A Quiet Catholic

Mary of the Velvet Log Cabin

2011-12-17T09:09:00.000-05:00

I don't know, I like it (but I'm a fiber artist hahaha and I like anything that uses velvet).

Mary of the Velvet Log Cabin

Ember Day!

2011-12-17T09:04:00.000-05:00

Today is the last of the 3 ember days before Christmas...

The Wednesday one isn't too hard, if I remember to do it. The Friday one is somewhat easy because I'm used to not eating meat on Fridays. The third one is torture! Back-to-back, quasi-fasting, no meat two days in a row?! Gaaahhh...

Apps!

2011-12-04T13:49:00.001-05:00

If you have an iPod/iTouch/iPad, hopefully you've downloaded some of the Catholic apps out there. I have an iTouch and have downloaded a couple of apps, the iConfess (very nice!), one about St Joseph (okay), iBreviary (I use this often) and a Rosary app which isn't very special.

According to Father V, a new Marian app will be launched on December 8th by the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception (National Shrine of The Divine Mercy, Stockbridge, MA). Details here. I'm looking forward to getting it and will post more here after I check it out.

So happy...we get to keep the house!

2011-03-16T20:10:00.001-04:00

I haven't mentioned on the blog why I'm down in South Carolina when my husband is in Massachusetts but we'd both been out of work for two years and this job came up and I had to work! We fell behind on mortgage payments last summer and just couldn't get caught up. Luckily our bank negotiated a loan modification for us and we'll be able to keep the house!

Deo gratias!

Boy, will I be saying prayers of thanksgiving tonight!

The Colosseum

2011-03-16T19:42:00.001-04:00

This is beautiful. This makes me realize that I need to read more of the Church Fathers and learn Catholic history.

Blessed Be God (or Lent's not that far away)

2011-02-22T20:31:00.000-05:00

Lent is right around the corner (Oh no! Oh wait, that's a good thing, if you're ready for it)

I'm sure you're seeing all sorts of suggestions/recommendations on other blogs but here's a recommendation for a great prayer book which would be wonderful to have even if Lent wasn't barreling down on us.

Blessed Be God by Fathers Callan and McHugh.

I got this book a week ago and I can't stop picking it up. It's small in dimension but it's a real prayer book with thin pages like missals of old so even with 700+ pages, it is still relatively light-weight. It has daily prayers, prayers for the Day of the Week, Month of the Year, novenas, devotions, etc. They're all beautiful prayers. Most of them flow very well, there are a few which have words like 'livest and reignest' in them so those feels a little clunky when you're saying them. But the book is full of jewels of Catholic worship from long ago. It was originally published in 1959.

Rome Sweet Home

2011-02-21T21:00:00.002-05:00

I love conversion stories and have always enjoyed listening to Dr Scott Hahn, a famous convert, who brings complex theological issues down to a level that even *I* can understand so I thought the book by he and his wife, Kimberly, Rome Sweet Home, would be a happy story.

Well, it didn’t start out that way! I knew they had a happy ending because both they and their children made it into the Catholic Church many years ago but the book covered the whole process of their discovery of the fullness of Truth of the Catholic Church. First Kimberly made the discovery that the Church was correct about contraception (this book was written in the early 1990s by the way). Then Scott questioned one tenet of Protestantism, sola fide, and for him, that started unraveling the whole ball of yarn. He fought his conversion every step of the way, at least in the beginning and Kimberly, while being a supportive wife, fought the idea and prayed and read books and prayed some more.

It was a real page-turner for me and made me respect the Hahns’ struggles to get to where they are today.

Also, in the book, they mention a talk that Scott gave to a group of Catholics. It became known as "The Tape" and can be found here.

What I heard (and sang) at Mass last week

2011-02-18T22:00:00.000-05:00

at St. Joseph's in Columbia, SC

Tuesday is Quote Day

2011-02-08T08:00:00.004-05:00

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. No, that's not the quote of the day but just my way of flattering Happy Catholic. I really don't know how she gets it all done every day. She blogs frequently, she reviews (and reads!) lots of books, she does podcasts, she has a full-time job... I'm getting tired just listing all the stuff.

Anyways, here is today's quote...

The whole trouble is that -- literally -- we do not know what is good for us; and what makes the trouble still worse is that we think we do. We have our own plans for our happiness, and too often we merely regard God as somebody who will help us to accomplish them. The true state of affairs is just the opposite. God has His plans for our happiness, and He is waiting for us to help Him to accomplish them. And let us be quite clear about it: We cannot improve on God's plans.

This Tremendous Lover, M. Eugene Boylan, O.C.R.

A Catholic Exam

2011-02-05T19:00:00.001-05:00

This was developed by Matthew the Seminarian, the blogger formerly
known as Moneybags, (I'd love to know the story behind that name) of A
Catholic Life.

http://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2006/01/catholic-exam.html

It's tough! Post your score below... And good luck!

Saturdays Devoted to Mary

2011-02-05T08:00:00.004-05:00

I found this link via the blog, Catholic Fire.

I'd like make Saturdays on this blog, "Saturdays Devoted to Mary"

Your Questions: Saturdays Devoted to Mary

To gain a more complete perspective on devotion to Mary, no matter what the day of the week or season of the year, the reading of the document, Marialis Cultus is recommended. This post-Vatican II document speaks about the right ordering of Marian devotion. It underscores the liturgical and scriptural value of the rosary, and it unites true devotion to Mary with the primary worship of the Church in the Liturgy, of which Christ is the center and source. The ancient practice of the Saturday devotions – in all their variations – attempted (and still attempt) to do the same. These devotions have little meaning unless they are linked to the Liturgy, that is, to the central worship of Jesus Christ, and this is ultimately Mary's purpose when she advises their practice.

Some housekeeping...

2011-02-03T14:31:00.000-05:00

Blogspot/Blogger has added several new features/doo-dads/templates for blogs so I'll be taking a look at how I can jazz up this blog. Check back soon!

My favorite blogs (no longer publishing)

2011-02-02T13:08:00.002-05:00

These are some of the blogs I used to follow regularly. I wish they still posted entries but maybe their creative juices ran dry...

So Many Devotions...So Little Time

Dust of the Time

Holy Cards for your Inspiration

Hello again...

2011-01-30T14:49:00.000-05:00

I just discovered, via another blog, how to determine how many Google reader subscribers a blog has and I have 14. That's so sweet! I have the time to blog again and it's been quite exciting around here as I'll describe in my next post.

Stay tuned (and thanks for sticking around)!

More Advent Stuff!

2009-12-01T19:08:00.005-05:00

I always forget how many important dates there are in December... Luckily, G. Thomas Fitzpatrick doesn't! Here's a list of the dates from his post...

Important feasts celebrated during December include:

1st St. Edmund Campion
3rd St. Francis Xavier
4th St. Barbara
6th St. Nicholas
7th St. Ambrose
8th The Immaculate Conception
9th Ven Fulton Sheen
12th Our Lady of Guadalupe
13th St. Lucy
16th St. Adelaide
21st St. Thomas the Apostle and St. Peter Canisius
22nd St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
23rd St. John Cantius
24th Christmas Eve and Adam & Eve
25th Christmas
26th St. Stephen
27th St. John the Apostle
28th Holy Innocents
29th St. Thomas a Becket

And as previously mentioned, this year's Advent's Embertide is the 16th, 18th and 19th of December.

Advent starts this Sunday!

2009-11-24T20:59:00.001-05:00

Buy your Advent candles this week!

Also, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) are the days of Advent Embertide.

Room Blessings!

2009-11-01T12:31:00.002-05:00

I just stumbled across this blog by the Chaplin of the Newman Center at George Washington University. GWU is blessed to have this priest. I hope he's there for a long time. I'm going to start follwing his blog (swell, add another to the list of 100+ blogs I already follow) because my daughter will be heading off to college next year and I'd like to get good ideas for bringing her back to the Faith.

Anyways, here's Father Greg's idea, room blessings...

One of the things that that means is that no matter what happened in your room before you began living there, grace now dwells there as a result of a room blessing. It's certainly scary to think of what might have happened in your room in the past several years before you got there - blasphemy against God or the Church, things of the occult (witchcraft, wicca, ouija boards, tarot cards, etc.), alcohol or drug abuse, impure sexual activity, pornography, contraception, self-injury (cutting), inappropriate language or jokes, pirating of materials (videos, music, software), gossip, etc. These sins aren't exclusive to college dorm rooms, of course; Catholics everywhere should have their homes and apartments blessed. But, everyone here knows that sin is all around us...and, serious sin at that. So, the prudent and practical GW Catholic student approaches his or her room as being a place where serious sin might have happened, and so he or she wants to eradicate all of that with a blessing by a priest.

Beads of the Dead

2009-10-30T10:18:00.003-04:00

Sounds ominous, eh? Well basically, it's a form of the rosary said for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

This is from Thomas Fitzpatrick's blog, Recta Ratio which I don't visit nearly often enough.

I know, I know!

2009-10-30T10:16:00.002-04:00

I apologize for not blogging in months! I'll be picking up my virtual pen again.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Henry Poole Is Here

2009-03-18T10:22:00.002-04:00

I rented this movie this past weekend. For some reason, it never appeared in the Boston-area theatres so I had to wait till it came out on DVD. I greatly enjoyed it but felt it moved a little too slowly for my tastes. It wasn't till at least half-way through the movie that we were told the reason why he wasn't "going to be around very long". The characters were all delightful, especially little Millie.

If you're not familiar with the plot, here's the synopsis from IMDB...

HENRY POOLE is HERE is a comedic drama about a disillusioned man who goes hiding in placid suburbia only to discover he cannot escape the forces of hope. Returning to the middleclass neighborhood where he grew up, Henry chooses to live in indulgent isolation. Real life, however, refuses to cooperate with his plans. Nosy neighbors interrupt him with curious visits and prying questions. Then the situation escalates as a stain on Henry's stucco wall is seen to have miraculous powers. His last-ditch hideout becomes a shrine; his backyard turns into an arena for passionate debate about faith and destiny. Seeking anonymous oblivion, cynical Henry Poole instead finds himself right at the center of the human comedy. A modern-day fable, director Mark Pellington's new film investigates the unexpected wonders of the everyday. A faithless man finds hope. A hopeless man finds love. Whether backyard miracles are real or triggered by hope and belief, their personal effects are permanent.

I might be tempted to buy this movie.

Material Cooperation

2009-03-18T09:58:00.003-04:00

Since Cardinal O'Malley is evaluating whether Catholic hospitals in Massachusetts can do abortion, a.k.a. "family planning" referrals in order to win a health insurance contract with the state, let's look at some definitions/discussions on Material Cooperation.

Principles of Formal and Material Cooperation

Mediate Material Cooperation. Mediate material cooperation occurs when the cooperator participates in circumstances that are not essential to the commission of an action, such that the action could occur even without this cooperation. Mediate material cooperation in an immoral act might be justifiable under three basic conditions:

1. If there is a proportionately serious reason for the cooperation (i.e., for the sake of protecting an important good or for avoiding a worse harm); the graver the evil the more serious a reason required for the cooperation;

2. The importance of the reason for cooperation must be proportionate to the causal proximity of the cooperator’s action to the action of the principal agent (the distinction between proximate and remote);

3. The danger of scandal (i.e., leading others into doing evil, leading others into error, or spreading confusion) must be avoided.

Remote Material Cooperation With Intrinsic Evil

I wish that Cardinal O'Malley learned from Cardinal O'Connor about this type of situation.

The March for Life is like "a poor man's World Youth Day"?

2009-03-16T14:35:00.003-04:00

Excuse me?!

This statement is from the latest entry in Cardinal Sean's blog...

I told the principals that I realize there will always be a limited number of people able to go to World Youth Day due to the travel and the expense but, in a sense, the March for Life is something of “a poor man’s World Youth Day.”

Although we do not have the joy of having the Holy Father present in Washington, the young people who go get to experience the witness of hundreds of thousands of people dedicated to their Catholic faith, and particularly the thousands upon thousands of young people that have become a growing presence each year. Many of them have been inspired to live their faith more fully after experiencing the March for Life so I urged the principals to try to be as creative as possible in finding ways to enable the largest number of their students to attend each year.

Cardinal Sean was speaking to a meeting of the Catholic High School principals in the Archdiocese of Boston. His words encouraged me to speak to the principal of a high school that I'm thinking of sending my daughter to *but* it bothered me that he missed the opportunity to state the message of why it was important for Life for young people to attend the March. My daughter attended it for the first time this year and she found it incredibly inspiring!

But it's like "a poor man's World Youth Day"?

Wow! Thanks Cardinal Sean...

Is the March for Life just a photo-op for him?

A Call to Arms!

2009-03-14T12:10:00.006-04:00

There seems to be some confusion from Cardinal O'Malley as to whether the Pope, Cardinal's, Bishops, Priests and lay people can respond to a woman who wants to discuss abortion by giving her abortion as an option, providing her with instructions on how to obtain that abortion and a phone number to a 24 hour hotline, calling her a taxi to get her to the abortions and permitting Planned Parenthood to monitor these new Catholic standards of the Gospel of Life with a personal Planned representative to monitor conversations between the healthcare workers and the woman asking for an abortion at a Catholic facility to ensure compliance.

When Catholics found out the details of how the Cardinal's plan would work at the level of Catholic healthcare providers and patients seeking abortions and distributed the information, the Cardinal sent out the following:

To be perfectly clear, Caritas Christi will never do anything to promote abortions, to direct any patients to providers of abortion or in any way to participate in actions that are contrary to Catholic moral teaching and anyone who suggests otherwise is doing a great disservice to the Catholic Church. We are committed to the Gospel of Life and no arrangement will be entered into unless it is completely in accord with Church teaching.

However, Planned Parenthood made Caritas put their promises in writing and then released the content of those promises to the Boston Globe:

From the Globe:

The Connector Authority board, which oversees the Commonwealth Care program, voted unanimously in favor of the joint venture proposed by Centene Corp., a St. Louis-based health organization, and Caritas Christi Health Care Network.
The vote followed several closed-door sessions in which officials from Centene and Caritas, the minority partner in the joint venture, assured regulators that women will have "ready access" to family planning and reproductive services, an issue that sparked concerns from abortion foes and reproductive rights activists.
Among the written assurances are a pledge that medical staff operating under the Centene-Caritas insurance plan, known as Commonwealth Family Health Plan, will inform women of their healthcare options, including abortion. The insurers will also provide a toll-free customer service line, available around the clock, to inform women abou t where they can get contraception, sterilization, and other family planning services not offered in the immediate setting. In an emergency, a service representative will arrange transportation to the nearest appropriate facility, officials said.
The regulators promised to watch closely. "We will certainly monitor their performance ," said Jon Kingsdale, the authority's executive director. "We will not allow them to start up or continue if they are not in compliance."
As a measure of the underlying tensions, four board members emphasized the need for oversight.

"I remain somewhat concerned about implementation," said Nonnie Burnes, state commissioner of insurance and a former Planned Parenthood board member. "I am willing to support this as long as we have some way to monitor this" in doctor's offices and other healthcare facilities.

The Cardinal had to stop saying that there would be no abortion referrals and instead a new statement essentially saying he was ignorant of whether forcing Catholics to inform women about abortion, providing them with instructions and 24 hour hotline abortion referral service, sending her by taxi to get the abortion and permitting doctors and nurses to be monitored by Planned Parenthood passed the muster of the Gospel of Life and is waiting on the opinion of our faithful National Catholic Bioethics Center to see if this is honest to God Catholic credo.

There's a simple formula to get to that answer. If the Pope can't do it and Cardinal's and priests can't do it - neither can Catholic physicians or any other heatlhcare worker. Further physicians take a civil oath not to do any harm - and sending people by taxicab to be killed violates that oath.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center must give their opinion confidentially and it is the Cardinal's responsibility to release that opinion. A week has gone by and in that week, the Cardinal permitted Caritas to enter into the contract.

THIS IS FOCA. FOCA is here. FOCA is being put in by Cardinal O'Malley.

Please do not sweep this under the rug where the rapes of our children used to reside. This is murder and when a Cardinal is trying to implement it, we have the duty to step up into the public square and say this is outrageous and wrong - - just as we do with Pelosi, Sebelius and Obama.

We are not a cult. Release the details to the public so that they may act upon it and stop this abomination.

Boston needs your help TODAY. Please help us by getting into the public square what is going on and encouraging people to contact the Nuncio and Vatican officials.

Copied below is the email addresses, phone numbers, etc for contacting the Papal Nuncio and Vatican offices...

His Excellency Pietro Sambi
Apostolic Nuncio
3339 Massachusets Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008-3687
USA
202-333-7121
202-337-4036 FAX
email: nuntiususa@nuntiususa.org

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI PP
Apostolic Palace
Via Del Pellegrino
Citta Del Vaticano 00120
Vatican City State
011.3906.69.88.10.22
011.3906.69.88.53.73 FAX
av@pccs.va
email: BenedictXVI@vatican.va

His Eminence Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone
Cardinal Secretary of State
Secretariat of State
Apostolic Palace
Vatican City 00120
The Vatican
11 39 06 6988 3438
011 39 06 6988 5088 FAX

His Eminence William Cardinal Levada, S.T.D.
Cardinal Prefect
Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith
Secretary - Fr. Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, SJ
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00193 Rome
Italy
email: cdf@cfaith.va
011 39 06 6988 3357
011.3906.69.88.34.13
011-39-0696100596 FAX
011.3906.69.88.34.09 FAX
cdf@cfaith.va

His Eminence Claudio Cardinal Hummes
Cardinal Prefect
Congregation For the Clergy
Piazza Della Città
Leonina I
00193 Rome
Italy
011 39 06 6988 4151
011 39 06 6988 4845 FAX
Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Csaba Ternyak

Rev. Msgr. Arthur Calkins
Assistant to President Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos
Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei"
Piazza Pio XII 3
00193 Rome
Italy
011.3906.69.88.41.51
011.3906.69.88.48.45 FAX

His Eminence Cardinal Antonelli
President
Pontifical Council For the Family
Piazza S. Calisto 16
00153 Roma, Piazza S. Calisto, 16
011.3906.69.88.72.43
011.3906.69.88.72.72 FAX

His Eminence Franc Cardinal Rode
Prefect
The Congregation For Institutes of Consecrated Life and For Societies of Apostolic Life
Piazza Pio XII 3
00193 Rome
Italy
011.3906.69.88.41.28
011.3906.69.88.45.26 FAX
Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Piergiorgio Silvano Nesti, C.P.

His Eminence Cardinal Francis Arinze
Prefect of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Roman Curia
Mailing Address:
Palazzo delle Congregazioni, 00193 Roma, Piazza Pio XII, 10
Telephone: 06.69.88.43.16; 06.69.88.43.18
Fax: 06.69.88.34.99

Most Reverend Albert Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith Patabendige Don
Secretary
Congregation for Divine Worship & Discipline of the Sacraments
Piazza Pio XII 10,
00193 Rome
Italy
011 39 06 6988 4316
011 39 06 6988 3499 FAX
cultdiv@ccdds.va

His Eminence Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re
Cardinal Prefect
Congregation For Bishops
Piazza Pio XII #10
00193 Rome
Italy
011 39 06 6988 4217
011 39 06 6988 4300 FAX
011-39-0669-885303 FAX
Secretary: Most Rev. Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio

(source)

A Prayer Request

2009-02-18T19:23:00.003-05:00

Please pray for my daughter, for wisdom to make a good decision over the next few days.

My Life Would S*** Without You

2009-02-10T13:07:00.003-05:00

I can't embed the video but it's at this link...

Enjoy!

Guess this means you're sorry
You're standing at my door
Guess this means you take back
All you said before
Like how much you wanted
Anyone but me
Said you'd never come back
But here you are again

Cuz we belong together, yeah
Forever united here somehow, yeah
You got a piece of me
And honestly,
My life would suck without you

Maybe I was stupid for telling you goodbye
Maybe I was wrong for tryin' to pick a fight
I know that I've got issues
But you're pretty messed up too
Either way, I found out I'm nothing without you

Cuz we belong together, yeah
Forever united here somehow, yeah
You got a piece of me
And honestly,
My life would suck without you

Being with you is so disfunctional
I really shouldn't miss you
But I can’t let you go
Oh yeah

Cuz we belong together, yeah
Forever united here somehow, yeah
You got a piece of me
And honestly,
My life would suck without you

Cuz we belong together, yeah
Forever united here somehow, yeah
You got a piece of me
And honestly,
My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you

The Great Peanut Scare

2009-01-29T11:13:00.004-05:00

The latest salmonella scare, involving peanut butter and products which contain it have made over 500 people sick and caused 7 deaths.

The HPV vaccine, Gardasil, has reportedly caused over 10,000 adverse reactions and 27 deaths.

Where's the outrage?

How We Won the War: A Little Known Christmas Story

2008-12-31T13:55:00.002-05:00

This is an excerpt from the book by Dr Peter Kreeft, The Angels and The Ants...

This is a true story. It took place on the eve of D-Day.

The greatest of world wars was at its most critical turning point.
Until then, the war had been mostly a series of stunning victories for the Fuhrcr. Dictatorship had apparently proved highly efficient. Most of Western civilization was under his control. The only hope was the great counterattack, the invasion plans. Both sides suspected the time was ripe for D-day; the only unknowns were when, where, and how.

On the eve of the invasion, a conversation much like the following took place between two close friends, both captains in the invasion forces. The conversation was never written up in memoirs or reported in any newspaper--until now.

“Gabby, you know all about the invasion plans, don't you?"
"No, Mike. No one knows all about them. You know how Army Intelligence works."
"Sure, and also why. They're afraid you'd live up to your name and your gift of gab will get picked up by enemy ears."

"No way. Our new spy behind enemy lines has the only receiver that can pick up my messages. But I have to tell you some startling things tonight. The General himself told me to. It's you who have to keep this top secret."

"You know you can trust me, Gabby. I was only kidding about you."

"Captains don't kid, Mike. You know that. Now listen up. I have three secrets for you."

"Shoot."

"First, the invasion is tomorrow night."
"That's no surprise. What else?"

"The place. Look here on the map. It's a little town no one would ever suspect."

"There? Never heard of the place."

"After tomorrow, the whole world will know about it. We'll put it on the map."

"OK, what's the third secret?"

"The identity of our new spy. She's a woman."
"A woman! Why?"

"Mike, don't be such an old chauvinist. This one's perfect for the job, just perfect. She's been preparing the landing place now for months."

"How do you know all this?"

"I was the one that got the first message through. That was extremely tricky, let me tell you."

"Why?"

"Because I had to wait for her reply. Sending wireless messages is easy, but waiting to receive them is much harder. This one especially, because the General absolutely insisted that we wait until we got her permission."

"Permission? The General waited for the permission of a woman before the great invasion could happen?"

"Exactly."

"Why?"
"Well, he's a gentleman, you know. Very old-fashioned that way. And he knows the job is terribly dangerous."

"I'll bet. Look at what happened to all the spies we sent in before her."

"Yes. Most were tortured."

"So what if she had said no?"

“Then the whole invasion plan would have been scrapped, at least for now, maybe forever. Who knows?"

"Incredible! If I didn't know better, I'd swear the General had lost his marbles."

"You haven't heard the half of it. Hold on to your hat for this one, Mike. The General insisted on personally leading the invasion, not just directing it from across the Channel."

"What!"

"That's not all. He's already there, in disguise. He landed nine ago."

"This is incredible, Gabby! And horribly dangerous. Suppose he's captured? What a plum that would be for the Fuhrer! What kind of strategy is that--to walk right into the enemy's territory?
Remember what happened to all those spies in the past? How does he expect to pull this off?"

"Well, the disguise is incredibly good, for one thing. But tomorrow, he's coming out of hiding. In fact, I think he may even be planning to be detected and eventually captured."

"What kind of a plan is that? Everything you tell me makes less and less sense than the thing before it. Why would he let himself be captured?"

"Believe it or not, I think he plans to confront the Fuhrer himself, face to face."

"And what then?"

"I have no idea. He hasn't told anyone that."
"You know, if I didn't trust him implicitly...."

"I know. But you know what they say, `Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die.'"

"It's true, Gabby. That's the army way. Trust and obey."

"You know what I wonder about, Mike?"
"What?"

"Suppose the invasion works, and we liberate all the captive people. What will they do once they're freed? I'll bet many of them will still cling to the Fuhrer's `New Order.' It's so much a part of their lives now, it feels half comfortable to them--like a jail cell that's become your home. Even when you're paroled, you're afraid to leave. One thing is sure, anyway: Even if we win, the world will never be the same again: too many scars, too much devastation, no simple return to pre-war innocence."

"No, but we can at least give the tired old world a chance for a new start, eh?"

"Absolutely, Mike. By the way, who is `we'? How many troops are in the invasion forces? If you're leading them tomorrow, you must know."

"You wouldn't believe it. The world has never seen an army this big. The whole sky is gonna have to open up for this one!

On Christmas Day, 4 B.C., the legions of General King of Kings under Michael the Archangel descended en masse in a field outside a little town called Bethlehem. The General himself came out of the hiding place Mary had prepared for him nine months before, disguised as a helpless baby.

The General wants all citizens to know that the invasion has been successful and the mop-up operation is still under way. All are urged to join this operation. There is still plenty to do. But the General assures all his troops that final, total victory is absolutely assured.

Hallmark is wrong. Christmas is not cute and cozy, sweet and sentimental. Christmas is God's D-Day.

For, this day is born to you a Saviour...

2008-12-24T13:01:00.003-05:00

who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.

Merry Christmas everyone!

The Blessing of the Thorns

2008-11-26T10:09:00.001-05:00

I'm reposting this entry from two years ago...

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her shoes as she pushed against a November gust and the florist shop door.

Her life had been easy, like a spring breeze. Then in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a minor automobile accident stole that from her.

During this Thanksgiving week she would have delivered a son. She grieved over her loss. As if that weren't enough, her husband's company threatened a transfer. Then her sister, whose holiday visit she coveted, called saying she could not come for the holiday.

Then Sandra's friend infuriated her by suggesting her grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. She has no idea what I'm feeling, thought Sandra with a shudder.

Thanksgiving? Thankful for what? She wondered. For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life but took that of her child?

"Good afternoon, can I help you?" The shop clerk's approach startled her.

"I....I need an arrangement, " stammered Sandra.

"For Thanksgiving? Do you want beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the Thanksgiving "Special?" asked the shop clerk. "I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she continued. "Are you looking for something that conveys 'gratitude' this thanksgiving? "

"Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong."

Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the shop clerk said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you."

Just then the shop door's small bell rang, and the shop clerk said,
"Hi, Barbara...let me get your order." She politely excused herself and walked toward a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and long-stemmed thorny roses.
Except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers.

"Want this in a box?" asked the clerk.

Sandra watched for the customer's response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed.

"Yes, please," Barbara, replied with an appreciative smile. "You'd
think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again," she said as she gently tapped her chest. And she left with her order.

"Uh," stammered Sandra, "that lady just left with, uh....she just left with no flowers!

"Right, said the clerk, "I cut off the flowers. That's the Special. I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet."

"Oh, come on, you can't tell me someone is willing to pay for that!" exclaimed Sandra.

"Barbara came into the shop three years ago feeling much like you feel
today," explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had lost her father to cancer, the family business was failing, her son was into drugs, and she was facing major surgery."

"That same year I had lost my husband," continued the clerk, "and for
the first time in my life, had just spent the holidays alone. I had no
children, no husband, no family nearby, and too great a debt to allow
any travel."

"So what did you do?" asked Sandra.

"I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for the good things in my life and never
questioned the good things that happened to me, but when bad stuff hit, did I ever ask questions! It took time for me to learn that dark times are important. I have always enjoyed the 'flowers' of life, but
it took thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort. You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others."

Sandra sucked in her breath as she thought about the very thing her friend had tried to tell her. "I guess the truth is I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God."
Just then someone else walked in the shop. "Hey, Phil!" shouted the
clerk to the balding, rotund man.
"My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving Special....12 thorny, long-stemmed stems!" laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue-wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator.
"Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind me asking why she wants something that looks like that?"

"No...I'm glad you asked," Phil replied. "Four years ago my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we slogged through problem after problem. He rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she learned from "thorny" times, and that was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific "problem" and give thanks for what that problem taught us."

As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!"
"I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life." Sandra said. "It's all too...fresh. "
"Well," the clerk replied carefully, "my experience has shown me that thorns make roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember, it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don't resent the thorns."Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on resentment. "I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please," she managed to choke out.
"I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in a
minute."
"Thank you. What do I owe you?"

"Nothing. Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year's arrangement is always on me." The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. "I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first."

It read: "My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow look much more brilliant."
Praise Him for your roses; thank him for your thorns!
-- Author Unknown

Churchill said it best...

2008-11-03T18:39:00.002-05:00

Winston Churchill - Oct 29, 1941

You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done.

Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination.

But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period ...this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.

Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

(H/T Red State)

A spooky Obama post, just in time for Halloween

2008-10-30T19:39:00.004-04:00

click on this link to go to Hillbuzz and click on the gif image link there

Click on their link and watch carefully... It's an animated gif...

(H/T Hillbuzz Blog)

Don't let the psy-ops throw you

2008-10-09T19:05:00.004-04:00

so says the Anchoress. She has such reasoned posts on politics. I don't always agree with her but this post makes so much sense. She packed a lot into it but here's a sample...

But then again, folks, you know what I always say - everything happens for a reason. There is a reason that this untried, unprepared, not-especially-glib-after-all man has been thrust into such extraordinary prominence at this time. There is a reason why so much seems to be coming together to work in his favor. There is a reason why world markets are collapsing just before this very important election, and why they will continue to do at least until after the vote.

What that reason is? Who can say? All I know is, stop freaking out. At this point in the election 4 years ago John Kerry was wandering around hearing himself referred to as “Mr. President.” This point in 1980, Jimmy Carter was planning his second inaugural.

My advice: live in the Present Moment and ask God to reveal Himself and His plan for you in that moment. Not in the next moment, not in the past moment. Work on the present moment. If you can get a real grasp of that - and if you can remember that past and future are also constructs, because time itself is illusory - then you have no need to hyperventilate.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Go read Matthew, go read the Sermon on the Mount. It’s all about that.

Go read the rest!

McCain's latest ad on Obama's friend, Ayers (updated)

2008-10-09T18:45:00.004-04:00

Right now it's just on Youtube (1:40 minutes) but it will be shortened to 40 seconds or so and aired as a TV ad soon...

Notes, i.e. more documentation, from a political blog, Dr Sanity...

Ayers is a 'respectable' university professor; a man who shows his patriotism for America in subtle ways; an educational reformer; along with his wife, a pillar of the [leftist] community; the man who launched Barack Obama's political career; the man who gave Obama millions of dollars to spend on community organizing. In short, we are to believe that Obama knew nothing of the past activities of this man , despite having worked for him, disbursed money for his radical educational agenda; and used him to obtain power and influence in the leftist world for his meteoric political rise... in Chicago...in Illinois..in the US...and probably eventually, the World.

If that is true (and I don't believe it for an instant) why is Obama so anxious that his connection with Ayers be silenced? Why is the MSM so desperate to prove that there is nothing to see here?
I'm sure that's what Ayers would like, because he has always acted behind the scenes to (violently, if necessary) promote his socialist revolutionary agenda. Obama as his most successful front man to date must be kept clean so that the unwashed masses can be properly manipulated and led to the socialist utopia.

Many of the items in the first paragraph are hyperlinks to sources.

The real reason the market is tanking?

2008-10-09T10:37:00.003-04:00

From G. Thomas Fitzpatrick of Recta Ratio...

Maybe not all of this sell-off in the US and global markets is because of the latest banking crisis.

Maybe investors are freaked out at the increasingly likely prospect of an Obama Presidency. Maybe they are selling anything they can because they know the policies this fellow, with a Democrat Congress to help him enact legislation, will not be one bit good for investors.

Ora Pro Nobis

Fr John Rizzo, FSSP, will celebrate High Mass in Boston!

2008-10-08T16:06:00.003-04:00

Fr John Rizzo, FSSP, visits the Boston area next week on his way to Rome for the Celebration of 20 years of Ecclesia Dei, and will celebrate HIGH Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston at 11:00 am.

This will also be a Holy Name Society Mass, with the recitation of the Holy Name Litany at the end.

Fr Rizzo is coming from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, in Christchurch, New Zealand.

(removed quasi-snarky comment)

What do baked potatoes and October 7th have in common?

2008-10-07T16:40:00.002-04:00

The baked potatoes symbolize Victory Vessels in the Battle of Lepanto, of course!

The ladies at Catholic Cuisine are never at a loss as to how to tie food and liturgical feast days together.

October - Month of the Most Holy Rosary

2008-10-07T16:19:00.002-04:00

Redneck Neck Woman from Postscripts from the Catholic Spitfire Grill has an amazing post about the rosary, quite the compendium of info. Check it out here.

I love Father Corapi!

2008-10-06T20:37:00.002-04:00

A new vocation video with the voice of Father Corapi.

(H/T Roman Roman Vocations, Brad Watkins)

In Honor of the Feast of Guardian Angels

2008-10-02T20:12:00.003-04:00

I'm republishing a post from last year on naming angels...

(from 9/7/2007)

The other day, Carrie Tomeko blogged about Opus Angelorum and the practice of naming angels. This gets very interesting because she found on Father Z's old forum site a thread which was discussing that very practice. Did you know that there was a document published by the CDF on this topic back in 1984? Father Z quickly translated a bit of it here.

Essentially, this document says that there is not to be diffused the idea that one can know the name of one's guardian angel that that one is not to invoke the (unknowable) names of angels in prayer.

I have not found online an English version of this yet and I do not have the time to translate it at the moment.

What the CDF is warning about is the great spiritual danger that can come to a person from trying to invoke angels by name. The naming of angels is something that should be avoided. Not all angels are the friends of God and man. They are mighty beings that transcend our human nature. Some of them are bent on our eternal damnation. They can apply an angelic intellect in tricking us into the loss of heaven. They do not sleep. These are demonic enemies of the soul. Demons do not relent, unless God and His angels, unless the Church God's priest intervene. The naming of fallen angels is part of the rite of exorcism. It is perilous indeed to anyone without the protection and power that comes from the sacrament of Holy Orders to name angels.

This is a foolish and sentimental practice for most people who are into this sort of thing. But it is not benign. While it is not dangerous in all situations, it is dangerous in some. We just cannot know whom or what we are invoking outside the names of the angels friendly to God whose names appear in Holy Writ: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael.

Fr. Z

Thank goodness for Father Z! I had heard on another forum that it was a good idea/practice to name one's guardian angel and did try it. I never really felt comfortable with it though...

The Wooden Bowl

2008-10-02T18:59:00.002-04:00

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.
The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about Grandfather," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled
milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor.".

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner.

There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner.

Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometime he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up." The four-year-old smiled and went back to work. The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.

That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

May you reap what you sow...

Sacrifice Beads

2008-10-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

In honor of St Therese's Feast Day (Oct 1st new calendar, Oct 3rd trad calendar), I thought I'd post this description of the sacrifice beads that were popularized by St Therese of Lisieux.

The most typical actual "chaplet" consists a string of 10 beads, with a Crucifix at one end, symbolizing our taking up our Crosses and going the Way of Christ. On the other end nowadays is usually a medal depicting St. Thérèse, which reminds us of her "Little Way" of spirituality that's embodied in the use of the beads, and of the fact that we are all called to be Saints. They are kept in one's pocket, secretly, and when one mentally offers up something to God in union with Christ's sufferings on the Cross, one slides one of the beads toward the Crucifix. The beads are constructed such that when they are moved, they remain where they are put.

Some Sacrifice Beads consist of 15 beads, with 3 beads of a different color evenly interspersed among them, each representing one of the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity. Each time 5 regular beads are moved toward the Crucifix, one of the Trinity beads is automatically moved, too, symbolizing our participation, by grace, in life of the Most Holy Trinity, and reminding us that any good we do is because of God alone.

Some people use the beads simply, by just moving one toward the Crucifix for each Sacrifice, but a more challenging and fruitful way of using them is to move a bead back toward the medal for each sin one commits along the way. This is a good way of examining one's conscience all throughout the day.

Source

Please Pray for this priest

2008-09-30T09:47:00.003-04:00

Why this priest votes for Obama

Of course, he's going to Boston College (ugh) to work on a book about Father Robert Drinan, another priest who needs prayers.

A Little-known Shrine

2008-09-27T10:16:00.007-04:00

Two years ago, through Domenico Bettinelli's blog, I discovered the shrine for Father Patrick Power, a young priest who died in 1869. The grave/shrine is in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden Massachusetts.

I had a chance to visit the grave again last week and took a couple of pictures on my phone camera...

The prayer on the photo above is

O Jesus, who filled your servant, Father Patrick Power, with profound veneration for Your boundless mercy and compassion for all, deign, if it be Your holy will, to grant me, through his intercession, the grace for which I fervently pray.........

Be mindful of Father Patrick's spirit of sacrifice and self-denial, and reward his virtue by granting the petition which, with childlike confidence, I present to You through his intercession.

It was composed by Father Bernard Shea, a retired (do any of them really retire?!) 91-year-old priest at St Mary's in Melrose. Please say a prayer for Father Shea, who fainted while celebrating the 4 pm Mass at St Mary's last Saturday. Thankfully, he is fine and resting comfortably.

Babies: We need more like you

2008-09-26T09:54:00.003-04:00

As the Demographic Winter approaches in Europe, Germany fights it with this ad. Will it work?

The video is charming. :-)

Instruction on the TLM in Peabody - Sept 24th

2008-09-17T19:14:00.002-04:00

Excellent news!

On Wednesday, 24 Sept., at 7 pm, at St. Adelaide Parish, 708 Lowell St, Peabody, Fr. Van de Moortell will host an evening of instruction on the Traditional Latin Mass. Low Mass will also be offered. Light refreshments will be provided after Mass.

Latin Mass North website

Crush

2008-09-15T20:00:00.001-04:00

I hung up the phone tonight
Something happened for the first time deep inside
It was a rush, what a rush

'Cause the possibility
That you would ever feel the same way about me
It's just too much, just too much

Why do I keep running from the truth?
All I ever think about is you
You got me hypnotized, so mesmerized
And I've just got to know

Do you ever think when you're all alone
All that we can be, where this thing can go?
Am I crazy or falling in love?
Is it real or just another crush?

Do you catch a breath when I look at you?
Are you holding back like the way I do?
'Cause I'm trying and trying to walk away
But I know this crush ain't goin' away-ay-ay-ay-ayy
Goin' away-ay-ay-ay-ayy

Has it ever crossed your mind
When we're hanging, spending time girl, are we just friends?
Is there more, is there more?

See it's a chance we've gotta take
'Cause I believe that we can make this into something that will last
Last forever, forever

Do you ever think when you're all alone
All that we can be, where this thing can go?
Am I crazy or falling in love?
Is it real or just another crush?

Do you catch a breath when I look at you?
Are you holding back like the way I do?
'Cause I'm trying and trying to walk away
But I know this crush ain't goin' away

Why do I keep running from the truth?
All I ever think about is you
You got me hypnotized, so mesmerized
And I've just got to know

Do you ever think when you're all alone
All that we can be, where this thing can go?
Am I crazy or falling in love?
Is it real or just another crush?

Do you catch a breath when I look at you?
Are you holding back like the way I do?
'Cause I'm trying and trying to walk away
But I know this crush ain't goin' away
This crush ain't goin' away

Dear Mr Obama

2008-09-14T20:08:00.001-04:00

One soldier's reasons for voting for Senator McCain for president.

Wonderfully done.

Remembering September 11th

2008-09-11T09:19:00.004-04:00

There's a good thread on FreeRepublic, the conservative online forum, which contains a compendium of photos and videos regarding 9/11.

Link

Grassroot Films Strikes Again!

2008-09-10T16:02:00.003-04:00

These people are amazing! They've done a wonderful video for www.catholicvote.com

H/T to American Papist (please see his post for more info)

Fall For You

2008-09-10T08:23:00.002-04:00

"Fall For You"

The best thing about tonight's that we're not fighting
Could it be that we have been this way before
I know you don't think that I am trying
I know you're wearing thin down to the core

But hold your breathe
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
You're impossible to find

This is not what I intended
I always swore to you I'd never fall apart
You always thought that I was stronger
I may have failed
But I have loved you from the start
Oh

But hold your breathe
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
It's impossible

So breathe in so deep
Breathe me in
I'm yours to keep
And hold onto your words
Cause talk is cheap
And remember me tonight
When your asleep

Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I won't live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind
Or I wont live to see another day
I swear it's true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
You're impossible to find

Added the link to the Youtube video so you can hear the song...

In the Beginning

2008-09-07T20:37:00.000-04:00

RNC's tribute to 9/11

2008-09-05T17:26:00.004-04:00

Did you know that the RNC played a video tribute to 9/11 last week? Unfortunately, this clip includes Keith Olberman's take on it...

I think this one is better (more graphic however)...

TAN Books announces that Fr O'Sullivan books are back

2008-09-04T16:06:00.003-04:00

Father O'Sullivan wrote many excellent booklets on various aspects of the Catholic faith. Check them out!

Many of our customers were introduced to TAN through the popular O’Sullivan booklets. These little booklets are great for passing along to loved ones. They are perfect for evangelizing, easy to read, and are filled with straight Catholic teaching, never watered down. Two of the most popular, "The Wonders of the Holy Name", and "The Holy Ghost, Our Greatest Friend" are currently going to press for reprinting but should be available very soon. Quantity discounts are available on all the booklets.

If you are a new TAN customer, a great introduction to the Fr Paul O'Sullivan books is "All About the Angels", especially since September is the month of the Angels. If you have any questions about what Angels are, where they go, what they do, and how they can help us, this is one of the best titles on the subject. "All About the Angels" contains solid church doctrine and traditional teachings about the Angels, stories of approved angelic apparitions and much more.

I'm especially interested in the one about angels.

TLM Reminder! More Masses on the North Shore of Boston

2008-09-04T15:57:00.003-04:00

This coming Sunday, at 1 pm, St Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly will be offering another TLM. This will be a monthly occurrence on the first Sunday of the month.

St Adelaide's in Peabody will begin offering a Saturday TLM, the first Saturday of each month at 8:30 am. Also, they offer the TLM every 4th Sunday of the month.

We're making good progress here. Please help support these Masses and let your friends know.

Thanks!

Separated at birth?

2008-09-04T15:49:00.004-04:00

What Where When Meme

2008-09-04T10:50:00.003-04:00

Stolen from Father Richtsteig at Orthometer

1. President Kennedy's Assassination - 22 November 1963

I was in second grade and was surprised to see my teacher crying

2. England's World Cup Semi Final v Germany - 4 July 1990

I have no idea...

3. Margaret Thatcher's resignation - 22 November 1990

I don't know where I was, but I remembered being disappointed.

4. Princess Diana's death - 31 August 1997

I was saddened by her untimely death. It seemed like she was finally experiencing some happiness in her life. I did watch the funeral, etc that Saturday morning and my then-6-year-old daughter wasn't happy that she had to miss her cartoons because of this...

5. Attack on the twin towers - 11 September 2001

I had just left the IT business to start a home-based business. I was listening to the radio, a talk show on WRKO and one of the hosts said that a plane crashed into the WTC. In Boston, we have a tiny office building called the World Trade Center and that's the one I thought they meant. So, I turned on the TV and a few minutes later saw a second plane crash into the WTC towers in New York.

6. The election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to the papacy - 19 April 2005

Given that I had just come back into the Church a few weeks earlier, I was excited to be working from home and watching EWTN when this was announced. Cardinal Ratzinger was the one I was hoping for...

Sarah Palin

2008-08-31T18:47:00.005-04:00

I was incredibly excited to hear that Senator McCain picked Governor Palin to be his running mate. I was happy for several reasons, she has executive experience (mayor and governor), she is pro-life (Ridge would not have been acceptable) and overall her resume is fabulous.

I am disappointed in myself in that I gave up on the 2008 campaign when McCain was picked. I still have some doubts about him but he is proving to be a very savvy campaigner. Thank goodness others did not give up so easily, like the folks at Palin for VP. We can thank them for getting the job done.

If you agree with me, go make a contribution to the McCain/Palin campaign.

By the way, the Hillary supporters are still ticked off at Obama. Just google "pumas for palin". Woo hoo!

PUMA stands for "Party Unity My A**"

TLM Reminder! Today - St Adelaide's in Peabody

2008-08-24T09:09:00.001-04:00

The Mass will be at 2 pm. I don't know if it's high or low but I hope to see you there!

Knights of Columbus Donates $1 million to Defend Marriage in California

2008-08-20T21:35:00.003-04:00

Good on them!

Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to protect marriage, has announced that it has received a $1 million contribution from the Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic family fraternal service organization.
In a press release, spokesman for the Knights of Columbus, Patrick Korten said that the donation from the Knights "is both an indication of how important we believe this referendum to be, and an encouragement to other groups and individuals of all faiths to lend their support as well."
"From the day the organization was founded 126 years ago, strengthening and protecting the family has always been central to the mission of the Knights of Columbus. Preserving marriage as the indispensable institution in which children are conceived, born and raised to adulthood by a loving father and mother is vital to a healthy society. It is also the most favorable environment in which to protect the rights and best interests of children. We are proud to join the Catholic bishops and priests of California, and so many other people of good will, in this effort on which so much depends.

Source

More lolcat

2008-08-17T16:18:00.004-04:00

Source

Personal Prayer Request please

2008-08-17T16:18:00.003-04:00

Friday was my husband's last day at his job. My job ends in two weeks. I'd appreciate any prayers you can say for us. I trust that God will take care of us (as always)!

Thanks!

The Isolation of Teenagers

2008-08-17T13:04:00.006-04:00

Over the past year or so, I've been able to watch several teenagers close-up in social situations. It's pretty ugly. I feel depressed for them although it wouldn't surprise me if they themselves didn't feel depressed but pushed the feeling down, covering it with complaints of tiredness and boredom.

They have hundreds of ways to communicate with one another, cell phones, IM, texting, Facebook, etc but so much of it is superficial. Text messages can only be 160 characters. They are learning to speak in soundbites, expressing incomplete thoughts. So their knowledge of one another is very shallow.

Beneath the surface of their lives is a pool of anger. If someone says something to them and it is perceived as something negative, they strike back in kind. They don't learn to trust one another. Resentment towards the other person builds and another friendship/relationship falls by the wayside. This just reinforces their isolation, that they are not understood, they are not loved.

Even if they have pets, they don't interactive with the pet. They may not even like to acknowledge that the pet has a name.

If they connect with someone long enough to get physically intimate, i.e. hook-ups, they discover another way to enable bad feelings to arise because they haven't gotten to know one another emotionally. The girl learns that her feelings aren't reciprocated so her heart hardens a little bit more. The boy learns either that he can use another person or, like the girl, feelings arise in him that he wasn't expecting and which he doesn't want. He quickly ends the relationship and thus his heart hardens too.

It's worse if the couple goes all the way sexually. They don't have the maturity to know how to discuss their feelings and they are not financially ready to make a commitment to one another, i.e. marriage and so stress arises and because they don't have the skills to resolve it, the relationship ends and their hearts are hardened.

Where did this come from? The family, I'm sad to say...

They weren't taught in the home to respect others, to look for the good in others, to put someone else first. While the hard skills; working hard in school, doing chores around the house, are important, the soft skills are just as critical to leading a happy life.

Please pray for them. If they continue down this path into adulthood, it doesn't bode well for the next generation either.

We need to show more sympathy for these people...

2008-08-17T10:35:00.002-04:00

They travel miles in the heat.
They risk their lives crossing a border.
They don't get paid enough wages.
They do jobs that others won't do or are afraid to do.
They live in crowded conditions among a people who speak a different language.
They rarely see their families and they face adversity all day every day...

I'm not talking about illegal aliens, I'm talking about our troops!

H/T Moe Lauzier Source

My Blogroll...

2008-08-16T09:13:00.002-04:00

is terribly out-of-date but I was asked by Jackie of Catholic Mom of 10 to add her blog to my blogroll.

So, Jackie, you're there! Thanks for asking. Now I need to figure out who else to add/delete.

Thank you Jimmy Akin!

2008-08-10T11:23:00.003-04:00

We're Catholic! We don't need to use the Bible to justify all our beliefs...

Not all questions can be answered in a way that offers Bible verses as evidence. In fact, not all questions can be answered at all. There are many things we human simply don't know the answer to, because God hasn't told them to us, and there are also many things in life that have answers that don't involve the Bible at all, like how to solve the quadratic equation or where to find the gas station with the cheapest gas or how to make chop suey.
I think it is important to point these things out when dealing with the "Where is that in the Bible?" mentality.
It is also important to point out that, even when dealing with questions that do involve theology, we are Catholics and therefore do not need to provide answers within the confines of sola Scriptura.
As Catholics, we draw information from and our theology is shaped by not only Scripture but also Tradition, the formulations of the Magisterium, philosophy, human nature (i.e., natural law) reasoning, etc.

From Jimmy's blog entry, Prayer for the Dead

Wonderful response

2008-08-10T11:16:00.004-04:00

to the question, "Why did God create us?

from commenter Abigail...

Love is creative.

Why do married people have kids?

(I don't know if you have kids yourself. If you don't, I'm sure you can think of someone among your family and friends that does have a little one that they dote upon.)

My husband and I are complete in our relationship with each other. If God had given us the cross of infertility (or the real-life situation we faced where all our kids could have inherited a fatal disease) --we would be left spooning each other Jello alone in the nursing home.

When I faced that possibility head on, I was okay with that.

I didn't earnestly desire children with my husband because I needed someone to control, or someone to adore me, or someone to make me look good.

The desire for children which I never abstractly wanted as a young woman, sort of came over me during this flood of amazing feelings I had for my spouse.

He felt the same way about me.

Now we've got 3 little ones who all share his funny toes and my curly hair, and yet each have an individual spirit which is entirely their own.

Love delights in company. Love reaches out and expands itself.

God's love for each member of humanity is so fantastic we can only glimpse it inside the human heart. The desire for children, no matter how terribly perverted or buried in modern culture, is one of the basic laws written on the human heart. You'll find parental love across all lands and all cultures. It's proof that we all have the same imprint of One Creator.

Go vote on the most annoying "Spirit of Vatican II" phrase

2008-07-14T12:11:00.002-04:00

Click here

What have we done?!

2008-07-14T11:59:00.003-04:00

Since I've come back to the Church (in 2005) after being a C&E Catholic (Christmas and Easter) for so many years, I keep tacking more and more to the trad side of the liturgical spectrum. One of the latest posts on Father Zuhldorf's blog, What Does the Prayer Really Say, really brings it home for me just how much has been lost in the past 40 or so years. The post, Review of Worship as a Revelation discusses several topics, including why we should receive Holy Communion on the tongue.

A priest had the question, why is it okay to receive on the tongue but
not on the hand. The tongue hasn't been consecrated, has it?

Yes, it has...

At least in the old Rite of Baptism, the tongue was consecrated.

I don't know about you but it horrifies me that someone "improved"; the Rite of Baptism and removed that part of the Rite.

What have we done?!

I am so incredibly tired of the "improvements" made to all aspects of the SACRAMENTS.

Let's tweak the motto 'Save the Liturgy, Save the World';

Save the Sacraments, Save the World!

NObama!

2008-07-06T14:41:00.002-04:00

(H/T Gloria Romanorum)

How to Avoid Purgatory (part 2)

2008-07-05T08:00:00.002-04:00

Link to the entire booklet

Chapter 1

CAN WE AVOID PURGATORY? YES.

Many think that it is practically impossible for the ordinary Christian to
avoid Purgatory. Go there we all must--so they say.

They laughingly remark: "It will be well for us if we ever get there" Alas!
When too late they will recognize how terribly rash their words were. As a
consequence of such fatalistic ideas, many make no serious effort to avoid
Purgatory, or even to lessen the term they may have to pass there. Thank
God all do not hold such gloomy views.

WE SHALL STRIVE IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES TO SHOW

a) How all can notably shorten their period of expiation in Purgatory; b)
And how they may even avoid Purgatory altogether. These pages are well
worth reading and re-reading. The fact is that a great number of souls go
to Purgatory and remain there for long years simply because they had never
been told how they could have avoided it.

The means we suggest are easy, practical and within the reach of all.
Moreover, far from being irksome, the use of these means will only serve to
make our lives on this earth holier and happier and will take away the
exaggerated fear of death which terrifies so many.

We ask you, Dear Reader, to put this little booklet into the hands of all
your friends. You cannot do them a greater service.

Part 1

How to Avoid Purgatory (part 1)

2008-07-04T18:02:00.003-04:00

The entire text of this booklet by Father Paul O'Sullivan can be found here on EWTN's website. It is a very easy read but with a ton of information. I highly recommend buying it from TAN Books but for those who would like to "try before they buy" I'll post a chapter a day...

FOREWORD

Our Lord came on earth expressly to give us a perfect Redemption. He gave
us a Law of Love, a Religion in every way to suit our human hearts,
destined to make us holy and happy. His Commandments, counsels and promises
all breathe peace, joy, mercy and love.

The idea that nearly all of us shall, notwithstanding, have to pass a
period more or less long in the excruciating fires of Purgatory after death
seems to be at variance with this all-merciful and all-loving plan of our
Divine Lord.

It is true that we are weak and fall many times and that God's justice is
rigorous and exacting, but it is equally certain that God's mercy and love
are above all His works.

It is no less certain that Our Lord has given us abundant grace and
strength to save us from sin and many (and most efficacious) means of
satisfying for any sins that we may have committed. This last fact seems to
be almost entirely overlooked, or imperfectly understood by the majority of
Catholics.

Of course, those who go on deliberately sinning and who make no effort to
correct their faults and refuse to use the many wonderful means God offers
them for satisfying for sin, condemn themselves to Purgatory.

The object of this little book is to show how we can avoid Purgatory by
using the means God has so generously offered us, and, secondly, to show
that the use of these means is within the reach of every ordinary
Christian.

The careful perusal of these pages will be a source of much benefit and
consolation to all who read them.

The author offers them to the loving Heart of Jesus and asks Him to bless
them.

Excellent Examination of Conscience

2008-07-03T13:27:00.003-04:00

I found this via the Fisheaters website, altough it's actually on the website for the Saint Philippine Duchesne Latin Mass Community (FSSP) in Kansas City, Kansas.

A Comprehensive Examination Of Conscience.

Based On Twelve Virtues For The Twelve Months Of The Year
By REV. DONALD F. MILLER, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph E. Ritter, St. Louis, April 7, 1959

Each month's examination is in a separate pdf.

More Ceiling Cat...

2008-07-01T10:24:00.003-04:00

Latin Mass North

2008-06-30T20:33:00.002-04:00

I just stumbled across this website, Latin Mass North, for those of us on the North Shore of Boston (wandering for 40 years in the desert)...

The TLM that was offered at St Adelaide's in Peabody was beautiful (more on that tomorrow) and it will be offered every 4th Sunday of the month!

Woo hoo!

I Confess!

2008-06-30T17:29:00.001-04:00

Let me know if this is Greek to you...

Viva La Vida (Update)

2008-06-28T11:31:00.009-04:00

I love this new song by Coldplay. It has a ton of Catholic imagery in it.

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemies' eyes
Listened as the crowd would sing
Now the old king is dead, long live the king
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you'd gone there was never
Never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world

It was a wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh, who would ever want to be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know St Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know St Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Thomas Peters (an American Papist) wrote about it a couple of weeks ago.

Here's an interesting thread discussing the possible meanings of the song...

Bingo! From page 9 (h/t Sainthoodx)...

So, in short, Martin [Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay] is Lucifer (aka. Satan) singing/reminiscing/confessing his sins about the present time from a future perspective.

Lucifer was the most beautiful and terrifying Archangel, with the most authority. Once at the right hand of God, he was cast down to earth and, to this day, given authority by God as king of this wicked world - until the authority is stripped from him at the second coming of Christ, and starts singing this reminiscent song.

Seas rise at Satan's word, as he still retains as much spiritual authority as Gabriel or Michael, if not more because he rules the earth. But in the future he will sleep alone, defeated.

The crowd at large (excluding the revolutionaries, who know the truth) want to follow Satan. Often, without even realizing it, because they believe his lies - even the most common one that he doesn't even exist. So the crowds sing "Now the old king is dead, long live the king". Despite people's need for God, they reject his leadership for a more dangerous/interesting king. God will eventually strip Lucifer of that and "close the walls" on him and Satan will realize that his castles stand on pillars of salt/sand.

Jerusalem bells, and Roman cavalry choirs singing either celebrating the second coming of Christ or maybe Lucifer is reflecting (again: in the future, defeated) back to the present, when people are happy to serve Lucifer (ultimately, by not serving God). He obviously wants "missionaries in a foreign field" for himself, or people to spread his lies . He even mentions, there "was never an honest word.. when I ruled the world" - as he presently rules the world and is the "prince of lies").

His appearance into the world was wicked and wild. People had different reactions to it, but everyone couldn't believe how he'd transitioned from being the leader of all of heaven's armies to the prince of darkness. Many revolutionaries: Christians, crusaders, religious groups, and even Jesus (being the biggest revolutionary - who finally put Lucifer in his place, defeated and alone at Jesus' second coming). Lucifer's feelings are hurt because the revolutionaries mock him with "just a puppet on a lonely string, oh who would ever want to be king?", because his jealousy lead him to a failed attempt to dethrone God and take His place.

Now that he is defeated, he is repentant, so he has this feeling that St. Peter will call his name at the "pearly gates" from the book of life (the list of people allowed into heaven). He confesses that there was never an honest word, but that was way back when he ruled the world.

This could be Lucifers confession, or plea for salvation..

Update: the only issue I have with this theory is centers around these lines...

"People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate"

and the fact that the album cover is a painting about the French Revolution by Delacroix. This makes me think this might be King Louis the XVI.

And here's the 30-second clip on Youtube for its iTunes commercial...

Don't forget, a TLM offered in Peabody MA this Sunday

2008-06-27T21:03:00.002-04:00

Save the Liturgy, Save the World

details here

Another(!) TLM on the North Shore

2008-06-27T20:57:00.002-04:00

Woo hoo! Just got notified of this today...

SAVE THE DATE! 2ND TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS OFFERED NORTH OF BOSTON

Sunday, August 3, 2008
1:00 pm

St. Mary Star of the Sea
Cabot Street
Beverly, MA

Hosted by Father David Barnes
Boston Catholic Conference's
2007 Priest of the Year

Celebrated by Father Mario Lopez, O. Carm.

For further information please contact Latin Mass Community North Spokesperson Pamela Smith at
smith-pamela@comcast.net

Fun on Facebook

2008-06-16T11:48:00.002-04:00

Facebook, the 'social utility' website, popular among high schoolers and college students seems to suddenly be attractive us Catholic bloggers (some of whom have been out of school a long time).

I'm having fun interacting with some folks whose blogs I've always
read but never really conversed with directly. Also, there's many
Catholic groups to join to meet other liked-minded Catholics. For
example,

Catholic Resources on Facebook
The Beauty of Veils for Catholic Women
I Love the Sacrament of Penance!
Friends of the Crescat
St. Blog's Parish
I Will Not Support Komen Because it Funds Abortion Providers
1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert
Prayers for the Poor Souls in Purgatory
The Cause of Canonization of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Catholics forClerics in Cassocks
3 Million Hail Marys to End Abortion
EWTN Fanclub

I'll add the Facebook link to my profile on my blog's profile page. Stop by and say hi if you're in the FB neighborhood...

We live in interesting times

2008-06-15T11:54:00.003-04:00

From Father Z (and several other blogs) The remarks between [] are Father Z's...

Latin Mass to return to England and Wales
By Damian Thompson

The traditional Latin Mass – effectively banned by Rome for 40 years – is to be reintroduced into every Roman Catholic parish in England and Wales, [Get that?] the senior Vatican cardinal in charge of Latin liturgy said at a press conference in London today. [This was stated by someone who knows what he is talking about. He wouldn't have said it if it was according to the Holy Father's will. how can we know this? He made a similar statement before. Review this. If the Secretariat of State or the Holy Father had a problem with what Card. Castrillon said back then, he wouldn't be saying it in public now.]

And, if you think Damian Thompson was exaggerating, here is his response/comment in Father Z's blog...

There were four journalists at the press conference – Anna Arco of the Herald, a Catholic guy from Reuters, Elena Curti from the Tablet and me from the Telegraph. I was sceptical that the Cardinal really envisaged the arrival of the Gregorian Rite (his term) in "many ordinary Catholic parishes" and my jaw dropped – and heart leapt – when he said: "Not many – all." Twice. Elena bristled and started talking about going backwards and said something along the lines of "but we [the laity] are now priests, kings and prophets". At which point I told the Cardinal that I wanted to dissociate myself from her comments, that young people were increasingly delighted by the opportunity to experience the TLM and were very grateful for his efforts."
As we left, three out of the four journalists kissed the Cardinal's ring. Guess which one didn't – but then I suppose she's already a priest, king and prophet or whatever.
Comment by Damian Thompson — 14 June 2008 @ 6:00 pm

How soon can we get the Cardinal to say the TLM here in the US (maybe even the Archdiocese of Boston?)?

A TLM begins on the North Shore! (updated)

2008-06-10T10:32:00.005-04:00

Deo gratias!

God closes one door...

Holy Trinity, which I've been attending for the past 5 months, has a Tridentine Low Mass at 9 am on Sundays. The attendence has slowly been increasing but the Archdiocese must close it.

And He opens another....

You are invited to

A TRIDENTINE LATIN SOLEMN HIGH MASS

The very first Vatican-authorized TLM on the North Shore in several
decades!

ST. ADELAIDE'S Roman Catholic Church, Peabody, MA

SUNDAY, JUNE 29 AT 2 P.M.
CONFESSIONS 1 p.m.
INSTRUCTION, 1:45 p.m.
Latin-English Missals provided

PLEASE TELL OTHERS.

You are Cordially Invited to a

TRIDENTINE LATIN SOLEMN HIGH MASS

On the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul

Sunday, June 29, 2008
2:00 pm

Confessions 1:00 – 1:40 pm
Instruction 1:45 pm

St. Adelaide Parish Church
708 Lowell Street
Peabody, MA 01960

CELEBRANT: Father Raymond Van de Moortell, Pastor

English-Latin missals available

Refreshments immediately following in the lower church

This Mass is offered in accordance with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI's Apostolic Letter "Summorum Pontificum," issued "motu proprio,"
July 7, 2007

***Directions: Rte 114 to Jct. Rte. 62 SOUTH. Take 62 SOUTH for
two+ miles (into Lynnfield) to Lowell Street (four-way stop). Left on Lowell Street 1.5+ miles. St. Adelaide's is on the right side.

Update:
I did a trial run of the commute to the church as I wanted to check it out. It's rather modern. It will be interesting to see how they adapt the setting to the TLM but I will there on the 29th. By the way, I was able to get into the church because they were having Adoration (around 6 pm on a Wednesday night!). Always a good sign!

Closing of Holy Trinity

2008-05-24T23:10:00.004-04:00

It's been reported that Holy Trinity, one of the two churches in the Archdiocese of Boston offering the TLM, is going to be closed on June 30th.

As I stated in the link above, I will continue to pray for a miracle but if they close Holy Trinity [a 20-minute drive for me], I’ll drive to Still River [an hour's drive]. Yes, Pope Benedict’s motu proprio has done wonderful things here in the Archdiocese of Boston, i.e. we'll be left with just one church which celebrates the TLM every Sunday but hey, the SSPX has opened another chapel in the diocese.

I can't tell you what a comfort the TLM has been to me the past few months. It has been my refuge, readying me for the spiritual combat of the ensuing week.

Oh well, I'm already not contributing financially to the Archdiocese. I guess my physical presence isn't needed either. Edited to add: I contribute a decent amount to this parish, Holy Trinity. I wish I could have done more financially.

Thanks Cardinal Sean!

Pope Benedict, saying the Rosary in Latin?!

2008-05-14T13:32:00.005-04:00

http://rectaratio.blogspot.com/2008_05_11_archive.html#5995393412669569253

From RectaRatio...

You Can Now Buy A 4-CD Set Of the Holy Father Reciting the Rosary In Latin
Latin was chosen because of its universality.

Now, I tried to hunt it down on the Vatican Bookstore site, without success. For now, this might have to be an item you buy only there in Rome in person.

I have made some progress with my efforts, begun last year, to say the Rosary in Latin. The only big stumbling block has been my inability to find the Latin translation for the Prayer Before the Rosary ("O Queen of the Holy Rosary, thou hast deigned to come to Fatima to reveal to the three shepherd children the treasures of grace...".).

Of course, I have the Paters, Aves, and Minor Doxologies by rote, along with the Salve Regina, and have for some years now. I still have to read the Latin for the Fatima Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, the Prayer After the Rosary, the Prayer to Saint Michael, and the Guardian Angel Prayer, as well as the actual announcements of the Mysteries.

Progress comes slow.

A Little Irreverent

2008-05-02T17:41:00.003-04:00

There's another cute one I have to post later (or tomorrow) from I Can Has Cheezburger with a 'Christian' theme.

see more cute cat pics

I'm Pretty Proud of My Daughter

2008-04-06T13:32:00.001-04:00

It appears that the first guy that my daughter dated and really cared for has dumped her, via text message (yes, an incredibly tacky way of doing it). She's not what I would call a religious person but she has begun praying, specifically, I thought, that they get back together. So I said to her, "You know, God doesn't always answer our prayers in a way that we would like, if it's not His Will." She said, "I know. [former boyfriend's name] and I may not get back together, he may not be in God's plan for me but I've also been praying that he finds someone good to be with."

Is she nice or what?

What do you say when a Secular Humanist asks...

2008-03-30T02:43:00.003-04:00

"Why is there so much evil in the world?"

You could just roll your eyes and say, "I know, isn't it awful?"

Or you could say it's due to the destruction of the family and pushing God out of our lives.

She asked and I answered. I don't think she liked the answer. Oh well!

Prayer Request

2008-02-28T10:54:00.002-05:00

Please pray for a friend of ours, a very nice young man who is going to be in a difficult situation tomorrow night.

It's not life-threatening. I just fear his heart's going to get more broken than it already is.

2Co 11:19 For you gladly suffer the foolish: whereas yourselves are wise.

The veil

2008-02-23T14:19:00.002-05:00

I wore my veil to Eucharistic Adoration today. I felt a little strange doing it because this is a Novus Ordo parish. However, I have begun attending a TLM (Thank you Pope Benedict for your Motu Proprio) in Boston and so I wear the veil there. It seems silly (hypocritical?) to wear the veil in one circumstance but not the other. It's either appropriate or it's not.

The Traditional Catholic's Motto

We are what you once were.
We believe what you once believed.
We worship as you once worshipped.
If you were right then, we are right now.
If we are wrong now, you were wrong then.

One Day, I'll Be Pope!

2008-02-03T09:15:00.001-05:00

Source

Good Habits!

2007-12-23T12:42:00.000-05:00

Aren't we all creatures of habit?

Perfect timing for the soon-to-be-New-Year

A Long Absence

2007-12-23T10:49:00.000-05:00

To all my faithful readers (lol), sorry about the absence. My company moved further north in October so now my commute is 60 miles, one way, instead of 50 miles. The extra 20 miles a day is really wiping me out...

Into the catacombs!

2007-09-28T19:07:00.001-04:00

From an email list I belong to...

=== Latest on David Parker: Local newspaper finally "gets it" --
rebukes homosexual group for terrorizing restaurant, causing
cancellation of Parker speech. ===
This Saturday, September 28, David Parker was scheduled to give a
speech to a small group of pro-family people at Valentino's
restaurant in Gloucester.
But earlier this week the restaurant abruptly told the organizer it
was cancelling the event. It turns out that Tom Lang, head of the
homosexual group "KnowThyNeighbor" threatened the restaurant, telling them that if they allowed Parker to speak, Lang's group would stage a public protest outside of the restaurant. Fearing for the safety of their patrons, the restaurant was forced to give in.
Here's the newspaper account of the incident. (Note, that the
restaurant manager originally tried to claim that it was about an
unpaid $100 deposit, which was untrue, and he later admitted the
truth.)
Speech cancelled amid questions of 'hate speech' versus 'free speech'
(Gloucester Daily Times)
Yesterday, the newspaper published a surprising editorial, backing David Parker and harshly criticizing the Tom Lang and his fellow
homosexual activists. Our thanks to the newspaper for seeing the
truth and not being afraid to say it!
Pressure tactics subvert dialogue (Gloucester Daily Times editorial)
(Note: David Parker will still give his speech, but the group has been
forced to change it to a secret location.)
Civil rights violation?
The Massachusetts General Laws seem pretty clear that using threats
and intimidation to stop someone from exercising his constitutional
rights is a serious Civil Rights violation. That's exactly what seems
to have happened here -- and what the homosexual activists do all the
time to anyone whom they disagree with. We wouldn't be surprised if
David Parker were to pursue this. The question is: Would the District
Attorney have the guts to do his job? We'll keep you informed.

Chapter 12: Section 11H. Violations of constitutional rights; civil
actions by attorney general; venue
Section 11H. Whenever any person or persons, whether or not acting
under color of law, interfere by threats, intimidation or coercion,
or attempt to interfere by threats, intimidation or coercion, with the exercise or enjoyment by any other person or persons of rights secured by the constitution or laws of the United States, or of
rights secured by the constitution or laws of the commonwealth, the
attorney general may bring a civil action for injunctive or other
appropriate equitable relief in order to protect the peaceable
exercise or enjoyment of the right or rights secured. Said civil
action shall be brought in the name of the commonwealth and shall be instituted either in the superior court for the county in which the
conduct complained of occurred or in the superior court for the county in which th person whose conduct complained of resides or has his principal place of business.

Who is David Parker? He's a parent who doesn't agree that children must be indoctrinated in the public school system to accept homosexuality as normal...

It's not just about same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. It's about
deciding how your children are educated. And not allowing others to intimidate you.

Mom always said... (updated)

2007-09-24T13:03:00.000-04:00

If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all...

From the one church in the Archdiocese of Boston that offers the TLM,

Title: Hybrid Mass
Date: Sunday September 9, 2007
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Location: Mary Immaculate of Lourdes
Notes: Preces Cantatae alone, possibly with Guitar
No Schola Amicorum or Chant Propers

This experiment will also be repeated on 9/23/07.

Update:
There was no experiment, i.e. no guitars, thank goodness! This was reported to me by an attendee of the Mass.

9/11 two short reminders

2007-09-11T09:30:00.000-04:00

8:46 am

9:02 am

Also, the move by Oliver Stone, World Trade Center, was very good.

Father Corapi on 9/11

2007-09-10T21:36:00.000-04:00

"Pray as if your life depended on it"

(H/T Real Clear Religion)

Another Tridentine Mass to be said in NH (Nashua)

2007-09-09T14:11:00.000-04:00

From the St. Patrick parish bulletin...

THE EXTRAORDINARY FORM OF THE MASS ACCORDING TO THE MISSAL OF BLESSED
JOHN XXIII
In response to several requests, the extraordinary form of Mass
according to the Missal of Blessed John XXIII will be celebrated here
at St. Patrick on Sunday, September 16, at 4:00 P.M. Bishop McCormack
is aware both of the requests and the celebration that has been
scheduled in response to those requests. The frequency and times of
future celebrations are matters that will be worked out in the weeks
ahead as we continue to implement the Holy Father's motu proprio under
Bishop McCormack's guidance. Celebrations of Mass under this form
will NOT conflict with the regular Mass schedule that will continue as
always.

EVENING OF INFORMATION ON CELEBRATION OF THE MASS ACCORDING TO THE
MISSAL OF BLESSED JOHN XXIII
Anyone interested in learning more about the Mass as it was celebrated
before the Second Vatican Council is invited to attend a session to be
held on Tuesday, September 11, at 7:00 P.M. in the parish center.

St. Patrick's is located at 29 Spring St., Nashua. The church is wheelchair-accessible.

Gee, this is yet another Tridentine Mass to be said in New England within the past several weeks. Someone said, though, that there wasn't much demand for it here in New England... Hmmmm.

Special Tridentine Mass at Holy Trinity (Boston) - 14 Sept 07

2007-09-09T14:02:00.000-04:00

As Kelly (the Lady in the Pew) mentioned, there will be a special Tridentine Mass at Holy Trinity in Boston on September 14th. I wondered how they were able to do that because all the diocesan priests will be in an all-day meeting convened by Cardinal Sean (great timing eh?).

Holy Trinity was blessed to be able to get a religious order priest.

Naming Angels

2007-09-09T13:46:00.000-04:00

The other day, Carrie Tomeko blogged about Opus Angelorum and the practice of naming angels. This gets very interesting because she found on Father Z's old forum site a thread which was discussing that very practice. Did you know that there was a document published by the CDF on this topic back in 1984? Father Z quickly translated a bit of it here.

Essentially, this document says that there is not to be diffused the idea that one can know the name of one's guardian angel that that one is not to invoke the (unknowable) names of angels in prayer.

I have not found online an English version of this yet and I do not have the time to translate it at the moment.

What the CDF is warning about is the great spiritual danger that can come to a person from trying to invoke angels by name. The naming of angels is something that should be avoided. Not all angels are the friends of God and man. They are mighty beings that transcend our human nature. Some of them are bent on our eternal damnation. They can apply an angelic intellect in tricking us into the loss of heaven. They do not sleep. These are demonic enemies of the soul. Demons do not relent, unless God and His angels, unless the Church God's priest intervene. The naming of fallen angels is part of the rite of exorcism. It is perilous indeed to anyone without the protection and power that comes from the sacrament of Holy Orders to name angels.

This is a foolish and sentimental practice for most people who are into this sort of thing. But it is not benign. While it is not dangerous in all situations, it is dangerous in some. We just cannot know whom or what we are invoking outside the names of the angels friendly to God whose names appear in Holy Writ: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael.

Fr. Z

Thank goodness for Father Z! I had heard on another forum that it was a good idea/practice to name one's guardian angel and did try it. I never really felt comfortable with it though...

01.20.09

2007-09-09T12:32:00.001-04:00

I'm sure you've seen the BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) version of this. But now that Fred Thompson has declared, I want this bumper sticker.

Father Corapi 'Facts'

2007-09-07T18:30:00.001-04:00

From Faith and Country...

Father Corapi does not know where you live, but he knows where you will die (in order to administer Viaticum...duh).

Every time Father Corapi says Mass, an angel gets its wings.

Father Corapi and God once shared a high-five. The wind that was created caused Hurricane Katrina.

Father Corapi, when he was in the military, once shot down an enemy plane by pointing his finger and shouting, "Bang!"

They say lightning never strikes the same place twice. Neither does Father Corapi. He doesn't have to.

"Abortion clinics, pornography stores...I would move my artillery into place and light 'em up! I would totally liquidate them...speaking metaphorically, of course"

The Soldier's Creed states, "surrender is not an option...except when Father Corapi is in town."

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The only thing fear has to fear is Father Corapi.

Regardless of race, gender, location, or education level... at one point in your life you have underestimated Father Corapi. You will live just long enough to regret this.

"I am ready and willing to destroy my enemies in close and mortal combat."

Father Corapi's statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary wears combat boots.

Father Corapi's Rosary is made of spent .54 caliber bullet shells. No, really.

When Satan goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet to make sure Father Corapi isn't there.

An apple a day does not keep Father Corapi away. Only going to Mass and confession every day keeps Father Corapi away... sometimes.

(H/T Pro Ecclesia)