Mess with the bull, you get the horns...

This is an editorial that our local paper actually published after it printed a cartoon disrespecting our Archbishop.
I can't believe they published this....I respect them for that, but the CJ is still very bias in all it's coverage and I'm sure by next week, they will have another story or editorial slamming the Catholic Church as is the norm.


On Dec. 19 The Courier-Journal criticized my effort to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman. I am, in fact, honored to work with the body of bishops on the promotion and protection of marriage.
Unfortunately, the editors of The Courier-Journal characterized the support for marriage as bigotry. As archbishop, as a former social worker and as a citizen, I write to express my objection to referring to the church's efforts, as well as those of countless citizens throughout the United States, in such derogatory terms. In fact, the majority of voters in more than 30 states have supported marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
As a good citizen, I do not seek to impose assent to religious truths, such as those regarding Baptism or the Holy Eucharist. Marriage, however, as the union of one man and one woman is not only a religious conviction … it is a time-honored, classical norm recognized in almost every civilization. The church supports marriage for the same reason it supports laws against stealing. We oppose stealing not only because of the seventh commandment, but because of the natural moral law regarding the good of private ownership. The seventh commandment confirms with special clarity and authority what anyone of good will may discover by the application of reason.
The church takes positions on health care, protection of the unborn child and immigration. We do so not because these are purely religious realities, but because they are major moral issues, vital to the common good and newly presented to our culture today. The same is true for marriage.
The bishops of the United States uphold the dignity of individuals with same-sex attraction and recognize the suffering that unjust discrimination causes. The bishops affirm that every person, including those who experience same-sex attraction, deserve to live a fulfilling life inclusive of wholesome and chaste relationships. The rights associated with such relationships can be protected by other means under the law.
To refer to such genuine efforts as bigotry advances the misunderstanding and ill-will it purports to fight against.
The Most Rev. JOSEPH E. KURTZ
Archbishop of Louisville
Louisville 40203

Local Priest makes Bishop!!!!!!!

Appointment of William F. Medley as Fourth Bishop of Owensboro

With deep gratitude to almighty God, I welcome the wonderful news that our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has appointed one of our own as the new bishop of Owensboro. While I have known of Father William Medley for ten years, it has been my privilege in the last two years to come to know more deeply the gifts of holiness and leadership that God has bestowed upon him.
Raised in the Catholic “Holy Land” of Kentucky, Bishop-elect Medley served with distinction in many pastoral settings during his 27 years as a priest of the Archdiocese of Louisville. Caring for the faithful in rural, urban and suburban settings, he has consistently shown to all a pastoral charity that combines the rare qualities of humble listening and courageous leadership. Highly respected among his brothers in the presbyterate as well as among the faithful, he is well prepared for the task and privilege of becoming the fourth bishop of Owensboro. Bishop-elect Medley will be greatly missed in the Archdiocese of Louisville, but he journeys west with the pride, affection and love of his "Louisville family."
As Metropolitan of the Province of Louisville, which includes the dioceses in Kentucky and Tennessee, I also acknowledge with deep gratitude the faithful service of Father Michael Clark, who ably administered the diocese of Owensboro during this transition. I rejoice with him, with emeritus Bishop John McRaith, and with all the faithful of Owensboro. How blessed that this announcement occurs today on Bishop John McRaith's 27th anniversary as a bishop.
It is especially fitting during this “Year for Priests,” that almighty God bestows such a sterling priest as the new bishop of Owensboro. May Bishop-elect Medley’s episcopal leadership and service abound in the grace of Jesus Christ, whose coming we await during these Advent days of hope. May our Blessed Mother Mary, the diocesan patron St. Stephen Martyr and all the saints intercede for him.
Most Reverend Joseph E. Kurtz, D.D
Archbishop of Louisville
December 15, 2009

The 12 Days of CHRISTmas

ORIGIN OF "THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS"

You're all familiar with the Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" I think. To most it's a delightful nonsense rhyme set to music. But it had a quite serious purpose when it was written.
It is a good deal more than just a repetitious melody with pretty phrases and a list of strange gifts.
Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England, were prohibited from ANY practice of their faith by law - private OR public. It was a crime to BE a Catholic.
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in England as one of the "catechism songs" to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith - a memory aid, when to be caught with anything in *writing* indicating adherence to the Catholic faith could not only get you imprisoned, it could get you hanged, or shortened by a head - or hanged, drawn and quartered, a rather peculiar and ghastly punishment I'm not aware was ever practiced anywhere else.

The songs gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith.
The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, it refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person.

The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so..."
The other symbols mean the following:
2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed
--Fr. Hal Stockert, Fishnet

@#*!*^#@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain. For the LORD will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain.”– Exodus 20:7


Other than the disbelief or watered down belief in God, this has to be one of the top Commandments broken that I hear in my daily dealings with the secular world.
It is unbelievable how people will throw Gods name around just in normal conversation.
Even people that don’t believe in God, or don’t like to be affiliated with religious organizations, will use God, Jesus, or Lord as an interjection.

Many people think that this Commandment only relates to the “biggie”, the mother of all Blasphemies….but it doesn’t stop there.

Some people don’t even realize that they are doing it. They don’t realize that when they say
“Oh my God!!” or “Jesus Christ!!!” before a sentence other than in prayer, that they are blaspheming the name of the Lord.
I even hear the “biggie” blasphemy a lot (GD); I think we can blame stand up comedians and popular musicians for that, since they have made it seemingly OK and supposedly funny to say it.
Our nation is shaped by its cultural icons, and we have seen what that kind of mentality this has brought to our younger generation.

Throughout Scripture, the Lord warns us that our tongue is a very unruly member of our body.
Not only can we hurt others with our words, but more importantly, we hurt God.
We hurt God by speaking badly of our fellow mankind and we hurt God by using His name in a manner that doesn’t praise Him.

The ancient Hebrews and some modern day Jews won’t even say the name of God, which, in the original text, is actually spelled YHWH, the four consonants of the ancient Hebrew name for God.

If Exodus 20:7 is correct (which I firmly believe), then I think we should all take seriously this matter and be very careful not to allow our tongue to lead us into deadly sin.

Here are some of my favorite lyrics in this song;

Life is more than money
Time was never money
Time was never cash,
Life is still more than girls
Life is more than hundred dollar bills
And oh the town fills
Life more than fame and rock and roll and thrills
All the riches of the kings
And up in wills we got information in the information age
But do we know what life is
Outside of our conveinent lexus cages

It will be one of the confusions of the damned to see that they are condemned by their own reason, by which they claimed to condemn the Christian religion.
Blaise Pascal

The accusations run rampant; Christians are accused of everything from bigotry to following blindly a God that doesn’t exist; a hope and faith that is lacking scientific facts.
I won’t go into the details of the foolishness of these accusations. I could start a whole new blog with that premise.
Instead I want to focus on reasoning, since that is what modern society likes to cast their beliefs in.

Pope Benedict from his encyclical CARITAS IN VERITATE, says “God reveals man to himself; reason and faith work hand in hand to demonstrate to us what is good, provided we want to see it; the natural law, in which creative Reason shines forth, reveals our greatness, but also our wretchedness insofar as we fail to recognize the call to moral truth.”

You could spend all your life pondering on the beauty of creation, the intricacies of the human mind and body, and why we are all here. All of this is God’s calling card, He is telling us to WAKE UP!!! I gave you a mind to think, to reason with. I gave you all that
your senses take in. All the sights, sounds, smells, tastes; all that you can touch.

But, thanks to original sin, we would much rather live our lives as if there was no God,
or at least not the Christian God. No Creator. People want to believe the weak arguments of evolution.

We make ourselves God. We call the shots, we say what is right and what is wrong according to what we think (or what seems reasonable).

The Church warns us of the times in which we are living in;

The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh. (CCC675)

So why do we want to get rid of God?

If God did not exist, everything would be permissible---Dostoyevski

We can’t have the so-called freedoms that we have if we believe in God. We can’t
over-indulge in lust, drink, pride, avarice, ect if we believe in God. We can’t listen to certain music or watch our favorite television shows and movies. We can’t dress in revealing attire. We can’t cuss, smoke, or associate with certain friends. Our lives won’t be worth living. We would be slaves to church authority. Our pride would be hurt.
We are legends in our own minds, and God would be too stiff of competition if we allowed him into our lives.

Modern society has been ingrained in worldly things and lack in spending time on spiritual things. They would just write off a God whom allows war and suffering. A God who doesn’t allow gay marriage or abortion.

Society confuses freedom with license. Man-made laws with God’s laws.
Where do you think our modern laws came from? Ever heard of the 10 Commandments? They were around long before any legal system was put in place.

Man’s search for God stops before he searches deep in his heart, deep in his being.
Society condemns Christians for being unreasonable, but the unreasonableness of man will condemn him.

Sola Fide (faith alone)

I am going to plagiarize a bit here from John Martignoni @biblechristiansociety.com because it is worth passing along.

This is from a book he is writing and the chapter is Sola Fide – Salvation By Faith Alone?
Sola Fide, the belief that faith alone saves us – that works play no role in our salvation whatsoever. One of the major issues that separates us from our Protestant brothers.
Please do not think that Catholics believe that we can “work” our way into Heaven. That is a misconception. But, we do believe that we cannot just be baptized, “accept the Lord” into our hearts and live our lives as we wish.
His calling is one of discipleship.


John Martignoni makes an interesting point;
…. if Jesus has done everything that needs to be done in order for us to be saved, if there is nothing that we can “add” to Jesus’ death on the cross that counts towards our salvation, then you have to assume that everyone is saved – no exceptions. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, New Agers, and even atheists are all saved.
They will be in Heaven with us worshipping their own gods.

And this is pretty thought provoking;
…. To illustrate all of this, let’s say that as of March 10, 2008, I had never accepted Jesus into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior. I had never said a sinner’s prayer. I had never been born again. Would I be saved? “No,” says the Sola Fide believer. But, if Jesus did all that needed to be done for my salvation, and that happened two thousand years ago, then why am I not saved? If the work of salvation is “finished,” and there is nothing that I have to do, or can do, that counts towards my salvation, why am I not saved? What work has been left undone that keeps my name from being written in the Book of Life?
To continue the example, let’s say that on March 11, 2008, I answered an altar call and “came to Christ.” On March 11, 2008, I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior! On March 11, 2008, I said a sinner’s prayer and asked God to forgive me of my many sins.
Would I be saved?
“Yes,” says the Sola Fide believer.
Now I’m really confused. I was unsaved on March 10, 2008. I was “saved” on March 11, 2008. What was the difference between my being unsaved on March 10 and my being saved on March 11? Was it something I did, or was it something that Jesus did?
Well, according to the doctrine of Sola Fide, Jesus’ work was finished two thousand years ago on the cross. “It is finished,” He said. So, it can’t be something Jesus did.
On the other hand, according to the doctrine of Sola Fide, there is nothing that I can do during my lifetime that counts towards my salvation. Everything that needed to be done for my salvation was done by Jesus two thousand years ago on the cross. So, it cannot be something that I did.
How then was I unsaved on March 10 and saved on March 11, 2008?
This is the logical dilemma of the folks who believe in Sola Fide. A logical dilemma that results from a bad interpretation of Jesus’ words on the cross (as well as other Scriptures) and from the logic of Sola Fide that absolutely requires them to hold fast to the illogical assertion that the act of believing is not, in and of itself, a work.

This is the problem when you have 33000 different Protestant denominations. Interpretation of the bible becomes muddled, doctrines become what people feel instead of what the Scriptures teach us.
Christ founded only 1 Church, and I believe that it is the Catholic Church.

Thanks be to God!

Planned Parenthood director quits abortion business, experiences conversion at starting place of 40 Days for Life

BRYAN, TEXAS – The director of the Planned Parenthood abortion center in Bryan/College Station, Texas has resigned her job. Abby Johnson had worked at the clinic for eight years, but departed from the facility following a profound change of heart about abortion. The Planned Parenthood clinic was the location of the first-ever 40 Days for Life campaign in the fall of 2004, and the prayer and fasting initiative has been held outside the doors of Johnson’s former workplace five additional times since 40 Days for Life began its rapid spread to 282 cities across all 50 states and several other countries.
“This amazing conversion demonstrates the importance of a constant, peaceful prayer presence in front of abortion facilities,” said David Bereit, national director of 40 Days for Life. “From that first campaign in 2004, we’ve prayed for Abby – and for all abortion workers – that they would come to see what abortion really is, and that they would leave the deadly business. In this case, those prayers have been answered. We are so proud of Abby’s courage to leave the abortion industry and publicly announce her reasons for leaving.”
Johnson said, “I left on good terms and simply had a change of heart on this issue. Over the past few months I had seen a change in motivation regarding the financial impact of abortions and really reached my breaking point after witnessing a particular kind of abortion on an ultrasound.”
In the wake of her departure, Planned Parenthood has gone to court to seek a restraining order against both Johnson and the Coalition for Life, the local group that originated 40 Days for Life and continued regular prayer vigils in front of the clinic for the past five years. A court hearing on the order, which addresses disclosure of confidential information, is scheduled in a Texas court on November 10.
Shawn Carney, the director of the Coalition for Life and a 40 Days for Life board member, has been working with Johnson since she left her job last month. The former clinic director has even begun to pray outside the clinic where she formerly worked. “It’s truly been a testament to the power of prayer and the courage of Abby to leave a job she felt she could no longer do in good conscience,” Carney said. “It has been a joy for all of our volunteers who have prayed outside of the clinic for the conversion of the clinic workers to witness that conversion actually happen." Johnson is one of eight abortion industry workers who left their jobs during the fifth coordinated 40 Days for Life campaign that concluded yesterday in 212 cities. She was the highest-ranking of the eight. Others who quit their clinic jobs included nurses, office staffers and security personnel.
In addition, a Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Kalispell, Montana announced that it will close its doors on November 20, citing a decline in business as the reason for the closure. That clinic was the site of a 40 Days for Life prayer vigil this past spring.

Modern society same as it was 2000 years ago

17
So I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds;
18
darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart,
19
they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess.
Ephesians Ch 4


This world has given in to much excess. Much like in Paul’s day, people are falling to the promptings of the devil and living useless and unfulfilling lives; lives lacking God. People want more of everything except for God (and suffering), much less a God that had to suffer for our salvation.
In every aspect of life, there is the opportunity for excessiveness.
According to advertising, it is good to have a great surplus of money, lot’s of unrestricted intimacy, loads of fun, and you can even SUPER SIZE your meal. EXCESS IN EXCESS!

But, I believe that it has been shown, especially in modern times, that no matter how much money you have, how many luxury items you own, how popular you are, what kind of car you drive, it is never enough. There is always something more you desire.
The one desire that people should have, they have hardened their hearts to. They have replaced God with “stuff”, with wanton pleasures that will only suffice for a moment, then they want something better, something that is more pleasurable.

Satan knows our weaknesses and uses them to excess. He uses our physical senses to blind us into submission.
I think Blaise Pascal put it best;

Our senses perceive no extreme. Too much sound deafens us; too much light dazzles us; too great distance or proximity hinders our view. Too great length and too great brevity of discourse tend to obscurity; too much truth is paralyzing. First principles are too self-evident for us; too much pleasure disagrees with us. Too many concords are annoying in music; too many benefits irritate us; we wish to have the wherewithal to overpay our debts. "We feel neither extreme heat nor extreme cold. Excessive qualities are prejudicial to us and not perceptible by the senses; we do not feel but suffer them. Extreme youth and extreme age hinder the mind, as also too much and too little education. In short, extremes are for us as though they were not, and we are not within their notice. They escape us, or we them.

I think modern society is feeling the strain and pain of it’s excess. Anxiety, depression, and discontent is on the rise as people fall to the fallacies of relativism, materialism and individualism.
Christians are persecuted while those whom condone and participate in evil are glorified or sympathized with.
……but, as St. Paul and the rest of Scripture teaches;

Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Ephesians 5;5)

This is the "fairness" that the world wants?

Five New Saints Canonized

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2009 (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI canonized five new saints in St. Peter’s Basilica, including Fr. Damian of Molokai. During his homily, the Holy Father noted that all of the saints followed the invitation of Christ: "Come, follow me!"
Speaking to the faithful packed in St. Peter’s Basilica this morning, the Pope described the invitation of Christ saying that he "invites his disciples to the total gift of their lives, without calculation and human self-interest, with a wholehearted faith in God." This call, the Holy Father continued, is welcome by the saints who "place themselves in humble obedience" to follow the Lord. They no longer focus on themselves, the Pope explained, but by their "logic of faith." They choose "to go against the trends of the time living according to the Gospel." Benedict XVI then gave a brief description of each of the five newly-canonized saints: a bishop, a Trappist brother, two priests and a nun.



Archbishop Zygmunt Szczesny Feliński of Warsaw, founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, was committed to evangelization and support for the poor, defending the oppressed during the Russian occupation of Poland, and was sentenced to 20 years in exile in Jaroslaw on the Volga. "His gift of himself to God and man," the Holy Father said in Polish, was "full of confidence and love," and "becomes a shining example for the entire Church."


To those younger generations today who "are not satisfied with what they have," the Pontiff gave the example of Rafael Arnaiz Baron, who came from a wealthy family and was a bit "of a dreamer." He died when he was 27 years old, a Cistercian oblate, considered one of the greatest mystics of the twentieth century.


The Pontiff next spoke of Dominican Father Francisco Coll y Guitard, founder of the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation Blessed Virgin Mary. Through his preaching, the saint spread his love of the Word of God and the Sacrament of Reconciliation among all people especially the young.






Father Damian, the famous apostle to the lepers, left Flanders, Belgium at the age of 23 to go on a mission to modern day Hawaii. "Not without fear and loathing," Pope Benedict underlined, "Father Damian made the choice to go on the island of Molokai in the service of lepers who were there, abandoned by all. So he exposed himself to the disease of which they suffered. With them he felt at home. The servant of the Word became a suffering servant, leper with the lepers, during the last four years of his life."
He continued, "To follow Christ, Father Damian not only left his homeland, but has also staked his health so he, as the word of Jesus announced in today's Gospel tells us, received eternal life."
The figure of Father Damian, Benedict XVI added, "teaches us to choose the good fight not those that lead to division, but those that gather us together in unity."


And finally, the Pope spoke of St. Mary of the Cross, of the Little Sisters of the Poor, and her "wonderful work to help the most vulnerable elderly." He noted that her initiatives and goals are "still valid today, given that many elderly people suffer from multiple poverty and loneliness, sometimes even being abandoned by their families."
The Pope concluded by inviting all present "to allow themselves to be attracted by the shining example of these saints, to be guided by their teachings so that our entire lives become a hymn of praise to God's love."

For more information on the canonization process, go here.

Not a good way to start my day

This is not what I expected when I woke up this morning.

President Barack Obama awarded the Nobel Peace Prize!!!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE???
There are none so blind as those who wish to be...

President Obama has not only deceived the people of this country, but now
here is the proof that he has deceived the whole world.

Mother Teresa (another Nobel Peace Prize winner) has to be rolling over in her grave right now.
How can the most pro-abortion president EVER, win such an award.

How can a person whom won’t even give peace to the unborn in the womb, win an award with the word PEACE in it?
How can we explain peace to the mothers whom are now physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually damaged due to having abortions?

How can this committee say;

The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

I guess these guys have not seen this;

Iran shows might of missiles days before nuclear plant showdown

North Korean Missile Test a Growing Possibility

I hope this committee realizes that Obama is not the only president ever that is concerned over nukes. I can assure you that no one in their right mind would condone using nuclear weapons after seeing the total destruction that ended the lives of so many Japanese.
I think we all have a vision of a world without nuclear weapons, without war,
famine, pestilence, homelessness, joblessness, ect…

Mind you, I think it is great that our President is trying to rally the troops (world wide) and stop the tyrannical powers throughout the world, but, THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?
How about waiting till Obama actually achieves this goal before we give him any prizes?

I will leave you with this final thought from Mother Teresa and maybe you will understand why I went on this rant:

But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? --Mother Teresa

Classlessness

Once again, our secular society has imposed it’s will upon the world…and they want to talk about us Christains imposing our will on them…..

Memphis Mayor Fist-Bumps The Dalai Lama Saying, “Hello Dalai”

“The Dalai Lama was greeted at Tom Lee Park by Memphis Mayor Myron Lowery and Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton Tuesday afternoon, September 22, 2009. Mayor Lowery shook hands with the Dalai Lama and then grabbed his hand and showed him how to fist-bump. Lowery then told the Dalai Lama that he, “always wanted to say ‘hello Dalai.’” Both laughed at the gesture and joke.”

Of course, I suspect that the Dalai Lama wasn’t as impressed as he “seemed” to be….

Later, the Dalai Lama explained – laughingly – that smacking fists is considered a sign of violence. The Dalai Lama seemed to be amused by the greeting.

Keep in mind that this took place in the context of the National Civil Rights Museum’s “Freedom Awards.”
So, we here in America, are free to “smack fists” and make fun of people’s names…..I’m sure MLK would be proud of what he lived, fought and died for…

Mind you, I am no fan of the Dalai Lama, nor am I some prudish, snobbish, upperclass racist (I live in a trailer in the woods for goodness sake!).
I can see the humor in this from the secular point of view, but I can see the greater offense of this towards Christian society.

How classless is this Mayor? How classless is our society to invite the world to our doorstep so that everyone can see the audacity of our classlessness?

First the Notre Dame scandal, now this. What is this world coming to?

precious man

How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he 'gained so great a Redeemer', and if God 'gave his only Son' in order that man 'should not perish but have eternal life'. --Venerable John Paul II

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is bliss, taste it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is luck, make it. Life is too precious, do not destroy it. Life is life, fight for it.-Mother Teresa

It's that time of the year again, let's all do our part to end abortion. Prayer is our greatest weapon. Presence is our strong ally. Now is a chance for us to become saints and give God all the glory.

Please sign up and show up!

http://www.40daysforlife.com/splash.cfm

Unreality TV

If you’ve ever watched a reality tv show, you know that there is not much reality in it. The people involved are usually just looking for their moment of fame, and I hope and pray that they do not really act like this in real life.
Putting someone in front of a camera brings out their need to do or say something outrageous, to “ham it up”, or to do something they deem “spectacular”.
So why are people so fascinated with this kind of sensationalism?
Why is reality tv so popular?
My opinion is that the general public needs to know that there are people and situations that are more “messed up” than they are; people need to know that there is someone out there whom they can say “at least I’m not like that”….it makes them feel better about themselves.
Maybe they are bored with their lives, maybe they are tired of the mondaine routines that make up their days. Maybe it gives them hope for their own lives, their own trials and
struggles.

Well, while writing this piece, as Gods providence would have it, a story broke about a reality television star.
Finally, some reality on reality tv.

Reality TV Star Kourtney Kardashian Chooses Life
"I can't even tell you how many people just say, 'Oh, get an abortion.' Like it's not a big deal," says the star.

By Matthew Anderson
August 19, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) -
Kourtney Kardashian, the famous socialite and model, told People magazine in a recent interview that she considered having her unborn child aborted but changed her mind after reading about the traumatizing effects of abortion online.
"I looked online, and I was sitting on the bed hysterically crying, reading these stories of people who felt so guilty from having an abortion," Kourtney told David Caplan of People.
Kardashian, who is most famous for her role in the reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E!, announced last week that she was pregnant.
Though Kardashian openly supports abortion as a legitimate choice in her interview, she says that she wrestled with the decision, something she thinks not many people do.
"I do think every woman should have the right to do what they want, but I don't think it's talked through enough."
However, after researching the emotionally and physically devastating effects of abortion on women, she said, "I was just sitting there crying, thinking, 'I can't do that.' "
"I felt in my body, this is meant to be. God does things for a reason, and I just felt like it was the right thing that was happening in my life."
Further, Kardashian says she recognized that her motives for aborting the baby would have been selfishly driven. Kardashian, who with her sisters Khloe and Kim owns the clothing boutique DASH, said, "For me, all the reasons why I wouldn't keep the baby were so selfish: It wasn't like I was raped, it's not like I'm 16. I'm 30 years old, I make my own money, I support myself, I can afford to have a baby."
Disturbingly, though, Kardashian said a number of people advised her to get an abortion without much thought to the gravity of the matter.
"I can't even tell you how many people just say, 'Oh, get an abortion.' Like it's not a big deal."
Luckily she was advised by a friend to see a doctor, and the doctor encouraged her to research abortion online. He also told her that she would never regret having the child, but she might very well regret aborting it.

cast the first stone

A common objection that I have heard that turns people away from faith in God or at least keeps them from attending a Church on a regular basis is the fact that they know
“Christians” whom are no better than they are. The objectors contend that there is hypocrisy, evil, lack of faith and charity in the lives of “Christians” and their churches.
The churches are only after your money and control of your moral life.

I would have to agree that there are some “Christians” and some “churches” that are not living life in Christ they way they should. There are sinners in church!!!
There always have been, there always will be….Jesus did not come to call the righteous but sinners. (Mark 2:17)

I would also have to say that everyone will be judged according to their own lives. Like I tell my children, “don’t worry about what someone else is doing”, make sure you are doing what you are supposed to be doing.
To the objectors of Christianity I say, “YOU are the one that will have to pay the price in Hell, YOU will be the one suffering for eternity, YOU are the one that God entrusted your soul to.

With that said, we should also know that we are supposed to get our spouses and our children to Heaven. We should try to get others to Heaven, not by judging them, but with truth in charity. The Lord wants that everyone gets to Heaven, to be with Him.
Do not focus your attention on the weaknesses of your brothers or the weaknesses in
the church, focus your attention on the Lord.
Maybe then, others will see your example and want the joy in Christ that you have.
Maybe you will be a model “Christian” that others won’t see hypocrisy, evil, or hatred
in. Maybe then they too will want to attend church and live life the way they should.
We can only change the church and peoples view of Christianity starting one person at a time, and that one person is you.

Snap shots

I like to put family pictures on my desktop back-ground on my computer, although I’m not sure exactly why.
At work, maybe just to remind me of the way God has blessed me-- with a wonderful family and a wonderful life. Maybe also to let my co-workers into a different aspect of my life that they don’t know much about.
At home, we may do it for good memories, maybe fun times or silly looks. Maybe just because a picture is SO CUTE!!!!.

As I was at work this morning admiring my newest desktop image, I really got focusing on the moment. On the moment that picture was taken, on that moment in time that has passed and will never be (at least exactly the same) ever again.
It wasn’t that the picture was anything special or “the memory of a lifetime.”
It was just a normal, everyday picture, an action picture of us washing our car.

What struck me was looking at the people in it. The surroundings in which the moment was happening. The eyes and the expressions on our faces. I realized that this moment was maybe different for everyone. I know what I was thinking, and probably what was on the minds of my children, but, the picture seems bring even deeper thoughts, a deeper meaning.
One single second of our lives captured, seized; to study, to dwell upon, to make you realize all the moments that make up your life and how fleeting time can be.
It is surreal to look at something like that…a moment in your life that has passed, but was so real when it was being lived.
We should always remember that line from the Serenity prayer--- Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time --- we are always living moments, some memorable, some not so much, but the moments we live, are the moments of our lives that we will never get back.

I wonder if, when we are in Gods presence, and He is going back over our lives with us, it will be like looking at snap-shots of our life here on this earth.
I shutter at the thought of some of those pictures; not just the goofy ones or the surprise ones, but the ones in which He knows what I was thinking, what I was doing, what I was saying, what I was feeling.
We will all have to give an account of our lives on judgment day and the snap shots of the moments that seemed so insignificant will be there in Gods family album, awaiting an answer from us.

One-child policy

"For a prosperous, powerful nation and a happy family, please use birth planning." Government sign in Ninchin.

(From Wikipedia)

Coming soon to a country near you....
OK, so maybe the world is starting to see how wrong this policy is. China has been loosening the rules on a couple of area's but it still remains in effect for most of the country.

Imagine this;
A government official comes to your house demanding that you either pay a fine (that is more than you could make in many years) or else they are going to take your young child. Or, they find out you are pregnant and instead of going home with a beautiful baby, you go home physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally traumatized for life due to the abortion that the government made you have.
Think that it couldn't happen? Think again. Read just one of the many, many accounts of this
horrible law that was started in China, and could very easily be the norm in countries throughout the world.




Gu Chengjun, who was later adopted by a woman from the Netherlands, sits on the lap of a caregiver in Zhenyuan Orphanage in Guizhou, capital of Guizhou province in January, 2007.
About 80 newborn baby girls from a Guizhou county have been removed from their families by officials since 2001, and most have been handed over to foreign adoptive parents as orphans at a price of $3,000 each, the Southern Metropolis News reported on Wednesday.
Among the 80 families are Lu Xiande and Yang Shuiying, a poor farming couple whose fifth daughter was removed by local family planning officials when they didn't pay the appropriate fine, it reported.
Like every other father in Zhenyuan, Lu wanted a boy, who finally arrived after three daughters. His wife then gave birth to another girl, and the couple had to support five children with a yearly income of about 5,000 yuan ($732).
Shi Guangying, a local family planning official, gave them an ultimatum: Give away their little daughter or pay fines of about 20,000 yuan ($2,928).
"This is the policy", Shi said. "You pay, or you let the government take care of the baby," he was quoted by the newspaper on Wednesday.
But instead of being raised as promised, the girl was taken to the Zhenyuan orphanage and later adopted out to a foreign family, at a reported price of $3,000.
At least 78 girls have been handed over to foreign families in the past eight years. Two children with disabilities remain at the orphanage.
It's believed authorities forged documents stating the babies were orphans and adoption fees were split between the orphanage and officials.
The practice of making farmers who break the two-child policy and then fail to pay fines hand over their baby girls is now under investigation by the local public security bureau in Zhenyuan county.
Zhou Ze, a lawyer and professor with China Youth College for Political Sciences, said local family planning officials and the orphanage had committed a crime because nobody had the right to exploit a parent's right of guardianship over their children.
The fact that babies had been removed to make a profit meant it was also abduction, Zhou said.
"It is legal that they can charge fines, as the parents did violate the law by giving birth to more than one child. But that doesn't mean they can take away the child. The fines can be paid later or reduced", he said.
Tang Jian, an official of the Zhenyuan family planning bureau, said: "According to our investigation, it is true that babies who have parents were forced into the orphanage and then abroad". Under Chinese adoption law, abandoned babies whose parents cannot be found can be registered for adoption.

As I said, this is just one of many sad but true stories of the government choosing material wealth over the dignity of life. The quality of life becomes more important than the life of the person.
But, God told us to be "fruitful and multiply", and if you don't listen to God, you must suffer
the consequences. That's not to say that everyone is able to have children, I am saying that we must always be open to Gods plan for children in our life whether that be through natural means or through adoption. If there is serious reasons for choosing to try and hold off having children, there is NFP, which still leaves God in control of the future.

Here's China's vision of "Family Planning in China" (read entire plan here). I am just going to highlight a couple of things that might spark your interest and to get a point across.

Family planning has promoted the change of people's concepts regarding marriage, birth and family.
"looking up on men and down on women" are being discarded by more and more people at the child-bearing ages.

the reduction of family size and fewer children to support have obviously reduced the economic burden and the burden of family chores on the families and improved their quality of life.

Family planning has further liberated the female productive forces and helped improve the status of women.
Family planning in China has extricated women from frequent births after marriage and the heavy family burden, further liberated and expanded the social productive forces latent in women, and provided them with more opportunities to learn science and general knowledge and take part in economic and social development activities, hence greatly promoted the improvement of the Chinese women's status in economic and social affairs as well as in their families.

Family planning has provided women with more opportunities to receive education and is conducive to raising their educational qualities.

Combination of State Guidance with Voluntary Participation by the Masses.

The combination of state guidance with voluntary participation is an important principle China has always followed since the implementation of the family planning policy, and is the fundamental guarantee of success for the family planning programme as well.

China encourages fertile married couples to select contraceptive methods of their own accord under the guidance of the state; and offers various preferential treatments in daily life, work and many other aspects to families who volunteer to have only one child, helps them to solve difficulties in their lives and work and creates conditions for them to become better off as soon as possible.

VI. Optimization Through Reform and Development

In order to fundamentally and comprehensively solve China's population problem, comprehensive measures have to be adopted. Such measures include vigorously developing the economy, getting rid of poverty, protecting the ecological environment, rationally developing and utilizing resources, popularizing education, developing medical service and maternal and child health care, improving the social security system --especially the insurance system for the aged, steadily advancing urbanization, improving women's status, and guaranteeing the legal rights and interests of women.

So, these policies have built up womanhood??
They have improved the social security system??

Any honest, open minded person can see that, a lot of issues that this new policy was intended to take care of, have gotten worse and have put the moral lives and souls of their society in jeopardy.

....and what are the results of this policy 20 years later??

For all the bad press, China has achieved the impossible," says Sven Burmester, the United Nations Population Fund representative in Beijing. "The country has solved its population problem.
But this solution has spawned a host of new problems. China's population will start declining from 2042, according to U.N. statistics. In the nation's fast-paced cities, the one-child policy has morphed into a no-child philosophy.
"They're rebelling against all concept of family," says sociologist Li Yinhe. A record high 29% of urban twenty somethings profess little interest in marriage or children, according to a market research poll. In a once unthinkable breach of Confucian tradition, many are even refusing to care for their elders. China's graying population is estimated to peak in 2040 and the nation has no mechanism to finance its welfare.
"When we started our family-planning policy 20 years ago, we had no idea of the social problems that would follow," concedes Zhao Baige of the State Family Planning Commission. "Now we must address the consequences."
China is now faced with a decidedly First-World problem: a declining fertility rate combined with a rapidly graying population. "Instead of tinkering with family-planning policy, China needs to tackle its social welfare system," says a Peking University professor. "We need to figure out who is going to take care of our parents and grandparents."

For an in depth article on the beginnings of the myth of overpopulation go to this
site http://www.usccb.org/prolife/programs/rlp/03ruse.shtml

Single Male Online Daters Would Father Babies for Their Friends

Recent Poll Finds 80% of Female Online Daters Have Considered getting pregnant in "no strings attached" relationship; Nearly 50% of Males Would help their female friends in their quest toward motherhood
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Aug. 1/ -- Last month, celebrity look-a-like sperm donors were all the rage, with single aspiring Mothers in Los Angeles choosing from sperm donors who resemble their celebrity of choice, which includes Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Ben Affleck doppelgangers. This month, it's all about "No Strings Attached Babies," where single aspiring Mothers ask their single guy friends to father their children, minus financial and other responsibilities. While Hollywood is full of single Moms who chose to adopt, including Edie Falco, Sheryl Crow, Madonna and Sharon Stone, single celebrities such as Camryn Manheim and reportedly, Minnie Driver, have both had No Strings Attached Babies. At leading online dating websites Date.com http://www.date.com), Matchmaker.com http://www.matchmaker.com), and Amor.com http://www.amor.com) we polled our members to find out if they would consider having a No Strings Attached Baby.
According to the results, majority of single male online daters responded that they would make like David Crosby and father a child with a gal pal. 30%, meanwhile, insisted that it must be legally stipulated that they were Fathers in name only. Meanwhile, 42.9% of single women have admitted that they have thought a lot about approaching a single guy friend to father their child.
"Majority of today's single women still want to find true love, enter into a committed relationship and have children with a life partner. Yet, as the biological clock ticks down for many single women, it's no longer stigmatized for them to choose other avenues such as adoption, anonymous sperm donation, and no strings attached babies, to become Mothers," said Shira Zwebner, Relationship Advisor for Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com. "According to a May 2009 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, out-of-wedlock births are rising, and amongst women ages 30 to 34 there has been a 34% increase since 2002. I predict that number will just continue to rise as more and more women realize they just don't need to find their soulmate to have a baby. As a result, single guys shouldn't be surprised if their single girlfriends ask them to meet for a drink and then request a no strings attached sperm donation."


So, I have 2 DUH!!!! postings in a row...must be a full moon.

I am willing to bet that the males polled were under the impression that lovemaking was involved. If that is true, then, a bunch of guys (in today's society) were asked if they would like to make love to a woman, without having to worry about the consequences.

Once again, I say DUH!!!!!....it is a sad world we live in and I am only stating the obvious.


When this poll is was taken, I assume that the term "father babies" is talking about the physical act that procreates a baby. Some people call them gigolo's others call them "deadbeat dads" and just to give a hand full of guys the benefit of the doubt, they may, in their ignorance of the truth, think they are helping these women.
God made things according to his order. If it is your vocation to married life, to having children,
He will allow things to work out for His greater glory. If not, then pray for guidance on where or what He has in store for you. Maybe God is calling you to a vocation to religious life, or to give your time and talents to your parish.
I know personally that it is not easy to wait for God's answer to your vocation and especially to finding a good and Holy spouse. He took over 35years to show me my soulmate and I had almost given up by then.
I understand that there seems to be a lack of "good men" (and women) in the world, but you can't just do these things on your own..they must be done in accord with God's directives.

I pray for women in the world who are resorting to these kinds of tactics to have a baby.
I pray for the men who are falling to the tangled web they are getting into.
I pray for the children being brought up under these circumstances.

All you need to do is to go to http://www.fathersforgood.org/en/index.html or http://www.fatherhood.org/ to see the statistics on what happens to children who are brought up in homes without a good father.

5 of Your Friends Became Fans of a Lawsuit

Facebook has been hit with a lawsuit concerning privacy laws....hmmm, it seems ironic to me that people who put their private information on a website that is for meeting friends and networking, is being sued for the very thing they are in the business of doing. DUH!!!!!!!!!!

If you don't want people to know certain things about you, don't put it out there for the entire world to see.

Now, I understand why these people are suing, and they have pretty good reasons for it, but still....when will people wise up and learn that the world wide web is a dangerous and scandalous place to put yourself on.

I know my family has concerns about what I put on our blog, and I am very thankful that they are merciful on me and allow me to continue to do this.

So, I try not to put anything on here that is going to compromise my standing in my family as the worlds greatest husband and father....time will tell though.....

EEOC Violates Religious Liberty By Forcing Catholic College to Provide Insurance for Contraceptives

The attacks continue....
while I am not surprised that a government agency under the current administration is sticking it's nose into Church business, I am wondering "WHO HIRED THESE PEOPLE ANYWAY"?
This is the problem with not being able to ask certain religious questions on a job application.
It seems to me that these people should have been informed about Church teachings before they were hired. I seriously doubt that faithful Catholic employees would have filed a lawsuit like this.
Get prepared people, I'm sure there will be more of this to come...not only in the Catholic Church, but in all Christian demominations and institutions.


The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has ruled that a small Catholic college must include coverage for artificial contraceptives in its employee health insurance plan, raising new concerns about the need for conscience protections and religious exemptions in Americas health care policies.The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) today sent a letter to EEOC acting chairman Stuart Ishimaru, noting that it is ironic that the federal agency responsible for protecting against discrimination has so blatantly engaged in an inexcusable violation of religious liberty in its Belmont Abbey ruling. CNS also is sending a letter to all Catholic bishops in the United States, informing them of the EEOC action against Belmont Abbey College and highlighting the dangerous precedent this ruling sets to force Catholic employers to include contraceptive coverage in employee health plans. No Catholic college or other institution should be required by government to violate the Catholic Churchs clear moral teachings, said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. The apparently increasing insensitivity to religious beliefs should frighten all employers and employees. We urge religious leaders to stand in defense of Belmont Abbey College. In December 2007, Belmont Abbey College removed coverage for abortion, contraception and voluntary sterilization after they were accidentally included in the colleges insurance plan. Eight faculty members filed complaints with the EEOC and the North Carolina Department of Insurance. As a Roman Catholic institution, Belmont Abbey College is not able to and will not offer nor subsidize medical services that contradict the clear teaching of the Catholic Church, said Belmont Abbey President William Thierfelder. There was no other course of action possible if we were to operate in fidelity to our mission and to our identity as a Catholic college. The EEOC determined that Belmont Abbey has discriminated against women by denying coverage of contraception. By denying prescription contraception drugs, Respondent [Belmont Abbey College] is discriminating based on gender because only females take oral prescription contraceptives. By denying coverage, men are not affected, only women, wrote Reuben Daniels Jr. in his determination as the EEOC Charlotte District Office Director. Belmont Abbey College has been directed by the EEOC to reach an agreeable resolution with faculty. If this does not happen, Daniels will advise the parties of available enforceable court alternatives.

ABORTION PROVISIONS IN HOUSE’S HEALTH CARE BILL UNACCEPTABLE, SAYS CARDINAL IN LETTER TO HOUSE

From the USCCB website;

Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia urged preservation of “longstanding federal policies that prevent government promotion of abortion and respect conscience rights,” and called current House health care legislation “seriously deficient” on the issue of mandated coverage and funding of abortion. He cited his concerns in an August 11 letter to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Cardinal Rigali, Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities, reaffirmed the bishops’ position that genuine health care reform that respects life and dignity is urgently needed. He also welcomed provisions in America’s Affordable Health Choices Act (H.R. 3200) that do not preempt state laws regulating abortion or current federal conscience laws on abortion. But he criticized the bill for delegating to the Secretary of Health and Human Services “the power to make unlimited abortion a mandated benefit in the ‘public health insurance plan’ the government will manage nationwide.” He called this a “radical change” since federal law excludes most abortions from federal employees’ health benefits, and no federal health program mandates coverage of elective abortions.
Cardinal Rigali also criticized the bill for bypassing the Hyde Amendment and other longstanding provisions that prevent federal funding of abortion and health benefits packages that include abortion. He called the provisions to separate funding for abortion created by the House Energy and Commerce Committee a “legal fiction,” one that would force low-income Americans, who may only be able to afford the public plan, to subsidize abortions for others and abortion coverage for themselves “even if they find abortion morally abhorrent.”
“Much-needed reform must not become a vehicle for promoting an ‘abortion rights’ agenda or reversing longstanding policies against federal funding and mandated coverage of abortion,” Cardinal Rigali said. He added that “no federal program mandates coverage for elective abortions, or subsidizes health plans that include such abortions. Most Americans do not want abortion in their health coverage, and most consider themselves ‘pro-life,’ with a stronger majority among low-income Americans.”
“By what right, then, and by what precedent, would Congress make abortion coverage into a nationwide norm, or force Americans to subsidize it as a condition for participating in a public health program?” he asked.
Cardinal Rigali reiterated the USCCB’s long-time support of genuine health care reform that respects human life and dignity from conception till natural death, provides access to quality care for all with special concern for the poor and immigrants, respects pluralism and conscience rights, and shares costs equitably. He urged members of the House to support amendments to correct the “unacceptable features” currently in H.R. 3200 and to oppose any rule for considering the bill that would block such amendments.
The full text of the letter can be found online at: http://www.usccb.org/prolife/CardRigaliHealthCareReformLetter-08-11-09.pdf

The spiritual is always more important than the physical

We wouldn’t just hand our car keys over to our children and let them drive, not without proper training, practice, and teaching them good discernment.
Yet, we are not as diligent in other things such as freedom to roam the world wide web, what they hear in the music they listen to or what they watch on television and in movies.
Whether we know it our not, these things are helping to form their minds according to what the “world” deems important, what is popular.
The secular world continues to seep into their lives using “slight of hand” tricks to carry their souls away to uncharted and treacherous territories.

We, as parents, are the first and foremost teachers of our children. We should teach them things that will be good for their souls.
Before we teach them how to play baseball, or how to play a musical instrument, we should teach them to pray, to read the bible, to love and serve the Lord and their fellow mankind. Things that form their conscience, that instills in them a good sense of what is right and what is wrong.

Our parents may have been really strict and we don’t want to raise our kids that way, we want them to have their freedom….
Or maybe our parents let us do, watch, listen and speak how we wanted to, and we don’t want to be the “strict” parents….we want to be their friends..

We can be our children’s friends, but first we must be their parent.

We must not let “the world” form the minds of our children, we must form them in the light of Jesus Christ.
They may never be an American Idol in the eyes of the world, but they will have their proper and eternal place in Heaven.

Lost shepherd

The gates of hell shall not prevail, but unfortunately there seems to be a lot more casualties now-a-days whom are being engulfed in the flames.
I guess this story hurt more because it hit close to home, in our own Archdiocese . It is a shame because we do have a great Archbishop, many good priests, and pews full of faithful Catholics.
This guys obviously has some commitment problems, so I am wondering how seriously the marriage vow will be taken.
I cannot judge that, but has this priest said about other issues, God will sort it out.
What is one to do but continue to have zeal for our God, our Church, spread His word, live our lives according to His teachings and pray for those who fall away.
I returned to the faith after many, many years of being away, and let’s hope this brother in Christ does too.

Priest says he has ‘chosen another path'
Chibundi starts independent parishBY PETER SMITH • PSMITH@COURIER-JOURNAL.COM • AUGUST 4, 2009

The Human Experience

My family and I just watched a pre-screening of this movie and to say the least, it was very moving. These are the same guys that did "Fishers of Men"!
This is a full length movie of what most of us would deem hopeless circumstances in the lives of real people. You won't catch this stuff on REALITY TV, but it is more real than those shows ever will be.
Please see this movie if you get the chance. Contact the people at Grassroots films and see if you can get a showing in your area, it is well worth the effort.

Good Quotes

I will continue to add to these, so please check back!!


A woman’s womb is the place where heaven and earth meet.---author unknown

When Satan is knocking at your door,simply say,'Jesus, could You please get that for me.--author unknown

In the culture of death in which we live in today, the family is the heart of the culture of life.--author unknown

It has been said that our goal is not to be good, but to be God’s.--author unknown


Pain reveals whether the professed loves of the untroubled are genuine. --author unknown

We give unto Caesar what is Gods--author unknown

Just as the soul cannot enlighten itself by itself, so it cannot satisfy itself by itself ---St. Augustine

Jesus not only rose from the dead, He changed the meaning of death. --author unknown

All evil needs [to prosper] is for good men to do nothing--author unknown

Freedom is doing what you should do, not what you want to do

This Christmas may you join the angels in rejoicing, the shepherds in believing and the wisemen in seeking.---Fulton J. Sheen

You can’t have a rainbow without the rain---Fulton J. Sheen

Life only comes from life---Fulton J. Sheen

There's nothing on earth that can completely satisfy the "soul hunger" of man, simply because it is an unearthly hunger, it is a spiritual hunger---Fulton J. Sheen

Our desires are greater than our satisfactions…Peter Kreeft

When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her.It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed.---Mother Teresa

I always say that our misery is the throne of God’s mercy, and so we must realize that the greater our misery, the greater should be our confidence in Him.---St. Francis de Sales

Many politicians, like much of the American public, seem to be unaware that abortion and euthanasia are serious violations of the inalienable right to life. These are not just 'Church' issues but are governed by the natural law of God, which is binding upon all human beings. The right to life is the most fundamental of all rights, since a person deprived of life has no other rights.---Cardinal Dulles

A thing cannot be reborn to a higher form until it has died to the lower form.---Bishop Sheen

Those who want to be complete human beings must live with heaven in their sights; otherwise, they will lose track of who they are and where they are going.---Benedict J. Groeschel, CFR

Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love, and do not accept anything as love which lacks truth because one without the other becomes a destructive lie---Edith Stein

For even to be at peace with all men profits us nothing if we are at war with God. Similarly, if all men count us as enemies, it is of no harm to us if with God we are at peace.---St. John Chrysostom

One of the worst things pain does is turn our eyes inward, to ourselves. Sick people often say that the worst thing about being sick is that it makes you so self centered.----Peter Kreeft

I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.--- Ronald Reagan

Precisely in an age when the inviolable rights of the person are solemnly proclaimed and the value of life is publicly affirmed, the very right to life is being denied or trampled upon, especially at the more significant moments of existence: the moment of birth and the moment of death.--Pope John Paul II

Walk along the path of sublimity with the feet of humility.---St Augustine

Life is short but eternity is forever---author unknown

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.--- Mother Teresa

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it--George Santayana

Is everything light, surrounded by little pockets of darkness? Or is everything darkness, surrounding little pockets of light?--Peter Kreeft

When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man's true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away--Pope Benedict XVI (CARITAS IN VERITATE)

No one can understand life if he is ungrateful for it.--Peter Kreeft

"He who sacrifices freedom for security is neither secure nor free."-- Benjamin Franklin


A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire--Thomas Merton

The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me--Thomas Merton

The least of the work of learning is done in the classroom--Thomas Merton

"Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song."--Pope John Paul II

Saints are nothing but sinners that kept trying--author unknown

Poverty consists in being deprived of not only what is convenient but of what is necessary--
St. Thérèse of Lisieux

True greatness is not found in a name, but in the soul --St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Heaven is very high, the gate to it is very low, humility is the condition of entering it -- Fulton J. Sheen

It will be one of the confusions of the damned to see that they are condemned by their own reason, by which they claimed to condemn the Christian religion--Blaise Pascal

The most unreasonable things in the world become most reasonable, because of the unruliness of men--Blaise Pascal

We do not believe ourselves to be exactly sharing in the vices of the vulgar when we see that we are sharing in those of great men; and yet we do not observe that in these matters they are ordinary men--Blaise Pascal

Hell as well as Heaven helps to explain suffering. Not all suffering is a way to God; some is a foretaste of hell. Suffering is a reflection of death, a reminder of mortality. Death, in turn is a punishment and consequence of sin. Sin, in turn, is the distant echo in our lives of hell. ---Peter Kreeft

I look up at the night sky, is anything more certain than, that in all those vast times and spaces, if I were allowed to search them, I would never find her face, her voice, her touch..she died, she is dead…is the word so difficult to learn? (From C.S Lewis "A grief observed"….after the loss of his wife.)

Christ promised the dying thief on the cross, "Today you shall be with Me in paradise" . Yet Christ did not ascend into Heaven until 40 days later. The explanation of the puzzle, I think, that where Christ is, there is paradise. Heaven doesn’t make Christ Christ; Christ makes Heaven Heaven. ---Peter Kreeft

If God did not exist, everything would be permissible---Dostoyevski

There is good and there is evil; there is truth and there are lies; there is life and there is death. Being neutral is a myth. Sitting on a fence is an accident waiting to happen. In the end you will be "for me or against me," as Jesus says.-- Father Corapi

Look at that man, who is so active and restless, who makes a noise in the world, who wants to govern everybody, who thinks himself of consequence, who seems as if he would like to say to the sun, "Go away, and let me enlighten the world instead of you. " Some day this proud man will be reduced at the utmost to a little handful of dust, which will be swept away from river to river, from Saone to Saone, and at last into the sea.— Saint John Vianney

See, my children, we must reflect that we have a soul to save, and an eternity that awaits us.— Saint John Vianney

The saints did not all begin well; but they all ended well.— Saint John Vianney

Man, being created by love, cannot live without love: either he loves God, or he loves himself and he loves the world.-- Saint John Vianney

"Give us this day our daily bread. " We are composed of two parts, the soul and the body. We ask the good God to feed our poor body, and He answers by making the earth produce all that is necessary for our support. . . . But we ask Him to feed our soul, which is the best part of ourselves; and the earth is too small to furnish enough to satisfy it; it hungers for God, and nothing but God can satiate it. --Saint John Vianney

No one is born an atheist or a skeptic, one who doubts the possibility of ever discovering truth. These attitudes are made less by the way one thinks than by the way one lives. If we do not live as we think we soon begin to think as we live. We suit our philosophy to our actions. --- Fulton J. Sheen

"It is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate. It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church’s Magisterium that sets us free. Cardinal Newman realized this, and he left us an outstanding example of faithfulness to revealed truth by following that 'kindly light' wherever it led him, even at considerable personal cost. Great writers and communicators of his stature and integrity are needed in the Church today, and it is my hope that devotion to him will inspire many to follow in his footsteps.”
— Pope Benedict XVI’s address to the Bishops of England and WalesVisit “ad limina apostolorum,”    

There aren’t ten people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they mistakenly think the Catholic Church represents. –- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Conscience has rights because it has duties --- Cardinal John Henry Newman

America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance. It is not. It is suffering from tolerance: tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and chaos. Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broad-minded. --Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

“Faith in Christ is more than a ‘Jesus and me’ matter. He founded a Church to be the custodian of his message, the place where the sacraments are celebrated, the home of love and support for all its members, the source of hope for the poor, the lost, the sinful, and the seekers for God in all the world.” --Alfred McBride, O.Praem.

“There needs to be a new sense that being human is subject to a higher set of standards, indeed, that it is precisely these demands that make a greater happiness possible in the first place. There needs to be a sense that being human is like a mountain-climbing expedition that includes some arduous slopes. But it is by them that we reach the summit and are able to experience for the first time how beautiful it is to be.” ---Pope Benedict XVI

The penalty of those who live too close to the flesh is never to understand the spiritual.~~~Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

All the human satisfactions of the cravings of body and soul have one defect; they do not satisfy forever. They only serve to deaden the present want; but they never extinguish it. The want always revives again. ---Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Calvary was the price He (Jesus) paid for the Sermon on the Mount. Only mediocrity survives. Those who call black black and white white, are sentenced for intolerance. Only the grays live.                                             Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen What we call misfortune is not misfortune at all, it is God waking us up. ---Father John Hardon The most powerful prayer is not with our lips, the most powerful prayer is with our lives.--- Father Hardon "Our salvation may cost us nothing, but true discipleship costs us everything."---Mark Hart "God knows us best of all. He knows our capacities—His knowledge of each one is complete. Something of His beauty is in each person. We are made to the image of God. His lovableness is in each one, so let us see what there is of God in each person."--Mother Teresa "The child [conceived in rape] is an innocent victim. To be victimized twice is a horrible thing. It is an innocent human life, genetically human from the moment of conception and is a human life...we should help women in those terrible situations that have been traumatized already. To put them through another trauma of an abortion is too much to ask...one violence is enough."--- Rick Santorum When evil is revealed in the light, it does not always repent; sometimes it becomes more evil---Fulton J. Sheen Freedom is not an heirloom, but a life. Once received it does not continue to exist without effort… ---Fulton J. Sheen "Refuse nothing, ask for nothing, and like that you will never complain. To complain is very easy, but to be happy to be anybody's walking stick is very difficult. What a lot we lose when we grumble; what a waste of energy. How foolish we are. We must all watch out because we are all inclined to it--let not our likes and dislikes be the measure of our actions. Remember, we have come to do the will of Him who called us."---Mother Teresa "Evil becomes possible when human beings decide to use the good things that God created in ways that are not truly part of their purpose."---Fr. Mitch Pacwa, SJ What is of the world, the world never opposes. What is of God, the spirit of the world opposes, maligns, persecutes, and crucifies.---Fulton J. Sheen This comes from God, for you have been granted the privilege for Christ's sake not only of believing in him but of suffering for him as well---Philippians 1;29 "We can't avoid reasoning; we can only avoid doing it well." — Peter Kreeft "The first thing that Jesus taught us was PRAISE -- Our Father, hallowed be Thy Name. Praising God takes us out of self and puts us into God. Spirituality is not so much inviting God into our little, picayune hearts as it is accepting God's invitation to come up into His heart that has a length, breadth, height and depth that is beyond anything we can think of or imagine."---Fr. Bill McCarthy, MSA Truth can be hated when it reveals falsity within---Fulton J. Sheen "We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials."---St. Teresa of Avila Very often, we will find, that an attack upon religion, satisfies for the moment, this uneasy conscience.---Fulton J. Sheen