A tragedy

If this is true then a very great tragedy has taken place and is continuing to take place. Father denies it but things don't look good at all. The thing that really bothers me is the unbridled glee that some bloggers are showing.  I've been thinking of Psalm 51 all afternoon.

Virgen Blanca

I love this 12th century alabaster statue of Our Lady and Our Lord. They both look so contented with each other.

Handmaids of the Precious Blood

This order of nuns  is dedicated to praying for priests. Through their external apostalates they invite priests, nuns and lay people to join them in their prayer and sacrifice.

Nasty Nellie

I don't like Rod Dreher. He reminds me of Nellie Olsen from Little House on the Prarie. But I feel a little (just a very little) sorry for him. He left the Catholic Church in a fury and went to the Orthodox. Instead of enjoying Orthodoxy he's like the vengeful man who finds a hole in his enemy's  tent and urinates into it occassionally.  I'm not entirely an Archbishop Dolan fan but His Excellency is not to blame for New York State's homosexual marriage fall. The seeds of disaster were already sown long ago, as I've said before.

Living with infertility. This thing that can not live yet never dies

This was a bad day. The next person who tells me that I'm lucky not to have children is getting a punch in the gut.

Katherine of Aragon, pray for me. St. Joan of Valois, pray for me. St. Anne, St. Gianna, Blessed Elizabeth Leseur  pray for me. Sweetest Heart of Mary give me strength.

a palate cleanser

A sister of the Religieuses Victimes du Sacré-Coeur de Jésus, France, takes her final vows of chastity, obedience, poverty and enclosure..

When a civilization falls

A lot of nice, well meaning people in the blogosphere are aghast because gay "marriage" has been legalized in New York state. To be honest, I feel like asking these people where the hell they've been for the last twenty or thirty years. Have they been so self absorbed that they havne't seen what's been going around them?

Marriage was already befouled a long time ago and heterosexuals did it.

Women divorce their inoffensive husbands for not being exciting enough and the rest of the world cheers them on, "You go, girl!"  Men dump their wives for a younger, prettier replacement and the the rest of us murmur "Well, he has a right to be happy." Generations of children grew up in broken homes and most Americans not only ignored their emotional and physical suffering but also had the gall to insist that the kids were alright.

Adulterers have been portrayed sympatheticly in films as early as the 1930s. From the 50s onward movie stars  had marital adventures that were nothing more than  a sick joke and the majority of our parents  and grandparents ate it up. "Sophisticated," married men subscibed to Playboy magazine and it wasn't too terribly uncommon to find it in their homes. Married women shamelessly read Cosmopolitan and took it's editor's vile advice to heart. Our generation is no better. Pick up any celebrity magazine and what do you see? Stories on who's cheating with whom and the American public can't get enough. Listen to the radio and what do you hear? Filth mostly. Every other song is about graphic fornication or adultery. Our civilization has fallen so low that it's like we're lying in the gutter looking up through a thick layer of toxic mud. All the poisons lurking in the mud are hatching out. Militant homosexuality is one of those poisons.

It's like Frankenstein's monster. Baron Victor Frankenstein had the gifts of freedom, wealth and brilliance but misused them and produced an ugly, homicidal "baby" who horrified him and destroyed everything that Victor loved. Militant homosexuality is the vicious monster baby of heterosexual decadence.

So what's gonna happen? I see two possibilities. Civil marriage is not the end game. Come on, you know that. The leaders of this movement have a plan and it's not about mere tolerance. Eventually two men or two women  will show up in a parish and demand a wedding and the government will back them up. That sounds farfetched but if you went back in time to 1911, and told people that aboriton would be legalized they would've called you insane. If you went back to 1957, and told people that a half black man was one day going to be president they would've assumed you'd been drinking. Impossible things are made possible.

The other possibility is that nationwide financial collaspe will interrupt the game altogether. If ordinary Americans are faced with worries about food and how to avoid a massive crime wave nobody is going to give a rip about a lot of things that matter now. Either way interesting times are coming.

Pre-Cana follies

I've said before that I have a low opinion of the usefulness of pre-Cana classes. Considering that Catholics get divorced at the same rate as unchurched people and Protestants the programs don't seem to do much but make money.
 I just read about a 78 year old Lutheran man who wanted to marry an 60 plus year old Catholic woman. They were told that they had to take the pre-Cana class or there could be no wedding and they balked. The wedding took place in the man's Lutheran church. 

On one hand, I suspect that the Lutheran  really didn't want a Catholic wedding anyway and the pre-Cana requirement was a perfect excuse to get out of it, or the couple didn't want to shell out two hundred bucks from their fixed retiree incomes. On the other hand, insisting that an elderly man and a woman long past menopause have to sit through weeks of lectures on natural family planning, budgeting, and the importance of working together is stupid. At their ages this couple surely knows more about the art of living and loving than the instructors and I think I'd much rather sit with them and ask their advice than pay for anything the instructors would have to say.

I used to think the pre-Cana classes in America were the worst but after reading this English blogger's witty comments I guess things are rough all over.

St. John the Baptist

John the Baptist must have been amazing. He told the pharisees and King Herod exactly what they were. He didn't give a rip about what people thought and hated sin. I've  heard people try use the Baptist as an excuse for coming to Mass looking like they've been planting stink weeds and as a symbol of homelessness and it always makes me want to laugh. The Baptist wasn't a lazy slob and he wasn't a drunkard, drug addict or insane. He was, Our Lord, said, "the greatest man born of woman." What a tribute! He lived a tough life, an extreme life, yes but one that many holy known and unknown hermits would've understood completely.

Mighty St. John, the son of Elizabeth and Zarchariah, cousin and forerunner to Our Lord, pray for us. 

I lost respect for some professional bloggers this week.

He who honors a priest honors Christ; he who insults a priest insults Christ.

St. John Chrysostom

I love you, Little King

Another German Madonna and Holy Child painting

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Oh Lord have mercy on your priests

Today's news

Grief

Madonna and Child

Random thoughts

• I saw that the scheduled pro-homosexuality  Mass that was supposed to be celebrated at St. Cecilia's church in Boston was canceled and apparently a lot of people are in a snit about it.  That's a pity. The Lamb of God shed His blood for the sins of the whole world. All our of sins, both subtle and gross were on His mind when He gave up His Spirit and died. There really wasn't a need for this separate Mass any more than there is a need for a special adulterer's Mass. 

•  This is stupid. Just plain idiotic,ugly and sacrilegious.

• So,  my fellow American Catholics have the wheels come off the bus? As Diana Ross and the Supremes once sang, have we reached the beginning of the end? Michael Voris seems to think so.
  
  
• Rocky's mother is in Walter Reed hospital. Oh St. Peregrine, please pray for her.

A quote for the ages

"'Purity?' they ask. And they smile. They are the ones who go on to marriage with
worn-out bodies and disillusioned souls."
- St. Josemaria Escriva




St. Josemaria is not my favorite saint but he had a way of cutting to the quick when he wanted to make a point. I read this years ago I never forgot it. Every parish that has a young adult group should print  it on a bookmark and hand out to the members.

Come Holy Spirit

Why I'd never be a feminist

Have you ever noticed that feminists don't seem to have much to say in defense of women who aren't their class?  They don't have much to say about the most piggish of men so long as these powerful congressmen support abortion, their dark sacrament.  Ugh. I want no part of them.

June is the month of the Sacred Heart

Heart of Jesus, pierced for my transgressions, have mercy on me, a sinner!

This is beautiful

A novice takes the veil.   May God bless this young lady.

Don’t believe the stereotype.

Ever notice how we are constantly being told that Latinos are the future of the Church because American Catholics are lazy lumps of lukewarm offal? Well, I’ve always thought that patter was so much horse manure. 

According to this article very few young Latino men in the States are going to the seminary. I’m not surprised. Protestantism and secularism have made huge gains in Latin America and the Mexican Church in particular is facing some serious problems. Despite what Fr. Skippy says, not all Latinos are devout Catholics.

Another example of Catholic stereotyping is the Malta fantasy. We’re told that Malta is a Catholic Shangri-La. Well a majority of the populace just voted for legalized divorce.  All the examples the professional Catholics use to shame us boring pewsitters fall apart upon even casual inspection.

Beautiful Maria of Regensburg

This unsual and precious painting is in the Collegiate Church of St. John in Regensburg, Germany. The Holy Father was a professor in Regensburg and probably saw this painting of Our Lord and Our Lady everytime he went to Mass.

Oh good grief

I saw this on Fr. Z’s blog. For pity’s sake folks. If a woman wants to veil at Mass (I do for the Novus Ordo and the TLM) and/or adoration that’s her business. Mind yours.  She is not necessarily being holier than thou. Some of us do it as a penance and if she is showing off the Lord will deal with her later.

Jack Kevorkian died

How odd that a man who so enjoyed killing the pysically and mentally ill decided to die in his hospital bed of natural sickness. It's rather like the environmentalists who fly their jets all over the world and live in huge mansions yet begrudge the rest of us a car and home bigger than a hut. In the end he was a hypocrite as well as a creep.

Ascension at St. Rita's

Ascension Thurdsay at St. Rita's was beautiful. We had a sung Tridentine. Fr. Eagle had four altar boys and a very, very good schola. I'm always so excited when we go to the TLM. It's just plain amazing seeing little kids so quiet and attentive. And the people at the Mass are fascinating, college kids, young couples, young professionals and  people from around the world were there last night. Two old men sat in front of me. One had a shiny new missal and his friend had a missal so old and worn it was just barely held together by the sewn binding.
One thing about the high sung TLM, is that you can't let your mind wander. The priest  is constantly in motion and he's continuing his prayers to God on our behalf while the the choir is singing. I've been experimenting with differnet strategies for keeping up with Fr. Eagle and last night I followed the missal until  the Sanctus and after that I concentrated totally on the altar. It seemed to work.

Ken Jan Woo

Ken Jan Woo, is a highly talented Chinese born artist who created the magnificent icons at the Our Savior's Church  in New York City. His icon of St. John is one of the best I've ever seen. Too many artists make St. John look like a little girl. Woo's St. John is a young man. I also love his St. Joan of Arc , his St. Augustine of China and his Blessed Mother Teresa.  The next time I'm in New York I will definitely take a cab to see the church and  to look at the icons of Our Lord and the painting of Our Lady. There is so much lousy religious art on the market and in our churches that we really need to support beauty and talent when we find it.

Hail Mary

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

Random thoughts

*It's a heat advisory day today so I'm staying inside and enjoying the comforts of modern life. When Rocky comes home from work we may head to the Potomac river. In the meantime, thank you Mr. Carrier, Mr. Crapper, Mr. Farnsworth and good ole Mr. Edison, may you all rest in peace.


*After reading about St. Philip Neri I'm curious. How does an oratory work? Is it treated  like a parish or a monastery?

* If you've ever read the Pieta prayer book you've probably seen  excerpts from Mutter Vogel's Worldwide Love. Mother Vogel was a German woman who had many visits from Our Lord and Our Lady. Our Lord supposedly told her many things but the oft quoted words in the Pieta prayer book concerned criticism of priests. A number of people on various blogs have claimed that there's no evidence that Mutter Vogel existed.

I'm a librarian. Looking for stuff is my business so I went searching for Mother Vogel's book for myself. Google is great and I love it but it's not the end of online research by a long shot. After checking WorldCat, the Library of Congress, German Amazon, German books on mystics and a few German blogs I discovered that the Pieta editors spelled Mutter Vogel's name wrong. It's actually Vogl and the book doesn't seem to have been published in English. I then looked for Mutter Vogls weltweite Liebe  and learned that her name was Katharina and she was a Franciscan Third Order member. She did not publish the book herself but seems to have reported the details of her visions only to her superior(s). Someone named A. M. Weigl wrote the book so anyone searching for Vogel as the author wouldn't have found a thing. Katharina Vogl  died in 1956, and her cause for beatification has been opened.

Memorial Day

Do you think that any of the Catholics who publicly wailed for Osama binLadin, (a man who would've cheerfully slit their throats)  will remember that Memorial Day has nothing to do with barbeque or linen sales?

When monks go bad

Thank you, thank you Holy Father for supressing the abbey of Santa Croce. Without discipline things fall apart.

Pray for Joplin, Missouri

So far 118 people are dead. Sudden, unprepared death is a terrible thing. People go on and on about man made global warming but when tornado season hits we are all reminded that mankind is puny before the full force of nature. 

St. Mary's Church, Joplin MO


Eternal rest grant unto all those lost, Oh Lord. May perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.

My Jesus, mercy!

Oh Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted pray for them.

Mass was horrible today.

How bad was it? Well, Rocky got food poisoining at a pot luck at work and there was no way we could make it to St. Rita's on time so we went to Queen of Apostles. We ended up sitting behind two little girls who were so far out of control that I found myself wondering if they were being raised by dingoes.

I don't feel like laughing

A lot of people are mocking the poor souls who believe that the rapture of the just is going to take place today. I can't. Yeah, these people are ridiculous at first glance and yes, even though they are just a small Protestant sect they reflect badly on Christians in general but I'll bet  many of them are kind, decent sorts. They are going to be heartbroken and humiliated before their children and neighbors come Sunday. I'm sure that many, the kids in particular  will lose their faith in God. That's a tragedy because I haven't seen too many efforts by Catholics to reach the people trapped in charismatic and evanelical sects.
May God send a  a brave missonary to California  to lead them to the barque of Peter.

Random thoughts after the migraine has faded

 Yesterday my head hurt so long and so bad that I was wishing that I could throw up because I usually feel better afterwards. I love Spring but it triggers horrid headaches.

• My mother was a housekeeping supervisor in a big DC hotel for 30 years. She could tell you some shocking stories about how rich and not so rich people behave when they are away from home and have someone else to clean up for them. Once when she was in her 20s she went to a guest's room who had called for  turndown service. When she got there he made an obscene suggestion and she angrily left. The man was told to leave the hotel and did.
  
  It makes me so angry when I read on other blogs comments like "Why would a rich man like that bother with a lowly maid?" and "She set him up for money, "Why is a man of his breeding being held in Riker's Island?"  A maid is not a slave or something so beneath a guest that she's not even worth the notice one would take of an animal that happened by.  Apparently in France people are aghast that Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund was arrested on the word of a mere maid. Well, as President Sarkozy pointed out in America we do take rape accusations seriously.
  
  A lot of bloggers (Catholics and others) bitch and moan about America and seem to wish we were more like Europe but I thank God that we are not.

• I wonder why anyone gives a flying hoot  what Stephen Hawking says? The poor man hasn't had an idea since the 80s, 70s!

• The people pursuing the Arnold Schwarzenegger adultery story are simply evil. They are ruining an innocent child's life. They've printed the name of the child's mother. They've posted photos of her and  slightly blurry photos of the boy on the Internet. They've said what town he lives in and posted a photo of his house. I expect they'll do more. All for the love  of gossip, which is a sin. The poor boy is a private citizen and should not be exposed to ridicule because of the sins of his parents.
  
• I pray that Hilary White's cancer treatment goes well. I wish she had  mother or a sturdy old aunt to look after her.

St. Mary's and St. Michael's

Rocky took the weekend off and we day tripped both days. On Saturday we went to Richmond and after the touring and shopping we attended the vigil Mass at St. Mary's. It was very strange. There is no sign out front and nothing to indicate that you've walked up to a Catholic church. It looks like a  cross between the Mormon visitor center in Maryland and St. Bede's in Williamsburg with a large lobby. The decor is a an unsusual but striking fantasy blend of Celtic and art deco.

On one side of the building is a beautiful light filled chapel and on the other is a small adoration chapel. They have a lovely statue of Mary but it's hidden away near the restrooms and there is no image of her in the santuary area. The main church has stadium seating and no kneelers. We couldn't find the Blessed Sacrament and eventually we guessed that Our Lord remains in the chapel.The homily was very good but the whole experience felt like a trip to an Episcopalian church instead of a Catholic one.

On Sunday we went to Southern Maryland. We drove to Point Lookout and enjoyed the water and birds, including two bald eagle sightings. We visited St. Michael's church in Ridge, MD. It's a doll house sized  little church with one of the most moving adoration chapel's I've ever seen.  After the disappointing St. Mary's, St. Michael's was a palate cleanser.

Random thoughts now that Blogger is back

*Yesterday I came across two  delightful blogs, Widow's Weeds.  and New Catacombs that I will definitely visit again.

*Last night Fr. Bear said the TLM. He has such a pleasant, calm voice and he's so easy to follow in the missal. St. Rita's has the TLM every Thursday at 7:30.

*Remember all the idiots who cheered the so-called Arab Spring? Patriarch Gregorios III would like to have a word with them. And Bishop Antonios isn't too thrilled either.

*John Zmirak seems to have kicked the hornet's nest. The response he gets should be interesting.

*The Great Santini is on HBO tonight. I can't watch it without getting sad. My Father-in-law is Bull Meecham without the charm.

Did Archbishop Marini lie?

Former Papal MC, Archbishop Piero Marini has written a book, Io sono un Papa amabile. Giovanni Paolo II, in which he states that Blessed John Paul fully approved of the offbeat liturgies that Marini was in charge of. Father Z. and his most of readers are dismissive.  Is Fr. Z saying in a round about way that an archbishop is lying to sell books? I know many people can't stand Marini but let's get real. Do you really believe that the pope put up with Masses he couldn't stand for two decades? That's absurd.

King of Kings from 1927

The actor playing Our Lord was actually older than the actress playing Mary and it shows  and there are a few other little flaws but overall this was a beautiful movie.

Happy Mother's Day

Mary Virginia Merrick-- one of the greatest women you've never heard of

Mary Virginia Merrick, known as Miss Mary to her many friends wanted to be a nun but after a terrible accident left her in a wheelchair she found another way to serve Jesus. She founded the Christ Child Society and helped untold numbers of poor kids get a meal, a respite from the city, shoes and a safe place to stay. She died in 1955, after years of pain and grace. Her cause for cannonization has recently been opened.

Magadelens and charity girls

This is beautiful. I normally don't read the Abigail's Alcove blog because it's a mommy blog and well, mommy blogs depress me, especially around Mother's Day but  for some reason I looked at it today. I wonder how many of the professed Christian female bloggers who criticized Kate Middleton were once charity girls themselves. For the sake of dinner and a movie and the fleeting feeling that she's one of the cool people,  many a young woman has done as much as a prostitute would for cash. So who's worse?

a thought for today

There was a kindly gentleman who used to chat with me every morning in the line for the bus to the Pentagon. He worked there and  I continued on to the train station. He was a few months away from retirement and was dreaming of going home to Mississippi. After 9/11 I never saw him again.  That dear man from the magnolia state has been on my mind all day.

Is it a sin to ask a few questions about the beatification?

I just read Philip Lawler's essay in Catholic Culture about the John Paul II beatification and a post on Fr. Z's blog, as well as various other blogs that all seem to indicate that if you have any reservations  or questions about the beatification then you are either a foaming-at-the-mouth Rad Traddie or a moonbeam liberal who wants French bread for communion and priestesses. That's too simplistic and it's unfair.  Asking for clarification does not make one a bad Catholic.

Look, I love John Paul II. He was the pope for most of my life and the only one that I remember. I think he was a holy man personally but here's my problem: I was taught, perhaps wrongly that you can look at the whole life of a saint (after conversion in some cases) and imitate what they did and you will get to Heaven. By beatification or canonization, the Church is saying that you can use this person as your model.  Look at their lives and works oh Christian soul and go do thou, likewise.

When looking at the more than two decades of the Holy Father's pontificate it's obvious that he was magnificent in many ways. I read that some cardinal or archbishop in the Curia stated that JPII was being beatified not because of the events of his pontificate but because of his own private holiness. When I first read that I thought, 'Okay', but later I had to ask if that means we are supposed to ignore some of the things that went wrong. I'm talking about the refusal to hear any criticism of Fr. Marciel, for one.

We are all still too close to JPII to objectively look at his life. Many of us are running on emotion and really I do wish the Vatican had waited at least ten years before a beatification.  My father died when I was 13. I love him. I am fiercely protective of his precious memory. He was a great man but I can admit that he made  some mistakes in his life and as a father. Does this mean I'm a bad daughter? No. It just means that I see and understand some things differently that when I was a freshly grieving kid.

Having said all this, I know that I'm not smarter than the pope or the Holy Spirit. I'll say no more about this and just shut up and pray but I do ask that people not be so ready to verbally stone anyone who does raise their hand and admit that they aren't ready to join the bandwagon without having a few things explained to them.

Guys really don't like weddings

Having read the uh..... sour commentary about the royal wedding and this hilarious post  about modern weddings in general I'm reminded once again that guys really don't like fuss and feathers. If you're a bride take heed. Either skip the big wedding or keep it easy to handle. Keep it under budget and don't bother your groom with much more than telling him where to be, what time to be there and what he and his buddies should wear. Don't behave like a spoiled brat and don't flip out when he tells you that neither he nor any heterosexual male gives a flying hoot whether the napkins are pearl pink or sand pink.

For those lost in the tornadoes-- rest in peace

And Death Shall Have No Dominion
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack;
And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

-Dylan Thomas

Say a prayer for Fr.Thulani Magwaza

This poor man has been named to take over St. Sabina's now that  Fr. Pfegler has been suspended.

In your charity could you please pray for my uncle as well? He is 61 years old and is in the mid stage of dementia.

Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again

Rocky got home from work on Saturdsay at 7PM. After an 11 hour day we just couldn't do the Vigil so we went to St. Rita's 8 AM Mass of the Day. Fr. Eagle was full of entusiasm and gave a spirited homily. After that we went to Indian Head, Maryland and looked at barn swallows and immature eagles flying over the water. Then we stopped by St. Teresa of Avila in DC and chatted with sweet and jolly Monsignor East, the pastor. He gave us a quick tour and a blessing. Then we picked up my mother and headed to Easter dinner with Rocky's parents. A full day but a good one.

Happy Easter

He is risen! He is risen just as He said He would! Alleluia!

Mary after the cross is taken down

Good Friday

Last night Rocky, my mother, and I went to the Franciscan Monastery in DC for the Burial of Christ service.  It's a very special Franciscan custom that is only done at Holy Land shrines and of course the Holy Sepluchre Church. We've been going for about 16 yearss now.  The link at this photography blog describes it and has pictures. 

One odd but funny thing happened. A man who goes to our parish saw us and came over to our pew and spoke. It's the first time he's spoken to us in five years!

We saw a large number of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin. Except for the Mother Superior all of them were younger than me and they looked so happy. It was good to see them.
After the service many people move forward to kiss the replica of the Stone of Annointing where Our Lord was laid while His precious, battered body was prepared for burial.

Consumatum Est

One of the most remarkable images of the crucifixion I've ever seen. The Lord is seen with the souls of the prophets who spoke of Him.

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.