Happy Birthday Darling

It's Rocky's birthday and we're going on vacation. Tonight we go to dinner at whatever restaurant he wants and tommorow we hit the road.

Humane Vitae

This year is the 40th anniversary of HV. I think the contraception rule must be the most flouted of all the Church's teachings. I only know one Catholic couple who are not and have never used any form of contraception. I know a wonderful Catholic woman who goes to Mass every Sunday and sees nothing wrong in taking the pill. I've heard brave young priests defend HV from the pulpit only to face hard strares and muttering from the pews. A good chunk of the laity has chosen to do as they please.

And let's not forget the priests and nuns who are loud about their rejection of HV. Perhaps it eases their consciences about not following all the requirements of the religious life.

Pope Paul VI , the author of Humanae Vitae was such a tragic figure. Was his heart completely broken by the time he reached his death bed? His predictions about widespread use of contraception have come true : women are less respected, children are less loved and Western society totters along like an old druken, syphillis ridden whore who is heavily painted up to look young and healthy from a distance.

Father forgive them for they know not what they do

The college professor that I mentioned in an earlier post claims to have desecrated a stolen Host. I won't link to the story because this evil person has had too much publicity already. Our Lord suffered many offenses during the Passion. He continues to be much offended today.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

sheltered Catholics

Steve Skojec has written an interesting post for Inside Catholic.com. He has a hair curling snarky quote from blogger and journalist, Hilary White about the traditional Catholics who :

have gone off into the woods to create a happy and comforting little Catholic world, well insulated from Outside. The kids are homeschooled, the women commonly wear the trademark shapeless plaid jumper/white t-shirt and sneakers combo, the men work at home, the books on the shelves are all from Ignatius or Angelus press, the jokes are clean and not very funny, conversation is always holy, the horrors of the squelching, seething pornographic world Outside are clucked at primly and the introduction of ironic humour is a wild and somewhat scandalous sensation.


Hilary, by her own admission doesn't like other women or domesticity much. I'll say it again, Hilary really dislikes other women. She finds us silly and irritating. She'd probably have no use for me at all. However, abrasive as she can be she has a bit of a point. Catholics are not called to hide out from the world. We are supposed to be counter coultural but we are not supposed to resemble the FDLS folks, squating feverishly in a compound.

Parents are supposed to shelter and preserve their children's innocence of course--- to do otherwise is to fail as a parent---but trying to raise them like Catholic Amish it doesn't do the Church a whole lot of good.

cling to the cross

Jesus, Jesus, my God, I love you!

wyd

I've said it before and I'll proabably be tiresome and say it again some time: WYD is mostly silly. However, there are moments when it's almost worth the time and money. Tonight Rocky is watching the Holy Father celebrate Mass in Oz on EWTN. It's beautiful.

If they would just drop the dumb stuff--- the rapping priests, the lousy fake pop music, and the carnival atmosphere. And for pity's sake, no more semi nude locals in loincloths in front of the pope!

I was reading a book last night, it's the memoir of a Bennedictine monk who spent a year with the Copts of Egypt. He went to a dinner at the home of Pope Shenouda (the Copts call their leader, pope) and was astonished. There were about 5000 people there. Most were teens and 20 somethings. They politely asked Shenouda questions and he answered them. That's it. No dancers, no singers, no jugglers. They didn't need to be entertained. That struck me. Later the monk was having dinner at the home of the American ambassador. The ambassador's wife was Catholic and asked him about the Copts. The monk told her that he thought the Copts did a much better job teaching their youth than we Catholics do. The ambassador's wife was offended but when I watch the WYD photos I have to agree with the young monk.

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A cranky thought about the Anglo-Caths has crossed my mind. Guys, if you are really serious don't wait for negotiations with Rome, don't wait for your "bishop" to make up his mind. Do what my husband and millions of others have done. Get up, get dressed and walk into the nearest Catholic church. Ask to be recieved. Endure the wretched RCIA and be confirmed.

the joys of matrimony

You're at a party in the parish hall. It's rather dull and you find your mind wandering. Then, you see him across the room. He's clearly the hottest man present and you're married to him. Whoo Hoo!

vocations crucifix

Our parish has an official vocations crucifix that is made of wood. It's touched to a first class relic of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and comes in its own litle reliquiary. Each week a different family takes it home and prays especially for priests, seminarians and anyone who is mulling over a vocation to the religious life.

This week it sits in a place of honor in my living room. Our new parochial vicar, Fr. Smeagal handed it to Rocky after Mass and blessed us both. I think it's going to be a special week.

In the end there is only one Church

The Catholic Church really is the one, the only true Faith in the world. The powers of darkness are constantly focused on her. In a way, this is a comfort. Nobody, except the Chinese government, for obviously reason, hates the Dalai Lama. No college going spoiled brat would dream of going into a Hindu temple and committing a desecration. None of the "sophisticated" set would have the guts to openly mock the Koran. No college professor would dare mess with the holy objects stolen from a synogauge and then brag about it in public. Why? Becasue none of these things really matters.

Only the Catholic Church terrifes and infuriates the lovers of the dark side. They write books, they make jokes, they come up with "new" discoveries every Christmas and Easter, they dedicate their whole lives to being her open enemy. Why? Because she is real, true, the Only. So, for the Mormon idiot teenaged missionaries who desecrate church grounds, to the college professors and students who plan blasphemy, to the goons who smash statues of the Blessed Mother, to those who strut into our churches and behave foully I pray:

Arise oh Lord and let thy enemies be scattered.

Let those who hate thee, fly before thy holy face.

A Prayer from St. Therese

"O Jesus, who in Thy bitter Passion didst become "the most abject of men, a man of sorrows", I venerate Thy Sacred Face whereon there once did shine the beauty and sweetness of the Godhead; but now it has become for me as if it were the face of a leper! Nevertheless, under those disfigured features, I recognize Thy infinite Love and I am consumed with the desire to love Thee and make Thee loved by all men. The tears which well up abundantly in Thy sacred eyes appear to me as so many precious pearls that I love to gather up, in order to purchase the souls of poor sinners by means of their infinite value. O Jesus, whose adorable Face ravishes my heart, I implore Thee to fix deep within me Thy Love, that I may be found worthy to come to the contemplation of Thy glorious Face in Heaven. Amen."

I'm late on this but...

What happened to the guy who wrote The Cafeteria is Closed blog? When I first began reading him he was amusing in a catty mean high school girl sort of way but with frequent outbursts of deep thought. Then he seemed to grow up a bit and his blog became a daily must read. Then, some time after his marriage he really changed. He was still funny but he began making comments about Church teachings that were contrary to what you'll find in the catechism. Then suddenly he closed down the blog and has gone to a new format. It's not a about Catholicism anymore and is more of a general news blog. I used to think that the other bloggers who criticized him were just jealous becuase his blog was so popular but I guess they were right.

the anglicans

The big bloggers are talking excitedly about the possibilty of a bunch of Anglicans coming over to Catholicism. My reaction is a shrug and a raised eyebrow. I hope the Vatican will be very, very cautious about this. How many of these people are converting becuase they realize that Catholicism is the one, true Faith or are they threatening to covert just to spite the liberal Anglicans? What will the Church do with a bunch of married priests, and bishops? Will they go to seminary for remedial training or will they just be set loose on a parish? How this whole thing will play out and whether they will be real Catholics is up in the air. I just can't get excited about it.

The sign of division

I have a tiny brooch that is shaped like a monstrance and decided to wear it to work. Nobody noticed except one person, a fellow Catholic and she was quite disturbed. Odd. She asked me twice in an aggrieved tone about it. I should've asked her why she cared so much. Was she embarrassed? Did she think it made me look like a Trad? Was I suddenly not cool becuase my brooch looked like a monstrace? If she knew that I wear either veils or hats to Mass would she be horrified?

I guess I'll have to wear that brooch more often.

The 9/11 terrorists have won

No, not them personally. They're in hell and that's ultimate failure. But their cause must have won. That's the only thing I can conclude when I read stories like this . Ten years ago a teacher who told her public school class that they were going to pray to Allah would've been fired. Today, the kids who didn't want to pray to a false god were given detention. I guess everyone is so scared of terrorism that they are willing to jump through any hoop.

What the heck happened to England and Europe? What the heck is happening to all of us?

and now a word from the pope

"Only healthy people, ... only people with a profound personal life in Christ and who also have a profound sacramental life can be admitted to the priesthood ... It is more important to have good priests than to have many priests". We hope, he insisted, "to do everything possible in the future to heal this wound".

Pope Benedict, the 16th

Three of the saddest words a Catholic can ever read

The bishop knew.

The Washington Times reports that Bishop DiLorenzo of Richmond, Virginia knew that a young girl in the care of Catholic Charities was going to have an abortion.

There are only two decent things that can be done now. Catholic Charities in Richmond needs to get out of the child care business and the bishop should resign. A human being is dead-- slaughtered most cruelly.

The head of the Richmond diocese can't just say "sorry" and have this all go down the memory hole.

The bishop knew. Oh my God. The bishop knew.

sally quinn

I've never thought much of Washington Post, journalist Sally Quinn, other than that she certainly married well. At Tim Rusert's funeral she took Communion. She's not Catholic. I'm not sure what denomination she is or even if she's Christian at all. It was wrong of her to do this of course, but how many unworthy Catholics got into that Communion line as well?

I'll bet that most of the Catholics Sally Quinn knows are the go along and get along type who find Fr. Corapi embarrasing , mock their own devout grandmother's devotions in public and would no more go to Eucharistic Adoration than they would attend a square dance.

When we Catholics don't act right we make a statement to the world. Many of us behave as if we really don't care that the Host is Jesus Himself so why should non Catholics?

How many contracepting Catholics proudly take Holy Communion?
How many Catholic Obama supporters take Communion?
How many co-habiting Catholics take Communion?
How many Catholics "married" only civily take Communion?
How many Catholics who haven't been to Confession in years take Communion?
How many Catholics who only go to Mass on Easter, Ash Wednesday and Christmas go up for Communion?
How many single and fornicating Catholics take Communion without so much as a second thought?


Again, my opinion of Sally Quinn has never been very high but we Catholics need to get our acts together.

the tragedy of american girlhood

Yesterday as Rocky and I were going to Mass we saw three young prostitutes in front of the church. Our parish isn't in that kind of neighborhood and we were so startled that we had to stare. Then it dawned on me that these girls looked too healthy to be hookers. Their heaving bosoms-- each one wore a low cut strapless or spaghetti strap mini dress--- were dusted with glitter powder. Their makeup was precise, their shoes were shiny and new. There were no scrapes or bruises on their arms or thighs. The clothes they wore, while being little more than a few feet of material were made of quality material. They looked a bit like the Diamond Dogs from Moulin Rouge. It took a lot of money to look as cheap as they did.

I gasped because it occured to me that these were actually the teenaged daughters of parishioners and they were coming to Mass. Then they strutted past the church. They were headed to the nightclub down the street. Rocky and I wondered if their parents let them out like that and we were chagrinned to think that the clothes prostitutes wore in the late 70s and 80s are now ordinary fashion for young girls. What the heck went wrong with the adults in this country?

Teenaged girls are a lot like bison. They are amazing but surprisingly fragile under the right set of circumstances. They are high strung, easily spooked and when under stress they don't act at all with what you would consider good sense. They don't nessacarily know what is good for them. They can be easily destroyed with the right weapon and need careful protection by those who care about them.

Wow. A whole lot of Catholic women need to read this.

I was reading American Rumpo's blog when I came across this question and answer :

If you think your husband is not doing enough spiritually why don't you ask yourself what you are doing to encourage his lack of interest. Because your nagging and shaming is just going to make matters worse!

You can read the rest here.

I know a woman, a very fine person who is the mother of several children. She's dissatisfied with her husband in every way but financially. Boy, I wish I had the nerve to send this to her. It's the answer to her frustrations in a nutshell but I doubt that she'd even realize it. Misery blinds and binds.

a prayer for priests

O Mary, Mother of Jesus
you were with Jesus
at the beginning of His life and mission.
You stood beside Jesus when He was lifted
on the cross and gave His life for all.
We ask you now to be with our priests,
who give themselves in service to God's people.
Intercede for them that they may grow in holiness;
proclaim God's word with courage;
celebrate the sacraments with joy;
and be among God's people as Jesus,
the Good Shepherd, was.
We offer this prayer to God, the Father,
through your intercession,
in the name of your Son, Jesus,
and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen