St. Mary's of Hagerstown and the Sacred Made Real

This weekend Rocky took me for a weekend getaway to Hagerstown, Maryland. It's very close to the Pennsylvania state line and and Antitem battlefield. For Mass we went to St. Mary's. It's not the prettiest church but the minute we walked in I knew it was a good one. There was long line at the confessional and most of the people in it were young. They have rosaries in the pews for people who want to pray. The church was packed and communion was recieved kneeling at the communion rail. We met nice people and it looks like they take the worship of God seriously.

On Sunday we went to DC and saw the Sacred Made Real exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. It's a collection of the most magnificent Spanish religious sculpture and painting I've ever seen. It was very hard not to take out my rosary and pray. The above painting is the Immaculate Conception by Diego Valasquez and we got to study it up close. The photograph does not do it justice.

My king

My King left his blood on the dusty streets of Jerusalem. He carried a cross instead of a scepter. He wore a crown of pain and thorns instead of gold and diamonds. My King......My King.

Fascinating women bloggers

Hilary Margaret White at Orwell's Picnic. She's certainly not mealey mouthed and I don't think she'd like me but the hard nosed, old fashioned English way she puts things is interesting. I'm either horrified or amused when I visit her blog.



Elena at Tea at Triannon. What lovely, gentle blog. She reminds me of a Northern Melanie Wilkes.



The Anchoress. She gets on my nerves at times but Mrs. Scalia can really write and it's worth it to read her every day.



Cheeky Pink Girl. Honest, tough, never boring.

I love you

Ecce Homo

I have given my body to the strikers.... Isaiah 50, verse 6

Sculpture by Gregorio Fernandez.

The Dead Christ by Gregorio Fernandez

This statue is currently at the National Gallery of Art in DC. I'm going to go see it as soon as I can.

the girl at the gas station

Years ago Rocky and I were on a road trip and stopped somewhere for gas. While Rocky was busy with the car I glanced at the map and outside. I saw two women talking to a man. He looked like a trucker. They came to some kind of agreement and the smiling man walked towards the back of the station with the younger woman who could've been anywhere between 15 and her early 20s. I got out and went in the gas station to get snacks and use the restroom because when Rocky stops the car you'd better go while you can. When Rocky and I met back at the car and got ready to go I noticed that the man and the younger woman were back. He was still smiling. She wasn't. He spoke again with the older woman and handed her something. About 20 miles down the road I realized what the heck I'd seen.

"I think I saw a lot lizzard at that gas station."
Rocky asked me why I thought that. I described the scene. "Yeah, that was a lot lizzard," he agreed. A lot lizzard, if you don't know is a prostitute who works the gas stations and truck stops. It's a pitiful, dangerous way to live and that young woman didn't look anything like Julia Roberts or Dolly Parton.

Today, I read about Transport for Christ, an Evangelical group has been going out to the truck stops since 1951, to bring the gospel and suddenly remembered the girl at the gas station. I hope she made it out of there.

St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us.

Rocky and I decided to take a drive in the country and went down Route 5 through Southern Maryland. We visited St. John Regis. The parish has been which has been around since 1640. The current building went up in 1898.

It's one of the prettiest little Southern Maryland churches I've ever seen. They haven't wreckovated and the Blesed Sacrament is right in front. They have two very handsome Marian shrines in the cemetary. Afterwards we drove to Leonardtown and ate at a superb French restaurant, After that we drove to Piney Point to see the lighthouse and park and then to St. George Island to watched birds.

St. George is a beautiful little spot and I've never had the experience of being on land but below the water before.

Something to ponder

St. Faustina once had a vision in which the Lord told her she was due one day in Purgatory. She was horrified and ashamed and offered to go immediately. The Lord asked her if she'd rather live a longer life and spread His message of mercy and accept whatever earthly suffering came for the sake of souls. She accepted.

It dawned on me after reading this section of her diary that if a pious little Polish farm girl who was worthy of visions still was going to Purgatory for one day then I, and the rest of us of are in a whole lot of trouble.

Big fish in a wee pond

Whenever the Catholic blogs wars get too nasty I remember that the big boys of Cathblogdom are big fish in a teeny tiny primordial dwarfish world. The average American Catholic has never heard of Amy Wellborn, Fr. Z.,the SSPX, the FSSP, Medjugorje, Mark Shea, Fr. Longnecker, or unless they are going through the misery of mariage prep, Christopher West. None of us is as important as we think we are.

where do these people come from?

After Sunday vigil Mass I watched a little boy crawl on the floor. Later he amused himself by running laps around the church. The look on some of the faces of the adults who watched him would've curdled milk. His mother said not a word to him and appeared to be completely at peace with his behavior. She reminded me of a young father who once asked with apparent sincerity, how the people who couldn't stand his noisy kids at Mass would stand being in Purgatory. Where do these people come from?

What's going on at most Catholic Colleges?

According to a new study girls at Catholic colleges are more promiscuous than girls at secular schools. This is shameful.

22 years ago

22 years ago on March 1, Rocky and I got married. It' been a heck of a ride. I couldn't have asked for more.

What is we just said, "Hush up and deal with it?"

There are some people who are objecting to the new and long overdue translation of the Mass in English. I don't get what their malfunction is. The changes are minor. If visible and invisible as opposed to seen and unseen unhinges you then YOU have a problem not the church. Besides, the Novus Ordo has changed over the years anyway. Tinkering and a myriad of options are built into the system so to speak. The people who were delighted when the Tridentine Mass was wrongly taken away had no problem with change then, so what's the problem now?

Some parishes, including the one I went to as a child, have "praise dancers." Most do not. On weekdays you can have a homily or not. At all times you can have the sign of peace or not. I confess that I'm always happy when the grip and grin sign is skipped. You can have the Confietor or not. You can have a beautiful, reverent Mass like the one on EWTN or my parish or you can have something so wild that band has to bring extra amplifiers and the ushers have to bring blankets and pillows for the ladies (have you noticed that's it's usually women who go in for this crap?), who get "slain in the spirit". The theologians say that both are valid. The NO is like a buffet and the menu can change.

When I was a child people shouted out their petitions for the prayers of the faithful. Now that's done by lectors or altar servers. When I was a child nobody held hands during the Our Father, now depending on your parish, people do. When I was a child we did not have altar girls. Now we do and woe to the person, including the poor priest, who objects to the altar girl's flirting with the boys that are left, flipping their hair or giggling all through Mass.

When I was a child it was expected that the priest would give his homily and get on with Mass. Now, it's not unheard of and apparently okay when priests use props to help with the homily. I read about a priest who brings a puppet with him and he's a big hit with his parishioners. I once knew a priest who cursed from the ambo to get our attention. His homiles were dramatic and fascinating and his occasional use of "damn" and "damnit" was considered hip and if the cardinal had a problem with it, he never said anything publicly.

There is a priest in Brazil whose Masses are like rock concerts and he packs 'em in every Sunday. This priest was praised by John. L. Allen and some folks hope his style of Masses are the future of the Church. I hope not. No matter what the liturgy committee folks at your parish say, the Novus Ordo was designed to move with the local zeitgeist. It does not stand pristine and untouched by the vagaries of fashion and it was never meant to. The people who are getting all pissy about the new improved translation need to grow up. It is not 1972 anymore. Thank God.

What got into St. Thomas More?

Rocky and I were running late and couldn't make it to our parish so we went to the Cathedral of St. Thomas More. Mass was ...nice. Fr. Rippy has really done a fine job.

Rosary Beads USA

I was looking for a new rosary and came across this lady's remarkably beautiful work on the always interesting Man With a Black Hat blog. Mary, the rosary maker is quite talented and I placed an order. I can't wait until it comes in the mail.

Padre Pio used to say, "Bring me my weapon! Bring me my rosary!" In these increasingly fantastical, reality rejecting times

we need to use the weapon against darkness that our Lady gave us. And if you can find one that is gorgeous and well made, all the better.

Carbon fast for Lent?

A priest in England wrote that Catholics need to get out of our churches and evangelize. I thought, yes, Father, but most of us barely know our faith and certainly can't articulate it to anyone else. Instead of sound teaching on saving our souls we get pap like this from our bishops. We asked for bread and got a stone.

Must Jesus bear the cross alone?

The painting is by William Adolph Bourgerou, one of my favorite painters. It's called Compassion but I always think of the old hymn when I see it.

Return from Calvary by Herbert Schmaltz

A couple years ago, Rocky and I were on vacation in Pennsylvania and we stayed at a bed and breakfast that had this huge oil painting on the living room wall. I fell in love with it and took note of the name and painter. One of these days I'm buying a copy.
It shows an exhausted Mary, Sts. John, and Mary Magdalene and the other holy women at dusk after the crucifixion. They have buried Christ and must stop all labor because of the sabbath but nothing can stop their grief. The painter hints at their hopes with the use of light and darkness. Darkness is covering the land but it lifts where Mary stands and just over the three crosses in the background.

Camelot is dead

Patrick Kennedy is not going to run for re-election in Rhode Island. The guys at Creative Minority Report are celebrating.

Mama, what's a neocath?

I've seen the term tossed around but it's kind of like one of those inside baseball things. We are all supposed to know so the person using the term never explains what it is.

King of Kings -- the temptation, the betrayal and Last Supper

Cecil B. DeMille does something odd here. He puts the Temptation, not in the dessert but in the Temple and his version of Palm Sunday is different from the Gospel account. Then he gets to the Last Supper which is beautifully shot. Judas, having betrayed Jesus can't bring himself to eat and drink with the rest of the disciples.

Thank you, St. Jude for prayes answered

There is a couple who wanted to adopt their foster child. Certain folks in the foster system wanted to send the child back to the natural mother, who is apparently "getting her life together". The case dragged on for years but the judge ruled in the foster parent's favor.

Whenever people say "I don't know why So-in-So did a foreign adoption. There are plenty of kids available in foster care," I just sigh. Just because a child is in foster care doesn't mean they are free for adoption. There is a parent or a relative out there who for whatever reason won't let go and the kid can languish from foster home to foster home to group home until they turn 18. And then there's the other thing. Not all foster parents are nice people. Some treat the kids like crap. Adopting an older child from foster care means that you run the risk of unknowingly taking on a child who is severely damgaged. Not everyone has the strength or financial resources to handle that.

When the guy in accounting or the woman from your church choir does a foreign infant adoption give them a break before trotting out the old,"plenty of kids right here," line.

RIP Captain Phil

Captain Phil of the Cornelia Marie died. If you watch Deadliest Catch you know that he was one heck of a character.

No more football---

My Colts lost, and now I have no more football. What shall I do? Oh wait! There's the draft and the NFL combine to look forward to.

Well, here's your problem, Father.

I'm late to the party on this story and talking about our blizzard would be a lot more fun but a sad story is taking place in my diocese. An ex nun, married to an ex priest spoke to the local rag newspaper on women's ordination : she's for it. Her priest asked her to resign from her position as music director. The parish is in upheaval. A number of parishioners seem to love the ex-nun more than Jesus.

I've only been to St. Leo's once and I can't remember if I liked it or not but I am continually horrified at how much power and influence church musicians have. At another local parish several families actually left after the leader of the folk choir got into it with the priest. One elderly couple had been going there for decades but left for the sake of kumbayah music.

Fr. Whitestone has a problem but I suspect that it started when the music director got her job. An ex-nun married to an ex priest--- that sounds like a whole lot of trouble right there.

Mass at St. Anthony's.

Rocky works on Saturday and Sunday so we usually go to the Saturday vigil Mass. Well it snowed so much that we couldn't make it and had to go to the 5:30 Mass at St. Anthony's. When we arrived Rocky noticed that Bishop Loverde's assistant was there.

As it turned out our wee bishop was the main celebrant. Fr. Grinell, the pastor was very subdued which was quite nice and dear Fr. Nicholas, who is Haitian gave the homily.

The choir was dreadful. Over amped music, a cantor wailing into the mike, a guitarist who is NOT the second coming of Jimi Hendrix and tuneless tunes. One thing I found interesting was that nobody was singing alogn with the choir or the psalms. Old, young, black, white, Asian, Indian, Philipino, African... nobody was singing. We all just silently endured the noise.

I was very annoyed by the jolly old man who stood at the ambo before Mass to tell us what the readings were and what they meant (essentially he gave us a mini homily.) He then instructed us to all stand and greet our neighbors. After that business was done the clergy processed in. Despite having a bishop and four priests we still had a small army of eucharistic ministers. Were they really, really needed?

After Mass the rush to get out was like a cattle stampede. People only slowed down to greet the bishop and Fr. Nicholas and getting out of the church parking lot was like Death Race 2000.

the truth sucks sometimes

I've never had a successful pregnancy. The last time I got pregnant back in 2007, it ended in an ectopic rupture. I've told myself and others that I'm okay, Since I can't have children I've tried to convince myself that I dont' like them anyway 'cause they're noisy and then I see a photo like this and I just.....

Catholic Charities giving needles to junkies?

Crap like this is why I don't give to Catholic Charities. That's like telling a drunk driver to use a scooter instead of a car becuase it's safer. The drunk, like the junkie is still slowing killing himself and making life hell for his family but at least you've "done something", and feel good about yourself.

Okay, Archbishop Dolan, what're you going to do about this?

Sacrilege took place at St. James Church in Manhattan. Apparently the pastor thought the concert was going to be a Life Teen type thing which is bad enough but the poor man was too trusting and horribly mistaken. I don't wan to beat up on a priest but oh how I wish he had taken better care of his church by checking out the promoter or at least having someone from the parish staff at the church to observe things instead of naively allowing the concert promoters and the attendees to wound the Sacred Head of Our Lord in His own house. I've looked at pictures of the event on other blogs and tears poured from my eyes.

Lord have mercy.

If you want to get married in the Phoenix diocese you'll have to take 9 months of prep classes

I predict that a lot of couples in the Phoenix diocese are going to say to heck with it and get married in a civil ceremony or go to other denominations.

God bless you, Grant

Grant Desme has given up a major league baseball career to go to the seminary and become a priest. A lot of people are mystified and angry. Poor silly folks. God bless you, Grant. You have chosen the better part.

March for Life day

I tend to check in on Inside Catholic a lot. It's a good site for seeing what's going on in Catholic circles. Some of the writers are interesting. Most of the males strike me as having once been kids who were picked on a lot and they are still bitter about it. This week there was post from Steve Skojec on why he doesn't attend the March for Life. He is an intriuging man and he has a talent for writing but I have never been able to figure him out. I read his post and my immediate thought was that it was a cop out.My next impression was that it was an unfair put down of the marchers. Apparently for him the March is mostly just a chance for Pro-Lifers to get together with friends once a year and feel good about themselves. (see footnote)

I've said before on this blog that the Pro-Life movement needs a reboot. We need clever, media savvy, articulate spokesmen with backgrounds that are above reproach. Some of the leaders are devoted and brave but they are lousy on camera and some-- Randall Terry for example, mean well but actually repulse fellow Catholics never mind anyone else. I admit that until last year when the Tea Party movement rocked DC I had my doubts about the usefulness of marches for any cause and no, I've never been to the March but knocking it entirely makes no sense at all to me.

Last night after work Rocky and I went out to dinner and the place was full of families who marched in DC that day. They were the nicest people, they charmed the waitresses, left good tips and when asked why they were in town they gave polite witness to the cause. Those good, cheerful people were impressive and I'll bet they planted a seed in the minds of the other patrons in the restaurant. Those marchers did more than Mr. Skojec, bah humbuging away at his keyboard.

*** Let's say for a moment, that the March is merely a venue for Pro-Lifers to pray together, renew courage and gain comfort from being the presence of like-minded souls. What's wrong with that? If you've ever stood in front of an abortion clinic with your sign protesting the evil within, while people hurl curses and sometimes objects at you then you know how lonely pro-life work can be. I met a woman who spends a couple of hours every week standing within 30 feet of my town's local abortion clinic. She's there in the snow, in the rain, in the heat. Some people sneer at her, others have enough conscience left to hurry past her with their heads held down in shame. I wish I had that plain, quiet little woman's guts. She deserves a pat on the back and a pint of beer raised in her honor.

Things that are starting to irritate me

• The Haitian coverage. Reporters and photographers are treating the Haitians like animals. I saw a photograph of an elderly woman sitting on the ground topless. She didn't look happy about having her picture taken. I know Haiti is a primitive place but people haven't walked naked in public there in centuries. Imagine you're sitting in your tub or lying in bed or shampooing your hair when the earquake hits. You run outside and find yourself half dressed but alive. And then some foreigner comes along, gapes at you and takes your photograph as if you are a dumb beast on the saharra. I have seen photos from Hurricaine Katrina, the last Japanese earthquake and the last American one and I never saw such disrespect for human pride before.
  
  
• People who knock Michelle Obama for her looks instead of her politics. Yes, the poor woman is unattractive and I don't think she spent much time reading Emily Post as a child but she's not the president and attacking her for her appearance is ungracious, unserious and unmanful. And the people who pick on her children -- there is one blogger who seems to delight in this-- are beyond repulsive. Minor children are out of bounds. Americans used to know this. The people at my job who made fun of Bristol and her baby brother, Trigg Palin are dead to me as far as a social relationship goes and I dont' like snotty cracks about Sasha and Malia Obama either. They can't help having a jackass for a father.
  
  
• Activist Catholics in church. I came to Mass to worship the Lord, not sign your petition. Maybe I'll listen to you after Mass and in the parish hall or the parking lot but save your cause for later.
  
  
• Folks who insist on holding hands during the Our Father. Dude, I only hold hands with blood kin and my husband. You are neither. And the next man who tries to give me a "holy kiss" and a butt squeeze is getting a knee to the groin.
  
  
• Catholics who nitpick every good thing they see. A few days ago four Benedictine postulants took their vows and recieved their novice veils. One guy wrote in and complained that the young ladies in their white gowns were too attractive. I wanted to write in but decided not to. All I could think was that if this indvidual finds nuns on their espousal day too sexy then he has ...issues and had better book himself a one way flight to Saudi Arabia. I think he and his loins would be happier there.
  
  Another gloomy gus of a person wrote in to say that she hopes none of the nuns stay in the convent out of perseverence. That's like remarking to a couple on their wedding day, "I hope you don't stay married out of duty to God and your vows to Him." What kind of a whack thing is that to say?
  
  Then there's the people who bitch for the sheer joy of it. This happens quite a lot on New Liturgical Movement blog, I'm sorry to say. Someone will post pictures of a TLM and then readers will filood the comment boxes with petty complaints: the vestments don't fit the priest (never mind the fact that the church in question only has one set), there were six candles when there should've been three, somebody is upset because the bishop has on a blue habit, despite the fact that this particular bishop's order always wears blue from the time of their founding two or three decades ago, someone is pissed because of the priest's high and tight haircut-- turns out that the priest is a military chaplain, (I personally prefer short haired priests, if you have a Samson fetish, get thee to the Byzantines), someone attended the Mass and says that the priest's Latin wasn't good enough-- ungrateful wretch! How good is your spoken Latin, really? Most of us never get to attend a TLM, many people prayed and died waiting for the chance and you pick on a priest who is brave enough and kind enough to say the Mass---ugh!

Hard heads

Hard head make soft asses, my mother used to say. What she meant was that fools and naughty children are determined to do as they please and then cry when they get spanked. Spc. Alexis Hutchinson is in the army and refused to deploy when she got her orders. She has a reason: her beautiful baby boy is only one year old and her mother refused to take care of him while Alexis was to be serving her country.

Well now. First, Alexis should not have gotten pregnant out of wedlock. That sounds harsh but Alexis willfully chose to fornicate with an unsuitable man. He didn't marry her and is apparently so unfit to care for his son that he's not even mentioned in any news story about the case. Alexis picked a real dud.

Second, she never should've joined the army. If you can't do the job like a man then we don't need you. Don't yell "equal rights" when it's time to get the goodies and then cry "But I'm a mommy!," when it's time to do the work. So now, Alexis is sitting in confinement. Her baby is being cared for by her mother--for now-- granny may change her mind and the child could end up in foster care--- and she's probably going to get a dishonorable discharge if not jail time.

Haiti

Haiti is a horrible place on a normal day with ghastly poverty, corruption and voodoo-- the real kind, not the stuff college girls play with but now, oh now it must indescribable. The Anchoress blog has a good round up of charities to give to. I picked Mercy Corps. They do good work and are prudent with their money.

Our Lady of Prompt Succour, pray for Haiti.

I read a comment on another blog, someone, a young person I hope, asked how this earthquake could happen and said he'd question God about it when they meet. I sighed at the arrogance and almost wrote in to say that when this person meets God at the Judgement seat he won't be asking for anything but mercy.

Christians so often make the mistake of thinking that nothing bad should ever happen. Maybe it's the influence of the Protestant proseperity gospel. Jesus never said life in this world would be peachy keen for believers. In fact, He said quite the contrary. We live in a fallen world. There is disease, there are earthquakes, fires, floods, and blizzards and Christians are not immune. The difference between us and pagans is how we deal with this world.

St. Therese had TB-- one of the cruelest deaths known to mankind. St. Bernadette suffered horribly. St. Pio was in pain for 50 years. St. Alphonsus had arthritis so bad that his back was bent and his chin rested on his chest. St. Josephine was tortured by slave owners. St. Damian was a leper. St. Lyndwine had a condition so ghastly that I got shivers just reading her story. And let's not forget the Roman martrys-- some were ripped to pieces by animals, some were covered in tar and set afire, some were hacked to death, some were beheaded, some were disembowled. This life is not one of ease and never has been.

King of Kings -- the crucifixion scene

Two moments really stand out, Mary comforting a woman and the grief of Heaven when Christ dies.

I think I know what the problem is, Father Z.

I am fond of Fr. Z's blog. I'd never eat anything he makes (too fussy for me) but I actually like his food posts. They're interesting. He gets a lot of criticism for the food posts and I think it really bewilders and annoys him. The problem is, I think, that Father spent way too much time living in Europe. Americans love food, (my family members like talking about what we ate last night and what we're going to eat tomorrow) but a lot of what Father cooks is so far beyond the average American's taste or wallet depending on where you live that a small but vocal number of his readers find it very irritating.

And then there's the other problem. In the last 40 years Catholics have been badly burned by distracted priests. We get nervous when a priest seems to be passionate about something other than the priesthood. It's not fair but too many of us have seen motorcycle priests, ventiloquist priests, priests who were experts in Waterford crystal (at parish expense), priests who spent more time in their studios painting abstract art than in the confessional, priests who like to travel with lay people to beach houses rather than pilgrimage sites, priests who rock and roll, priests who never seem to be in the parish because they're doing whatever their hobby is.... and people are bitter and distrustful.

I don't think that Father's food post critics really want him to live on one baked potato a day or beans and soup like a Carthusian but the food posts do strike a nerve. Again, I'll say it's not fair but dear, dear priests so many American Catholics are walking wounded and prone to lash out at the slightest provocation. Sorry.

Thanks Fr. Pat

An elderly priest just realized that importing millions of illegal aliens doesn't help the poor and working class Americans who are already here. Thank you Father. I wish more bishops had your sense.

Oh Mary, mohter of priests

I just heard that a local priest is taking a break to discern his vocation.

Oh Mary, mother of priests, wrap this son of yours in your veil.

Mary Daly died

The late Dr. John Senior (author of the Death of Christian Culture) once wrote that feminist professors seek to turn their impressionable young students into dried out husks that no young man could ever love. He didn't mention Mary Daly but she fits the description. The poor woman hated God, men and the Blessed Virgin. I wonder how many students she ruined?

Feast of Mary, Mother of God

Happy New Year to you all. 2009 was the worst year I can remember. I've seen hard working people sick with worry about their jobs and homes. My cousin and her husband both lost their jobs at the same time. I have one friend who's been looking for work for 6 months now. She's got an excellent resume and years of experience but there are no jobs in her field. Rocky and I drove through Baltimore back in the Summer and we saw block after block of empty foreclosed houses. One neighborhood looked like something out of a apocalyptic sci-fi movie. And now people who have jobs and who can afford their mortgages are choosing to walk away from their homes. Lord, I never thought I'd see the day...

There are people at my job who believe Obama will save them. Poor saps. I do not put my trust in princes. I look to God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost and I look to Mary, Mother of God and saint of saints. I put my trust in Heaven.

Ex Fide, Fortis

I don't get it

A priest in England got a bit bothered by this mosaic in Westminster Cathedral. With all due respect to a highly learned and sophisticated man of God, I don't get it. I'm an Philistine, I guess.

Massacre of the Innocents

We have many Herods in the USA. The slaughter continues.

I hope the Pope is okay

A crazy woman threw herself on him and knocked him down. He's continued on with Mass but he's 82. A shock and blow like that is not good. Someone in security should offer a resignation as soon as they get back to the Vatican. This is the same woman who tried to grab him last year. Is this to be an annual event?

The Cherry Tree Carol

King of Kings--- my favorite scene

In the 1927 Cecile B. DeMille produced King of Kings. I think it's better than the remake in the 60s. It has a few flaws of course. The scrouging and crucifixion are too neat and clean. There is barely are scratch on Jesus. He just looks tired and sad. The actor playing Jesus is too old at first glance but he's magnificent. The actress playing Mary is wonderful but a bit too young next to Jesus. I liked how it shows Judas constantly, slyly causing trouble. He's so slick and polished that it's a huge moment when Peter looks at him with shock because he's slipped and shown his true heart.

I loved how Mary doesnt' seem the least bit alarmed when two dirty and ragged little children show up at her window wanting to see Jesus. She takes the girl in her arms and brings her to Jesus. DeMille showed an excellent little theological moment there.

Blessed--- oops, excuse me--- Venerable Pius XII

Thank you, Holy Father! Pope Pius's name has been slandered long enough. He did more to help Jews in Europe than anyone else. Before Pearl Harbor, FDR turned fleeing Jews away. England didn't exactly open her arms to millions either, although in fairness England was busy being hammered by the Germans. During the war, the Allied forces were aware of that Jews were being sent to concentration camps but bombing the train tracks and roads that led to the camps was not done.

I realize that some groups have protested the pope's beatification. They should be politely ignored.

i tore up my Catholic Charities envelope

I stopped giving to Catholic Charities some time ago because a lot of what they do isn't Catholic and frankly I'd rather give directly to a real Catholic charity that I trust. Last year we had the scandal of Catholic Charities workers helping a girl get an abortion. This year in Roanoke a group refugee teens brought there by a Catholic resettlement agency, decided to repay this mercy by kidnapping a woman and holding her for ransom. The plot fell apart and the woman escaped but she was badly truamatized and is afraid to leave her house now.

I'll bet that no-one from Catholic Charites apologized to poor Mrs. Levicki and sadly, I'll bet that her opinion of the Catholic Churh is pretty darn low at this point.

Apparently there have been a number of unpleasant incidents in Roanoake since the refugees arrived and it's not because the locals are mean or racist, some of the biggest complaints have come from black Americans. My own experience with a sudden refugee drop was no picnic either. A few years ago a church group (I used to think it was the Episcopalians but now I'm not so sure), settled Somali refugees in my building. The result was horrible. The wives and mothers had never seen stoves before and the fire department had to come once or twice a week for months. One awful night we had two kitchen fires a few hours apart. The smells in the hallway were sickening because goat tripe is apparently a staple of the Somali diet. The neighbors complained vigorously and the resettlement people moved the refugees out of here. Nobody asked the neighbors if we were prepared to live in constant fear of fire. Nobody apparently prepared the Somalis for modern life. Nobody apologized. It was a miserable mess for everyone. Soft hearts shoudn't mean soft minds.

snow has turned the place into a marshmallow world

Well, global warming freaks ,DC, MD and VA just got hit with the biggest accumulation of snow fall in 70 years. Hah! It's amazing. The whole world sounds like it's under a blanket. The snow has been falling since Friday night and I can't see anything but white. The sky is white, the ground is white, there are gray shapes bumbling around in the snow---the neighbor kids, I guess. Earler I saw the occasional SUV going by but now the road is completely empty. Rocky, God bless him, is at work.

I was worried a bit about missing Mass but I just heard that the Archdiocese has forgiven the Mass obligation for this weekend. That's the first time I've ever heard of this happening. As soon as I finish putting up the tree I'm going outside to play in the snow.

You can't always judge a parish by the church's looks

Blessed Sacrament in Alexandria, VA is one of the ugliest churches I've ever seen. It has cinder block walls, glass brick, miles of dirty beige carpet and you have to walk all over the building in order to find the surly ladies in the office. It looks like a 1970s minimum security prison BUT it has a serenely beautiful Sacred Heart chapel, an adoration chapel that always has a least one or two people praying no matter what time I drop by and it has sterling priests, Fr. Cregan says a straight Mass by the rubrics and adds no nonsense, plus he's a good confessor. And they have night masses and confession all during Advent.


St. John the Beloved in MacLean is odd looking. It's a round church so you can see your fellow parishoners and they can see you-- don't scratch or pick your nose. The floor slopes like a movie theater. It's pretty painful on Rocky's arthritic knee because the floor is always pressing him foreward and I even experienced a bout of nausea/vertigo while walking to my pew BUT it's a loved church. Someone tried very hard to bring beauty to that odd design and it worked. The Blessed Sacrament, not the priest is right in the middle and visible to all. The tabernacle is gorgeous. Fr. Aragorn is the pastor there now and he's a dynamic speaker and confessor. He will not tell you what you want to hear but only what you need to hear. His counsel may sting a bit but so does alcohol when you put it on a wound. Until you get that sting, the wound won't begin to heal. AND they have the Tridentine Mass.

four odd things about me---

I can't stand sitting with my back to the door in restaurants. I'm intensely disturbed by the idea sititng in the middle of the dinning area too. Rocky sometimes calls my his little Wild Bill Hickcock.

If you give me most forms of bread I'll eat the inside but never, ever the crust. Rocky eats that.

I misplaced my cell phone in my own bedroom and had to go find my glasses-- also misplaced in order to see well enough to find the phone. This excercise took about an hour.

I fantasize about buying a farmette, raising my very own hog and taking him to pig shows.

While America is obsessed with Tiger Wood's sex life, (prurient interest is a sin, I think); deadly serious things are happening in the world that could very well get a lot of us killed. It's barely been reported but five young Muslims from Northern Virginia were caught in Pakistan. They went for jihad. These miserable slugs all lived in my town. All came from comfortable homes.

One of these guys was studying medicine at Howard Univerisity, the school my brother-in-law graduated from. All of them were said to be devout, quiet and "nice" guys, as pleasant and peaceful as lambs. They went to a mosque that is less than ten miles from my home. These wannabe jihadis walked my streets, took the local bus, drove on the same roads as I and my family and friends, and they went to work and the mall like nomal people.

They smiled and seemed so normal and all the time they were burning with hate. All the time they were dreaming of killing Americans.

When is this country going to wake up? Why do we allow immigration from certain countries? They were caught this time but will we be as blessed next time?

Wickedness that takes my breath away

Sr. Donna Quinn shames herself , St. Dominic, and her order when she makes the foul statement that Mary, the Blessed Virgin, the saint of saints expressed "choice."

Sr. Donna, how dare you use Mary as a pro abortion argument! Woman, you are a Bride of Christ, what is WRONG with you? Put a habit on, withdraw in silence to a decent convent and ponder your poor decisions.

I am the Immaculate Conception

Yesterday Rocky and I went to St. Matthews Cathedral for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It was wonderful. We were at the 5:30 Mass and it was packed. Young Fr. Regan gave a fine homily.

The triumph of the cads

I keep hearing women babble on and on about choice and freedom and why we must ---absolutely must be able to slaughter our own children in the womb or we won't have lives worth living.

These poor creatures don't realize how pitiful and defeated they are. They think they're winners, they think they're free. Instead the whole abortion movement has been a triumph for bad men.

Once upon a time a man knew that if he had sex with the girl next door, or the girl from church or the quiet girl in the back row of his algebra class he was running up a debt that would have to be paid. If she got pregnant a whole lot of people would come down on him and he could marry the girl or forfeit his reputation and his position in town. Now, if a girl gets pregnant the man can say "Get an abortion or I'm gone." I once knew a girl in my senior class who got pregnant twice by her boyfriend. He treatened to stop seeing her if she didn't get an abortion. She did both times and guess what? When graduation came he headed off to college and dumped her anyway. He used her for sex and paid no social consequences at all.

Another friend got pregnant by a real piece of work. He was an alchoholic and dangerous. She did not marry him of course and did not have the abortion he wanted either. In exchange for releasing him from any legal custody or financial responsibility to their son she the boy are safe.

Pregnant women get assaulted and killed in shocking numbers in this country. Many modern American males expect that abortion safety valve to protect them from taking repsonsiblity for their actions and the bad ones can get vicious when the woman refuses to kill the baby.

So many pro life workers have told sad stories of seeing unhappy and sometimes crying women being led into abortion clinics by grim faced men. You call that freedom? The confused, frightened woman who is being forced into the killing room by a cold hearted paramour is less free than her great great grandmother ever could've imagined.

Puer Natus in Bethehem

This is my favorite chant.

O come, o come Emmanuel

Thinking themselves wise, they became fools.

This painting is Dante and Virgil in hell by one of my favorite artists, William-Adolphe Bouguereau. It came to mind when I read that the DC City Council has voted to legalize gay marriage. This is a cause that means diddly squat to the lives of most of the inhabitants of my childhood home. DC has high crime, high poverty, schools so bad that no-one under the age of 45 can remember when they weren't rotten, and the highest rate of AIDS in America.

You could visit hell bringing a ladder, a rope and wings and no-one there would notice. The inhabitants are too busy wallowing in their own anguish and hate of themselves and everything else that the light of hope couldn't penetrate their minds. Of course, being in hell they have no other option but to torment themselves. I don't know what the DC Council's excuse is.

the Manhattan Declaration

Here is the Manhattan Declaration. So far, 12 bishops have signed their signatures to it. UPDATE --- Restore DC Catholicism, a blog I respect has a critical evaluation of the Manhattan Declaration that is worth consideration.


Fear nobody but His Majesty in Heaven

Trad spokesmen need to do better

Years ago, I read and enjoyed two of Scott Hahn's earlier books but after his comments on traditionally minded Catholics and the Tridentine Mass I don't care for him anymore. I feel uneasy about lay people making their living from talking or writing about the Church. I don't like the cult of personality that has sprung up around a number of these people. I cringe when I hear someone say, "Well Christopher West says, or Scott Hahn says..... so it must be right."

I am uncomfortable when recent converts stand up and make a career out of preaching to Catholics. St. Paul spent three years in the dessert praying and learning after he was knocked off his horse. And he didn't make any coin off of evangelizing.

Having said all that I really was shocked at this post on another blog. Attack Scott Hahn, if you want, on the grounds that his theology isn't right, or that his books are too pop Catholic lite, or make any other reasoned argument you want but this blogger came off as well.. bitter, unreasonbly angry, envious, frankly, a little nuts. As I read his piece I kept asking myself 'Dude, if you hate Scott Hahn so much then why did you go hear him talk?'

If you repulse people, even sympathetic people because you sound unhinged then you've failed to make your point. I see this kind of thing on Angelqueen all the time, vast amounts of anger and something close to hatred. That doesnt' work. What the traditionalist camp needs is visible happy warriors. As Teddy Roosevelt once said, I like a man who grins when he fights. Show people how much your life has changed for the better since you found the Tridentine Mass or since you finnally found a reverent NO Mass. Talk about your love for the Church, our Mother. She may act like a menopausal woman who's decided to go to a rave party but she is our Mother and we need to love her and stand by her even at the point of dying. Point out what's wrong, like St. Catherine of Sienna or St. Athanatius, but don't give in to despair and incoherent rage.

I read an Angelqueen posting by one guy who spewed venom on the Holy Father, (and he lost me right there), and anyone who attends a NO Mass. This guy forgot that most Catholics have never had access to a Tridentine Mass and unless their bishops are obedient they never will. He cheerfully, gleefully consigned all those folks to hell. I ask you, why would anyone want to hang out with a person like that?

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for the four bishops who did not allow a Catholic Campaign for Human Development collection in their dioceses.

I'm thankful to have Rocky as my husband.

I'm thankful to live in America. Our president constantly runs our country down but if you ever doubt that this is the best country on earth just chat with your immigrant neighbors. Some risked their lives to make it to this "mean" country, as Mrs. Obama once called it. Others have spent huge amounts of money, study and years of effort to become citizens. All of them would scream and wail if you ever tried to send them home permanently.

I'm thankful that my mother will be with us for Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm thankful for Bishop Tobin of Rhode Island.

I'm thankful for women like Mary Ann Kreitzer

I'm really thankful that my vacum cleaner works because I haven't (blush) touched it all month.

I'm thankful that my Church is under constant attack in the media. Yes, really. They hate the Church because it is the One, Holy and Catholic and Apolstolic church. They hate Jesus and so they hate His bride, the Church. Nobody makes fun of Jehovah's Witnesses or Mennonites.Why? Because those groups are no threat to the world, the flesh and the devil. I take comfort in being in Peter's boat.

I'm thankful for a few days off from work because I really need the break.

One more thing, please pray for us. Rocky's people are also coming to Thanksgiving dinner. UPDATE ----Dinner went fine. Big Daddy, my father-in-law was a perfect gentleman. Thank you, Lord!

Oh Catholic bride--- put your clothes on.

Rod and I went to a wedding last night. I didn't want to go but the groom is a friend of Rocky's so I had to and once I got there it was fine. I won't say what church it was for reasons that will be obvious in a second.

What is this thing that Catholic girls seem to have about strapless wedding dresses? The bride's dress was lovely but we didn't need to see her semi naked self. Ladies save your candy for the bedroom. You are making a life long vow before Christ, the King. Show Him respect. And the bride was not entirely kind to the fatter bridesmaids. They didn't need the plunging front and back necklines or the sleeveless gowns either. Oh well, the reception was great.

This Sunday please don't give to the CCHD collection

The Catholic Campaign for Human Developement gives your money to non Catholic, frequently non Christian organizations. This Sunday ignore the second collection and give to a real Catholic charity of your choice. Here are some of my favorites.

The Edmundite Missions

Little Sisters of the Poor

La Salle Academy

St. Labre Indian School

Be like Mary, run to Jesus

This is one of the most powerful moments of Passion of the Christ. One of these days I hope to be able to run to Jesus and I hope He's pleased to see me.

Novus Ordo Mass like I've never seen it before.

I saw this on the Catholic Knight blog.

Mass tonight and raggedy thoughts

The stained glass windows look peacock blue when Mass starts in the Winter. By the time Father gets to the gospel the windows look black and you can suddenly appreciate the intricate masonry. The music tonight was lovely. The cantor was in fine voice , our new altar boy is tiny and cute as a button, and although we had a pack of babies in attendence they were all cheerful, fed, watered and dry bottomed. Nobody screamed, nobody had a tantrum and nobody threw anything.

I was quite impressed to see three young men who arrived well before Mass. One was in his 20s the others looked like they were in there 30s. One sat behind us and his responses were in exquisite Latin. Ladies there are young, suitable for marriage, heterosexuals in the pews and if for some reason your parish doesn't attract men you need to go to another one because something unhealthy is happening at yours.

Fr. Frodo gave a scholarly homily and once again I was struck by how smart he is. We are incredibly lucky to have someone with that kind of brain for our parochial vicar.

So many Catholics consume priests like Ipods, or hamburgers; something that should satisfy us but we never say thanks. We never pray for the priest or encourage him and Lord knows we complain, complain, complain. Usually about stupid stuff. Fr. didn't praise your altar floral arrangement? Well of course, not dear. Very few normal men give a hoot about flowers. Fr. was short with you when you dropped in on him at the rectory? Well maybe, he was trying to get to the hospice to see old Mrs. Magillacudy before she dies and why were you dropping in unannounced on a priest anyway? Fr. corrected you for splashing the Precious Blood all over the sink in the sacristy? Good! You weren't supposed to do that and you shouldn't be a eurcharistic minister if you're going to be that sloppy and sacreligious. Fr. asked you to stop wearing those butt crack jeans to Mass? You should've already been ashamed before he even spoke.

If you have a good priest and he loves the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, give thanks to God.

I don't go to Mass for the sake of the organist

I thought the purpose of Mass was Adoration, Thanksgiving, Atonement, Petition but apparently one of the New Liturgical Movement blogggers thinks there's a fifth purpose: boosting the musician's ego. There was a post arguing that it is mean and in bad taste to leave the Church while the organist is still playing the after Mass music. Nuts to that!

When the priest says "Go! The Mass is finished," and he walks out you can leave. I stay to say my thanksgiving prayers, Rocky usually talks to Father Theoden or Father Frodo or he helps carry something into the sacristy but we aren't hanging around to hear the music.

Our organist is actually a sensible man. He plays just enough to get Father out the door and then he quits. If your organist is playing 5 or more verses after Mass and Fatehr has long gone there is no reason in the world indulge him. It may be bad taste to leave but Holy Mother Church doesn't say we have to stay until the organist is done. Gee whiz.

Ft. Hood

I'm not a crying sort but I would like to weep now.

We really are doomed as a nation unless we slay the Politcal Correctness dragon and PDQ.




Fr. Cappadono,
Fr. Emil,
St. Martin
St. Michael, pray for the wounded and the slain.

I'm sorry, Fr. Z

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

Bluegrass Mass

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

Bless his heart.

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

sick

Gastro instestinal flu has laid me low.

Larry David is your fault if ...

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

In reparation let us pray:

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

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

when nuns go bad

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obama on your bible

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

My God, have mercy

Mass with Fr. Marchado

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

Mass of the Ages

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






See more at this lovely site.

A Padre Pio evening

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

Jezu ufam Tobie!

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

the kindest of men--Rocky

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

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

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

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

St. Therese, send me a rose.........

Don't go to Medjugorje

The local bishop has made his views as clear as day. So much money has been made and so many people have hung their faith on this, (false, I think) apparition that I suspect the show will go on in disobedience to the bishop.

Don't go to Medjugorje. Go to Lourdes, go to Fatima, go to Akita or Knock. Go somewhere that has been judged worthy of belief.

This made me laugh

I saw this on the Athanatius Contra Mundum blog. Most of the posters were horrified but I had to laugh. Why? Because this is exactly what Mass was like when I was a little kid. In fact, if you go to a hippie parish that's full of 60somethings, the Mass is probably still like this. The first time I heard Latin in church and later, chant I thought it sounded like Heaven. To this day I prefer a silent Mass over anything that involves a band and a guitar.

Well, I'm not going back there again.

There are three churches in my diocese that I will never set foot in again hopefully.
St. Charles Boromeo in Arlington, Good Shepherd and Queen of Peace. St. Charles has a really strange vibe and after reading this I see why.

The race thing

I am the descendant of West African slaves and Irish immigrants with a few rogue Scots thrown in for extra spice. There are great tragedies and triumphs in my family tree. My ancestors paid a hell of a price for me to be here today and it irks me when people try to put me in a category box. I am not an African-American. I don't do hyphens. I've traced my mother's family tree back to the 1800s. That's several generations removed from Africa. My folks have been here a long time and have a mighty stake in this country though schemers like Jesse Jackson try to claim otherwise. I am an American, thank you.

Perhaps if Thomas Jefferson had supported his son-in-law's efforts to ban slavery, perhaps if Abraham Lincoln hadn't gone to the Ford theater, perhaps if more people had only listened to Booker T. Washington my kin would've had a different fate in this country but that's not how things went down and it can't be changed.

A lot of nice, well meaning white people voted for Obama thinking that it would somehow heal the race issues of this country. I knew that it wouldn't and in fact, I think the race thing has gotten worse. Say one word against Obama's policies and you get the racist card flung in your face. That's not right.


I don't know how to say this but here goes. A lot of black people hate you. Sorry. They hate you because their parents taught them to do it and the parents learned it from their parents. It was a survival mechanism back in the Jim Crow days. So today we have people who never went to a lynching, never knocked a black child down the stairs for kicks, never practiced placage with their black maid or committed outright rape, and wouldn't even dream of or approve of such things being loathed by blacks who never experienced any of that but believe today's whites are still capable of this.

What's the answer? Prayer, honesty and love for our country, I guess. In the mean times things are going to nastier. A lot nastier.

we are in trouble

I never thought I'd see this in America, never.








Our Lady, Queen of the Americas, pray for us. Mother, I know we don't deserve it but please pray for us.

St. Stephen, Martyr in Middleburg

Rocky had a rare Saturday off so we made the most of it. We visited the incredibly beautiful Long Branch in Millwood and trooped around the Virginia State Arboretum. I'm a bird watcher and was delighted to see one of the these little guys: a White breasted Nuthatch.

We checked Masstimes.org for the closest church and decided to go to St. Stephen's. I expected it to be a bit of an adventure. Middleburg is a special place. It's quiet old money and horses and skinny women who stay that way because they ride hard after the hounds. It's a place where you better not fake it because everyone knows if you belong or not. It's a place where flashy bad taste is not tolerated and new money means nothing. Sean Combs and Paris Hilton would be miserable.

The old woman in faded jeans and an ancient barn coat walking by is heiress to one of the biggest fortunes in America, the red faced "farmer" in the car full of dogs gave the money for most of the art exhibits you went to last year. The fresh faced little cherub on a pony is the son of a business titan. The daintly little cupcake of a girl at the ice cream stand spends her days training powerful, nervous thoroughbreds. It's that kind of place.

So when we rolled into St. Stephens I was delighted to find that nobody gave us the stinkeye. In fact, people were nice. No-one appeared to be disturbed or even surprised by our presence. Father had a gentle but clever sense of humor and gave an impressive homily.

The church decor is interesting. It's so carefully inoffensive that I think it must have built with the desire that it blend in with the rest of town. The paint is colonial white and blue gray. The statues are small and pale. The painting of St. Stephen is frankly, bad but the altar is large and tall and the Blessed Sacrament is right in front. You will not have to wander around this small church trying to figure out where Our Lord is. Mass was gentle and blessedly free of any weirdness. The music was okay. The cantor's voice was lovely. The lector did not show off. The decently dressed parishioners were prayerful before Mass and there was not a mad rush to leave after Communion. I was impressed by the very well behaved children. Since the Aboretum is open 365 days a year and is free, Rocky and I plan to get back there so we'll probably be praying at St. Stephen's again sometime.

Soft hearts are usually accompanied by softer brains

I don't give a dime to the Catholic Campaign for Human Developement because much of what it does is not Catholic. And it turns out that they give money to ACORN.

have you ever seen Christian art so bad that you cringed?

I think I may have found something that goes beyond kitsch.

Betraying our dead

This op/ed pretty much sums up how I feel.

9/11.......Eternal rest grant unto them oh Lord

We sit by and watch the Barbarian, we tolerate him; in the long stretches of peace we are not afraid. We are tickled by his irreverence, his comic inversion of our old certitudes and our fixed creeds refreshes us; we laugh. But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond: and on these faces there is no smile.
Hillaire Belloc

Pray for Fr. McBrien

Fr. McBrien is one of those priests who won't wear a cassock or his clericals. He is also, sadly one of those who turns his nose up at spending one hour with Jesus. When a priest starts talking in public like Fr. McBrien does you know that something has gone terribly wrong with his Faith and his vocation.

"Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament... " J.R.R. Tolkein

Old Labor day blues and Everybody knows

When I was a girl I always hated Labor Day because it meant I'd have to go back to school the next day. And one of the most hated parts of going to school was the annual "How I spent my vacation" essay. I, and all the working class kids at school loathed that. Our parents didn't spend weeks at the beach and there was no cabin at the lake. One or two of us had a relative who Summered but they were like my great aunt, Betsy, who was a nanny and spent her Summer at Hyannis taking care of someone else's kids. We were lucky--- very lucky if we got to go to an amusement park or a day trip to the beach at any time in the whole three months off. When I was very young my mother and I packed up and took the train to granny's house in South Carolina but that stopped once Mama went back to work when I was seven. My father, let me hasten to say, was a champion at taking me places on the weekend but as much as I enjoyed that it seemed so dull compared to the stuff the "rich" kids were writing about.

One of the attorneys at work was complaining that "in this economy" (I'm sick of that phrase) she and her husband will be doing a "staycation" and only will only spend a week at Martha's Vineyard this year. I looked at her and thought, "You make 170k and you want me at 42k to make sympathetic noises at you? You silly cow. "

I'm a bit sorry for that reaction but it's nothing compared to my father-in-law, Big Daddy, who spent his Summers working in the fields from sunup to sundown. If I were foolish enough to mention any vacation that Rocky and I have gone on he woud have (and has in the past) say or do something spectacularly offensive to force a change of subject matter.
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Some people are still scandalized/saddened that Cardinal O'Malley was at Teddy Kennedy's funeral. Oh quit crying and get real folks. Is the sky rose colored in your world? Everybody knows what the dealio is in Boston. When has any high ranking clergyman ever said no to the Kennedy's? Of course O'Malley was there. At some point in your life a bishop will let you down, or even break your heart. But our faith is not tied to the failings or lack of spine of bishops. St. Athanatius and St. John Fisher are saints becuase they alone stood up when all their brothers decided to comprimise. Athanatius suffered a dry martydom of banishment and constant attack. St. John Fisher was beheaded and his body desecrated.

Take your precious gift of Faith and live for the Eucharist. Trust the Lord, trust Mary, trust Pope Benedict.

Be grateful that the Papal Nuncio was not there and be grateful that the Pope made no public condolence and that the Holy Father's letter to Senator Kennedy was no more than generic pleasantries. Be grateful that the Kennedy show is for all practical purposes, over. The only one of Joe and Rose Kennedy's children left, is Jean--- poor woman, it must be very sad to be the last sibling left--- and the Kennedy children are not impressive at all. The smartest ones seem to be Caroline and Jospeh and they are somewhat lacking once you get past the glamour.

Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Someone left a child's book about Mary in the vestibule of my church. I read it and the first couple of chapters were charming but because the author was a member of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Fr. Feeney's group, I was cautious. And sure enough there was a problem. The author seemed to have a tremendous issue with Jews. When the book got to St. Joseph it states that God chose him for Mary because the saint was not a typical Jew in that he did not take part in the pursuit of money or power. Can you say stereotype, boys and girls? St. Joseph was not tycoon, obviously but he didn't work for free. He didn't go skipping around Nazareth with daisies and daydreams. Mary and Jesus lived off of what he made so I'm certain that he was quite serious about getting paid for his work.

The book then went on to state that St. Joseph went to the synagogue but had no official position there since he was not a show off. He even had (according to the book a gentile type job because Jews weren't good builders! I wonder who the author thought built all the houses and buildings in Israel. I almost never throw a book into the trash. I'll donate them, give them to friends or sell them but this thing had so little redeeming value I just couldn't pass it on to anyone else.

and baby makes 19

Mrs. Duggar is expecting another baby. This will make 19. I have no problem with the Duggars. Jim Bob and Michelle are married. The children and clean, healthy and seem happy. And they aren't on welfare so it's no business of mine how many kids they have. My only question is what kind of muscle tone does she have left? By now she must be depending on a girdle and adult diapers to keep everything in place.

God bless them all though. It takes a tough woman to be a mama. It's not for sissies.