey's frozen!"
"All part of the experience, honey." --National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

So, you may ask, what exactly does a DeArdo family Christmas entail?

Well since I've started singing Midnight Mass (Mom used to sing it when we were little, but we didn't all go together), that's the Mass we haul ourselves to. That means dinner is around 5, 6:00...mom starts the baking festivities in the am, usually around 10 or so (as I write the marble cakes have been baked and smell yum-o....mmmmmmmm). We usually have ham, a pasta bake, some potatoes (we're Irish, come on), bread (mmmmmm) and this year we have a jell-o/pretzel concoction, which I'm sure will be good (Mom's a Heilmann, and all Heilmann events must have some sort of jell-o thing. It's a rule or something.). We will also have sparkling red/white grape juice (yeah, OK, Emily can't drink the good stuff right now, give me a break) and then the cakes and cookies Mom's made over the past few weeks post-Mass.

The gifts have alredy been placed under the tree, divided into recepient piles so that no one accidentally opens someone else's gift and causes confusion/havoc in the wee hours.

After dinner, we usually watch some sort of Christmas-y movie, like A Christmas Story , which we all love. I am also partial to Meet Me In St. Louis since it has one of the best Christmas songs ever, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas , and Judy Garland looks so great, sitting there in her red velvet dress (mmm) singing it to Margaret O'Brien. Great stuff. AMC or TCM usually has it on, so check if you don't own the DVD. But we love A Christmas Story. We watch it all the time...I've probably be watching it several times a Christmas season since I was about 6. Great, great movie. I don't care what anyone else says.

Around 9 or so we'll probably start to change into our Mass clothes, and I'll get my music ready. I'm sure a nap will happen this afternoon so I don't fall asleep tonight. At 10:15, I'll leave and my parents will show up sometime before 11:15, when we will start our program with the fantastic Haydn.

Yeah, I'm excited. :) :) Good times!

One down...

2006-12-24T07:53:00.000-08:00

and goal to go!

Sang the 9:00 Mass at SPX, which went pretty well. We actually had a nice-sized crowd; not as many as the 10:15 but more than the 8:30. Before Mass ended, Fr. Ochs (our pastor) made an appeal to us to help move the billions of poinsettias from the Bride's Room to the sanctuary to help get ready for Christmas, as the first Vigil Mass is at 4:00. Nice to see so many people helping...we come when we're called!! Hopefully they can get the rest of the church ready in time.

I have to be at church by 10:45 but, knowing me, I will probably leave the house at 10:15 to 1) get good parking and 2) get there early to whip my troops into shape. :) Not that we need it, at this point. The time for practicing is gone, and now we just have to have fun with the music we've been working since August!

I will blog tonight/tomorrow morning and let you know how it goes...I know you are all breathless with anticipation. :)

Awesome Mary picture

2006-12-24T07:47:00.001-08:00

http://lh6.google.com/_T3lg6p_ATmc/RY1zSIIYq6I/AAAAAAAAAIU/qt-Vt8a5Ob4/s1600/sorrows.jpg

Check that out...it is awesome.

Swimming with scapulars

2006-12-20T18:39:00.000-08:00

OK, I've read it again, and confirmed my first impression: good book. However, there is a point I'd like to quibble with re: music in Mass.

I agree w/ Matthew that waaaayyy too much of the music has gone 1) prosaic 2) too "teen pop" and 3) boring. Glory and Praise has some nice tunes, but too many of them are just 1970s quasi-pop junk we need to stop singing. Let us move on and sing more of the "Warhorses"--"Holy, Holy, Holy" , "Holy God We Praise Thy Name", "Be Thou My Vision", "The Church's One Foundation", etc. Nothing wrong with sappy; sappy can be good. For example, I love "Here I Am, Lord." Great tune. I like "On Eagle's Wings." But there have been one too many singings of "Though the Mountains May Fall." And for the love of Pete, can we sing Advent songs during Advent? And Lent songs during Lent?? Please?

Anyway, to my quibble: Matthew talks about his issues with the choir singing up front, as opposed to in a choir loft, applause from the congregation when a song is over, and the idea that it's more of a "performance" than anything else. Now I obviously cannot speak for all choirs and I am sure that in some places this happens. But let me relay my experience.

First off, my church was built post Vatican II. There is no choir loft. We used to sit on the altar but then we got a new pastor and he vetoed that. So now we sit in a section of pews by the organ. The problem with this is that our sound is affected because we're basically singing to a wall. The congregation really can't hear us, or at least not the way we're intended to be heard. For some numbers we did go "up front", and that worked. The congregation liked it. But then it got vetoed. So now we're back to the pews for everything and we have to do all sorts of fancy mic work to make sure we can be heard. Which means spending money on good mics. It would make a lot more sense to just have us up front and eschew all the fancy-schmancy technology, or at least some of it, because we wouldn't need it anymore.

People who are not musicians tend to downgrade how much work it is being in a choir/band/orchestra, whatever. They assume we practice, but they don't know the intensity of it. Our choir rehearses at least and hour and a half a week. The closer we got to Christmas, the longer practice got. Sometimes we are beginning at 7:15 and rehearsing until 10:00 or later. Not much later, and not often, but it does happen. We put a lot of effort into every piece we sing, and we do sing one choral piece every week. For Christmas we're singing a piece from Haydn's Creation and several movements of Handle's Messiah . We've been having twice a week practices since October to prepare. This is not fluff stuff. Our families know how much we practice, but the general congregation? Who knows. So if we're going to put all this effort into it, it's nice to have some appreciation. The congregation doesn't clap very often (we do two pieces that are guaranteed applause) but when they do, we appreciate it. We are there to help them worship. It's not like we're there to satisfy our humungeous egos. Some of us are classically-trained, some of us can't read music. But it takes a lot of work and commitment to do what we do. And a lot of the time, people just don't get it. If the congregation wants to applaud, heck, I'm not going to stop them.

This Christmas, take some time to appreciate any special music your parish does. I am positive they put a lot of work into it. And tell them if you liked it!! We like to know we're not just singing to the walls. :)

bookshelf

2006-12-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

Some new arrivals at the Emily library:

--Swimming with Scapulars: Confessions of a Young Catholic : Just got this one today with a few other Amazon books. By Matthew Lickona, it's a memoir of growin gup Catholic, how his faith has shaped him, trials he has with faith, etc. It's refreshing honesty is very nice. It can be a bit sporadic and disjointed, but I kind of like that, since memoirs that tend to be strictly linear in their construction can be boring. He touches on all sorts of topics from Novus Ordo, The DaVinci Code, music at Mass, holding hands during the Our Father, and parenthood. He's 31, so I guess that still fits the "young" definition. Good first read, hope to get more insight the second time through.

I also got:
-- Cooking with the Saints from Ignatius Press: pretty self-explanatory. A great cookbook with patron saints, information about them and recipes associated with them. Lots of breads and desserts, and lots of German and Austria recipes. Some of them look really fantastic. There's even a recipe for suckling pig!!

-- Catholic Education:Homeward Bound by Kimberly Hahn (Scott's wife) and Mary Hasson. Since David and I like the idea of homeschooling (fitting in with our somewhat "crunchy" ideas), I thought I'd read this to get a leg up. I just started so I can't tell you too much yet, but anything Kimberly Hahn writes is good. :)

I am also going to start reading the LOTR books, due to some insightful posting over at Cubeland Mystic (link in the list) about which character you feel you are most like. There's been some really great discussion over there and I want to enter it intelligently, not just with movie knowledge, which, as we know, can be very, very wrong (although I don't think it's as wrong with LOTR as it was with, say, Troy . I will keep you posted.

Gaudete Sunday!

2006-12-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Gaudete Sunday, everyone!

OK, I bet half of you are looking at that going, "uh, Emily, it's the third Sunday of Advent. What the heck are you talking about?"

It is the Third Sunday of Advent. But it is also Gaudete Sunday. Ever wonder why the priest wears rose garments today? Why we have a pink candle admidst all the purple in the wreath? Well I am about to you my Catholic Education and tell you. :)

"Gaudete" Sunday is a derivitative of "Rejoice!", which comes from today's second reading (one of my favorites, by the way):
Philippians 4:4-7

Brothers and sisters: rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The LORD is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

As my seventh-grade teacher told us, if Paul is telling us to "rejoice!" twice, he means it! We are almost done with Advent, the peninential season is almost over! Christ is about to be born! We should be happy about this! That's why we see the pink candle..the somber purple shades are warming into the sunshine of our redemption. We should "have no anxiety at all" (clearly, Paul didn't have to Christmas shop!). And we celebrate that by changing the colors. Coincidentially, the Fourth Sunday of Lent (called Laertae Sunday) is the same principle.

On a somewhat non-related note: purple candles are to be used in advent wreaths because of their penitential connotation. So many churches (including, sadly, Catholic ones) are going to blue because it's less penitential. Um, that's the whole point of the season--to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. That's why we have penance services, why the readings tend to be so dour and focuses on preparing ourselves for the coming of Christ. We can't forget the real meaning of Advent--it's not just the countdown to Christmas. There is some preparation that (should) go into it.

Housekeeping: be sure to check out Amy Welborn's blog today--a great Gaudete Sunday Angelus meditation from BXVI. Today is also the day we start the "O Antiphons" and she's got a link to that, too! So check it out.

Meeting Fr. Barry

2006-12-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

I met the new Children's chaplain yesterday, Fr. Barry, who seemed really nice. I believe he spent some time in London, and he's African, and I've always like African priests. There's just something about their spirituality that I really connect with. He's a lot of fun, soft-spoken but good.

For the love of all things holy!

2006-12-13T10:54:00.001-08:00

From today's Dispatch

For the love of all things holy! ---III
NEW ALBANY SCHOOLS Religious songs pulled from concert Wednesday, December 13, 2006David Conrad THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

After pulling two religious songs from a fifth-grade holiday concert, New Albany school officials found the program a little too short for prime time.

When Silent Night and Hayo, Haya, which celebrates Hanukkah, were removed from the program, the principal moved the show from Thursday evening to the afternoon.

The district said a Jewish parent complained that Silent Night, which contains the lyrics "Christ, the savior, is born," was included in the program.

So officials yanked the song and then pulled Hayo, Haya, which contains the lyrics, "Oh, sing our songs and praise the Torah, praise the Torah."

"We wanted to show respect for the religious sensibilities of all students," said Chris Briggs, principal of New Albany Intermediate Elementary School, which serves grades 4 and 5.

Briggs said that from now on, the two grades will include only cultural songs in their holiday programs.

Three nonreligious songs are left for Thursday’s concert.

The Columbus Public Schools took a similar stance a few years ago. In 2001, the district was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union after choirs sang Christian songs at two high-school commencement ceremonies.

The school system responded the next year by passing a policy that required holiday music to be "based on sound educational principles" and not "manifest in preference of religion or particular religious beliefs."

"I think the (New Albany) school made the safest decision that it could possibly make," said Gary Daniels, of the ACLU of Ohio. "A winter performance is a bad time to take a wrong turn from being at a choir concert to a church assembly." (WHAT?!)

However, Daniels also said that he doesn’t believe that schools need to do away with all religious songs.

"The key issue the courts look at it is whether the purpose of the performance was to enhance a particular religious message," he said.

"You’re not going to find a court decision that says you can’t have any religious songs. But if every song in a 10-piece holiday concert is about a certain religion, then you have a problem."

ME: Um, we have problems with Silent Night??? LEt's get real! When I was in high school I sang Jewish songs and I;m not Jewish! If you don't want your kid singing Christmas songs then just tell the director and boom, your kid doesn't sing them. Sheesh. But if they are in a choir and there is a holiday concert, chances are pretty good you're going to be singing Christmas songs! I know there are other holidays in December. When they have as many songs written about them as Christmas, then we'll talk. And these are little kids! Come on now. But of course, once the ACLU is involved....

Feast of St. Lucy

2006-12-13T04:54:00.000-08:00

I've always loved the feast of St. Lucy,probably because the idea of more light in December in Ohio is a great idea. Course if I wasn't here in the resort I;d be home making my St. Lucia buns, which may be labor intensive (two risings!) and take hours to make, but they are quite yummy. Oh well, I'll just have to make them for Christmas instead...I get my recipe out of an old American Girl cookbook, but if you want to try them I;m sure Yahoo! foods or whatever would have a recipe, or Google. Mine have raisins, yeast, and some sugar, which make them sweet although you wouldn't expect it. I also think an egg wash is involved somehow.

Christmas bleg

2006-12-13T04:53:00.001-08:00

Christmas questions
Stole this from Life In A Nutshell (http://lastthingonmymind.blogspot.com); also listed on the blogroll..

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate, esp. since I just bought Hot Chocolate and a Hot Chocolate pot from Williams-Sonoma! (www.williams-sonoma.com)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? That's Mrs. Claus and the Elfettes' job(Yes I just invented a word :))

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored, even though I don't have any up personally. My parents, however, have the awful retro 1970s big, colored bubls that have been in, out, and in again....

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I would if I could find some!

5. When do you put your decorations up? Thanksgiving weekend, but usually the weekend before since we're not here Thanksgiving weekend...what can I say? I love my tree!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? The cinnamon rolls and sausage links mom makes for Christmas morning breakfast.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Tye year I got the Care Bears kitchen set I wanted and thought I didn't get. I had opened everything--no set. My parents had hidden it in the basement. :) And you know, we still have parts of it that we use to store books/videos...so it's lasted! And Pittsburgh Christmases...see below.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was about 8, I think...not very traumatic or anything.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Now we open one gift on Christmas Eve since I sing Midnight Mass and we all go to that. Opening one gift keeps us enteratined and hopefully awake. But when Iwas little Christmas was a three day extravaganza. We opened family gifts Dec. 22 or 23rd, went to my dad's mom's house to do Christmas with them in Pittsburgh (Corapolis) on Christmas Eve, where there would be great cooking in both kitchens (wish I had that now!) and we'd open gifts from my grandma and my two aunts. Then we'd head over to my mom's parents' in South Hills/Baldwin, where a few of my aunts still lived until they got married. We'd do presents there Christmas morning. Oh it was good times.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? My colored lights and two strands of Target garland, one gold and one white (kind of snowflakey), and, of course, my ornaments, including Glinda in her bubble, Lucy and the wardrobe, a talking Ariel, Christmas carol ornaments, etc...it's fun!

11. Snow? Love it or Dread it? As long as I can stay inside, love it.

12. Can you ice skate? Yup, I can even do fancy stuff.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? The highlight reel: the Coach evening bag I got last year; American girl dolls (various years); the first edition Virginia Woolf diary; my Coco Mademoiselle perfume (mom got me the really good stuff, not just the eau de toilette, so I only use it very , very rarely).

14. What's the most exciting thing about the Holidays for you? Seeing my cousins! And exchanging gifts with Tiff and Milia.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? My spicey cookies, the Snickerdoodle cake. The new chocolate chip cookies I made Sunday are good, too. I also like my St. Lucia buns, which are making a Christmas return this year,.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Singing Midnight Mass, opening gifts with my family, the Heilmann reunion.

17. What tops your tree? An angel I got from my mom.

18. Which do you prefer - giving or receiving? Both have their joys, but I really can't wait to see Tiff, Milia and David's reactions to their gifts this year.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? The original "have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in Judy Garland's range! (also know as: not the really high one all the arrangers wrote so that wimpy little Sopranos could sing it. Not cool) Also: All Come, All Ye Faithful and O Holy Night.

20. Candy canes? They are enjoyable. :)

Crunchy Christmas

2006-12-12T13:00:00.001-08:00

From Rod's blog...

A Family Christmas, Crunchy Con Style
By Cary McMullen
cary.mcmullen@theledger.com

For all you bleary-eyed shoppers out there, here's a story from author and blogger Rod Dreher. Before he was married, Dreher told me by phone from Dallas that he spent a Christmas in Holland visiting a family with three adult daughters, the Jeurissens.

"The family celebrated in a typically Dutch way. They got together on Christmas Eve and cooked a meal. We ate together and told stories. At midnight, they brought out gifts they had made for each other. Then we put on our coats and went to Mass, even though they were not especially religious. As an American, I was waiting for the big payoff, but that was it.

"It made a big impression on me. It was so stripped down. What mattered to them was family, and faith, too," he said.

I called Dreher because I recently read his book, "Crunchy Cons." (The book's subtitle would take up the rest of this column, but the title refers to countercultural conservatives, with emphasis on the countercultural.) Dreher, himself a conservative, has written a literate and much-needed critique of how America in general and a rabidly pro-big-business Republican Party in particular reduces its citizens to nothing more than consumers or potential consumers - "the sum of our desires," as Dreher puts it.

"We believe that modern conservatism has become too focused on material conditions, and insufficiently concerned with the character of society. The point of life is not to become a more satisfied shopper," he writes in point two of his 10-point "Crunchy Con Manifesto." Instead of blindly acquiescing to being regarded as walking pocketbooks, Dreher wants us to fight back. He argues for a way of life that stresses family, community, faith, simplicity, beauty and humility.

Although I didn't agree with Dreher on some of his political and lifestyle arguments, much of what he had to say struck me as healthy skepticism and right on target. Dreher is married now and has three children under the age of 7, and I asked him how he and his wife manage to be countercultural during the holidays, the biggest assault of the year on our consumer sensibilities, with children as special targets of opportunity. He admitted it isn't easy.

"We have a family ritual. We light an Advent candle (and) read Scripture and pray together. We do have a Christmas tree. We also made a vow not to smother the kids with presents on Christmas Day. It's amazing to hear about people going into debt just so they can give things to their kids," he said.

Even if couples manage to set limits on gift-giving, they may have difficulty enforcing that rule on extended family members, especially grandparents, Dreher said. Limiting the number and price of gifts goes against the ethos. It's our culture's everyday math: Love equals things.

"We're told if you don't go all out, somehow your children will think you don't love them," Dreher commented.

The Drehers even allow their children to be visited by Santa Claus, because they felt "we didn't have the right" to deny their kids an experience both Rod and Julie Dreher had enjoyed themselves when young. But they play down Santa's role in Christmas in favor of emphasizing the role of Christ, he said.

The decision to have a countercultural Christmas requires work, he went on, not just in constantly saying no but also in constructing positive alternatives.

"It's not just joyless and grim. There's a lot of light and color in the Christian tradition. The trick is to find a balance," he said.

The thing that intrigues me about Dreher's philosophy is that although he's a former staffer for the National Review, often he doesn't sound much like what passes for contemporary conservatism, and he describes in his book how ideological conservatives have attacked him as a closet leftist. For instance, because consumerism is driven by capitalism, Dreher is not a fan of one of capitalism's biggest engines, advertising. Television is limited in the Dreher household.

"The media - by which I mean entertainment and advertising - are designed to separate you from your values. That makes it easier to sell to us. It's not a grand conspiracy, but it's true," he said.

What Dreher commendably embraces is traditionalism. Recalling his Christmas in Holland, Dreher still expresses wonder over the gifts the Jeurissen family gave to each other. One daughter wrote a poem. Another sewed an article of clothing.

"They poured love and affection for their family into them. They took time and thought," he said. "It was tremendously affecting to me, coming from a country where Christmas meant more, more, more."

Cary McMullen is religion editor for The Ledger. He can be reached at cary.mcmullen@theledger.com or 863-802-7509.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

2006-12-12T12:50:00.001-08:00

Since today is her feast day, here's some more from Amy:

Today is the feastday of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

On the morning drop-off route, I just stopped by the parish that's the locus of the Hispanic ministry (St. Patrick's, founded for the Irish who were working on the railroads more than a century ago. The wheel turns.). I should have put my thinking cap on last Saturday instead of yesterday - of course, as the sign told me, their major celebration was Sunday. Harrumph. They'd also evidently been having a novena that ended this morning of course - at 5:30 AM, followed by cafe y chocolate and so on. Oh well...next year, perhaps.

Some Guadalupe-related news articles, and if you like, add your own experiences of any celebrations this week:

Sancta. org is the major umbrella website devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In Houston, a story of gratitude:

The work is his pleasure. Galvan believes Our Lady kept him alive during triple bypass heart surgery a few years back. She watched over two of his sons when they served in Iraq. He believes she will continue to watch over the young men when they return to the war-torn country next year.

"This shrine," said Galvan, 60, "represents the mother of God. She has pulled me through a lot of miracles."

The Arizona Daily Star has an overview, with some interesting photos

Here's kind of an odd column from the OC Register, which attempts to see the bright side. The columnist writes of an interesting parish tradition, in which a statue of Our Lady, purchased by parishioners on a road trip to TIjuana without the pastor's knowledge, goes from house to house. A marvelous compromise! Perhaps. The columnists comments on the
"austere beauty" of the interior in which there is hardly any statuary, except in a side chapel. So, basically - the powers that be don't want statues in the church. So, folks, keep it in your houses, okay? Ni-ice.

Oh, let's be positive, shall we?

The AP story on the Mexico City celebration.

Chicago:

Even though the warming weather created muddy conditions at Maryville's grass parking lot, cars continued to pour in through the evening. Organizers estimate that between 60,000 to 120,000 people will take part in the two-day celebration.

Des Plaines police had shut down Central Road at River Road starting 5 p.m. Monday to handle the crowds. It will reopen at 6 a.m. today.

"You do Maryville honor by coming here in such big crowds," the Rev. John Smyth said in his welcome address.

At times solemn and at times festive, Mass, which began at 8 p.m., was primarily in Spanish, as the celebration is largely attended by Hispanic parishioners. The ceremony was peppered with Mexican dancing and songs.

Las Cruces:

From the Arizona Republic, the perspective of Hispanic Protestants:

Twice a day, Jose Gonzalez used to pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe. But when he turned away from Catholicism, he let her go. Now, the Phoenix pastor speaks directly to Jesus.

"Traditionally, Mexican people believe that the Virgin of Guadalupe is a mediator between God and the people," said Gonzalez, 55, of Nuevo Nacimiento Church on 27th Avenue near Van Buren Street.

"We pray only to God, through Jesus Christ," he said. "The Virgin of Guadalupe plays no role. Not at all."

San Antonio, on the devotion crossing cultural lines:

The parish's Society of Guadalupanas, a ministry promoting devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, has grown from just 12 members, mostly Hispanics, to nearly 140 men and women, almost half of whom are Anglo, the priest said.

Nick Young was devoted to the Virgin long before he came to St. Mark's in 2001, having overcome his early skepticism about some Marian devotions.

But it was here that he first learned about Our Lady of Guadalupe.

"She has appeared in many different places, such as Lourdes and Fatima, and we have many devotions to her," Young said. "She's still Mary, the Mother of God. We can go to her and pray for her intercession under any of her titles."

He said the unusually deep devotion and dedication displayed by the parish's Guadalupanas attracted him to join the society. He said he'd never seen such devotion and reverence elsewhere.

"I'm doing OK, slowly," Martinez said, walking stick in hand, as he looked out over Las Cruces from the heights of Tortugas Mountain.

Martinez, born in San Miguel and now 81, is in many ways the embodiment of what the annual Tortugas trek is all about — faith, sacrifice and promises to a higher power.

Monday marked yet another occasion on which Martinez climbed Tortugas Mountain, also known as "A" Mountain. He was just one of hundreds who made the trip.

For 92 years the faithful have walked from Tortugas Pueblo to the top of the mountain in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, commemorating the day in the 16th century when the Virgin Mary appeared in what is now Mexico City.

Tucson:

Heredia has led the veneration, held on the eve of Dec. 12, the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, since she and her 84-year-old husband, Manuel, bought their now-sprawling Southwest Side home, which started out as a single-room brick dwelling more than 50 years ago.
"I have 11 children in all, and not one ended up in jail or gangs," said Heredia. "They've all been so good. For all that, I thank the Virgin."
The movie:
The movie, produced by Dos Corazons films and distributed by Slowhand Cinema, was not reviewed by major newspapers even though it was released to 150 theaters nationwide in major markets such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle and Miami.

Most of the marketing and distribution of the film was aimed at areas with high concentrations of Latinos and channeled through Spanish language radio stations and publications, said Sandra Eckardt of Sentir Marketing, a Newport Beach-based firm that promoted "Guadalupe."

The distributors were relying on word of mouth generated through e-mails and Catholic parishes, she said.

"The core audience are the Spanish-speaking Latinos that are religious," Eckardt said. "The movie has a lot to do with the Mexican culture and beliefs of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It has appeal to first-, second-, third- and fourth-generation Hispanics. It can help later generations tap into their culture and the way they were raised, especially from a religious standpoint."

The content of the movie could make it a big movie here," Carrillo said. "La Virgen is a very traditional symbol that at the same time is very contemporary and links Latinos in the United States to their culture and families in Mexico."

Constructed with documentary style and dramatic elements, the film introduces a modern plot surrounding two Spanish siblings who travel to Mexico for a scientific exploration of the 475-year-old story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It features some well-known Mexican actors including Eric del Castillo, Angelica Aragon and Pedro Armendariz.

The film's website (The trailer has a very DVC feel, btw.)

Molto propito (sp?) out soon...

2006-12-12T12:48:00.000-08:00

From Amy:

The publication of the Motu Proprio on the part of the Pope which will liberalise the celebration of the Mass in Latin according to the missal of Saint Pius V is close` Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, member of the Commission Ecclesia Dei which this morning met to discuss the liberalisation of the Mass in Latin confirmed this. ” We have studied the document calmly” the cardinal affirmed. ” We have discussed together for more than four hours and have made some corrections to the text of the Motu Proprio” The next move belongs to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos ( president of the commission) who will present the text to Benedict XVI. Perhaps, added Medina, there will be another meeting of the Ecclesia Dei commission. Another member of the body, the Cardinal of Lyon, Jean Pierre Ricard did not want to make any comment, emphasising that he is “bound by the pontifical secret”

confessional question

2006-12-10T12:11:00.001-08:00

All right, this may be a little personal, but...

I have always disliked confession. I suppose that's normal human nature, to dislike telling a total stranger what we've done wrong and actually having to own to it. Hence the necessity of confession for conversion and all that. But still. I have a disinclination for the sacrament. But, I went last week, since I hadn't been in, oh 16 months.

Now here's a question. Once you've confessed sins, you're forgiven. (well, OK, once you do your penance, technically). But what if you still feel bad about it? No, I haven't done anything bad (well,OK, that bad. Obviously it was bad if it was confessed, right?). Anyone else ever felt this way? What did you do about it?

the Pearl of Great Price

2006-11-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

The “Pearl of Great Price”

November 29, 2006

[Editor's note: This coverage of the pope's visit to Istanbul is made possible by exclusive arrangement with Inside the Vatican Magazine.]

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." --Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Did you ever come to a place and time and sense, suddenly, with an odd certainty, that it was this place, this time, toward which all your travels had been tending? And at that moment, did you ever feel that your arrival was not "fated," "predestined," as if compelled by some iron law (because each step you had taken had been free, completely) and yet at the same time... not entirely your own work? As if your own free choices had "echoed" in their freedom, a mysterious providence, outside of and beyond you, that had been awaiting its revealing through the unfolding of your own free decisions?

Such an experience came to me yesterday, in a small Catholic church in Istanbul, as I awaited Pope Benedict's arrival in the city.

Yesterday, Benedict XVI did arrive in Turkey, and, against many predictions, all went well. In a last-minute change of plans, showing the importance of this visit for the Turkish government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his plane.

The pope then visited the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. He wrote a message in a guest book calling Turkey "a meeting point of different religions and cultures and a bridge between Asia and Europe."

He next met Turkey's head of religious affairs, Ali Bardakoglu. By this the pope, who is head of a state and of a world religion, displayed his humble willingness to meet a government minister as an equal.

Delivering his first keynote address, to Turkey's diplomatic corps (all those diplomats from around the world accredited to Turkey) he said, essentially, that leaders of all religions must "utterly refuse to sanction recourse to violence as a legitimate expression of faith." He also decried terrorism and "disturbing conflicts across the Middle East" and ended by saying, simply, "I hope my trip will bring many fruits."

Then he retired to rest and sleep.

Today, Benedict will continue on to Ephesus, to see the house believed to have been the last home of the Virgin Mary, and then, in the evening, he will come to Istanbul.

I, waiting in Istanbul yesterday, could not be in Ankara to see Benedict. So I went to a morning press conference given by Bishop Brian Farrell from the Vatican and Metropolitan Demetrios, head of the Greek Catholic Church in the United States. The press conference was held at the Hilton Hotel, which will fill up tonight with the rest of the Vatican press corps.

In the lobby of the Hilton, busy with journalists and cameramen and security personnel walking to and fro, chatting on cell phones and walkie-talkies, I saw someone I hadn't seen for 15 years: François Vayne, editor of a journal called Lourdes which chronicles everything about the site in France of the miracle of St. Bernadette.

"François!"

"Oui?" he replied, in French. For a moment he didn't recognize me, then, "Ah! Bien sur! Inside the Vatican!"

We shook hands and began to exchange news. He told me he was staying with the Dominican fathers who live by the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul. (I did not even know there were any Dominicans in the city. I had been so focused on the Turkey's Orthodox and Muslims that I had forgotten the Catholics.)

"They are experts in Christian-Muslim relations," he said. "They have an important center in Cairo, and one Dominican, who lives in Iran, is Irish. He just arrived yesterday."

"Sounds interesting," I said. "Could I come over to visit and talk to them?"

"I see no reason why not. I'll ask them, and call you."

He gave me the address: Galata Kulesi Sok., #44, the Dominican convent next to the church.

I spent the next hour trying to improve my access to the upcoming events. The events in Istanbul this week will be so crowded that strict limits have been placed on who will be allowed into the various ceremonies. Journalists have been divided up, with small "pools" selected to represent hundreds of journalists who will not be permitted inside one or another of the churches or other venues.

I spend a considerable time talking with members of the American Greek Orthodox group I had seen the day before at Halki. The members are known as "Archons" because they support the Greek Orthodox patriarchate in Istanbul; without their support, it might vanish. (The comparable term for Catholics might be "Knights"). They represent the wealthy, committed leadership of the Greek Orthodox community in the US, and have come to Istanbul especially for these historic days. They will have special access to some ceremonies, and I wonder if they might find a way to include me.

But they are having difficulties, too. The Turkish government doesn't like the fact they are using the word "Ecumenical" to describe the Orthodox Patriarchate, and is threatening to void their credentials if they don't remove the word.

If the patriarch is "ecumenical," apparently, he would have some type of "supra-national" identity, and might escape the legal cage the Turkish government has constructed for him: that he must be a Turkish citizen, with a Turkish passport, not a Greek Orthodox from somewhere else, like Greece or America. But the Archons have written proudly on their identity cards "2006 Archon Pilgrimage to the Ecumenical Patriarchate."

"Government agents have taken down our banners downstairs," says Xanthi Karloutsos, a dignified middle-aged American Greek Orthodox woman who is staffing the accreditation table for journalists. (Her husband, Father Alexander Karloutsos, a Greek Orthodox priest close to Archbishop Demetrios, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, is one of the leaders of the delegation of Greek Americans.) "They started to try to take them down up here and I said to them, ‘Don't you dare. The banners stay.' And they stopped."

But whether the dispute is over isn't clear.

I call François and he tells me the Dominicans will welcome me at their convent. I invite Dan Schmidt, an American Catholic philanthropist from Milwaukee, to come along with me, and in the late afternoon we set out in a taxi.

We reach the top of Galata Kulesi street. There is a huge tower which rises up into the darkening sky. I call François on my cell phone. "Nous sommes arrivés." "D'accord."

We start down the street, looking for #44. We don't see it in the dark, and pass by. I call François again. "I'm already at the tower," he says." "We're down below now," I say. "Come back up and I'll show you the way." (I am astonished at our phones; I am calling him on a number in France, and he is calling me on one in the USA, while all the time we are 100 yards apart on a dark street in Istanbul.)

Mary, Our Guide

We meet. We go in a dark door, down a dark corridor, and meet the Dominicans. There are four, two from Italy, one from France, and one from Ireland. His name is Father Paul Lawlor, about 50 years old, born in Kerry.

All four have devoted their lives to the east, and are experts in Muslim-Christian relations. And all describe a similar stark reality.

"Have you read the book From the Holy Mountain?" Father Lawlor asks. "It's the story of a journey from Mount Athos around the eastern Mediterranean toward Alexandria. Every place the author goes he finds monasteries which once housed 300 monks, convents which once housed 200 nuns, kept alive by a handful of religious, sometimes only one. The Christian presence in the Middle East is dying.

"Have you ever come to an old house where you and members of your family once lived, only to find it abandoned and decaying? That is the situation of the Christian churches in the Middle East. It is the end of a tradition. It is very sad.

"But it is a beautiful book, very well done, very moving. You must read it."

We watch the pope on the monastery television as he addresses the diplomatic corps, speaking of the need for religious faith to protect "the fundamental dignity of man." When the speech ends, we visit the monastery. The Dominicans of Istanbul have a vast library of Christian and Islamic texts.

Finally, we enter the chapel. And it is here that we come before the greatest treasure the church possesses: the famous icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary Odighitria (the Guide).

The icon, set high on the wall, is splendid, the face of Mary expressive, tender, serene. The tradition is that St. Luke himself painted this icon, that it was taken to the Crimea, and then returned to this church in the 1300s by the Genovese, who for several hundred years controlled this whole section of Constantinople (the old name for Istanbul).

"But it is not authentic," Father Lawlor says. "It is a medieval copy."

"But how do you know?" I ask. "Did you ever do any sort of scientific study?"

The Dominicans look at one another. "No," Father Lawlor says.

"You could at least carbon date the wood," I say. "That would only take a very tiny fragment, and would give a result within a decade or so." But they do not seem interested.

Nor am I, to tell the truth. For me, the icon goes back to Mary, even if it is not the original. And beneath the gaze of those iconic eyes, time seems to stop, Istanbul in 2006 seems to fade away, and a whisper of eternity seems to echo through the church's empty nave.

Then we have to leave.

"It Was Completely Greek"

"Do you know," Father Lawlor says, "that in this area, 100 years ago, you could walk a mile in every direction and not hear a word of Turkish spoken? It was completely Greek. But now there are only a handful of Greeks left. They are almost gone. And there is a small Jewish community, descended from Spanish Jews who left Spain in 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews. There are five synagogues just in this area. In 2004, one was bombed and completely destroyed.

"Now the area is home to hundreds of Iraqi Christians, who have fled Iraq because of the war. The children are very excited that the pope is coming, but they are lamenting the fact that they will not have an opportunity to pray with him. I was talking to some of them yesterday. They wanted to enter the church with him, but there is no room; they will have to stay outside. They will go to the Church of St. Anthony of Padua up the street, and watch on a big screen."

We walk up the street, along one of the most beautiful and busy streets in Istanbul. There are many shops, clean, well-lit. We come to a sign that says "Sent Antuan Katolik Kilisesi, OFM Conv." (Saint Anthony Catholic Church).

"Hundreds of Muslims come here each day to light candles and pray," Father Lawlor says. "You know, many of them venerate the saints, and the Blessed Virgin. In Iran, where I have worked since the 1970s, there would be a million new Christians overnight, if it were not for the present government. Iran is the pearl of great price. It is so beautiful there, and the people are so wonderful. But if you find the pearl of great price, and decide to buy it, you have to give everything you have, keeping nothing back. You cannot imagine how one suffers there."

Dr. Robert Moynihan is an American and veteran Vatican journalist with knowledge of five languages. He is editor-in-chief of Inside the Vatican magazine.

B XVI in Turkey yesterday

2006-11-30T17:13:00.002-08:00

November 29, 2006
Small Christian Communities

(Photo from PRF)

John Allen reports:

On a beautiful fall afternoon on a Turkish hillside, Pope Benedict XVI, Supreme Pontiff of the 1.1 billion-strong Roman Catholic Church, metamorphasized into a simple country pastor, celebrating an outdoor Mass for no more than 300 pilgrims – perhaps half Germans who belong to the nearby German-language parish of St. Nicholas.

It was the smallest crowd in recent memory for a papal Mass, though the turnout was mostly due to the remote location and the tiny size of Turkey’s Christian community. The event had an intimate feel, with the assembly physically closer to the pope than is often the case. The bank of concelebrating priests, bishops and cardinals almost seemed equal to the size of the congregation.

In a fitting pastoral touch, Benedict XVI spoke the opening collect of the Mass in Turkish, drawing appreciative nods from the assembly.

Predictably, the pope’s message centered on Mary. The Sanctuary of Meryem Ana Evì (the “House of Mary”) was founded by the Lazarist Fathers in the 19th century, based on the visions of the German mystic Anna Katherine Emmerick, who identified this spot as the place where Mary died.

Though even the official Vatican Radio trip book notes that there’s no archaeological evidence to support the claim, the sanctuary nevertheless boasts a unique distinction, in that it’s perhaps the only Marian shrine on earth which draws as many Muslim pilgrims as Christians. Inside are votive reliefs with quotations from seven passages of the Qu’ran praising Mary.

The Pope's homily:

In today’s liturgy we have repeated, as the refrain of the Responsorial Psalm, the song of praise proclaimed by the Virgin of Nazareth on meeting her elderly kinswoman Elizabeth (cf. Lk 1:39). Our hearts too were consoled by the words of the Psalmist: “steadfast love and faithfulness will meet, righteousness and peace will kiss” (Ps 85:10). Dear brothers and sisters, in this visit I have wanted to convey my personal love and spiritual closeness, together with that of the universal Church, to the Christian community here in Turkey, a small minority which faces many challenges and difficulties daily. With firm trust let us sing, together with Mary, a magnificat of praise and thanksgiving to God who has looked with favour upon the lowliness of his servant (cf. Lk 1:48). Let us sing joyfully, even when we are tested by difficulties and dangers, as we have learned from the fine witness given by the Roman priest Don Andrea Santoro, whom I am pleased to recall in this celebration. Mary teaches us that the source of our joy and our one sure support is Christ, and she repeats his words: “Do not be afraid” (Mk 6:50), “I am with you” (Mt 28:20). Mary, Mother of the Church, accompany us always on our way! Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us! Aziz Meryem Mesih’in Annesi bizim için Dua et. Amen.

Nothing new under the sun...

2006-11-30T17:13:00.001-08:00

China to Install Bishop Without Papal Approval

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, November 29, 2006; Page A19

BEIJING, Nov. 28 -- China's state-sanctioned Catholic church said Tuesday that it plans to ordain another bishop without approval from the pope, despite renewed diplomatic efforts to end long-standing hostility between China and the Vatican.

The ascension of Wang Renlei, vicar general of Xuzhou diocese in southern China, will mark the third time in seven months that a bishop has been installed by the government's Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association without Vatican approval. According to the association, he will be consecrated Thursday in a ceremony presided over by several bishops loyal to the government-sanctioned church.

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Liu Bainian, the association's deputy chairman, said that the imminent retirement of Xuzhou's present bishop, Qian Yurong, 94, made choosing a replacement urgent and that there was no time to go through the procedure for Vatican approval. "I believe Rome will understand what we did," he said in a telephone interview.

But Wang's ordination appeared likely to complicate already difficult efforts underway by Vatican and Chinese diplomats to restart a dialogue designed to restore relations after a long history of enmity that began almost as soon as the Communist Party took power in 1949.

The dialogue appeared to be heading for success earlier this year after the Vatican let it be known it was willing to break relations with Taiwan as part of an overall agreement on church-state relations with China. That was seen as a major concession by Pope Benedict XVI, leading to predictions that relations would be restored soon.

Discord remained on the nomination of bishops for the approximately 10 million Catholics in China, about a third of whom recognize the association's authority. But church authorities and academics close to the Chinese government said the remaining problems could be overcome with relative ease as soon as a political decision was made by the Chinese government.

The optimism flowed from a growing practice under which the state-sanctioned association was generally naming bishops already quietly vetted by the Vatican, according to Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong, the senior Roman Catholic cleric in China. In addition, Chinese authorities have displayed increasing flexibility as Catholic worshipers and their priests have frequently moved among sanctioned and unsanctioned churches.

But last spring's ordinations of the two other bishops -- Joseph Ma Yinglin in Yunnan province and Liu Xinhong in Anhui province -- disrupted the trend toward accommodation. The Vatican condemned the ordinations as illicit and in a statement qualified them as "a grave wound to the unity of the church" that caused "profound displeasure" to Pope Benedict.

The diplomatic contacts stalled and hopes for a swift resumption of relations were dashed. More recently, however, diplomats had renewed their meetings in a fresh attempt at dialogue -- an attempt that appeared to be threatened anew with Wang's ordination.

The Rev. Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman in Rome, said the Holy See would have no comment until the ordination took place. But the Rev. Bernardo Cervellera, director of AsiaNews, a service reporting on Middle Eastern and Asian affairs from the Vatican's point of view, said the Holy See was surprised and saddened by news of the upcoming ordination.

He said a Vatican delegation that visited Beijing in June came away with the impression that President Hu Jintao's government was eager to put the negotiations back on track. But the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, he suggested, appeared intent on building up a "hard core" of bishops loyal to the association instead of to the pope.

Special correspondent Sarah Delaney in Rome contributed to this report.

I'm a Mud Pie!!

2006-11-30T17:03:00.001-08:00

You Are Mud Pie

You're the perfect combo of flavor and depth

Those who like you give into their impulses

What Kind of Pie Are You?

'Tis the season to...not celebrate the season!

2006-11-28T21:42:00.000-08:00

From Chicago via Rod:

News of the Christophobic
On the Right-wing Film Geek blog, Victor spies a particularly obnoxious form of seasonal Christophobia:

CHICAGO (AP) — A public Christmas festival is no place for the Christmas story, the city says.
Officials have asked organizers of a downtown Christmas festival, the German Christkindlmarket, to reconsider using a movie studio as a sponsor because it is worried ads for its film "The Nativity Story" might offend non-Christians.
New Line Cinema, which said it was dropped, had planned to play a loop of the new film on televisions at the event.
[snip]
An executive vice president with New Line Cinema, Christina Kounelias ... said she finds it hard to believe that non-Christians who attended something called Christkindlmarket would be surprised or offended by the presence of posters, brochures and other advertisements of the movie.
"One would assume that if (people) were to go to Christkindlmarket, they'd know it is about Christmas," she said.

Victor points out that this is a classic example of free speech -- a benign form of it, one might add -- being chilled. And why? What sort of thin-skinned cretins are so sensitive that they're offended at being reminded of, you know, Christ at a German Christmas market, for crying out loud?! Here's a suggestion to the Christophobic and their spineless enablers in government bureaucracies: if you're offended by the idea of Christ, don't go to the Christkindlmarkt. For those of us, Christian and non-Christian, who actually enjoy the season, leave us alone. Victor adds, accurately:

Christianity = "controversial"; other religions = "celebrate our diversity."

From First Things : "I am not a saint"

2006-11-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

Wesley J. Smith writes:

Like Fr. Neuhaus, I too was taken with the article “I’m Not a Saint, Just a Parent” by Simon Barnes in the Times of London. It recalled to my mind a speech I gave several years ago to a medical school in which I urged the students to always look at their patients through the lens of universal moral equality.

After the speech, an earnest young man approached me. “I am a genetic counselor,” he said. “What am I supposed to do when I meet with a woman carrying a baby with Down syndrome? I mean, I have to counsel her.” I suggested that perhaps he could bring in parents who have actually lived the experience of parenting a child with Down to keep the “counseling” from becoming a one-way street.

Barnes’ loving tribute to parenting a Down child is precisely the kind of input that I had hoped the earnest young genetic counselor could provide to his clients. Five-year-old Eddie has Down syndrome, and Barnes reports that he “is not to be pitied” for having to father a disabled child “but to be envied.”

Here are three key paragraphs from Barnes piece:

By the way, I hope you are not too squeamish. This piece is not going to pull any punches. If you find the idea of love uncomfortable or sentimental or best-not-talked-about or existing only in the midst of a passionate love affair, then you will find problems with what I am writing. I am writing of love not as a matter of grand passions, or as high-falutin’ idealism, or as religion. I am writing about love as the stuff that makes the processes of human life happen: the love that moves the sun and other stars, which is also the love that makes the toast and other snacks. Love is the most humdrum thing in life, the only thing that matters, the thing that is forever beyond the reach of human imagination. . . .

What is it like to have Down’s [sic] syndrome? How terrible is it? Is it terrible at all? It depends, I suppose, on how well loved you are. Like most other conditions of life. Would I want Eddie changed? It’s a silly question but it gets to the heart of the matter. Of course you’d want certain physical things changed: the narrow tubes that lead to breathing problems, for example. But that’s not the same as “changed,” is it? If you are a parent, would you like the essential nature of your child changed? If you were told that pressing a button would turn him into an infant Mozart or Einstein or van Gogh, would you press it? Or would you refuse because you love the person who is there and real, not some hypothetical other?

I can’t say I’m glad that Eddie has Down’s syndrome, or that I would wish him to suffer in order to charm me and fill me with giggles. But no, I don’t want his essential nature changed. Good God, what a thought. It would be as much a denial of myself as a denial of my son. What’s the good of him, then? Buggered if I know. The never-disputed terribleness of Down’s syndrome is used as one of the great justifications for abortion: abortion has to exist so that we don’t people the world with monsters. I am not here to talk about abortion—but I am here to tell you that Down’s syndrome is not an insupportable horror for either the sufferer or the parents. I’ll go further: human beings are not better off without Down’s syndrome.

By contrast, let us now consider Peter Singer’s harshly sterile views about the options parents should have if faced with a Down baby. One acceptable answer, Singer asserts in Rethinking Life and Death, is establishing the right of parents to have their unwanted Down child killed if they would prefer not to raise a disabled child:

To have a child with Down syndrome is to have a different experience from having a normal child. It can still be a warm and loving experience, but we must have lowered expectations of our child’s abilities. We cannot expect a child with Down syndrome to play the guitar, to develop an appreciation of science fiction, to learn a foreign language, to chat with us about the latest Woody Allen movie, or to be a respectable athlete, basketballer or tennis player. Even when an adult, a person with Down syndrome may not be able to live independently. . . . For some parents, none of this matters. They find bringing up a child with Down syndrome a rewarding experience in a thousand different ways. But for other parents, it is devastating.

Both for the sake of “our children,” then, and our own sake, we may not want a child to start on life’s uncertain voyage if the prospects are clouded. When this can be known at a very early stage of the voyage we may still have a chance to make a fresh start. This means detaching ourselves from the infant who has been born, cutting ourselves free before the ties that have already begun to bind us to our child have become irresistible. Instead of going forward and putting all our efforts into making the best of the situation, we can still say no, and start again from the beginning.

What a stark difference between the attitudes of these two men toward the weakest and most vulnerable among us, a difference that can be described literally as the distinction between loving and killing. And indeed, for those familiar with Singer’s writing, it is striking how often he writes of satisfying personal desires and how rarely he writes of sacrifice and love. Which, when you think about it, provides vivid clarity about the stakes we face in the ongoing contest for societal dominance between the sanctity/equality of life ethic and Singer’s proposed “quality of life” ethic: The former opens the door to the potential for unconditional love, while the latter presumes the power to coolly dismiss some of us from life based on defective workmanship. The choice we make about these contrasting paths will determine whether we remain a moral society committed to the pursuit of universal human rights.

Wesley J. Smith is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture. He is currently researching a book on the animal-liberation movement.

BXVI in Turkey

2006-11-28T21:38:00.000-08:00

Tips from Amy:

The trip
Keep your eye on American Papist and Papa Ratzinger Forum

So far, the Pope has met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (in which he voiced his support for Turkey's entrance into the EU) at the airport, visited the tomb of Ataturk, and met with the Turkish president. Other meetings with government officials to follow. He will address the President of Religious Affairs and the Diplomatic Corps.

Allen reports:

In a brief visit to the Mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, Benedict XVI laid a wreath and wrote a brief message in the "Golden Book" maintained at the site. The pope wrote: "In this land, a meeting point among different cultures and religions and a bridge between Europe and Asia, I willingly make my own the words of the founder of the Turkish Republic, expressing the wish for 'peace in this country and peace in he world.'"

And the hits just keep on coming...

2006-11-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

Memo to Bishop Schori: Open mouth, insert foot :)

From the Get Religion blog:

Presiding bishop wronged by shallow newspaper
Posted by tmatt

Thanks to the energy of GetReligion reader Greg Popcak, we now know that the hierarchy of the Episcopal Church does not share my enthusiasm for the contents of that strange little New York Times Magazine mini-interview with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

According to a letter from Robert B. Goodfellow, the new presiding bishop’s media aide, the brilliant primate, scientist and airplane pilot was quoted out of context by reporter Deborah Solomon and, if the remarks were read in context, all of those Roman Catholic and Mormon breeders out there in the blogosphere would not be as upset as they are at the moment (click here for background and URLs).

Here is the key part of that letter:

I am writing to thank you very much for the candid expression of your concern regarding the Presiding Bishop’s recent interview published in this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine.

The reality is that media interviews do not always convey the whole nature of a conversation had between interviewee and interviewer. A few paragraphs of text cannot distill with complete accuracy a lengthy conversation.

I can also assure you that the Presiding Bishop does not think other Christians uneducated, ignorant, illiterate, or somehow or otherwise not smart simply because they are not Episcopalian.

Note the presence of the words “simply because” in that latter statement. Classic!

Now, I have — back in the days before I was a columnist — been involved in a few of these exchanges with the media aides of brilliant, nuanced, complicated mainline Protestant intellectuals.

Note that Goodfellow does not claim Jefferts Schori was misquoted. The controversial quote stands. In other words, the new leader of the Episcopal Church did, while discussing membership losses in her church, truly say:

Episcopalians tend to be better-educated and tend to reproduce at lower rates than some other denominations. Roman Catholics and Mormons both have theological reasons for producing lots of children. . . . We encourage people to pay attention to the stewardship of the earth and not use more than their portion.

Jefferts Schori’s office simply wants the world to know that she said many other things and that, as a reporter, Solomon did a poor job of selecting material from the longer interview when she was assembling this edgy little Q&A. I am told by people who spend more time than I do in The New York Times Magazine that this interview with the archbishop is a perfect example of Solomon’s style, which strives to humanize public figures by asking questions that are more personal and casual.

But here is my final observation. Many elite thinkers on the theological left have learned how to surround their beliefs in a kind of nuanced theological fog that serves as a protective barrier. Insiders know what the symbolic word clusters mean, but this strategy prevents many people in the pews — the kind of ordinary people who write checks — from understanding what is going on. There are exceptions, of course, such as the retired Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong of Newark, who never used a fly swatter when a baseball bat would do.

The problem for reporters is that when you select one crisp quote out of the fog this allows the offended intellectual to say, in effect, that the reporter simply wasn’t smart enough to understand the rich tapestry of the total interview and, thus, misquoted the speaker, even though the quote was accurate. It’s a sad thing, don’t you see, when leaders have to communicate high thoughts through such a low medium — like The New York Times.

Our sympathies go out to the poor reporter, who will surely learn from her error.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see if Jefferts Schori continues — Spong style — to fire away as freely in interviews with news organizations that she trusts.

A Crunchy Thanksgiving

2006-11-28T21:35:00.000-08:00

A farm-life story fromt he Dispatch . Go Crunchiness!!!

Thankful for farm life
Rural move gave family new direction — and most of their Thanksgiving dinner
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Matt Tullis
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Kim Wilhelm checks out Henrietta, a female turkey she is keeping to breed. The Wilhelms call all the female turkeys Henrietta and all the males Tom.

Acey the cat hitches a ride on 14-year-old Missy Wilhelm’s shoulders as Missy’s mom, Kim, prepares to feed some of the family’s animals at their farm outside Canal Winchester. Missy’s brother, David, 10, is a bystander.

he Toms and Henriettas ran
Taround the grassy yard, gobbled up food and ran from a dog named Henry. It was little more than a week before Thanksgiving, and the end was near. Come Thursday, one of them will be the guest of honor on the Wilhelm family dinner table, and another will be in a freezer awaiting Christmas. The other 21 have been sold and will be on other dinner tables throughout this holiday season. "The taste and texture are by far the best," said Kim Wilhelm, who along with her children has cared for the birds the past six months on the family’s 28-acre farm outside Canal Winchester.

Because they raise almost everything they need, the family’s Thanksgiving dinner grocery list is a short one: dinner rolls and cranberry sauce.

The Wilhelms are living their dream of a self-sustainable lifestyle. But they wouldn’t be if not for a rough patch five years ago.

Roger and Kim Wilhelm’s painting business went bankrupt after three major customers failed to pay for jobs.

The couple paid for things with credit cards and took out a second mortgage to get through the lean times, but new business never emerged. They lost their Westerville house and a new pickup.

They moved to Kim’s father’s farm, which had fallen into disrepair since her mother died.

Roger already had rebuilt an old pig barn on the farm, with plans to use it as an office for his painting business. Instead, he has turned it into an apartment, where the family lives, and a woodshop from which he operates a home-remodeling business.

Kim reconnected with the rural lifestyle she loved as a young girl, when she spent summers at her great-grandmother’s farm near Marietta. She has passed that love on to her children, Missy, 14, and David, 10.

Now the farm has a new life. There are turkeys, steers, horses, goats, ducks and chickens. There is a vegetable garden that, among other things, yielded 63 pounds of green beans this past summer.

"Since we’ve been here, it’s drawn our family closer," Kim Wilhelm said.

Missy and David treat the animals like pets, up until the end. The family doesn’t think twice about eating the animals they raise. The children are home-schooled and handle a lot of the daily chores. They also do several 4-H projects each year.

Missy, who was bottle-feeding a calf one morning last week, said she "loves on" some of the animals. David said he likes the young bull named Meatloaf, a moniker that no doubt foreshadows its future.

"When an animal is meant to be food, we’re going to eat it," Kim Wilhelm said. "At least we know they’ve been raised in a healthy environment, and they were happy and well cared for."

The 23 turkeys, ranging from bourbon reds to royal palms and blue slates, have been on the farm since they arrived as dayold chicks. The males all go by Tom, the females Henrietta, Missy said.

"There are just too many to name," she said.

Of all the animals, the turkeys are probably the easiest to care for, Missy said. "We just let them eat and get fat."

Less than a week before the holiday, the birds were trucked off to an Amish farm where they were "processed."

The family loves the lifestyle, Kim Wilhelm said, but they worry about the constant pressure in the neighborhood to develop. They fear that open land across the road one day will grow houses instead of corn.

It’s a challenge making a small farm financially successful, but the family is committed. Kim Wilhelm likes what a self-sustaining lifestyle can teach her children. David, for instance, can learn valuable lessons as he nurses a duckling back to health in his bedroom.

He named it Lucky Duck because its six siblings were killed by an "evil rat."

Luck can carry a duck only so far, though, especially at the Wilhelm home. Lucky Duck is a Muscovy duck and has a very tasty, steaklike meat.

When he is well enough, Lucky Duck will go back outside. And when he is big enough, Kim Wilhelm said, even Lucky Duck will be plucked.

Eschatological realism

2006-11-28T21:33:00.000-08:00

From Catholic Exchange....deep stuff!

Eschatological Realism

11/21/06

Jesus said to the chief of the Pharisees who had invited him to dinner: “Whenever you give a lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or wealthy neighbors. They might invite you in return and thus repay you. No, when you have a reception, invite beggars and the crippled, the lame and the blind. You should be pleased that they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid in the resurrection of the just.” — Luke 14:12-14.

“Eschatology” is the study of the “last things” — death, judgment, heaven and hell. The Church speaks of these matters in order to train us to think of them as real. The more we do that, the more strength we find to shape our lives today in such a way that death and judgment will bring us to the joys of heaven. I call it “eschatological realism,” that is, the habit of taking into account today the “last things” in a way that’s just as real and influential on us as today’s weather.

Jesus advocated “eschatological realism” in the passage quoted above. He said that a consideration of what we would receive on the day of the resurrection should influence whom we invite to our next dinner party. And what he said also applies to our pro-life work. After all, the principle is the same. Just as we should be happy that the beggars whom we welcome to dinner cannot repay us, so we should be happy that the unborn children, for whom we speak and work and fight, also cannot repay us. “You should be pleased that they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid in the resurrection of the just.” The unborn are even less able to repay us than the beggars and the crippled and the lame and the blind. At least these people know that we are loving them, and can say “Thank you” and can pray for us. But the unborn cannot do any of those things. Indeed, love for the unborn is the most selfless form of love. Nothing comes from them in return.

Congressman Henry Hyde, one of the greatest pro-life advocates ever to serve in Congress, expressed this eschatological realism in relation to pro-life work when he uttered these famous words:

“When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I've often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God — and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there'll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world — and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, ‘Spare him, because he loved us!’”

Even at the OSU/UM game...

2006-11-19T18:34:00.000-08:00

There is a Catholic angle. One of AMy's readers writes:

A reader writes:

This falls way down low on the scale of importance, but as an Ohio State fan, I wanted to pass this along.

Buckeye Coach Jim Tressel is Catholic. When I was living in Youngstown and he was still a coach at Youngstown State , I used to see him at mass downtown at St. Columba Cathedral on Holy Days.

At the end of the game last night, the reporter put the microphone in his face and asked him about the win. I couldn’t hear what he was saying over the screaming fans (on the TV and in my house), but one word did get through: Humility. He was talking about humility after one of the biggest wins of his career.

Like I said, this is all unimportant, but he is a highly visible, well-liked individual who is Catholic. I wish someone would ask him about how his faith influences his coaching. I was a reporter in my youth, and I think a bio piece that focused on his faith would make a great story...

The pope and Music

2006-11-19T18:32:00.000-08:00

As a musician, I just had to post this (h/t: Amy)

Last night, Pope Benedict attended a concert given by the Berlin Philharmonia Quartet, "hosted" by Federal President Horst Koehler of Germany. He said, in part (translated by Teresa Benedetta at PRF):

When soloists make music together, each individual is required not only to give all his technical and musical capabilities in playing his part, but at the same time, to remain attentive in listening to the others. Only when each player does not seek to stand out but rather seeks to perform in the service of togetherness and makes himself an 'instrument' through which the composer's thought becomes sound and can reach the listener's heart, only then can a great interpretation occur - as we have just heard.

That is a beautiful image even for us, who work in the Church, to be 'instruments' or 'tools' to transmit to our fellowmen the thoughts of the great Composer whose work is the the harmony of the universe.

snip

The compositions we just heard have helped us to meditate on the complexity of life and its little daily happenings. Every day is a weave of joys and sorrows, hopes and disappointments, expectations and surprises, that alternate eventfully and raise within us the fundamental questions of 'where from", "where to" and the real sense of our existence.

Music, which expresses all these perceptions of the spirit, offers the listener, within an hour like we have just spent, the possibility of scrutinizing, as in a mirror, the events of our personal life as well as universal history.

But it offers us more: through its sounds, it carries us to another world and harmonizes our intimate being. Finding thus a moment of peace, we become able to see, as from a high vantage point, the mysterious realities that man seeks to decipher and which the light of faith helps us to better understand.

In effect, we can imagine the history of the world as a marvelous symphony that God has composed and whose excution He Himself leads as a wise orchestra conductor. Even if to us, the score may often seem complex and difficult, He knows it from the first to the last note.

We are not called on to take the baton into our hands, much less to change the music according to our taste. But we are called, each in his place and according to his capacity, to collaborate with the great Master in executing his stuoendous masterpiece. And in the course of its execution, we would also be given gradually to understand the great design of the Divine score.

And so, dear friends, we see how music can lead us to prayer: it invites us to lift our minds towards God to find in Him the reason for our hope as well as support in the difficulties of life.

Faithful to His commandments, and respecting His salvific plan, we can construct together a world which will resound with the consoling melody of a transcendent symphony of love.

The same divine Spirit will make us all into well-harmonized instruments and responsible collaborators in the admirable performance through which the plan for universal salvation is expressed through the centirues.

Wow! Nice to know you, too!

2006-11-19T15:49:00.000-08:00

From Rod:
Lovely, kind words from Bishop Schori of ECUSA, re: CAtholics and kids.

Comprehensive -- that's today's euphemism for "as eager as possible to drive this sucker off the cliff with the windows down and horn blaring." Here is is used by Presiding Bishop Kathleen Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church, in an Q&A interview with the NYT Magazine:

Your critics see you as an unrepentant liberal who supports the ordination of gay bishops. Are you trying to bolster the religious left?

No. We’re not about being either left or right. We’re about being comprehensive.

Woo! Madame is even more enjoyable here:

How many members of the Episcopal Church are there in this country?L

About 2.2 million. It used to be larger percentagewise, but Episcopalians tend to be better-educated and tend to reproduce at lower rates than some other denominations. Roman Catholics and Mormons both have theological reasons for producing lots of children.

Episcopalians aren’t interested in replenishing their ranks by having children?

No. It’s probably the opposite. We encourage people to pay attention to the stewardship of the earth and not use more than their portion.

Translation: We Episcopalians are too smart and care too much about the planet to have all those kids, unlike those troglodytic Catholics and Mormons.

They may be dying on the vine, but at least they'll go out thinking well of themselves. Since there's apparently no hope of stopping the ongoing suicide of the Episcopal Church, I think I'll probably have to stop worrying about it on behalf of the good and long-suffering Episcopalian friends I have, and learn to enjoy this kind of thing. You really can't make comic characters like Bishop Schori up.

Gee, how's aobut "well, we don't have a comprehensive doctrine, we really don't beleive what the Bible teaches, and we've long since given up on having any actual positions on anything...that's why there's only 2.2 million of us left."

MOre than "natish, brutish and short"

2006-11-16T17:42:00.000-08:00

All of this talk about preemie babies and "deformed" (or whatever PC term you'd like to use) kids, and their status, has given way to some deep thinking on my part.

Given my own circumstances, it is hard for me not to be moved to anger/frustration/resentment when I read these articles. So many of them are just poring with condescension and "we know better than you" attitudes. The phrase "Nazi-like" or "Hitler-like" (or their derivitatives) are so often overused today, but in these cases, they ring true. This is precisely what occured during WWII. It is precisely what people said would never occur again, that we have to respect human life and not devalue it to such a base and worthless thing. And yet we do, step by step. And we do it by sugar-coating it in terms like "the dignity of life," "dying with dignity", or that we're "saving" or "preventing" these children from suffering tremendous pain, or from being disabled. We read nice stories in Oprah's magazine about how old, dying women in Oregon get their deadly drugs perscriped by a doctor, filled at the pharmacy, and then just wait for the 'opportune' day to die, because they just can't live like this anymore. In Holland they commit infanticide regularly. Euthanasia on demand is a fact of life. Britain seems to be heading that way now. And in Oregon you can do it. Dr. Kevorkian did it for years before he was sent to jail. What used to be relegated to the Hemlock Society and the fringes of ethical debate is now something that mainstream medical journals (such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the British OB/GYNs talk about quite calmly and rationally. And there isn't any huge backlash. No editorials in the papers denouncing it. No shocked anchors on the news.

Is it because we, as a society, as a people, have become so unused to suffering, to struggle, to really feeling pain, that we can't abide thinking about it at all? Is it because since we know we have the technology to "take care" of these problems we can- and should- use it? I think it's just one more sign of the pervasity of the Culture of Death we are surrounded in. It is almost Darwinian. If you're too slow, too old, too sick, then we don't want you. You serve no purpose for us. But where does that leave us?

I know that suffering is not a picnic. It's not something anyone would wish to undergo. I don't wake up in the morning going, "Yay! How can I suffer today?" It just doesn't happen. But I have never, ever wished I was dead. Or that my parents had killed me when I was born, instead of giving me the rich, full, incredible life I've had. My parents say the same thing (we've discussed this). Have things be hard? Heck, ya! My parents and my siblings and I have done things, learned things, seen things and endured things that most people never will. And yet we are stronger for it. Life is a wonderful gift we cherish.

Think about your life for a minute. Think about the every day existence of it, the great things we take for granted. The first snowfall. Rain int he spring. Flowers blooming. A sunrise. A sunset. Playing with little kids. A baby's smile. Your first kiss. Eating chocolate. :) We are saying that some people are not worth having these experiences. That their lives are too disabled. They won't "Get it." How arrogant is that? Sure, maybe they won't experience it like you. But you know,they probably experience many, many more things on a more profound level than you do. Because they know than any day it could go to Hell. (heck, any hour it could go to Hell) Helen Keller once said something to the effect that the view from the mountain top isn't as rewarding if you haven't gone through any valleys. And she's right.

One of the things that can be gleaned about the value of suffering to the human experience can be seen in literature. In The Little Mermaid , the mermaid wants love so much that she gives up her family, and eventually dies, to become human. She suffers greatly as one, and knows she may, but still becomes human anyway. If you've seen the film The Last Unicorn , you know that the magician turns the unicorn into a woman to save her life and allow her to save her fellow unicorns from the ocean trap they've been placed in. At the end of the movie, she says that she's the only unicorn in the world who has known regret and love. She doesn't regret what happened...she regrets missing her true love, Prince Lear. There are other examples, I'm sure, but this is what I've got right now. (I guess Pinnochio could be an example, too) The human experience is full of love, joy, pain, suffering. The ying and yang of life. Yet we are willing to deny that to some of these. We are killing them, not even giving them a voice, or a chance to experience what we take for granted every day.

When we die, I wonder what these children will say to us? I cannot imagine God is pleased. He has given us this great gift and we treat it so callously, throw it all away. He gives us chances to grow, to become closer to Him. And we deny them. What does that say about our character?

--
"God loves those to whom he can give more, those who expect more from Him, those who are open, those who sense their need and rely on Him for everything." --Mother Teresa

new podcast!!

2006-11-16T17:39:00.001-08:00

Got this in my email box today and checked it out....looks good!!! LIsa sent it to me:

I was hoping you may be interested in a new Podcast we are doing as part of our apostolate for the Third Order of Carmel (Secular Order). It is called Meditations from Carmel and features short meditations directly from authentic translations of the saints of Carmel like Sts. Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux and Teresa of the Andes.

If you could stop on by for a listen that would be GREAT! If you might let your readership know about us that would be even GREATER! We are trying very hard to get the word out, but it is slow going.

Please take a moment and visit us at:

Meditations from Carmel

or www.stl-ocds.org

How this man is ethicist...

2006-11-16T17:39:00.000-08:00

is beyond me. ...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15738245/

OK, I've read Arthur Kaplan for a few years now and he always, always ALWAYS manages to "get my dander up." Always. And his writing on the brouhaha in England is another piece of work:

American law was intended to protect the rights of the disabled. For many years children born with Down syndrome or spina bifida were not given aggressive treatment if their parents did not want it or if doctors deemed it inappropriate. But in the early 1980s, the Reagan administration and the famous Surgeon General C. Everett Koop protested these practices, resulting in the passing of a law that stopped discrimination of the disabled in the neonatal nursery.

But the federal law went too far. In its effort to ensure that children were not allowed to die simply because they had a disability, Congress wrote a law that was overly restrictive.

A 22-week-old premature baby is not in the same medical circumstances as a child born with Down syndrome who simply requires a surgical repair of his digestive tract to survive.

Extremely premature infants are the nightmare of every neonatal hospital and obstetrician. Medicine does not know how to save them and when it tries, if often produces a child whose life is very short and whose suffering is beyond description.

Oh, my goodness. Suffering beyond description. Life is very short. So let's just kill them! Yes, that's the answer!

We are so afraid of suffering, as a people. it really makes me kind of sick. Everyone suffers. Everyone has pain. There is no way to escape it. So let's just kill them before they can experience it? Eh??? Where do you draw the line? Who are we to decide these things?

There is a limit to what medicine can do. Tiny preemies should not be forced to endure care that does not work and that only prolongs dying, and most major religious traditions understand that. Existing American law is too restrictive — we wind up giving treatment when common sense and basic respect for human dignity say we ought not.

The new British report has the courage to take on this problem. It may go too far in the other direction of prohibiting care. The right answer lies somewhere in between

"Giving treatment when common sense and basic respect for human dignity say we ought not?" Look, I'm not going to listen to this guy lecture me about human dignity. His track record doesn't give him that much credit. This is the same guy that didn't want to give Terri Schiavo food and water. So y'know.

So the Brits have "courage," huh? Yup, courage to encourage infanticide. What in the world are we talking about? Can anyone else not read this and go, "we're crazy. Absolutely nutty." Because I sure can't.

Respectable baby killing

2006-11-16T17:37:00.000-08:00

Respectable Baby Killing
Support builds for legalizing euthanasia for ill and disabled newborns.

By Wesley J. Smith

The push to permit infanticide has entered the mainstream. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology (RCOG) has recommended that a debate be had about whether to permit “deliberate interventions to kill infants.” The recommendation, which was widely reported in the media, was in response to a query from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics concerning ethical issues pertaining to health care which prolongs the life of newborns. It was at the urging of the RCOG that euthanasia of infants was added to the topics that the council would consider. As reported by the London Times, the RCOG’s recommendation states:

A very disabled child can mean a disabled family. If life-shortening and deliberate interventions to kill infants were available, they might have an impact on obstetric decision-making, even preventing some late term abortions, as some parents would be more confident about continuing a pregnancy and taking a risk on outcome.

The article goes on to quote a number of British doctors and professors who support euthanasia.

Consider carefully what has happened here. A prestigious medical association has seriously suggested that killing some babies because they are seriously ill or disabled might be ethically acceptable and, at the very least, is worthy of considered and respectable debate. It is about time that people start paying attention to this. Those who think that legal infanticide is unthinkable and preposterous are being naïve. Infanticide advocacy is no longer limited to rogue bioethicists, such as Princeton University’s notorious Peter Singer, who has famously argued that parents be given as much as a year to decide whether to keep or kill their babies.

In fact, it has been some time since Singer was the dominant voice of infanticide advocacy. In recent years, articles aimed at normalizing the killing of disabled babies have appeared in some of the world’s most established medical publications. For example, the March 10, 2005, edition of the New England Journal of Medicine published an article by Dutch physicians who have admitted to having euthanized 15-20 disabled infants. The NEJM provided them with a respectable forum in which to propose formal regulations to govern what amounts to eugenic infanticide. The so-called “Groningen Protocol” (named after the Dutch hospital where the infanticides took place) posits three categories of killable infants: babies “with no chance of survival”; infants with a “poor prognosis and [who] are dependent on intensive care”; and “infants with a hopeless prognosis,” including those “not depending on intensive medical treatment but for whom a very poor quality of life…is predicted.”

Such journal articles were reported on approvingly in the mainstream media. For example, the July 10, 2005, New York Times Magazine published a column by frequent contributor Jim Holt proposing the merits of the Groningen Protocol. Holt suggested that the decision to kill ill or disabled babies should be governed by “a new moral duty,” namely, “the duty prevent suffering, especially futile suffering.”

The debate over infant euthanasia is usually framed as a collision between two values: sanctity of life and quality of life. Judgments about the latter, of course, are notoriously subjective and can lead you down a slippery slope. But shifting the emphasis to suffering changes the terms of the debate. To keep alive an infant whose short life expectancy will be dominated by pain — pain that it can neither bear nor comprehend — is, it might be argued, to do that infant a continuous injury.

At first blush, this might seem reasonable, but Holt’s game of semantics does not provide him with traction on the slippery slope. The concept of suffering is not limited to pain, but must also take account of “quality of life,” as more liberal advocates of infanticide would surely point out. More insidiously, Holt’s advocacy could lead to a perceived duty to kill disabled babies since he argues that not killing a disabled baby could be to inflict injury upon the child.

Such arguments are really a veneer for the real issues, which are money and commitment. Disabled infants are expensive to care for, particularly if they don’t die young, and they require all sorts of attention. The nub of the issue isn’t about our supposed inability to alleviate the suffering of infants — a false supposition— but rather, about our not wanting to spend the financial and emotional resources it would take to do so. This position is clearly central to the RCOG’s statement — and was explicitly ratified in a November 9, 2006, editorial in The Economist calling the RCOG’s call to debate infanticide “brave” and urging that infanticide be seriously considered because “Disabled children are nine times more likely than others to end up in the care of the state.”

Infanticide, alas, has become a respectable notion, at least among some elite opinion makers. History shows that this is how baby killing begins — by convincing ourselves that there is such a thing as a human life not worth living, and hence, not worth protecting. By calling for a serious debate about infanticide, the RCOG has badly subverted the foundational moral principle that each and every human being has equal moral value simply and merely because he or she is human.

— Wesley J. Smith, a frequent contributor to NRO, is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, an attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, and a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture. His website is www.wesleyjsmith.com.

Rod on the bishops and "Courage"

2006-11-16T17:36:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Does it matter, anyway?
It occurred to me this morning, listening to an NPR report on the Catholic bishops' statement about homosexuality, that activists and interested observers on both sides are probably too worked up over this policy statement. Love it or hate it, does anybody believe it will actually change anything at the local level? It's not like the Catholic Church has been silent on its position on homosexuality. I believe that dioceses and parishes will do exactly as they have been doing, for better or for worse. One thing that struck me as someone coming to Catholicism from the outside years ago was how there is much less to the dogmatic and hierarchical nature of Catholicism than it appears. I thought that priests and bishops, at least, took marching orders from the Pope and from the Magisterium. Ideally, yes, but that's not how it works out in practice. For me, it was a real shock to discover, when I was living in the Archdiocese of Miami and preparing for marriage, that you couldn't find a single parish that taught Natural Family Planning. I found a Couple-to-Couple League teaching couple, who told me that they had been formally turned away by parish after parish, with the message that Catholic couples preparing for marriage didn't need to hear what they had to say.

The point being that the Pope's teaching, the magisterial teaching of the Catholic Church, and even the official positions adopted by the bishops, can and do get undermined at the diocesan and parish level, by the diocesan bureaucracies.

What do you think? Do you think the bishops' teaching on homosexuality will filter down to the diocese and parish level? That is, will it make a bit of difference?