A prayer for priests

Almighty God, look upon the face of Him who is the eternal HighPriest, and have compassion on Your priests in today's world. Remember that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation. Keep them close to You lest the enemy prevail against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest degree unworthy of of their sublime vocation.

Amen

Mary, Queen of the clergy, pray for us.
St. Pio, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, pray for us.
Archbishop Sheen, servant of God, pray for us.

It's not over.

A few years ago a bishop stated that the scandal was over. His statement was either wishful thinking or a horrible joke. The scandal is not over done with. As long as some leech-- I mean lawyer can see a way to make a buck this will go on and on. As long as juries give millions of dollars to people who claim to have been abused more than a decade ago and who offer not a shred of physical proof, the nightmare will go on. As long as the wrong type of man is allowed to persevere in the seminary the scandal will go on.


“For God’s sake, why do you damnable sodomites pursue the heights of ecclesiastical dignity with such fiery ambition?”
---- St. Peter Damian


Pray for us St. Peter.
Our Lady of LaSallete, pray for us.

random thoughts for a Saturday night

1. I think Peggy Noonan (whom I respect as a writer) is secretly pissed that George Bush didn't hire her to write his speeches like his dad did.
   
   
2. New Oxford Review doesn't seem to like Amy Welborn very much.
   
   
3. John Derbyshire is a terrible grouch and he doesn't seem to like Catholics much but everytime I see this I can't help but laugh.
   
   
4. I love the new dragonslayer United Airlines commercial.
   
   
5. Pray for your parish priest. It's not easy counseling the doubtful, correcting the wicked and loving the manifestly unlovable. Father listens to people whine about their gouty toes. He gently tells prodigal daughters to wear a longer skirt to Mass next time. He prepares the dying for their big moment before Judgement. He has to put up with eucharistic ministers, musicians who think they're rock stars, and the crazy lady who does the flower arrangements. He deals with the bishop so you don't have to and he stands before the altar of God and offers Him the body, blood, soul and divinity of His dearly beloved son in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. Awesome vocation, that.
   
   
6. The pope is taking a good look at some well known but suspect private revlations and is of a mind to smack them down. Excuse while do this backflip for joy.
   
   
7. I still can't figure him out but Fr. Jim Tucker of Dappled Things has a terrific blog and a fascinating collection of church pictures.
   
   
8. If you've been discerning your vocation so long that everyone around you wishes you'd just s--- or get off the pot then read this book. It's published by Tan Books so you know it's good.
   
   
9. Go out and buy the newly released Therese movie DVD. Most of the big time blogs either panned it or ignored it completely but they were wrong.
   
   
10. I think people ought to lay off Mel Gibson's old man. Faced with freak shows like this it's no surprise when some people lose heart and leave the church.
    
    
11. Americorps is a worthless program. I came to this conclusion shortly after I started reading A Little Flower Garden a blog by a very sweet young thing who's been sent to the crummiest part of Washington DC to help out.
    
12. Gospel music died with the late, great Mahalia Jackson. The stuff they put out now isn't worthy of the name.
    
    
13. Everytime someone says "This is in the spirit of Vatican II," I want to snarl, "The 60s are over, dude. Give IT UP!"
    
14. Has poor old Willie Nelson lost his mind?

Moved to tears

I watched Bernadette on EWTN and I was moved to tears. I had no idea how much the little saint suffered. Imagine being a 14 year old sickly girl and having to tell priests, bishops and cardinals that yes, you saw the Blessed Virgin and having to tell it to them over and over again. Imagine going to spend the rest of your life at the one convent in France where the novice mistress was determined to be mean to you. You can go here to see a photo of St. Bernadette's incorrupt body.



Saint Bernadette, pray for us.


Especially those among us who have fallen victim to that false apparition over in the former Yugoslavia.

2006 Catholic blog awards

I'm somewhat disappointed. Most of the people nominated are the same group folks from last year and some of the blogs aren't even active anymore. Come on! The Catholic blogosphere is a heck of a lot bigger than that. And when did the nomination feature ever work? I tried to nominate my favorite blogs for days and couldn't do anything except vote today.

Good nuns

Like many Catholic girls I wanted to be a nun when I was young. We fret and scream about the problems facing the priesthood (we ought to pray more) but many of us have forgotten the awesome power to do good or to do evil that is in the hands of every nun, especially those who teach. Whenever the latest Catholic news gets too grim I refresh myself by checking out the web site of one of the tradional orders. Pray for these sisters and drop a donation in the mail to them if you can.

Fr. Hoatson's lawsuit

A priest has accused three bishops of being gay and is suing because he feels that he's been persecuted. I've said on other blogs that if this turns out to be true I won't blink an eye. However, something about the priest who's making the accusation doesn't seem right to me and after reading what Carol at Magisterial Fidelity has to say about the case I think this whole suit might be hogwash.

Rosary Lecture at St. Matthews Cathedral

Last night I went to a lecture on the rosary given by a Dominican priest. I love Dominicans in general and this one was a very good speaker. The lecutre was held in the basement of St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, DC. It was sponsored by the young adults group. These are a terrific bunch of people and they put on good programs. If you're ever in DC stop by and see what's going on.

Saint Josephine Bakhita

Saint Josephine Bakhita, flower of Africa was born in Sudan and captured by slavers when she was just a child. She suffered horribly and finally was bought by some people who took her to Italy. Slavery was illegal in Italy and as a free woman she learned the Faith and became a nun. Saint Bakhita died in 1947. Pray for us dear saint. Slavery is still going on in Sudan and the world is still looking the other way.

Betcha Prez Bush wishes he'd stayed home

I knew that Coretta Scott King's funeral was going to be a long, (it ran for 6 hours!), tedious and tacky affair and I pitied George Bush for having to go but I never expected that the man would be insulted repeatedly while sitting on the stage behind Mrs. King's casket. Turning a funeral into a political rally is beyond the pale. Somebody ought to tell Jimmy Carter that Dr. King was secretly taped during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. JFK and LBJ were Democrats. Eisenhower and Nixon and Reagan had nothing to do with it.

Coretta Scott King suffered greatly in her last illness and in her life. It wasn't easy being married to the symbol of the Civil Rights Movement. It wasn't easy raising four kids alone and being a widow for nearly 40 years either.

May she rest in peace.

Not a parody

Aw shucks. This is not a parody. He's a real priest.





St. Martin de Porres, patron saint of barbers, pray for us.
St. Luke, patron saint of tailors, pray for us.

Another Catholic University falls

DePaul University, the largest "Catholic" school in the US is offering a degree in homosexual studies. Isn't that just precious.


Note to my non-Southern friends, when a Southern woman says something or someone is precious unless she's talking about baby clothes or a person who is under the age of 10, it's an insult.

By the way, here is a list of colleges/universities that have pledged that they will continue to teach in communion with the magisterium. In other words they aren't' t backing away from church teachings are aren't trying to make heretics and atheists happy. I can't speak for any of the others but I know that Christendom College, is a very fine school.

Rest in peace Fr. Santoro

A priest was murdered in Turkey. The killer was heard shouting "God is great," as he ran from the church. Yes, God is great. However, I do not believe that what this young man worships is God. Please don't tell me that Allah is another name for God. Read the Koran (something I did way back in college) and read that sucker from cover to cover and then try to go on believing that.

There is something in the air. If you turn the TV off for a minute, shut down the CD player and step away from the video games you can feel it. Something is about to happen. It's like we're in 1935 and half the world still wants to pretend that by looking the other way everything will be okay. It's not going to be okay. A clash of civilizations is taking place. I just hope mine, with all it's flaws wins because the alternative is hell.

Two Books you must read

If you've ever wondered, seriously what the heck has happened to the Church then you must read these two books: Memoirs of an Anti-apostle and Goodbye Good Men. Our of Lady of Good Help, pray for us.

NBC spits in our faces again.

NBC is planning to mock the crucifixion of our Lord during Holy Week this year. Crap like this is a perfect example of why I don’t watch network television anymore. When the TV is on we are usually watching EWTN, the Food Channel, Discovery, Science, Court TV, the classic movie channel or Animal Planet.

St. Blaise

Today is the Feast of St. Blaise. Catholic Fire has a very good post on the saint, his martyrdom and the feast. My husband went to early morning Mass in a small church near his job and was delighted to see that all the priests in the parish were there for the blessing after Mass. I went to St. Matthews Cathedral in DC for the 12:10 Mass. St. Matt's has been blessed with a fine group of men for its clergy. Young Fr. Caulfield gave a lovely homily and after Mass he and a deacon blessed throats. The cathedral looked particularly beautiful today. I hope St. Blaise was pleased.

SSPX Reunion?

Bishop Loverde of the Arlington Diocese refuses to allow the Tridentine Mass in his territory so many people just go to St. Mary's in Washington DC, which has the Mass at 9AM. The church is located in China town and it used to be a bad area. Thanks to massive urban renewal things are looking much better but it's still not Mayberry.

Other people go to St. Athanasius in Vienna, Virginia. St. Athanasius is independent-- that is they decided to do their own thing until the bishop changes his mind. I pray that one day, those who want to go the Tridentine Mass will be able to do so in peace and without spneding their whole day on the road because they have to drive 60 miles or more to get to church.

There are rumors that the Society of St. Pius X is meeting with the Vatican about a full reunion. That would be a wonderful thing for the whole church.