I'm sorry, Fr. Z

Cheeky Pink Girl is right, his blog isn't much fun anymore.

Bluegrass Mass

The priest composer performer who came up with this Bluegrass Mass was inspired by being in Bristol, Virginia, the birthplace of Country Music. He means well but as I listened to the music I found myself chuckling.

Bless his heart.

St. John Vianney, pray for us.
St. Pio, pray for us.
Fr. Vincent Cappadono, pray for us.

sick

Gastro instestinal flu has laid me low.

Larry David is your fault if ...

1. you watch his show.
   
2. you heard that he urinated on a picture of Christ and just shrugged your shoulders and said, "Well, it's satire and at worst, a lapse in taste."
3. you plan to tune into his show next Sunday, just like always.
   
4. you cringed with sophisticated embarrassment when your Evangelical co-worker blasted Mr. David.

In reparation let us pray:

MAY THE MOST HOLY, MOST SACRED, MOST ADORABLE, MOST INCOMPREHENSIBLE AND UNUTTERABLE NAME OF GOD BE ALWAYS PRAISED, BLESSED, LOVED, ADORED AND GLORIFIED, IN HEAVEN, ON EARTH AND UNDER THE EARTH, BY ALL THE CREATURES OF GOD, AND BY THE SACRED HEART OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, IN THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. AMEN.

Folks, for the most part, Hollywood people are like prostitutes. They do it for the money, honey. What convictions, they have are shallower than a raindrop. When Mr. David see's a drop in his income he'll change his tune. Protests won't do it. Editorials won't do it. Lack of viewership will do it.

when nuns go bad

A large part of the crisis in the Church has been caused by women. When nuns go bad it leads to terrible things. Mostly it's angry nuns in butch haircuts and ill fitting pant suits talking about the Earth goddess. Sometimes it's nuns teaching heresy in CCD. And sometimes it's nuns walking women to an abortion clinic. I don't think Harry Potter is all that great but there is only word for this woman: Deatheater.

You know what I'm sick of? Kennedys meddling with the Church

A long, long time ago a young Bobby Kennedy went to hear Fr. Feeney give a talk. Fr. Feeney made his famous declaration that there's no salvation outside the church. Bobby had non Catholic friends and was worried about them. He went home and told his dad who said he'd speak to Richard about it. Who was Richard? Cardinal Cushing. "Richard" sent someone to investigate. Eventually Fr. Feeney was silenced, anyone who went to his center was refused the sacramant of marriage and he was temporarily execommunicated. I don't have any sympathy for Fr. Fenney. He seemed to have serious issues with obedience and certain classes of people, but something about this story bothered me. "Richard" was supposed to be the cardinal, not the personal errand boy for one powerful family.

Fast forward to today. Patrick Kennedy, Teddy's son made an attack statement about the Catholic Church. His bishop, thank God is not a lap dog and here is his response.

Patrick, your family may own the Boston diocese but you and your cousin, Kathleen do NOT own the Church and you DO NOT speak for Catholics.

the anglicans are coming...........

Once again, I am struck by how truly courageous and yes, awesome, Pope Benedict is. For a shy, quiet professor he really gets things done. Fr. Z, the American Papist and the Anchoress have the details of the Anglican arrangement and they discuss it better than I could.

Now, as to practical matters. How many Anglicans will really convert? If you're genuinely serious about becoming Catholic you do it. You do it even though your father is opposed, you do it even though the people at work will laugh, you do it even though your Aunt Mary will cut you out of her will. Converting is not always easy. My in-laws weren't happy when Rocky converted and occasionally my F-I-L, Big Daddy cracks a nasty joke.

I get the impression that the Anglo Catholics/Anglicans are very much attached to their beautiful old buildings--- this is not a criticism, Catholics have had sit ins to try to stall closing their parishes---and I don't see the Anglicans who are left behind willingly giving up their property. As for the married priests, they could be a problem. If a man can have one woman, he can have another. Preachers messing up sexually is common in Protestant denominations. And I'm concerned about the financial burden that will be placed on parishes in the event of priestly divorces. I don't want my weekly donations going to pay for the priest's child support. Sorry, I just don't.

All in all, an amazing thing has happened. The door is opened for Anglicans to come back to the Church. All they have to do is walk in.

Obama on your bible

I saw this on the Cheeky Pink Girl Blog. She's appalled and so am I.
This is a an Obama bible cover. Our country is riding the crazy train and I fear that we can't get off in time. This is all going to end in tears.

My God, have mercy

Mass with Fr. Marchado

Fr. Clement Marchado, SOLT celebrated a healing Mass last night at St. Anthony's in DC. The church is between the Basilica and the Franciscan monastery. It has plenty of parking, lovely, happy priests and the Blessed Sacrament is right in the middle of the santuary. Because of Rocky's arthritis we decided to go. Fr. Marchado belongs to the same order as Fr. Corapi so we knew he could preach and preach he did. Before Mass he blessed everyone's rosaries, medals, crucifixes, statutes, oil and salt. I got to confession and after Mass everyone who wanted it, got an individual blessing. The Knights of Columbia and the ushers provided crowd control and were there to catch anyone who was overcome during the blessing. Father must have read my soul and thought that I really needed a blessing because he annointed me with so much oil that I looked like a small greased pig when we left the church.

Mass of the Ages

Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. When Rocky told me I thought he was on a joke website but no..... this farce is not worthy of comment so instead I'll concentrate on the beautiful and the true....






See more at this lovely site.

A Padre Pio evening

Yesterday we went to St. Mary's in Alexandria, Virginia to hear Fr. Ermelindo DeCapua give a talk on Padre Pio. Fr. DiCapua lived with Padre Pio for the last three years of the saint's life. He brought a precious relic, one of the gloves that covered Padre Pio's stigmata and blessed us all with it. Rocky estimated that there must've been about 600 people in attendence. Fr. DiCapua is touring America and raising funds for a home for sick old priests to retire to.

Jezu ufam Tobie!

That's Polish for Jesus, I trust in You! Rocky and I went to the Divine Mercy Shrine in Baltimore. It's stunning and a very special place becuase the former pastor Fr. Pytel was blessed with the miracle needed for St. Faustina's cannonization. We also stopped by the Seton House and St. Alphonsus.

the kindest of men--Rocky

Yesterday Rocky took my mother to Target and to Bed Bath & Beyond. She hasn't been shopping in four months so it was a major buying trip and yes, he spent hours pushing the cart around and making trips to the car. And then he took us all to dinner. Later he restocked her supply of bottled water and hooked up her HDTV cables. Rocky loves my mother and anytime she need something he's there.

Christopher West, the Catholic sexologist probably wouldn't be too impressed but I'm so grateful to have such a good, kind man for my husband.

Earlier this week a woman I know mentioned that she showed her husband a job posting that would, if he got it, take him to Iraq or Afghanistan for a year. She said she'd miss him but all the bills and a good chunk of the mortgage could be paid off. My reaction was to think that she was kidding, then it was to wonder WTH was wrong with her. I just looked at her while she excitedly talked about the job.

Now granted, Rocky and I have a very different relationship than she and her husband do and we have only been apart for about two weeks in the last 21 years (I had to go to South Carolina to take care of some family business and he couldn't get off from work) but I can't imagine --not on my worst most bitchy day actually wanting him to go to a war zone (bombs, fire, dead buddies, possibly getting your head sawed off) to fix our finances. I feel sorry for that woman's husband, who already has a job that he apparently likes by the way, and I hope his feelings weren't hurt. A loving husband is more than just a paycheck.