November 2004 Archives

Not surprising that a column titled "Gay marriage not a moral issue" starts off with:

A long time ago while a student in a theology class at a Catholic college, I learned something that stuck with me.

The professor related to the class an old Hindu proverb. The gist of it was that there were many paths leading to the top of the mountain. If you spent all your time trying to get others to abandon their paths and follow yours, you’d never reach the mountaintop.

It’s a statement of religious tolerance and a suggestion that focusing on one’s own spiritual beliefs is more productive than focusing on the spiritual beliefs of others.

The old joke goes that there is nothing guaranteed in life but death and taxes. Another guarantee is that an article that starts of with "raised Catholic" or "while at a Catholic college" are sure to end badly and this one is no exception and drones on about plurality and tolerance.

Well this mountain metaphor is often used to defend this notion, so I will explore it a little further. While there might be many paths that lead up to the mountain, there are also many that lead down from the mountain. Some paths will circumnavigate the mountains and will get nowhere. Syncretism is the belief where any path is just as fine as another. While God's mercy does not preclude a crooked and meandering path from ending up with him in eternity, this does not mean that we should take such a path and hope for the best. A mountain climber will carefully study a mountain well in advance. There might be multiple paths, but there will only we be one that is both the surest and the safest. Our lifelong search for truth requires that we abandon some paths that did not lead where we expected them to. Our ascent has to be revised based on what we learn to be true. Sometimes we have been on one path for so long that even though we have come to disbelieve in its getting us to our destination, we also have become comfortable in following it. The idea of jumping to another path unnerves us.

One of the things I love about the Catholic faith is that there are serious answers to serious questions. The question of who will be saved is of paramount importance. Especially the question of will I myself be saved? I am not too concerned with the population statistics of hell, only that I myself might not be filling out a census form there on some later date. Some have distorted the doctrine of no salvation outside of the Church into a rigorist perspective of only those who are physical members of the Catholic Church can be saved. That a membership form is more necessary then mercy by this idea. The Church has always taught that there are those who are invincibly ignorant of the true faith and yet guided by their lights as best they know them may one day participate within the beatific vision. We also must remember that for who much is given, much is expected. The message of going out into the whole world to proclaim the Gospel is so that fewer and fewer would be invincibly ignorant.

While again many may end up at the top of a mountain without having the benefit of climbing boots, rope, pick axes, piton, and other equipment - it is much better to attempt the climb with them. This is what God's grace and the sacraments are to our faith. The very tools that will make a difficult climb both surer and safer. We should never brag that we have some tools that other climbers might not have, but only pray that they may receive them also. We must also remember that even an experienced climber with the latest tools may fall before reaching the top, while another climber without the same benefits will safely reach the apex. It is always good to remember that we can fall at any time and that only through cooperating in grace will our pilgrimage end at the top. Sin is also never a private affair. We are climbing to the top with our family and friends attached to us by rope. Our fall can also pull them down with us. This should not provide discouragement but only to remind us to seek God's will in everything and not to trust to our own devices or mountain climbing techniques.

With the advent of Advent it is now that time of year again when everybody from soap operas to sit-coms do some variation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It is also the time of year when Christian bloggers rant about the commercialization and materialism that Christmas has become for many. Advent traditionally has been a penitential season and with Christmas shopping the tradition continues. Modern society has become a kind of funhouse mirror when it comes to Christian Holidays. The image of Christ coming to us as a new born babe and starting the journey that seemed to end at the cross is distorted in the reflection of societies mirrors to something quite warped. The words Holy Day and Christ Mass were compressed to Holiday and Christmas first for ease though the meanings were not lost. Now Holiday is synonymous with vacation or days off and great feasts of the church have been supplanted by the highest secular holy days of "three day weekends." And Christmas has become a banned word that must be avoided an replaced with season or winter solstice wherever possible.

The thought of Advent as being penitential is at first hard to grasp. Reflecting on of the incarnation and of the joy at his arrival of the Christ child seems to blunt and move towards a Lenten style fast. Last year I also wrote about the variousreasons for the season that we are to take to heart. The message in the majority of the Holiday fare breaks down to being nice and how important family is. While there is much truth in this, Christmas does come down to a family - the Holy Family. Its need also originates in the first family: Adam and Eve. While some theologians have mused that perhaps that incarnation might have occurred if Adam and Eve had not fallen into sin - the fact is that they did and we have continued the family tradition. Every year we gather around the Christmas Tree and see the gift given us by our relatives Adam and Eve - original sin. Yes the reason for the season is sin - one size fits all. Fed-exed to us via the Holy Spirit and Mary's fiat we received a gift wrapped in swaddling clothes. He came that we may have life and have it abundantly. That our life becomes supernaturally fruitful into eternal life with him. The gift first presented to us in swaddling clothes moved on to exchange them for a bloody shroud to redeem us from our sins.

Bearing this in mind can we not work to prepare ourselves a bit for such a gift? God continuously give us grace. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. Jesus promised to always provide us an escape from sin. That in turning to him and cooperating in grace that we are moving towards further sanctification. God gives us a gift card of grace and like regular gift cards if they sit in your drawer and our never redeemed that they become worthless. No matter the value charged to the card it will not be applied to us unless used.

The question becomes what gift shall we give Jesus on Christmas? Will it be another crown of thorns? Or will it be packaged in a nice box secured with ribbons and bows - a humble and contrite heart?

CHICAGO -- On the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving, a group of carpenters and tradesmen donated their time and energies to construct a one-of-a-kind display honoring the birth of Jesus Christ in downtown Chicago.

It's "one-of-a-kind" because all others in the world famous Daley Center Plaza annual holiday display fail to mention whose birthday Christmas celebrates.

Every year, the "God Squad," a group of volunteer tradesmen, erect one of the world's largest nativity scenes around Thanksgiving and take it down on the last day of December.

The God Squad, headed and financed by retired businessman and Catholic activist Jim Finnegan of Barrington and business owner and founder of the Walsh Forum radio program Dick Walsh, have had to make a few changes in their project's construction.

Several years ago, someone stole the Christ Child out of the creche's manger, launching a citywide search. The next day, following an anonymous tip, the baby was found in a Greyhound bus station locker.

Now the Christ Child is securely chained to the manger and instead of angels protecting the baby, Chicago Police stand guard. [Source] [Via Matt C. Abbott]

Chained in a manger,
Attached to his bed,
The little Lord Jesus,
Anchored there instead

The links prevent some guy,
Remove Jesus where he lay
The Little Lord Jesus,
Fastened securely today

They rattle and jangle,
Chains surely wont break,
And Little Lord Jesus,
Some Scrooge will not take

I chain thee, Lord Jesus
Security apply,
And stay by my side,
A bolt through your thigh

Be near me, Lord Jesus,
I ask thee to stay
Alarm system manger,
Tripwire in the hay

The extra loud siren,
Screams through the night air
The Little Lord Jesus,
Electrified - so beware!

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- A group of Midwestern bishops is concluding a visit to Vatican City, where Pope John Paul the Second told them he's worried about the declining number of U-S priests.

He told a group of visiting American bishops on Friday that the challenge can't be ignored.

The pope is calling for a national day of prayer for priestly vocations, as well as new ways to recruit priests.

I have seen the normal responses by self-identified progressive Catholics that the solution is of course women priests and married clergy. They never seem to remember that the Church had up to the 1960 not had a vocation crisis and did not require the change of a discipline for celebrate clergy or abandoning a constant teaching of the Church as regards a male priesthood. It is rather funny to watch many diocese with a progressive bent continue to lose vocation while those identified as throwbacks who are stodgy, old fashioned and and un-yielding to modern culture such as Bishop Bruskewitz and Bishop Chaput not only have burgeoning vocations but have had to build new seminaries. The foibles of the modern Catholics who do everything to make the church more relevant and accessible to everyone while at the same time have declining Mass attendance and religions vocations would be funny if it wasn't so destructive.

I think they should make a comedy about this.

In the movie "American Vocations" Chevy Chase plays Bishop Griswold a bumbling bishop that just can't do anything right. We watch as he reads and implements the latest suggestions from the National Catholic Reporter and America magazine. He strives to build the perfect American parish accessible to everyone and finds that it is really accessible with no one going to Mass.

We watch the laughs as he:

• Introduces Self-centering prayer - perfect for self centered lay people.
• Leads bible study by introducing the neon black highlighter. Scriptural passages that are difficult to follow or contrary to your conscience can be highlighted in black.
• Adds species inclusive language - no more of the man and women or brother and sister terminology that excludes others of God's species from actively participating in the Mass and feeling left out with human specific phrasing.
• The book "I'm OK, your OK" is carried in procession to the altar.
• Develops the automated confessional that is voice actuated and gives the absolution message "I affirm you" when the affirmed stops speaking.
• Not only is first communion always before first confession, but since children 12 and under could not possibly commit a sin - height indicators such as those used in amusement parks are placed in front of the confessionals.
• New catechetical texts are introduced into the parish RCIA program such as the "I love you where your at - Jesus Coloring Book."
• Rap and Heavy Metal Masses are celebrated where the proper response is Yo! or Dude! The choir director is replaced by a DJ.
• To emphasize that the Mass is a communal meal a drive-thru window is added next to the altar so that communicants can receive the Precious Body and Blood of Christ and even to have fries with that.
• Liturgical texts now include the Gospel of Thomas and The Da Vinci Code.
• Classes on Vatican II are taught weekly. Classes are free since no actual Vatican II documents are required by the students.
• Pro-abortion politicians are given head-of-the-line privileges at Communion
• Religious sister's habits are standardized with a uniform and consistently ugly brown pant suit
• The diocese becomes welcoming and open minded to include everybody (except orthodox Catholics.)
• Parish churches are built with only one very narrow and real long pew. This ensure both that nobody can attempt kneeling and that everybody must get into the communion line.
• Spirituality includes the enneagram, raki, and just about anything taught by someone just as long as their name is not prefixed by Saint and especially Doctor of the Church

The laughs build as the introduction of every new idea results in the exact opposite intent and the frustration builds for poor Bishop Griswold who just doesn't understand why his enlightened approach will not work.

I also think that Bishop Gumbleton would be the perfect advisor for this movie - just tell him that it is a biography and not a comedy.

Coming soon to a parish near you!

First Mark Shea does blog fasts during Lent. Then he took time off for some other writing work and now he is going on a blog holiday until he finishes writing his latest book. What's the big idea? Putting support of your family ahead of your blog readers? Well I do wish Mark God speed on this project literally. May God speed him through so that I may again have a daily dose of his wit, sarcasm, and the ability to annoy people by taking the Gospel and what the Catholic faith teaches seriously. I will be looking forward to his new book Behold your Mother: An Evangelical Discovers the Blessed Virgin Mary.

So after much thought and prayer, I have decided to suspend this blog till that project is well and truly done. I don't know how long that will take, but I firmly believe it is what the Holy Spirit has been bugging me to do for some time and I have been avoiding doing.

My reasons for avoiding it are not especially noble. Cranky as I can be here, I value the companionship of my readers. The life of a writer consists of sitting in a room by oneself. For an extrovert like me, that's solitary confinement and a lonesome business. The blog has been a way to avoid that to a degree and I've been loath to give it up.

I can sympathize with that struggle. Blogging can become quite time intensive and you have to watch carefully to keep it from infringing on your responsibilities. Unlike Mark though I am not an extrovert. More like a gregarious introvert, but I do enjoy the contacts and friendships that have developed via blogging and I would be sore to have to give it up.

Image during constructon via roadsidearmerica.com

When motorists on I-75 see the 62-foot statue of Jesus alongside the highway, many have the same reaction, News 5's Emily Longnecker reports.

"It just makes you, it's like 'Wow,' " said Stephanie Nevels of Fairfield.

Tiffany Williams has been hearing about the statue since it was put up outside Solid Rock Church.

"It kind of took my breath away. I was just like, 'Oh my goodness,' " Williams said. "I had no idea it would be that big."

The giant messiah is gaining giant attention from newspapers and magazines across the country. One travel website calls it "Super Savior."

Church officials say the styrofoam and fiberglass Jesus is the largest one in America. And people are flocking to see it, says Mike Trent, who works at the BP gas station down the street. [Source]

My impression of this statue is "quick throw me a rope! I am drowning in quickgrass." I also think it is pretty ironic that "Solid Rock" church would build a hollow Jesus statue out of styrofoam and fiberglass. Though, after all the abstract Jesus statues - in comparison - this one is not too bad.

Thomas of Catholicae Testudines observes:

A billboard that said something to the effect of "Love God, not religion? VirtualChurch.com"

What if someone were to erect one that said "Love women, not relationships? VirtualMarriage.com"?

See what I'm getting at?

With a simple rhythmic chant, 14 people from the Shrine of Holy Wisdom exited their sacred meeting space in Danelle Plaza in Tempe and set forth on a "walking meditation" that took them full circle around the aging business complex.

On that Christ the King Sunday, marking the close of the church year calendar, the Rev. Jorge Rodriguez Eagar assigned five to carry icons of holy exemplars such as Mary Magdalene, St. Francis of Assisi, St. George the Dragon Slayer and the Dalai Lama. Others carried flowers, candles on tall stands, ornate crosses or a censer emitting incense across the quiet parking lot. Everyone bore something that was integral to the rite.

...On this Sunday to mark "the great solemnity of Christ the King," the priest led a liturgy of the "Cosmic Christos — a metaphysical liturgy that honors the divine radiance of all created forms."

No it is not a Catholic church thankfully, but instead part of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch.

Seven are chartered in Arizona. The churches are described as "progressive, non-dogmatic, non-creedal, non-fear-based, mystically oriented, Christ-centered spiritual fellowship of followers of the Spirit." Eager touts the Shrine as a community "dedicated to the study and practice of the inner teachings of the Christos," or Christ. Eager started it in November 2001 and originally named it "Christ of Divine Light." Its board adopted the current name last summer. The Shrine’s five points of ministry are an emphasis of the inner quest; embracing diverse sacred traditions; celebrating the earth and its cycles; honoring the divine feminine; and valuing the transformative power of ritual. [Source]

In other words - bells and smells with no talk about hell.

And here a story of the schismatic Old Catholic Church and the world's smallest cathedral.

HIGHLANDVILLE, Mo. - The guest book shows that visitors come from all over the country, and even the world, to this tiny hamlet in southern Missouri.

It's not a glitzy destination like Branson, which is less than 30 miles south on U.S. Route 65.

No, it's in Karl Pruter's back yard. There, nestled under the shade of a large oak tree, is the world's smallest cathedral.

Pruter, a bishop since 1967 in the little-known offshoot of Catholicism known as Christ Catholic Church, is the architect and caretaker of Highlandville's claim to fame. Officially recognized by the Guinness Book of Records in 1984, it draws as many as 3,000 visitors a year.

They've come from California, Texas and Florida. And Australia, Mexico and Venezuela. And on and on.

All to see the Cathedral of the Prince of Peace, a converted wash house that measures 14 feet by 17 feet and -- sizewise, anyway -- looks more suited to be a tool shed than a place of worship. With only four pews for the congregation, and those pews measuring just 4 feet long, it seats only 12 people. [Source]

Fr. Jeffrey Keyes of The New Gasparian had remembered a post I had done previously about a a group called the Artotyritae who thought that the sacramental elements consisted of bread and cheese and thought the following essay might be a good follow up. With the recent e-bay auction of the Virgin Mary Cheese Sandwich the parody essay "The Holy Toast of Florida Biblical and Liturgical Roots" is pretty funny.

A Catholic priest has run afoul of the law in Colorado Springs, Colo., after being caught with an open container of sacramental wine while performing Mass outside an abortion clinic.

The Rev. Bill Carmody was warned by a police officer after the cop asked him what he was holding.

"The police officer asked me what's in the flask," he told the Colorado Springs Gazette. "I really didn't know what to do."

Carmody has asked the Colorado Springs City Council for a variance, allowing him to legally say Mass outdoors.

"I do not want to break the law. I'm simply asking for a variance," Carmody told the City Council on Tuesday. "This is a religious ceremony."

According to the Gazette, city ordinance 2.5.704 prohibits drinking in any street, alley, sidewalk, avenue, park – even public stairways. [Source]

While I have great sympathy for what this priest is doing I also don't think that the celebration of Mass outside an abortion clinic is a decent place.

From Redemptionis Sacramentum

1. The Place for the Celebration of Holy Mass

[108.] “The celebration of the Eucharist is to be carried out in a sacred place, unless in a particular case necessity requires otherwise. In this case the celebration must be in a decent place.” [197] The diocesan Bishop shall be the judge for his diocese concerning this necessity, on a case-by-case basis.

...to you and to your families.

Thanks be to God for sustaining and nourishing us.

Here is a post a wrote a couple of years ago of why I am thankful to be able to be thankful.

The article below shows that the first Thanksgiving was actually celebrated in St. Augustine, Florida on September 8, 1565. This was the first community act of religion in the first permanent European settlement in the land and it also included both Spanish and natives. This article originally appeared in my diocese magazine. I am just sparing you looking through the pdf file for it.

When on September 8, 1565 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and his 800 Spanish settlers founded the settlement of St. Augustine in La Florida, the landing party celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving, and, afterward, Menéndez laid out a meal to which he invited as guests the native Seloy tribe who occupied the site.

The celebrant of the Mass was St. Augustine’s first pastor, Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, and the feast day in the church calendar was that of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What exactly the Seloy natives thought of those strange liturgical proceedings we do not know, except that, in his personal chronicle, Father Lopez wrote that “the Indians imitated all they saw done.”

What was the meal that followed? Again we do not know. But, from our knowledge of what the Spaniards had on board their five ships, we can surmise that it was cocido, a stew made from salted pork and garbanzo beans, laced with garlic seasoning, and accompanied by hard sea biscuits and red wine. If it happened that the Seloy contributed to the meal from their own food stores, fresh or smoked, then the menu could have included as well: turkey,venison, and gopher tortoise; seafood such as mullet, drum, and sea catfish; maize (corn),beans and squash.

What is important historically about that liturgy and meal was stated by me in a 1965 book entitled The Cross in the Sand: “It was the first community act of religion and thanksgiving in the first permanent [European] settlement in the land.” The keyword in that sentence was “permanent.” Numerous thanksgivings for a safe voyage and landing had been made before in Florida, by such explorers as Juan Ponce de León, in 1513 and 1521, Pánfilo de Narváez in 1528, Hernando de Soto in 1529, Father Luis Cáncer de Barbastro in 1549, and Tristán de Luna in 1559. Indeed French Calvinists (Huguenots) who came to the St. Johns River with Jean Ribault in 1562 and René de Laudonnière in 1564 similarly offered prayers of thanksgiving for their safe arrivals. But all of those ventures, Catholic and Calvinist, failed to put down permanent roots.

St. Augustine’s ceremonies were important historically in that they took place in what would develop into a permanently occupied European city, North America’s first. They were important culturally as well in that the religious observance was accompanied by a communal meal, to which Spaniards and natives alike were invited. The thanksgiving at St. Augustine, celebrated 56 years before the Puritan-Pilgrim thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation (Massachusetts), did not, however, become the origin of a national annual tradition, as Plymouth would. The reason is that, as the maxim holds, it is the victors who write the histories.

During the 18th and 19th centuries British forces won out over those of Spain and France for mastery over the continent. Thus, British observances, such as the annual reenactment of the Pilgrims’ harvest festival in 1621, became a national practice and holiday in the new United States, and over time obliterated knowledge of the prior Spanish experiences in Florida, particularly at St. Augustine. Indeed, as the Pilgrims’ legend grew, people of Anglo-American descent in New England came to believe that Plymouth was the first European settlement in the country and that no other Europeans were here before the arrival of the Mayflower– beliefs that are still widespread in that region.

In recent years, Jamestown, Virginia has enjoyed some success in persuading its Anglo-American cousins in Plymouth that it was founded in 1607, thirteen years before the Pilgrims’ arrival, and that there were regular ship schedules from England to Jamestown before the Mayflower’s voyage of 1620. Furthermore, Berkeley Plantation near Charles City, Virginia, has convincingly demonstrated that it conducted a thanksgiving ceremony on December 4, 1619, nearly two years before the festival at Plymouth. Thought to have been on Berkeley’s menu were oysters, shad, rockfish, and perch. Along the old Spanish borderlands provinces from Florida to California an occasional voice is heard asserting that this site or that was the first permanent Spanish settlement in the United States – a claim often made in Santa Fe, New Mexico which was founded in 1610 – or that it was the place where the first thanksgiving took place. An example of the latter claim appeared last year in the New York Times, which, while recounting the colonizing expedition of Juan de Oñate from Mexico City into what became New Mexico, stated that celebrations of Oñate’s party in 1598 “are considered [the Times did not say by whom] the United States’ first Thanksgiving.”

The historical fact remains that St. Augustine’s thanksgiving not only came earlier; it was the first to take place in a permanent settlement. The Ancient City deserves national notice for that distinction.

Perhaps most of New England is now willing to concede as much, though that was not the case in November 1985, when an Associated Press reporter built a short Thanksgiving Day story around my aforesaid sentence of 20 years before in The Cross in the Sand. When his story appeared in Boston and other papers, New England went into shock. WBZ-TV in Boston interviewed me live by satellite for its 6:00 p.m. regional news
program.

The newsman told me that all of Massachusetts was “freaked out,” and that, as he spoke, “the Selectmen of Plymouth are holding an emergency meeting to contend with this new information that there were Spaniards in Florida before there were Englishmen in Massachusetts.”

I replied, “Fine. And you can tell them for me that, by the time the Pilgrims came to Plymouth, St. Augustine was up for urban renewal.”

The somewhat rattled chairman of the Selectmen was quoted as saying: “I hate to take the wind out of the professor’s sails, but there were no turkeys running around in Florida in the 1500s. But there may be a few loose ones down there now at the University of Florida.” So there! Within a few days of the tempest a reporter from the Boston Globe called to tell me that throughout Massachusetts I had become known as “The Grinch Who Stole Thanksgiving.” Well, let’s hope that everyone up north has settled down now. And let’s enjoy all our Thanksgivings whenever and wherever they first began.

Dr. Michael V. Gannon is a Distinguished Service Professor of History at the University of Florida. He has had a long interest in the early Spanish missions of Florida about which he has written extensively. Two of his books, Rebel Bishop (1964) and The Cross in the Sand (1965) treat of the early history of this state.

A PHARMACIST refused to sell the morning-after pill to a mother-of-two because of his Catholic beliefs.

Kerrie Gooch, 24, who has a nine- week-old baby and a two-year-old was forced to go to a clinic.

She plans to sue if she falls pregnant. Furious Kerrie asked yesterday: "What gives him the right to play God?"

She added: "Everyone is entitled to an opinion but I don't want someone making a decision like this for me. [Source]

That is pretty funny coming from someone who is willing to conduct chemical warfare on God's plan for human sexuality. Nice of her to allow others to hold an opinion just as long as they don't get in her way.

ADELAIDE, Australia - An Australian brewing company is offering six cases of beer to anyone who returns a statue of the baby Jesus stolen from a nativity scene earlier this week, brewery officials said Thursday.

The South Australian Brewing Company offered the reward after thieves swiped the statue from the company's traditional nativity display earlier this week.

Managing Director Mark Powell said security footage showed a man scaling a fence and lifting the baby Jesus from his manger.

"We are very concerned about the well-being of baby Jesus and we are calling for his swift and safe return," Powell said.

A reward of six cases of beer would be given to anyone who returns the statue, he said.

Well maybe it was a Christmas tradition rigorist that took it. In Catholic tradition it is custom to only place the baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve. So if they return it on Christmas Eve we will know the truth. I myself am in favor of this tradition as with the continuing daily celebration of Christmas up to the Epiphany. Not only does this give me a good excuse for not putting away the Christmas tree and decorations yet, but also allows me to continually listen to traditional Christmas music.

Now the idea of rewarding somebody with Australian Beer for kidnapping the infant Christ will only lead to more El Nino-nappings. Giving them some domestic American beer would serve as a more fitting punishment.

"That said, you would have thought that the incentive of a guaranteed exit through the right door after purgatory would be enough of an incentive in itself," Powell said. [Source] [Via CaNN]

That certainly is a theologically confused statement. There could figuratively be only one possible door to exit after purgatory and returning the baby Jesus figure could result in no guarantee. Just what kind of theologians are beer companies hiring now-a-days? Though at least he believes that Purgatory didn't go out with Vatican II.

I find it rather funny that the day after CNN picks Jonathan Klien as it's new head Dan Rather finally resigns. Mr. Klien was the one previously to remark on Ra^thergate by saying

"Bloggers have no checks and balances . . . [it's] a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas."

So I seriously doubt that any real overhaul of CNN will occur under his watch. Sure we will see some sets, hairdos, and personnel change and yet the CNN we have come to know will keep on sliding downhill in the ratings. Maybe some pajama-clad researches are what they need.

Here is a nice article from a Binghamton, NY newspaper on the Rosary and it's effect on peoples daily lives.

..."You are really studying the Scriptures," Endwell resident Marie Magill said about praying the rosary. "People think it is a rote prayer. It's really meditating on the Scriptures."

...By praying the rosary, Catholics are led to help others through parish ministries, said Mary Wright of Endicott.

"It does bring about a relationship that you have with the Lord," said Wright. "Prayer is what strengthens us and tells us who the Son of God is and what he has planned for us, and what the fruits will be."

Tim Drake has started a new web site and blog to go along with his book Young and Catholic. The book and blog provides a snapshot into the future with stories of young Catholics responding to the faith. I am not generally an optimist and yet from what I have read and seen I am rather optimistic about what young Catholics are bringing back to the Church.

Now Tim when you get around to Middle-aged and Catholic - ring me up.

This site is dedicated to spreading the Gospel in the werewolf and furry communities. It is my hope that many trans-species people will accept Jesus as their Savior through this ministry. I will explain the etymology of this website's name. I got the idea from Werewolf Tobias' tradition of calling a werewolf stronghold a House. Well, I'm a dragon, so my ideal stronghold would be a Castle. And since this is MY website where I am MASTER, I call this my Castle. [Via Christdot and Relapsed Catholic]

Well what about spreading the Gospel to other mythical creatures. I can imagine getting a vampire to convert to Catholicism would be a tough sell. They come into the Church and dip their fingers into the Holy Water and promptly scream as their fingers start to burn. Just performing the sign of the cross would also be quite an ordeal, but they might have quite an affinity to the Precious Blood. Though many vampires would probably feel fine in many of our crucifix free churches today. One of my favorite movie lines is from Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers where the hero pulls out a crucifix and the Vampire says "that won't work I'm Jewish." Now as for werewolf conversions I guess they could get a blessing in their human state and then come back at a full moon for a blessing of animals.

Thinking about Hollywood and horror movies you wonder just what they would do without the Catholic Church? There have just been so many horror movie plots that involve a Catholic Church in some way or at least a scene in a traditional Catholic Church. Just how many bad plots with secret Catholic orders protecting some evil apparition from coming into the world are there? You never see end of the world plots with giant demons coming out of the floor in some Protestant mega-church. You also never see any of these plots take place in one of the more modern Catholic Churches - they almost always have high altars and altar rails. So if church architecture continues to slide we can always watch a horror movie to see more traditional church architecture.

Chicago, Nov. 22 (LifesiteNews.com/CWN) - Embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) supporters were stunned by the recent defeat of a bill granting state endorsement to ESCR in the state Senate. After an emotional debate which was concluded by a tear-jerking email plea from the late actor Christopher Reeve, the chamber voted 28-29 against the measure. [Source]

Captains Quarter's reports on an exhibit by Josef Mengele the notorious Nazi doctor and pulls out one statement which measures his self-delusion.

Of his own actions in "selecting" whether victims at Auschwitz were to live to work or to be experimented upon, or to be dispatched in the gas chambers, he wrote: "I gave life in Auschwitz, I did not take it."

This creepy statement got me to thinking about a modern context to this statement. How many doctors doing embryonic stem-cell research have the exact same attitude. That the mythical benefits of ESCR will give life not take it. That the deliberate destruction of a human being in the process should be ignored in favor of the potential benefit. The embryo is the modern equivalent of the Jew - after all with this attitude neither are "really" persons deserving of protection. And if products such as soap or miracle cures can be made of them so much the better. Josef Mengele spent the last years of his life in hiding from the authorities for his crimes. We are much more enlightened now. A doctor of his caliber could have instead received a grant and moved to California to be funded by taxpayer money in ESCR.

SoDakMonk takes Chesterson's advice to to take a current phrase or tag an reverse it to see which one makes more sense. He applies this guideline to some current headlines to good results.

Credo has an good post on Marian catechesis and effective ways to teach children on Marian dogmas. He also includes some example of this fruit that his students wrote on this topic. Accompanying this post is a graphic that he created titled "there's something about Mary."

Though I think Credo needs some help and prayers since he also includes a laudatory psalm of praise for Powerpoint. I think this might require an exorcism to excise those Microsoft slide show demons that must reside within. One of the ways to explain hell to a modern generation is to tell them that it is like a Powerpoint presentation that never ends.

RightWingSparkle has an interesting account from protesting an abortion clinic.

A couple of interesting things. There was LOTS of media. One cameraman started kind of following me around. I guess because I was speaking to many of the people and he wanted a good shot of something, because nothing exciting was going on. I spoke to a Hispanic grandmother who had been praying the rosary. She pointed to one of the policemen on a horse and said "That is my nephew." She smiled at him and did a little wave. He kinda smiled back and shook his head. "I kid him that one day he will have to arrest me." she giggled. I smiled. "You do this often?" I asked. "I come every Saturday and silently pray the rosary." she answered.

Scary stuff. These people.

Then a very strange thing happened. Suddenly from the 2nd story balcony of the abortion clinic they brought out a 9 foot purple paper mache woman. Her arms were attached with elastic and they had sticks glued to the back of her hands so she could wave back and forth. Some woman from the balcony shouted that she was the goddess of something ( I couldn't understand her and I never found out what goddess, seems the reporters there weren't that interested in finding out) I turned to the cameraman that had been following me and said, "Aren't you going to film that???" He looked reluctant..."I guess so" he said. "YOU GUESS SO???? THIS isn't newsworthy???? THIS isn't interesting enough for the local news????" I said.

He filmed it, but I never saw it on any news station or written up in the newspaper. It occurred to me later that the station may have told him to only film that which made the pro-lifers look nutty, not the other way around. I just can't explain it any other way.

At the recent Clinton Library opening Sen. Clinton said:

The building is like my husband: It's open, it's expansive, it's welcoming, it's filled with light.

Dawn Eden is sponsoring a contest to come up with some other endings to The building is like my husband: ___________________________.

The building is like my husband:

• Since it also did not have sex with that women.
• In that it has many interacting exhibits and BIll the exhibitionist allowed many women to interact.
• Since in a library you can't judge a book by their cover and with my husband - cover ups to keep judges from getting him booked.
• At 20,000 square feet it closely matches his ego.
• The exhibit within are just as accurate and truthful as anything he has said.

The library also includes a collection of Clinton's favorite books which includes Thomas a Kempis' - The Imitations of Christ. Funny by his administration I would have thought it would be the "Elimination of Christ." This collection of books seems to be missing such books as the Kama Sutra and issues of Playboy.

Fr. Kenneth Allen notices part of a article in the USCCB site's news section.

"The texts of our respective scriptural revelations, Biblical and Qur'ânic, complete in divine terms what reason begins in its human quest for perfection."

He goes on to say in response:

The reason this statement bothers me on the Bishop's site, is that it implies that our texts are of equal value in terms of Divine Revelation.

But the Koran explicitly denies the Divinity of Jesus Christ, as well as the virgin birth. So how can we possibly view them as equal?

I agree that is phrasing is nothing but subjective terming. The Qur'an is not a revelation since the term is used for what has been revealed by God. There are truths in the Qur'an since parts adhere to natural law and the fact that Islam is truly a heresy that took parts of Christian teaching intermixed with other beliefs. To say that the Qur'an "complete in divine terms" is just plain crap since it is not a completion but a perversion of revealed truths.

During the week the Bishop's rejected a proposal yesterday to develop a pastoral statement on how Catholics should study the Bible. So on one had the Qur'an is raised up to seemingly equal standing and on the other plans for a pastoral statement are scrapped. The reason for the scrapping is that some Bishop's argued that we did not need another statement from the Bishop's to do something that the Church has always promoted and is specifically recommended. The Catechism quotes St. Jerome's statement "ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ." I am rather partial to the argument made by some in the Bishop's conference about a mountain of statements that are never read and ignored and that this pastoral letter was not needed. I just wish that this silly statement on the Qur'an had been subjected to the same restriction and had never met printer's ink.

The statement on the Midwest Regional Dialogue Of Christians And Muslims Meets also mentions "The participants welcomed Fr. Francis Tiso, associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to his first meeting at ISNA headquarters." This appears to be the same Fr. Francis Tiso who is a Tibetan Buddhist scholar and who also said after investigating claims about a a Tibetan lama's body disappearing seven days after death.

Fr. Francis said that the meaning of the Rainbow Body is beyond that of a yogic attainment. It is ultimately a manifestation of compassion, of a real bodhisattva's ability to show people that the path is worth taking, that the sacrifices are worth it, and that their endeavor has universal power to reach out beyond the confines of the body or time.

Fr. Francis encountered writings of early fathers of the Christian church and in the early Buddhist canon that described humans as originally beings of light. He says that this and the Tibetan experiences suggest that the doctrine of resurrection of the body might refer not to a fleshly but a luminous reality, an interpretation that agrees more with the descriptions in I and II Corinthians. He said that the Rainbow Body shows the possibilities inherent in the human body, which seems to be a distillation apparatus into which all the energies of the universe flow in the direction of enlightenment.

A new age site speaks favorably of Fr. Tiso's book CHRIST IN BUDDHA NATURE: TWO WORLDS-ONE HEART

If you have ever struggled with the dilemma of reconciling Buddhist philosophy with Christian theology, you will find yourself quickly absorbed in this rich and informative conversation with Father Francis Tiso, scholar, poet, artist, musician, botanist, alchemist, exorcist, mystic and gourmet cook - a Renaissance man in the truest sense of the term.

So if this information on Fr. Tiso is accurate is it any surprise that with him and others of like minds directly working for the USCCB that such subjective news releases get written?

Somehow the words "suitably chastened" and Arlen Spector to me don't go together. I guess time will tell.

Sen. Harry Reid the new minority leader who has been reported as being pro-life starts out by warning Republicans about a rule change to a simple majority on cloture instead of the sixty vote super majority now used. So the first act of a pro-life Senator is to warn against changing the rules that so far have prevented pro-life judges from reaching federal courts and especially circuit courts of appeal. We will just have to wait to see which one wins out - pro-life sympathies or party loyalty.

Dawn Eden has an interesting op-ed in today's New York Post called "The Grinch Who Stole Messiah." She discusses the modern censorship or overtly religious music during Christmas. You know your getting old when you can remember singing Christmas music in a public school without the appearance of ACLU storm troopers jumping in. When the Christmas concert was actually called the Christmas concert and not just as holiday or seasonal music. People have become so thin-skinned now that to hear anything other then their particular world view sets them off into a tizzy. With the advent of tolerance less is now tolerated. With multiculturalism people are exposed to less cultures. Now I was an avowed atheist in my public school days and I loved singing traditional Christmas Carols over the secular replacements. This was not because I agreed with the theology or concepts if the lyrics, but because I recognized that the music was beautiful and thus both good to sing and to hear. Yet now the beautiful must be subjugated to the mere mundane. Being exposed to the concept that some people have beliefs different then yours should not bring your world crashing down. I remember in school where one of my Jewish classmates gave a talk to the whole school on the meaning of Hanukah. Just hearing this did not make me want to convert to Judaism. But it did help me to understand something more about her beliefs. In the modern school if a student told the assembly about the true meaning of Christmas you can imagine how many people would be offended and the complaints made to the school.

In high school we performed Fiddler on the Roof (where I played the Rabbi) and as part of the preparation for this we had a Jewish Rabbi come and speak to us about the history surrounding the events portrayed and a bit about Judaism. Again I found the information he presented to be interesting. I would not have even imagined the concept of being offended and exposed to someone else's religious beliefs. Modern secularism has made people and our culture smaller. The same people who believe in Darwin's survival of the fittest will also shrink and complain at the mere mention of someone's religious belief. It is no wonder that people are now seeking therapy after their candidate loses an election. The mere thought that people might disagree with you and that it even might even be a majority will send you running in disbelief and shock. They become open minded to everything but the fact that they have become very close minded. Public schools shouldn't be indoctrinating any particular religion or philosophy - though they also should not be dumping gallons of white out all over our cultural heritage.

Gerald Serafin of A Catholic Blog for Lovers passed away this morning due to his failing heart. He will be sorely missed for his obvious love for the Church and his always charitable posts.

(AP) — Illinois senators are debating whether to encourage stem cell research here by giving the state's official stamp of approval to the work that raises touchy ethical questions.

The legislation, which could be considered by the full Senate on Thursday, would make it official state policy to permit stem cell research. It also would require that patients at fertility clinics be told they could donate unneeded embryos for research, and it would ban cloning for the purpose of reproducing people.

Unlike a measure approved in California and a proposal in Wisconsin, the Illinois legislation would not provide any public funding for embryonic stem cell research.

The Senate Executive Committee voted 7-5 for the bill, dubbed the Ronald Reagan Biomedical Research Act because the late president had Alzheimer's disease and his wife, Nancy Reagan, supports stem cell research. [Source]

What a slap in the face of Ronald Reagan's beliefs and legacy.

Here is an article on the Catholicism of Joe Garagiola who was a Major League Baseball player and "Today Show" co-host.

He also recalled the long lines in front of "Father Lupo's" confessional because the priest didn't speak English.

Joking about being a "big venial sin guy" in the old days, Garagiola attended St. Ambrose School and St. Mary's High School in St. Louis. He credited his seventh-grade teacher with his good penmanship on autographed baseballs.

One day, he said, while trying to get a laugh out of a nun in religion class, he answered the question "What was St. Paul's vision on the way to Damascus?" by writing "20/20" and thought, "You're a genius, Joe!"

Many times during his speech, Garagiola stressed that the lessons he learned from the nuns and priests in school remain with him today. For instance, he recalled a priest explaining to him that "it's not easy to be a good Catholic, but the fact that you are a Catholic makes it easier to be strong."

Garagiola talked about his devotion to the Blessed Mother.

" If you ever want anything, go to the Mother," he said, adding that her month of May is his favorite month. He recited his favorite prayer, from childhood, called "To Our Lady," that begins "Lovely lady, dressed in blue." He said that when he dies he wants to hear Jesus say, "Yeah, my mother told me about you." [Source]

I liked the line about St. Paul's vision on the road to Damascus and people going to confession to a priest that couldn't understand them is also funny. Though I do wonder about the validity of Father Lupo's confessions for those who did not share his native language. One of the requirements for a valid confession is to complete a penance assigned to you. The priest determines the penance based on the sins confessed and whether a mortal sin was confessed. If he was unable to understand the penitents confession he could not determine an appropriate penance. Another factor would be the contriteness of the penitent. If a priest believes that the person is not contrite or was holding back on the sins confesses then he has a duty to refuse absolution.

London, England (LifeNews.com) -- A British girl who triggered a national controversy after she had an abortion without her mother's knowledge is pregnant again. But this time, student Melissa Smith intends to keep the baby.

Her mother Maureen told the BBC, "She's 15, she made her own mind up. She was hell-bent on replacing the one she lost, basically."

Maureen also told the BBC, "Me and my family are supportive 100 percent. We'll be there for her -- like we said previously."

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the pro-life group known as LIFE, Rachel Heath, said, “It is not uncommon for women who have an abortion to become pregnant again soon after.”

"Many women find the pain of their abortion difficult to bear and go on to have an ‘atonement' baby. This is often by the same father," Heath said.

"I hope this time the school health worker leaves (the girl), her boyfriend and family alone to prepare themselves for the birth of their child," Heath added. [Source]

A reader sent me these two pictures.

The first picture is just too implausible. This is ridiculous I just can't see him holding an American flag, at least not right side up or not on fire. The rest of the picture accurately captures the man who said "'The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.'' Just before they blew Margaret Hassan's brains out I am sure she asked them first. "Are you more like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson."