Adoration of the Magi

Epiphany

May God bless you all

Poor litte baby

I feel so sorry for Elton John's new possession. That poor kid has nothing to look forward to but ending up like Liza Minelli. Where the heck are the Child Protective Service people?

The Promise of Ages

It's not Santa, it's not some political figure, it's a holy Babe who was born in a manger in Bethlehem. It is Jesus, Mary's Boy Child, God with Us, the Prince of Peace, King of Kings. He is the Lamb of God. Rejoice.

Magnificat

Merry Christmas

Mother of God

Be it done to me according to thy word

Mary around the world

betrayal

• Bishop Chaput came out in favor of the DREAM Act. With a nearly ten percent unemployment rate why do we need to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens? I know a woman who hasn't worked full time in a year. She's terrified that at her age, (over 40) she'll never find full time work again. Volunteers at the Post Office who answer children's letters to Santa are reporting they're seeing letters pleading for mundane things like shoes and coats or jobs for their parents instead of toys. That's a darn shame. Bishop Chaput and his brother bishops who gave public support to the DREAM Act have slapped their parishioners--both the native American and the legally naturalized Americans in the face.
  
  
• Whoever decided to have stripping acrobats at the papal audience on Wednesday did the Holy Father no favors. Acrobats have performed at the Vatican before in John Paul II's day, but this was a bit louche. Why on earth was this allowed? Who thought that hairless men peeling off their tops was a good idea in the presence of the pope?And what was the deal with the strutting dominatrix chick who came with them? Somebody needs to be fired, right now because they're either incompetent or they slyly chose to betray Pope Benedict and make him and the Church look foolish.

Power Plays

I read this post about Sr. Elizabeth Worley which asks if she's the most powerful Catholic woman in America. I found the whole question off putting. It reminded me of when the Holy Father went to England earlier this year and I saw a photograph of a bus that had an ad for women's ordination. It simply said "Give us the power, old man." Why this Satanic obsession with power? What about service, sacrifice, immolation of self? I never hear the feminist Catholics or their gelded male proxies talk about giving all for God, they simply prattle about the ability to force everyone else to go along with whatever it is they want.

For the record, Sr. Elizabeth sounds like a fine person but she's not the most powerful American Catholic woman. That title probably belongs to a cloistered nun, who's name and status are known only to God or a victim soul or maybe even an apparently insignificant lay woman who prays.

Annunciation

Last year I got gifts from various monateries and convents. It was so much fun I'm doing it again this year. Friends are getting items from Holy Orders , Benedictine Monks , Monastery Greetings and beer from the Trappist monks. We gave the beer to our pastor, Fr. Eagle and he was quite pleased.

Random thoughts

• I was at a Christmas party this weekend and boy oh boy do I wish people would shut up about their sex lives. Our Lady of Silence, pray for us.
  
  
• College in America for many kids is four years of sex, booze and casual drug use. At the end the kid is left with a useless degree (If your parents change the subject when people ask what your major is, it's probably a useless program) and a pile of debt. We need to rethink the system.
  
  
• The first slaves arrived in America began in 1619. The civil rights law that made my lifestyle possible didn't' happen until 1964. The fair housing law didn't happen until 1968. When I think of everything my mother's generation has seen it's astonishing.
  


• Pardon my language but I'm pissed off. A number of liberal bloggers are saying that they are angry at Elizabeth Edwards because she stuck with John Edwards instead of dumping him as soon as she found out about his mistress. Their reasoning is that this would've ruined Edwards and he would not have been able to damage Hilary Clinton and a strong Hilary could've fought off Obama. Well, that's just crap and I now see how the Soviets were able manipulate living history so easily.
  
  If you voted for Obama you own that vote. God saw what you did in that voting booth. Don't be like Adam, and whimper that"It's the woman's fault!"
  
  
• Why do we keep allowing immigration from Muslim countries?
  
  

A really fine priest

Rocky and I went over to the Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore of Maryland yesterday. It was very nice. We got as far as Kent Island and went to Mass at St. Christopher's in Chester. The parishioners were a little chilly but no worse than the Mr. and Mrs. Freeze's of Northern Virginia and the pastor there, Fr. Paul Jennings was one of the finest, friendliest and charming priests I've ever had the privilege of meeting. I think the Holy Spirit meant for us to find Chester last night. Father's homily on confession was powerful. It was quite possibly the best one I've heard all year. If you go to the Eastern Shore and have the time, visit St. Christopher's.
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Our Lady came to Wisconsin

The Marian apparitions at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help at Champion, Wisconsin have been deemed worthy of belief. Don't waste your time going to Medjugorje, we have an approved shrine right here in the US.

Sister Adele, you saw the Queen of Heaven and did everything she asked. Pray for us.

I am the Immaculate Conception

Elizabeth Edwards died.

Even if you didn't like Elizabeth Edwards, (I've read some very harsh comments today), pity her three motherlesss children. I know how they feel tonight and I wish I didn't. When I was 13, my father passed away. It was like the earth was ripped from under my feet and a hole was torn in the sky. It's a hideous, terrfying thing to lose a parent and it's worse -- so much worse, than most people can even imagine when you're just a kid.

Oh Sanctissima Maria

The most precious painting of St. Joseph and the Lord I've ever seen

Look at the happiness and affection in this painting. Thre are few good paintings of St. Joseph and even fewer that don't make the Holy Child look like a sickly little girl. This one is just precious.

How to make Christmas better

Drop the martyr routine. Seriously, everybody hates it. I was talking to a man the other day who groused about how nuts his wife gets in December. She's genuinely trying to give her family a perfect Christmas and ends up exhausted and grouchy and they always have a huge fight either on Christmas Eve or a few days before. He really wishes she'd chill out and doesn't appreciate her "show off" efforts because they just make everybody miserable. His wife is not a shrew. She's a nice woman who's trying to to live up the sick crazy train standard that other women create for women.

Ladies stop it. Get off the train. Your husband doesn't give a hoot about whether the tree is a Grandin Road original or came from an award winning tree farm. He doesn't want an exact replica of the White House tree. He really doesn't. You aren't Martha Stewart, heck. Martha isn't even Martha Stewart!She has servants and a magazine staff to make her mansions look beautiful. You aren't Jackie Kennedy, who had maids, and a nanny. You aren't your grandmother. You aren't your sister-in-law or your neighbor. You aren't that woman in the magazine. Stop it. Calm down. Jesus doesn't want you to freak out over the strudel. Remember what He said to St. Martha, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." This year do something different. Be a rebel. Do less. Tell the secular world and it's unrealistic expectations to buzz off.

Holy Mary, Mother of God

Snakes and maidens

A Somali born young man got caught before he could bomb a Christmas tree lighting in Oregon. I am not surprised. About five years ago Catholic Charities and the Episcopalians brought a huge number of Somalis to my building. It was not a happy experience. The Somali men were stunned by the normal behavior and dress of even modest American women. The women had never seen stoves before and the fire department had to come every week sometimes two or three times in a single week. By the time the state, the Episcopalians and Catholic Charities moved them out they had created a huge black eye for the refugee program. Neighbors of mine who never once thought about Catholics one way or another now associate us with the reasons why they and their children were shivering in the cold while waiting for the fire department to put out yet another fire in the middle of the night. And Catholic Charities still hasn't learned anything. Just last week the School Board of Fredericksburg, Virginia wrote a letter to the governor asking him to halt more Somali settlement in their town by Catholic Charities.

I don't know who brought Mohamed Osman Mahumud to America but I'll bet it was an organization of kind hearted souls who never heard the story of the snake and the maiden. It's a tale about a naive woman who rescues a dying snake. He of course bites her as soon as he's recovered. As she lies dying he slithers away with the remark, "You knew what I was when you picked me up." Before anybody has hysterics, I'm not calling Somalis snakes. However, if you bring a Muslim from an incredibly backward war torn culture do not expect him or his kids to become American in a few years. Do not expect a man from a primitive culture to feel happy amidst the Great Satan. He is horrified and frightened every time he goes outside and sees how we live. There have been few exceptions but the Somalis I've met who have adjusted well were either not members of the Bantu tribe, Christians to begin with or lived in towns.

Daytrip!

Rocky had a rare Saturday off so we spent it in Southern Maryland. We drove along the backroads and visited a winery and an Amish market at Charlotte Hall, MD. We bought pickled beets and peaches, bread and dried corn. We went to Mass at St. Ignatius Loyola, the oldest church in the original colonies. We've been there before during Osprey season in the Spring and it's such an experience to sit down in the old fashioned pews and gaze around the plain wooden church. I always imagine how many people had trod the path to the church and how many priests must have served here.

If you're interested in spending the day in Southern Maryland and learning about our Catholic heritage read this. It's a delightful account of a groups day trip in the area.

It's incredibly noisy before Mass but the young priest who has been assigned there is trying to change some of the abuses that slipped in-- remember, this is a little country parish that seems like it's at the end of the world, indeed if you drive on the road to the church and keep going you'll hit the Newton Bay--- so some for a long time nobody from the diocese paid attention. But having said that I also have to say that the parishioners were incredibly kind and friendly. We've never been treated with such manners in any Northern Virginia church. I noticed another thing: when you have altar girls, flirting, giggling and showing off are more likely to happen than when you just have boys . It's not the kid's fault. Hormones are what they are and pity the poor priest who is brave enough to tell a proud mama that she needs to correct her litttle darling's behavior. God bless the men who dare.

Now hear this....

George Weigel*,Rorate Caeli hysterics, some of the more daft Fisheaters et al, you are not the pope. The Holy Spirit did not choose you. What you know or think you know about theology wouldn't fill Pope Benedict's morning cup of tea.


George made a lot of money off of John Paul II, and is primed to do the same with Benedict while criticizing him when he's making speeches or writing essays in the States. I hope somebody in the Vatican wises up and keeps him as far away from Benedict as possible.

The birthornot.com couple have been exposed

Some people really need a good slap upside the head. I had refrained from saying anything about the couple who were running an internet poll on whether to murder their unborn child because I simply had no words. Today I read that the whole thing is a hoax. My first thought was to thank God. My second reaction is plain fury. These idiots call themselves pro-life activists.

I suppose that in a few days they'll claim that they meant well and just wanted to make some sort of point. Well, this little stunt does not help the cause of protecting the unborn but is one more thing that makes pro-lifers look weird. Thanks a lot Mr. and Mrs Arnold. Oh and one more thing, before the hoax was exposed 71% of the online voters voted for the abortion.

Solemn High Mass

Visitation

I have a question

I was looking at the parish Advent schedule of our old parish, St. Matthew's Cathedral and saw that December 1 is the World AIDS day Mass. The AIDS Mass has been the starting event of Advent for over a decade and nobody seems to know why. And why do we have an AIDS Mass at all? Why not a Diarrhea Day Mass? I'm not being sarcastic. About a million people die from diarrhea every year. Better yet, why don't we have a Malaria Day Mass? Millions of little African children and adults have died after the West banned DDT, in response to Rachel Carson's shaky grasp of science. And what about diabetes and cancer? Are these diseases not horrible? Is the suffering involved somehow unimportant? Why is AIDS alone worthy of a special Mass?

St. Ann with the Young Mary

Mama

My mother had thyroid surgery on Friday. She is recovering well and I'm so thankful. I haven't slept through the night in days. We won't do a Thanksgiving feast as she's not up to being around people yet and she's still suffering from a desperately sore throat. Thank you, St. Blaise. Thank you St. Anthony and St. Zita. Thank you, Mary, saint of saints.

It's Dolan, High Ho,the merrio, the Cheese (head) Bishop stands alone.

Thanks be to God. 111 bishops voted for Bishop Kicanus. Over 120 showed some sense and voted for Archbishop Dolan to be president of the USCCB. Archbishop Dolan is not my favorite clergyman. He's no "Dagger" John Hughes but he beats the heck out of Bishop Kicanas, the man who let a seminarian with a drinking problem and a sexual obsession become a priest who later molested 23 victims.

Our Lady of Salvation, Iraq

I was reading a close to big time Catholic blog this morning and noticed that only two people had commented on a post about the parishioners of Our Lady of Salvation in Iraq but over 30 people had written in to comment about post on a lesbian teacher who got fired from the Catholic college where she worked. I find that disheartening. Maybe it's the feelings over intellect Oprah culture we live in or maybe it's a fear of offending Muslims but I've noticed that other than the pope there has been very few expressions of outrage or sympathy for these fellow Catholics.

Now that's a thurible!

In the St. James Cathedral in Spain they are serious about waving their incense.



I love the Holy Father's expression. He looks just like a delighted little boy.

Do you belong to your parish becuase of the church groups or the Mass?

Rocky has often commented to me that it seems to be the fad in Catholic churches to split the parish up into groups. The school parents only hang with each other and frankly don't care about the rest of the parish (I've seen some of this), the young women's prayer group meets in each others homes and only hang with each other. The over 50 group has their thing, the single, college grad, and under 30 group has theirs and the two groups never mingle. A single guy over 30 who didn't go to college but is doing quite well spiritually and financially and who'd make a great husband isn't welcome in either group. The married men's group only talk to each other. The Working Mothers group have no place for the mother who works all day at home. The Spanish parishioners have their own bivouac and will bristle if intruded upon.

I know a woman whose only reason for going to church at all was because she sang in the choir and her entire social life was there. When she lost her Faith she decided to leave because she couldn't bring herself to be a hypocrite. The poor woman is quite restless and unhappy now. I don't think Holy Mother Church really wants us to be separate exlusive little units within the church. I don't think it's healthy either. Stephen Kellmeyer, whom I know is not well like in some blog circles has a point with this post.

Pray for the souls in Purgatory

Random political thoughts

• Someone should've told Nancy Pelosi that allowing herself to be photograped like this was not a good idea. Normal people don't laugh like that. She looks like a crazed movie villain.
  
  Indio's wanted poster from the movie, For a Few Dollars More
  
  
  

All Souls Day

Peter Kreeft

Peter Kreeft may be a nice man but I wouldn't want him on my side if I ever had to fight. Reading a review of his new book,"Between Allah and Jesus: What Christians Can Learn from Muslims", makes me want to pat him on the head and tell him to go home and tend to his knitting. I wonder what he'd say to the survivors of the Our Lady of Salvation massacre? Would he tell them that they simply misunderstood the men who came to their church and slaughtered their priests and loved ones?

All Souls Day

Eternal rest grant unto
Dean
Geneva
Mamie and Mac
Glen and Elvira
Kristin, Bertha and Yank
Bet and Joe and Dave
Ida and her Ida Mac
Sophie, Marie, Tyler, Farr
Gretel and Tammy
Leila, Walter, Daisy and Junior
and our John Mary Thomas
and the martyrs of Our Lady of Salvation Church






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St. Paul's Richmond, VA

Rocky and I visited St. Paul in Richmond last Sunday and it was wonderful. We didn't know it until we stepped inside but St. Paul is a "twin" of our parish, St. Rita. Both churches had the same architect, a guy from Staunton, Virginia. St. Paul's is located in kind of a difficult spot. One one side is a black neighborhood that's mixed with working class and poor folks. On the other side of the church is a working class white neighborhood. Neither neighborhood is really a place for tourists so have your wits about you if you decide to visit. Fr. George has to lock up promptly after Mass because they've had serious thefts. Father is a delightful, kind man and we were happy to chat with him and the charming head usher who gave us a tour of the church. We even got to meet the parish cat, a gorgeous, dignified old Himalyan. Such friendly people! Coming from icy cold Northern Virginia it's always a delight to be genuinely welcomed. If you ever get a chance stop by for Mass.

The Vatican says...

Whenever a secular newspaper starts a story with the words, "the Vatican says," I get ready to be annoyed. An idiot editor of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper says that Homer Simpson is Catholic and people go "the Vatican claims Homer" or an archbishop at the Middle East synod says Israelis can't use the bible as justification for some of the things they've done and that Israel's special status ceased with the coming of Jesus people go berserk and and say that the Vatican has thrown Israel under the proverbial bus.

One archbishop is not the Vatican, which is often used as a code word for the pope and the Vatican newspaper is not holy writ. Never assume that Pope Benedict approves of something or has said something unless you see it coming from his mouth on TV or read it in an official source. Grrrr!

there is a war on, you know

It's a spiritual war and not all the players are flesh and blood. A Muslim man joined liturgical dancers in England and tried to stab a bishop. He is said to be crazy. Another Muslim man danced rather badly on the altar in a Venetian cathedral. He is confined to a hospital and is said to be mad as a March hare. A 69 year old bishop in Canada was severley beaten in his rectory and a priest who came to his aid was also attacked by a man whom authorities say is deranged. Earlier this year a bishop was stabbed to death by the man the Turkish government had sent to be his driver.

In famously nice Minnesota a Democrat ran a frankly anti-Catholic ad. In San Francisco the city council has condemned Catholicism. In England an ice cream ad features models dressed up as priests in sexually suggestive poses. In Washington DC, an actor dressed up as a priest will mock Catholics on the National Mall while giving a "benediction" at the Jon Stewart (he's a comdian) rally. The malignant enemy is working with an ancient playbook but it's devastatingly effective : Strike down the officers and the army is thrown into confusion. Pray for our priests.

Sts. Peter and Paul, priestly martyrs of Spain, France, Russia and Mexico, pray for your brother priests who are in danger!

Amen

Dr. Kinsey-- warning, it's upsetting

One day when I was a college student I was sitting in class daydreaming while my English professor droned on about sex and how Dr. Alfred Kinsey showed what women were capable of once freed from the patriarchy when a question hit me: How did Dr. Kinsey get all his data? Kinsey started his research during WWII. In the 40s and later the 50s, no decent person would've agreed to have sex in front of strangers while being filmed and connected to electrodes. So where did Kinsey's test subjects come from? It appears that they were mostly freaks, ex-cons, pimps, homosexuals, prostitutes, and child molestors. Kinsey presented these people's sexuality as a model of what normal people feel and do. Later thousands of people like my old English professor insisted in classrooms all over the country that we SHOULD behave like Kinsey's test subjects or WE weren't normal, or that we were repressed, uncool prudes.
And what about Kinsey's child sexuality research? What happened to those kids? Kinsey claimed that children are willing, enthusiastic sexual actors from birth. How many kids were molested to get his research? And it had to be molestation. Three year olds and infants did not get in their cars and volunteer to be "observed" by Kinsey's helpers.
It dawned on me that day in class, that my professor was an old windbag who was wasting my money. I came to class to learn about literature not be indoctrinated into the freak show. It chilled me then and it chills me now to think that most of we learned in sex-ed class probably came from a mind that apparently was familiar with the darkest pits of hell. The Kinsey Institue, like Planned Parenthood gets a lot of money from you and me in the form of our tax money.

Rocky's favorite veil

This is one of my oldest veils. I bought it when I first began collecting them. I think I must have over 20 now. Some are antique, most are handmade and thus, unique. All of them are special. I don't collect anything that I don't love but this one stands apart from the rest because it's Rocky's favorite. It's very heavy lace. It so heavy that regular bobby pins won't hold it in place. I use the old fashioned extra strong ones for this baby. I only wear it at Easter.

Revere the Lord

Once there was a famous writer who was some kind of Protestant but wavering in his belief who found himself attracted to Catholicism. He wandered into a cathedral and sat down before Mass was to begin. He watched the altar servers fool around while lighting the candles. He got up and left thinking that if Catholics really believed in the Real Presence the boys never would've been rough housing in the sanctuary and if even if they were, someone, a priest, an adult, someone should've admonished them. He never converted.


I thought about that story while watching adults treat a local church like a movie theater last Sunday. When Saint Peter saw Our Lord on the beach after His resurrection he (St. Peter) got dressed and then jumped into the water to swim and then run to Jesus. The Gospel says that Peter was naked in the boat while he fishing. He probably wasn't completely undressed. He might have simply removed his outer garment or was everything but his loin cloth. The Jews at that time were very modest. Stripping down to one's loin cloth was considered naked for all practical purposes.

The Romans typically crucified prisoners fully nude in order to increase their suffering and humiliation but at one point made a slight and temporary, I think, exception (underwear only) for the Jews not because they cared much for Jewish tradition but practical people as they were, they realized that you can't have a public execution if the shocked public all averted their eyes or ran away.


As excited as Peter was, he loved His Lord and His God too much to come before Him improperly dressed so Peter ran up to the Lord in wet clothes.

When Saint John saw Jesus in his Revelations vision he didn't go up to Him and give Our Lord a hug or a "How ya doin'?." John, the beloved disciple, fell on is face prostrate.

We have so many examples from the saints yet many Catholics still act like Jesus is their buddy from the car pool and that He should be grateful that we even came to Mass at all. If a non-Catholic walked into your parish today would he be impressed by what he sees in the pews or would he end up walking out thinking, ' These people don't really believe what they claim.'?
The Pope can give a beautiful example of Catholic life, the priest can give sterling homilies, the nun or monk can shine with goodness but one layperson's lazy behavior can turn the good examples into so much dust in wind.

well that was horrible

Rocky and I visited Nativity Church. in Springfield, VA. It was horribly depressing. The church is ugly but that's standard for churches built in the 60s, 70s and 80s so we didn't expect anything else. When we arrived a large group baptism ceremony was letting out. Most of the people were still milling around talking loudly and it was like they were at an auditorium. Nobody genuflected or bowed or even nodded towards Jesus. That may be partially because it was so hard to find Him. Nativity had no crucifix, instead there was one of those dopey resurecifixes over the altar. In a shadowy corner nearby was a tiny, ugly box sitting on a pillar. That was the tabernacle. Next to it, the santuary lamp appeared to be out. It was so sad. We tried to pray but it was so noisy that we got up to go. Just before going out I looked back and saw the priest tidying up the pews. All those lay people and the priest had to clean up? The last time I was at Nativity was 14 years ago and I'd forgotten it. It'll take another funeral for me to go back.

There's no tacky wedding like a Catholic tacky wedding. Ugh!

Oh man, this is bad. Looking at this video reminds me of why so many priests strongly dislike celebrating weddings.

St. Anthony Bridals

What a wonderful idea. St. Anthony Bridals help budget minded or lower to middle income brides have a nice wedding.

Rest in peace, La Stupenda

When I was about nine or ten I heard Joan Sutherland singing on TV. She had a voice that left me speechless. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard.

the botanica is gone

There was a botanica near our church and every time I saw the ghastly thing I'd say the prayer to St. Michael and then last week after Mass we drove past it and saw that the botanica was gone. Once ages ago Rocky and I went inside because we mistakenly thought it was a Catholic bookstore. After seeing the rows and rows of spell books, penis shaped candles and a weird altar that was not dedicated to God we got the hell out of there. Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter couldn't have moved any faster than we did fleeing that place.

The week before last they seemed to be doing a brisk business but now the place is boarded up. There's cardboard and dried soap circles in the windows. Thank you, Jesus!

youth is often wasted on the young

Karen Owen apparently spent her four years at Duke University in the prone position. A co-worker asked me what I thought of the story. I said that sleeping with 13 boys and then writing a 42 page tell-all was tragic. She replied that 13 men in 4 years wasn't that unusual for a sexually active young woman at college. Wow. Imagine spending $200,000 for your kid to dance on the edge of hell. I'm really, really thankful that I'm not in that age group anymore if Karen Owen is the norm.

Poor girl. Did she really want to fornicate with all those guys or was she trying to be the star of the hip crowd? Some people have been very harsh in condemning Miss Owen, others are celebrating her as a brave feminist but I can't help but wonder what when wrong in this girl's life.

Is bragging about how poor you are some new Catholic fad?

I recently came across two new blogs the other day and found myself getting agitated, utterly pissed off really, as I read them. Both bloggers are Catholic. Both are married and are highly educated and usually live a very modest lifestyle by choice. Fine and dandy. Both seem delighted, extol the joys of low income living and are critical of people who have TV and cars, send their kids to school and who don't frequent thrift shops*. Neither seems to do any charity or parish work. One feels great solidarity with the poor as she walks home with her organic groceries instead of driving to a suburban grocery. Oh for Pete's sake... Well, I think the whole organic thing is a expensive bit of showing off. All food, everything that lives or lived is organic matter. My wooden coffee table is organic. My plastic pink Crocs are not. My TV is inorganic. My broccoli in the freezer is organic. Uncle Chester mouldering in his grave is organic matter. Keiko the robot is inorganic.

One woman complained that her friends were mean when she signed up pre-natal food assistance, (I think she was talking about WIC). I stand with the mean friends. WIC is supposed to be for low income pregnant and postpartum women who don't have a lot of options. It provides supplemental food and nutritional information in order to prevent fetal malnutrition and all the maladies and miseries that come with it such as cretinism. It was not meant for people who choose not to work in the field that they studied at college. If you can travel for fun, buy expensive items when the mood strikes you and have a computer at home then you are not the woman who WIC was meant to help. If you are playing at being poor with the knowledge that you can drop the game at any time, then WIC was not intended for you. By taking it you are stealing from women who really need and from the rest of us who work and pay taxes.

Mother Teresa didn't play games. She went to the slums of Calcutta, not to be smug or show everyone how holy she was. She went for the love of Christ. I do hope poor mouthing -- almost bragging about one's low income isn't becoming some new young Catholic trend becuase if it is, someone, and this might be the job for the laity, better step in quick and call it for what it is: silly and insulting to genuinely poor people who don't have the option to change their minds if things stop being cool.



*I enjoy shopping at thrift and consignment shops but I don't consider myself more virtuous that the woman who wouldn't be caught dead in one.

what a week

It's been an exhausting week at work. We had an extremely labor intensive project and so I'm glad to see Friday come. I found myself thinking wistfully about the movie, Into the Great Silence.

Carthusians live what looks like a simple, romantic life high in the snowy mountains but a weak person would find it grueling. The monks never stop working. If they aren't laboring, they are at prayer. I wouldn't last a week at a Carthusian monastery but everytime I got tired of my project and daydreamed about Into the Great Silence it was like a tiny moment of vacation.

burning books=outrage, burning Christians=silence

Remember how everyone went beserk because some preacher in Florida was going to burn the koran? Back in March a Muslim mob burned a Christian alive and raped his wife while forcing their children to watch. I'd say that's a darn sight worse than burning a book but the major media ignored the story. Last week in Ethiopia-- Ethiopia, the oldest Christian civilization, Muslims in a small villiage burned down the houses of their Christian neighbors. The Christians are still living out in the open under trees. Their neighbors are refusing to let them leave or rebuild. I read about this in and English newspaper. As far as I know the American media didn't touch the story.

This week Catholics in Saudi Arabia were caught going to Mass. A Saudi prison is one of the most horrible places on earth. You don't want to go there. The fate of these Catholics is up in the air.

According to American mainstream media, none of these stories is as important as the jackleg preacher talking about burning the koran.

Holy martyrs, pray for us!

Random thoughts on Sobran and Skojec and Kathleen Folden

• Joe Sobran died last week and his funeral was on Tuesday. I don't really remember him because he'd been cast out by William F. Buckley long before I was even interested in politics and I didn't like the essays of his that I've read but the reactions to his death fascinated me. There were loving tributes including a touching one from Anne Coulter and remarkable nastiness. One commenter on Fr. Z's blog said that he was not sorry to see Sobran gone. One commenter said he was a Jew hater and anti Israel so she felt nothing at all knowing that he was dead. Another person called him an unstable, rude genius. One Catholic blogger said that she wished he'd been a Protestant instead of a Catholic. Who was this man really and why did he excite such passions so long after his big time writing career was essentially over?


• Steve Skojec wrote an essay on Inside Catholic saying that a lot of Traditionalist Catholics are jerks. The reaction was what you'd expect. You can't spit on people--whether they have it coming or not-- and then expect them to shrug.
  
• Kathleen Folden saw a tax payer sponsored piece of blasphemy and went St. Boniface on it. A lot of sophisticated Christians are cringing with shame and I don't know where Kathleen stands with the Lord compared to anyone else but the the Lord said something about liking the hot better than the lukewarm, didn't He?

Go to Peter

I don't think American Catholics appreciate St. Peter as much as we ought to. Maybe it's because his successors are always with us. Perhaps it's because Americans tend to dumb everything down. We either think of Peter as the first pope or we simply think of him as the head of the bumbling apostles.

Have you failed? Have you ever really messed up so horribly that a mere apology will not fix it? Go to Peter. He knows your shame and regret. He betrayed Our Lord three times after boldly saying earlier that night that he'd never do such a thing. Have you ever hidden your Faith so you could blend in with the cool folks? Peter understands. He stood around a fire warming himself with the temple servants. Have you ever been so depressed that you thought everything was hopeless? Peter's been there. From Good Friday to Easter Sunday he thought that everything was lost, that the Light of the world was gone out forever and how it must have scalded his heart when he looked at St. John and Mary.

Have you ever thought, this job is too big for me? Have you listened to your friends when they said, "What can one little person do?" Peter understands that too. He went to Rome and stayed there even though it meant losing his life. Satan and the Romans must have thought after Peter's crucifixion that the Christians were done. They were wrong. As St. Peter hung on the cross dying in agony he knew where he was going. With his help, may you and I get there too.
St. Peter, the apostle, pray for us that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.

St. Clelia, pray for rme.

St. Clelia Barbieri, is the youngest saint to found a religious order. She is also the patron saint of people who are ridiculed for their piety. I thought of St. Clelia yesterday. A co-woker, a Catholic mocked another Catholic woman, (the mother of three priests so I think she did pretty well), for her pious nature. She despised this woman for having a prie dieu at home and a corner shrine. I guess she'd be horrified by my home. We don't have a prayer bench but we do have paintings of saints all over the place and a crucifix in every room but the bathroom. My co-worker then went on to insult the woman's priest. He is well known in our diocese and sounds like someone I'd be very happy to know. The next time Rocky and I are in Front Royal, we'll be sure to stop by his parish.

Later she told me an extended and particularly filthy sodomy joke. I can not repeat it in print and I don't want to hear it again in my mind. Both times I changed the subject. I should've spoken up.That was gutless on my part and I am determined that it will never happen again.

St. Clelia, physically delicate but spirtually a little lioness, pray for me.

St. Therese

Fall, the burnt orange season

This is my favorite time of year. The cicadas have gone to their destinies and no longer sing their nightly song of love and death. Now the big black crickets have their turn on the stage. The robins and doves have left us, but the blue jays have come to visit for a few weeks and Canadian geese have returned to spend part of their day in my building's picnic area. I watch them through the morning fog while walking to the bus. The fox, groundhogs and deer are more visible when we go for Sunday afternoon drives. The cherry blossoms of Spring and the daffodils of Summer are gone but now we have crysanthemums, my great grandmother called them October roses, and pumpkins.

Football is back and that's very fine. I really did miss Brett, Peyton, Troy and of course the whole Fox team.

The horrible Summer heat has broken and the tempreture drops below 80 again. Soon I'll be able to break out my thin Fall gloves and light sweaters. I love it.

Mass of the Ages

Rocky and I went to confession and the TLM at St. Rita's tonight. It's the feast of St. Jerome, one of my favorite saints and the patron saint of librarians. I've been to the Traditional/Tridentine Latin Mass before but tonight something I've read countless times really sunk in. The priest goes up to the altar of God and pleads our case. Next he comes down from the altar and brings merciful Jesus, our first and greatest Advocate to us. This happens at all masses of course, but somehow you really get it when attending a TLM.

There were several small children there tonight but if I hadn't seen them toddle in before Mass I never would've known that they were there. It was silent, hushed as if the whole world was waiting with baited breath to see the miracle.

Fr. Gee (we haven't come up with a nick name for him yet) will say the Low Mass every Thursday. If you're in Alexandria come on by.

Things you can do in a dress or a skirt

Save Paris like St. Genvieve

Kick Moorish butt and save your country like Queen Isabella



Become a doctor of the Church like my friend, St. Therese



Help a pope like St. Catherine of Siena


Infuriate klansmen and garden variety racists like St. Katherine Drexel


Conquer the known world and look cute while doing it, like the Romans.


Indulge your inner wiseacre like me and mock the great pants debate . HT to In Haught Pursuit for giving me the idea for this post.