2011 blogville standouts

The most useful blog I've seen this year
Traditional Latin Mass in Maryland


 Saddest
These Stone Walls

Most disappointing 
 The Catholic blogs who were assimilated by Patheos


The post I definitely wish I hadn't read
I have a sense of humor... a weird one but it does exist. However, jokes about the Triune God and Our Lady are off limits. This thing isn't a lighthearted joke. It is  a mockery of the Consecration and that's not funny.




Most interesting photos
Orbis Secundus


Bravest
Orwell's Picnic.


Cutest
Crechemania and Catholic Icing

Christ be praised!

Today my mother and I got a wonderful gift for the great Feast of Christmas. The nursing home called and they've accepted my dear uncle. They want us to bring him on Friday. Back in November I made two vows for when this day came  and I look forward to going to the Holy Stairs shrine at St. Patrick's in Pittsburgh to fulfill them. Oh Christ be praised. Thank you, Lord.

Ascend to Heaven sons and daughters of St. Stephen

After 9/11 President Bush said that Islam was a religion of peace. I suspect that he said that because his advisors feared that the average American was going to go ape on the nearest Muslim. That was wrong and an undestimation of the average American but the "religion of peace" thing stuck and irritates like a rash. Tell the marytred Nigerian Catholics blown up in the middle of Midnight Mass or tell the Iraqi Christians that.

Tell us to remember that we are civilized, tell us that we are better than our enemies, tell us to remember the Golden Rule. Remind people that the Muslim family next door is harmless.  Say anything you want but I don't want to hear that "religion of peace" stuff anymore.

Well that was interesting.

Christmas Mass was ....interesting. The cantor's vocals were lovely. We have a fine organist. The church was packed. Even though the windows were open it was hot and well, funky. A surprisising number of guys in their haste to get to Mass forgot their deordorant or maybe it was soap. One dude's natural scent just about made me swoon during the great Communion shuffle.  Concentrating was hard. I've never really paid the Christmas and Easter people much attention before but I now understand why friction rises. Folks, when you come late don't get huffy if the 90 year old couple arent' thrilled by you climbing over them to get to a spot and don't ask they lady in the wheelchair to move so you and your loved ones can sit together. Oh and if you must feed  your child would you please not give him buttery stuff that crumbles all over the pew. The poor man next to you didn't deserve the grease stains you left behind.

Father reminded us earlier in the week to be nice to our guests because our bad example could send a sensitive soul from the Church forever but honestly some of those people didn't make it easy.

Felix Dies Nativitatis!

Merry Christmas, ya'all!



Bad homilies and the Holy Family

One of the most annoying things about going to Mass in December is listening to homilies that insult St. Joseph. He was not a starry eyed ninny. He did not just load Mary on to a donkey and drift out to Bethlehem. They probably traveled in a caravan with other kinfolk from their village. It's possible, some theologians believe, that knowing that the messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem that Mary and Joseph had even decided that they would move there permanantly.

St. Jospeh did not come to Bethlehem to beg. He wasn't running from Nazareth. He came to pay his taxes. He was not a homeless man. Mary was not an unwed mother. I'm so sick of that kind of talk. He also, being a skilled artisan had pretty good prospects for finding a job if he and Mary had decided to stay in Bethlehem.  There was a huge government project going on not too far away. Vile King Herod was building himself  a tomb and  needed lots of carpenters.  Please, please no more hip, relevant homilies making the Holy Family stand ins for whatever cause is in vouge at the time.

Christ Almighty

I could look at this for hours.

my favorite nativity

Infant of Prague

Sweetest little King, have mercy on me.

Precious, shining Boy who came forth to die a horrible death, have mercy on me.

Joy of Heaven and earth, have mercy on me.

Random thoughts

• I can't stand Patheos. It's like the Borg on Star Trek. It takes fun bloggers and turns them into drones. Being with Patheos has  completely ruined the once delightful Anchoress and I just hope that Crescat doesn't change.

• I don't understand the whole Anglican Ordinariate thing. Why can't people just convert on their own instead of the whole parish, "priest" (I thought the Anglican orders were invalid? Did this change?) and the building coming over with their own version of the Mass. Why not go to RCIA--wretched as it usually is and be done with it? I'm not knocking the Ordinariate. I just don't understand why it is necessary and why the Anglican patrimony is supposed to be such a boon for the Church. The Anglican church was founded because Henry VIII was a vicious lustful  sociopath who wanted a new woman and discarded his  devoted wife, only legitimate child, religion, faithful friends and servants and went on a killing spree.
  
  It's confusing because the same commentators who go into raptures about the beauty of the Anglo-Catholic service  and who hope if will either influence the Novus Ordo  or that they will  soon be able to take refuge in an approved  Ordinariate Mass would eat a brick before they'd go to a TLM.

• I really miss the Gregorian Rite Catholic blog. Prima's wit was like an electric knife slicing through blubber.

• Dear bishops who signed their names to this letter, I suggest that the next time you want want money for something in your diocese you ask donations from outside the country because you don't seem to give a hoot about the laws, and very real concerns of your American flock who have to deal with the problems massive illegal immigration brings.  

• If Youth only knew, if Age only could.... Hilary White has written something with painful, avert your eyes honesty  about the bad gambles  girls make when we're young  because all the cool people told us that we must or be losers and how we can suffer will the debt comes due.

• I  read this  post from the Vestal morons blog which uses Star Wars as a metaphor for Vatican II and what happened after.  I think he's wrong about a couple of things. Padme Amidala was a passive aggressive  idiot so she can't represent the pre-concilar Church and Obi Wan certainly wasn't Paul VI. Jar Jar Binks on the other hand, oh yeah, the young writer is absolutely spot on about Jar Jar.

• There is a candy store near where I work that sells blasphemous "humor" items. Their Christmas display this year features revolting images of Jesus and Mary on various things that I will not attempt to describe. The owner of the shop must really hate Catholics. He or she always has something mocking nuns or priests in the window. I can't imagine how much time he or she takes to find all this stuff. For this reason I refuse to buy anything from the store or even go in there. The candy is supposed to be really good but as long as Christians make excuses and buy from people like the owner of this shop we are feeding the beast.
  
  
• Speaking of work I wish I had the senority and the nerve to pull this off:

Our Lady of Good Children

The Return

This painting can be found at Holy Innocents Church in New York. The artist had just attended Mass when he noticed a young soldier kneeling at the foot of a crucifix. He was so moved that he started work on this painting.

St. Joseph

St. Joseph, the dear, quiet man who was chosen to be Mary's husband and a father to Our Lord. He is the patron saint against doubt, cabinetmakers, Canada, carpenters, China, confectioners, craftsmen, dying people, engineers, families, fathers, house hunters, Korea, laborers, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam and pioneers.  He is the patron of the universal Church.

The Visitation and the Magnificat

Random thoughts on modesty and other stuff

• Thank you all for your kind words and prayers for my poor aunt, Emmabelle.
  
  
  
• I was reading a complaint on another blog about how hard it is to find modest clothes and I thought, 'silly you'. Modesty is actually pretty easy.  I have a dress that looks fine when I'm standing but shows too much when I sit. So I put a t shirt under it and no-body sees a thing. Simple.
  
  There is no law that says you have to buy mini skirts and if your regular skirt is a little too short put on black tights. Instead of buying low rider jeans that expose your naked backside  buy some relaxed fit Wranglers or Faded Glorys and be done with it. You don't have to dress like an Amish woman ---but oddly enough one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen was a barefoot young Amish mother walking down a dirt road--- and you don't have dress like a Mormon breakaway cult member to be modest. 
  
  I do not wish to support Mormonism in any way, and I don't want to be on mailing list or get a visit form Mormon elders so I refuse to buy from LDS owned stores but mainstream Mormon women, I have to admit, do a great job of looking good without looking sleazy and unlike Catholics they've actually gone into business providing gorgeous clothes instead of just complaining. 
  
  
  
• You know how a puppy or dog will roll over on their stomachs before a dominant dog in a submission gesture? That's what this was.
  
  
  
• Speaking of dogs, if that nice boy, Tim Tebow were to torture one to death, drive drunk, shoot off a gun in a nightclub, get accused of rape....twice, all the people who rag on him now would be fans. I wish the kid was Catholic. Can you imagine the exploding heads?
  
  
  
• The situation with my uncle's dementia is getting worse and none of the nursing homes I'm pursuing have made acceptance decisions yet and I've become terribly disappointed in his doctor. My mother and I are so tired. I just want to sit on the floor and cry sometimes. And then my fighting spirit comes back. When this is all over and he is in a safe place I can rest until then I just have to follow Winston Churchill's advice and keep on going.
  
  
  
• Thank God the morning after pill is not going to be sold over the counter. Can you imagine what would have happened on daily basis? A guy decides he wants to be "sure" and slips it into his girlfriend's coffee...a statutory rapist forces an underage girl to take it at the end of their "date" .....an angry teenager adds it her stepmother's dinner... a college girl figures if one is good she ought to take four....babies killed as easily and thoughtlessly as one does when popping a vitamin. What a horror.
  
  
  

Virgin and Mother-- Mother and yet, a Virgin

I am the Immaculate Conception

Requiem Emmabelle

My Aunt Emmabelle passed away. Mercy Lord.

The Pieta for when I need to adjust my attitude

I wonder as I wander out under the sky,

how Jesus, our Savior did come forth to die

for poor onery sinners like you and like I......

.

For God so loved the world....

For God so loved the world, He sent His only begotten Son.

Your Face, Lord do I seek

May the most Holy, most Sacred, most Adorable,
Most Incomprehensible and Ineffable 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. 

Reality calling Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi looks fantastic for her age but someone ought to tell the old girl that no matter how much botox she shoots up, no matter how hard she exercises and no matter how well she dresses she's already seen too many Winters  to be mocking her fellow Catholics and the "Catholic conscience thing". 

Please carry her home

I just heard that my aunt, Emmabelle is dying. What a tragedy her life has been! When she was a teenager she developed one of those silly school girl crushes and as  young girls are wont to do, she wrote some ungaurded love letters. The letters, as is often the case, fell into the wrong hands and an ugly scandal broke out in her family's church. Things got so bad that she ran away.

Her brothers tried to help her but she was just like a feral cat. She'd get only so close and despite all the patience and kindness they offered she could never bring herself to come inside. She could be maddening, she could be unnerving, when I was a child all the adults all seemed to be filled with exasperation when they mentioned her name and then in an instant they'd recall something hilarious she did. She could be the sunshine of the whole room. When my mother spoke of my fathers's wild sister  it was sometimes accompanied with a smile and usually with a sigh.

I think she suffered from depression and tried to make herself feel better with alcohol and drugs on occasion. Eventually she grew out of that but was left a physical wreck.  A few days ago my youngest uncle couldn't reach her on the phone and went to her place. He found her unconcious and took her to the hospital. The doctors say that she will die and it could be at any time. Her cancer is just too advanced. The only thing to do is to keep her comfortable and wait. I hope that she has time to reconcile with God. Dear Lord, please carry Emmabelle home.

From Russia, with love

The older ladies of Vladvivostok Catholic Mission in Russia make the most beautiful baby gowns for special occasions and baptisms I've ever seen. This would be a wonderful bit of Catholic Christmas shopping.

Virgin of Tenderness

Unhand me, Sir!

Bishop Foys has stepped up and told his people that the handholding during Mass is not cool.  There will be pouting but I suspect a lot of people will be quietly relieved. I'm a shy person and being grabbed by sweaty, sneezy, clammy or sticky(!) strangers is highly offensive. Unless you are my husband, my best friend or we are blood kin I really don't want to hold your hand. Period.

Look at that face

This is a Children of Mary nun on her investiture day. May God bless Sr. Melissa and may she persevere in her sacred vocation all the days of her life.

Christ, the Teacher

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus

Man of Sorrows

This image reminds me very much of the image from the Shroud of Turin.

Mama, what's a NeoCath?

I've often wondered what this term really means. Miss Hilary White spells it out with devastating effect.

Catholic history day trip

Rocky had the day after Thanksgiving off for the first time in ages so we daytripped to Southern Marylanad and the Western Shore. We visited St. John Vianney in Prince Frederick. It's a big, new and very handsome church.  They have an unsual statue of Our Lord's Sacred Heart that sadly is in a tucked away corner near a closet. The church  has one of those babbling brook baptism pools and spectacular stained glass windows. Each window has a theme. One had saints from the Middle Ages, another had great missionary saints.  One window had American saints and Rocky was startled to see Martin Luther King included. MLK was  not Catholic and obviously not a cannonized saint so what the heck...? 

We looked at the Latin American saints window and saw Oscar Romero and Cesar Chavez included with St. Rose of Lima, St. Juan Diego and St. Martin de Porres. On the Carribean saints window we saw Toussaint L'Ouverture. He was known to be devout and he discouraged voodoo but again, he's not a saint. Unlike Mother Mary Lange, whose lovely image was also on the window, he does not have a cause for cannonization before the Vatican. 

Rocky guessed that whoever was in charge of the windows wanted every ethnicity to feel included but went completely overboard and veered into patronizing territory. Too bad this impulse wasn't stiffled because the windows are a magnificent teaching tool.

St. Francis de Sales

We also visited St. Francis de Sales and met the pastor who was very kind to talk to us and allow us to venerate a St. Francis relic. They have the traditional Latin Mass there as well as the ordinary form.  

We visited the cemetary of St. Dominc's in Aquasco to say the Eternal Rest prayer and were surprised by the church's neighbors, a herd of alpacas. They are the cutest animals. They're walking balls of wool and eyelashes that would make a model swoon with envy. Next we left the Western Shore and headed to Leonardtown for lunch and to visit St. Gonzaga. It's 300 years old and is in a federal style like the Basilica in Baltimore. What I really liked was that they had little novena prayer cards next to every statue and of course, that they never got rid of their altar rails or moved the Blessed Sacrament from the center of the altar and the center of hearts and minds.

We visited the living museum of St. Mary's City and bought a few colonial gifts and visited the recreation of the town's chapel. No good description of what it looked like has been found so the archaeologists are guessing based on Catholic architecture of the time. After a full, fun day we headed home and watched TV. 

Christmas Shopping ideas

Here are some of my favorite Catholic shopping sites.

Catholic Embroidery

The Brown Scapular site

Monastery Greetings

Holy Orders  My favorite gift site.

Tan books

All Saints Convent.  You may have read about the Maryland All Saints nuns who left the Episcopalians and became Catholic. This was a heroic move. Let's not just say "Oh that's nice," and forget about them. They support themselves by making greeting cards and they have a neat calendar. The sisters do not take credit cards and they obviously don't have Pay Pal. They are cash or check only at the moment.  They also enjoy visitors.

The Benedictines of Mary


The Paulines I don't care for everything that the Paulines sell in their stores but for many Catholics they are the only source of Catholic books and gifts in their area and I have bought most of our Navarre Bible volumes from them.


Pro Multis Media They carry Halo Works veils among other delightful things.

Buckfast Abbey

Random thoughts for Thanksgiving

I don't have to cook or do a thing this year. We are meeting Rocky's people at Maggiano's Little Italy for Thanksgiving and I am extremely grateful to be lying in bed thinking this afternoon. I'm grateful for a few other things too:


Rocky, my dear husband and Mama, my dear mother and best friend.



The readers of this blog, particularly, Bob, a true Catholic gentleman.



My uncle. I've written before that my mother and I are busy trying to rescue a relative with dementia. It's been horrible at times. It's been painful, tears have been shed, bad dreams have been dreamt. After leaving his apartment and seeing for ourselves how he's been living we were both in some kind of shock. But I am thankful for him. Trying to take care of him and get him into a nursing home has been a grace. I find myself repeating St. Joan's words. "God clears the way. It was for this I was born," and I've made a sign from her quote and thumb tacked it to my wall at work to look at when I need encouragement. You don't have to like your cross, to thank God for giving it to you. Soon, I hope to have him safely in a nursing home and then my mother and I can rest but until then, I am comforted by knowing that Jesus is with my relative and with us every step of the way.

My pastor, Fr. Eagle (that's our nick name for him, I'm Southern so I have a nick name for everyone). He's a fine young, big hearted priest and offers  confession four days a week and a low Mass on Thursdays. Rocky and I look forward to that Mass more than we ever expected or than I can even explain.



Role models like Mary Ann Kreitzer and Elena Vidal 




The Traditional Latin Mass in Maryland blog. I read it everyday. 


Fr. Michael Taylor of Corpus Christi Church in South Riding, Virginia who is being picked on by an unlearned parishioner, who should remember that the Blessed Mother probably was not at the table or even in the roomm  at the Last Supper, the Washington Post and now CNN. 



Monsignor Charles Pope who has served in my home town and in neighborhoods most of us wouldn't dare walk around in, for many years.   On second thought, after being advised of some of Monsignor's views that he doesn't necesarily share from the pulpit I think I need to scratch this.


The nice boy at Mass who told me that he's very impressed that I always wear a veil to the Novus Ordo Mass. I was astonished.



My husband again, always, forever.... the man of my life, friend, fierce protector, inspiration, beloved


Oh and one thing, the first Thanksgiving was not at Plymouth Rock. It was in Virginia at what would later be called Berkley Plantation.

Do we all go down together?

I was talking to an 81 year old neighbor the other day. He was coming home from work and commented that he was glad he was 81 and didn't have too much time left in this world becasue something bad is happening to America and it looked to him like things were about to fall apart. Yesterday my neighborhood dry cleaner told me that she's leaving in December. Business is terrible and her landlord jacked up the rent so high she can't pay. Everywhere Rocky and I go businesses, long established ones are closing. My dry cleaner has been here for 20 years!

The financial wise men in the news say that unless our country cuts drasticly and now, Depression is inevitable. Nobody will give, nobody wants to suffer for the whole so the whole will go down together I guess.  I'm reminded of the last lines of the Sherlock Holmes story where he sadly tells Watson that the life of the average Englishman is about to come to an end:

There's an east wind coming, Watson.... such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.

— His Last Bow

This all sounds gloomy but God is in charge. If a chastising event comes who can really argue that it wasn't a due punishment? The blood of millions of children cries out for justice.  I suspect that it is only the extraordinary lives of prayer and sacrifice of our cloistered nuns, monks and the unknown saints among us that has stayed God's Hand so far. Pressue turns coal into diamonds and a few of us will be impressive sparklers.  May God's will be done.

Behold, the Cross

 

Man of Sorrows

This is hard to look at and yet, I can barely tear my eyes away. The greatest act of heroism that you can think of from history is only a faint echo of what Our Lord did on Good Friday.

Though thy mother forget thee...the feminists screwed up everything they touched

Last week two twelve year old boys pushed a shopping cart off a second storey level onto the head of a woman who was in the store shopping with her son. She survived and is in the hospital. She's horribly damaged. She may still die or she may live and never be the same again. Her life as she and her husband knew it, is over forever.  One of the mother's of one of the little delinquents, who was described by neighbors as being the biggest problem child in their apartment building, cried piteously, apologized in court and said that she needs help becuase she is a single mother. Her kid's depraved beacuase he's deprived so give him a break Mr. Judge...

I am really sick of the single mother excuse.

Society---you---me--- must stop celebrating, coddling and paying money to women who choose to have children out of wedlock. This is a form of child abuse. The widow and the unhappily divorced woman are not who I am talking about so please don't even think about them.  The ill raised boy next door or all the way in the worst part of the city may one day crawl into your bedroom window or he may grow up to be the teenager who decides to play the knock out game upside  your ancient and beloved grandfather's head so familial disfunction affects us all.

The woman who is perpetually grouchy with her child because she's  exhausted and so lonely that she's always on the hunt for a new man  and who pays more attention to  her new/current man than her innocent child is no modern day heroine. 

The woman of means who decides that she wants a baby, now, no matter what and doesn't need some man is no heroine either. I remember reading a memoir by a man whose highly educated and upper middle class mother frivolously  divorced his father because he was boring and left her unfulfilled. She then decided to have all the "fun" she'd been prevented from having before. This involved a lot of men and she was not discreet so her son was humiliated when the neighborhood kids mocked him. He was also frightened at times because some of the men his mom brought home were threatening characters. Eventually, his mother's wild oats were sowed and she settled down and married a nice man. She would like to forget her growing pains years. Her son could not. I'm not advocating that society go for the Hestser Prynne treatment but the "You go girl!," crap and the "Aren't you wonderful and amazing, and brave" patter needs to die. We desperately need another Dagger John Hughes.

Anne Coulter really said it best:

"Single motherhood is the apotheosis of the feminist vision: women without men! Except they're not without men. They're without one specific man with an interest in their particular children. But men -- and women -- across the country have been forcibly enlisted in the job of feeding, housing, and clothing single mothers and their children. The rest of us have to be constantly attuned to the needs of single mothers. Government policies are designed to support single mothers, rather than stop them. Churches, corporations, and nonprofit organizations are required to chip in to make up for single mothers' lack of husbands. I am woman, hear me roar! Hey, what's the holdup on my government check?"

St. Germaine, patron of ill used children, pray for us all.

a daughter of St. Scholastica

Being a librarian, I love photos in libraries and if it has a habited nun it's perfect.

Random thoughts as a migraine comes on

1. It’s easy and sometimes cathartic to mock Baby Boomers mainly because the rest of us are sick of hearing about the 60s (if every white person who claimed to have marched with MLK in Selma really did,, the marchers would've outnumbered the locals and if everyone who claims to have been at Woodstock really did the audience would've been bigger than the population of Rhode Island); but it saddens me to say that my generation, the GenXers has dropped the ball  in many ways. Go past any public high school and if you're appalled by the kids you see, do it knowing that those teens are the product of GenX parents. Man, a lot of us really blew it.
   
   
2. Who would you rather be? Cher’s daughter or any one of Michelle Duggar’s babies. I know who I’d pick.
   
   
3. The obsessive and seemingly endless gossip about the pope’s health is distasteful. He’s 84, people. It would be a miracle if he didn’t have some sort of ache, pain, or ongoing condition.  Pray for Papa and trust God. Let's not sit around like vultures studying him for signs of weakness. I hated it when the Catholic media did it with John Paul II and don't like seeing it now. I think I prefer the old Italian mindset that the pope is always in excellent health, thank you very much, until he's dead.
   
   
   
4. When in doubt, let the cops sort it out. If  you think a child molestation case is going on call the police. Don't sit on it. Don't tell just your boss and expect him or her to take care of it. If you are the boss don't try to protect the company/school/order/diocese...et cetera. You're only making things worse.
    Call the police. Do it anonymously if you're afraid for your job or your happy, normal life but do it. Calling the cops  may not do a lick of good and you may  think the accusation is nuts and you may even find yourself begging the accused for forgiveness if it turns out that someone was lying, but one day the story will come out. It may take years, decades even, but it will come out and at least you'll be able to say that you did all you could. You're going to have answer to God no matter what you do or fail to do, so you might as well avoid a Paterno/Flynn tragedy now.
   
   
5. This story is a gut punch. I’ve seen a number of relatives die from Alzheimer’s. My mother and I are currently trying to rescue a relative with dementia. Some days it seems like we're all living in that old Dennis Hopper Twilight Zone episode. Hitler's dead, of  course but the Nazi belief that some lives were unworthy of life remains.  Today they kill a woman who’s family says she wanted to die. Tomorrow they will simply kill all the dementia patients automatically. 

Our Lord was not a girlie man or a hippie

The King of Kings

It can't be said often enough, especially if you grew up in the 70s or 80s and those two particularly repulsive images were all you were exposed to.

A Foul mockery of marriage

  The Kardashian "marriage" and that tasteless spectacle of a wedding-- Ruyard Kipling would've had a field day with it-- is an extreme example of straight people making a mockery of the institution of marriage but it isn't the only one. Marriage has been wounded and most fouly defiled many times over and in many different ways. Nice, but unobservant people get upset about the loud, garishly shiny object in their view--- homosexual "marriage" and completely miss the incessant, quiet termite-like damage that millions of men and women have done to the first foundation of our civilization. If you fail to appreciate something don't be surprised if you lose it.

Rest in peace

My cousin Elvira passed away yesterday. Last month on the same date my cousin Jimmie passed. Rest in peace, may you both see the Holy Face of God.

Another thing I'm sick of hearing about...

Have you ever noticed that the people who yammer about materialism already have stuff? Yesterday I was leafing through a decorating magazine and saw a feature on a magnificent house that was done up for a Christmas photo shoot. The owner was quoted as saying that he and his wife didn't give each other Christmas gifts becuase they didn't want to give into the American consumerist culture. I threw the magazine down. Here was an obviously wealthy man who'd spent a fortune on his house (and more power to him, do what you please with your own money) and he was gassing about consumerism. I remember thinking, 'Dude, did you steal those antiques? Cause I know furniture of that quality didn't come from Salvation Army and I know your gardener didn't work on those magnificent grounds for free.

A few months earlier I read a blog post on a Catholic blog written by someone was bitching about her foray to the local mall and the sights and sounds of the great unwashed masses. I almost wrote into to complain. Here she was criticizing the working class women buying stuff  when she, judging by what she says on her blog, is living very well. It's pretty low to criticize a stranger for buying a Jessica Simpson purse just because she wants it and can afford it when you're rocking a Louis Vuitton that you bought from this cute little shop in Italy and the fact that your trip to Italy was ostensibly to visit some shrines does not mitigate your lowness one bit. 

 Once many years ago my mother and one of  her friends were walking home after attending services at her friend's church. When asked how she liked it my mother frankly stated that she hadn't felt comfortable. The women at this church were obvoiusly in a much higher economic bracket than she was and it seemed to effect their treatment of anyone who didn't look like them. My mother said that they were swathed in real gems and furs while she was wearing respectable acrylic fake wool. There were stares and and she felt out of place. My mother's friend chided her for being... you guessed it... materialistic. Mama tartly replied that it was easy for her pal to talk since she was wearing a both a fur hat and coat herself.

Class warfare is dangerous and ugly.

Mass with "extras"... yuck

The battery in Rocky's car died and because he had to wait for a rescue from AAA we missed our regular Sunday Mass and had to go to another church. It was interesting. The choir was large and they could sing but oh man.... they sang dreck.  At one point during the first ooey-gooey teenage pop love song I thought, "Are they singing about a dude  or the Lord?" It was just revolting. The Communion song was better but since its lyrics were written to sound like Jesus talking to us I wasn't comfortable with it. Something just didn't feel right about putting words in Our Lord's mouth.  The psalm sounded like the chorus from the musical, "Cats". The choir also sang a Gloria so long that Rocky raised an eyebrow, babies wailed and even the priest looked like a restless little boy.

Before Mass a lector announced what the readings would be and gave us a mini homily of what they all meant. This always irritates me. Did this nice, well meaning lady think that we were all illiterate and couldn't read the missal or had she been told that the folks in the pews were too stupid to figure out what they were hearing and needed it broken down to easily digested mental pap?

After this we were instructed to rise and greet our neighbors. We, and the people around us did as we were told but we all seemed somewhere between bemused and embarassed about it. After this  pre-liturgy rite, Mass finally began. The priest, thank God was serious  and gave us a fine homily. This wasn't the worst Mass we've ever been to and I'm just glad we were able to fulfill our Sunday duty.

The Novus Ordo already comes with options so why do liturgists have add all this extra, unapproved stuff? Do they think they're defying the bishop? Please! As long as there's no scandals, the bishop doesn't care.  Do they think they're defying the Pope? The Holy Father will never know about the antics of one suburban parish in America. Are they thumbing their noses at conservative or traditional Catholics? Neither group would set foot in this parish unless they had to. I just don't get it and I wonder how the newly corrected translation of the Mass will go down with this particular parish.

First Night in the Cloister

Rocky and I saw this painting at the Chyrsler Museum in Norfolk. We liked it so much that Rocky bought me a magnet with the picture on it.

Daughters of Charity

Priesthood Sunday

Do you have a good priest in your life?

Tell him thanks.

Offered without comment

 Offered without comment because I simply don't know what to say...

The most darling Infant of Prague I've ever seen

Pray for us, Mother

Random thoughts

• I was sick at work today and felt shaky. Luckily it didn't turn into a migraine and worked it's way out my system in time for Rocky and I to go to the Tridentine Mass at St. Rita's. We have the sweetest little altar boys and a sterling young priest.
  
  
• We daytripped to Leesburg, Virginia  last Sunday and I noticed as we drove through the very pretty historic area that the local atheists had put up a really hideous billboard on the court house grounds. Other than showing all the locals and tourists what poor taste they have I don't think they accomplished much.
  
  
• I wish that no-one who was mentored, connected to or worked for the late Cardinal Bernadin would ever get a position of power ever again. They’ve caused a lot of trouble and misery.  
  
  
• On Fr. Z’s blog a person wrote in to whine about not being able to confess because the priest had to leave to say Mass. Oh the humanity! Oh the nerve of that priest putting Mass before the parishioner’s precious little feelings.  And then other people wrote in to whimper as well. Some used the my-kids-are-such-a-handful-that-I-can’t-get-to-church-on-time excuse, which never cuts anyice with me. If you kids are that challenging you need to figure something out but don’t expect the priest to somehow know that you are running late and that he must wait around for you and just dear little you to get to church.
  
   Rocky actually dislikes confessing in his home parish and prefers to go the Basilica in DC  or to the Franciscan monastery. I’ve stood in line and been turned away a few times and no it's not fun. Usually I go somewhere else as soon as I can or if the priest is willing and has time I’ll ask if I can see him after Mass. Needing to go to confession is uncomfortable, it's even frightening and painful at times but getting mad at the priest because he has to attend to duties is just selfish and petty.
  
  
  
  
• I noticed something odd about Khadafy’s death. The American commentators and Catholic bloggers who cried and moaned about Osama bin Ladin’s demise are silent this time and Khadafy died a far worse death.  A bullet to the head was a much easier way to go than the beating, and torture the monster of Libya got. Was the mourning over binLadin just anti Americanism, self-hatred or citizen-of-the-world platitudes? It's a curious thing.
  
  
  
• Catholic University is being sued because according to the really jerky guy who has no connection at all the Catholic U., yet is  pursuing the suit, it’s not accommodating enough for  its Muslim students.  We need a loser pays clause in tort law and we really need some sort of punishment/deterrent for people who bring up nuisance suits.

With love to all my nuns....

Like most Catholic school girls who admired their teachers I wanted to be a nun from age 8 to about 13. At 14ish I began to realize dimly, that I didn't really have  the right stuff  for the religious life and was meant to have a vocation in marriage and the world. God bless all the good sisters and all the young girls who love them.

Sr. Jeanne Marie, Sr. Immaculate Heart, Sr. Ricardo, Sr. Roddy, Sr. Librarian and Sr. Marcella, I love you, rest in peace.

Profession of two Domincan nuns

I saw this gorgeous video on the Godzdgogz site. I always dreamed of  showers of rose petals for my own wedding so it was especially delightful to see that the Domincans do this.

The Sung Gloria

At Mass we tried out the new translation of the Gloria with the bishop's permission. Father Eagle assured us that we'll get better as time goes on but I really thought the singing from the pews was no worse than usual. I'm going to try to practice this.

a funeral, an accident and the twists of fate

On the day of Catherine of Aragon's funeral King Henry fell from his horse and lay unconsious for two hours. He developed a painful ulcer on his leg that never quite healed for the rest of his life. Some historians say the accident changed him and made him mean and paranoid. I think Henry was pretty nasty long before that but the amount of physical torment he was in couldn't have been good for anyone's temprement.  Anne Boleyn, upon hearing about the king's accident was seized with a terrible panic and she miscarried a son and thus sealing her doom. Six months later Henry signed her death warrant. I've sometimes wondered if this wasn't a case of the windmills of God grinding slow but fine or if it was just one of the weird but true quirks of history.

Vir Dolorum

This unusual painting done in 1495, shows Our Lady remembering the Passion many years later.

Bishop Finn

Oh man, this is just so sad. Bishop Finn is in a lot of trouble.  I don't know if he is being unfairly treated or not but there is a lesson here for all superiors. When in doubt, let the cops sort it out, even if the abuse accusation seems ridiculous. Anything else just  attracts the wolves and plays right into the hands of the Enemy.  

Kramarik's Christ

I know not everyone likes her work but I think the painting style of of Akiane Kramarik is actually fascinating. Her portrait of Christ is one of the best modern ones I've ever seen and when was the last time you saw a modern depiction of a nun that was this tender and respectful?

This seems like a really bad idea

Someone in the Vatican wants  dispensed priests to have a function in parish life. First of all remember that whenever a news story starts off saying "the Vatican says...", that does not mean the pope says, nor does it mean that the Holy Father's right hand man says... This is Cardinal Dias probably speaking his own opinion and it seems like a bad idea. How can a priest who forsook his vows--- the biggest committment of all--- be trusted to be helpful in the parish? He might set himself up as a thorn in the parish priest's side especially if he returns to his old parish. That's totally unfair to the pastor in charge.

Red crown of martrydom

If you are easily shocked or sensitive don't click on the following link-- I mean it. This picture is disturbing and yet the photo makes me wish I could paint. It should be an icon. Eternal rest grant unto them oh Lord.

“May all Christians be found worthy of either the pure white crown of a holy life or the royal red crown of martyrdom.” – St. Cyprian. 

Beautiful

Random thoughts

• Mormonism is not Christianity.  Yes, the Mormon's up the road from me are very nice and friendly and I feel great sympathy for the little missionaries rolling by on their mountain bikes in all kinds of weather----I wish I could hug them, give them cake slices and talk them into going home and quitting the whole thing---- but they are not Christians. Sorry. You either believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost or you don't. When Mormons deny that they do not believe that Christ was the only begotten Son,  it's either because they are trying to recruit the gullible (cult behavior)  or because they don't realize what their own church fathers wrote concerning the conception of Our Lord and the orgins of God the Father.

• I'm wondering if student loans shouldn't be abolished unless the student is planning to major in something useful. No more 14th century French gay mime studies. My husband works 10 hours a day, six days a week. Why should his tax dollars be used for an utterly frivolous venture?

• I'm a librarian and once again the American Library Association is having its annual celebration of banned books. I'm unmoved. My sympathies are entirely with the parents who care what their kids read. What goes into your little kid's mind is forever. Don't ever be afraid to challenge your child's teacher. She and the principal may try to portray you as a slack jawed yokel  but stand your ground.  They are doing a job. You have a God-given vocation.
  A fourth grader doesn't need to read Push, a book that horrified me at 35, and a fifth grader doesn't need to read The Awakening  and beware and give the stink eye to any teacher who thinks it's a good idea for your 12 year old to be reading,  Lolita, period.
  
  
  
• So far, I've gotten my relative's rent reduced and paid it for this month. I'm still working on the cable. I won't pay for the current package but I can not drop the TV because that is my poor relative's only enjoyment and it is calming. I've spoken to social workers (they've been angels), a government nurse, got my relative a doctor's appointment, bought clothes, and household items, contacted a lawyer about getting gaurdianship and have asked the social workers to work on applications to several nursing homes.
  
  I've contacted housekeepers about getting my relative's apartment cleaned up and so far four people are willing to do it despite the stomach turning bed bug infestation. Still it all seems so damned slow. I'm terribly worried about my mother's health. The shock of seeing how our relative is living was huge and she hasn't has had any peace since. It's been pretty bad. Last week felt like we'd descended into hell. Yesterday Rocky got me out of the house and took me to a park. I spotted two warblers, breathed the scent of the river water and relaxed so much that I went to bed shortly after we got home.
  
  
  
• Christians are being killed in Egypt and nobody seems to care. All we hear from the White House is the sound of crickets. The activists around the world have fallen silent as the Arab Spring turns into a pure red slaughter just as anybody with a brain knew it would.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

De Profundis

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication:
If you, O Lord, mark iniquities,
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
I trust in the Lord;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the Lord,
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the Lord;
For with the Lord is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

Random thoughts and rattled nerves

• In the last few weeks I've come to admire pro-life workers even more than I ever did before. They risk enduring violent attacks, arrest, rough treatment while in jail, and verbal abuse every day they go out to protest or pray. But the worst thing, I've come to see must be the stabs in the back they get from their fellow Catholics.  I'm beginning to believe that a good chunk of the people in the chanceries and the pews would like to forget about abortion altogether. Oh they'll donate to the local Unwed Mother's Home and they'll show up for the Life Mass----maybe, but they are embarrassed by anything else.
  
  
  
• I read a couple of blog post decrying celebrity priests and I thought do you mean like Father Baker, Fr. Flanagan, Fr. Bessette, Fr. Casey, Archbishop Sheen or Father Peyton?  Not every priest is meant for parish life. God has different jobs for all of us. I don't have a dog in the Father Pavonne fight  and never paid much attention to him at all but I'm shocked at how many bloggers have turned against him. Did they hate him all along or are they just instinctively reacting like a wolf pack that has come across a wounded beast?
  
  
  
• The Pentagon says that military chaplains may perform same sex marriages. Of course nobody believes this is the end game. The next shoe to drop will be that chaplains will be ordered to do such weddings. In six months to a year some poor Catholic chaplain is going to be in trouble because he'll refuse to say a Nuptial Mass or give the Nuptial blessing without Mass to a homosexual copule. I hope I'm wrong. Betcha I'm not.
  
  
  
• One of my relatives is very ill and after my mother and I were  finally  able to visit-- barge in actually-- and see for ourselves what's really going on we discovered that this relative is in appalling living conditions. I've contacted  authorities and social workers and I'm working on a rescue plan but it makes me sick to think that my relative actually came to this state. I'll write more about it later but I haven't slept well since. I guess I must be suffering from a form of delayed shock but the urge to sit and wail or vomit is very strong. Christ in Heaven, oh sweet merciful Christ! I just can't believe what I saw this week. The only comfort I've been able to find is in the rosary and in this painting by James Tissot. I know that Jesus is right there with my relative in the middle of the awfulness. 

Death of the Virgin