Nobody is born a priest

Except for Jesus of course. Priests have to come from homes, or communities or schools where the priesthood is respected and the vocation is talked about. This cute ad was posted on Shouts in the Piazza. It's from the diocese of St. Augustine.

It struck me as particularly funny because when I first saw the parochial vicar at my parish I thought, 'Wow, he's just a baby!' I'd love to know how long it took to get this picture and how they managed to get this little guy dressed.

Pray for the Holy Father!

Two days away

Relatives of mine came to visit for nine days. They left last Saturday and Rocky and I decided to take two days for just the two of us to relax. He's really the greatest and he put up with my ..... well, eccentric uncle and aunt like the true knight that he is.

We stayed at Foursquare Plantation in Smithfield and it was heavenly. The owners were lovely hosts and the breakfast was fit for royalty. We took the ferry from Surry and visited Jamestown, Williamsburg and Smithfield. We toured St. Luke's the oldest Protestant church in America (1632) and then we visited Good Shephard the town's only Catholic church. It's a very nice little church. They have no priest so they only have one Mass on Sunday. Priests from the military base come to celebate Mass for them. I guess the parishioners go to Suffolk or Williamsburg for confession or the priest hears it when he comes to them on Sunday. They're doing a great job but I was struck by how sad and a little strange a parish is when there is no priest at the center. I was also struck by how kind and friendly the parishioners we met were. They put the folks in Northern Virginia to shame and although they have just 200 families I noticed that they have more parish groups than my own parish. That's devotion.

Our last activity was to visit the Great Dismal Swamp but Rocky realized that I forgot to buy insect repellant so he decided that he wasn't going to risk taking me on the trail. He was right; the bugs are huge and very intent on biting so I didn't argue. Just hanging out on the driving portion of the park we saw wild turkeys. It's a great place and the next time I'm in the area I'm going back but covered in repellant.

Something Archbishop Fellay said

I expected him to be sour and spouting gloom and doom but his speech last month was remarkably upbeat. He reminded the audience that yes, things in the church are crappy right now but there has always been a crisis in the church. He's right there has always been a problem to fight, whether it was the pharisees trying to kill the apostles, or Arius seducing the people or Martin Luther straining on his chamber pot and getting wild ideas, coldness and money grubbing at the end of the Middle Ages or complacentcy in the 50s. He went on to say that if you love God and you sincerely want to follow Him and His church, He will never, ever drop you. God loves you so don't be afraid.

I found that terribly touching.

I have a few rude questions about Iraq

These are rude questions. I may make some people angry for daring to ask them but so be it. Are the Iraqis worth all the hardship our soldiers and their families are being told to endure?

Be honest. Are we crazy to expect a country with 40% literacy, cousin marriage and low status for women to be capable of democracy? Are they even capable of a government that doesn't rely on dungeons and midnight arrests in order to function? Iraq is not Germany, it is not Japan. It's not even Korea. The culture for modernity isn't there.

Maybe, just maybe it's not a matter of winning. Our military could passify the militants in one week if they were allowed to really put the hammer down. Maybe it's that there is nothing to win. Five hours after we leave Iraq will turn into a blood bath no matter how hard we try to teach them to live another way.

Akita

"The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres (other priests). Churches and altars will be sacked. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord."

--------------Our Lady of Akita

This is interesting

Archbishop Fellay, the head of SSPX, made a speech. Bishop Williamson, the top SSPX guy in America gives me the creeps but Archbishop Fellay, on the other hand is a charming man who sounds quite sane and eminently sensible. This speech is interesting and I'm posting it with no comment 'cause I'm honestly not sure what to think.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHyghM0pIbk

Could it be us?

In Detroit this year there was only one ordination. A number of people have commented that this is pathetic. Well, it is but maybe this is a sign that God is not pleased with us. Us, the folks in the pews.

• Do you think God is pleased with the people who send their children to Mass or CCD but don't go themselves?
  
  
• How about the folks who make a salary of 150K or more but toss in change or one buck at collection time?
  
  
• What about the people who perform various functions at chuch, not because they love God but because they crave power?
  
  
• What about the people who attend every Sunday, make sure everyone knows that they are big deals at church and who loudly proclaim themselves good Catholics yet are using contraception?
  
  
• What about the people who seem to think that the pastor is their own personal priest and throw hissy fits if he can't come to their house everytime they call?
  
  
• What about the people who come to church and gossip in the pews before and after Mass?
  
  
• What about the women who come to Mass in shorts and stomach baring tops or the ones who wear pants so low that their buttocks are exposed?
  
  
• What about the divorced men and women who strut up to Communion and threaten to raise a stink if they don't recieve?
  
  
• What about the people who scream and carry on if their parochial school offers a scholarship to a few inner city children?
  
  
• What about the people who go to Communion yet do not believe in the Real Presence?
  
  St. Fidelis once said that the presence of bad priests (and perhaps the lack of priests) is a sign that God is displeased with His people. That's something to think about.

Fr. Michael Pfleger

Father, have you no sense of shame? What went wrong in your vocation?

The pastor of St. Sabina Church in Chicago has made a bizarre and shocking statement in public. Please pray for Cardinal George, the head of this diocese. There is only one thing for him to do. May he have the courage to do it.


St. Athanasius, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, pray for us.
St. Pio, pray for us.
St. John Bosco, pray for us.
Fr. Solanus Casey, pray for us.
Blessed Andre, pray for us.
St. Louis deMonfort, pray for us.
Servant of God, Archbishop Sheen, pray for us.
St. Therese, you went to Carmel to pray for priests, pray for this one and for us.
Oh Jesus, model of the priestly heart, have mercy.

Drat!

One of the pics on my St. Joan post came from a copyrighted source. I got it from just typing in St. Joan and images so I didn't realize where it came from so I've deleted the entire post.

Rest in peace.

Happy Memorial Day

The church in need

Last night Rocky and I watched a program on EWTN. It was about the Catholic Church in Ukraine. I was moved to tears by these people's courage. When the Soviets destroyed their churches they simply hid their priests in their own homes and sneaked them from house to house to say Mass each Sunday. Imagine getting up and in the middle of the night and quietly walking miles to slip into someone's back door so you can secretly meet with the priest for confession.

We Catholics in the West are so blessed and we don't even appreciate it. I was also impressed by their vocation surge. They showed a convent and a monastery that are literally overflowing with applicants-- all young and and all filled with incredible spirit. There's a lesson in that for us Western Catholics. The next time their is a collection for the The Church in Need please give what you can. It goes to helping these people build churches, bookstores, schools, convents and monasteries.

Happy birthday

It's Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. Rejoice!

God bless you Mr. Wilson

He may be an athiest (pray for him) but he's done more for Catholic schools than 90% of the rich Catholics in New York. Parochial schools were a saving grace for me when I was a child. Thanks to Mr. Wilson other poor and working class inner city kids will get an education in a safe environment and will be exposed to the Faith.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Santus Belle.

Eight things about me that you really don't need to know

1. What do you hope to accomplish with your blog? Nothing really. This blog is my half mad thoughts about the Church, my diocese and my great love and thankfulness for the mercy of God.
2. Are you a spiritual person? No. That's New Age crap.

3. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you want to have with you?

A cell phone.

Packaged food and water for two months. If I were Bear Grylls I could hunt and gather but I'd rather have MREs.
A gun and lots of ammo. I know that's more than three things but what's a gun without ammo?

4. What’s your favorite childhood memory? My mother making what seemed like endless stacks of pancakes one frosty December morning while I sat wrapped in a blanket and watched.

5. Are these your first (tagging) memes? No

6. Eight random facts about me.

I love German food.

My favorite place in the whole wide world is Williamsburg, Virginia.

I don't like sitting with my back to the door in public places.

I make incredibly good baked macaroni and cheese.

I used to run a cake decorating business from home.

I wanted to be a nun or an opera singer when I was a girl.

I think Star Wars could be a neat little metaphor for what happens with a priest gets pulled away from his vocation.

I'm passionately fond of bird watching.

I tag anybody who wants to play.

A visit to All Saints in Manassas Virginia.

Rocky and I continued our tour of the diocese this week with a quick stop at All Saints. It was appalling. We saw no crucifix on or near the altar. To be fair, they might have had a small one lying flat on the altar but there was nothing for the folks in the pews to see. Above the altar they had a huge watercolor painting of Jesus doing ballet. They had Him standing on tip toe looking as if He was just about to do a grande jete . I felt something stir in my stomach. We backed out and went to the restrooms which stank and needed a hospitality minister -- er, I mean, a cleaner's attentions. The restrooms were next to the cry room. A little girl frowned at Rocky and said, "This is the cry baby room". Rocky replied that he didn't want to cry and was headed back to the main church as soon as his wife was out of the ladies room. We walked back to the natrex, looked at that hideous painting and Rocky remarked that on second thought crying would be a good idea after all.

We actually found three good things at All Saints. They had a large Pieta statue, a tiny Infant of Prague and an adoration chapel. There were six people in the chapel and they were the only folks we saw who were praying and not dressed in jeans, tank tops or shorts. The tabernacle looked more like a holy water font but since the red candle was next to I must assume it contained the Blessed Sacrament.

We left as soon as we said a prayer in the chapel. All Saints is currently holding a building drive to replace their monstrosity. I hope they don't take that revolting painting to the new church.

The first time I went to a Tridentine Mass

There was a time in my life after high school when I drifted away from the Church. My college years weren't holy by any means. After Rocky and I married I began to recover my senses. One day I decided to go to a Tridentine Mass. I'd been doing a lot of reading about the Faith and the Mass described by the pre-Vatican II books I found talked about a Mass that seemed very different from the guitar and joke telling priest Mases that I was used to.

I checked the diocesan paper and saw that St. Mary, Mother of God had a 9:30 Tridentine Latin Mass. I took a bus and a commuter train to get there. St. Mary's is a very old church in the Chinatown section of Washington, DC. Chinatown is hot right now but back in the 90s it was not a good part of town (The problem was not the Chinese, it was young black men, I'm sorry to say)and I walked very fast to and from the church.

St. Mary's somehow survived wreckovation and retains its altar rail and magnificent altar. Although it badly needs restoration it's still beautiful in the way that your elderly mother is beautiful. I was overwhelmed by that Mass and there was something else.... I wept tears of wonder, and tears of joy.

When I was a kid someone told me that the Novus Ordo and the Tridentine were exactly the same except that the NO is in English. That was obviously not true. If the Mass were a car, the Tridentine would be a Maybach and the NO would be a Toyata. They're both cars but they aint the same. Before anyone gets huffy let me point out that I've seen Toyotas that were quite nice and I've seen dull, ugly Toyotas that were nothing more than a means of transport.

This photo just makes me smile

Doesn't the cardinal look like he's about to bust a move on the dance floor? American Papist gets the funniest photos.

I'd make a lousy apologist, I guess

A few days ago someone I know made a crack about the Church. She had recently seen the movie "Breach" and thought foolishly, that she now knew all about Catholicism. This is the third or fourth time she's make such remarks in my presence. Enough was enough. I leaned forward and politely but firmly let her know that the movie used a lot of artistic license (lying to make the storyline juicier) and that she should take what was portrayed with a grain of salt.

There must have been something in my face becasue she looked surprised and changed the subject. I have a sense of humor but crack on my Faith and I'm as serious as stage four cancer. I could come up with about 100 jokes about this person's religion but being a mannerly sort of woman I would never dream of saying any of them in front of her and certainly not at work. I simply ask the same of her. The next time she makes a remark like that I will visit the personel office at my job and make a complaint.

Hey You! Be a Man!

I think a lot of Fr. Scalia. He's a young priest and he's rock solid. He's a lion in the pulpit and a lamb with pepper jelly in the confessional and when he get's excited about something his preaching is awesome. He celebrates the Novus Ordo--- (The Diocese of Arlington allows the Tridentine Mass in only two churches and his isn't one of them) but does it with as much reverence, beauty and solemnity as can be had. You can listen to his Theology on Tap talk here.

The Pope's new book

In honor of the publication of the Holy Father's new book there was a panel discussion at the John Paul II Cultural Center. Rocky and I decided to go at the last minute and I'm glad we did. Raymond Arroyo sat next to me for a short time. He's actually handsome in person and is quite charming. Arcbishop Sambi, the Papal Nuncio was the first speaker. He was adorable, like your favorite uncle. I'd love to have dinner with him. He talked about how personal this book is to the pope, how much it is an intimate peek at his heart and his own intense search for the Lord.

The next speaker was Bishop Lori (not a bad speaker) and after him came George Wiegel. As a speaker, he's dry as graveyard dust but hey, everybody can't be entertaining. What he had to say was quite impressive though. Finally John Allen spoke. Allen is tall, very thin and as pink as a newborn piglet. I think he'd make a good college professor. His talk was lively and informative. He's also very funny.

There were numerous priests in attendence and we saw three different orders of nuns. If you're ever in DC do visit the John Paul II Center and make your way to K Street to visit the Catholic Information Center which sponsored the event.

I have just started reading the book. It's different. It is not lyrical like an Archbishop Sheen book, it's not full of meaty historical details like The Life of Christ by Ricciotti. It's a lot like sitting on your teacher's lap in kindergarten after falling down and scraping your knee. Sr. would speak very kindly and get you stop crying while explaining that if you hadn't been running around like a wild pony or trying to do that flip or skipping with your eyes closed the fall never would have happened.

The pope was a school teacher (okay college) and with this book he is talking directly to us in a tender, simple way about the Lord. Interesting and surprising.

Fr. Scalia explains why we need to fast before Mass

I read this in a church bulletin this week. It was so good I had to post it.

Duc in altum (Lk 5:4)The Eucharistic Fast

Growing up you may have heard mom say, “Don’t eat right now — you’ll ruin your dinner.” To us boys especially it made little sense. We ate like horses, so we could not understand how eating at 4:30 would possibly prevent more of the same at 6:30. But mom knew. She knew that if we were filled with junk food we would certainly not finish a healthy dinner. But she understood something more important still: there is a difference between eating and dining. If she allowed us to graze through the kitchen any time we wanted, then we would miss the human, civilizing nature of a family dinner. We would come to the family dinner as animals approach feeding time: just another occasion to stuff our faces. We would ruin our dinner.

Mom’s admonition is a good way to understand the Eucharistic fast. Mother Church requires that we abstain from food and drink for one hour before communion (including candy, breath mints, gum, but not water and medicine). She does not want us to ruin the Lord’s Supper. Perhaps this was clearer years ago, when the fast obliged us for three hours before communion or from midnight the night before. Even with today’s modest requirement, the purpose remains the same: we have to make some sacrifice and separation from the world before we approach the Lord’s Table. If we do not, we will rush in and out of Mass and the reception of Holy Communion, just fitting it in to the rest of our errands and outings on Sunday. To prepare us for a meal fundamentally different from any other, Mother Church has us fast.

And just as moms do not want their children coming to the table with an already full stomach, so Mother Church understands the spiritual danger of approaching the Eucharist with a sated belly. When we are physically satisfied, we lose sight of our deeper, more profound spiritual hunger. The Eucharistic fast seeks to provoke a physical hunger to remind us of our spiritual hunger and the insufficiency of the world’s food. After a 10:30 Mass at one parish, I heard a husband say to his wife, “Let’s go eat breakfast.” I expressed surprise that they had not eaten anything yet, since they certainly had plenty of time to do so before Mass. He responded, “Father, how can you hunger for the word of God on a full stomach?”

The Eucharistic fast also helps us understand the purpose of fasting in general. We do not fast because the created world and/or the body are evil (as some heretical sects have believed). Rather, we fast to detach ourselves from created goods so that we can strive for spiritual, eternal goods more freely. We have all experienced the competition between the body and the soul. As the soul strives for holiness and virtue, the desires of the flesh (as Scripture calls them) lead us in the other direction. Fasting is a way of disciplining the body — again, not because it is bad — but so that it will be more peacefully subject to the aspirations and directions of the soul.

We typically associate fasting only with Lent. And, of course, we do fast particularly during that sacred season. But we should integrate some form of fasting into our lives throughout the year. In this regard, all Catholics should know and observe the discipline of the Friday mortification required by canon law. Every Friday throughout the year we are required to perform some act of mortification or self-denial. On Fridays during Lent it must be abstaining from meat. On Fridays during the rest of the year we may eat meat provided that we offer some other sacrifice — e.g. abstaining from alcohol, sweets, TV, etc. In this way we associate ourselves with our Lord’s sacrifice and we cultivate that interior freedom from the world’s pleasures that enables us to seek more generously the Kingdom of God.

— Fr. Paul Scalia

One of the best books I ever read

One of the best books I've ever read was "A Right to Be Merry" by Mother Mary Francis, a Poor Clare nun. She was a beautiful writer and this is a marvelous peek into the extraordinary life of the Poor Clares.

francis beckwith

All the big time blogs are buzzing about Francis Beckwith and his reversion to the Catholic Church. I didn't even know who Beckwith was---(he was the president of an Evangelical group) and I was taken aback by his rather apologetic tone about the whole thing. I just hope that he is happy and doesn't start up some quasi Protestant "ministry". We have too many wanna be priests running around already.

Motu Proprio

I hope I'm wrong but I don't think the Motu Proprio is really coming. At least not in the way many of us are hoping for. We may get a universal indult BUT I suspect it won't have any strength. The bishops will either ignore it outright or the Vatican will give them a face saving loophole of some sort so they can ignore it politely. The other possibility is that the Tridentine Mass will be changed to suit non Catholics and Romanized Protestants. (Catholics in name only). The faithful will be told to accept this new version of the Tridentine or take a hike-- driving the hard core Traditionalists even further away.

At any rate, don't assume that the Motu Proprio will be the great fix to the Church's problems. It's been bad for decades and it's not going to change overnight barring a miracle.

one terrific blog

I have fallen in love with The Walled Garden, the blog of an former firefighter from Alaska who married a Scotsman and lives on a farm now. She's a whirlwind of activity and has excellent insights on the great vocation of being a wife and homemaker.

Scott Hahn makes some unhelpful comments

I'm really surprised by this. I thought Scott Hahn was smarter than that. I loved his book, The Lamb's Supper and I enjoyed A Father Who Keeps His Promises but lately I've been disturbed by his teaching that the Holy Spirit is maternal (In order to be maternal musnt' one be female?) and since he teaches at Franciscan U and teaches seminarians what Scott Hahn thinks is important. I will be less likely to buy any new books by Prof. Hahn in the future.

Two churches in our diocese

So far, Rocky and I have now visited 25 churches in our diocese. We went to Our Lady of Good Counsel on Sunday and it was hideous. The whole church looks like something out of the 70s. I felt like a time traveler. The tabernacle was in a corner and was "decorated" with dead lillies. The few people we saw looked surprised to see us. Either they don't see to many black Catholics or they just don't get too many visitors. A group of teenagers came in carrying four bongo drums and an electric guitar. We fled.


After that we decided to visit St. Catherine of Sienna in Great Falls. After OLGC this was a real blessing. St. Catherines's is gorgeous. Jesus in in the middle of the church, they have real stained glass with pictures that make sense instead of those weird distorted images that seem so popular in churches today. They have windows on the glorious and joyful mysteries and depicting the big events in St. Catherine's life. They also a have a relic of St. Catherine on display. There are statues of St. Therese, Mary and the Divine Infant. I fell in love. Plus the people we met were friendly. If you're ever in Great Falls check this church out.

Show us your veil week

It's Show Us Your Veil Week (HT A Thorn in the Pew and The Walled Garden) and here's a pic of my favorite one. It's Spanish and comes from Halo-Works. I bought the child size because the ladies size is too big for me. I love this veil. It's so sheer and light and stays on my head without pins and it even stays in place when I bow down to the floor in adoration.

I also have a pretty nice veil in light blue from EWTN. It was only six bucks but does not look cheap at all. My other veils are vintage from Ebay or come from a seamstress.

porn nation and a remedy

I was at the hair salon yesterday and someone turned the TV on. The show playing was The Girls Next Door, at reality show about the three Playboy Playmates who are being paid to be Hugh Hefner' "girlfriends". It showed them romping around the house in various stages of nudity.

The owners of this salon are Catholic. Most of the customers are either Ethiopian Catholics, Orthodox, American Baptist/AME Zion or Muslim. Guess what? Had I demanded that the TV be turned off I would've been shouted down. Most of the ladies even the old ones couldn't take their eyes off the TV. They were fascinated, laughed and smiled the whole time. I listened to music and read St. Thomas Aquinas. I don't think I ever truly realized how pornified this country has become until then.


Later, Rocky and I went to St. Rita's for the Vigil Mass and I was comforted. It's Good Shephard Sunday and Fr. Theoden (a very saintly and one of the kindest priests I've ever met) preached about the love our Good Shephard has for us and how He will search to bring us back no matter how badly we've strayed if we just repent. He talked about Project Rachel and how many of the women he's counseled felt at first that they had done something too disgusting to be forgiven. Fr. reminded us that many of these poor women were pushed into abortion by the men in their lives or by their parents. Many got pregnant in the first place because they were trying to be what passes for "normal" in this horrifyingly porn drenched nation.

Dear Jesus have mercy on all the girls and women who watch The Girls Next Door and think this is something to aspire to. Merciful Lord, have mercy on all the girls and women who think that in order to be with the in crowd they have to debase their bodies and besmirch their souls.

Goodbye Miss White

The peppery Hilary of The Devout Life blog has apparently decided to hang it up. It was a fascinating blog written by one of the toughest women in the Catholic blogosphere. I hope she finds what she's looking for one day.

an evening with Fr. Groeschel

On Monday Rocky and I went to Blessed Sacrament in Alexandria for Mass and to hear Fr. Benedict Groeschel. Blessed Sacrament is one of the uglier churches in Virginia but it's a good place.

The Blessed Sacrament is kept in a dignified chapel ( I would prefer to have Jesus on the altar but this is better than a corner or down the hall in a dusty room which I've seen in other Virginia churches). The pastor, Fr. Cregan used to be a Marine and like John Wayne he takes no mess off anybody. Fr. Jaffe, is a big, hearty man's man. Rocky thinks very highly of him. Fr. Workman is a good guy as well. The choir is terrible and they have altar girls (ugh) but the Mass is celebrated reverently and the testosterome level is high.

Now, as for Fr. Groeschel. He is so fragile looking now that I almost gasped when I saw him. He couldn't sit down easily and actually fell into his chair. The impact shook his whole body and it looked like it hurt. This will be the last time I see him, I thought. But then he began to speak and I forgot his infirmaties. His body may be weak but his spirit is still like a young lion. He had planned to talk about living the spirtual life but because of Virginia Tech massacre he spoke about mental illness and evil instead. The church was packed and we were delighted to see a bunch of Missionaries of Charity (they are so tiny) and another order whom I couldn't identify, dressed all in white. There were numerous young priests in attendence and of course there were delightful young friars in the pews. I'm glad we went.

a failure to communicate

I was in a large and very conservative Catholic bookstore and was appalled to see that it had more Medjugorje books than books on Lourdes, Guadalupe or La Sallette. The Vatican, I'm sorry to say really failed on this one. By saying practically nothing and watching as Medjugorje became a phenomenon totally unlike any other apparition John Paul II (whom I dearly loved and whom I believe to be a saint) made a mistake. True, he never made a public statement praising the apparition or the so called visionaries but we also have no evidence that he rejected it in private either. JPII was a strongly Marian pope. If he had said yea or nay that would have been the end of the controversy for many people.

Although the local bishops have strongly condemned it Medj has become a "people's choice." Look in your diocese paper under the pigrimage section and you'll find pilgrimages to Medj. Priests and nuns ---- conservative ones, mind you --- openly attribute their vocations to Mary's "messages". One fantastic young priest says he didn't even start living a Christian life until he found a book on Medj and began to read. A statue of Gospa is displayed prominently at the Grotto of Lourdes in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Sr. Briege McKenna enthusiasticly embraced the apparition as did the now disgraced Fr. Ken Roberts (he wrote the Playboy to Priest book about his coversion back in the 60s)

There is a couple in my diocese who are completely devoted to Medj. and they and and their rosary business were written up in a loving tribute in my diocesan paper. I was reading a beautiful prayer book given to me by Poor Clares (!) that includes a prayer to Our Lady of the Rosary. One of the lines says "you appeared in Lourdes and Medjugorje..."

What's even more disturbing to me is how many priests flat out won't condemn Medj. now. Even a lion like Fr. Corapi simply stated that he only talks about approved apparions---- not endorsing but not openly, clearly saying that the whole thing is a hoax either. Ask your parish priest what he thinks of Medj. and you'll probably get either entusiasm or a wishy washy avoidance.

By letting this thing go on so long the Church allowed it become "normal." and that was a horrible disservice to Jesus' lambs.

tuesday night thoughts

In the wake of the whole Don Imus thing many people argued in this defense that he didn't say anything that isn't said repeatedly in rap music. This got me to thinking about why rap is so misogynistic.

I personally think it is an infantile form of protest. America has been feminized to the point where men will stand still and shamefacedly ignore a woman being beaten right in front of them. The average black male under the age of 30 was raised by a single mother. Most black pregnancies are out of wedlock. Most black women will never marry. So they raise sons who listen to them complain about black men and who watch them play the dating game with all that entails.

Can you imagine knowing that your shoes, your winter coat, your rent is all being paid by your mom's various boyfriends? That's a common lower class black arrangement. Imagine waking up and finding a strange man eating in your kitchen on Saturday morning. Is this your new "uncle" or is he just some guy who will not be around for lunch? Imagine being smacked around by your mom's current man for no particular reason. These are also all too common scenarios.

Motherhood is sacred in the black community. It is beyond taboo to criticize your mama and making fun of someone else's can get you shot and yet, imagine the anger all these young boys must feel. They can't speak against mama---- besides they love her but they can spew that rage onto black women in general. Consider how many rappers come from lousy homes. Song after song talks about drug addicted or drug selling mothers, absent fathers, poverty, bitterness and shame. You can't have a whole segment of the population living like that and not expect it to spill out into the wider culture especially when it comes in form that has a good dance beat.

Oh my God

33 dead at Virginia Tech. College life being what it is; how many of them were prepared to enter Eternity? May God have mercy on their souls and may He send comfort and peace to their families.

A visit to St. Philips

One of Rocky and my hobbies to try to visit every single church in our diocese. Yesterday we made a holy hour at St. Philips in Falls Church, Virginia. The actual church seems to be under renovation so Masses are held in the school cafeteria and in the chapel. We sat with the Blessed Sacrament and were impressed at how hard somebody must have worked to turn a classroom into a santuary. They did a good job. On the down side, the Neocatechumical Way is huge at this parish so I don't think we'll ever attend Mass there.

I just bought this

I like to keep a small notebook in my purse for grocery lists, sins to confess, phone numbers, project plans, ect. I just bought this one and it's adorable. Plus, since I have about ten mantillas in my collection it made me laugh. You can order one here.

saturday thoughts

• I'm so proud. My blog site is blocked in China!
  
  
  
• I saw this on The Lair of the Catholic Cavemen. If Italian Catholics are so ignorant of their Faith when the Vatican is right in their midst what does that say about the state of catechesis. I keep hearing that the New Springtime is right around the corner (along with the freeing of the Tridentine Mass) but so far things look pretty darn frosty to me.
  
  
  
• Getting back to my concerns about my darling mother I just read this on Lair of Catholic Cavemen which brings up what VatII had to say about salvation outside the Church.

something I've been brooding about

My mother is a Baptist. She thinks it's great that Rocky and I are Catholic, she's always happy to go to Mass with us, she's been through RCIA but she won't convert. I think she feels it would be something of a betrayal to her parents memories.

I've spoken to four priests about Mama. One, the youngest, clearly didnt' want to distress me but clearly didn't want to say "don't worry about it". The others --one an old priest, the others were in their early 30s--- all told me not to be concerned. The church, they told me has taught since the 40s that Mama is part of the Holy Catholic Church because she is a Christian. She does not know this and obviously doesn't have the fullness of the Faith but what she does have is enough to get her to Heaven. I want to believe this but didn't Pope Leo (I forget which one) say that heretics shall not enter Heaven? I'm going to keep praying that if it is necessary for her salvation that Mama converts one day.

Exultet from Easter Vigil

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!

Exult, all creation around God's throne!

Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!

Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,radiant in the brightness of your King!

Christ has conquered!

Glory fills you!Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church!

Exult in glory!

The risen Savior shines upon you!

Let this place resound with joy,echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

My dearest friends,standing with me in this holy light,join me in asking God for mercy,that he may give his unworthy minister grace to sing his Easter praises.

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night when first you saved our fathers :you freed the people of Israel from their slaveryand led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is night when Christians everywhere,washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us, had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!

How boundless your merciful love!

To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault,O necessary sin of Adam,which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights, chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:"The night will be as clear as day:it will become my light, my joy."The power of this holy night dispels all evil,washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,brings mourners joy;it casts out hatred, brings us peace,and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earthand man is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night, receive our evening sacrifice of praise, your Church's solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle, a flame divided but undimmed, a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God. Let it mingle with the lights of heaven and continue bravely burning to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the Morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning: Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

Mass of the Lord's Supper.

We went to Holy Thursday Mass last night and it was beautiful. Fr. Théoden gave a long and soul stirring homily. He is a very kind and saintly man and is a wonderful confessor. All of the altar boys served from the A team down to the newest recruit. The boys' did very well and must have practiced hard to get everything right.

Fr. Théoden washed the feet of twelve altar boys, (I hope they all washed first, cause few things are stronger on earth than the odor from a teenaged boy's feet) and after Mass young Fr. Aragon carried the Lord in a procession around the church. The altar was stripped of all decoration including candles, nothing remained except the flowers and candles at the Altar of Repose. We sat there until around ten PM remembering that terrible night when Our Lord sweated blood in the olive garden and suffered unspeakable mental anguish for our sins.

I suddenly had a glimpse of how totally and wildly God loves us. Wonderful, astonishing, incredible love for me and for you.

What Wondrous Love is This?

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!What wondrous love is this, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of blissTo bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,

To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,

When I was sinking down, sinking down,

When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,

Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,

Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.

To God and to the Lamb Who is the great “I Am”;

While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;

While millions join the theme, I will sing.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be;

And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;

And through eternity, I’ll sing on.

Chrism Mass and other thoughts.....

Chrism Mass

Rocky and I went to the Chrism Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral in DC. It was glorious. Archbishop Wuerl was there and I was startled by his appearacnce. He looked like a piece of chewed on leather. Has he not been well lately? Cardinal McCarrick is a couple of decades older than him and looked just as pink cheeked and perky as a youngster. The music was magnificent. The Cathedral's schola choir is always impressive.

There must have been over 100 priests in attendance and it was beautiful to see them. There were old priests, grown grizzled and gray in the service of the Lord, one was so frail that he had to be led. There were tall priests, short priests, thin ones and one so fat and jolly looking that he reminded me of the Pillsbury Doughboy. There were Benedictines, Franciscans and Domincan priests and priests from other orders I couldn't identify. There were young priests and many, many young seminarians.

These young men were a special delight. Many of them wore cassocks and all seemed excited to be there. I saw the Missionaries of Charity nuns, the Virgin of Mattara Sisters and a few Dominicans and Franciscan nuns as well. After Mass the mood was a joyful one. It was like a class reunion.

_______________________________________________________________________________

I just had a thought. Let's say that the Tridentine Mass really is going to be set free. Will my bishop obey? Will yours? Will the average Catholic finally be able to go to a nearby parish (if not his own) and attend the Tridentine Mass? I predict that many of our US Bishops will simply ignore anything from Rome.

_________________________________________________
The great horror is almost upon us. Ladies, the quest for a swimsuit that looks modest and cute and in no way resembles a flour sack begins again for another Summer. So far as much as I respect what these people are trying to do I found a number of suits that would make me ill if I had to put them on. For example this one is well.... HIDEOUS.

I found it at Wholesome Wear.

Then there's this one which is sweet but impractical.

I didn't mind this one but it comes in such revolting patterns.

Finally, there's the suits at this site which are cute for little girls but would look silly on me.

I'll probably buy something from LL Bean or the Esther Williams collection. The Esther Williams suits are retro so I'll be decently covered but none of her things make you look like something so lumpish and ugly that you should be covered up for the safety of the public.

Palm Sunday

I was exhausted this Palm Sunday but it was a beautiful Mass. Fr. Aragon was the celebrant and his homily was so amazing that I really wish I could've typed as he spoke. He spoke on Peter and how his fall came about. I'm paraphrasing but it went something like this :

First, Peter followed Jesus at a distance when He was arrested. How many times do we follow Our Lord from a distance? We love Him, or at least we say we do and yet, when someone cracks a flithy joke about the church or says something ignorant about the Blessed Virgin we remain silent lest the person think we're "too religious" or just not sophisticated. How many times do we bite our tounges when our fornicating relatives come to visit bringing their current lovers with them?

Second, Peter stumbled into temptation by looking for comfort. He sat down to warm himself by the fire in the courtyard of the high priest. The people sitting around the fire were servants of the Temple or the high priest. They were in the service of the people who were going to kill Jesus. This was the last place Peter should've been. How many times do we choose comfort instead of Jesus? Do we stay in bed on cold Winter mornings with the intention of confessing our sin later? Do we pour ourselves into provocative clothes because they'll fashionable and we want the pleasure of looking like all the other women we know? How many times have we partied with people we know are antiChristian becuase they are great company, throw the best parties and amuse us to no end?

Third, when being associated with Jesus seemed dangerous Peter denied Him. We deny Our Lord each time we sin.

If we're honest , we know that we are all no better than Peter was on Good Friday but if we figh the good fight we can be like Peter was when he recovered himself. He turned, he repented, he took shelter in Our Lord's blood and wounds and became the leader of the apostles and the church.

Saturday thoughts

This morning I went to church and joined the Altar Society in cleaning the candle holders, polishing brass and arranging the altar floral display for Palm Sunday. It was fun. Fr. Theoden came out and offered a few suggestions. I'm tired and smell like chemicals but it was a good thing. I can see that I won't be able to do it every Saturday morning because of my crazy schedule but today was good.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Today Rocky and I went to the Ukranian Holy Family Shrine in DC for Mass with his bible study group from church. They are Catholic but use the Byzantine rite. It was amazing. Except for the homily every part of the Mass was sung either by the priests, deacons or the congregation. Communion was administered using a silver spoon. We Latin rite Catholics have lost so much beauty and dignity in our liturgy. It's really quite tragic how ugly the average Novus Ordo Mass is.

Afterwards we all went to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception for lunch and a tour. That was very nice. The tour guide got a couple of dates wrong but she had a huge amount of information to remember so that's understandable. After the tour Rocky and I visited the Poor Clare's convent and the Franciscan monastery. And then we came home so Rocky could cheer Georgetown on to victory.

Fr What-a-Waste and other thoughts

• 
  This phrase has irritated me for years. When a woman refers to a priest that way she's saying that the only men who should serve God are the ones who are uglier than a fatherlesss billy goat and/or so socially inept that no woman would want them.

• Here's a lovley new blog written by a young fellow who's on his way to the Missionaries of the Eternal Word.
  
  
  
• I suspect that the whole Iraq thing is hopeless. This is a country that has a 40% literacy and where most marriages are between cousins. Cousin marriage leads to idiots and tribalism, two things that you really need to lose if you want a democracy.
  
  
  
• I dearly love John Paul II but let's not declare him a saint just yet. We have time and it's no offense to our late Papa if a slow, thourough investigation is done. Remember even the remarkable St. Therese had to wait twenty some years after her death to be cannonized. St. Maria Gorretti's then teenaged murderer was an old man by the time Pope Pius cannonized her. There is no need to rush.
  
  
  
  
• Fr. Fessio got fired. I haven't followed the whole Ave Maria thing so I'm now I'm curious. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
  
  

Was that water really holy?

I have a question. Last week I was asked to fill the Holy Water font at church. I was directed to get the water from the sacristy sink that Fr. Théoden and Fr. Aragorn use to wash up. There was no salt and no blessing so how can it be Holy Water? Can you pre-bless all the water that comes form Father's sink?

Apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist

I wish I could get more excited about this but to be brutally honest it means almost nothing in practcal terms. If your bishop is more Mahoney than Sheen then he's going to keep on doing what he's doing.

thursday night thoughts

Mary Alexander at Against All Heresies has a post on something that has made me uneasy for a while now: lay people who set themselves up in their own "ministries". Mark Shea, Jimmy Akin, Karl Keating and Stephen Ray all hawk their books, tapes, and speaking engagements on their sites and "generously" share their views on Catholicism and the world. Some Catholics hang on to their utterances as if these guys were the pope. This is dangerous ground to tread on.

All these guys are self appointed experts who remind me way too much of Protestant ministers. Something just doesn't seem right.

What's up with the earring?

This man is a priest. Wrap your mind around that for a sec and then read this on Catholic World News to see what he's been up to. It aint pretty.

St. Pio, pray for us!

St. Peter Damien, pray for us!

St. John Vianney, pray for us!

Servant of God, Archbishop Sheen, pray for us!

Thoughts for a Thursday night

Dominic Bettenelli's wife, Melanie has cancer. They have a baby and are still practically newlyweds. Dom is sometimes a bit pompous but he loves his family and his heart is in the right place.

St. Peregrine, patron of cancer victims please pray for this young wife and mother.

19th wedding anniversay

I've finally figured out what has been wrong with me this week. I've been uncommonly weepy and day dreamy. My wedding anniversary was yesterday (we went to Ruth Chris's Steak House and it was the best steak of my life!) and the memory of those early days when Rocky and I first met and got married are so intense that I'm emotional.

19 years ago when I was 21 and Rocky was 23 we drove to Baltimore (no blood tests) and got married in the city court house. Two US Marshals and a shackled prisoner wished us luck. Afterwards we went to the Baltimore Inner Harbor and had shrimp. Later, we walked into the rectory of Saint Ignatius Chruch in Maryland and asked Fr. Wermer to help us. He gave me a stern talking to about getting married civilly and reminded me that it was no more than living together and then he got to work at the diocese marriage tribunal. We were married in church per the bishop's approval and lived happily ever after.

I remember that it was night and the there were no lights in the church except for candles. We had no flowers except for my corsage and baby's breath crown. I had on an old dress and my satin shoes from my high school prom. Rocky was sweating like Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull and we forgot about getting pictures. Rocky's family did not attend.

His family didn't like me at first. I was not their class, I was Catholic and they were Baptist (Rocky converted after our marriage) and I was too quiet, too smart and just too different from what they expected their son to marry. His little brother frankly told him that he didn't care for me all. Rocky told him thanks for the opinion and pursued me like the Colts going after the Lombardi trophy in the Superbowl anyway.

When I met Rocky I was seriously involved with someone else but he just blew that other guy away. One day as we were walking along I realized that this boy was The ONE. I swear I heard Judy Garland singing. And then I got nauseaus. I had planned to marry someone who was well, weak, tame and who'd let me be in complete charge. Rocky wasn't tame then and he sure isn't now.


Here's an essence of Rocky story:

Last year I organized my family's reunion. It was hard, hard, hard work to pull off an event that large; it was like running a small business for a year and Rocky really didn't have a wife for months. He never complained. He was an advisor, the reunion accountant and cheerfully shuttled me and my mother to various meetings. On the day of the reunion banquet I was so exhausted that I lay down (collasped really) to rest before getting dressed in my evening finery. Rocky immediately went into protector mode. I have a vaugue memory of relatives coming to our room door needing various things and hearing R. say, "No you can't talk to Dym, she's trying to sleep. Talk to me." He made change, rustled up extra t-shirts, gave directions, conferred with the banquet manager and straightened out a couple of my wild cousins. He didn't let anyone in to see me or pester me on the phone until the color came back into my cheeks. Forget cards and flowers I thought that was the most romantic thing….

random thoughts for a Monday night

• DC's first opera company was formed at my old church. I never knew this. Amy Welborn has the rather interested story here.
  
  
• I just saw this on the Catholic Conservation blog. Cardinal Egan plays rough!
• 
  Der Tomissar doesn't post much anymore but this reflection on love and what we do for it is really quite beautiful in a way.

Behold the Man

This Lent, behold Him as you never have before. Draw closer to Him as you never have before.

Chaplet in Honor of the Sacred Face

Most Sacred Face, we call on You until You hear our prayers. You are able to help us wonderfully, Holy God, Mighty God, Holy Immortal God! Have mercy on us and on the whole world! Turn Your Face towards us and we shall be saved!

At the large beads we pray:
Heavenly Father, humbly and fervently we offer You the infinite merits and sufferings of the Sacred Face, His Precious Blood, all the wounds and tears of Jesus, to Your greater Glory, for help in our great need!
At the small beads, instead of the Hail Mary, we pray:

FIRST DECADE
O Sacred Face, covered with wounds, have mercy on us, who call on You!

SECOND DECADE
O Sacred Face, covered with blood, have mercy on us who call on You!

THIRD DECADE
O Sacred Face, shedding tears with infinite Love, have mercy on us who call on You!

FOURTH DECADE
O Sacred Face, despised and insulted, have mercy on us who call on You!

FIFTH DECADE
O Sacred Face, silently bearing the most bitter pain, have mercy on us who call on You!

Conclude:

Let us adore the Sacred Face of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Savior, Whose merits are infinite and Whose mercy is fathomless. May He grant us the remission of our sins and true conversion. Let us console His Sacred Face by the purity of our lives, by fearless witness to our Faith and by the depth of our love!

Amen.

THE GOLDEN ARROW PRAYER

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.

Oh Lord, show us thy Face and we shall be saved!

Saturday I got up early and caught a cab to church. We only have one car and my husband was at work and I missed the bus. Oh well. Fr. Theoden reccomended a group to me that cleans up after Mass. I met the leader of the group but they weren't doing their thing that day. As my stomach was curling up in knots (nerves--- I'm shy and talking to new people sometimes makes me ill) I was relieved. I'll come back next Saturday.

After Mass I read the little office of the Blessed Virgin and did the Stations. Fr. sat a few pews in front of me saying his Breviary. That was inspiring. I missed the bus on my return trip and decided to walk instead of standing in the cold at the stop. I enjoyed the walk, I met friendly people and was "kissed" by a happy giant poodle which was really great.

It was a three mile up hill walk and my legs are aching today. Rocky, was somewhat cautious about the whole thing. He argued that one : I normally don't get up until ten on Saturdays and since my job is so stressful that I need the rest. and two that that keeping up after him is grueling enough so why do I want to do more cleaning? Funny man. My darling mother argued that I should be doing something more intellecutal. I was talking to her on the phone and could see her lip curling in disgust in my mind's eye. She thinks I should be sponsoring someone as a catechuemen or arguing in a bible study class. We'll see.

Fr. Richard Sparks---- warning deeply offensive content

Years ago, decades really, a book was published called, Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle. It's still in print and you can buy it from Tan. It was the story of a false priest--- a man who with his communist comrades went to the seminary, got ordained and worked quietly to do evil from the inside of the Church. Fr, Richard Sparks is a perfect example of what can happy when the priest is not 100% orthodox. I'm not saying he's a deliberate anti apostle but if he can get up in public and say foul things like this about the holy mother of Our Lord and Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse, then something has gone seriously wrong in his vocation. Fr. if you do not believe why do you stay in the priesthood? What the heck happened to the Paulists?

This Lent may Our Lady, queen and mother to all priests touch his heart.

Ash Wednesday & bird watching

Rocky and I went to Mass at St.Mathhews Cathedral in DC for Ash Wednedday. We got there early and it was packed to the door. There were three priests, one deacon and a small army of Eurchasristic Ministers. There must have been at least 15 of them. Instead of a priest everyone in my section got a cute 20 something year old girl who really needed to button up her top. Fr. Jameson's homily was not his best but everyone has an off night and I'm sure the poor man was tired.

I love Lent, each blessed one brings me closer to Our Lord and nothing is better than that.



This morning a pair of Canada Geese landed on the roof. They looked so funny up there. Added to the black vultures, American Kestrel and the RedShouldered Hawk that I saw last week this is turning out to be a pretty good bird watching month.

random thoughts for a Monday off from work

• Yesterday morning I heard a mourning dove singing outside my window. It's the first dove I've heard this year. The ice outside is so think I can stand on it without making a dent but Spring is coming.
  
  
  


• I'd love to see Queen Isabella be cannonized. She and her daughter Queen Catherine are two of my great heroines but the human odds against Isabella are high. The whole weak Western world trembles in fear before Islam and the Muslims would probably object to her Cause. A number of Jewish groups would also protest.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• For Lent I've decided to take up the Holy Face devotion and I'm going to start a curse jar. Every time I say something spicy I'll put 50 cents in the jar. At the end of Lent I'll give whatever the amount is to one of my Catholic charities.
  
  
  
• I want to do something at my parish but I'm not sure what. After visiting North Carolina I was struck once again by unfriendly Virginia suburban parishes are. Rocky and I attended our parish for a year before anyone other than Fr. Theoden and Fr. Aragorn spoke to us even to say hello. I don't want to be a greeter---- I'm shy and the whole concept is lame and better suited to a church where they dance with snakes anyway---- but something needs to be done. Unless you've been attending my parish for 15 years or have kids at the school you will be largely ignored and that's not good. I'd like to bring it up with Fr. Theoden but I don't want him to think that I am one of those wretched church ladies that are obsessed with running their own little fiefdoms. Maybe what we need is a sodality. I think I'll get into the habit of saying hello to people and see what happens. Maybe it will spread.
  
  
  
• The annual Catholic Charities gala was held last week and from the published photos I've noticed something: several of the women partygoers were dressed immodestly. In one pic a priest stands looking (too his credit) somewhat uncomfortable while surrounded women in strapless gowns. Why would you go to a Catholic function half naked? Why would you ask a priest to pose with you and your heaving boobs? What the heck is wrong with people?
  

Weep for Orlando and our bishops

In an age when Catholic schools and churches are being closed this bishop decides to give $10,000 to a Protestant sect. It's time to stop giving to the bishops appeals. Hat tip to Some Have Hats.

Carolina Cannonball has a fantastic post on feminism

Sometimes I wish I could give American women a collective smack upside the head. We are the most free-- although we confuse freedom with license, best educated, most pampered women on the face of the earth and yet becuase of the feminist movement many of us are miserable. Carolina Cannonball's post on this topic is awsome.

I've never (even in my wild college years) had any use for feminism. I like men, love being a woman and I know full well that a man's life is not something I want to live. Besides feminism is satanic. Anything that encourages you to worship yourself instead of God comes from the heart of the devil.

random thoughts on a Tuesday evening

• Archbishop Wuerl has written his first pastoral letter on confession. Some people are cheering but it seems tragic to me that the church in America has fallen so low that people are impressed because a bishop tells people to go to confession during Lent. Didn't that used to be a no-brainer?
  
  
• On Amy Welborn's and Mark Shea's blog there is an conversation going on about immigration and comments that Karl Rove supposedly made. I think condemning his alleged comments are hasty and hypocritical. Hasty because we don't really know that he said this. Reporters have been known to lie before. Jayson Blair did it at the New York Times and Janet Cooke did it at the Washington Post.
  
  And it's hypocritical because let's face it : Many Middle and upper class Americans don't like manual labor and would prefer to have someone else do what they consider to be a lowly, nasty job.. When was the last time, outside of the Southa small MidWestern town that you saw a white or black kid bussing tables in a restaurant? When was the last time a middle class white kid knocked on your door and asked if he could cut your grass? Rather than paint our own living rooms a lot of couples are choosing the degrading and potentially dangerous practice of picking men up at the day labor lot next to Home Depot or Lowes and dropping them off on the side of the road when the job is done.

i have returned

It was close to 50 degrees in Carolina so coming back to the ice and miserable cold was no fun. Still, it was a great trip and we had such fun. I saw an American Kestrel fly past our car and when we done furiture shopping we went to a tiny little church for Sunday Mass. It was Christ the King and the Mass was lovely. Later we visited High Point's only other parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary. The people there were so nice and one of the ushers took us on a tour. We were both struck by how friendly everyone was. At my parish if strangers walked in they'd either be ignored or stared at. I think I'll mention that to Fr. Theoden. We could be doing a lot better.

it's my birthday

Today I turn 40. How strange. I don't feel 40. Some days I still feel like 16 year old Scarlet O'Hara at the barbecue. Some days I feel like I'm 21. I just realized that I am now the same age my mother was when my father died. I'm filled with even more respect for her. How did she manage? She had such grace and courage. I don't think I'd be able to cope like she did. Rocky and I are going to North Carolina for a few days to look at furniture. I'm off to check Masstimes.org to see where the Catholic churches are there.


Pray for me, St. Apollonia!
Pray for me, St. Dymphna!
Pray for me St. Therese!

out, out, brief candle

My candle burns at both ends

It will not last the night...

Anna Nicole Smith died. She led a disgusting life, was a former stripper, a drug addict, a drunk and posed for a pornographic magazine and apparently slept concurrenly with so many men that no -one knows who is her baby's daddy but I feel pity for this lost soul. 39 is too young to die.

random thoughts for a wenesday night

• This strory is so sad. The Holy Father gave a speech in which he stated that homosexuals destroy themselves. His words are revealed in this particular tragedy. Why did these poor silly kids do such a horrible thing to themselves and their families? Why throw their precious lives away and endanger their immortal souls for a teenage crush? May God grant them pardon and peace.
  
  
  
• This morning was so beautiful. I love the sight on fresh snow on the magnolia trees. When I finally got bundled up and made my way outside it looked like the whole world had snow and diamonds blanket on. I saw some tracks in front of our house. They were not squirrel tracks and couldn't have been bunny tracks either. I should have taken pictures. I felt glad to be alive and thanked the Lord for letting me experience His gift of natures beauty.
  Good news. In the DC diocese there will be Confession from 7 to 8 PM every Wednesday for the duration of Lent.
  
  
• Don't go see the movie Horndog. Dakota Fanning's mom may not care about her but the rest of us should. Let's not contribute to the destruction of a child's innocence in the name of entertainment.
  

random thoughts for a cold Saturday morning

• 
  Terry McAuliffe is not going to be a Knight of Malta after all. Good work to all of you Knights or Dames who wrote or called to protest. The blogoshpere is powerful.
  
  
  
  
• Catholic Schools Week is finally over which means I no longer have to see long overwrought posts by bloggers who don't want to send their kids to the local parochial school.
  
  

You can't keep a caveman down for long

Vir Speluncae Catholicus of Lair of the Catholic Cavemen took sick but is slowly but surely on the mend. Thanks be to God.

you gotta read this book

I just finished Ten Dates Every Catholic Should Know. It's fantastic. The author is a Catholic historian and not only does she know her stuff, she knows how to present it as well. I was enthralled. Every time things look impossibly bleak God takes care of his people. He corrects, and comforts. I was especially moved by the description of the last days and death of little Prince Louis Charles, son of Louis and Marie Antoinette. The cruelty metted out to this little innocent is horrifying and I found myself wishing that I could somehow step into history and comfort him. I was glad that he had one kind person near him at the end.

This was sad and the fall of France stems directly from the rejection of Our Lord's Sacred Heart. The section on Fatima was sobering. I wish that Russia could've been unambigusously consecrated ((a lot of good, and yes, sensible Catholics still doubt that the consecration ever happened) but apparently Mary did accept what was done. However, the book reminds us that Mary's requests were not just for the pope. She asked the people for daily recitation of the rosary and pennance. How many of us are doing that and if you look at Western society how soon will another great chastisement come?

Archbishop Wuerl

That about covers it....

faith in action

Last Thursday was the coldest of the year in Virginia. It was in the teens. Rocky and I went to confession and Adoration that night. As usual the heat wasn't on (money saving measure) and I dont' think I've ever been so cold indoors in my life. I sat very still, looked at Jesus and prayed hard. As miserable as it was in church I saw many people there. Archbishop Sheen once said that the laity would save the Church and I have come to believe that. Our bishops have let us down, many of our priests have betrayed us but people still come. There is still Faith and hope and love.

books, glorious books

Rocky and I stopped by the Catholic Information Center bookstore in DC tonight. He bought the Handbook on Indulgences, a new Stations of the Cross book and I got the Little Office of the Virgin Mary and Ten Dates Every Catholic Should Know.

What are you doing about it?

Archbishop Wuerl gave a speech at the Catholic Information Center in DC. There was a question and answer session aftewards. This really got me :

He [Wuerl] noted that he sometimes gets letters from Catholics demanding to know what he will do about such situations.
His temptation, he said, was to reply with, "What are YOU doing about it?


Well, Your Eminence, for starters I will pray for you and I will refuse to give one red cent to your Lenten appeal this year.

____________________________________________________________________________________

What I long for....

Catholic Answers Forum

just realized something. Catholic Answers Forum is downright scary. Some of those questions and answers are from the Twilight Zone. One person asked if it was true that SSPX women aren't allowed to drive. I guess they just bilocate to Mass then? Whenever I read the messages on CAF I'm reminded that amateur thelogians are to be avoided.

On Obama-rama and other things

• 
  Why does the church allow priests like Fr. Pfleger to be in charge of black parishes? Don't black Catholics deserve a decent pastor too? Don’t they deserve Catholicism as opposed to some warmed over faux Baptist teaching? And after reading this joker's comments on the laughable Barak Obama I'm just disgusted.
  
  "Do not touch this man," he says, "for if you do, you will answer to us all."

Uh, Father. Who the hell is "us" and what do you mean by "answer"? I don't know how intelligent the black folks in Chi-Town are but you DO NOT speak for all black people. The trouble with people like Fr. Pfleger is that for them it is 1968 all the time.

• Why do we have gay ministries? Why aren't there fornicator's ministries or wife beater ministries or ministries and clubs for tax cheaters and petty thieves?
  
  
• 2008 is looking pretty bad already. I can't vote for Romney. He's not pro-life and I can't vote for a Mormon anyway. Someone who thinks he's going to be a god one day shouldn't' t be anywhere near the nuclear button. I love Giuliani but he's an open serial adulterer, is pro-gay and pro-death so I can't vote for him. Brownback has a snowball's chance in hell of winning anything and I'll sprout wings and fly before I vote for Newt. As for McCain, I respect his service and his POW status but the dude reminds me of Raymond Shaw from Manchurian Candidate. I don't think he's mentally fit to be the Prez. You know what? Hillary is going to win. Ugh!
  
  
• So it's January 2007 and still no Indult. Did you really believe….?
  
  
• Archbishop Wuerl continues to disappoint.
  
  
• When a man invites you (just you, dear and nobody else) to his home for cocktails it usual means his you know what and your tail. So this doesn't shock me as much as it has some others in blog land.
  
  
• It's been said that the reason why more priests and bishops don't preach the timeless truths is because they're afraid of schism. If that's true that for the love of God, gentlemen preach it and bring on official schism. Is it not better to cut off a gangrenous foot than to let it poison the whole body?
  

Now this is a strange situation

A priest in Bumpass, Virginia was caught stealing from his parish. It turns out that the dude ws married and was using the money to take care of his family.

random thoughts for a wet Tuesday night

• Rod Dreher has left the church so why is he still writing about about it? His comments on the resignation of Archbishop Wieglus are interesting but I thought he was done with us. I'm glad Wieglus decided to step down. His presence would not have been good for the church or for Poland.
  
  
  
• Yesterday I went to morning Mass to celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. Fr. Frodo gave the most wonderful homily. I felt tears come to my eyes. He cares so much about the Mass and about imparting some wisdom in his homilies. He's a young priest and is a real gift from God. Rocky couldn't make it to Mass during the day so we went to the 7PM Mass at St. Joseph in Alexandria. There were about 10 people there and it was lovely, like a private family Mass. Two other women besides me had on mantillas and we said the rosary and a novena to St. Joseph too.
  

The movie meme

Carolina Cannonball has tagged me. Yippe!

Favorite Film?

This is a hard pick but I think it's between That Hamilton Woman with Vivian Leigh and Laurence Olivier

or The Shop Around the Corner with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan.

Your Favorite Film Priest?
Oh that's easy it's got to be W.G. Fay as Fr. Tom in the 1947 movie, Odd Man Out. Fr. Tom is gentle and quiet but is easily the bravest, strongest man in the film. It's a tragic movie about a young IRA man who's been wounded and is running for his life from the Brits. Three people desparately want to find him. The Colonel from England who plans to hang him of course, Kate, the young girl who loves him and surprises even her self with her fierce resolve to help her man and Fr. Tom who wants to save his soul. The last lines of the hero and heroine gave me chills and I never forgot them. "Is it far?" "Yes, dear. It's far but I'm coming with you."

Your Favorite Film Nun?

The magnificent Rosalind Russell as Mother Superior in The Trouble with Angels.

Favorite Old B movie?

Band of Angels starring Clark Gable and Yvonne De Carlo.

Newer B-Movie?

Motel Hell. One of the funniest horror movies ever made. It even made my mama laugh and she doesn't like horror movies.

I tag anybody who feels like playing.

random thoughts for a thursday night

• When did our bishops decide that it's more important to be politically savvy than to tell the truth? Nancy Pelosi (pro abortion to the max) is going to a Mass at Trinity college in DC. She will probably take Communion and Bishop Wuerl won't say or do a dog on thing about it.

• When is Fr. James Haley going to be back in a parish?
  
  
• I don't know if she's a real nun or not (I suspect not) and sometimes I'm not even sure if she's really Catholic but her blog sure is interesting.
  
  
• Gerald Ford's was an Episcopalian. His funeral service was so much like a modern Novus Ordo Mass that my husband was confused and asked, "When did Ford convert?"
  
  

beautiful night

Rocky and I went to Thursday night adoration and confession. There was a good sized crowd there and lots of young people who seemed serious about what they were doing. And we had two devoted young priests. It was a heartening experience.