The house of many Graces

Three-state sweep for Rick Santorum

2012-02-08T06:03:00.000-08:00

We knew he could do it.
Congratulations to Rick Samtorum, his family and all those making his campaign successful.

Most of all, as Rick mentioned in his speech last night, thanks be to God.

All things are possible with God....Rick Santorum has a long way to go for the Presidency but I think this helped him gain momentum.

Keep those prayers going for Rick Santorum and his bid for the Presidency.

Marian Grace

2012-01-31T16:25:00.000-08:00

If you get a chance check these wonderful musicians out http://mysteriumonline.com/.
They are on tour now.

My wife met them at a gas station (don't ask) and had a pleasant conversation with them and was given one of their cd's which now is a fixture in our cd player.

May God Bless them and keep them safe on the road.

Who says having lots of children is a burden?

2012-01-31T06:05:00.000-08:00

One of my new years resolution (for this blog) was supposed to be to get back to the real reason that I entered into the blogasphere.....to promoted the Catholic faith.

I usually do not like to make this blog a political soapbox but, since I can't separate the Catholic faith from my daily living in the secular world, sometimes I have to rant or, like I'm about to do, to give a "shout out" to a particular situation or person or group that lifts my Spirit and removes my thoughts on how the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

One headline read;
Rick Santorum's Daughter Hospitalized; Duggar Family Fills in For Candidate on Campaign Trail

First off, let's all say a prayer for Bella for her health to improve....that the Lord may put good medical personnel in charge of her care...and prayers for strength for the Santorum family through this (yet another) trial in their lives.

Now, on to the crux of the matter...

For some time now, my life has consisted of work, eat, spend a few minutes with the family, pray and get to bed hopefully by midnight so I can wake up at 5am and do it all over again.
So, I can't imagine having 3 times as many children, or being on the road campaigning and trying to juggle family time.

The Santorum family and the Duggar family are doing just that.

They are remarkable families that are giving their all and showing America what we as a country and a society should be; not that everyone is called to have large families or become the President of the United States, but to sacrifice for a goal that is for the good of a larger cause. To go that extra mile and step in and help one another when necessary.

When I think about what I want the the future of America to look like and compare that to the candidates running for election, I can only see one candidate that represents my view of my countries future.

Rick Santorum.....

Please pray for his election and get out and vote.

God Bless

Wishing Christmas was over?

2011-12-22T06:27:00.000-08:00

“I will be glad when Christmas is over”

That is the phrase (in one form or another) that I have heard many times this year. I have been feeling a little like that also so I can relate in a way to that statement.

The problem is not Christmas.

The problem is the secularization of Christmas.

The shopping, the traffic, the political correctness. It is enough to make you despise Christmas if you forget about the reason for the season.

That is exactly what the dark forces of evil are trying to do. As usual, Satan takes something good that God has given and flipped it around into a tool of destruction for the human soul.

Society has taken Christ out of Christmas and replaced Him with Black Friday (24 injuries/deaths this year alone) and other sources of gluttony, avarice, envy and discontent.

It seems such a waste to buy items for people that either don’t need anything or that just don’t want what you bought them.

It is sad to see a child with a frown on their face sitting amongst mountains of wrapping paper and toys because they did not get the exact thing they wanted.

What a long way from Jerusalem we are these days.
Instead of traveling to see the NEW BORN KING, we are traveling to the malls to rack up more debit on our credit cards that we are already having trouble paying off.

Instead of spending time talking, laughing and enjoying our families; instead of attending Mass in remembrance of the day our Savior came to this earth, we are sitting in front or the TV watching the big “Christmas day ball game”.

Instead of enjoying Christmas, we are looking forward to it “being over”.

If we continue to let unbelievers, the media, the shopping mall and Walmart take Christ out of Christmas, it will soon “be over” and will be nothing but another “holiday” and not the “Holy Day” that was celebrated by the 3 wise men over 2000 years ago.

This Christmas please celebrate Jesus and let's all pray for our country that it will not become secularized as Europe and other countries have become.

God Bless you and your family.

Have a happy Advent and a Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!!!

2011-11-11T05:47:00.000-08:00

Today being a special day for our country’s veterans, I have had something on my mind that just won’t go away. A thought that seems appropriate for this day of remembrance of the service of our country’s hero’s.

This country was founded and lead by men of integrity, men who were not afraid to stand up for what they believed in.
Men that fought and died for this country. Men that left their families in order to protect their freedom and their future. Men that sacrificed themselves for the good of their country.

Throughout this country’s history, men and women have sacrificed their time, talents and even their lives to serve this country. They have left behind wives, husbands, children; even unborn children; babies that they would not get to hold until their service was over.

Some would never come home again…….

It seems to me that while there are still many that appreciate, with great gratitude, the sacrifices made by our military men and women, the rest of the country looks upon military service as a burden, not to be tried.

They protest and want to bring our troops home, which I am not condemning, but to do so at the price of our country’s security.

They have no loyalty to God or country. They try to undermine our nation’s morals and foundation.

Now, to the crux of the matter, the original thought in my mind;

I think when we choose leaders in this country, especially for the office of President, why would we not want someone whom served in this country’s military?

If a person is so much in love with their country, that they would risk their life to protect it’s people and freedoms, why shouldn’t they be appreciated enough to get your vote?

Of course there are a few factors that go along with the reasoning behind this, such as the respect and dignity of life from the moment of conception to natural death. We can’t let service to the country over-ride the life issues.

While I don’t want to belittle this great Veterans Day, I wonder why we ever elected a President that has no loyalty to this nation, whom went abroad to bash this nation, and whom has never served this country (or stuck his neck out) to show his pride in this country.

I hope we do a better choice of selecting future leaders for the greatest nation in the world,

The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ONE NATION UNDER GOD!!!

GOD BLESS ALL VETREANS AND ALL MILITARY MEN AND WOMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES WHOM HAVE SERVED OR ARE STILL SERVING THIS GREAT NATION.

THANK YOU!

The Screwtape Letters (part VI)

2011-11-08T06:02:00.000-08:00

18) The Enemy's demand on humans takes the form of a dilemma; either complete abstinence or unmitigated monogamy. Ever since our Father's first great victory, we have rendered the former very difficult to them. The latter, for the last few centuries, we have been closing as a way of escape. We have done this through the poets and novelists by persuading the humans that a curious, and usually short-lived, experience which they call "being in love" is the only respectable ground for marriage; that marriage can, and ought to, render this excitement permanent; and that a marriage which does not do so is no longer binding. This idea is our parody of an idea that came from the Enemy (God).

Now, more than ever, music, books, movies; all the forms of communication, have a huge influence upon our culture. As mass communication grows, so does the evil of decadence.

While poetry, books and music can certainly lift our hearts and minds to the Divine, it can also lead us down the road to destruction. Satan once again is out to confuse the good with the bad.

Today's modern poets and writers spew nothing but illicit and explicit garbage in their works.

Have you listened to what is on the radio these days?
Have you seen the popular movies and television shows airing these days?
Have you glanced over at the magazine rack in the store lately?

You will be hard pressed to find any of these that do not reference something sensual or offensive. Most of the time, you will find it hard to see anything that isn't offensive to anyone with morals.

Now imagine our youth (as well as the rest of us) being bombarded by all these images, these idea's, these
false ways to happiness, to love.

No wonder there are so many broken marriages, unhappy people, depressed children. People now-a-days
try to live their lives according to what they see in all this media.
But, what they fail to see, is the lives behind the music, videos, actors and actresses. Those peoples lives are in shambles and those who idolize them, who try to live the lives they see, are going to go the way of the current. Dead bodies (and souls) float downstream.

The attack of Satan on sacrament of marriage has taken on many forms, especially in our recent times.
Satan has turned "love" into just a fleeting moment or word instead of the eternal "love" that God speaks of throughout the Scriptures.

Love is a word meant to be descriptive for us in relationship; relationship with God, with our spouses, with our children and with our fellow mankind.

Now, once again, Satan has taken something good and turned it into a catch phrase; we "love" our pet, we "love" our house, we "love" our favorite TV program; we "love" to do this and that.
We cannot have a relationship with our car, home, or I-POD.

Modern culture has rendered the word "love" meaningless; so meaningless, that our youth has no idea what love actually means. The sacrificial aspect of love is lost. The very cause of love (God) is forgotten.

So, as Screwtape points out, when all the meaningless "feelings" of love is gone, so does the marriage.
Satan has convinced the culture that "love" is nothing more than a word or a feeling, so people have no idea what the basis of their marriage is for other than feeling good and having fun together.

Without the foundational, sacramental basis of marriage, which is God, your marriage will have a hard time surviving the non-fun, non-exciting times and days of our lives.

There is so much more I could comment on this, but just be aware of what you are committing yourself to when you make a covenant with the Lord. It is binding forever.

There is also something that most people don't think about when it comes to marriage;
abstinence.

Most people scoff at the thought of becoming a priest or religious because "there is no way they can be abstinent"; that is just not normal.
Of course they are talking about cultural "normality" and not "normal" according to Gods plan.

So what does abstinence have to do with marriage?
Is that normal?

It may not be "normal" since we are called to give all of ourselves in marriage, but there are times when we can or even are hurled into it.

Abstinence in marriage can occur if you use NFP for your family planning.
Abstinence can also be sacrificial if agreed upon by husband and wife for a kind of fasting (for lack of better terminology).

There is another reason for abstinence in marriage, which Satan will test your "being in love".
The unplanned abstinence brought about by an accident, physical or mental situation or disease.
This is when a husband and wife find out truly how much they are in love; how much they are loved; how well the foundation of their marriage actually is.

Most younger couples never think about that since it seems they have their whole lives ahead, but it could happen at any time; and this is probably one of the most thought provoking situations that one should think of when contemplating marriage. The true test of your love is, if you are willing to sacrifice the pleasures of the flesh and live Gods covenant through the wandering in the desert to the valley of death.

Occupy jobs, the other percent

2011-11-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

I will try to be charitable as I delve into the “fashionable” new cult known as “Occupy Wallstreet”, but this situation really “burns my britches”.
While I am sure that there are a few people that are actually sincerely concerned with the issues that this latest ploy of the leftist has brought forward; but, for the most part, the rest of the cohort are just paid political activists or blind sheep being lead to the slaughter.

I used to get mad at seeing large corporations that would lay off thousands of people only to see the guys at the top of the ladder getting unfathomable bonuses at the end of it all.

That is not right. I agree. No argument there.

My beef is the fact that these “occupiers” are not protesting in front of any of the other
“1 Percenters”.

Where are the protests in front of all the pop stars and athletes homes such as Forbes wealthiest celebrities?

1. Oprah Winfrey
2. Tiger Woods
3. Madonna
4. Rolling Stones
5. Brad Pitt

6. Johnny Depp

7. Elton John

8. Tom Cruise

9. Jay-Z

10. Steven Spielberg

11. Tom Hanks

12. Grey's Anatomy Cast (what the heck is this about?)

13. Howard Stern

14. Angelina Jolie

15. David Beckham

16. Phil Mickelson

17. David Letterman

18. Bon Jovi

19. Donald Trump

20. Celine Dion

We have a whole athletic league (NBA) shut down because they want to make more money as if millions a year isn’t enough.

I haven’t heard a word about George Soro’s, Planned Parenthood, Solyndra or any other person or business associated with the far left. It’s alright for them to have money or waste millions of tax dollars, right?

A large number of those from the “occupiers” that I have seen interviewed are college, or post college students looking for a free ride.

We have raised a nation of ENTITLEMENT babies, who are afraid of a little hard work and want everything handed to them. They think the rest of us owe them something.

I say WORK FOR YOUR MONEY. That is the way it has always been.

We should always help the most vulnerable and poor, but we shouldn’t have carry the burden of ignorant people that would rather sit in a park, smoke pot and be intimate with whomever, wherever they can.

I have to get up very early in the morning and work a job that isn’t exciting, isn’t appreciated and doesn’t pay me what I would like, but it does put a roof over our heads and food on the table for my family and that makes it all worth while.
Maybe the “occupiers” should OCCUPY JOBS (even if they are below their expectations) and work their way to the top instead of expecting to be entitled to something the rest of us has worked our lives for.

I can assure you that I am not anywhere close to being a 1 percenter, but I can assure you that if the “occupiers” are the 99%, I’m not in that percentile either.

So, where do the rest of us fit?

Uncle Sam fits us into the 15% (what I pay in taxes) that is actually funding this country (and the “free riders” ).
Here’s the new slogan for the “fifteen percenters”: OCCUPY JOBS!

Thanks to all who voted for the approval of Protect Life Act (H.R. 358)

2011-10-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

I was just telling my wife last night how all the "Obamamites" around the place of my employment are still in love with him.
I understand that it isn't looking too promising on finding a great replacement for him, but surely the whole world isn't in such darkness that they can't see his administrations lies, agendas and dismantling of our great country.

At least there is some light among the darkness until "the other side" pulls some of their devious tricks;

NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE APPLAUDS U.S. HOUSE APPROVAL OF PROTECT LIFE ACT,SLAMS PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR THREAT TO PROTECT ABORTION SUBSIDIES WITH VETO

WASHINGTON – By a bipartisan vote of 251-172, the U.S. House of Representatives today approved the Protect Life Act (H.R. 358), a bill to nullify the multiple abortion-expanding provisions of the 2010 federal health care law ("ObamaCare").

On October 5, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius vehemently defended the 2010 health care law in a speech to a NARAL Pro-Choice America fundraiser, saying 'we are in a war' with critics of the law. On October 12, the White House issued a formal veto threat against the Protect Life Act. "President Obama won enactment of ObamaCare in 2010 partly by pretending that the bill did not expand abortion -- but now the mask is coming off," said NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson.

In an October 6 letter to U.S. House members, NRLC noted that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, Public Law 111-148, "ObamaCare") ". . . contained multiple provisions that provide authorizations for subsidies for abortion, both implicit and explicit, and also multiple provisions that opened doors to abortion-expanding administrative actions." The Protect Life Act would prohibit the use of any PPACA-authorized funds for abortions or to subsidize health plans that cover abortions, except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest. The Protect Life Act would not restrict the sale or purchase of insurance coverage for abortion with non-federal funds.
During today's debate, opponents of the bill repeatedly claimed that it would allow hospitals to deny women "emergency" abortions. In reality, the bill does not change the longstanding federal law in question, called EMTALA, which requires that in an "emergency" a hospital must do its best to stabilize both the pregnant mother and her "unborn child" (which is the term used in the statute). The Protect Life Act allows federal funding of an abortion required to save a mother's life.

The Protect Life Act is sponsored by Congressman Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) and Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-Il.). On today's vote on passage, the bill was supported by 236 Republicans and 15 Democrats. It was opposed by 170 Democrats and two Republicans.
NRLC's Douglas Johnson presented detailed information on the abortion-expanding provisions of ObamaCare, and regarding the need for the Protect Life Act, in testimony before the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce on February 9, 2011:
www.nrlc.org/AHC/ProtectLifeActDouglasJohnsonTestimony.pdf.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of 50 state right-to-life affiliates and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation's oldest and largest national grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, NRLC works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

JTM Food Group shout out!

2011-10-11T06:07:00.000-07:00

While driving home from work the other day, I seen from a distance the back of a semi trailer with a huge picture of a baby on it. I thought it was probably a truck for some baby product manufacturer or something like that. Here is what I seen;

How awesome it is to know there are semi's rolling down the highway with this on the back of them.

Please show your support and your appreciation to JTM Food Group.

As you know, with our country under control by the "other side", many companies who support the dignity of life (from the womb to the tomb), or support other causes that our leaders do not respect, are under attack. They need our prayers and support.
Here's a link to their mission statement and their website. Please let them know they are appreciated.
http://www.jtmfoodgroup.com/missionstatement.asp

Thanks and God Bless!

Government raids strike a controversial chord

2011-09-30T03:41:00.000-07:00

Don't think that this can't happen to each and every one of us under this administration.
We need to get the bums out of our political system.

.....and yes, I was a Gibson owner for 20 years and they are the best.

Russ Jones and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 8/31/2011 8:55:00 AM

The legendary guitar manufacturer Gibson was recently raided by the U.S. Department of Justice. On Wednesday, August 24, heavily armed agents from the federal agency executed four search warrants on Gibson's facilities in Nashville and Memphis in what some are calling an extreme abuse of power.

Reports claim Gibson is violating the Lacey Act with its guitars produced from rosewood and mahogany imported from India that are crafted by American workers in U.S. facilities. The intent of the law combats trafficking in "illegal" wildlife, fish, and plants, but Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz tells OneNewsNow that the company has been using the wood for years.
"We have letters from a very high-level government agency in India that says that this product was allowable export," he notes. "And in fact, we have been buying the same product for well over 17 years, regularly."

This is the second such raid in two years where Gibson employees were evacuated and computers and pallets of wood were confiscated. Gibson reports no charges have been filed from that 2009 raid, and that the government still holds the company's property.
Meanwhile, competitor C.F. Martin & Company uses the same wood product, but has not endured similar investigations. "Wood that we are buying is being bought by other companies in the industry, and they have not had any kind of action -- not so much as a letter or a postcard," states Juszkiewicz.

In addition to questions about application of the Lacey Act, some are voicing concern about possible political intimidation. Chris Martin IV, CEO of the Martin guitar company, is a long-time Democratic supporter, donating tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates. In contrast, Juszkiewicz has a long history of supporting Republican candidates.
In an interview with The Daily News in Memphis earlier this week, Juszkiewicz stated: "The federal bureaucracy is just out of hand. And it seems to be there's almost a class warfare of companies versus people, rich versus poor, Republicans versus Democrats .... We feel totally abused. We feel the arrogance of federal power is impacting me personally, our company personally, and the employees here in Tennessee -- and it's just plain wrong."
Juszkiewicz argues that the U.S. Lacey Act is only applicable when a foreign law has been violated. He believes his company is innocent of any wrongdoing.
(and now the hypocrisy)......
In April 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama presented France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, with a Gibson guitar as a gift. The Gibson "Hummingbird" acoustic guitar's construction incorporates mahogany and rosewood from India.

Please pray for our country and for a good political "change".

Irena Sendler

2011-09-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you have seen an email going around concerning Irena Sendler, if not, here it is in a nutshell.
Thanks to my mother-in-law for sending me this.

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena.

During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in theWarsaw ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist.
She had an 'ulterior motive'.
She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews (being German).
Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids).
She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.
During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.
She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family.

Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize.

She was not selected.

President Obama won one year before becoming President for his work as a community organizer for ACORN and Al Gore won also--- for a slide show on Global Warming.

MY PERSONAL COMMENTS;
For some time now I have lost respect for the Nobel Peace Prize. Really it is just recognition for man's glory anyway and we all know that mans ways are not Gods way.
Anyway, let me clarify the situation;
What's it about?----The goal of the Nobel Peace Prize is to award people who "have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

Since World War II, the Peace Prize has principally been awarded to honour efforts in four main areas: arms control and disarmament, peace negotiation, democracy and human rights, and work aimed at creating a better organized and more peaceful world.

........so with that being said, let's see how these people compare;

PRESIDENT OBAMA---community organizer? Me thinks not...he cannot even get the branches of government under him to come together on any issue. He's pro-abortion and anti Christian....you know because those bad Christians are "intolerant".
ACORN---you know that "friendly" community agency, a favorite of Obama's, that has been convicted in multiple voter-fraud cases and may have concealed fraud by destroying or failing to produce records, an investigation concluded. They have also been video taped physically attacking voters and people that question their motives.
......so much for that whole "creating a better organized and more peaceful world."

AL GORE----as far as the whole "global warming" issue goes check out this site http://www.globalwarminglies.com/index.html

most of us with eyes and ears and are not easily fooled by the liberal media can see this boohokey.

Irena Sendler---saved 2500 or more children from the Holocaust (among a host of other works of mercy).

Now, looking at the candidates, who would you vote for?

The Nobel Peace Prize name should be changed to For Nobel Liberal Lies.

Discerning a vocation to religious life?

2011-09-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

We recommend our friends over at http://knightsofthesacredhearts.blogspot.com/

A New Community of Men Dedicated to Evangelizing and Catechizing Families and Promoting the Dignity of Human Life.

They are very faithful and holy priests and I'm sure that all those graces are going to flow over into their new community.
We wish you all the best Father Dan and Father James!!!!!!!!!

S&P Target of Justice Department Investigation into Mortgage Ratings

2011-08-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

Standard & Poor's is the target of a Justice Department investigation into whether it improperly inflated the ratings of dozens of mortgage securities, The New York Times is reporting. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/18/business/us-inquiry-said-to-focus-on-s-p-ratings.html?_r=1&hp

The U.S Government investigates a business that makes our credit approval rating (and president Obama) look bad?

No way!!!!!!

Didn't see that one coming, huh?

Where was the investigation when our own president lowered his own countries rating with the world by
calling American arrogant and dismissive?
"Instead of celebrating our dynamic union, and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there has been times when America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive."--- President Obama 2009 speech in France

Americans surely aren't that ignorant are they?

Surely everyone can see that Obama and his gang have nothing to lose now and are going to roll over anyone that tries to stand in their way (aka --tells the truth).

I am all for investigating anyone who bad mouths the great USA, the greatest country ever...but, let's make sure that we don't "put the fox in charge of the hen house".

New DVD set

2011-08-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

It would be nice to be able to talk our parishes into getting this for their libraries,catechists classes or just for enjoyable and inspirational viewing….

http://www.wordonfire.org/WOF-Store/Catholicism/Catholicism-DVD-Box-Set.aspx

Child-like apologetics

2011-07-29T04:48:00.000-07:00

"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18;3

I have been trying to wrap my head around a new apologetic style that has infiltrated my brain.
Teaching/defending the faith by asking questions like a little child.

When a child wishes to know something, they ask, why this…why that…why….why….why…..till they get to the root of the matter (or drive you crazy).

I think if we can get people to that place in their heart, their mind, their emotions….the source of their unbelief or unreasonableness; they can truly be liberated and free to hear and reason the Truth.

As long as they have an attachment to whatever made their perspective personal, they may never see beyond their world into the galaxy of Truth.
Of course getting them to that point is a monumental effort.

After some debate at a recent family function, I had some thoughts on the conversation. Of course, I can never think of these things when I really need to, only after the fact.
This is not exactly how the conversation went, but it is a close facsimile.

Individual #1---You don't think women should have a "choice...?"
Sweet pro-lifer---“A choice between what?”….killing a baby or not killing a baby?”

When she made that “choice”, God privileged her with the opportunity to be a part of creating (procreation) a human body, with an eternal soul.

A soul that will be around forever. A soul that will either go to Heaven or Hell.
A soul that she (and the father) is responsible for…..

Now, of course there is always someone who will debate based on the fact of rape or some other forced pregnancy but that is for another day.

But to be child-like, we should ask, why do you think she has a “choice”?
Who gave her the choice to take a human life and soul?
Is that baby only hers?...it takes 2 to tango. What if the guy doesn’t want the baby aborted?
Does the baby have a “choice” in the matter?
Why do you think it is alright to kill an embryo (baby), but it is not alright to club a baby seal, or kill a whale or throw a puppy out of a moving vehicle?
Why do you have a moral law within you?
If you believe there is a God, what God do you believe in?

Of course this is just a very rough and quickly thought through series of questions, but if you continue to ask the person “why” on whatever the issue of the day may be, whether abortion, Church teachings, Euthanasia; I think we will find the root cause of their unreasonableness and it will probably be something personal that has happened to them or someone they know and love.
….but, with child-like confidence, if we trust in the Lord, and ask the right questions, the Truth shall set them free.

Please feel free to leave suggestions (or concerns) in my child-like apologetics thought process.

My thinking after the fact---The woman had a “choice” (under normal circumstances), whether or not to engage in the act that causes her to become pregnant. She (under normal circumstances) knows that there is a chance of becoming pregnant. She made that “choice”, and now there is a human life conceived. A human life not only consists of a mind and body, but also a soul.

Why homosexual behavior should be against the law

2011-07-28T06:15:00.000-07:00

February 3, 2010
Why homosexual behavior should be against the law
By Bryan Fischer

I received a phone call this morning from a reporter for NBC Action News in Kansas City by the name of Josh Luch. He contacted me in response to my blog entry of last Friday, in which I suggested that it is proper for our culture to impose legal sanctions on homosexual behavior for health reasons alone.

The leftwing blogosphere has virtually lost its mind in response to my Friday post. Many of them falsely accused me of saying that I wanted all homosexuals to be locked up, and the response of many of these voices of tolerance was to declare that they wanted me locked up instead and locked away from civil society so my voice would be silenced.
Josh asked for some more information from me, regarding my position, including links to relevant FDA and CDC websites, and below is the email I wrote to Josh this morning.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Josh,

Thanks for contacting me for clarification, and demonstrating journalistic integrity by reading my blog entry for yourself rather than forming your judgment based on what the left wing blogs have claimed I said.

I nowhere in my blog said we should lock homosexuals up in prison. What I said is that our public policy toward homosexual conduct should be the same as our public policy toward intravenous drug abuse.

My position is that homosexual behavior represents a severe threat to public health, and is even more dangerous to human health than intravenous drug abuse. Because of the health risks involved, curtailing homosexual behavior should be as much a public policy concern as curtailing intravenous drug abuse.

FDA: "Men who have sex with other men ... are currently deferred as blood donors"

The Food and Drug Administration is hardly a part of the vast right-wing conspiracy, and is not the research arm of the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, or Focus on the Family. Yet the FDA will not allow a male to donate blood if he has had sex with another male even one single solitary time since 1977.
Why? For the simple reason that the FDA cannot afford to adopt political correct postures with regard to homosexual behavior because it is entrusted with protecting the purity of the nation's blood supply. They understand that to allow homosexuals to donate blood is to put the nation's health at risk.

The FDA states quite explicitly that "male-to-male sex is associated with an increased risk for the presence of and transmission of certain infectious diseases, including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS."
In fact, the FDA goes on to state a staggering fact: men who have had sex with men since 1977 have an "HIV prevalence" that is "60 times higher than the general population, 800 times higher than first time blood donors and 8000 times higher than repeat blood donors."

And further cementing my argument, the FDA will not allow "intravenous drug abusers" to donate blood either, for exactly the same reason: "Intravenous drug abusers are excluded from giving blood because they have prevalence rates of HIV, HBV, HCV and HTLV that are much higher than the general population."

The FDA flatly declares that this policy is not discriminatory, since it "is based on the documented increased risk of certain transfusion transmissible infections, associated with male-to-male sex and is not based on any judgment concerning the donor's sexual orientation."

I argue that my position, since it is identical with the FDA's, is no more "discriminatory" than theirs.

CDC: At least 60% of HIV/AIDS victims are men who have sex with men. The Centers for Disease Control is likewise not a part of the vast right wing conspiracy, nor is it the research arm of the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, or Focus on the Family.

On its website, you will find a page devoted to "Basic Statistics," and one set of statistics has to do with the total number of persons who have received an AIDS diagnosis from the beginning of the epidemic through 2007, the last year for which information is available.

The CDC's own statistics indicate that, among males, over 60% of the victims of AIDS over the entire course of the epidemic acquired the disease through "male-to-male sexual contact."

The next highest risk category was "injection drug use," through which just under 22% acquired AIDS.

The third category consists of those who engaged both in male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use, meaning the CDC could not assign transmission definitely to either category, and this category represents just under 9% of all AIDS cases. A miniscule 8% acquired the disease through "high risk heterosexual contact."

The bottom line here is that "male-to-male sexual contact" is far and away the riskiest kind of behavior for contracting AIDS, and IV drug abuse is a distant second. When you add these two categories together, a staggering 91% — 91%! — of all AIDS sufferers acquired the disease either through homosexual behavior or shooting up with drugs.

The neutral observer must conclude that homosexual behavior is extremely risky, dangerous and unhealthy, and represents an even greater risk to public health than intravenous drug abuse. This is highlighted by the fact that male homosexuals comprise perhaps 2-4% of the American population.

It is obvious, then, from the information gained from the FDA and the CDC that homosexual behavior represents and enormous threat to public health. Quite simply, if intravenous drug use is against the law, homosexual behavior should be too. It's a simple matter of common sense, sound public policy, and a concern for public health.

Now once we have agreed that we have a serious health problem on our hands here, the best public policy will contain the same kind of sanctions toward homosexual behavior that we have established toward intravenous drug abuse. Whatever we think we should do to curtail injection drug use are the same sorts of things we should pursue to curtail homosexual conduct. And that's the place for the discussion to begin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below the excerpts you will find the link to the FDA website. Here are relevant excerpts from the FDA website:
What is FDA's policy on blood donations from men who have sex with other men (MSM)?
Men who have had sex with other men, at any time since 1977 (the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the United States) are currently deferred as blood donors. This is because MSM are, as a group, at increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and certain other infections that can be transmitted by transfusion.

Why doesn't FDA allow men who have had sex with men to donate blood?

A history of male-to-male sex is associated with an increased risk for the presence of and transmission of certain infectious diseases, including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. FDA's policy is intended to protect all people who receive blood transfusions from an increased risk of exposure to potentially infected blood and blood products.

The deferral for men who have had sex with men is based on the following considerations regarding risk of HIV:
Men who have had sex with men since 1977 have an HIV prevalence (the total number of cases of a disease that are present in a population at a specific point in time) 60 times higher than the general population, 800 times higher than first time blood donors and 8000 times higher than repeat blood donors (American Red Cross). Even taking into account that 75% of HIV infected men who have sex with men already know they are HIV positive and would be unlikely to donate blood, the HIV prevalence in potential donors with history of male sex with males is 200 times higher than first time blood donors and 2000 times higher than repeat blood donors.

Men who have had sex with men account for the largest single group of blood donors who are found HIV positive by blood donor testing.

Are there other donors who have increased risks of HIV or other infections who, as a result, are also excluded from donating blood?

Intravenous drug abusers are excluded from giving blood because they have prevalence rates of HIV, HBV, HCV and HTLV that are much higher than the general population.
http://www.fda.gov/biologicsbloodvaccines/bloodbloodproducts/questionsaboutblood/ucm108186.htm

CDC website on HIV statistics by mode of transmission:
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm

Bryan Fischer
Director of Issues Analysis and host of "Focal Point"

American Family Association
© Bryan Fischer

Campus Crusade for who?

2011-07-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

I just heard the news today that Campus Crusade for Christ was dropping the "Christ" from their name.
You can read the details here;
http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/22/campus-crusade-for-christ-adopts-a-more-sensitive-name/.

First they take God our of the classrooms.
Then they take God out of some funerals.
They are always trying to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance.
They are taking Christ out of Christmas little by little.

Now our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are taking Him out of secular society so as not to offend anyone.

I understand that there is more to it than just that, but....give me a break!

I could understand maybe taking the word "crusade" for Christ out because of the blot on Christianity it is associated with. Although I doubt any kids these days have even heard of the Crusades much less know the history of them.

This is just another blow from satan to take any reference to God, Christ and Church from our culture, from our society.

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. on Catholic homeschooling

2011-07-20T06:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Education.htm

Aricles like these make you wonder why some parishes give homeschooling families such grief.
I will put my kids religious education up against any of the kids in CCD or our local Catholic schools.
I don't say that in a prideful way, but truthfully and sincerely.

The Screwtape Letters (part V)

2011-07-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

Our business is to get them away from the eternal, and from the Present. With this in view, we sometimes tempt a human (say a widow or a scholar) to live in the Past. But this is of limited value, for they have some real knowledge of the past and it has a determinate nature and, to that extent, resembles eternity. .It is far better to make them live in the Future....Biological necessity makes all their passions point in that direction already, so that thought about the Future inflames hope and fear.

Hope and fear. That is what brought about the most pro-choice and anti-American president this nation has ever had.....at least for those whom were really concerned voters and not just those cultural voters who wanted to be a part of history and be able to say "I helped elect the 1st African American president".

Hope is good if it is used in the framework of Christianity. Faith, hope and love; the theological virtues. Hope is bad if it based solely upon man's own doings. I think many people are feeling the sting of this principle after the last presidential election.

They were promised false hopes, then when their hopes were dashed, they were more anxious and hopeless about the future than ever.

The forces of evil know mankind's weak nature and uses it against us. We have reasons to hope and reasons to fear; both rational and irrational.

The Holy Spirit was sent to us to guide us, to help us discern these matters so we may be rational people making rational decisions.

Hope in the Lord and you can never go wrong.

If (or should I say when) we make mistakes, we should not dwell on them. We can learn from them, but not despair from them.

16) Surely you know that if a man can't be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighbourhood looking for the church that "suits" him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches.

This sounds very familiar.
Ever since some of Jesus's disciples departed from Him during His "bread of life" discourse (John 6;66) and the jealousy and rivalry of the followers of St.Paul and Apollos, there has been nomadic Catholics (or cafeteria Catholics) that only like to follow certain priests or teachings.
Granted, there are some priests that are more pious or traditional, or are better homeliest than others. I myself prefer "old school", in your face, teachers of the faith. BUT, we cannot forget the real reason for attending Mass. The Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. No matter how bad the homily is, no matter how wishy-washy Father may be; no matter how bad you think the idea's of your parish council may be,
we still can receive all the graces of Mass and the Eucharist.
There are many, many other issues that I could mention concerning the weaknesses of mankind, but the teachings of the Church has never wavered. That fact is what should bring unity among us all and encourage us all to take our faith and our Church more seriously.
As Archbishop Sheen wrote in "Life of Christ".....
"How holy must the Church be before you will enter into it?"

17) The contemptuous way in which you spoke of gluttony as a means of catching souls, in your last letter, only shows your ignorance. One of the great, achievements of the last hundred years has been to deaden the human conscience on that subject, so that by now you will hardly find a sermon preached or a conscience troubled about it in the whole length and breadth of Europe. This has largely been effected by concentrating all our efforts on gluttony of Delicacy, not gluttony of Excess.

At first this seemed strange to me. I always thought of gluttony as excess...eating or drinking too much or hording. After reading this chapter though, I realized that I have seen gluttony of delicacy in my own life and that of others.

I am not sure if I can do this subject justice, so please read this chapter in full to better understand.
Sometimes it's not the quantity we want, but just getting things OUR way.
I call that the Burger King lifestyle....have it YOUR way as their slogan goes.
It's really just the same issue as normal in our society...relativism...it's all about YOU and YOUR way of thinking, YOUR choice.--------Gluttony of yourself.

The other thing I noticed that satan is secretly doing here, is getting us to think we are doing good, but we are really damaging our souls in another way. It is like looking directly at the sun; you can see it's radiance and beauty, but secretly you are damaging your eyes.
We may think we are sinless, but in reality, we may be committing a larger sin.
....or as Screwtape puts it--"keep your man in a condition of false spirituality".
I find this as one of the most common fallacies in Christianity; to think that just because you go to church, or just because you are a "good person", you are in good standing with the Lord.
If you are comparing your "goodness" to that of other people in the world, you are putting your soul in great jeopardy. You should be comparing, or should I say, striving to achieve the goodness of Jesus, imitating Him and conforming your will to His.

Feeding the poor locally

2011-06-17T05:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we helped out at a local soup kitchen. This isn’t something we do often but I believe it is a work that everyone should experience at least once in their lives (although I bet if you do it once, you will be back again).

I don’t think the homeless situation in our town is near that of others, but it is amazing seeing the group that came this day.
Some were dressed decently, some were not.
Some were cheerful, some were not.
Some would talk to you, some seemed that they would rather not speak.

There were young and old alike. The amount of 20 to 30 year olds (in my estimation) was rather high as well as the 50-60 year olds.

The most heart wrenching was seeing a young boy, probably not older than 15 come through the line. I looked over at my 2 sons who were with me (8+13) and then back at the boy in line and couldn’t imagine them in his shoes. It’s one of those moments when you just want to take the child home with you and make a better life for him.
There was also an older lady there whom ate and then just laid her weary head on the table and fell asleep.
It had been unbearably hot earlier in the week and I am sure that had something to do with it.

The most interesting person that I talked to (more like listened to), was a gentleman, probably in his 50’s or 60’s, using a rolling walker and was pretty cheerful.
He had very eloquent speech and was knowledgeable of the city. He claimed that his father was mayor back in the 1940’s and that he himself had owned a business in town. I don’t know how much, if any of it was true, but just listening to him talk, one could tell that he has had some education.
He never got around to telling how he got to be homeless and I wasn’t brazen enough to ask although I am always wondering about those things.

As the work day ended, one of the regular workers there commented how well things went and how cheerful and upbeat the homeless were that day (evidently things are not always as easy going as they seemed to me to be).
He said that the work crew today was very joyful (and they were) in serving and doing God’s work and in just reaching out to those less fortunate. Not only serving food, but in listening to, talking to, and loving those whom came to eat. He said that the joy radiated from the workers was felt by the homeless and in turn helped them, if just for the moment, to feel the joy and love of Christ.

While I was reluctant to go at first due to the mountain of work I had to do at home, I was glad that I had the experience of God, of love….I think it was Mother Teresa that said “where there is love, there is God.

‘Holy Dads’ of Hollywood | Fathers for Good

2011-06-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

‘Holy Dads’ of Hollywood Fathers for Good

2011-05-24T06:11:00.000-07:00

While I wasn't going to comment on this since it was just so ignorant, I was invoked to speak up after reading this article. This isn't the whole article, but only the beginning of it.
We all know that the day and the time of the end of the world will not be known to any of us. Jesus already warned us of that.
We also know that the end of time (on this earth) can be different for us all; you could die tomorrow, I could die next week, ect....

But what I really want to focus on is the comment in this article: By his own reading of Bible, which was slightly different than Camping's, Fitzgerald expected the great worldwide event to begin at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.

THIS is the crux of the matter. THIS is what gives Christianity a bad image. People inturpting the bible on their own. The bible is not up to our own inturpatations. We should read the bible of course, and let the Holy Spirit speak to us in our own hearts, but we should never proclaim our own inturptations upon Scriptures.
We have a Church that was started by the One who is the Word. The Catholic Church.
He gave authority to those whom He choose, whom He gave authority to hand down the traditions of His truths. If anyone other than those appointed, are proclaiming so called "truths", they are leading you away from Him and as we can see from so many times, if you don't have the Truth in your life, you will not find
peace in your life. You will continue to be swayed by every false prohet that comes along.

(Reuters) - With no sign of Judgment Day arriving on Saturday as forecast by an 89 year-old California evangelical broadcaster, followers were faced with trying to make sense of his failed pronouncement. Harold Camping, the former civil engineer who heads the Family Radio Network of Christian stations, had been unwavering in his message that believers would be swept to heaven on May 21.
His Oakland, California-based network broadcasts over 66 U.S. stations and through international affiliates. With the help of supporters it posted at least 2,000 billboards around the United States warning of the Judgment Day.
In New York, retired transportation agency worker Robert Fitzpatrick was inspired by Camping's message to spend over $140,000 of his savings on subway posters and outdoor advertisements warning of the May 21 Judgment Day.
As he stood in Times Square in New York surrounded by onlookers, Fitzpatrick, 60, carried a Bible and handed out leaflets as he waited for Judgment Day to begin.

By his own reading of Bible, which was slightly different than Camping's, Fitzgerald expected the great worldwide event to begin at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.

When the hour came and went, he said: "I do not understand why ...," as his speech broke off and he looked at his watch. "I do not understand why nothing has happened."
Camping, who previously made a failed prediction Jesus Christ would return to Earth in 1994, had said doomsday would begin at 6 p.m. in the various time zones around the globe.

The Lord has risen, Alleluia!

2011-05-03T06:01:00.000-07:00

I have just realized what a slacker I truly am….I had nothing posted for Easter, the most important feast in the Church.
How can a Catholic blog totally ignore Easter?

Not that we didn’t celebrate it, we had our Easter baskets and Easter egg hunt (I am betting that those chickens are madder than wet hens about their eggs being stolen by a bunny rabbit).

OK, so Easter has lost some of it’s meaning in the secular world. Those of us whom have children find it hard not to do the whole “Easter bunny” celebration.

We also have a hard time not being gluttonous after our fast and abstinence. When you give up sweets for Lent, then have mountains of chocolate within reach on the day after Lent, there will surely be an opportunity for the sin of gluttony.

We have to make sure though that the secular celebration does not over-shadow the true “reason for the season”.

We try to make sure we are at as many Stations of the Cross devotions, confession evenings, and Divine Mercy celebrations as we are able. We have our own personal abstinence choices and we try to "do" some works for others. We also try to pray more and say some Novena's.
Of course Easter cannot be complete without celebrating in our parish all the Triduum services and the Easter vigil Mass which may seem long and drawn out (especially those with toddlers) but what better way to celebrate Jesus’ life, death and resurrection than to welcome our new brothers and sisters into the Church and also offer up ourselves; our time, our sufferings, our burdens with Jesus’ sufferings upon the Cross.

Our 2yr old daughter wanted to “go swimming” with our parish priest in the Holy font after witnessing the Baptisms…..but unfortunately he denied with her request.
What a hoot!

You can’t see the joy on a child’s face on Easter morning, until you endure the suffering of your wallet in the Easter section of Wal-Mart.
Joy comes after the suffering.
You can’t have a rainbow without the rain.
You can’t have the resurrection without the cross.

Just as in the octave of Christmas, we should not forget “the reason for the season”.

Christ has risen, He has risen indeed!

My thoughts on the man with many possessions...

2011-04-18T05:57:00.000-07:00

( Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30)

In the parable of the rich young man, one of the things that came to me was the fact that he seemed to have it all; Money, power, goodness…but yet he still was searching for more. It goes to show that we can “have it all” and still not be satisfied until we totally surrender to God.

My other thought, which is probably way off base, stems from the phrase concerning a persons questioning;
“intent is prior to content”.
What really did the young man want?
Of course, as with us all, he was in search of the Truth; we all have that longing deep in our hearts. But, did he also want what he didn’t have just for the sake of possessing more? Possessing that which he didn’t have and couldn’t obtain by his own accord. Was he spiritually poor or did he have an avarice, greed or pride problem?

2011-03-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

It seems like everyone around me (including myself) has been in a depressed-like funk lately.
I am not sure if it is just because it has been a long dreary winter or what, but it is touching lives like I’ve never seen before.

I also have noticed that a lot of us are not only turning to God for help, but there seems to be a lot of interest in books and MP3 talks that we are turning to in search of relief.
Some are relying on the classics, but others are delving into modern books on the power of positive thinking and interior strength which sadly to say are written mostly by new agers.
Those thieves of souls in sheep’s clothing.

I know for myself, all the good Catholic books I have read and all the talks I have listened to have done very little for my spiritual being (or at least the immediate results).
It seems that the new agers and their books are giving some people hope, only to let them down again…much like a certain president who promised “hope” and has let is voters down.

We are searching for some “quick fix”, something to change our lives and clear us from the “funk” we are in, but I think this verse in Jeremiah tells us what our problem is;

Jeremiah
Chapter 17

7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.

8 He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.

9 More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?

10 I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, To reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds.

We tend to let our feelings, emotions, principles and our heart guide us in our lives, but as in
Jeremiah, our hearts are tortured and it is beyond us to be able to figure it out.
Only God knows what’s in our hearts, so Him alone should we be asking for help and guidance.

Books and talks can inspire us to look at ourselves, but only God can make us want to change;
our wills can be stong but remembering that God, at his weakest is still stronger than our wills are at their greatest.

Maybe God is giving us a little more suffering during Lent so we can offer it up. Maybe the words Saint Augustine wrote can give us some more insight;

“Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in you.”

Steelers Nation Essay

2011-03-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

The following was written by a friend of mine in an editoral section of a Pittsburgh newspaper.
It was written before the Steelers lost the superbowl, but the content of it makes us all winners.

By Mark Fassio

One of your recent contributors talked about how she met total

strangers who ended up bonding with her because of a Pittsburgh

connection. As a former military officer who’s traveled worldwide, I

can attest to that fact.

I have seen the Terrible Towel in every location from the Berlin Wall

to Monterey Bay, and there’s usually a Pittsburgh accent attached to

the twirler. Each chance encounter with a stranger creates an

almost-instant friendship strictly because of the black-and-gold

connection; it is the ultimate icebreaker.

Here in north-central Kentucky and the surrounding Ohio/Indiana border

area — a mere 50 miles from Cincinnati — the supposedly second-largest

Steelers fan base outside of Pittsburgh has entrenched itself.

During a soccer game, a man noticed my Steelers apparel and we began

talking. Turns out he was a former classmate of my wife, who is from
Shaler. After 30 years, a random observance and a chance comment

reunited high school chums.

A Steelers bar in the local area had a collection of expatriate yinzers

one Sunday, and it turned out that one of them went to Kiski Area High

School with my cousin oh-so-many years ago; small world, indeed.

And the high school I teach in is a hotbed of Pittsburgh fandom. The

students are enthralled to know that my cousin, Eric Ravotti, played

for the Steelers in the 1990s. In our family, if you don’t become a

priest, being associated with the Steelers is the second-best honorable

career.

The biggest kick I get out of the Pittsburgh connection is going to

Mass every Sunday. There are three other Pittsburgh families who go to

our church, Immaculate Conception Parish. (Coincidence? I think not.

Calling Franco Harris!)

Each week the locals notice our three different Steelers jackets, all

clustered in one small pew area. We’ve become fast friends all because

we wear the same colors, holding game parties at each others’ houses

over the years.

And I have to admit that religion has helped the team over the years.

During Super Bowl XL five years ago, I took in my Terrible Towel and

asked the priest to bless it. I mean, heck, St Francis blessed animals,

so why not some fabric?

He politely refused and said he’d bless me instead. But I waited for

everyone to leave, and afterward dunked it in the baptismal font. We

already know the outcome of that game.

I did the same to my wife’s new towel right before SB XLIII against the

Cardinals (that holy water works pretty well), and have the font in my

sights this weekend as well for new towel No. 3.

And it’s not only holy water that works, but fire as well. I light two

candles after Mass every week: one for my family and one for the

Steelers. When they were down 21-7 to Baltimore, I found my St. Jude

prayer card (the patron saint of hopeless and despaired-of causes) and

pledged that I’d light every candle in the sanctuary the next day if

the Steelers pulled it out.

Thirty dollars and three burned fingers later, I stand testament to the

belief that all the powers of heaven are, indeed, Steelers fans, and

that The Chief put in a few good words to The Man Upstairs.

You lucky ones who still live in Western Pennsylvania have no idea of

the empty spot we expatriates carry in us.

Each shot of Heinz Field and the towels twirling brings a mist to my

eyes because we’re not there. Each year I count the days until I truly

come back home and, like long-suffering Browns fans, I always seem to

say, "Wait till next year." Count yourself fortunate, friends.

God bless the Steelers, and God bless us, each and every fan.

The least of these

2011-03-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.---Matthew 25;40

I don't want to take this Scripture verse out of context, but I believe that this can be expanded on.
Jesus, of course, was speaking of the poor, the homeless, the naked, the imprisoned....the social injustices in the world around us.
We ARE our brothers keepers, and Jesus wanted to emphasize this.

In today's culture, we still (as Jesus said) have the poor with us. We are still responsible for treating those so-called "dregs" of society with dignity and respect. We are still responsible for trying to house, cloth and feed them.

In today's culture, I can think of another of "the least of these" brothers and sisters.

I am talking about the unborn and preborn babies that are dying at the hands of so called physicians.

The unborn actually have less rights than the poor or imprisoned. In our society, they are not considered a "person"; their "person hood" has not been established (at least in a court of law).
Those of us who have opened our hearts and minds to Gods words know better.

The don't just get put into prison, a second chance or a homeless shelter.

So, much like Jesus, who came to this earth as the "least of these" (in the form of a babe), our society has certainly done unto the unborn as the people of His day done for Him.

Death is not the end, but we need to pray for an end to the death of the unborn.
We can also do our part, please visit; http://www.40daysforlife.com/blog/

The Screwtape Letters revisted (part IV)

2011-02-23T05:49:00.001-08:00

12) He must not be allowed to suspect that he is now, however slowly, heading right away from the sun on a line which will carry him into the cold and dark of utmost space.
For this reason I am almost glad to hear that he is still a churchgoer and a communicant. I know there are dangers in this; but anything is better than that he should realise the break it has made with the first months of his Christian life. As long as he retains externally the habits of a Christian he can still be made to think of himself as one who has adopted a few new friends and amusements but whose spiritual state is much the same as it was six weeks ago. And while he thinks that, we do not have to contend with the explicit repentance of a definite, fully recognised, sin, but only with his vague, though uneasy, feeling that he hasn't been doing very well lately.

As people start their Christian walk in life and become content with their new found happiness there comes a time when Satan throws those forks in the road. The forks which are subtle, yet can lead us down the wrong path.
The tendency is to become a "Sunday Christian" or a "Cafeteria Catholic"; "I'm a good person" attitude and that is well enough, even though on the inside we having feelings and opposition to Gods laws and Church teachings.

Just as "the angels in Heaven rejoice over one repentant sinner" (Luke 15;10), the fallen angels rejoice whenever they take the soul of a luke warm Christian.

We are sinners and we are going to fall from time to time, but when we lose the reverence to all that is Holy and become "content" sinners, unrepentant sinners, the devil still has a chance of taking us to the pit with him.

If you lock God in a closet, you don't have to face him, or so you tell your self.

"I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked". The Christians describe the Enemy as one "without whom Nothing is strong". And Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man's best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them, in drumming of fingers and kicking of heels, in whistling tunes that he does not like, or in the long, dim labyrinth of reveries that have not even lust or ambition to give them a relish, but which, once chance association has started them, the creature is too weak and fuddled to shake off.

You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing.

This reminds me of the saying "idle hands are the devils workshop".

Much like kids (and some adults) today; they either have a lot of free time to spare or they claim that "there's just nothing to do".

We used to use that phrase a lot when I was a kid, the only problem was that we would find something to do and it was usually something bad.

I think that this is the problem with kids growing up too fast; you have to always find something to occupy their hands and minds quicker. Nothing seems to satisfy, and as modern children grow up with more of the "luxuries" in life, the simple pleasures seem boring to them. A board game becomes just that...a "board" game...they grow board of it quickly, unlike the sights and sounds of a video game.

If we are not vigilant in filling our kids hands and minds, be sure Satan will.

The second paragraph reminds us that venial sins can be just as bad as mortal sins if we continue to let them pile up. One bad habit can lead to an addiction.

The addiction to sin can only be cured by prayer, reconciliation and penance. (and Gods Grace)

13) The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring twopence what other people say about it, is by that very fact fore-armed against some of our subtlest modes of attack. You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favour of the "best" people, the "right" food, the "important" books.

God has placed before us a real world with real pains and real pleasures. In their right order (in a way that gives glory or acknowledgement to God), material possessions, passions and feelings
can be "good for the soul".

These worldly things can lead us to spiritual things (not new age spiritual, but Holy spiritual).

People in these days have a tendency to "go with the flow" and in most cases, they get washed downstream. We have the freedom to like and dislike things in this world, but it seems that people are more concerned with their "image" so they are driven to what the rest of society deems good whether it is good for them or not.

There is only One who is good...that is God.

We are made in His image, and that is the only image we should strive for.

14) Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, "By jove! I'm being humble", and almost immediately pride—pride at his own humility—will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt—and so on, through as many stages as you please.

Virtues, as great as they are, and as much as we want to gain them, can be used against us. We can succumb to false humility, or false pride. The virtuous person should be more aware of Gods blessings in their lives than by concentrating on how to obtain the virtues themselves. God has given us the virtues to glorify him and to bless others, not so we will feel more or less better about ourselves.

The Screwtape Letters revisited (Part III)

2011-02-08T05:51:00.000-08:00

9) All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy (God) has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula. It is more certain; and it's better style. To get the man's soul and give him nothing in return—that is what really gladdens our Father's (Satan) heart. And the troughs are the time for beginning the process.

There is a lot of unsatisfied, unfulfilled lives today which causes people to become depressed. They then seek to find satisfaction and fulfillment in pleasures (especially those of the flesh). They want internal happiness but try to obtain it through external pleasures which any true disciple of Christ will tell you won't work. True happiness comes from inside.

God has given us pleasures of the senses to come to know Him, love Him and serve Him. If we use those pleasures for anything other than that, then we are turning our back on the Creator of all that is good. We lose focus on the internal and focus more on the external.

This also works in Satan's favor when times are not good.

Death, illness, marriage problems, financial hardship, job loss, war and just when you are having a bad day can bring in the tempter.
Satan (the father of lies) will make you think things will be better with a little alcohol or drugs (even prescription drugs). Pleasures of the flesh or a spending spree or a trip to get away from it all, that's what he will tell you that will make you happy. No matter how far away from your troubles you may move to, unless you take care of what is going on inside you, the troubles will still be there.
Satan will offer you those idea's of pleasure, but give you nothing in return but more problems.
SEEK NOT THAT WHICH CAN BE SEEN, SEEK THAT WHICH CANNOT BE SEEN.

10) All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be.

Humans by their nature are social beings. God calls us to love Him, but also to love our fellow mankind.
It is not easy to love your enemy; but even harder sometimes may be seeing those whom you like as your enemy.

What am I trying to say???

There are people we may truly love, especially family members and close friends, that are not good for our spiritual health.

They may have different beliefs, idea's or world views that are not Christ centered. They may let their feelings or stubbornness (pride) stand between them and the truth. They may have sin in their lives that clouds their minds.
If we spend a lot of time with these people, there is a chance we may start thinking like them or agreeing with them, or just not saying anything which is just as good as agreeing with them.

I know I am guilty of not rebuking others out of love for that person, out of charity or just to keep the peace....but, what is the cost of that silence?

If there is someone or a group of "someones" that is causing your faith to be tested, then either try to lead them to the truth or get away from them because your soul is at stake also.

It also works the other way. If someone whom who spends time with you is not a believer or is weak in faith, they can be influenced by your example of living and speaking the Christian way of life.
It is a fine line on which to walk. Ask God to guide you always to good and holy people. Ask God especially on behalf of your children to guide them to good and holy friends.

11) I divide the causes of human laughter into Joy, Fun, the Joke Proper, and Flippancy.
There has been some studies done which strongly suggest that laughter is good for your health. I can see some good in it myself.
There is also a saying that goes "laughter is good for the soul" that is accredited to Proverbs 17;22 but a closer look at that verse in the NAB tells us
"A joyful heart is the health of the body, but a depressed spirit dries up the bones." (Which is why you should be careful about reading modern translations of the bible).
A joyful heart is more than laughter and nowhere does it say that laughter is good for the soul. A depressed person can still laugh and have fun externally, but internally, they are still depressed and their condition is still detrimental to their body and soul.
Here Lewis (or Screwtape) shows us how Satan likes to use humor against us. He shows us that humor can be used to bring forth cruelty, lewdness, lust, pride and many other sins.
Screwtape also tells us that flippancy is the best of all. Flippancy is where every serious subject is discussed in a manner which implies that they have already found a ridiculous side to it. It reminds me of how our culture portrays religion and God in movies, books and sitcoms. They shrug off anything that is virtuous or moral as being too ridiculous to believe. We live in a very flippant world.

HB 255

2011-02-01T07:50:00.000-08:00

Most people would think that it is good for the state or government to make sure school children are learning and keeping up the grades in school. We have many friends and family that are educators and concerned with the level of children's education and care at home.
"No child left behind" is the moniker today. We are all responsible for the most vulnerable people in our communities (and in all the world) and this includes children.
We must do all we can to stop abuse and neglect. Our society is in shambles with broken homes and single parents trying to juggle work and home life. Most parents put education at the bottom of their list and entrust the public schools to help in that area. Some parents don't have a good enough education to be able to help their children even if they had the time to.

But, anytime the government starts wanting to pry into the family homestead without legitimate reasoning, it is bad news.
I noticed the phrase "based on criteria set by the bill".
Who sets the "criteria" and what is their reasoning behind it?......do they have other agenda's or special interests that could hamper their reasoning?

I personally believe that a bill like this leaves the door open for the government to come into your home and take your children away or haul you off to jail, neither of which is going to help matters any.
If you think I am crazy, just look at other countries, most especially China with their 1 child policy. Don't think it can't happen in our country....
We have already seen the effects of legalized abortion and now the USA is teetering on the brink of ObamaCare.
These are perilous times and we better come together to thwart the attack on families.

From http://www.parentalrights.org/

Last Thursday, CNN reported that a Florida legislator has proposed a bill that would have public school teachers issuing a grade to parents. Yes, grading the parents. HB 255 provides that “each prekindergarten through grade 3 student report card shall include a section in which the teacher grades the parental involvement as satisfactory, needs improvement, or unsatisfactory…” based on criteria set by the bill.The whole idea of setting up public schools as overseers of parents is one more sign that American parental rights are in danger. Parents should not have to answer to government agents unless and until there is solid evidence of abuse or neglect on the part of that parent. Giving a grade to every parent clearly violates this constitutional principle.In fact, this bill would espouse the same foundational principle as the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child: assume that all parents are bad parents, and that only government oversight can save our children from parental incompetence.Totalitarian regimes are built on assumed guilt; the nanny state determines which citizens do or do not require their “services.” Florida’s bill would establish a system to do the same. A free nation, on the other hand, operates on the assumption of innocence until proven guilty. Parents do not need government intervention (interference) unless there is proof to the contrary. The Supreme Court has held that “historically, [the law] has recognized that natural bonds of affection lead parents to act in the best interest of their children.” Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584 (1979) Sadly, Florida’s proposed bill recognizes no such thing.We can stop this trend and reestablish the fundamental right of fit parents to direct the upbringing of their children through passage of the Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. If you haven’t already done so, click here to sign the petition at ParentalRights.orgAnd please pass this message on to your family, friends – anyone you know who might share your concern for the future of our American families. If we lose the right to raise our children without constant government oversight, we will lose every other political fight we care about – and we will ultimately lose our children, and our country.But together we can save the future, by protecting these parental rights.
Gratefully,
Michael Ramey, Director of Communications and Research

We keep trying to tell you

2011-01-19T18:52:00.000-08:00

Pro-lifers continue to try to spread the word about the bad "choice" that America has allowed women to make. I pray that someday soon the rest of the US, and the rest of the world will be given the light to see the dangers and inhumanity of the "choice" of abortion.

PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia abortion doctor has been charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a woman patient and seven babies who prosecutors say were born alive and then killed with scissors. The charges against Dr. Kermit Gosnell follow a long grand jury investigation.

District Attorney Seth Williams says state regulators ignored complaints and failed to visit the clinic since 1993. Williams says the women were subjected to squalid and barbaric conditions at Gosnell's Women's Medical Society, which was shut down last year. Gosnell has been named in at least 10 malpractice suits, including one over the death of a woman who died of sepsis and a perforated uterus.

A doctor who gave abortions to minorities, immigrants and poor women in a "house of horrors" clinic was charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a patient and seven babies who were born alive and then killed with scissors, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, made millions of dollars over 30 years, performing as many illegal, late-term abortions as he could, prosecutors said. State regulators ignored complaints about him and failed to inspect his clinic since 1993, but no charges were warranted against them given time limits and existing law, District Attorney Seth Williams said. Nine of Gosnell's employees also were charged.

Gosnell "induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord," Williams said.

Patients were subjected to squalid and barbaric conditions at Gosnell's Women's Medical Society, where Gosnell performed dozens of abortions a day, prosecutors said. He mostly worked overnight hours after his untrained staff administered drugs to induce labor during the day, they said.

Early last year, authorities went to investigate drug-related complaints at the clinic and stumbled on what Williams called a "house of horrors." Bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses "were scattered throughout the building," Williams said. "There were jars, lining shelves, with severed feet that he kept for no medical purpose."

The clinic was shut down and Gosnell's medical license was suspended after the raid.

Gosnell and four workers were charged with murder, while five others were charged with controlled drug violations and other crimes. None of the employees had any medical training, and one, a high school student, performed intravenous anesthesia with potentially lethal narcotics, Williams said.

All 10 defendants were taken into custody, authorities said.

Two listed numbers for Gosnell in Philadelphia have been disconnected. Defense lawyer William J. Brennan, who represented Gosnell during the investigation, noted that the doctor served patients in a low-income city neighborhood for decades. "Obviously, these allegations are very, very serious," Brennan said.

The grand jury said the woman who died was a patient who came to Gosnell's clinic for an abortion and died of cardiac arrest because she was given too much Demerol. Gosnell wasn't at the clinic at the time, but directed his staff to administer the drug to keep the woman, a healthy 41-year-old woman, sedated until he arrived, prosecutors said.

Gosnell has been named in at least 46 malpractice suits, including one over the death of a 22-year-old mother who died of sepsis and a perforated uterus in 2000. Many others also involve perforated uterus's. Gosnell sometimes sewed up the injury without telling women their uteruses had been perforated, prosecutors said.

Gosnell charged $325 for first-trimester abortions and $1,600 to $3,000 for abortions up to 30 weeks. Abortions are legal up to 24 weeks gestation in Pennsylvania, although most doctors won't perform them after 20 weeks, prosecutors said.

Some women came from across the mid-Atlantic for the illegal late-term abortions, authorities said. White women from the suburbs were ushered into a separate, slightly cleaner area because Gosnell believed they were more likely to file complaints, Williams said.

"People knew near and far that if you needed a late-term abortion you could go see Dr. Gosnell," Williams said.

Few if any of the sedated women knew their babies were born alive and then killed, prosecutors said. Many were first-time mothers who were told they were 24 weeks pregnant, even if they were further along, authorities said.
Gosnell got his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and is board certified in family practice. He started, but did not finish, a residency in obstetrics-gynecology, authorities said.

"He does not know how to do an abortion. He's not board certified," Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore said. "Once he got them there, he saw dollar signs and did abortions that other people wouldn't do."----Associated Press

Bah-Humbug or Merry Christmas.....

2010-12-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

I know that I am going to get some flack over this rant, but it is something that I have been thinking hard over.

First off, this is my own thoughts and not that of my family members.

While I admit that I am the first to start buying stuff for myself that I normally wouldn't buy during the rest of the year, I feel more and more that the commercialization of Christmas especially by Christians is not going to fare well on our resume at the Pearly Gates.

There is a struggle in my heart between seeing the delight on my children's faces and the thought of how I am swimming downstream with the "black Friday culture".
Taking Christmas far from it's Christian roots.

We have taken one of the Holiest seasons of the year and made it all about materialism.

Granted, there is some good that comes with this time of the year:

The fore mentioned delight on children's faces on Christmas morning;
the joy of spending time with family and friends that we might not normally see; the fact that some unbelievers might investigate the "reason for the season" and be converted; and even the boost in the economy can be a good thing.
Even the charity that is brought out at Christmas time is admirable although people should be that charitable year around.

Now, I am known as a tightwad (at least in my household) and that figures into my dilemma also. Sometimes I may feel that we are spending way too much at Christmas. We are far from being wealthy but the Lord provides for our needs and even a little extra occasionally.

But, here are a couple of things that I feel are a good part of my argument in "toning down" the gift buying and doing other things instead;

1) Shopping on Sundays....enough said I believe.

2) Causing employees to work ridiculous hours. This year "black Friday" started at midnight in some stores and at 4am in others. It also takes parents from their homes at those crazy hours...who's home with the children?

3) Again this year, black Friday caused "surge" deaths...nothing says
Merry Christmas like mourning the loss of a loved one who is trying to save a buck or two.

4) And finally, the whole reason I started this rant;
I have family and friends whom are quick to call a store manager about
the retailers lack of Christ in the public eye. They say "why is the Creche in the back corner of the store?" or "why is Dan Browns new book displayed in the front of the store and there's no sign of the Popes new book even on the shelf?"
How about the ol' "Happy Holiday's instead of Merry Christmas" from the cashiers?

I'll tell you why, because we have Christians have let this Holy season slip through our fingers and into the secular world's hands for them to model it how they want it to be. We are at the mercy of the "we don't want to offend anyone" culture (except us Christans whom evidently don't mind being offended).

Should we still complain? YES!
But, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Maybe if we stop shopping on Sundays. Maybe if we stop going to those ridiculously early Black Friday sales. Maybe if we give to those less fortunate than us. Maybe if we stop filling our homes so full of "stuff" that we have to buy larger homes to keep all our "stuff"in....just maybe we can
get the stores to sell those "must have" items at a more reasonable price all the time.

Then again, maybe Santa Clause will come down my chimney with a bag full of coal....

Have a Blessed Advent

Vacations 2010

2010-10-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

Well, over the summer we made a whirlwind tour of Chicago and Washington DC within the same month which was quite exhilarating and exhausting.
Our first stop was "the land of many windmills"...
no, not Holland, but Illinois.
I don't know the whole story on these since we were just passing through, but I guess these are wind powered generators. They went on for miles and miles. It was quite the site.

While in Chicago, we did the many things most people do, but we also like to visit some Holy places to keep things in perspective. The first place we visited was the Saint Jude Shrine.
Other than the "electric candles" this house of worship was awesome. There were a few relics, most importantly a bone of Saint Jude.

Next, we went to the National Shrine of St. Therese. What a wonderful place, with many relics of The Little Flower.
It was also cool to see many pictures of her in her youth as well as her monastic days. The pictures helped bring the realism of the Saint to my mind. A lot of times I believe, many people (especially non-Catholics) think of saints as "folk heros" such as Paul Bunyan or someone not real.
The Saints are definitely real and this special place brings at least one Saint face to face with the unbelieving world.
Many relics of Saint Therese are housed here.

These are just a couple of examples.

....and what trip to Chicago would be complete without a "Chicago style pizza"?

A couple of weeks after Chicago, we visited Washington DC thanks to a generous offer of a free stay at TCU (Catholic University) from a friend of ours who is studying for the Priesthood. I had some reservations about going to DC while America had some of the worst politicians ever elected in power, we went anyway.

Other than one of the ladies in the red jackets at the state capitol, we did not have any issues with the people of the city.

This lady obviously had some issues with children, which as my wife mentioned, could possibly have been a sign that she either had an abortion or at least was pro-choice. (Oh yea, we had our pro-life attire on;)

We made a stay-over in Virginia to visit Seton Home School headquarters, and Christendom College. We had a wonderful time at Seton visiting and talking with the wonderful people there.

Chapel at Christendom College where we went to morning Mass.

............back to DC.......

Of course, we seen all the normal sights, which were magnificent. Some of the structures had large concrete columns and they all had strong foundations. I don't just mean stone foundations; I mean foundations in God. There were references to God everywhere. Our founding fathers were rooted in their faith in God and it is evident everywhere except in the current administration...but that's a rant for another day.

It is hard to believe that a town with this kind of beauty and history can sometimes be so corrupt and Godless.

Probably our favorite place we visited was The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception which was right across the road from where we stayed.

Here's a view from where we were

staying. AWESOME!

The upper church

There are many different and beautiful alters and murals throughout the shrine.

I believe they said there were over 100 different alters throughout the Basilica.

We also visited the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America.

Another awesome place to visit!

Definitely do the tour of the Church and Catacombs if you go.

On our way out of town we stopped by the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center .

There are many different exhibits and interesting photos to see.

It looked like there was a lot of hands on stuff that was either closed or still under construction.

I understand that The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist are set

to buy the Center for their growing community.

Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI

giving Holy Communion to Pope John Paul II who was Pope at the time.

Wooden replica of Jerusalem

Remember while you are on vacation never forget about God. Sundays (or Saturday) are still Holy Days even when you are away from your parish. It is still a mortal sin to miss Mass if you are able; you can usually find a Mass somewhere even if you have to drive many miles to get to it.

And always take the time for pilgrimages to Catholic sights and places of worship that are on the way or in the area where you are going. It can be a such a Blessing.

Archbishop Nienstedt Denies Communion To Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Advocates

2010-10-13T05:25:00.000-07:00

I believe Pope Benedict's words "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" ring in the ears of the faithful when they read this kind of garbage. (Read story below)

I cannot understand why people that oppose Catholic teachings continue to stay in the Church. Not that I want anyone to leave the Church, but if you don't yet understand why the Church teaches what it does, then find out!

If you still don't understand, continue to pray and ask for the graces to understand....but DO NOT STAND PUBLICLY IN OPPOSITION TO CHURCH TEACHINGS and expect to have the sacraments available to you.

Would you go to a Dodgers game wearing a Yankee's hat and shirt and shout GO DODGERS!!!!??? Kinda silly I know, but I think you get the point.

The Catholic Church is under attack from inside, whether people purposely came into the Church to try and destroy Her or whether people are just losing the battle for their souls and giving into Satan's lies and
moral relativism.
The Church has had the same teachings for 2000 years and it isn't going to change now.

These people are dissenters and they need to step back and learn their faith and open their hearts and mind to the Lord....and stop receiving Communion unworthily.

Let us pray for them. Let us Pray for Archbishop Nienstedt. Let us pray for all our Bishops, Priests and of course our Holy Father Pope Benedict.

By KATHLEEN GILBERT
Sunday, October 10, 2010

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis has denied communion to members of a group that included three nuns and a priest, who wore symbols expressing their opposition to Catholic Church teaching on marriage and homosexuality.The group expressed frustration after Archbishop John C. Nienstedt withheld the sacrament from them because they wore rainbow buttons and sashes signaling their support for same-sex “marriage” and homosexuality. The archbishop, who was celebrating his first student Mass at St. John’s on September 26, instead gave a blessing to members of the group, which included students from St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict, as well as three nuns and a priest. Rainbow Sash Movement leader Brian McNeil said the group acted independently of his organization.Elizabeth Gleich, a St. Benedict sophomore and board member of People Representing the Sexual Minority (PRiSM), said that her group had intended to “make a statement” against the archbishop’s support for traditional marriage. She criticized Abp Nienstedt for “mak[ing] these extreme statements” by denying the group communion. Ms. Gleich, who was wearing a sash, was given communion in another line at the same liturgy.Another PRiSM member, Ana Seivert, complained in a Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) report that the archbishop’s action was “political.” “We weren’t the ones who made it political,” she said. “Once the archbishop denied communion, he made it political.”
Archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath said the church has told the Rainbow Sash Movement “for years” that members “cannot receive communion if you wear the rainbow sash, because it’s a political statement, a sign of protest,” according to the Star Tribune. “Going to the communion rail is the most sacred part of our faith, the Eucharist. We don’t allow anybody to make political statements or any kind of protest.”“It’s a symbol of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) movement en masse, and it was intended as a protest,” Mr. McGrath told MPR. “It was pretty obvious.”Rev. Rene McGraw, a philosophy professor at St. John’s, said that he celebrated a small Mass later that evening and gave all the members of the group communion. “My understanding of church law is that one is not to deny communion to anyone unless he or she is a public sinner, and that has traditionally been interpreted very narrowly,” said Mr. McGraw, according to the AP. “My instinct was these are people who were in need, I’m supportive of them, therefore, I’m happy to say mass for them.”However, the Vatican has confirmed that Rainbow Sashers cannot receive communion while publicly standing in opposition to Church teaching on sexuality, as stated by Cardinal Francis Arinze, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in 2005.Cardinal Francis George, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote in 2004 that: “The policy of the U.S. Bishops’ conference, a policy I did not invent, was to refuse Communion to anyone who used its reception as an occasion to protest against the Church’s teaching.”St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn, prior to his retirement, had been singled out for praise from the Rainbow Sash Movement for welcoming members to communion in his diocese. Abp Nienstedt succeeded Abp Flynn upon the latter’s retirement on May 2, 2008.Rainbow Sash wearers have successfully approached the rail in other areas, most notably the dioceses of Rochester, N. Y., Los Angeles, Calif., and Detroit, Mich. The organization usually gears up every year on the Catholic holy day of Pentecost to launch a coordinated effort to receive communion while wearing the sashes, and have even been known to snatch the host and distribute it to members when ministers were reluctant.Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society, a Catholic college watchdog group, criticized the schools for failing to stand in solidarity with the archbishop.“As long as the University sponsors a club that blatantly opposes Catholic teaching with events like ‘Freedom to Marry Day,’ I can only foresee more embarrassing and scandalous situations like this arising,” Reilly told LifeSiteNews.“This is an opportunity for University leaders to explain Catholic teaching, clarify the institution’s Catholic identity, and act in communion with the archbishop. To remain silent would seem to condone the students’ actions.Minnesota’s bishops revealed last month that they would be mailing hundreds of thousands of DVDs to Catholics in the state explaining the Church’s position against gay “marriage,” and urging them to support candidates who favor protecting traditional marriage.
LifeSiteNews

Even the blind, liberal media seen through this ONE

2010-10-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

Nothing says, "Wipe out AIDS and poverty" like Band-Aids and a black-and-white cookie.

That's what Bono's $15 million nonprofit the ONE Campaign -- which gives only a pittance of proceeds to its hunger and health causes -- bombarded New York newsrooms with last week to get press for its push for billions in African AIDS funding from President Obama.
The items were part of a pricey pile of puzzling loot, which also included a $15 bag of Starbucks coffee, a $15 Moleskine leather notebook, a $20 water bottle and a plastic ruler.
The stash came in four, oversized shoe boxes, delivered one at a time via expensive messenger. The boxes were timed to arrive for the UN "Summit on the Millennium Development Goals," which kicks off in Manhattan today.
Caitlin Thorne Hersey ONE' BIG WASTE: Bono's ONE Campaign blew cash on cookies, water, rulers, leather notebooks, coffee, Band-Aids and pens for media mailings.
Kimberly Hunter, spokeswoman for DC-based ONE, declined to say how much money the organization shelled out for the publicity blitz.
"Sometimes it's pretty hard to get through to reporters with the information about the lives of the world's poorest people," Hunter said. "We think it's important enough to try and break through the clutter . . . That's why we sent the boxes."
The boxes included a small tin of Band-Aids and two syringe-style pens -- along with a pitch challenging Obama to fork over $6 billion to the UN's Swiss-based Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa.
Caitlin Thorne Hersey;
Another container held the oversized cookie and water bottle in an odd pitch for funds for clean water and "sustainable sources of food."
Poverty-stricken African kids live on less than $1.25 a day -- "about the cost of the cookie in this box," ONE contended.
The leather-bound journal and ruler urged education funding in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Starbucks brew -- made with Ethiopian beans -- came with a suggestion to drum up support for investing in African agriculture.
Charity watchdog Daniel Borochoff of the American Institute of Philanthropy in Chicago called the p.r. move a "risk."
"There could be recipients -- or donors -- who might think that the money they spent could have instead been donated to help their cause," he said.
Hunter countered that ONE "does advocacy work, not charity work." Caitlin Thorne Hersey
ONE gives only a pittance in direct charitable support to its causes -- something Borochoff said the average donor might not realize.
The Bono nonprofit took in $14,993,873 in public donations in 2008, the latest year for which tax records are available.
Of that, $184,732 was distributed to three charities, according to the IRS filing.
Meanwhile, more than $8 million was spent on executive and employee salaries.
jeane.macintosh@nypost.com

Not so mad scientist

2010-07-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

British scientists believe they have found the answer to an ages-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?Scientists cracked the puzzle after discovering that the formation of eggs is possible only thanks to a protein found in chicken's ovaries. That means eggs have to be formed in chickens first.

The protein -- called ovocledidin-17 (OC-17) -- speeds up the development of the shell. Researchers from Sheffield and Warwick universities in England laid out their findings in the paper "Structural Control of Crystal Nuclei by an Eggshell Protein."
They used a supercomputer to zoom in on the formation of an egg and realized the protein is vital in kick-starting the crystallization process. It works by converting calcium carbonate into the calcite crystals that make up the egg shell.
Dr Colin Freeman, from Sheffield University's Department of Engineering Materials, said "it had long been suspected that the egg came first -- but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first."
"The protein had been identified before and it was linked to egg formation, but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process," Freeman said.
"It's very interesting to find that different types of avian species seem to have a variation of the protein that does the same job." http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/07/14/chicken-egg-mystery-finally-cracked/

……So, as my wife and myself said to ourselves, who made the chicken??
Once again, science proves that there is a Creator, and that Creator is God, the Father, the Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
God gave us intelligence to know Him, to see that all creation points towards Him so we may have a relationship with Him, communion with the Divine.

Superficial intelligence is from man; God alone gives us knowledge, wisdom and understanding.
Faith and reason, religion and science, they do go together when put in the proper order….God first.

The Screwtape Letters revisited (part II)

2010-07-15T05:52:00.000-07:00

6) We want him to be in the maximum uncertainty, so that his mind will be filled with contradictory pictures of the future, every one of which arouses hope or fear. There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a humans mind against the Enemy.

This is so easy for the devil to accomplish these days. There are wars, economic uncertainties, health care issues, and the daily crosses of the attack on the family. All these culminate into a toxic ball of anxiety and worry. It makes it easy to fall into despair and focuses our attention on the "worldly things" instead of spiritual things. The anxieties of daily life can take our focus off of God.....OR we can use these daily "crosses" to increase our dependency on God, trusting in God alone and His will for our lives, for our future.

As Francis Bacon (and later FDR) said in modern times....WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF, which has some truth to it, but I like to stick with biblical teachings such as the ol' faithful "FEAR OF THE LORD LEADS TO WISDOM" (Proverbs 1:7).

7) I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence. (The belief in demons)

It seems to me that today, more than ever, there is a scoffing at the belief in demons and sin (or at least the acceptance of excuses for sin).
I have daily encounters with people that think that just "being a good person" or going to church makes up for all the "bad" partakings in their lives. Once Satan can get you into the mind-set that "I'm to so bad" or that you have "good" excuses for your sins, then he has you....
It seems funny to me that those who wear rock band shirts depicting demons or those whom have demon tattoo's are usually the one's whom think least about Heaven, Hell or salvation. Where does their belief in demons come from?

Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours—and the more "religious" (on those terms) the more securely ours.

Yes, even well meaning Christians can become so caught up in worldly things that we may neglect spiritual things. We might not have the desire for possessions, but we may have the desire for causes. We may get so caught up in doing good works that we forget the faith aspect of our beliefs. Sloth is the word that comes to mind. It is also one of the 7 capitol (deadly) sins....although Christians may fall to it in a different level than others. If we don't start our endeavors with prayer and continue to pray for guidance, then we can forget the ultimate goal of our charity.

8) So you "have great hopes that the patients religious phase is dying away", have you?

Undulation is the word that "Uncle Screwtape" uses throughout this section of his letter. It means a rising and falling, like a wave according to Websters dictionary, although in the Christian sense, it means peaks and troughs in our spiritual lives. Sometimes God allows us to hit rock bottom to help us climb to the top of the mountain.
A lot of "new" Christians (those whom were not brought up in Christian homes) find that their family and friends tend to think that their new found Christianity has just a "phase" they are going through; they think that once the phase is over with, their foolish Christian loved one will see the light of "reason" and come back to "reality"; but their mistake in thinking that is written upon the hearts of us all. We all have the desire to know THE TRUTH. We all have the capability to know THE TRUTH.
THE TRUTH is not a something, THE TRUTH is somebody...JESUS is THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.
It is true of very many Christians, that we all have times when we are weak in our faith, when we are beaten down by the world, but as Saint Paul continually encouraged us to "run the race to the end"....only those who persevere will be victorious.

The Screwtape Letters revisited (Part I )

2010-06-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

I am just now catching up on my classical Christian reading by delving into C.S Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters".

The Lord must be trying to tell me something, because it is just like Screwtape and Woodworm are my own personal demons, trying to make me stumble and fall by the demon handbook.

I was hoping to make this a small summary (in my own words), but has I only got through the first few letters, I realized that to do it justice, this will have to be an on-going thesis's of sorts.

Let's see what lessons we can learn to try and out maneuver the enemy;

1) "They find it all but impossible to believe in the unfamiliar while the familiar is before their eyes. Keep pressing home on him the ordinariness of things."

I call this "lost in life", ..we tend to get so caught up in "real life" that we forget there is a spiritual side of life...the most important thing in our life. If you are an unbeliever or agnostic and a Godly thought pops into your head, you better pursue it, your soul may depend on it.

2) "One of our great allies at present is the Church itself."

Satan opens up our eyes to the "sins" of our fellow man. He tries to get us to look around the pews and make judgements upon our fellow church-goers and then become despondent when we may see hypocrisy or know of others sinfulness. He blinds us to the point in which our own spiritual journey is detoured by the sins of those in the pews around us. We tend to forget that Jesus said " I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." (Mark 2;17)

3) The best thing, where it is possible, is to keep the patient from the serious intention of praying altogether.

Satan is terrified of devotional prayers, but any prayer is an opportunity for God to speak to us and give us strength against the tempter. We must be sure though, that we don't just ramble off prayer that has no substance. We must pray with all our heart, mind, body and soul, keeping in mind that God is our focal point of our prayer.

4) It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.

I don't know about you but my memory doesn't work so well any more. Some of the problem is with my past; things I have seen, heard and done ....the unpleasantries of my life, will resurface in my mind at the oddest moments. I can listen to the greatest homily ever preached one moment, and then WHAM!, the spiritual ecstasy is gone, forgotten, taken by the evil one.

I take my eyes off the Lord, and gaze upon myself. Satan can and will put bad things in our minds and try to keep out the good things, and we will fully cooperate if we are not well formed in our faith, in our minds.

5) "..And how disastrous for us is the continual remembrance of death which war enforces. One of our best weapons, contented worldliness, is rendered useless."

I've heard a saying that goes "there are no atheist in foxholes", referring to the very real feeling of knowing you could be dead at any moment. The contemplation of death, or a near death experience or even being on your death bed at the end of a long life can open your eyes to the Truth.....what happens next?
We can get so caught up in living life, that we forget the other part of life...death. Death has a way of making you face God or at least think about if there actually is a God.
Never be content on knowing all about what life has to offer....learn about what death can teach you about life.

2010-05-06T03:12:00.000-07:00

What an awesome tribute to mothers!!!!

Happy Mother's Day from Father Corapi

This Sunday we once again have the joy of celebrating Mother's Day. It is certainly fitting enough that this falls in the month of May, the month the Church dedicates to the Mother of Jesus and our Spiritual Mother. It's a beautiful month dedicated to what is perhaps the most beautiful reality I can imagine - mothers.

In the often misguided and morally confused society we live in, the vocation and blessing of being a mother isn't esteemed highly enough by many individuals that are so preoccupied with making a living and accumulating material things. Sometimes motherhood isn't respected enough by men. Even more baffling - sometimes women don't themselves value this calling and honor as they ought. As far as I'm concerned, it would be hard to imagine a more noble, more necessary, and more beautiful calling in life.

Moms, only in Heaven will you realize just how pleasing you are to God. you have collaborated with God our Father in bringing new life into the world. You have given our heavenly Father children, and these children He treasures more than you could ever imagine.

"Mother" - Perhaps the most beautiful word in all of language. It expresses life. It expresses love. It expresses cooperation with God. it speaks of something that will never end.

One day, Moms, you'll be honored by God himself for your many sacrifices. For now, accept our thanks, our love, and our tribute. We salute you, moms, this day and for all eternity.

God bless you for all you've done for us.

In Jesus' Love through Mary our Mother,

Fr. John Corapi

Disney on this blog???????

2010-03-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

I usually stay away from Disney related stuff because of the issues and principles in which they have taken a stand for, but here are some thoughts on something I remember hearing from the
movie “The Lion King”.
The scene involved Timon and Pumbaa who were trying to philosophize to the young and disenchanted Simba. Timon said something like “when the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world!”

Being not a faithful Christian back then, I liked that line…but now I see how bad philosophies and principles are fed to the younger generations through music and movies.

Thank goodness God didn’t take that attitude with us, with our world, especially as our society tries to push Him out of the picture. Thank goodness that God hasn’t turned his back on us!!!
The only time God turned His back on us was when He offered it up to us to be whipped, beaten and bruised for our sins, for our salvation.

We must be diligent in our battle with Satan as he works through the media, through selfishness and pride; through music, movies and television. Through our world leaders and the idols of our children in the entertainment and sports industries.

The words of St Paul hold as true today as they were in his day;
“For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.” -- Ephesians 6; 12

Paul goes on to tell how to put on the armor of God which consists of truth, righteousness, readiness, faith, prayer, perseverance and the sword of the Spirit to give us the courage to preach and live the gospel that is our calling as Christians.
And in verse 20 he says that he is “an ambassador in chains, so that I may have the courage to speak (the Gospel) as I must.”

“An ambassador in chains” should make us realize the importance of standing up for what is right and doing all we can to share the Truth with all people, especially those whom influence and make the laws in our country, in our world.

We may feel “chained” in this world. We may feel that God has turned His back on the world. We may feel that we should turn our back on God; but take heed, God does not turn his back on us, but He will allow us, in our free will, to turn our back on Him....for eternity....and He doesn't want that, neither should you.

Selfishness

2010-03-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

From the book "With us today---on the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist" by Father John Hardon;

Of ourselves, we are naturally self-centered, self-occupied, self-interested and self-opinionated. We are all naturally self-concerned, self-indulgent, self-satisfying, self-admiring and self-attentive. In a word, we are all profoundly and deeply self-willed.
There is one idolatry to which every human being is constantly prone, and that is the worship of oneself.

These lines spoke to me personally. I have noticed this about myself, and after reading these words, I realized how serious of a problem I have.
Now not to wriggle off the hook myself, but, I do believe that this is one of the major problems with the world today. It goes hand in hand with relativism. A double whammy of sin and a large part of what is wrong with
today's society.

It seems we can all have a personal agenda.
It carries itself into the realms of our personal and family life. Into our business and work life; and has we have seen countless times, into political life for those to whom it applies.
We have just seen it by our country's current administration.
While some of them my truly care about getting health care for all Americans, I believe, especially concerning our President, that there is a hidden agenda there. A costly one for all Americans particularly
the unborn and their mothers and fathers.
The elderly, those whom use health care the most will also be tragically affected by this rash decision as well as our future generations.

Jesus had and still has an agenda. That is to rid us of our selfishness. That is what Lent is about, to focus on the Cross and not on ourselves.
Obama and his cronies have an agenda for Lent. That is why they voted on this, they made people work on the Sabbath, to promote their evil agenda.

I certainly will continue in my quest to rid myself of the selfishness in my life, I just pray that the leaders of our country will do the same.

Suffering

2010-03-12T06:10:00.000-08:00

It seems like everyone around me, family, friends, coworkers, friends of friends...everyone, has been sick, suffering or in mourning some sort of way. It has been ongoing like never before.
I guess that happens as you get older and as you get to know more people.

We all wish we had the words to say to truly comfort our loved ones, but in most cases all we can do is cheer them up or pray them into good health....not that either of these are bad; these are good things in which we should try to do.

I have just read something from St John Vianney that takes suffering to a new level.
Maybe we can draw something out of this to bring our consolations to a higher power.

CHAPTER 18 : Catechism on Suffering
Whether we will or not, we must suffer. There are some who suffer like the good thief, and others like the bad thief. They both suffered equally. But one knew how to make his sufferings meritorious, he accepted them in the spirit of reparation, and turning towards Jesus crucified, he received from His mouth these beautiful words: "This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise. " The other, on the contrary, cried out, uttered imprecations and blasphemies, and expired in the most frightful despair. There are two ways of suffering - to suffer with love, and to suffer without love. The saints suffered everything with joy, patience, and perseverance, because they loved. As for us, we suffer with anger, vexation, and weariness, because we do not love. If we loved God, we should love crosses, we should wish for them, we should take pleasure in them. . . . We should be happy to be able to suffer for the love of Him who lovingly suffered for us. Of what do we complain? Alas! the poor infidels, who have not the happiness of knowing God and His infinite loveliness, have the same crosses that we have; but they have not the same consolations. You say it is hard? No, it is easy, it is consoling, it is sweet; it is happiness. Only we must love while we suffer, and suffer while we love.

On the Way of the Cross, you see, my children, only the first step is painful. Our greatest cross is the fear of crosses. . . . We have not the courage to carry our cross, and we are very much mistaken; for, whatever we do, the cross holds us tight - we cannot escape from it. What, then, have we to lose? Why not love our crosses and make use of them to take us to Heaven? But, on the contrary, most men turn their backs upon crosses, and fly before them. The more they run, the more the cross pursues them, the more it strikes and crushes them with burdens. . . . If you were wise, you would go to meet it like St. Andrew, who said, when he saw the cross prepared for him and raised up into the air, "Hail O good cross! O admirable cross! O desirable cross! receive me into thine arms, withdraw me from among men, and restore me to my Master, who redeemed me through thee. "

Freebies!!

2010-02-19T07:53:00.000-08:00

Everyone likes free stuff, so here's a couple I found.

I have not actually ordered the home study course, but I did get one of the 2nd Class Relic Cards (a piece of Archbishop Sheen’s vestments). The prayers on the card are wonderful also.

Free Catholic home study course --- http://www.amm.org/chss.htm

Free 2nd class holy card --- http://www.archbishopsheencause.org/the-cause/request-materials

Confession

2010-02-11T06:04:00.000-08:00

Serious business.
What does that mean to us?
Some people consider their work serious business; and it should be.
Some consider their finances serious business; and it is.
Some people consider their religion serious business: and of course it is.
Some even consider their sports teams serious business; and…well, eeh—maybe not so much.

I’ll tell you what we should consider serious business. CONFESSION.

Confession of our sins to a priest so that we may gain absolution from them and that we may obtain the graces needed to persevere over temptation.

Jesus told us to confess our sins 1 John 1:8-10 and our sins would be forgiven by Him through the priest John 20:21–23.

Saint John Vianney gives one of the best reflections on confession;

We come to confession quite preoccupied with the shame that we shall feel. We accuse ourselves by steam. It is said that many confess, and few are converted. I believe it is so, my children, because few confess with tears of repentance. See, the misfortune is, that people do not reflect. If one said to those who work on Sundays, to a young person who had been dancing for two or three hours, to a man coming out of an alehouse drunk, "What have you been doing? You have been crucifying Our Lord!" they would be quite astonished, because they do not think of it. My children, if we thought of it, we should be seized with horror; it would be impossible for us to do evil. For what has the good God done to us that we should grieve Him thus, and put Him to death afresh - Him, who has redeemed us from Hell? It would be well if all sinners, when they are going to their guilty pleasures, could, like St. Peter, meet Our Lord on the way, who would say to them, "I am going to that place where thou art going thyself, to be there crucified afresh. " Perhaps that might make them reflect.
(From THE BLESSED CURÉ OF ARS IN HIS CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTIONS Saint John Vianney)

In order to prepare for a good confession, you should have a good examination of conscience.
To help us forgetful people to remember those things we may have forgotten or may not have thought of, here are a couple to check out.

http://www.catholicparents.org/oxcart/Examination%20of%20Conscience.pdf (from Father Altier)

And from the Fathers of Mercy http://www.fathersofmercy.com/about/home/exams

Father Neuhaus

2010-02-05T07:39:00.000-08:00

Fr. Neuhaus' debate on religion and political life hosted by the Economist.

OnefireCatholic.com priest goes to Haiti

2010-01-27T03:02:00.000-08:00

Priest heads to Haiti to give spiritual and physical aid
Marnie McAllister

Fr. James Bromwich will serve as a nurse and priest at a hospital aiding quake victims

Father James Bromwich, pastor of three churches in Central Kentucky, departed from Boston yesterday on a private jet operated by Caritas International flying doctors and nurses bound for Cap Haitien, Haiti.
The Archdiocese of Louisville priest is part of a team of volunteers who will help earthquake survivors evacuated from Port-au-Prince to Sacred Heart Hospital located in Milot, Haiti, about 60 or 70 miles north of the capital.
Father Bromwich, who is also a registered nurse, said during a telephone interview Jan. 19, “I saw what was happening, and like everyone else I saw the horror.
“I also heard about the church and the devastation (of church buildings) and the deaths” of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince, religious men and women and seminarians, he noted. Survivors “not only need basic care of their physical needs, but they have spiritual needs, too.”
Feeling a call to do more than pray and be in solidarity with the people who are suffering, the priest contacted a friend who is a nun and surgeon with the Little Workers of the Sacred Heart. She hooked him up with the CRUDEM Foundation, a non-profit that runs the 73-bed hospital in Milot.
Father Bromwich said he expected to fly yesterday, Jan. 20, to Cap Haitien, which is about 80 miles north of the capital. From there, he and other health-care workers were slated to travel to Milot, where they will minister to the needs of earthquake survivors at Sacred Heart Hospital, which was founded by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of Montreal.
The priest said he didn’t know what to expect when he arrived. But he heard that the United States Navy woud be flying patients needing post-operative care from the U.S.N.S. Comfort — a hospital ship — to Sacred Heart Hospital.
While he’s prepared to help with survivors’ medical needs, he said he anticipates that much of his work will be spiritual.
“I would say that since there are quite a few nurses and doctors going in and I’ll be the only priest, my main ministry will probably be as a priest,” Father Bromwich said.
“It’s my understanding that after the earthquake, they have a one in 10,000 ratio of priests to Catholics” in Haiti, he noted. “The ratio is one in 2,500 here” in the United States.
He said he’s already received requests from volunteers and staff that he celebrate daily Mass and make Eucharistic adoration available. He expects also to administer sacraments and a measure of spiritual comfort to patients.
Father Bromwich said he told his parishioners about his trip to Haiti during Masses last weekend.
“I asked my parishioners to make the sacrifice and give up their pastor for a few weeks,” he noted. “The parishioners have been very generous with their prayers and donations.”
More than $4,400 was raised during collections for earthquake survivors during weekend liturgies at the three parishes where he is pastor — Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Campbellsville, Our Lady of the Hills in Finley and Our Lady of Fatima in Phillipsburg — said Karen Sanders, secretary for the parishes. She said parishioners were more than happy to share their pastor with people in Haiti.
“We are so proud of him and so glad he has the talent and ability to help,” said Sanders. At Mass on Sunday “we talked about our need to sacrifice, and then he told us of the sacrifice he would make and the need for his aid” in Haiti.
Father Bromwich, who expects to be gone about three weeks, said he has heard people lamenting, “I wish I could do more.” So he spoke to his parishioners about ways they can help the people suffering in Port-au-Prince, in addition to making donations.
“I think it’s part of human nature, people want to help,” Father Bromwich noted. “St. Paul said, ‘When one member of the body suffers, we all suffer.’ The average Catholic who can’t go to Haiti should ask the question, ‘How is it that will you be changed after this is over.’
“And the only way you can be changed is if you are in solidarity with the people in Haiti,” he said. “Think of a way to simplify your life and make a sacrifice.”
He suggested people try spending one night a week sleeping on the floor — as many people in Port-au-Prince are doing out of necessity — or fast from one meal a day.
“By making some sacrifice and offering this as a prayer, you help yourself be a better Christian,” he said.
For his part, Father Bromwich said he expects to receive as much as he gives through the “simple, joyful and generous” people in Haiti. He has visited the Caribbean nation once before, and he was struck by the people’s generosity, even as the faced the most dire poverty.
“I expect this to be a powerful spiritual experience,” he added. “Whenever we come into contact with people in such desperate need, we come into contact with Jesus himself.”

Podcast from the hills of KY

2010-01-14T05:26:00.000-08:00

What happens when your Archdiocese sends 2 of your best, young, vibrant, energetic and Holy Priests off to the hills of Kentucky?
Well, they set the woods ablaze with the Holy Spirit of course.

I trust that our great Archbishop knew what he was doing when he sent a good priest friend of ours to the outskirts of the Archdiocese.

Please take time to listen to the podcasts on the website for great helps with
family life and the modern world.

http://www.onfirecatholic.com/

2010-01-06T07:55:00.000-08:00

The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. ---Genesis 3;6

Just because something looks good, doesn’t mean that there isn’t the bad to go along with it.
Looks can be deceiving.

We can be lead astray by satan and his lies. We can be lead astray by smooth talkers, by people who play on our emotions; our feelings.

In our culture today, there is a lot of deception that takes place. There are a lot of situations that seem good on the surface, but below, there lies a deep, dark agenda.

Man has been blessed by his Creator with the ability to think, to gain knowledge of the world around us. The intricacies of how the human body functions; and the goodness of nature are just a couple of realms of progress we have discovered in modern times.
Yet, there is still the tendency for man to want to be like God, to be God….to make his own rules, thinking that it is good. That man knows best.
….but does he?

-We have the technology to see the baby in the womb, yet we still think it is alright to kill the unborn.
-We have had great success with adult stem cells, yet those in control continue to throw money at embryonic research which has been a failure in all aspects of scientific and medical research.
-We are told that the government can run businesses more efficiently, yet this country can’t seem to stay out of debt.
-We are told that we need “government run heathcare” despite the reasonable arguments against it.
- We are told that global warming is going to kill us all, despite all the proofs against it. They have even uncovered records showing the deception of those whom worship the global warming god. http://climatedepot.com/

Lie after lie, deception and deceit; all under the pretense “for the good” of human kind.

The sad part about it is that most people buy into the lies, or just “go with the flow” not realizing that they are about to be washed downstream.

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is…there is probably a hidden agenda
slithering under the tree of knowledge.

The possession of truth confers knowledge and liberation from sin.
….and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

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

2009-12-29T10:31:00.000-08:00

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!!!!!!!

2009-12-16T03:09:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

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

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

2009-12-14T04:46:00.000-08:00

"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.

2009-11-30T11:13:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-24T05:56:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-11T03:38:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-05T03:15:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-10-12T20:33:00.001-07:00

Five New Saints Canonized

2009-10-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-27T04:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

"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

2009-08-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-13T06:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-05T06:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

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

It's the principle of the matter...

2009-07-15T04:44:00.000-07:00

For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. ---Ephesians 6:12

As I try to practice Christian charity in this materialistic, culture of death, relativistic world we live in today, I must say it isn’t easy.
Dealing with everyone from the deathscorts at the abortion mill, people in our parish community, to our own families whom we would love to see converted, there are many different values and opinions among people.
You may start a conversation in a loving, gentle, concerned manner and end up like some
insane, raving lunatic wishing bad things upon the person and their next ten generations.

Doesn’t sound very Christian does it?

I remember one time at the abortion mill when one of the deathscorts taunted the crowd with a comment from the bible that she was using out of context (of course).
Normally I keep my mouth shut and just pray the rosary, but, after some of the things I had seen that morning, I tore into her.
I asked her to give me chapter and verse of where that comment came from. Of course she couldn’t and just shrugged me off….but I wasn’t having any of that!!!
So, for the next few minutes I was raving lunatic staying on her like “white on rice on a paper plate in a snow storm”. By the time my tirade was over, I had called her an idiot and was about to be a victim of spontaneous human combustion.
Not very Christian of me. After a while I calmed down and felt bad for what I done although I never apologized to her.

As I reflect back on that situation, and many more times when I have bad thoughts towards my fellow (mislead) mankind, I have to keep in mind Ephesians Chapter 6:12.

Our battle is not against our brothers and sisters upon this earth, but against Satan and the
mind set that he can lead us in to, with the principles of false teachings, unformed consciences, and to the passion of our feelings.

Conscience, values, feelings, standards, ethics, attitudes, belief, opinions….everyone has these, and when viewed through the light of Christ, they can be very beneficial, very life giving; but when used in a secular way, they can damn your very soul.

Good morning!

2009-07-09T06:42:00.000-07:00

In the classic struggle of trying to juggle work, family time, prayer time, play time, and “spousal counseling” time, there is always a feeling of lacking.
I could name off 100 things that I would like to do but never have time to do.

While eating breakfast one morning, the back of the “fun” cereal box had a list of
“10 things you should do before the age of 18” (or something to that effect).
You think they would have some good wholesome items on the list like seeing historical places, something to help with your educational decisions, or even something spiritually uplifting.

WHAP!!!!!!!!! (hand to forehead)

I forgot that we were living in a relativistic, pop culture of death, where “fun” consists of “anything goes”.
While I won’t waste too much space on all the nonsensical listings, there were items such as “ride the worlds biggest rollercoaster” and “meet your favorite singer backstage”…..

What a crock!

Anyway, here is a list I composed of things I wish we (and everybody) could do as a family daily or at least weekly;

1) Pray the rosary…the whole rosary…all 20 mysteries.
2) Read a chapter (or more) of the bible.
3) Read the Catholic Catechism all the way through.
4) Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day at 3:00pm.
5) Read about a different saints life every day or week.
6) Go on a pilgrimage of all the shines and holy places in the world.
7) Go to Confession/Reconciliation every week (whether we need to or not) lol
8) Read Papal encylicals as they are issued.

9) Read writings from the early Church Fathers.

Most of these goals are attainable, but of course Satan does his best to keep us too busy or puts some kind of trauma in our lives to make it hard.
I dare say, that, if we all could do these things in our vocations in life (married or single), there would be less troublesome cereal boxes in the world.

Pope Benedict XVI newest encyclical

2009-07-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html

Students Rebel at Graduation Against the ACLU’s Bullying Tactics

2009-07-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

www.LC.org
Santa Rosa County, FL - Nearly 400 graduating seniors at Pace High School stood up in protest against the ACLU and recited the Lord’s Prayer during their graduation ceremony on Saturday. Many of the students also painted crosses on their graduation caps to make a statement of faith. This event follows a lawsuit the ACLU filed against the Santa Rosa County School District, claiming some of the teachers and administration endorsed religion. Liberty Counsel represents Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and clerical assistant Michelle Winkler.
The graduation prayer protest by the students was preceded by a lawsuit filed six months ago by the ACLU. The school district entered into a consent decree, which essentially bans all Santa Rosa County School District employees from engaging in prayer or religious activities. The ACLU alleges that during a dinner event held at Pace High School, Principal Lay asked the athletic director to bless the meal. In another incident, the ACLU alleges that Michelle Winkler’s husband, who is not a school board employee, offered prayer at an awards ceremony. Leading up to the graduation ceremony, the ACLU demanded the school to censor students from offering prayers or saying anything religious. The ACLU then charged Principal Lay and Ms. Winkler with contempt of court.
The students at Pace High School were furious with the ACLU hijacking their free speech rights and decided to take a stand at graduation. As soon as Principal Lay asked everyone to be seated at the ceremony, the graduating class remained standing and recited the Lord’s Prayer. The ACLU has not taken any legal action yet but has stated that something should have been done to stop the prayer.
Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “Neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate. The students at Pace High School refused to remain silent and were not about to be bullied by the ACLU. We have decided to represent faculty, staff and students of Pace High School, because the ACLU is clearly violating their First Amendment rights. Schools are not religion-free zones, and any attempt to make them so is unconstitutional.”

....because we are Christians

2009-06-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

Two years after Hindu violence
No one held responsible for death and destruction, Indian archbishop laments

Archbishop Raphael Cheenath
Rome, Italy, Jun 26, 2009 / 12:35 am (CNA).- Archbishop Rafael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, India deplored this week that two years after the widespread attacks on Christians in Orissa, no one has been detained or charged for the grave damage to property and lives that resulted. In an interview with Vatican Radio, the cardinal commented that “people are afraid to return, because they fear being attacked again. In addition, it doesn’t appear that the criminals have been punished yet, despite that two years have passed.” “No one has been charged for the damage to property, for those who lost their lives or for those who were forced to flee. No criminal has been punished for this,” he stated. The archbishop asserted that, “Christians were attacked above all because of fundamentalist Hindu ideology, which challenges the way in which a Hindu nation should be founded. So the fundamentalists looked for an opportunity to do this. The main reason for the attack on Kandhamal is because it was an area where a large number of conversions have taken place over the last ten years,” he said. In addition, the archbishop said, “the Dalit, the so-called untouchables, were considered outsiders, with no right to speak and uneducated. Now, however, they are developing socially and economically and making great progress.” Archbishop Cheenath also said that he believes Hindus are worried that they will be shamed by the Dalit Christian converts.
“Hindus don’t want people who were once their slaves to achieve more respectable positions in society, with good jobs and better positions. The advancement of the Dalit and of the tribes challenges the upper classes: Hindus do not want this to happen, and for this reason they want to stop it. Basically, the reason is that they do not want the outsiders to grow and put the upper class to the test.” Asked later about the state of the faith of Christians, the archbishop said, “While at the beginning the situation was very sad and hopeless, I have seen much faith in the people. They are full of hope, their faith is very strong and they express it in many ways. We will be able to rebuild on the foundation of the people’s faith,” he said.

Two ways of saying the same thing....

2009-06-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

" There is great unrest at this time in the Church and what they are questioning is the faith. I am alarmed, when I reflect on the Catholic world, that non-Catholic thinking sometimes seems to prevail within Catholicism and it could happen that this non-Catholic thinking within Catholicism will become stronger in the future. But it will never represent the Church's thinking. A small flock must survive, no matter how small it may be. " --Pope Paul VI

The more things change, the more they stay the same....
I am just guessing that in your parish, just like mine, there are certain things (or people) you wish you could change. Situations that you feel shouldn't exist. People in control that probably shouldn't be at the wheel of the ark.

How many "Obama for President" bumper stickers do you see in the parking lot of your church?
What can we do about it? What should we do about it? Does it matter since no one listens to us anyway?
It is hard to voice our opinions sometimes: we may feel like we are dissenting against the Church or that we may sound like "traditionalists".
Maybe we just don't have the time to put up a fight. Maybe we'll just go to another parish....

I have heard that the best way to destroy an enemy is from the inside.
Satan is always trying to get on the inside...the inside of us, our souls, our family and our Church.

While it's easier said than done, I suggest (if at all possible) to get onto your parish council and work for reform in you parish. Even if you can't get everyone on board of a great ideal you have, at least you can see what is going on from the inside, the whys or the why not's of the decisions that are being made.
Get to know your parish Priest and talk to him.
When all else fails, talk to your Bishop. We have some great ones in our country, and they are standing up for the Church now, more than ever. Sacrificing themselves for the good of all mankind.
They are the ones who will be taking the lashes for the Church. For you and your parish.