Today we visited St. Ignatius in Chapel Point Maryland. It is the oldest continously Jesuit run parish in the United States. We prayed in the beautiful little church, walked in the cemetary and the pries't cemetary and then looked at the litte house that was once a stop on the underground railroad. It was founded in 1641, by Fr. Andrew White who must've been an amazingly brave man. We then stopped by St. Thomas Manor and the shrine to Our Lady, the Stations of the Cross walk and the St. Kateri statue.

Next we went to Chapel Point park and headed down the road to Our Lady of the Wayside Church in Chaptico for Vigil Mass. The pastor, Fr. Baer is an energetic young man who gave a fine homily and was a good confessor. The parishioners were friendly. Mass was glorious. After that we had a terrific meal in Mechanicsville.

what not to say to an infertile woman

Whenever someone says to me,"You're so lucky you dont'/can't have children.They are so expensive/tiring/demanding....etc," I give them a Stepford wife vauge smile and change the subject. Usually I fantasize about saying, "Hey just 'cause you're a lousy parent and you're kids are brats, don't assume I'd be just as bad."............. and then sometimes I think about spitting.

i'm so excited

I've been nominated for Best Batshit Crazy Catholic blog. Check out the story on the fabulous Crescant blog. Wheeeee!

one of the saddest stories i've ever read

I read a news story about the footprints left in floor a wooden floor by a Buddhist monk. He's been praying in that same spot for decades. How heartbreaking! This man's whole life has been dedicated to nothing.

oh for pete's sake, bring on the schism

That was my reaction after reading this post on the truly awesome Lair of the Catholic Cavemen blog. I was born after Vatican II so I'm pretty tired of hearing about it. Please don't tell me how great VatII was, vocations are down, Catholics now act just like pagans and a lot of our nuns look like... well, I won't get into that.

Quit telling me that this is the new springtime, that's like urinating on my daffodils and insisting that it's really rain. It's clear that a significant portion of Catholics are stuck in the 1970s and they won't give it up. Instead of making us all suffer along with their antics I say bring on the open schism and leave the rest of us in peace. Mentally, they've already schismed. They're already Roman Protestants at heart. Why not just be honest about it?

Nasty little people

A number of Catholic bloggers, including one who really shocks me, seem to be almost orgasmicly smug over Mel Gibson's impending divorce. It was kind of like a Twilight Zone episode where kindly old Mr. Jones turns out to be a really nasty little person.

St. Francis Xavier & St. Ignatius

We went to the vigil Mass at St. Francis last night. The church is the oldest in the original 13 colonies. It felt wonderful to worship in such an old place, where the Faith began in America. The Pastor, Fr. Mattingly, is a delightful man and so was the kindly deacon. I haven't felt that welcomed in a church in my own diocese. It makes me ponder, once again, what the heck is wrong with Northern Virginia Catholics.

We also visited St. Ignatius, the second Catholic church in the colonies.

i watched Archbishop Dolan's installation

It was disappointing.

Eternal Rest......

Carrie Tomko, of the Still Running Off at the Keyboard blog died. May she find peace.

St. Mary's Maryland.

To celebrate Easter Rocky and I went to several St. Mary's County shrines and churches. We started with the Mother of Light shrine in Clements, and visited the St. Clement's Island museum. Next we went to St. Joseph in Morganza. It's such a beautiful church I was amazed. We saw St. Cecilia's, Holy Angels, St. Mary's and the St. Mary Youth Shrine. Glorious. And at the end of the day we stopped by St. Francis Xavier, the oldest parish in the 13 original colonies. It sits on a spit of land jutting out into the water. An osprey soared low overhead. We saw turkey vultures on the ground and red wing blackbirds, a great egret and some kind of Thrush. If you're ever in Southern Maryland you have to take the Catholic road trip. The history of our faith in America begins right there.

i am astounded

God died for me. Purity came down from heaven. He saw the filth of my soul and wiped me clean with His own blood. In the garden of Gethsemane He suffered hematidrosis, He allowed the temple gaurds and the servants of the high priest to beat Him--- men dedicated to protecting the temple not realizing that the One who was greater than the temple was right there before them. He shed more blood when the Roman soldiers scourged Him. There are over 100 scourge marks shown on the Shroud of Turin. His head was crowned with a cap woven from thorns that led to horrifying neuraglia. His hair and bruised and swollen face must have been covered with blood. He bled in the streets of Jerusalem and finally on the cross. All this to save me.

Think of of it. God came down from heaven to suffer and die. And how do I return this wonderous sacrifice, this tremendous love? With laziness, with cowardice, with indifference. Pardon me Lord.

My Jesus, my Lord, my King. I trust in You this Spy Wenesday night and always.

Oh Mary, my Lady, my queen, let me stay with you at the foot of the cross.

i need a nap.........

The good news is Rocky is doing great. He'll start physical therapy and should be back at work in a week. Thank you to everyone who prayed for him.
I'm tired. Things at work have been miserable. I feel as flat as a badly cooked pancake or like the moon wishing for an eclipse so she can have a break. I really wish I could just stay home with Rocky this week.

Easter's coming. Get your butt to confession

Fr. Vic wants you, especially if you live in Brooklyn, Queens or Long Island.

Queen Athalaiah lives on

Queen Athalaiah was the daughter of Jezebel and like her infamous mother, she worshiped Baal. She is remembered in the bible as the queen who ruled Judea alone and who had her grandsons killed. In the name of power for herself she killed her male infant relatives. Interesting.

Anyone who tells you that the world would be a pink and candy coated place if only women ran things is either mentally dull or a feminist. Actually women are just as vicious, and can be crueler than the average guy could ever dram of being.

Women are capable of violence, and some of us, like Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale are evil bitches who will encourage others to condone or commit murder.

The Sisterhood has it's rules. First, separate the woman from the man. Then get the woman to hate her children. Teach her whine and rail against the day to day grind of taking care of a house and kids. Encourage her to see them and the Man as burdens holding her back. Get her to contracept and even kill.... The spirit of Athalaiah lives on. Instead of a crown her "daughters" wear a nice suit and a pleasant smile. Sometimes they wear judges robes, and in the case of the Rev., sometimes they dress up in vestments.

This is what you voted for.

The President of the United States curtseys/bows before the King of Saudi Arabia. "What is thy bidding, my master?"

Yo Tony Blair! Shut yer trap

and tell your wife to shut up and sit down too.

Rocky and his knee

The surgery went perfectly. Fairfax Hospital's ambulatory surgery department is top notch. Everyone was so lovely to us. Rocky is a very active man and the forced inactivity in making him a little restless. Hopefully the recovery of his poor knee will go smooth and easy as chocolate pie.

Newt!

Newt Gingrinch converted and I've noticed a lot of Catholic bloggers are being very pissy about it, even bratty little Rod Dreher, who loudly left the Church a few years ago and who really ought to mind his own business has commented. I wish I could ask these people who the hell they think they are. Jesus came to call sinners. He did not found a country club for nice people.

Mary of Magdala was once, according to Catholic Traditon the biggest tramp in Palestine. Jesus spoke to her and she became a saint. Saul of Taursus had Christians killed. Pelagia of Antioch was an actress who sold herself to rich men as a concubine and was known for her lewd stage performances. She heard a bishop preach and completely changed her life. The former scarlet woman retired to the desert and became a hermit. Bartolo Longo was a Satanic priest before he was converted. St. Thomas Becket was living a rich young man at Court's life before he became a saint. Matt Talbot was a falling down, nasty drunk, St. Augustine took at mistress at 17(!), Margaret of Cortona lived openly in sin with a man for years.

I don't like Newt, but unless he messes up and starts acting like, oh say the "devout" Kennedys all I have to give him a chance.

jealousy

I think most of what's wrong with America stems from plain old jealousy. We are like the Russian peasant who prayed not that he have a goat of his own but that his neighbor's goat should die. This whole two minute hate on the AIG executives is an example. Instead of worrying about what someone at AIG makes you ought to be upset about the national service bill that passed in the Senate. We're so busy hating on the accomplished, the smart and the people who did what was nessacary to get ahead that we're not even noticing what the hell is happening to our country.

arthritis

Rocky's right knee has hurt on and off for years. He just gutted it out until it felt better and life went on. Well, last Sunday, he could barley stand. I said "we're going to the hospital," and he said, "okay." Since he didn't pooh pooh me or downplay the pain I knew he must've felt terrible. The x-rays say arthritis. On top of that most of the cartilage in his knee is gone. When he stands and walk he has bone on bone contact. Some of the cartilage that is left has calcified and is like rocks wedged into his knee and he has a bone spur. On April 1, he has knee surgery. He'll never have a normal knee but with this surgery he should get years of use out of this knee before having a replacement somewhere down the road.

St. Alphonsus, patron of arthritis, pray for us.

some Christians are so heavenly minded ....

that they are of no earthly use to anybody.


I was reminded of this saying while reading comments on the WDTPRS blog. I suspect that most of Fr. Z's readers have never been poor and don't really know what they're talking about.

condoms, death and the maiden

To all of you Catholics who dared to criticize the pope because of the Church's stance on condoms please picture the following scenario :

Your daughter, your only child announces that she's in white heat lust and is going to have sex with the man she's involved with. He has full blown AIDS and a couple of sores you really don't want to hear about but it's okay because they're going to use protection. The condom, a thin sheath of latex, will protect her, right? Right????

the angel of the Lord declared unto Mary

A palate cleanser

I saw this charming video of a trip to St. Therese's convent on Gloria TV and this wonderful photo on New Liturgical Movement.

Notre Dame---again

I'm not at all upset by the decision to invite Barak Obama to be the graduation speaker at Notre Dame. Before you cast me into the outer darkness, let me explain.

Notre Dame is Catholic in Name Only and has been for a long time. It's like the Episcopalians. It looks good on the surface. You see chapels, and statues and priests and even the occasional habited nun wandering around but the heart is not there at all. All of the big old Catholic schools are like that. If you want your kid to stay Catholic sending him to Notre Dame, Georgetown or Boston College probably won't help. You'd be much better off trying Christendom, Franciscan, Belmont Abbey, Thomas Aquinas or Univ. of Dallas. Heck, the flowering of genuine Catholic faith migt find better ground at Baylor or (ugh!)Bob Jones.

Notre Dame is so far gone that if St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Theresa Benedicta were to suddenly appear and teach a class for a semester both the students and the faculty would complain that they were to "rigid" which we all know means "too Catholic."

What's the answer? Stop sending your kids to Notre Dame. Stop having conferences there. Stop giving speeches there. Stop sending kids there on college field trips. Just stop feeding the monster. We pew potatoes have to take a stand. We dull, dumb, unsexy, unsophisticated folks can change things if we want to. The president of Notre Dame doesn't give a rat's ass about your cards, letters, or op/eds. He will ONLY notice the financial bottom line. So, it's time to go completely Klingon on their asses.

Priests come from families

So let's pray for vocations and remember, there is no secret Vatican nursery. If you want plenty of these:
We need plenty of these:

Pope Benedict in Cameroon

I used to wear my hair like the First Lady of Cameroon back in high school. I miss the 80's, I really do.

The Pope's visit to Africa and the Western media

On the WDTPS blog, Father asks the question as to why the media is ignoring the Pope's trip to Africa. Well, I think I can answer that. One, becuase they hate Benedict. And that's okay. When the main stream media of America, lionizes a churchman, you can be sure that something is wrong. If they hate him, he must be following the road of Christ.

Second, because they don't give a genuine damn about Africans. And that's okay too in a round about way. When the West tries to fix Africa or black people anywhere it usually makes things worse, much worse. I ask for Africans and black Americans the same thing Frederick Douglas asked. Stop treating people of color like victims, children or as if our collective IQs are all somewhere around 64. Frederick says it better than I:


" Everybody has asked the question..., "What shall we do with the Negro?" I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are wormeaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! I am not for tying or fastening them on the tree in any way, except by nature's plan, and if they will not stay there, let them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! If you see him on his way to school, let him alone, don't disturb him! If you see him going to the dinner table at a hotel, let him go! If you see him going to the ballot- box, let him alone, don't disturb him! [Applause.] If you see him going into a work-shop, just let him alone,--your interference is doing him a positive injury."

Our Ladyof Africa, pray for us.

Beautiful photo of Papa in Africa

I was reading the American Papist blog and found this lovely, lovely shot.

Sr. Joseph

Tonight Rocky and I went to Queen of Apostles Church in Alexandria to see Sr. Jospeh Andrew of the Domican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eurcharist speak during the parish mission. She's fantastic, just a darling woman. While she talked the whole room was hushed.

so how's your Lent going?

I decided to only read religious works during Lent. So far I've been delighted with This is the Faith, by Fr.Rippey, The 33 Doctors of the Church, and now I'm reading Imitation of Mary by Thomas a Kempis and How Christ Said the First Mass by Fr. Meagher. Fr. Meagher mentions off hand that Jesus was a Nazarite. I hadn't heard that before. Some people claim that He was an Essene. Perhaps I'll ask Fr. Theoden or Fr. Gollum.

I saw on the Deacon's Bench blog, that Elizabeth Scalia, The Anchoress made a TV appearance. She wrote on her blog that she feared she was too fat but I think she looks great. She's very cozy and cuddly like a mama should look. And if you read her blog you already know that she's smart as all get out so I was interested in hearing what she had to say.

At Mass last night Fr. and I had a small mishap with the Host. He overestimated the distance between us and I found myself choking. Being me, as I walked back to my pew I wondered if this was a sign. Was the Lord displeased? Did I need to go to confession? I prayed and when I was calm I was able to discretely dislodge the Host from where It was stuck in my throat and swallowed. I felt a bit silly----some of the most offbeat things happen to me---, and relieved and very thankful. I've had my fill of passing out in public.

I wasn't expecting Connecticut

As you've all probably read by now, there was an attempted legislative attack on the Church in Connecticut.

Satan never sleeps. He's been fighting the Church from the begining. He tried to shake the Faith with the persecutions and martyrdom of the Apostles and then the early saints. He belched up the Arians and all the later heresies. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, the Taliban, the Lord's Resistance Army and the other little antichrists are his work.

I know all this but still this little piece of nastiness surprised me. The bill has been dropped but the war is not over. Not by a long shot. The slow, rough beast is still slouching towards Bethlehem. One day a remnant of Catholics will be forced into new catacombs. But in the end, Our Lord will come and the smaller, purer Church will triumph.

I'm reminded of Hellaire Belloc's famous quote:

... we laugh. But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond: and on these faces there is no smile.

This thing that can not live, yet never dies

I was watching college basketball cause it's March and saw Blake Griffin, a delightful boy who plays for Oklahoma. He was born in 1989. While reading that bit of trivia it dawned on me that he's old enough to be my son. Rocky and I could have a big boy like that........ I felt sick for a minute and then it passed. A few years ago I would've been horribly depressed for a week or more. That's progress I guess.

I have a baby shower to go next Thursday. I usually

avoid these things but the mother is a friend and it would

be awkward if I don't show.

Sr. Sandra's in a snit.

Seriously, when an order no longer functions to the glory of God it is useless. It should be reformed, supressed or allowed to go into that good night. Sr. Sandra M. Schneiders IHM, is upset because there is going to be an apostolic visit of American orders.

I don't know how many vocations the IHM nuns get these days but I'll bet it's nothing to write home about. A few years ago a nun who was dressed in a nice suit with tasteful jewelry came to my parish and spoke after Mass. She mentioned that vocations had dwindled and asked for donations. Rocky was inclined to reach into his wallet. I refused and was so adamant that he decided to leave well enough alone. A year later a little nun from the Philippines spoke at my parish and asked for help for her orphanage. She was wearing her habit and was delightful. We gave and so did many of the people at Mass. I support nuns who look like they've rejected the world the flesh and the devil, act like nuns, and would never advocate rudeness and childish behavior towareds visitors from the Vatican.

Sr. Sandra sounds like she wouldn't get on with nuns like these:

And I think I'm safe in guessing that she wouldn't even begin to understand nuns like this or this and certainly not this.

Let the apostolic visitors come. I'm sure they're smart people and they won't be able to miss who has vocations and who's drying up in sour feminist spite. Young ladies like the ones shown below aren't flocking to hang out with Sr. Sandra.

happy anniversary, dear

Like Anakin and Pademe, we got married 21 years ago without parents or most of our friends knowing anything about it. Unlike the Skywalkers, Rocky hasn't forced choked me lately and I haven't gotten mad at him for killing padawans.

things that make you go huh?

• Tom Brady, (the Patriots quarterback) married the bra and panty model, Giselle (eh, find your own pictures) in a Catholic church. What do you think will last longer, his career or the marriage? And do you think they had to sit through pre-Cana classes?

• Have you ever gone to church and found rocks in the holy water font during Lent. Where the heck did that come from?
  

• Isn't it odd that more people seem to be upset by the idea of Fr. Marciel having sinful, yet natural sex with a female than were bothered by the gay rumors?

• I've noticed that more and more elderly people at Mass leave right after Communion. They do it because they don't like being pushed and jostled after Mass. What happened to Catholics? Why are we rushing/fleeing from Mass like the legion of demons going after the pigs? Where did our manners go?
  
  
• Do you ever get the feeling that this economic crisis is somehow not completely real? The prez says we're all doomed but he's flying to Chi-town to have dinner. Mrs. Obama is redecorating the White House despite the fact that it was already done a few years ago and still looks fine. Supposedly we're all just half a step from selling apples on the street and prostituting our daughthers for food but the stores all look pretty full to me. People seem to be going about their business and the restaurants are full on Friday night. So what's up?
  
  
• Does it seem like anti-Catholicism is more open these days? On Friday I sat behind a loud mouthed dude on the bus who mocked Catholic dogma. Everybody on the bus had to hear him. His friend looked ashamed but didn't tell Mr. Loud Mouth to shut up. I've never run into this before. Yes, I've heard nasty little comments and jokes in private but never out in the open like this.
  
  
• How can anyone claim that the Church is anti woman? Our parishes are run by fierce women. The sacristan is usually female. The cantor is a woman. Half of the time the organist is female. The choir is mostly female. The eucharistic ministers are mostly female. The church secretary is female and she's a tougher gatekeeper than the three headed dog of Hades. Rocky once tried to make an appointment to go to confession. The secretary grilled him on why he wanted to talk to the priest. Finally he snapped (it takes a LOT to make Rocky mad) that he was a sinner and need to be absolved and unless she could do that herself she should write his name down in the Father's schedule. She grudgingly put him down on the schedule.
• Have you ever noticed that most professional Catholics---lay people who make their living off of books and speeches about their version of Catholicism are like the Protestant pop singers who weren't sexy or talented enough to make it in secular music?
  
  

Bishop Williamson again

The bishop has left Argentina and landed in England. The English press has not been kind but what else would one expect? There is some talk that Bishop Williamson is planning to give a conference/talk for traditionalist Catholics. I hope this is just a rumor but I'm starting to wonder if the bishop isn't on board with the reunion thing and is deliberately causing trouble.

Papa's looking good

Fr. Gollum reminds me of the pope. There is no physical resemblence but Fr. G. almost visibly shines with goodness. His eyes are the eyes of an innocent kid and he'll probably be like that in 50 years. The pope is 81 but his eyes look the same as when he was a fresh faced innocent minor seminarian. It's extraordinary really.

In the St. Alphonsus Ligouri's stations of the cross the saint talks about how the soul which was once beautiful becomes hideously disfigured by sin. On the other hand there are souls that despite everything keep on glowing bright and beautiful.

a blessed lent to you

I love Ash Wednesday. It's wonderful after Mass to suddenly realize who's Catholic, especially when it's a person who I never even suspected to be remotely Christian. I'm also interested in the reactions I get. I went to the 8 AM Mass at St. Matthews, (young Fr. Frodo gives an excellent homily and has a lovely singing voice) and then went to work.

A couple of co-workers launched into some mildly offensive Catholic jokes. I wasn't upset I just wondered if their lives were so wicked that the mere sight of ashes on my forehead was enough to turn them into min Bill Mahers.

please say a prayer

Please pray for my mother in law. Big Mama is going through a bout of lousy health right now and please prayer for blogger, Carrie Tomko. She's just been given devastating news. There have been many times when I've read Carrie's blog and went "Oh for God's sake, Carrie, how can you say such things!," but that doesn't matter now. A sister in Christ is suffering.


St. Benedict and St. Peregrine, be with them.

I went to a bar to see a married priest

This week Rocky and I went to the DC Theology on Tap night. It was held at James Hoban's Irish restaurant and the speaker was a married priest. I enjoyed my bangers and mash (a soft, very mild sausage with mashed potatoes made with beer) and my iced tea. Rocky had a burger and fries. The service was quick and efficient but management demanded a credit card before our meals arrived. I suspect they've been stiffed by large dinning groups before but I really didn't like having our card in the waitress's pocket all evening.

Fr. Scott Hurd seems like a very nice man and is an amusing speaker but the whole talk made me feel as if I'd rolled in kudzu--just a little bit uncomfortable. He was an Episcopalian priest (hence the wife and kids) and converted after a few years of pastoring a small church in Texas. It was not deemed necessary for him to attend a Catholic seminary after his Episcopalian training. There are a handful of married priests in the DC diocese and we may get a few more in coming years.

Fr. Scott's story of the long and winding road that led him to the Church is interesting and he is in a unique situation but I don't see it as an answer to the vocations crisis. A married priest can not give his full attention to the vocation, something that Fr. Scott was gracious enough to acknowledge. As St. Paul said, a married man must be concerned with the world and pleasing his wife. If he fails in this, there will be trouble. That trouble could spill over into parish life.

A large subclass of married priests is a can of worms that we don't need to open. I guarantee you that one day some married priest will get a divorce, fall in love with another woman and will demand the "right" to marry again. More likely than not a group of lay fools will rally behind him.

As I said before, Fr. Scott struck me as being a very nice gentleman and I'm not picking at him---God bless him and keep him, his wife, and the little ones too, but I find myself very, very wary.

the mouth that roared leads to a hand that is slapped

Archbishop Williamson's big mouth has led to Argentina ordering him out of the country. He had a right to say a foolish thing and everybody else has a right to react. I just hope he doesn't end up in the US or the Vatican.

sometimes you just want to open up a can of whup ass

God bless the lone priest in deepest darkest dreary San Francisco who spoke up about these blasphemous candles.

St. Bede's and Bruton Parish Church

Last week this time Rod and I were in Williamsburg. We went to St. Bede's for Mass and it's a puzzling place. When we first arrived I was struck by how odd it looks. They have a large lobby with a sofa and chairs and tables. It's tasteful but reminded me of the visitor center at the Mormon temple in Maryland. The sacristy, parish office, parochial vicar and pastor's offices are just off the main lobby. We walked around a bit and then went into the actual church. It's one of those church in the round designs from the '70s and the decor is very plain. White walls and no stained glass. They have a large crucifix that makes Jesus look like a short body builder and a disturbing statue of Mary and baby Jesus. For some reason Mary has a weirdly thick neck, huge hands and a honker of a nose and baby Jesus looks deformed. There must be a reason for that or maybe the artist came cheap.

The Blessed Sacrament is kept in a separate chapel. Few people visited while we were there and even fewer genuflected as they passed by.

Before Mass the cantor came out and made us all practice the alleluliah. Either she does this all the time or the singing was really off the week before. A couple of times Rocky asked me if I wanted to go. There's a Catholic church in Yorktown and if we really hurried we could've made it. I decided not to risk it so we stayed. I'm glad we did becuase the priest said a completely non-wonky Mass and gave a sterling homily. He seems like a good guy but it looks like he has a lot of work to do with taming his parish. There must have been about 40 eucharistic ministers. When they were standing around the priest all I could see was a glimpse of green.

St. Bede's gets a lot of tourists so no-one stares at strangers and nobody seemed freaked out by the sight of black people, which is always a plus. That and the brave young parochial vicar are the best things I can say about it. Next time we're in Williamsburg I think we'll go to the Catholic chapel at William and Mary Univeristy or to either of the churches in New Kent or Yorktown.

The next day Rod and I were in the historic area of Williamsburg and visited Bruton church. George Washington and Jefferson went to church there among other notables. It's a beautiful old church. The sad thing, and I do mean sad was that this Episcopalian church looked more Catholic than St. Bede's.

a baby is dead

You've probably read about the Florida so-called "botched" abortion story. An 18 year old went to the abortion abattoir to have her unborn baby killed. Instead she had a live birth and a worker at the clinic put the baby the trash and left her to die. The police are involved now. The doctor's license to kill has been revoked. The natural mother is suing the doctor and the clinic. I hope she doesn't get a dime.

When I read stories like this I'm not shocked anymore. Horrors occur in abortion clinics every day. That's the point. A baby is murdered horribly, a doctor makes money and the mother goes home and tries to forget the "mistake". What the hell happened to America? We are no better than the worshipers of Moloch or the Germans of WWII who knew doggone well what was happening to the Jews but shrugged their shoulders and muttered that there was nothing they could do and perhaps it was for the best anyway.

birthday weekend

For my birthday Rocky and I went to Williamsburg. We stayed in a lovely B&B in Charles City, VA. It's called Orange Hill and we liked it so much I'm gooing back next year. I am now the same age my father was when he passed away. That feels strange, first because I never thought I'd live this long. Probably becasue of the shock of my father's passing ( I was a shy sensitive girl before he died but after he died I was a shy, sensitive, horribly anxious and depressed girl) and probably because his oldest sister died in her 20s, his youngest sister almost died at 30 , his middle sister has been suffering for years and his niece died at 13.


There's a scene in the movie Camille where the hero shows her a painting of his mother and tells her that his parents have been married for 30 years. Camille sighs and says no-one will love her in 30 years because she couldn't live that long anyway. I felt that scene intensely.

I feel a new closeness to my father, an understanding. He was my dad of course but now I have a glimpse into what may have been on his mind that last year. We're both 42. Amazing. Simply amazing.


Eternal rest grant unto him, oh Lord, my God. Let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

sad

Amy Welborn's husband died. They were the parents of two very small boys.

Oh man thou knowest not the day, nor the hour..........

things i'm tired of hearing about

1. Fr. Marciel's sex life. Apparently he liked snails AND oysters. There's a fine line between commenting on news and thoroughly enjoying gossip. Some bloggers have clearly crossed it.
   
   
2. C.S. Lewis quotes in homiles. He wasn't Catholic.
   
   
3. Hurricaine Katrina. Right now thousand of Kentuckians are suffering in the cold and the MSM doesn' seem to give a hoot.
   
   

a vast messy family

My family reunion is going to be in July in Charleston this year. My people are a colorful lot. Some are brilliant, some aren't. Some are rich and others are just barely hanging on right now. One cousin and her husband were both laid off from their jobs. Please pray for them. Some are AME Zion, Baptist (several different varities) and some haven't been to church since the last family funeral. We have had a little more than our share of tragedy but there are a ton of funny family stories too. We are like a big net full of fish.

The Church is like that too. We have Sr. Joan Chisseter, we have that priest who jumps naked over campfires; in my diocese we had a priest who's hobby was exposing himself in parks. He's gone now, I don't know if he's even still Catholic but until his last escapade went public he was a priest in good standing. We had a priest in Virginia who had a wife and kids hidden one county over from his parish. He was apparently dipping into the parish money too. We have a bishop who is under Federal investigation, we've had bishops leave their posts in disgrace. We have bishops who smile benignly while dancing girls gyrate in gauze and leotards before the Blessed Sacrament. We have nuns who think it's more important to be social workers than adore the Lord, we have heretics in all but name teaching kids CCD. We have meddlesome busybodies who interfere with everything their priest tries to do.

On the otherhand we also have all the saints, in heaven, unknown on earth and in Purgatory.

The big net of the Church has fish like St. Joan of Arc and monsters like Gilles de Rais. The net is big enough to hold the whole world so I guess it's big enough to hold the SSPX and the Anglo Catholics too.

Happy Superbowl Sunday. I'm off to have an appletini.

that superbowl ad

A number of bloggers are upset because NBC rejected the pro-life Superbowl ad. I'm not. I've seen the ad and I honestly can't say that it impressed me. It uses the Beethoven argument:Don't abort that baby, he might grow up to become something great. Yes, your husband ran like a bandit, and yes you've had to dump your kid on your parents to raise but hey, he might grow up to be president. Um no. 99% of the babies born today won't be another Beethoven and they won't be president. They'll have an IQ of somewhere between 85 and 100 and be plain ole average if they're lucky.

How about don't abort that kid becuase he's a human being and thou shalt not murder an innocent. And while you're at it dear, do the second great thing you can do for your child after sparing his life; give him a chance to be happy and sane. Put him up for adoption.

love and marriage and the bright young things

On Dawn Eden's blog there's a discussion about love and marriage. As I read the comments I was inclined to wonder if any of these earnest youngsters have ever loved deeply or if any of them is married. Besides Holy Orders, marriage is one of the greatest adventures a human being could ever go on. You take two people with all their warts, quirks and sins and God willing, they become a functioning unit. It's amazing.

I've heard many people talk about how hard marriage is. I've never found it so, mainly because Rocky is a good guy. When he and I went to St. Ignatius and knelt before Fr. Werner (RIP) and heard him say the vows and we repeated them I knew this was forever.

When there is no other option you adapt, improvise and overcome obstacles on the road you're traveling. You realize that he's a big guy and expecting him to live with the dollhouse furniture you had when you were single is silly. So you buy a recliner and a big ugly sofa.

You learn that okay, so he leaves his socks everywhere-- he's not a selfish pig, he's just forgetful and you get over it. Pick the damn socks up, go on strike until he picks them up (warning: men can wait a long, long time) or spray a lot of air freshener until he gets the hint.

He learns that women need stuff. Your goose collection or that pink crystal chicken shaped candy dish is important to you so he lives with them. Besides the candy is good and it's kinda nice that it's in a dish instead of hidden in the sofa cushions. He not only puts up with your doll collection he goes down to the basement and builds you a doll case.

You learn that while your old lifestyle may've been fun and your family are what they are, the most important thing in the world after God is your husband and if those other things harm your marriage they have to be ruthlesslessly dealt with. And if you're a grown woman you do it.

He discovers much to his delight and amazement that he'd rather watch TV with you than go dirt bike racing every weekend with his single friends. You discover that you really never wanted to go to Paris and eat snails and fish eyes with Jeanne Claude. Meatloaf with your husband is far better. You both grow up like two trees that have wrapped around each other and are stronger together than you ever would've been apart.

The bright young things on Dawn Eden wonder if romantic love is even needed for a successful marriage. No, its not. And if you are a working class or poor girl who is lucky enough to have a choice between a good, kind man who loves you and has a job or a smokin' hot guy who's living the thug life you'd better run as fast as you can to the nice guy. Run!

I know a man who no longer feels passion for his difficult wife but stays because he made a promise. In hindsight they weren't suited to one another and should not have married in the first place. He's never going to look at his wife the way he used to but she's the mother of his kids, the queen of his house and the center of the pretty decent life he has. They are not Brad and Angie. The husband is no saint--yet but I think Sts. Monica, Rita, and Blessed Elizabeth LeSeur would understand him and are on his side. Not bad company at all.

But romantic love is not to be totally scorned as the kids in the Dawn Eden post seem to be doing. To feel like steel wool touched to a battery about your own dear spouse and have it be blessed by God is a lovely gift.

SSPX Bishop Williamson drops a turd in the punchbowl

The Holy Father has lifted the SSPX excommunications. He's held his hand out in loving compassion. Now the SSPX has to respond. One of the first things they have to do is make a decision: Do they want to remain sitting on a hill watching the battle or do they want to provide reinforcements? Part of that decision is figuring out what to do about Bishop Williamson.


Bishop Richard Williamson, who I swear does more to turn people off from the traditionalist movement than anybody I can think of, has done it again. He gave an interview for Swedish TV back in November and apparently denied that any Jews died in gas chambers during the Holocaust.

Well now. Bishop Williamson has a right to his bizarre opinions but let us remember that some opinions are like jock itch. You have may have it but nobody really wants to hear about it. This interview is just like the old high school prank of going to the prom and sneaking a turd into the punchbowl.

Bishop Williamson's opinions make all of the priests and laity of the SSPX look bad. I'm afraid that the media, which is how most people get their information will use Williamson's interview to paint an ugly picture of everyone who loves the TLM.

If Bishop Fellay and the other leaders of SSPX are serious about normalizing their status within the Church they need to suggest that Bishop Williamson get a new pet subject to talk about in public. Something safe like beekeeping. Or better yet, how about getting him to retire?



UPDATE
Well, it's not a retirement but Bishop Fellay has rebuked Bishop Williamson and somebody got Williamson to write an apology letter.

Dedicated to all those who fight the good fight

Hold your grandmother's bible to your breast

Gonna put it to the test

You wanted it to be blessed

And in your heart

You know it to be true

You know what you gotta do

They all depend on you

And you already know

Yet you already know

How this will end

There is no escape

From the slave catcher's songs

For all of the loved ones gone

Forever's not so long

And in your soul

They poked a million holes

But you never let them show

Come on its time to go

And you already know

Yet you already know

How this will end

Now you've seen His face

And you know that there's a place in the sun

For all that you've done

For you and your children

No longer shall you need

You always wanted to believe

Just ask and you'll receive

Beyond your wildest dreams

And you already know

Yet you already know

How this will end

You already know (You already know)

You already know (You already know)

You already knowHow this will end

How it Ends... by Devotchka

When Jesus Came to Birmingham

When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged Him on a tree,
They drove great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary;
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep,
For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.
When Jesus came to Birmingham, they simply passed Him by.
They would not hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die;
For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain,
They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain.
Still Jesus cried, 'Forgive them, for they know not what they do, '
And still it rained the winter rain that drenched Him through and through;
The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see,
And Jesus crouched against a wall, and cried for Calvary.

G. A. Studdert-Kennedy

the old town's gone crazy

The big boys at my firm decided at the last minute to give us all the day off for the ignaugural. Thank God! I was not looking forward to struggling to get to work on a train jammed full of tourists. I intend to spend the day in bed with a book. DC is very, very strange right now. I've never seen such wild adoration before for any president. Obama's posters are everywhere. I'm not just talking about the vendors selling shirts. There are Obama window displays in the better clothing and jewelry stores up and down Connecticut Ave to Georgetown. One of my favorite stores has a huge glass sculpture of Obama in the window. It's all too Dear Leaderish for my liking.

Inspectors can be fooled

The Vatican has released a report on American seminaries that says they are generally healthy. I would be happy about this if I didn't remember Sr. Veronica Marie. Years and years ago when I was in grade school we had a nun who wasn't like the rest. Her hems were shorter than the other nuns. Her veil showed more hair than all the others. She didn't wear her rosary on her belt either. In gym class she wore sweats and and a scowl. Then one day Sr. Veronica Marie showed up at school in her full habit. You know why? Because the Mother Superior of her order was making a visit. The whole time Mother Superior was there Sr. VM was in her habit and looked as pious as my nun dolls. The day after Mother Superior left to check on another school somewhere else Sr. Veronica Marie was back in her old clothes.

The last time I saw her she was a principal at a boy's school which was a good place for her as I'd always gotten the impression that she didn't like girls much. She'd stopped wearing the mini veil altogether and looked more like your cranky old feminist aunt than a nun. I'll never know what Mother Superior thought of her visit but I'm willing to bet that she probably looked at Sr. VM and thought 'Nope, nothing wrong here.'

dreher, french mass, doubt and spiritual weaklings

I was going to write something about Rod Dreher then I decided not to. There's nothing charitable or lovely I could say and so I'll attempt to be a domina and pass.

Instead, take a peek at this. It is so cold in this French cathedral that you can see the priest's breath when he spoke! And yet, people were there. They are SSPX but so what? If people rolling around and shrieking in tounges and dancing girls are welcome at our parishes I can't bring myself to pick on people who just want to worship the way their ancestors did.


There's a scene in Doubt where the nun tells the mother of the boy who is being molested what is going on. The mother says she knows her 12 year old is homosexual and that the boy's father is a brute so she's just grateful that the priest is a kind influence. Oh hell no. I can not imagine a black woman in the 50s having that reaction. If someone had said this to my granny she would've had a conversation with her menfolk and a "visit" would've been paid to the offenders house.

Rocky said that there were only three people at bible study last night. It was 25 degrees but he was disgusted. Christians have risked their lives to go Mass and still do in places like Saudi Arabia and these comfortable, well to do suburbanites couldn't even go to a heated room to drink coffee and discuss the gospel among other Catholics.. because it's cold outside.

I'm feeling grumpy this morning

I was reading (for the absolutely last time) a blog written by a guy who lives up North somewhere. He was bitching about the old people in his parish who frowned at his loud offspring. He stated that his kids are the future (oh that's deep-- somebody call Whitney Houston) and will replace these annoying old folks when they die. Maybe. But probably not. If his kids turn out like the average young Catholic they'll bug out as soon as they turn 18 and head to college. I've known kids who's parents didn't make them go to Mass regularly once they got confirmed. They went to gymnastics, or ball practice or the swim team instead. The kids may come back years later or not.

Don't be so smug Mr. Yankee. One day, if you're lucky you will get old and as you hobble to Mass on aching feet and swollen ankles don't be shocked if the bright young things in the pews push past you to get to their seat, frown at you becuase you don't realize that you're going deaf and are talking too loud, nearly run you over in the parking lot, and aren't shy about wishing that you'd shut up and die already.

Jesus said to let the kids come visit Him. He did not say disrepect the elderly. That old coot in the pew behind you is a child of God too.

calm down and thank God

Everybody from the ninnies on the nightly news to your annoying neighbor Gladys needs to calm the heck down. We are not in Great Depression II. Don't be a Peggy Noonan. This morning when you went to take your bath or shower did you go to your bathroom or did you make your way to the river? Did you flush a toilet today or do you need to empty your chamber pot tonight? Do you have a refrigerator or does your kid have to go the snow covered root cellar? Do you have a place to live? I'm not asking if it's an overpriced mini mansion that cost far more than it's worth. Do you have a safe, clean place to live or is the tribe next door a constant threat?

When your daughter gets her first period are you planning on selling her off to the highest bidder? When you get sick do you go to a doctor or does your husband kill a goat as payment to the local witch doctor? If you miscarry will your husband comfort you or will he kill you? Did your 10 year son go to football practice after school or is he working the evening shift at the rug factory? Is your teenager lying on the couch eating Oreos or is she following (not too closely!) behind an elephant to gather its manure to sell as fuel in the market?

We are the luckiest most spoiled, whiny people in the world. We, and England have obese poor people. Our rich and middle class have so much leisure time that they make up false illnesses for themselves and their children. We can afford to take care of the foolish, selfish and lazy with welfare payments. We give women apartments if they get pregnant out of wedlock.

Yes, things are going to be painful for a while and yes, people have lost jobs and houses but damn, we all need a reality check.

I don't get it

I was reading a traditionalist minded blog today and was perplexed at the amount of Jew hatred the blogger seemed to express. This particular blogger is a young man with a family and boy do I feel sorry for his wife. His attitude was not unique. I've been to two Catholic forums and both had ugly things to say about Jews in America and Israelis. What's up with this? How do these Catholics go to Mass and face Jesus, who chose to be a Jewish man and pray to his dear mother, a Jewish woman and live with themselves?

random, raggedy New Year's thoughts

• Whenever someone writes or talks about their "faith journey," my immediate mental reaction is "Oh man, who farted?"
  
  
• If Henry Ford hadn't been such a mean old bastard to his employees we might not have the UAW today.
  
  
• Whenever someone bemoans the fact that modern Catholics don't evangelize I want to ask, "Dude, evangelize into what?" The average American Catholic is a Romanized Protestant. He doesn't even know his Faith and has been taught that every body's faith journey (see above) leads to God and that the church was wrong about darn near everything until 1962.
  
  He spends his time working on social justice issues (making an ass-nuisance of himself at the local military base, or handing out turkeys that he didn't buy at the local shelter once a year, or smiling inanely when the gay lector kisses his boyfriend in front of the church) instead of adoration because that's old fashioned. He laughs at his relatives who still wear a scapular and has two or more Obama stickers on his car. If you asked him to pray the rosary with you he'd probably decline because it takes too long. How the heck is this guy supposed to evangelize?
  
  
• I think the reason why the people in so many Northern Virginia parishes are rude is because they're mostly government workers who just moved here and don't have any manners.
  
  
  
• The saddest thing about this photo is that apparently not one New Yorker walked up to the illiterate savage and took the sign away.
  
  
• Muslim immigration ought to be cut or at least severely cut down and while we're at it; legal immigration from countries that have nothing in common with ours should be cut out. A few years ago the Episcopalians brought a huge number of Somali refugees to my neighborhood. It was horrible. These poor people had never seen a toilet or sink or stove before.
  
  The fire department had to come once and sometimes twice a week because of all the fires. It was dangerous and unpleasant. Standing around in your nightclothes at 2 in the morning because the Somali lady next door tried to cook her goat the way she was used to at home was not fun. Plus beating one's wife or cutting up a daughter's clitoris and leering at American women going to the pool are not acceptable here. My neighbors raised a huge stink and the Somalis vanished. I have no idea where they were resettled but I don't think the Episcopalians will pull this trick again here.
  
  
• Isn't it odd how everybody wants to be a Eucharistic minister but nobody is around to help Fr. carry the donated canned goods to the church pantry?
  
  
• I wish Caroline Kennedy took more after her Bouvier blood than the Kennedy side.
  
  
  
• I have a feeling that on January 21st, the media will start writing stories claiming that everything is great and that Americans are just being whiny, racists if they don't agree.

• The meanest thing this country ever did to black people after the Jim Crow laws was the War on Poverty. Easy welfare unmanned the black man, turned him into a stud and forced the black woman into being superwoman---most black mothers have no husband and are told by our toxic culture and the country that sends the welfare check/snare-- that they don't need one anyway.

Mary, the Mother of God

Rocky had to go into work early today so we went to the 5PM vigil Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral in DC. It's our old parish. The cathedral was beautiful. If you're in DC this week you should stop by. Mnsgr. Jameson was in fine spirits and came over to wish us a happy new year. Rocky got to usher and it was nice seeing old friends. Fr. Knestout, the brother of Bishop Knestout celebrated the Mass. He added a few things that are not in the missal and he felt the need to stand in the middle of the sanctuary and deliver his homily like a performer in the middle of a stage. The saving grace was that it was a good, homily. I guess he couldn't help the showmanship. Maybe that's what his generation of seminarians was taught and it's ingrained in him.

The music was very good-- we had the head organist and he can really make that old organ strut, but we couldn't figure out why the heavily pregnant and visibly drawn and tired cantor had to walk across the altar to sing the psalms and then back to her place to sing the rest of the music for Mass. The liturgist in charge of this mass should've given the poor lady a break.

We went home, had a glass of Asti and went to bed. Happy New Year.

This lovely image came from the 50 Days After blog.

Bless all the dear priests, in Thy tender care....

God, for the sake of Thy Holy Son's nativity, bless Pope Benedict. Keep him safe and keep him strong. Bless Your bishops and cardinals, especially the bad ones that they might realize and repent their errors.

Bless, Fr. Theoden. We are grateful for such a saintly pastor! Bless Fr. Gollum, Fr. Aragorn, mighty Fr. Jaffe, Fr. Hurley, Fr. Azuka, Fr. Vanderwoude, Fr. Rippy, gentle Fr. Africanus, Fr. Legolas, Fr. Bombadil in North Carolina, Mnsgr. Jameson, and Fr. Stonewall, that fierce young priest in Woodbridge. Bless the intense priest at St. Louis and all the priests and brothers at the Franciscan monasteries in DC and Maryland. Bless the blogging priests: Fr. Cranky, Fr. Z, jolly Fr. Joe and doughty Fr. Mildew in England, and delightful Fr. Sibley.

Please recover the priests who find themselves discouraged or tempted to stray from their vocation. Please recover the priests who've completely lost it and are living in sin and scandal. Bless Your sick priests, the old worn out priests, the hopeful and brave young priests and the dying priests, and make them all images of Your Son.
Amen.

a nativity question

St. Joseph surely had a mess of cousins, if not siblings so why were he and Mary going from inn to inn alone on the night of Jesus' birth? Tribe is everything in the Middle East, some relative in Bethlehem would've been honor bound to take them in. It seems that what they wanted was privacy that woud've been impossible with kinfolks and certainly not in an open courtyard at an inn. Could it be that the birth of Our Lord was so miraculous that strangers or relatives couldn't have been trusted to keep their mouths shut?

Maybe the visions from The Mystical City of God and The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary were correct, afterall?

merry christmas

We were just too tired to do the midnight Mass this year, so we went to Christmas Day Mass at 8 AM. It was lovely, peaceful and not crowded. Fr. Theoden and Fr. Gollum were exhausted but happy. The tree was beautifully decorated and there were masses of poinsettas.

I was a little sorry to see how bummy so many of the parishioners looked. Strange, how folks will get dressed up to go to a club and have a hook up with some stranger but show up in dirty sweats to see the King of Kings.

One of the gifts I got for Rocky was the Pope's Cologne. It smells fantastic! Rocky likes it and I love it on him. It's clean and grown up, like a sophisticated man ought to smell.

Mass at Our Lady of the Angels

We couldn't make it to our parish for the vigil Mass and we needed to visit Rocky's parents, Big Mama and Big Daddy (they are doing poorly), so we went to a parish near them, Our Lady of the Angels. The music was.... bad, really bad. I could see that the cantor and organist were doing the best that they could so I'll leave it at that. I listened for a few seconds and then got out my earplugs.

I could hear the priest but the music was mercifully muted. They had several altar boys and the priest said a straight, no-nonsense Mass. Rocky and I were both really relieved.

I hope never to live in Prince William County -- except for the rural end it's not a nice place anymore, but if I had to do it, I guess we could do a lot worse than to belong to Our Lady of the Angels.

Here's another

photo from

the Life archives.

This sister was

studying in the

New York Public

Library in 1944.

For a librarian

like me, this

photo is a real

delight.

Be Still My Soul

We are having a baby boom at work. I should be over this but today it felt like I was being smacked in the face with something dangerously close to bitterness. I am glad for my co-workers. I'm even smart enough to realize that my old enemy "advanced maternal age" has probably bested me but damnit... damnit... damnit.

Oh I'm clinging to the hymn, "Be Still My Soul," today.

Pray for Martha Samuel

Here in America Christians are mocked on a regular basis. In hell mouths like Egypt, they get kidnapped, raped and tortured. When President Bush said that Islam is a religion of peace he only, (I think) made that statement in order to calm Americans and reassure Muslims in the US that a can of whoop ass was not going to be opened up on them. But Islam is not a religion of peace, never was, never can be. It's interesting and colorful in a horrifying sort of way but only in small numbers. When it takes over hell comes with it.

Please pray for this poor woman, trapped in Egypt. And remember, if such foul things are happening in "modern," "moderate," Egypt, our "ally" then imagine what life is like for Christian women in places like Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.

one special ornanment

In 1967, my mother bought the most beautiful ornament in the world from Hechinger's Hardware store in DC. It was Polish and the pink and white, yest still silvery mercury glass was so thin and fine that later when I was old enough to pay attention to such things, I could almost see through it. I still have the famous Baby Ornament as the family calls it and it sits at the very top of my tree every year. I'd post a photo but by the time I actually took the photo and got it downloaded it would be Lent so you'll have to trust my description.

Merry Christmas!

The seminarians

The new crop of seminarians are pretty orthodox but they're still a bit young and well, we're just gonna have to wait years for them to be old enough to drive, much less to say Mass.

(Actually, it's a photo of students at the a minor seminary. Not sure about the year. I found it on the fabulous Crescent blog. )

Grrrr

Our cable and internet on the desktop as been out for four days. No football, no Survivorman, no Bear Gyrlls, no How It's Made, no Priests concert on PBS. Thank goodness our laptop isn't with Comcast.

A spider, (I think) bit me on the leg and it puffed up like something out of a horror movie. My calf looked deformed from the side. My doctor told me to use Benadryl and hydrocortisone cream and thank God, the swelling has gone down. The inflamed skin is still warm but it's not hot anymore and the area is the color of rare hamburger. I was scratching like a chigger bit hound yesterday but now the urge to scratch is less so.

And to top off the annoying week I actually wished a Jewish attorney merry Christmas today (I never realized he was Jewish but there's a faux pas made with a person who could hurt me later if he decided to hold it against me.)

And I still haven't done any of my baking.......

And the Word was made flesh

and pitched His tent among us.



Everytime I say these words I get such a thrill. It's almost too much to fathom. Imagine, God, almighty, infinite Lord, comes down to live with us, His ungrateful creatures. He comes, not to Rome but to crappy little Bethlehem. He lives in Nazareth for 30 years. He works as a carpenter-- no soft white hands for Him. He spends three years preaching and is rejected by the priests and pharisees, the very ones who should have recognized Him first. He is crucified, dies and rises again for love of us. The wood of the cross and the wood of His cradle are related.

And the Word was made flesh and pitched His tent among us. What else can I say but "thank you, Lord," and that with tears in my eyes.

For your listening pleasure.

a question for the immigration lobby

One thing that I keep hearing over and over again is that we Catholic are supposed to welcome illegal aliens becuase they are such devout Catholics and will help the Church in America. Okay....... since it's often priests and nuns who deliver these lectures I've remained silent. But this week Playboy magazine released the December issue in Mexico. It is blasphemous and insults the Blessed Virgin. Heard any news stories about massive protests? Has Playboy been forced to recall the issues? Has Hugh Hefner left his crypt to publicly apologize? Have Mexican men cancelled their subscriptions in massive numbers? Nope. So, come again with another illegal immigration excuse becuase the devout Catholic one has worn way thin.

Beautiful- both sides of the confessional

These are from Life magazine. It was 1953 in the Belgian Congo. Tonight a young African priest heard my confession. His habit looked very much like the one in this photo.

let all mortal flesh keep silent....

We went to confession and adoration tonight at Queen of Apostles in Alexandria. They have two confessors and vespers are said each Thursday. It was lovely to sit with Jesus for an hour or so.

What indescribable love and charity! Jesus remains with us under the guise of bread. And He, the King of Kings waits for US to come to Him.

Our end of the Arlington diocese is heavily Hispanic so I expect tommorow, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe to be very busy for all the parishes. I hope the priests are getting plenty of rest tonight.

Since it's been such a Marian week. I've been thinking about Our Lady's apparitions, particularly the one in Rwanda. I couldn't help but compare the behavior and fates of the Rwandan seers to that of the alleged seers of Medjugorje. One girl, Alphonsine, became a cloistered nun, another, Anthalie, lives a very humble life in Kibeho, she has dedicated herself to prayer and good works and has vowed to never leave until Mary says so. Four were killed during the slaughter. Quite a bit to meditate on.

passing on the Faith

Recently a priest lamented on his blog that parents don't take religious education seriously and don't support the DRE. My first thought was well, of course not. The parents and the kids know that what they're being taught is crap but they have to sit through the puppets and skits and lectures from a bitter old soul who oftentimes isn't even very orthodox in order for the kid to recieve the sacraments. Is it any wonder that many Catholics stop even trying to learn as soon as they are confirmed?

My husband attends a bible study at our old parish with a number of cradle Catholics. They've been through years of Catholic education and don't know as much as Rocky does and he's a convert.

I have no idea of how to do it, but there must be a better way to teach the Faith. St. Frances Cabrini and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton didn't have Power Point. St. Thomas Aquinas didn't use puppets or felt banners. What did they do that we can't do now?

I love you Baby Jesus!

"The more you honor Me, the more I will bless you".

A few months ago Rocky bought me an Infant of Prague statue. That's not him, pictured above but is a marvelous example of some devoted woman's home sewing of the vestments. Mine is about 12 inches tall and sits on top of my bookcase in our bedroom. He makes me smile when I look at him. Terry at Abbey Roads has a terrific post on the Infant and this site has a marvelous page on him.

Touchdown

Do they do the touchdown signal during the Our Father at your parish? Unless you're a referee on official business it's pretty dumb looking isn't it? Here's one priest who's sick of seeing the folks in the pews make fools of themselves.

Christmas shopping

I wanted to help out monasteries this year and it's been so much fun looking at web sites and blogs of various orders. I'm getting cookies from Dominican nuns in New Jersey and handmade lotion from Norwegian nuns, and Our Lady of Guadalupe tea from Canada. Rocky was very impressed by the Laser monks so we'll probably be buying from them too.

Monastery Greetings

Laser Monks

Holy Orders

Saintly Soaps (not a monastery but a lovely Catholic homeschooling mom who's running a delightful business)

willfulness

When I was a child I hated spinach and most other green vegtables. I was also quite anemic so my mother made sure there was some stewed veggie on my plate at every dinner. I tried to avoid the spinach, or to toss it in the trash when she wasn't looking but that never worked. I'd have to sit at the table until everything on my plate was consumed including the rapidly cooling spinach, cabbage or brussel sprouts. I was hard headed and could stay at that table for a loooong time.

Today I went to St. Matthew's Cathedral for the noon Mass and was reminded of those days. The visiting Jesuit priest seemed absolutely determined to get his personality across. He seemed to refuse to just do and say what was in the missal, he had to add his own little comments and say his own dismissal instead of what the Church provides. It was the same way with the visiting priest from yesterday. They just would not say the Mass any other way but their way. I wonder if they even realized it.

what I'm reading & hearing

Last year I tried to use the Little Office of the Virgin Mary and just didn't get the routine down. Today I visited the Catholic Information Center bookstore in DC and bought a copy of The Divine Office for Dodos by Madeline Nugent. I'm going to try to learn to do the simplified version of the Liturgy of the Hours. I'll be buying the one volume breviary, not the big ole 4 volume one.

I also bought a Latin pronunciation CD by Marion Smedberg and spent some time in adoration in the chapel. Oh and I'm listenng to the Priests CD. It's gorgeous. These aren't just three Irish priests who sing a bit, they have stunning, professionally trained voices. If you only buy one CD this Christmas, this is the one. Plus, they are using the money to help out their parishes.

This weekend I finished Our Lady of Kibeho, a touching book about the only approved Marian apparition in Africa.