Communion of the Apostles, Holy Thursday

30 pieces of silver

I thought of this song at Adoration tonight.

My favorite pieta

Everytime I see this painting it stops me and I have to study it. The artist did a stunning job when he painted the look of sorrow and resignation on Mary's face as she finally gets to holds her precious Son.

Behold, the Bridegroom comes

Random thoughts on an insult to Our Lady, the anchoress and some other stuff

*I read on the excellent blog, Les Femmes that the miserable staff of the Oakland Museum of California have put on an exhibit featuring an obscene image our Our Lady. I was disgusted but later I felt comforted. You see, nobody ever bothers to insult the Dalai Llama or crack nasty "jokes" about Buddhism. Mormons are mocked but that might be due to envy (Mormons tend to be upper middle class) and they aren't openly hated the way Catholicism is. Libertines don't rage against the nice but impotent mainline Protestants. They hate us because our Faith is real. They hate Our Lady because their master, the devil does. It's because she is the Woman who crushes the serpent's head. She is the Mother of God. Now, what to do about the museum?  Mary Ann at Les Femmes has some good suggestions. I'll add just two: don't ever go to that museum and if you live in Oakland start talking anout defunding the place.

*I was disappointed in the Anchoress's take on Michael Voris. If my parish priest declines to teach the Faith I refuse to just sit there like a lump of cold oatmeal.

*I wish the US Conference of bishops could be abolished.

*Kat of the Crescat blog has been chosen to be one of the 150 bloggers invited to a meeting at the Vatican. Whoever put this meeting together didn't give people much lead time and some bloggers will need financial help to get there. I hope Kat makes it and I hope she has a blast in Rome.

*Why did the Vatican release a new catechism for World Youth Day? Surely, teens and 20somethings can read one of the many, many catechisms already available? And why didn't someone actually check to see what the thing said before sending it to the press? Why do we still have World Youth Day, anyway?

*Last Thursday Rocky and I went to the 7PM Mass at Blessed Sacrament in Alexandria. It's an ugly church with some of the coldest people I've ever met but they have great priests and the Mass was wonderful. There was no music, no lectors, no cantor, just the people and the priest. It was a completely ecclesiastical karaoke-free zone.

*When Rocky and I were in Norfolk to see the Life of Christ exhibit, we stayed at the Page House Inn. It was wonderful. My mother was a hotel housekeeper and housekeeping supervisor for 30 years and she's taught me what to look for when I travel. I couldn't find a single thing wrong at the Page House.

Before Abraham was, I AM

In memory of my father (1941-1982)

Eternal rest grant unto him oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

Amen

My pink veil

Rocky really likes this one.

Pray for us, Mother Theodore

I love reading Pat McNamara's Catholic history blog. He's such a talented and interesting writer and I learn about people and episodes in Church history that I never knew about before. His piece on Mother Theodore moved me deeply. This woman had to fight so hard for her vocation and she wasoften  treated with open contempt by fellow Catholics. People tend to look back at segregation and say, "Well that's all over. Everything is fine now." They don't know and can't even fathom what it must have been like to have to live every single day facing insults and frequently, physical danger just because you were black.

Mother Theodore was once a member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the order of nuns who ran my childhood school and became she the co-founder of the Franciscan Handmaids.

The Life of Christ Exhibt at the Chrysler Museum

Rocky and I took a quick trip to Norfolk to see the James Tissot, Life of Christ paintings exhibit. It's incredible and if you're lucky enough to be in the Hampton Roads area before it ends in June, you've got to go.

St. Veronica's veil

Father Costigan has guts

I've read four Harry Potter books and watched two of the movies. It was mostly fun but not great literature or movie making for that matter and I viewed the  Harry Potter wars with bewilderment. I couldn't see what the big fuss was about but a couple of things have happened over the years. First, I've noticed that some vocal Potter fans can get really, really ugly whenever someone criticizes the series.

And then there was the Buford incident. There's a guy at my job, I've nicknamed him Buford-- who admitted that he and his wife refused to let their children read the books. Another co-worker laughed at him and mocked his religion -- Buford is a Protestant-- and was critical of the way Buford is raising his kids.

Buford is one of the finest gentlemen I've ever met. He is devoted to his wife, would take a bullet for all of his children and he never, ever conducts himself in anything but a professional manner at work--- but he won't buy Harry Potter so according to my other co-worker, he must be a boob.  I didn't like it when she made those remarks. I don't like it now.

Many of the critics of the Potter series have damaged their argument by being as shrill as the super fans. These critics often came off sounding silly or just plain tiresome, like poor Michael O'Brien but Father Costigan of the Fathers of Mercy has written a critique that got  my attention. He's not hysterical. He's not anti-literature. He's not a dreary old toothache of a man who just doesn't want to see kids enjoying themselves. He has some good points. That mandrake/baby scene was almost funny when I first read it but it leaves an unpleasant aftertaste now.

Hang tough Father. I have a feeling that you're going to get some nasty responses.

Christ Mocked

The painting is James Tissot's "Christ Mocked". The pharisees had been praying for a messiah all their lives but not only didn't recognize Him but plotted His torture and death. Pilate could've stopped this horror but didn't want to mess up his precious career. How many of us are just the same today?

What a terrific idea

I just read about a devoted and very old priest who spends his days actively evangelizing. He's right about how passive Catholics are. Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses have no problem and no shame about declaring who they are and in promoting their faiths. We have the True Faith and stand silent lest we offend someone or be seen as pious and no fun.

Mother at thy feet is kneeling -- I wish I could find a recording of this song

Mother at your feet is kneeling,
One who love you'tis your child
Who has sought so oft to see you.
Bless me Mother bless your child
Mother when my Jesus calls me
From this world so dark and drear
From the wily snares of Satan,
Shield me, Mother Mother dear
Dearest Mother tell my Jesus,
How I love Him fond and true
And oh Mary, dearest Mother
Tell Him I belong to you
Plead for me when Jesus judges,
Answer for me when He asks
How I spent so many moments
How perform so many tasks
Mary oh my dearest Mother

May it e'er to me be giv'n
As on earth I fondly love Thee
So, to love Thee still in Heav'n

The view from the cross

Random thoughts

The filthy spirit of Dr. Mengele lives on. I've just read an incredibly sickening story about a company that uses aborted fetal cells to test flavorings. What the hell is wrong with people? How do the employees of this company look at themselves in the mirror? The lowest, foulest prostitute on the street can look down on these people.




I love flowers but beyond plunking them in a vase and changing the water every other day I have no great skill in arranging them. Here is a a fascinating post by a Catholic artist explaining how to arrange church flowers.

Remember those fake wood cut images with the deformed looking people that were always in the missalette or the church bulletin back in the 70s and 80s and 90s? Apparently there's still a market for it.


Tonight Rocky and I went to church for the Stations of the Cross. St. Rita's uses the St. Alphonsus Ligouri version. It was beautiful as usual. There was a large crowd with lots of young couples. Fr. Eagle heard confessions. Fr. Bear led the Stations and Monsignor said Mass afterwards. Fr. Z. did a podcast of the Ligouri version. You can listen to it here.


On Sunday, Fr. Scalia ( aka Fr. Aragon and yeah he's one of Justice Scalia's sons) and Fr. McAfee will be saying Solemn Laetare Sunday Vespers.  If you attend come early so you can find some place to park.  The vespers are going to be held at St. Mary's, the oldest Catholic church in Alexandria, Virginia. It's a lovely church but the parking situation in the historic part of Alexandria is extremely limited. If you park in the wrong place you will get a ticket so finding a pay lot is your best bet.


I haven't shopped at Macy's in ages. I guess I won't be going back any time soon. They don't have anything I can't get at Dillards or Belks anyway.

if girls only knew

 A few months ago I was standing on a bus and noticed the two young guys sitting in front me. The very foolish girlfriend of one of them had sent photos of herself in various stages of undress to his phone. And what was he doing? Showing them to his buddy while the two of them laughed. I felt sorry for the girl.  Hopefully those photos didn't end up being seen by her whole school but she's already been degraded the moment she  stripped off and tried to imitate a prostitute.

She'd been told by the movies, the magazines, the TV shows and the teen novels that being sexually loose was the only way to keep a guy. She's probably never been told about mortal sin, chastity or honor by anyone she respects. Some people carry on about sexting and cell phones but it's not the phone that's at fault. 20 years ago girls were taking photos of themselves with their handy Polaroid instant camera and giving it to boyfriends who either promptly showed them to friends or tossed them in a drawer where they were later discovered by someone else.

We've lost the culture and the kids are suffering because of it.

What have you done for your priest today?

Have you prayed for him? Have you fasted for him? Did you say a nice word to him after Mass? For the love of the Man of Sorrows have you ever done anything but complain that he's not hip enough, funny enough, or social enough?

If  you have a devout, holy priest or even a pretty good bread and butter priest, thank the Lord and give him a hand.

It's seder time again

Every Lent some dear, nice Catholic announces that they're going to either a Christian seder at the parish hall or visiting Jewish friends and seeing a real seder so they can get closer to Jesus. Something about this always seemed a bit off to me  but like most Catholics my age I wasn't taught enough about traditional Church teaching and could never articulate why Christianized seders just didn't seem right. If you've ever been in that spot,  this talk by a priest posted at the very fine site, Audio Sancto. can help.

High Anxiety

My mother is frustrated with the slowness of her recovery and she hates being dependant on me and Rocky. I stopped by her home on the way home on Friday and took care of a few things. She was anxious and because the codeine she was prescribed makes her break out in hives she's not using it and is in pain. On top of that street crime has gone way up in my old neighborhood. Mama has always been very careful on the street but now, moving slowly with her cane she's concerned that she might be an easy target for some lowlife.

I'm worried and my project this year is to get her out of DC and into a safe, quiet building in Virginia.

Holy Mother, seat of wisdom. Show me what to do. Protect my dearest Mama and be a mother to her. Remember of most compassionate mother, that it's never been known that anyone who sought your help was left unaided. Like St. Catherine Laboure I throw myself at your knee and would lay my head in your lap. Amen.

A really lovely blog

Vultis Christi written by Fr. Mark Kirby.

A prayer for priests from my dear St. Therese

O Holy Father, may the torrents of love flowing from the sacred wounds of Thy Divine Son bring forth priests like unto the beloved disciple John who stood at the foot of the Cross; priests: who as a pledge of Thine own most tender love will lovingly give Thy Divine Son to the souls of men.
May Thy priests be faithful guardians of Thy Church, as John was of Mary, whom he received into his house. Taught by this loving Mother who suffered so much on Calvary, may they display a mother’s care and thoughtfulness towards Thy children. May they teach souls to enter into close union with Thee through Mary who, as the Gate of Heaven, is specially the guardian of the treasures of Thy Divine Heart.
Give us priests who are on fire, and who are true children of Mary, priests who will give Jesus to souls with the same tenderness and care with which Mary carried the Little Child of Bethlehem.
Mother of sorrows and of love, out of compassion for Thy beloved Son, open in our hearts deep wells of love, so that we may console Him and give Him a generation of priests formed in thy school and having all the tender thoughtfulness of thine own spotless love.’

Amen

Disgusted

What are we doing in Libya?

The Gospel for today

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.

Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

Give and gifts will be given to you;

a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.


For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”

You can't get any more manly than St. Joseph

It's pretty hard being a boy these days. On one hand you have the emasculators trying to turn you into a limp, pretty pushover and on the other hand you have guys who claim that anybody who doesn't have hundreds of women in his past is a beta male and not worthy to hang out with real men.  All of this is piffle. You can't get any more manly than holy St. Joseph.

Domine, non sum dignus!

Lord, I am not worthy that Thou should enter under my roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

The Centurian recognized the Truth when the wisest men in the Temple did not. The Church remembers his words forever.

Institute of Catholic Culture

On April 3rd, at 7:30 PM there will be solemn vespers and benediction in the Tridentine form at St. Mary's in Alexandria, VA. Fr. Scalia, who we nicknamed Fr. Aragon when he was still at St. Rita's will be presiding. I'm looking forward to seeing something I've never seen before.

Martin von Feuerstein

Years ago Rocky and I walked into St. James in Falls Church, Virginia and I saw  amazing Stations of the Cross. I tried to find out who the painter was but no-one knew. Later we visited another church in the Ricmond diocese and they had the same Stations but in mosaics. I kept looking on Google and I finally found out who the painter was. Martin von Feurstein was a famous artist in Germany. His art is in serveral German churches and cathdrals. He was also an art professor and a serious Catholic. This painting is a self portrait that shows his decision to dedicate his talents to the service of Christ.

The Japanese have been impressive

We haven't heard any reports of looting, rapes, or anyone blocking roads or shooting at aid workers.

Sorrowful Mysteries

Agony in the Garden

Scourging at the Pillar

Crowning with thorns

Jesus takes the cross*

The Crucifixion

* I especially love the Martin Feurstein's painting of Jesus taking the cross. It's stylized of course, but just look at His glowing face. He's reaching out to embrace the cross as if it were a beautiful thing instead of an object of horror. The priests, pharisees, and the Romans thought they were in charge but they knew nothing. Our Lord laid down His life  for love of sinners and three days later He took it up again. He was in charge and this painting does a good job showing it.

Random thoughts

• I've read a couple of blog entries on the Ash Wednesday  MassFlash mob that seemed to think the spectacle was cute. It wasn't. The purpose of Mass is adoration, thanksgiving, petition, and reparation..Anything else no matter how "charming" or "relevant" is just straw for gold.

• Hilary White, one of my favorite  bloggers has cancer. In your charity please pray for her. She's a peppery and tough woman but this is a hard blow.
  
• In Texas a pack of 20 boys and adult males raped an 11 year old girl. I realize that there are men who hate women and some of them have good reasons. I have an uncle whose treacherous wife divorced him right after she graduated from college and left him with nothing but a few pieces of furniture that he owned before the marriage. She took the kids, found their care to be too much for her gave them back to him but he still has to pay her alimony. I realize that the feminist movement unleashed horrors that we can't put back in the box. I have an inkling of understanding of what it must be like for most black boys raised by a young and foolish single mother who was herself probably ill used by an older man. The most dangerous person in a kid's life is his mom's new man. That new man may last a weekend or he may hang around abusing the kids for years. This is so common that cops and CPS workers call it mommy's boyfriend syndrome. And I know our society is so busy cheering on the single mom (You go, girl!) that there seems to be no place for the adult survivors of mom's boyfriends to vent. All that is true and terrible but why, oh why take all that rage out on an eleven year old girl?
  Lord have mercy. St. Maria Goretti, St. Germaine, St. Dymphna, Blessed Alexandrina, Blessed Karolina Kozkowna, and Blessed Albertina pray for this poor child. St. John Bosco, St. Dominic Salvo and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati pray for all the angry, neglected boys who think that women are the enemy. Oh Blessed Virgin, be their example of womanhood!

• This lad has decided to fast all Lent on just beer. Bless his heart. I hope someone gets a photo of what he loooks like by Easter.
  
• This Lent I'm going to do a devotion that I'd never even heard of before. I'm reading the seven penitential psalms every day.

Mater Dolorosa

Shahbaz Bhatti

His life was gentle, and the elements

So mixed in him that Nature might stand up

And say to all the world, 'This was a man!'

St. Katherine Drexel, a magnificent woman

St. Katherine was not only a holy woman but she was a truly magnificent one as well. She was loving towards and used her own money to help two of the most despised groups in America at the time: Indians and blacks.  She was a great friend to Fr. Tolton, the first openly black priest in America. When she created Xavier University, a black college, many whites in Louisiana were horrified. She was opposed and threatened on occasion but the hard headed little lady from Pennsylvania kept right on.

In memoriam

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
 
Two American airmen were murdered in Frankfurt, Germany by a Muslim from Kosovo. The coverage in the media has been pathetic. We know more about what's on what's left of Charlie Sheens' brain than we know about the killer of our fellow Americans.

Thank you, St. Alphonsus!

My mother had surgery on her arthritic knee this afternoon and it went beautifully. The surgeon was delighted with the results. Rocky and I are very thankful.

The other Teresa

She read the autobiography of St. Therese and was inspired to pursue a vocation as a Carmelite. After she entered the convent her letters to friends and relatives were filled with such joy that some of the recipients entered religous life as well. She contracted typhus and shortly before her death at age 20, she wrote, "For a Carmelite, death has nothing to be afraid of. She is going to live her true life. She is going to fall into the arms of the one who loved her here on earth beyond all things".
She is St. Teresa of the Andes.

Wedding beauty

Usually when I look at other people's wedding picturess my silent reaction is "meh", but the sweetness and beauty of this wedding of a young English couple really charmed me. What a lovely Mass. It's too bad this isn't an option for most couples.

strange days

Tolerance? Yeah right. This stuff is about the power to frighten people into shutting up.

Oh good grief

I rarely bother with Inside Catholic anymore but when I do, I find sad little essays like this . You wonder why so many 20somethings have left the Church? It's not for love of Facebook. Young people usually leave the Church not because of some great trauma but because for many of them, there is nothing to hold them. Chad and Jessica may not hate their parish but they sure don't  love it. Their parishes are nice, very nice but fail miserably to show Jesus as anything more than their nonjudgmental buddy in heaven. To paraphrase Archbishop Fulton Sheen many parishes fail to image the real  Christ who  makes us "hate evil with a passionate intensity, and love goodness to a point where we can drink death like water."
My generation, the one before the Millennials  were fed an ooey gooey, pretty pony gospel instead of the Faith that sustained the martyrs. Most of us grew up in parishes that were repulsive.The music, the teen masses, the rap sessions (shudder) and the Youth Leader were supposed to be relevant but were quite lame and we knew it. We had too many effeminate priests who looked and behaved like they were put together by the ladies gardening committee. The brave and devout young man who felt called to be a priest faced spending his life with such fellows as companions and superiors. Is it any wonder that many a vocation withered on the vine?  The girl who wanted to be like St. Therese found a convent full of Sr. What's Cool Now and Sr. Feminist. Naturally, she fled and didn't persevere in her vocation.

Things are better now.  With only one exception I haven't met a priest who was ordained after 1990, who used the "priest voice" or made me doubt his masculinity. Healthy religious orders are booming and we are seeing young habited nuns again but the damage is done. People talk about the 20 somethings as a lost generation when they ought to be talking about the lost generations and Facebook had nothing to do with it.

No matter what you've done you can repent

Dr. Bernard Nathanson was big time abortionist and he was so committed to killing babies that when he got one of his girlfriends pregnant he coldly and calmly aborted the child himself. That's right, he killed his own son. In the 1970s Dr. Nathanson saw ultasound pictures and something in him was touched. He stopped doing abortions, became a pro-life activist and converted to the Faith. Years ago, I read his book Hand of God and I never forgot it. Rest in peace Dr. Nathanson.

Thank you

Thank you to all the men and women who looked Nazi's straight in the eye and lied about the Jews or the Allied soldiers hidden in the barn.....

Thank you to all the reporters who pretended to be tourists and returned home to tell  the true story of what was going on in the Congo, Armenia, Russia...ect.

Thank you to the peasants who snuck food into the prisoners held by the Moors.....

Thank you to all the good women in Russia, Spain and  Mexico who hid priests......

Thank you to the woman who hid the Valencia chalice in her coat and walked right past the evil men who wished to despoil the Valencia cathedral and take the chalice as a trophy....

Thank you earnest Quaker ladies who made your homes hiding places for the Underground Railroad.....

Thank you recusant Catholics who risked your own lives to keep the Faith alive in England.....

Thank you, to all those did and dared for the sake of good  while lesser people sat at home fat and happy and critical.

Two songs in memory of my great grandmothers

I can't believe this

According to the people who run this site, on March 19, to the 23rd, Our Lady is scheduled to appear in Alabama. I am shocked and embarrassed because non Catholics will see this specatacle and they will be pushed further away from the Church. I'm horrified because devout Catholics will be hoodwinked.

Once, years ago, an old priest went to Medjogorje watched what was going on and then cried with grief. He later wrote "What have they done to you, my Lady?" The Mother of God does not appear by command. She is not a performer. No seer before Medjugorje has ever used their visions like parlor tricks.  This supposed visit to Alabama is just a carnival. I can imagine the carnival barker now: "Greetings folks, you say you can't make it the former Yugoslavia? No problem, we have a seer who will come to Birmingham and have a vision right in front of you."

 Can you imagine St. Bernadette going to New York and having visions on command for the gawkers? Can you imagine St. Catherine Laboure making a lucrative career out of her visions of Mary? The surviving seers of the approved Rwanda apparitions do not travel all over the world and I don't recall Sr. Agnes of Akita doing a road tour either. 

Oh Mary, exteriminatrix of heresy, pray for us.

Confession, 1872

Strong Women

Resolute

Courageous

Gallant

Faithful unto death

What's up?

Is the current level of acesss* to the Tridentine Mass in danger? Today on Fr. Z's blog he wrote cryptically about the  Summorum Pontificum being altered in some way. On the Rorate Caeli blog the comments ranged between hopeful, to disgusted to completely disheartened. What's up? Are people being hysterical or is there something to this talk?





* I know there are people who are not impressed by the number of TLMs available in the US but it's a larger number than I've ever seen in my lifetime so I don't want to complain.

TEOTWAWKI

I've read several blogs that talk about preparing for nationwide end of the world as we know it situations. Most of the bloggers expect either a financial collaspe along the lines of what happened in Argentina or a massive terrorist attack. They all counsel that people should calmly get ready and expect the worst. It's not very comforting.

My mother in law is on dialysis, my father in law, Big Daddy is a diabetic, and so is my mother. Rocky takes two medicines daily and if there is ever is a true apocalyptic TEOTWAWKI situation no amout of stockpiled food or weapons is going to save my family.

God have mercy.

The end game

You may think, oh it's just poor little England but I suspect that what starts with the Anglicans will grow. It's like California. We laugh and call that state the land of fruits and nuts say "Well that might be okay in California, but it will never fly here." And sure enough the weird or silly Cali fad goes nationwide. Remember palimony? Remember how ridiculous it seemed to think that a concubine could demand and get a financial commitment from a man that was equal to that of a wife's?
The end game is coming in just a decade or so and it's going to be this: either allow gays to have their weddings in our churches or face fines and even jail. 

St. John Fisher, pray for us.

You can't even imagine how much He suffered for you

Go to confesson.

You can't even imagine how much how much He loves you. No matter how far or how low you have fallen, He wants take you back. So whether you use the confession app or a paper list or find yourself  stammering out your sins with tears and trembling, just do it.

Bernadette

She was sick for most of her life. The best home her father could provide was a hovel. She was a peasant girl with hardly any education. She spoke a dialect instead of proper French. Her own mother doubted her at first. She was persecuted by an unbelieving bitter nun. She suffered horribly before her death. She counted this all as nothing because she saw the Queen of Heaven. This little French maiden obeyed, overcame and rose to great hights of holiness. She is a saint in Heaven.

St. Bernadette, pray for us.

No confession App. needed

In the olden days people managed to get to confession and tell their sins all on their own. The new confession App for your Smart phone is cute but we really don't need it.

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer

I've noticed some smugness about Fr. Euteneur in certain circles. That's not good. I was never a fan of his but I don't get a kick out of seeing his situation. When a priest gets into difficulty it's a terrible thing.

Jesus, Savior of the world, sanctify Thy priests and sacred ministers.



Thundersnow and a modest swan

Last week we had a thunder snow. The booming thunder, blue lightning and the big, wet and heavy fast falling snowflakes made an impressive sight. Sadly, I slipped and fell down hard on the platform at the train station while trying to get home and spent the next day nursing my scrapes and bruises in bed.

The next couple of days were better. We went to Baltimore for a friend's birthday and first went to Mass at the St. Jude Shrine. The priest there is a good confessor and extremely jolly. He reminded me of a thin Friar Tuck. The only real flaw was the small army of Eucharistic Minister ladies. They weren't needed because even when the pews are full the shrine is actually much smaller and more intimate than it looks. The gem of the shrine is Andre, the head usher. He knows everything and is so patient with tourists and is a genuinely devout man, God bless him.

We went to the DC Car show on Sunday afternoon and I found looking at the people was just as interesting as gawking at the cars. I was struck by two things: leggings should not be worn as pants with a short top and that the more modestly dressed ladies far looked better than the rest of us. I saw a young Orthodox Jewish lady with her husband and five kids. She wore an exquisite looking scarf, a well fitting little sweater and a long velvet skirt with ballerina flats. She glided through the Convention Center like a swan amidst a flock of stewing hens. That woman looked elegant, charming and definitely not frumpy.

King of Kings

England is toast

Practising Muslims will outnumber Christians in England soon. Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for your people.

Take up thy cross

Sweet Jesus, give me the strength to bear my own cross

So, where are the feminists?

Have you noticed that not one prominent feminist has said jack about Dr. Gosnell, the Philadelphia butcher? Feminism is for women who, like Daisy Buchanan in the Great Gatsby, smash up things, societies and creatures and go on to their next obsession leaving other people to deal witht the wreckage. They don't care about the rest of us as long as they get what they want.

They will not condemn an abortion clinic that has cat urine and feces all over the place. They will not condemn blood caked tables and recliners. They will not utter a peep of protest about the unsterilized instruments of death. Why not? Becuase if they do, they might have to look at the "nice"abortion clinics they go to. Far better for a poor, black girl in the ghetto to be maimed or dead than that they should have a moment's pause about their precious cause. They are like Gollum and his infernal ring.

Dr. Gosnell's house of horrors

Many people are agog because of the horrifying story coming out of Pennsylvania. Dr. Gosnel lopened up an abortion clinic in his own neighborhood and specialized in killing late term babies. He delivered them alive and then killed them. He also maimed his patients on occasion, used unsterilized instruments, let his cats use the whole place as their litter box, and killed at least two women. The place stank, he had blood stained sheets and blankets and nobody at the Health Department seemed to give a damn.

I'm not shocked at all. In every abortion clinic, even the best decorated and most sanitary, babies are slaughtered. Every room is a Thunderdome. Two humans, mother and child go in, only one goes out. Dr. Gosnell was a sadist but do you think abortonists are nice people? Sadism is part of the job.

Every abortion clinic is filled with demons, every abortion clinic is a charnel house. Dr. Gosnell simply didn't bother to even try to sugar coat it. He and his staff will do some jail time and maybe a low level Pennsylvania official will lose his job but in the end the money will keep rolling in and the slaughter will go on somewhere else.

Random thoughts as a migraine comes storming in

• Lately, reading Fr. Z's blog been a bit of an awkward experience. It was particularly disturbing last month. I'm trying to be subtle here but I really wish he'd drop that donation button. If people want to send him stuff that's cool but ASKING for specific items seems...


• A married Australian woman had an abortion because she was carrying twin boys and she wanted a girl. She and her wretched husband are planning on trying for a girl again. Since she used IVF to get pregnant there's no telling how many precious lives were destroyed so that these people can have what they want. When I think of the child I lost a few years ago I find myself wishing that this horrible female is struck barren instead.
  
• If a man committed murder you'd say how horrible that was. If a woman gets an abortion most people pity her. That's peculiar.


• Have you ever noticed that when people start gassing on about civility what they really mean is "Shut up and do as I say,?"


• I hope that one day the craze of candlelight vigils, pep rally memorials teddy bear shrines for adults goes out of style.


• Remember the 80s when everybody loved the Taliban because they were fighting the Russians? In retrospect, we should've minded our own business.
  


• Trust Pope Benedict. We don't understand everything. Some things may be head scratchers but trust in our shepherd. He has been given to us by God.
  
  


• If Catholics would just ignore Fr. Cutie he'll go away. Let him peddle his book to the Protestants. He demands attention. Don't give it to him.
  May God have mercy on him and may the poor man recover his vocation and senses.

Three fascinating blogs

The Pulpit

New Theological Movement

Traditional Latin Mass in Maryland I could spend hours reading this one.

Beatification

Pope John Paul II will be beatified this year on the feast of the Divine Mercy. I'm not sure this is a good idea. Before anybody gets mad, let me try to explain. I don't doubt JPII's personal holiness but five years is too soon to beatify anybody but a martyr and St. Margaret Clitherow, who did die a hideous death for the Faith in 1586 had to wait until 1970 to be cannonized. St. Therese waited 20 years I think, and St. Thomas Moore waited for hundreds of years. St. Joan of Arc was burnt in 1431. She was only officially beatified in 1909! St. Pio and St. Andre Bessette, with hundreds of known miracles in their lifetimes and afterwards waited decades for their recent cannonizations.

The Church traditionally waited, prudently for emotions to die down and for uncritical fans or hate blinded critics to cool off or die off. The Church also had the position of the devil's advocate -- a man whose job it was to look for anything that would prove that a person was not a saint. This method served the Church well.

I'm not knocking John Paul, I loved him. A photo of him has been in my bedroom since I was a child but I think this is all too soon.

Mary, Virgo Prudentissima, who John Paul II loved and was loved by, pray for us.

Malevelence has a face.

I didn't say anything about the Giffords shooting because frankly, the worthless partisan jackasses in the media have over hyped the story in an effort to gin up hysteria. I'm pretty sick of it and have been avoiding the news all weekend. One thing struck me today though. I saw a picture of the killer and was startled. He's supposed to be in his early 20s but he looks ancient. He resembles nothing less than a cross between Hanibal Lecter and the devil's spawn from The Passion of the Christ. When the mind and soul are clouded it shows in some people.

A staggering statistic

In New York City nearly 40 percent of all pregnancies end in abortion. Considering how big New York is, that's staggering. Abraham Lincoln once said that he feared that every drop of blood drawn by the slaver's lash would have to be paid for. And it was by millions of men from the North and South in the Civil War. If you stop to think about all the babies that have been aborted as part of the law of the land in America it chills to the heart to think about how that blood is going to be paid for.

Well this is embarassing

A Spanish youth group is raisng money by selling a calendar showing themselves in very nearly naked poses in scenes from the Holy Passion. Wow. I don't know what the priests and nuns (if they have any) at this parish have been teaching but something obviously got lost along the way.

Painted babies in the public eye

The Anchoress is upset because French Vogue used little girls as models in the December issue. One of the commenters mourned that humanity is dying. That's hyperbole. Humanity isn't dying. Western Humanity, in particular, is regressing to what was common before Christianity and what is common in most of Asia, Arabia and Africa. Child marriage and sexual mutilation is normal in several Muslim countries, they fetishize school girls in Japan, rape babies in South Africa and we all know what Thailand is famous for.

Back in the ancient times, unless you were rich, most people got rid of their "useless" daughters as soon as they hit puberty. Childhood did not exist really for boys or girls. You were a baby and then as soon as you could be useful you were used. The Moloch worsipers burned their babies alive in order to please their god. The Greeks and Romans openly practiced infanticide. Indians in what is today called Peru, sacrificed their most beautiful children to their gods.
After a long stretch of Christian progress the status of women and children has fallen back to ancient times. We can work outside the home (big whoop, women have always worked outside the home and have all the abortions our poor bodies can handle whether it gives up breast cancer later or not) but we are more sex objects now than ever before. It's all we are to many men. And Satan is not just satisfied with us. He and his minions are after the little girls. It didn't start yesterday either. Brooke Shields was a sex symbol before she was even 13. The "sophisticated" cocktails-in- the-Ivory Tower set is pleased that we are regressing to the pre-Christian era but the rest of us are catching on to the horror. We need a religious revival and quick.

St. Louis de Monfort, who converted millions, pray for us.
The Carmelite martyrs, whose deaths woke up the murderous mob and led to the end of the French Revolution, pray for us.
St. Maria Goretti, who fought for her purity, forgave and converted a hardened sinner, pray for us.
St. Agnes, who's holiness shamed the brothel goers, pray for us.
St. Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, virgin and warrior, pray for us.
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us. We don't deserve your prayers, Mother but oh, how we need them!

Thank God, this kind of thing is dying out

Apparently the priest in this video has a live baby for Christmas Mass every year. Thank God that the showman priests who make the Mass about them and their cleverness are going into retirement. The sooner this kind of silliness dies out the better. Mass shouldn't be cute, irreverent or dumb as dirt. The worship of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is not a pageant for kindergartners. Can you imagine St. John Vianney or St. Pio doing this?

Epiphany

Mass at St. Rita's is really special and there are times when I wish time could slow down so I could sitand soak it all in like a sponge. It was one of those times for the Ephphany Mass. The statues of three kings were moved from across the church to the nativity scene. Our tiniest altar boy gravely lit the candles that he could reach and Fr. Bear did the rest. One of our old A team altar boys was home from college and it was great seeing him.

Two old women who've never spoken to me in four years shocked me by wishing Rocky and me a happy New Year. One of our ushers, whom I've never even seen smile before gave Rocky a cheerful nod. Around me in the pews people were praying or silently reading the bulletin. The organist played with gusto. I really should've gone up to the choir loft to thank him for his work last year. There was a hushed anticipation in the air. The cantor sang sweetly. The lector was.... different but her reading was ineresting. The homily was like a shaft of light in the darkness. Fr. Bear announced that the Thursday Tridentine Mass will be a high solemn one, I can't wait. People stayed after Mass to pray and look at the creche. Rocky and Fr. Eagle sighed over the hapless Redskins.

Help the Christians

The Arabs call the founding of modern Israel the Nakba, "the catastrophe,". I won't get into that but in the last 60 years the Christian presence in Israel has gone from 18% to 2%. That's a catastrophic collaspe of population and Christians are being hard pressed not only in Israel but in the whole Middle East. The Vatican estimates that there may be just 17 million left in the whole Middle East. I expect nothing from the politicians but I find it shocking how so few American Christians seem to care about the fate of our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land and the Middle East. It's almost like they're ashamed to mention the Christians. The respones to the recent attack in Egypt has been pitiful. The beleagured Christians there know that they are on their own. What a shame.