Today the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith answered two recent disputed questions regarding allowable baptismal formulas and what to do with persons "baptized" using them:

    Made public today were the responses of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to two questions concerning the validity of Baptism conferred with certain non-standard formulae.

    The first question is: "Is a Baptism valid if conferred with the words 'I baptise you in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier', or 'I baptise you in the name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer'"?

    The second question is: "Must people baptised with those formulae be baptised 'in forma absoluta'?"

American Papist has the story and I doubt my readers will be surprised at the answers by the CDF.

It does make me reflect on the fact that progressives keep finding new ways for people to not actually receive the sacraments.  For example women priests,  Communal confession without individual confession,  and invalid baptismal formulas. And when they are not finding ways for people to not actually receive the sacraments they make excuses for how people can receive them unworthily.

Don't you just love the politics of hope? It is just so hopeful!  Combine that with change and it is perfect.  Let us hope to change and change to hope!

So let us begin with just some of the examples of hope and change that Sen. Obama promises.

In the July 17 speech, Obama attacked the Supreme Court decision that upheld the federal partial-birth abortion ban and the nomination of Supreme Court justices who favor overturning Roe v. Wade. In the speech the senator said, "There will always be people, many of goodwill, who do not share my view on the issue of choice. On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield."

Yes Partial Birth Abortion is so hopeful and a Democrat supporting it is such a change!

Can we vacuum out the brains of a child just prior to being born? Yes we can!

The senator said he had a long tradition of support for legalized abortion, citing his efforts in the Illinois State Senate and his classes as a law professor. “I have worked on these issues for decades now,” he said. “I put Roe at the center of my lesson plan on reproductive freedom when I taught Constitutional Law. Not simply as a case about privacy but as part of the broader struggle for women’s equality.”

Yes abortion in all of its glory is just so hopeful   Keeping abortion on demand as the law of the land is all about change.

And of course those evil pro-lifers who want  to destroy reproductive freedom and to remove that Constitutional right to abortion are not about hope or change at all.  Those pregnancy centers which offer help to women who find themselves in a difficult circumstance are not about hope at all.  Providing help and support to the mother and actually helping a child to be born is just not hopeful.  Supporting Planned Parenthood and others kill the child and not give a damn what happens to the mother after pays her fee and she leaves the abortion clinic is all about hope. 

But wait there is more hope!

RUSSERT: Senator Obama, any statements or vote you'd like to takeback?

OBAMA: Well, you know, when I first arrived in the Senate that first year, we had a situation surrounding Terri Schiavo. And I remember how we adjourned with a unanimous agreement that eventually allowed Congress to interject itself into that decision making process of the families. It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped. And I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better. And so that's an example I think of where inaction...

It just makes me feel warm and fuzzy to think of all of Sen. Obama's hopefulness towards Terri Schiavo.  Can't you feel the love!  Jesus wept at Lazarus' tomb and Obama regrets not doing more to help someone die sooner.

Just too bad that Sen. Obama could not have been involved and offered the same type of hope for now 14 year old Haleigh Poutre who was on the verge of being dehydrated to death by court order and is now talking.  Let us not have such travesties of patients defying their diagnosis in the future and let us share some Terri Schiavo style Obama hope for people with cognitive difficulties. 

Abortion, euthanasia, cloning and killing, and using embryonic human beings for research are all about hope!

Catholic Answers Action lists five non-negotiables as abortion, euthanasia, ESCR, human cloning, and homosexual marriage. Wow he gets a perfect five of five and certainly he will be non-negotiable on these issues.  And what about his hopeful support of infanticide? A natural for the Catholic vote.

For my part I hope that he repents and changes his culture of death positions.

Leap Year Saints

Douglas, Arizona (ROTO REUTERS) There has been a recent controversy of the effectiveness of the Boeing Company erecting a "virtual fence" along 6,000 miles of the U.S. border. Critics have said that surveillance by the government's $2.5 billion Secure Border Initiative Network or SBInet leaves a lot of holes and will do little to reduce illegal immigration.  

Boeing proposes to construct a necklace of 1,800 towers equipped with cameras, sensors and links to sophisticated computers along the nation's vast frontiers with Mexico and Canada.  Boeing proposes to construct a necklace of 1,800 towers equipped with cameras, sensors and links to sophisticated computers along the nation's vast frontiers with Mexico and Canada.

News came today though of a surprising capture that was the result of the new virtual fence technology.  It can be now revealed that a previously unknown terror cell headed by Afghani Bhati Al-Boya has been broken up and their leader detained.

Virtual terrorist Bhati Al-Boya  was detected by the new virtual fence and was prevented from entering the country.  Initial reports are that Bhati Al-Boya is a half-life character that was intent on entering the country illegally and then going to a computer cafe or library to enter the Second Life virtual world and commit acts of terrorism.  

Second Life a huge virtual universe where real world dollars are spent by individuals and organizations  and disruption  to normal play operations can do real monetary damage.  Virtual characters can easily assume false identities known as Avatars that can make finding and arresting virtual characters difficult.

To hold suspected virtual terrorist Bhati Al-Boya a special virtual cell is being made at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp where currently a firewall is being put into place.  These plans are being protested by the Virtual Character Liberties Union (VCLU) who reject the power to detain suspected virtual terrorists indefinitely, without charge, trial or a right to counsel.  Virtual enemy combatants should have access to the courts and the the Bush administration does not have statutory power to detain these virtual individuals.

Moloch has officially come out and endorsed Sen. Obama.

A reader requests prayers for his nephew, Joseph Gallagher, who is critically ill from cancer. Please pray for him.

World of Good - USMC Canine Rescue Dogs

Catholic Carnival 161

Carnival of Homeschooling

Carl Olson has the background on the story of Bishop Braxton of Belleville, Illinois banning an upcoming talk by biblical scholar and professor of theology Luke Timothy Johnson that was being sponsored by Commonweal. Commonweal is of course crying censorship even though when it comes to writers totally faithful to the magisterium consistently appearing in their magazine it seems oddly that there point of view are censored by them.

Carl goes over the writings of Luke Timothy Johnson that while quite solid in many areas leave the rails when it comes to women priests, homosexuality, Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body, contraception, the Virgin Birth, and even casts into doubt the Eucharist and other sacraments as not being essential. His view seems to be if it is not in the Creed it is not essential, unless of course it is is women's ordination and same sex marriage.

Carl also goes into Bishop Braxton's rather impressive resume and the numerous articles that he has written which have even appeared in Commonweal. He has been a rather polarizing figure since he was appointed bishop there. A group of 50 priests had signed a letter protesting his selection and there feeling that they were not consulted. There were also some financial moves by the bishop that were called into question. But mostly people have been upset when he has reacted in a manner totally consistent with the faith such as this occasion and the time he refused to give the sacrament of Confirmation to a 20 year old women who he considered had not studied enough.

We Will Be Like Him "Growing Toward Got at Every Age of Life" is a new book by Msgr Vincent Rush. If I had not gone past the title page I would have liked this book. Unfortunately I read the book instead.

There is a popular saying now "that there is not there there" and with this book there is mostly no "Him" there. Jesus is not even really mentioned until the next to the last chapter. You would think that a book with this title would be about growing closer to Christ and would focus on the spiritual life.

This book mainly focuses on self-awareness, transformational change (not necessarily spiritual transformation), and the development of understanding, psycho-sexual Development. and development of ego. There is some interesting information of developments in psychology that have covered these areas in how we understand ourselves and relate to others. There are plenty of tables of development in multiple areas that show the various levels of development. The book uses examples of the interrelationships between some made-up people to describe how these relate to the real world. The stages of moral reasoning as outlined by Kohlberg's stage theory seem to partly ring true, but they are not without criticism in the academic world.

The examples used in the book are somewhat annoying such as using a draft-dodge as an example of the higher stages of moral reasoning. Surely there could have been much better examples used. Much of the book has a very secular feel to it and this is partly understandable since is uses much from the field of psychology. I would have found it much more useful if the author had translated it into a Catholic moral view and to see it within the framework of Catholic understanding. Instead much of the book is ambiguous and confusing since there is no clear relation to the Catholic worldview.

Not surprisingly the most problematic chapter was on Psycho-Sexual Development and discussions that reference masturbation (though not directly), sexual fantasy, etc are totally isolated from the Church's sexual ethic. There are no disclaimers or caveats or any reference points to this development in relationship to Church teaching whatsoever. Plus most the discussion in this chapter seemed to me to walk the edges of Catholic teaching without really ever really saying anything against them. A lot more could have been done to clarify this to avoid this confusion. A comment about how a sex addict and an anti-pornography activist probably being closely related I think gives the idea of the type of moral relativism the author holds.

Towards the end the chapter that actually deals with spiritual practice is rather vapid and says nothing new or says anything in a way that can help you in the spiritual life. Blurbs like:

Practice is the way we master a skill to get better at doing something. We improve our accuracy at fitting our performance to the requirement of the situations.

The other italicized blurbs in the book are not that much more insightful either. You can read any random paragraph from the Gospels or the Imitations of Christ and would have done yourself much better than anything this book had to say. The other thing that annoys me about this type of book is that once again out of all the examples of holiness of the saints of the Church you pretty much always get referred to as examples Gandhi, Buddha, Martin Luther King, and of course Thomas Merton. Now I have read a lot of Thomas Merton and like his diaries and earlier books, but please he is not the best example that you can find when looking at the treasury of the Church. Now to be fair a couple more traditional saints are mentioned later in the book briefly, but they are called moral geniuses like the others.

The other thing that annoyed me about this book is that it only confirmed my general prejudices concerning Paulist Press. Sure occasionally they have some solid titles, but for the most part they are not exactly orthodox. Though I do have a review coming of another Paulist Press book that was excellent and never set off my theological spidey senses.

Nick Alexander in reference to my song parody Samaritan Women wrote me with another telling of the story with a first draft of the lyrics.

Okay... this is a parody of "Somebody Told Me" from The Killers (which came out about a year or two ago). It's told from the Samaritan Woman's point of view, as she heads into the city, telling others what had just happened. Enjoy.

That's When He Told Me (parody of Somebody Told Me by The Killers)

I just came back--got a tale to tell
I just came back from the Samar'tan township well...
I'm not on crack, got nothing to sell
There at that place, I had seen this dude
Looked at His face, saw that He was a Jew...

Did He not know what was plain in view
That I couldn't talk with that man, a Jew...
" Give me a drink, give me a drink" he cried.
I looked at him and wondered "Who's this guy?"

That's when he told me
That I had five husbands
--the guy that I lived with
was not real-ly my husband. Hey, look there
You pray on that mountain
You should have a fountain...

What He had said, made me want to run
Where did he get the skinny on what I had done?
As you can guess, it was just no fun.
I had tried to steer the subject far from this.
So I pointed out that he had nothing to draw with...

But as I tried to steer the gabbing far from this.
Whatever I had lobbed at Him, He would hit
Could this be Christ, could this be Christ--the proooof?
Time that I worship in Spirit and in Truth...

That's when he told me
That I had five husbands
--the guy that I lived with
was not real-ly my husband. Hey, look there
You pray on that mountain
You should have a fountain
that's welling up, welling up...

He said "I am He,
Messi-ah, who's coming."
And He's still at the well right now
O how you oughta know this guy...


[x3]
Coz that's what he told me
That I had five husbands
--the guy that I lived with
was not real-ly my husband. Hey, look there
You pray on that mountain
You should have a fountain
that's welling up, welling up ...
insi-i-ide.

YouTube version with The Killers here.

Well I must say Nick that I am in awe of your ability and would love to see this on a future CD of yours.

Nick asked me to plug the Top Catholic Songs website where you can listen to, vote, and download Catholic music.

For those who don't know who Nick Alexander is, he is described as the Catholic "Weird Al" and I would agree with that definition. As a long time Dr. Demento fan who heard 'Weird Al'' Yankovic on Dr. Demento's show when he sent him a tape as a teenager I would say Nick Alexander is equally talented.

You can listen to/download his music here.

Jean at Catholic Fire tagged me with the Book Memory meme.

1. Do you associate reading particular books with the places you read them or events of the time you read them?

Pretty much. I can usually remember where I was when I first read a book and the same goes for music and movies. I don't usually tie them to specific events except for perhaps the extremely influential books that helped me out on my way into the Church. "Theology and Sanity", "A Handbook of Christian Apologetics", and "A Father who keeps his promises were prominent books for me during this time.

2. Do you remember the books you read or do they fade quickly? Or do you remember some better than others? How about remember details like character names, not just overall plot?

Fade somewhat quickly. Though the general plot pretty much stays with me. Character names don't stay with me for the most part, but then again I have the same problem remembering names of people in real life. Though this fading is find since it makes rereading a great book much more fun. I also have difficulties remembering titles. This is annoying when it comes to series and if I see a new book in a series I don't quite remember if I had read it or not. Now I keep track of everything I read to avoid this problem.

3. Have you ever forgotten you've read/own a book and borrowed/bought it again?

I once borrowed the same book from the library within a three week period of time. I returned the book the second time around and was surprised when I got a notice for never returning the first book. I of course didn't realize this at the time and my arguing with the librarian that I already returned it turned to embarrassment when she showed me that I had checked it out twice and the books had two different SKUs.

I figured Jumper was going to be a crappy movie, I just didn't know how crappy. What do you do with a book that has a Muslim terrorists as a bad buy? John C. Wright who liked the book, but hated the movie writes:

AH! But these illuminati are the Magisterium! They are the Opus Dei! You heard me. The Christians are the bad guys. Their motive for killing teleporters is that "Old God should Have the Power to Be in All Places At Once". Boy, that is so stupid it makes my head ache. Teleporters go from place to place, they are not in all places at once, and God does not teleport.

These guys are not Jews or even Evil Buddhists. They are called Paladins— yes, you heard me. The band of knights in service to Charlemagne who saved Europe from the Muslim hordes of Spain and North Africa are just the people the film makers thought it would be creepy to name their bad guys after. They are the same people (according to one character in the film) who were responsible for the Inquisition.

Whatever, film maker dude. Good thing you did not have the Muslim terrorist in the book as the villain, or that might have offended someone.

So with films like the Da Vinci Code, Golden Compass, and now Jumper it looks like Catholics are now the villains of choice and for Hollywood the Chosen people. It reminds me of the great line in Fiddler on the Roof "We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can't You choose someone else?"

John C. Wright has a thorough review of just how bad this movie is on multiple levels.

Because of he Gospel reading today and since it has been a while since I have done a song parody - here is one based on the classic Guess Who song.

Samaritan woman give me a drink
Samaritan woman, she gonna give me a drink
Samaritan woman give me a drink
Samaritan woman give me a drink
Say S,
Say A,
Say M,
Say A,
Say R,
A,
Say T,
A,
N,
Samaritan woman give me a drink
Samaritan woman give me a drink
Samaritan woman give me a drink

Samaritan woman, you want living water
Samaritan woman, this you would prefer
Please come hangin’ around the well
and give me a drink that would be swell
If you drink this water you will thirst again
I got living water swelling up in my reign
Now woman, I said come and pray,
Samaritan woman, listen what I say.

Samaritan woman, call your husband here
Samaritan woman, your right no hubby there
Yeah your perceivin' I'm a prophet
I tell you I who speak to you am he
So the woman left the water jar
and said "Can this be Christ" and walked afar
Prophetic insights can hypnotize
especially in an incarnational guise
Now woman, I said get some water
Samaritan woman, listen what I say.

Samaritan woman, said get me water
Samaritan woman, listen what I say
Don’t come hangin’ around the well
Time for you to preach the Gospel
I don’t need your jar routines
You worship what you have not seen
Prophetic insights can hypnotize
especially in an incarnational guise
Now woman, get water for me
Samaritan woman, my mama is Mary

Go, gotta get away, gotta get away
To Gal Gal Galilee
Gonna leave you, woman
Gonna leave you, woman
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
Bye-bye
My food is to do the will of him
I’m so good for you
Gonna look you right in the eye.
Tell you what I’m gonna do
You know I’m gonna assend
You know I’m gonna go
You know I’m gonna assend
You know I’m gonna go, woman
I’m gonna leave, woman
Goodbye, Samaritan woman

Now in reality I really wish that Nick Alexander would do a parody along these lines and he could come up with much better lyrics.

I just finished Questions and Answers by Pope Benedict XVI put out by Our Sunday Visitor which is a collection of various question and answer sessions from various audiences that includes sessions with children, youth, and clergy at multiple locations. This s a very worthwhile collection and with the amount of these type sessions I am sure we will see more of these books in the future.

Pope Benedict XVI really opens himself up to these types of sessions which I think for the most part of quite unique in the history of the Church. The questions themselves are interesting, but it is the way the pope answers these questions in his own style that is quite remarkable. Reading through his sometimes lengthily answers you would think he had days to work on responses to questions put before him ahead of time. He is an amazing extemporaneous speaker and his answers reveal just how thoroughly he has integrated the faith and is able to speak on almost any topic to reveal his knowledge and contemplation on a subject. It is obvious as to the level of detail that he has given to these subjects in his own mind before hand.

I also found it quite amazing his ability to really answer a question and put together a synthesis of Church teaching and his own practical experience to give almost a mediation on a question. The book opens up with questions from children and I think they way he answers them is the very model that people working with children and youth in regards to religious education should follow. He is able to answer serious questions to them in a serious manner that does not "talk down" to them, but at the same time making it understandable to them. He sees no reason to water down a serious subject just because he is talking to children and is able to tailor it to their intellects in such a way that even as an adult I found his answers fruitful for me.

His answers, especially to fellow priests, are often long discourses - but he doesn't talk just to hear his voice. In one question he felt that the questioner had answered his own query and the Pope simple said for other to listen to what this priest had to say and not feel the need to add anything to it. You get the feel of his real humility when he answers questions in that he defines the limits of what he is able to answer and when speaking to clergy talks about their pastoral experience in taking his suggestions in.

The questions run the gamut and some of them overlap. I especially enjoyed his discussions on marriage and his insight in regards to marriage. I loved how he referred to one large family as a parish. Some of his answers in regard to science are quite interesting especially in regards to the recent controversy and protests at the La Sapienza University in Rome calling the Pope anti-science. In on answer he talks about Galileo the great and the proper and supporting roles of faith and science. In another he talks about the false tensions between creationists and evolutionists and where they both go wrong and makes a fairly strong statement in regards to the science of evolution. When Pope John Paul II made a comment about evolution it got a lot of press and so I find it rather strange the Pope Benedict's comments in this regard did not get the same publicity. I guess it didn't fit their template.

This book was edited by Michael Dubruiel and the Latin translation footnotes were provided by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf which as you would expect are quite informative.

a band plays “Obama-alujah” and thousands stand in the chill night ready to be rapturous.

As the New York Times continues the Obama as Messiah meme.

Well for one thing I would really like an Obama rapture just as long as it occurs before election day and his true believers are taken up from earth. Though instead of "Left" Behind I guess it would be the right that would be left behind.

I think the most interesting thing about the Obama messiah meme is that so far it seems none of the MSM has asked Obama about his reaction to people speaking a about him in messianic terms and of course there is all the Obama iconography that has appeared and is associated with his campaign. He says he is a Christian and surely is aware of the context in which he is being described. It certainly seems to me that a Christian would be quite embarrassed about anybody speaking of them in messianic terms and would request that it would be stopped. Obama-alujah is pretty over the top and soon they will be throwing palm leaves in his path. Surely St. John the Baptist was embarrassed about this confusion in his own time in people thinking he was the Messiah and he quickly put them straight. Though unlike St. John the Baptist I guess his motto is "I must increase."

Via "Is Obama the Messiah?"

It is rather cool, but surreal, to see former Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch being interviewed on the Protestant television show "Life Today." He has a new book out called Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story .

South Albany High is in the headlines this morning after the principal disciplined a student who refused to take off a crucifix. The school's principal, according to this report in this morning's Albany Democrat Herald, suspected the cross was a gang symbol. The student insisted it wasn't.

Maria Salazar is very clear: Her son is not a gang member and she gave him a crucifix to wear out of love.

Principal Chris Equinoa is equally clear: Religious items are not banned, but he reserves the right to ask a student to remove, or cover up, any item he feels could indicate gang affiliation -- even a crucifix.

Well the Catholic Church just isn't a very good as a gang. Snitches like Judas were treated quiet compassionately by Jesus. No requirement for membership to kill someone, though we are asked to die to self. We don't have the Bloods, but we do have the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. I do wonder if this principal would consider the Ichthys an early gang symbol?

Mass attendance in the Denver Archdiocese is higher than that of the national average, shows a recent survey commissioned by the Denver Archdiocese. The survey also shows that a majority of Catholics in the archdiocese, 51 percent, are �fervent� or �faithful� in their belief. A total of 45 percent of local Catholics polled said they attended Mass in the prior week, compared to 32 percent nationally.

I don't see how 51 percent can be fervent or faithful and have 45 percent attend mass the prior week. Unless you had a large percent of them being ill or having another valid excuse for having to miss Mass. But considering the false idea promulgated that missing Mass for other than a narrow list of valid reason is no longer gravely sinful. Can it be any surprise of lower Mass attendance rates when this false idea was never fervently refuted?

While the survey included a caution that Mass attendance can be overstated, the results are evidence that a much higher proportion of Catholics within the archdiocese are attending Mass compared to Catholics nationwide.

The study, conducted last fall by Boulder market research firm Core Insights, polled 834 self-identified Catholics living in the archdiocese and included 74 in-depth one-on-one interviews. The survey margin of error is 2.8 percent.

Using the most recent U.S. Census results, the study shows the total general population living in the geographic area of the archdiocese to be nearly 3.3 million people. The 2008 Archdiocesan Directory shows that 407,500 people are registered parishioners (figure from December 2006). A majority of those polled in the survey, 58 percent, said they were registered parishioners.

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., said the survey was done to get more comprehensive information about the archdiocese than an annual Mass attendance survey, which is conducted every fall.

It is rather sad that the good news is that 45 percent of Catholics are going to Mass weekly - which surely is good news compared to the national average. Though it is also rather sad that our national rate of Mass attendance of 32% is a high watermark compared to much of the industrial world.

The main motivation given by those who said they “definitely” or “probably” would attend Mass, was “a desire to be in the presence of the Lord,” which was cited by 21 percent of the participants.

Experiencing a sense of community, hearing a good homily, and receiving the Eucharist are key factors contributing to Mass attendance, the survey reveals, with high majorities of those polled — 82, 74 and 65 percents respectively — saying they either somewhat, strongly or completely agreed with those statements.

A lesser majority of those polled, 55 percent, said they either somewhat, strongly, or completely agreed with the statement “prayer and spiritual reflection is a reasonable substitute for Mass.”

Well prayer and spiritual reflection are certainly not a reasonable substitution for Mass for those that are able to attend, but certainly they are preparations for entering into the Mass.

“The individuals who feel most stressed and time constrained feel they need to rest up and repair themselves by not attending Mass,” said Marc Miller, founder and chief strategist of Core Insights. Their view, he said, is “My faith will go on.”

However, people with this perspective usually know they are missing the Eucharist, the homily, and sense of friendship and community that come from public worship, said Miller.

This is one thing I have never understood about modern society is this feeling of time constraint and too little time. You would think with all of our "time saving gadgets" and the fact that most people are able to work a much less part of the day than was found in agrarian or other cultures that they can find no place for the typical one hour Mass on a Sunday. The irony is that those who feel the most stress might benefit all the by entering into the Mass and receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist.

Nearly half, 47 percent, said they feel the archdiocese is clear and consistent in communicating position on current issues.

Despite national and local coverage of sex abuse cases involving Catholic priests in the past, a clear majority of those polled expressed trust in the priests of the Denver Archdiocese. A majority, 57 percent, said they have a high level of trust in priests today.

“From the data, we know that there’s a strong belief and confidence in the Archdiocese of Denver that really stems from an understanding of what Archbishop Chaput is doing,” said Miller.

It would certainly seem that this is no fluke of higher Mass attendance under an Archbishop who is a very public Archbishop who truly leaves and teaches the Catholic faith and is willing to enter the public square to defend and protect the faithful.

� Four broad groups were identified by the survey: �the fervent,� those who actively express and live their faith and support their parish and the archdiocese (29 percent); �faithful followers,� those who hold more traditional beliefs, are reverent and look to the Church for guidance (22 percent); �under development,� those who are uncomfortable with their personal spirituality, are seeking something more and need religious education (20 percent); and �detached doubters,� those who disagree with various Church teachings, are disengaged and seldom attend Mass (29 percent).

That most Catholics in the archdiocese are fervent or faithful in their beliefs is very positive, said Miller. Those who are less engaged with the Church, he noted, would benefit from additional religious formation.

�We want to use this information as a platform for evangelization,� said Archbishop Chaput. �Both in terms of energizing those who are already Catholics but lukewarm in their practice, and reaching out to those who have no religious commitment.

Amen.

St. John's Valdosta Blog

Yvonne Sullivan, 28, lost consciousness suffering from severe blood poisoning moments after being told that baby Clinton had died. Despite grieving for their lost son, her husband Dominic, 37, kept a round-the-clock vigil at her bedside for two weeks as she lay in intensive care.

But when doctors told him they could have to switch off her life support machine, Mr Sullivan took drastic action--by giving his wife a firm telling-off. He held his wife's hand and demanded: "You start fighting. Don't you dare give up on me now. I've had enough, stop mucking around and start breathing. Come back to me."

Two hours later she started to breathe steadily again.

...She even remembers hearing her husband yelling at her as she lay in a coma and says it gave her the strength to pull through.

She said: "I can't remember exactly what he said but I never liked getting told off by Dom. Something inside me just clicked and I began to fight again. When I came round I thought he'd been gone a few minutes, then he told me I'd been out for two weeks. It's a miracle. I owe him so much."

Via Secondhand Smoke.

Excerpts from the Ecological Stations of the Cross

Second Station: Jesus Embraces the Cross
(Earth as Suffering Servant—Isaiah)

Meditation:
Mother Earth, you are alive with Christ’s Spirit. You, like Christ, are the suffering servant. You serve all Earth’s creatures so splendidly and graciously, but we often treat you as nothing more than a storehouse of goods. May we awaken to see both your suffering and your generosity. May we only harvest wood from your forests in ways that are sustainable and may we leave your ancient, mystical, old-growth forests to grow in peace.

Eighth Station: Jesus Speaks to the Women of Jerusalem
(Women and Education, Hunger, Poverty and Sustainable Population Growth)

Reflection:
Christ, you look with compassion on women: the birth-givers, the nurturers, and the comforters. May we commit to sustainable world population growth by bringing women out of poverty; by providing adequate nutrition, health care and education, and by honoring the lives of all women.

Point to Ponder:
Unsustainable population growth is a direct result of poverty, hunger and illiteracy, especially for women. Without food, economic security, and education, no amount of family planning programs will curb high birth rates.

These Ecological Stations of the cross are reportedly from Immaculate Conception Church in Durham, NC. These were sent in from a reader of Fr. Zuhisdorf and I think Fr. Z was right to wonder if someone was putting him on.

Unfortunately these don't appear to be parody and it looks like the Ecological Stations of the Cross was a project of St. Elizabeth Garden of Learning in Oakland, Calif. This center is part of St Elizabeth's Church in Oakland. The National Catholic Reporter previously had an article on these "stations of the cross" so these are all too real. Almost as strange is this mosaic above the Church's altar at St. Elizabeth which is an emerging Peace dove is destroying a U.S. Military 9 mm Beretta pistol.

These stations as "Collaborative Public Sculpture" were sponsored by the Office of Peace, Justice, and Integrity of Creation, of the Franciscan Province of St. Barbara. Pope Benedict previously referred to a statement by Bishop Sorrentino of Assisi about the "abuse" of the figure of St. Francis. This abuse is mostly of seeing St. Francis first and foremost as a radical environmentalist which loses its proper order of his love of creation principally as a fruit of the love of the creator. Much of environmental spirituality is like hanging great paintings in a museum and putting the tag of "anonymous" underneath them. They have made God the anonymous author of creation and if he is mentioned at all it is sort of as a footnote.

As a side note it really saddens me to see terms like "family planning" and "population growth" used in a Stations of the Cross. It is as if they agree that Hell is other people and the number of people as a great evil. They seem to forget the history of environmental scare mongering and how all the dire predictions of the past never happened. It reminds me of "prophets" who make predictions of the end of the world and when it doesn't pan out set new dates.

Let us love God first and foremost and then our neighbors and be proper stewards of all the gifts that God has given us in creation. It is when this order is reversed or torn asunder that things go wrong.

My daughter came tumbling out of her religious education class recently, shouting, "Mom, I want to go to Washington; they're killing babies!"

Next to her my 5-year-old chimed in, jumping up and down: "I want to go, I want to go!"

Dread flooded my stomach and chest; the abortion debate had reached my doorstop.

I knew it was coming. Years before when it came time to enroll our oldest daughter in CCD - Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, religious education for Catholics -- I thought of the conflicts that lay ahead.

In CCD she'd be taught things my husband and I didn't believe and, quite frankly, things we didn't want her to believe.

We don't believe that homosexuality is a disorder, we don't believe the use of contraception is wrong and we don't believe that having an abortion is a sin, or evil.

But the Catholic Church is home for me, and it is more than the sum of the doctrine I ignore, more than the sum of its scandals and newspaper headlines.

It has something important to teach its members - and my children -- about right and wrong, about love and commitment, about social justice and compassion.

And I pledged at my wedding and their baptism that any children would be raised Catholic.
" Have faith," I said to myself when I signed our oldest daughter up for CCD four years ago.

"You'll hear a lot more about it in the coming years, and you'll have to make your own decision about what you believe," I said, "but what's important is that you know people have different opinions. The Church believes one thing; Mom and Dad believe another."

...A few days after that CCD lesson my husband and I sat down with our daughter and her science book and turned to the chapter on cells and cell division. We talked about when life begins according to science, and according to the church and talked some more about what this means in terms of an abortion.

She got bored after a while and squirmed away.

But she'll be back and we'll continue the discussion adding more of the missing pieces as she grows old enough to hear them.

And then, it's her choice.

Those who take their faith seriously have a hard time understanding cultural Catholics and exactly why they want to belong to a Church they fundamentally disagree with. Besides the Church exactly what other "organization" that they have problems with and who they see teaching as sins things that are totally fine would they let teach their children. Whatever happened to Isaiah injunction "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;" which surely they see the Church as doing? That certainly there are other religious denominations that fall much more in line with what they believe. I guess this is just a fundamental disconnect or a sort of religious patriotism of the sort of "My Church right or wrong." She says that it is important that the Church teaches what is right and wrong and than says that the Church is wrong about what it says is right.

What I also find interesting is the defense of abortion by those who say they have faith and belief in God. It is pretty much always a case of moral relativism and situational ethics. Support of the need for abortion is defended by naming the circumstances; whether it is rape, incest, economic, timing, etc - the situation is used to defend the need for abortion. In this article the same arguments are used and in like in most cases there is never talk of a soul, being created in the image of God, why it is okay to kill the innocent because of circumstances, etc. That a believer strangely makes no arguments in a religious context at all and make statements that are totally secular. For a moral relativist as in this case it comes down to "And then, it's her choice" which is at least consistent, but extends the idea that the truth is what you choose to be the truth.

The 2008 Catholic blog awards are accepting nominations in a variety of categories:until Feb 29th.

Registration is required before you can nominate a blog

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2. Nominating someone for the same category repeatedly is prohibited.
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6. I have requested that your name and email address be submitted on the form. I will keep this information confidential. If your name or e-mail address is missing, your nomination will not be accepted.

Gerald has a post on Cardinal Schoenborn's cause for the International Theological Institute with photos and information on a fundraising effort for a new campus.

Marcel LeJeune has seen the new move Human Experience by Grassroots Film and has a glowing review of this powerful film.

Here are some new blog announcements:

Not Strictly Spiritual

Meus Questus

This weeks Catholic Carnival.

This Respect Life video is from the New York State Catholic Conference to combat the extreme new law there.

I think the pundits have missed what was really wrong about Obama's "Just words" speech. The charges of plagiarism don't really seem to stand because of his cozy relationship with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and it just isn't plagiarism when you have permission.

What was the real problem is that he was using his speeches focusing predominately on hope and change and comparing them to "I had a dream" and "We hold these truths to be self evident." This is rather egotistic in the first place and there is a great difference between his words and those words. For one Martin Luther King's words and activism were founded on action where his words matched something substantive with his movement of nonviolence and civil disobedience where he was willing to go to jail in face of these racial injustices. The words of the Declaration of Independence were also based on action and people willing to lay down their lives to defend the new country and the ideas in the declaration.

So for Obama using this as a tactic to deflect criticisms that he was all talk with no actual plans by quoting rhetoric that was backed up by plans and action doesn't really do much. Though I guess the irony is that he was using empty rhetoric to defend himself against the charge of empty rhetoric. Another thing I don't get about the Obama fascination is all the praises for his speeches when what he is doing is giving a good reading of a prepared speech. When he had to give a talk without a teleprompter and he didn't want to be reading from a prepared speech it gave a much better idea of Obama the speaker with him bashing President Bush, Karl Rove and former FEMA head Michael Brown and using much more of the language of political liberalism today.

I do think it is pretty cool how far Christopher Blosser's Is Obama the Messiah? blog has taken off and how much traffic he is getting.

One thing though - with Jesus we got The Beatitudes, with Obama we get The Platitudes. Besides doesn't the Bible have strong words about the Obamanation?

could get married

A meal and a drink in Croatia may not cost you anything except for maybe a few Hail Mary's after a parish opened up a "prayer café" in an effort to bring youths back to church.

Catholic News Service reports Salesian Fr Damir Stojic thought up the scheme to keep the kids from going to other cafés after church and come together for a meal after Eucharist.

" In the Acts of the Apostles, it says the disciples used to come together for a meal after the Eucharist, so we're following a biblical ideal," Fr Stojic said.

"A lot of kids used to head for neighbouring cafes after Mass here. We came up with this scheme for persuading them to hang out at the church instead."

The Jedno (Sail) cafe opened recently in a parish hall adjoining Zagreb's Holy Spirit Church and attracts many of the students and young people attending the regular Sunday youth Mass.

"Student helpers thought up the idea of paying with prayers. We have encouraged parents to donate food and drink for the café," he said.

"Jedno could be seen as continuing a tradition since most Salesian parishes worldwide ran cafes at their churches."

Prices at Jedno vary from three Our Fathers for a standard cup of coffee to a more expensive Coca-Cola (five Hail Marys and a Glory Be), while a cappuccino costs four Our Fathers.

His post continues with advice on a number of subjects common to the confessional.

Great idea, but what happens when inflation sets in. I can imagine people complaining in later years "I remember when a cappuccino cost just four Our Fathers and now you have to whip out a mystery of the Rosary and five Glory Be's."

Fr. Philip Powell, OP has a great post on confession advice that starts with:

I. Starting point:

1. Sin. When we sin we abuse a gift from God. Just about every sin we commit can be traced back to a disordered use of some grace we have received from God. Abusing God’s gifts is a dangerous practice b/c it is through the charitable use of our divine gifts for others that God perfects His love us. If you are not using your gifts for the benefit of others then God’s love is not being perfected in you.

2. Forgiveness. When we ask for forgiveness we are not asking God to do something He has not already done. All of our sins are forgiven right now. All of them. Then why go to confession? God gives us forgiveness always, constantly, without ceasing. We go to confession to receive His forgiveness. Let’s say I call you up and tell you that I’ve purchased a nice Easter ham for you at Central Market. It’s a gift from me to you and your family. I give you this ham. For the ham to be a proper gift, you have to go get it. Once you have received the ham, it is a gift. The ham is no less real b/c you haven’t picked it up yet. The ham doesn’t materialize out of thin air when you go to Central Market and ask for it. The ham is just sitting there waiting for you to come ask for. The same is true for God’s forgiveness. Just ask and you will receive.

3. Charity. Once you have received your gift of forgiveness, you need to put it into action as a gift for others. We do not have the option of failing to forgive. We are commanded to love and when we love, we forgive; i.e., You give your gift of divine forgiveness away by forgiving me my sins against you. In this way, you enact your most basic ministry as Christ to me.

His post continues with advice on a number of subjects common to the confessional.

Here is another nice article concerning Belmont Abbey.

A burning sensation started in Anthony Swofford’s chest.

“It felt like my whole chest was on fire,” Swofford said. “I was at my house in my driveway. I felt like somebody reached inside my chest and was holding on to my heart.”

That was the day Swofford promised God he would not drink or take drugs again.

Swofford was born and raised Catholic. He grew up in Chesnee, SC, where his Catholic family was the only one in town.

“I had very good parents that had very good ethics and morals,” Swofford said.

He struggled with drugs and alcohol for about 20 years.

“I kind of got angry with God,” Swofford said.

Eight years ago he went to rehab and started praying.

“I’ve been praying ever since,” Swofford said. 

...After visiting the Benedictine monastery at Belmont Abbey, he knew he’d found the right place.

“I’ve always said that for 27 years, I did everything that I wanted to do,” Swofford said. “I decided I was going to do whatever he (God) wanted me to do.”

Most of the article is pretty good as it discusses monastic life, but I found this a little off.

What’s the difference between priests and monks?
“The priest celebrates mass and administers the sacrament,” said Father John Oetgen. “A monk doesn’t.”

Well not quite.  Correct me if I am wrong but isn't a monk someone who lives within a community of men within a monastery and are normally made up of both priests and brothers. I think many monks that are priests would be a little surprised to find out that they don't celebrate Mass or administer the sacraments.  I bet this is a misquote.

Catholic Minority Report has a video of Charles Barkley calling conservatives "Fake Christians" and announcing how proud he is to be pro-gay and pro-abortion.

I heard the clip last night on Hugh Hewitt's show with Barkley going on and on that they are fake Christians because they are commanded not to judge and that they do indeed judge.  Often it seems among those that are of a liberal persuasion that they only Bible verse they seem to know is the one about judging others.  Often they are all about shades of gray and nothing being simply black and white, yet when it comes to this verse they become the most ardent fundamentalist and a "single scripture thumper."

Somehow though when they make the claims of Christians being hypocrites for judging others is that they never seem to see they irony that they are judging that Christians are judging others.

I love when Alice Von Hildebrand talks about here days of teaching in a university and the conversations she would have with her students.  When one complained that she was judging her she replied "How dare you judge that I was judging you!"

Now this does not mean that Christians have blanket approval to judge others.  Certainly we can never make judgments as to someone's eternal destiny and especially need to totally avoid rash judgments.  As the late and great Fr. Hardon, S.J. notes:

...Where the rash judgment begins is at the point where we go beyond the evidence available to judge the culpability of the action, attribute evil motives, and decide against the character or moral integrity of the person whose conduct we observed.

The sinfulness of rashly judging people, therefore, arises from two sources: the hasty imprudence with which a critical judgment is reached, and the loss of reputation that the person suffers in our estimation because we have judged him adversely.

... In order to control this inveterate tendency to praise ourselves and blame others, it is necessary to leave both ourselves and others in God's hands and trust that, in the final judgment, the truth will then appear. Those who deserve to be rewarded will receive the merit they had earned; those who are to be punished will be visited by their just deserts. In the meantime, i.e., during our mortal stay on earth, all definitive judgments about people, whether ourselves or others, are premature. Only God at the end of time has the right to decide conclusively about the human heart.

But certainly we must judge the morality of human acts.  A conscience without judgment is no conscience at all and it is a properly formed conscience that is best able to judge.  First and foremost we must judge are own moral actions. But it would be impossible to follow St. Paul's maxim ""Bad company ruins good morals." if we couldn't judge the actions of others and to determine that they were bad company.  It would also be impossible to pray for the conversion of others if we could not judge.  The Reductio ad absurdum of this is quite obvious on any serious reflection and Charles Barkley as a moral theologian is a good basketball player.

Thinking on this subject here is a product I would like to see and could sure use at times.

St. Johnson and & St. Johnson's introduces the product you have been waiting for.  Have you ever broke out in a rash judgment?  If so you will love Rash Judgment Creme.  Rash Judgments often leave you irritable and at times even your face turns red when you breakout in an angry rash judgment. Rash judgments are caused by contact hastititis and can only be cured with generous applications of charity.  St. Johnson and & St. Johnson's Rash Judgment Creme patented product with Aloe Veritas helps you to discern human moral acts based on the truth of the evidence and not from bias and prejudices. You will be surprised at how much happier you will be when your rash judgment goes away leaving you with a clear and spotless conscience. Warning: If your rash judgment fails to go away after a Rash Judgment Creme after two week of treatment it is highly recommended that you see a Doctor of the Church. St. Francis de Sales as a great teacher on charity is highly recommended along with many other Doctors of the Church and their associates.

SACRAMENTO, CA (CNS) - Rosalind Moss, an author who is an Eternal Word Television Network TV host and one of the network's radio hosts, announced Feb. 13 that she is starting a new community of sisters in the Archdiocese of St. Louis with the permission of Archbishop Raymond L. Burke.

The new group will be called the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Israel's Hope, she told an audience of more than 200 at the Catholic Breakfast Club of Sacramento.

Moss, 65, said she hopes to move to St. Louis within a few months, intends to fulfill as many of her scheduled speaking engagements in the coming year as possible, and plans to continue her radio program from St. Louis.

She is working now on designing a floor-length habit, along with a basket to hold religious articles which sisters will distribute both in the poorest areas of the city and the richest.

"The purpose of this religious community is to flood the world with holy habits as signs to God," said Moss, who is also a staff apologist with Catholic Answers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the Catholic faith through all forms of media.

..."I want to tell the world that God hasn't left. He is still here. We are loved by the God who made us for himself. I want to show there is no such thing as secular and religious. There is no division. All is from God," she said.

Moss said her group will be an evangelistic, teaching community following in the spiritual tradition of St. Francis de Sales, whose writings and sermons inspired many to convert to Catholicism. She already has a few women who plan to join her, she added.

"I'll come back to Sacramento one day in a habit," said Moss. "Hold nothing back from God."

This is great news.  I often listen to Rosalind Moss on Catholics Answers and she has such a deep spirituality and a great empathy for others in being able to give them spiritual direction.

Manassas, VA - Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina has amended the health insurance plan provided by its carrier to remove coverage for abortions, voluntary sterilizations and contraception.  The provisions allowing these practices were recently discovered. and the college moved quickly to rectify the situation.  The college has since been faced with complaints from a few employees to state and federal agencies, but remains undaunted.

President William Thierfelder said, “As a Roman Catholic institution, Belmont Abbey College is not able to and will not offer nor subsidize medical services that contradict the clear teaching of the Catholic Church.  There was no other course of action possible if we were to operate in fidelity to our mission and to our identity as a Catholic college.”

According to Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) president Patrick J. Reilly, “Belmont Abbey is a faithful Catholic college, and this action reinforces it.  We applaud the steadfastness of President Thierfelder and Abbot Placid Solari, the college chancellor, in keeping fidelity to Catholic teachings a clear priority of the institution.”

Reilly noted that the college was undaunted by complaints filed by a few personnel with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the North Carolina Department of Insurance.  He said, “We hope that these few disgruntled employees will be rebuffed in their efforts to use the power of government to intervene in a matter of faith.”

I have heard good things about Belmont Abbey and it is no surprise that his is where Patrick Madrid has chosen to setup his Envoy Institute.

Very few of us will walk up to someone today and greet him or her with the words, “Happy St. Cyril’s Day,” or even “Happy Cyril’s Day.” And surely no one will tell their sweetheart to “Be my Methodius.”

And yet, today the universal Church commemorates Sts. Cyril and Methodius, not St. Valentine, notwithstanding the latter’s larger-than-life appeal.

Sts. Cyril and Methodius, brothers from what in biblical times was known as Thessalonica, were ninth-century missionaries to the Slavic people in Eastern Europe. Not only did they learn the oral language of the people, but they developed an alphabet and written language so that the Bible and liturgical texts could be translated into the living language of the people. They were truly remarkable men of God.

Leon Suprenant has a good point especially since we have no idea which St. Valentine this day is named after.

Surely Sts. Cyril and Methodius are much more cool being brother Bishops and  brothers and how many people have invented a language that is still used today?  Their missionary work and the spread of the Gospel surely warrant more attention than they get on the memorial.  But then again considering performances of the Vagina Monologue, official New York City brand condom giveaways, and all the other nonsense that goes on this day  - I bet they are happy to take a back seat to St. Valentine and quite happy that this stuff does not get attributed to them.  Though we might want to give a shout out to the St. Valentine and commiserate with him because surely if he wasn't in the Beatific Vision he would be a little down today. 

“Anyone who knows what waterboarding is could not be unsure. It is a horrible torture technique used by Pol Pot and being used on Buddhist monks as we speak,” said McCain after a campaign stop at Dordt College here.

That was then and today he voted against the ban on waterboarding and the bill  that would restrict the CIA to the 19 interrogation techniques outlined in the Army field manual.   Something he said he supported before.   The vote was pretty much along party lines.  If McCain is trying to please the base I wish he would pick another issue. But unfortunately Republicans are becoming the party of torture apologists and the ends now justifies the means.  I was also saddened to see Sen. Brownback do the same.  But there are also plenty of torture apologists among Catholics also.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has put Sister Lucia, the last of three shepherd children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary during apparitions in 1917 in Fatima, on a fast-track to possible sainthood, the Vatican said Wednesday.

The customary waiting period before beginning the process that can lead to sainthood is five years after a person's death.

The case of Sister Lucia, who died in 2005 at age 97, was granted the same waiver as was given in the cases of Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II.

The Vatican said Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, who is prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, made the announcement during a Wednesday evening Mass at the cathedral in Coimbra, Portugal, marking the third anniversary of Lucia's death.

 Political strategist Donna Brazile said she will quit her position with the Democratic National Committee if superdelegates decide who gets the Democratic presidential nomination.

The superdelegate vote “should reflect the will of the people,” Brazile, who managed Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign and is herself a superdelegate, told National Public Radio. 

Help me out here.  Exactly what is the point of the Democrat's superdelegates if they can't trump popular vote? If they always go along with the popular vote then it is a rubber stamp and serves no purpose.  Donna Brazile was made a superdelegate by Bill Clinton so certainly she has had time to figure out what the role is all about.  I guess she likes having two votes more than actually quitting this position now.

I think the superdelegates are exactly like the pigs in Animal Farm.

Prosecutors say a Gresham man who claims he killed his terminally ill wife to end her misery was not the loving, devoted husband he pretended to be. Court documents filed Monday after John Lyle Roberts was indicted on a charge of murder paint a dramatically different portrait of the man who claimed to be a compassionate mercy killer.

For starters, Virginia Roberts wasn't dying of an illness when she was shot in the head as she slept Feb. 2. And she wasn't the only woman in John Roberts' life. Although Roberts, 51, told police and family that his 51-year-old wife was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a doctor who examined her in January told authorities she did not have the terminal disease. Dr. John Ellison determined she was in overall good health but she may have had carpal tunnel syndrome. That could have explained weakness in her hands that is also a symptom of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Wesley Smith wonders "why it has become so fashionable to help kill unwanted spouses and claim it was an act of "mercy."" and he has also chronicled similar cases.  I think it is simply because the Michael Schiavo's and John Robert's of the world have found the society acceptable loophole and that right to die activists are quite wiling to help them out.  Though we can hope that in the case of John Roberts that he will not be able to pull this off.

Jean at Catholic Fire posts on YouTube pulling an American Life League video that criticized a Planned Parenthood one for "inappropriate nature.'"  The ALL video used snippets from the Planned Parenthood Mile High ad and commented on it.  The Mile High ad is still on YouTube so I guess the 'inappropriate nature' is not the video material, but the commentary.

Sign ALL's online petition to send YouTube a message by clicking here.

Dutch Catholics have re-branded the Lent fast as the "Christian Ramadan" in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity.

The Catholic charity Vastenaktie, which collects for the Third World across the Netherlands during the Lent period, is concerned that the Christian festival has become less important for the Dutch over the last generation.

"The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent," said Vastenaktie Director, Martin Van der Kuil.

Well this only follows since Dutch Bishop Tiny Muskens earlier asked Catholics to use Allah for the name of God. Funny how more than a generation of reaching out and conforming the Gospel to secular culture with such products as the infamous Dutch Catechism results in young people knowing more about the Muslim than the Catholic faith.

Just think of all the Muslim comparisons we can use to teach Catholics the faith. Turning towards Mecca is similar to turning towards liturgical East at Mass. Praying five times a day is similar to the practices of the Litugy of the Hours. Prayer rugs are similar to kneelers. Beheading those who insult Islam is simlar to, I guess, notifying the Catholic League.

Hat tip to Happy Catholic and John C. Wright.

 

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Want to use Jesus hand cream? Well, you can't anymore. At least not in Singapore.

A Singapore-based retailer pulled a line of cheeky Jesus branded cosmetics from its shelves after complaints from irate Catholics, the local newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The cosmetics, called "Lookin' Good for Jesus", is made by American makeup company Blue Q. It was sold in three Topshop outlets in Singapore.

Wing Tai Holdings, which manages the Topshop brand in the city-state, pulled the items off its shelves late last month after some customers complained, the Straits Times newspaper reported.

"We don't want to offend our customers," a company spokesman was quoted by the paper as saying.

Reuters could not get a comment from Wing Tai as its offices were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

...Some of the products sold include, a "virtuous vanilla" lip balm, hand and body cream and a mirrored Jesus statuette. They feature a drawing of Jesus flanked by two adoring women and carry slogans such as "Get tight with Christ", "Get His Attention" and "Redeem Your Reputation and More".

Here a product line that wasn't well thought out. The Jesus "Show me the money" wallet is certainly one of the strangest product combinations I have ever seen.

But Lookin' good for Jesus does not exactly fit "But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” Though if you really want to be "Lookin' good for Jesus" then the confessional is the perfect beauty salon. Even better in the confessional you don't need Jesus Bubble Bath to wash away your sins.

Reuters has a slideshow of the odd products.

Taxpayer funded Planned Parenthood Golden Gate's online store continues to KY the slippery slope.

Product Detail
Mile High Kit
Name: Mile High Kit
Product Code: MileHigh
Description: Take off with this mobile intimacy kit from our "Mile High" commercial.
Product Detail: Mini mobile intimacy kit with mirror, personal lubricant, whisper-quiet massager, and 2 condoms. (Batteries are included.)
Price: $20.00

Zenit has a good article on condom fallacies that shows even researches who are pro-condom give lots of caveats about condoms and quotes from several studies.

Hat tip to the intrepid Dawn Eden for the story.

I have updated my L-Mart parody to include new products for the 2008 Lenten season.

Main Services Gifts Spiritual Reading Sacramentals Reference At L-Mart we are here to make your Lent the best Lent ever. Other stores advertise to invoke your materialistic side. To buy what you don't need with money you probably don't have. Here at L-Mart our goal is your growth holiness and to grow in perfection to do what Our Lord and Savior continually calls us to. Though at times there seem to be people in your parish that are working against you by depriving yourself of sacramentals and other aids to worship. This time of year is associated with Holy Water fonts going dry and other odd happenings which through good intentions are aimed to help you, but seriously miss there mark. We at L-Mart to aid you from griping and complaining about such actions and take the positive approach by providing you with items to overcome unnecessary deprivations and other items to aid you. So check out our all new products for 2008 along with some of the classics you have come to love at L-Mart. Detach-ment $14.99 Detach-Ment works the opposite of normal cement products that helps to attach two things together. Detach-Ment helps you to detach yourself from undue affections and from sensate satisfactions so that everything is properly ordered to God. Use the included brush included in the cap to brush on detach-ment from an item or person you are disorderly attach to. Detach-Ment is also safe to place on foods and home entertainment products! ... whether it is necessary, in order to attain this high estate of perfection, to undergo first of all mortification in all the desires, great and small, or whether it will suffice to mortify some of them and to leave others, those at least which seem of little moment. For it seems to be a severe and most difficult thing for the soul to be able to attain to such purity and detachment that it has no will and affection for anything. But you will be surprised at how a dab of Detach-Ment will help your assent to Mt. Carmel. -St. John of the Cross. Tongue Suppressor $9.99 pack of 20 The Book of Psalms tells us: I said, "I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will bridle my mouth, so long as the wicked are in my presence. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue Do you sometimes have problems bridleing your tongue and find yourself saying things you soon regret and with the Psalmist "Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue." and refer this to your own tongue? If so you will love Tongue Suppressors which help to suppress those words you soon regret. Each Tongue Suppressor is coated with our patented tongue guard formula and in no time you will "Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit." and soon your "Tongue will sing of thy word, for all thy commandments are right." Charity Checker #22.99 Are you a blogger or commenter and find that sometimes in enthusiastic defense of the faith you go a little overboard in attacking others personally instead of setting forth arguments to defend the Church? If so you will love this new browser plugin "Charity Checker" that works with your favorite browser and can even incorporate itself into blogger, MT, or Wordpress. Also works great outside of Lent. Ashes Plug $17.99 On Ash Wednesday and the first Sunday of Lent often you will be subjected to that so-called hymn that borders on heresy named Ashes. As soon as the music starts for this song and before you hear those Pelagianism words "We rise again from ashes to create ourselves anew." the Ashes Plug technology kicks in and blocks the offending "hymn" and stops blocking as soon as it ends. Computer Soulsaver $13.49 Do you want to expand your prayer life and to make intercessory prayers, but you never seem to have the time because you spend too much time on the computer? Well the Soulsaver works just like a screensaver and comes up at programmed times blocking the computer screen until you finish those intercessory prayers you have been meaning to do. Confession Reminder $22.99 The electronic confession reminder is the perfect tool to help you remember the last time you went to confession and when you should go next. After a month passes the alarm starts to slowly beep and if a year passes a piercing alarm sounds to remind that you really need to get to confession. So no more fumbling to remember the last time you went to confession and you can now tell father exactly the last date and time you went. Included is a handy countdown display to easily track how many Hail Mary's Our Father's, etc you were given to say for penance. El Castillo Interior Detector $34.99 Do you ever wonder if you have ever made spiritual progress considering all of the Lents you have gone through in life? Have you ever wondered exactly what mansion of Saint Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle you are in? Are you still in the basement of the castle accompanied by numerous reptiles which disturb your peace or have you gone from aridity in prayer to sweetness in prayer or even the prayer of union or beyond? Well now you can know for sure with El Castillo Interior Detector. Just hold it in front of yourself and watch the meter as it points between the range of the first mansion and the seventh. If the meter seems stuck on the first mansion this is not the fault of the detector, which requires no batteries, but in yourself. Warning: Do not attempt to point this device at other people to see where there are at or your own mansion level will immediately drop. If you must make comparisons make sure they are only between Christ and yourself. Portable Font $7.99 On Ash Wednesday does your parish remove the Holy Water from all the fonts? Do they replace it with marbles, sands, twigs, or basically any object but Holy Water? If so check out the Portable Font. Easily collapses and fits in your pocket. While traveling the water won't link, but with just one twist of our patented lid you can then dip your fingers and bless yourself. Holds enough water for you and your family. Lenten X-Ray $19.99 Some parishes start covering statues, images, and crosses on the first day of Lent instead of at least waiting till after the fourth Sunday of Lent or Holy Week. If your parish deprives you early of these worship aids then but a pair of our Lenten X-Ray Vision glasses. We use the same technology used in the new airport security scanner that can see right through clothes and brought to you at an affordable price. Now obviously it would be quite problematic and a deterrent to holiness to see through every bodies clothes. That is why our product has built-in Infrared technology so that the glasses capability is turned off in area where human body heat is detected. This way you can see right through the material covering statues, images, and crosses and also remain pure at the same time. Stations of the Cross Viewmaster $14.98 Does your parish have a real abstract set of the Stations of the Cross. As you go from station to station is your first meditation "What the heck is this suppose to represent." That some wannabe Picasso has managed to con your parish. That without the text at the bottom of them you would have no clue as to meaning of the station? If so you will love the Stations of the Cross Viewmaster. Each set comes with 14 awesome images which through the latest 3D technology look so real you will think you are in one of the more beautiful churches in Rome. Inward Binoculars $79.99 Are you in the habit of fault watching? Where you watch others and catalog their faults like the most obsessive detail-oriented bird watcher? Then you need the Inward Binoculars. Instead of training your eyes on others these Binoculars focus inward to reveal your faults. First start at the lowest magnification levels since it is more than likely your faults will be easily seen at this level. As you progress in the spiritual life you can increase the magnification. The fault comparison algorithm is not computed on others compared to yourself, but yourself compared to Jesus. The inward binoculars work best when you keep your eyes on Jesus. Sacred Heart Monitor $279.99 Is your will united with the Sacred Heart of Jesus? Does your heart beat with the will of Christ or is there little synchronization? With the Sacred Heart Monitor you will know for sure. If the signal is flat lined you might not have the leads connected correctly. If you do and it is still flat lined it means your prayer life is dead. If this symptom is detected resuscitate your prayer life immediately with prayer. Reading the Gospels is highly recommended to jump start your heart and prayer life. Yuck Spice $2.99 Are you one of those people who just love seafood and find abstinence from meat something not anyway penitential? If you fit into this category you will love to hate Yuck Spice. Yuck Spice is a very unpleasant seasoning you sprinkle on your seafood or salad if you are a vegetarian. This makes your normally enjoyable meal quite penitential and much more fitting with the season. Snack Patch $14.99 Have you made a Lenten commitment to give up all snacks during Lent yet in years past you have always failed to keep this resolution? Introduction the Snack Patch. Each pack contains amounts of all the normal crap you read on the ingredients of most snack food of additives, preservatives, color additives, emulsifiers, etc. Each week you change your patch and each week it contains less and less of your normal snack chemical soup you so love. Sackcloth T $17.99 Have you ever wanted to try out sackcloth, but just weren't sure how it was done properly? If you answered yes you are a candidate for the Sackcloth T the finest in penitential undershirts and you can get them monogrammed. People might give you strange looks as you constantly scratch your upper body, but they won't know your wearing sackcloth under your work shirt. If you want something more fashionable then you can also order are sackcloth hoodies. Ash Wednesday Stencil $2.99 Are you one of the millions that go to Ash Wednesday services only to come away with the sign of the smudge? Disappointed once again that you don't have a distinctive cross on your forehead. That when your co-workers see you they offer you a napkin or tell you got some grease on your forehead? Well this will never happen again if you have the Ash Wednesday Stencil. Simply remove the film on the stencil and attach the adhesive side to your forehead before ashes are distributed. After ashes are applied remove the stencil to have that perfect cross revealed. While it is too late to use this product this year, order now so that next year you won't get smudged. Lenten Resolution Tablet $22.99 Do you want to write down your Lenten resolutions to help to remind you to keep them, yet don't want to make them too permanent? The Lenten Resolution is perfect for people who have to keep downshifting their resolution. If you start with "Pray 30 minutes a day" and then after a week found you didn't make it, then simply shake the Lenten Resolution tablet and put "Pray 20 minutes a day." Shake all you want. Our tablet can take it even when you get down to "Pray 5 minutes a day." At L-Mart we have these and many other great products to ensure you have a Holy Lent and to prepare yourself for the best Easter yet! With every order you also get our great two-step infallible guide to growth in holiness. 1. Love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. 2. Love your neighbor as yourself. ...Repeat as necessary.

* The sackcloth undershirt was provided courtesy of Alive and Young.

Christopher Blosser has come up with a great new site that chronicles people describing Obama in Messiah-like terms called Is Barack Obama the Messiah?  He uses real quotes, stories, Hollywood/rap-star sing-a-long video to Obama, and though he tweaks some of the posters via Photoshop for added effect, the posters are also real. 

As I am currently rereading The Lord of the Rings I came across a quote from the book that when I read it instantly reminded me of Obama.  In a conversation about Frodo and his initial distrust of Strider he says "I think a servant of the Enemy would look fairer and feel fouler."  This described exactly my feelings about Obama.  He looks and sounds so fair and you really want to like him as you listen to his high sounding rhetoric.  He has charisma to spare, but when I look at his record in regards to Illinois' "Born Alive Infant Protection Act" and his willingness to support infanticide to protect abortion "rights" and having the most liberal record in his short time in the Senate I see Obama as feeling fouler.  No I don't think we need to shave his head and look for 666, but his agenda surely makes him a servant of the enemy and some calling him Moloch Obama seems to be to be quite accurate.  But hey he seems like such a nice guy that you wouldn't mind sitting down and having a beer with, so let us just put aside our differences.

Obama has been deluding people using his technique I call "Hope-a-Dope."   His constant references to hope effectively disarm his opponents when he is hiding his real extreme liberalism and advocacy of the culture of death.  Hillary has launched many blows against him and this has been a losing tactic, thus "Hope-a-Dope" is working to help him win.

Support family planning efforts this Valentine’s Day by making a donation to Planned Parenthood in President Bush’s name.

When you do, we will send the President a Planned Parenthood Condom on your behalf, reminding him that investing in preventative reproductive health care saves Americans hundreds of millions of dollars a year and improves our communities’ quality of life.

On this day of love and compassion, you can make a difference in Orange and San Bernardino Counties by making a donation in President Bush’s name.

After all, you know that love isn’t just about chocolate, flowers and candy.

XOXO,
Planned Parenthood

Yea nothing says love like a condom.  I love you so much that I want to protect myself from any diseases you might give me.  I love you so much that I don't want there to be any fruit of our love in the miracle of life.  I love you so much that nothing can keep us apart except of course that thin layer of latex.

You also have to wonder how Planned Parenthood improves a communities' quality of life?  This is a great community of people just as long as there are not too many people.  Though I find it deeply ironic for Planned Parenthood to even use the phrase "quality of life" when they really mean "quality of death."  It is death that they make most of their money on and they think that for someone to have a better "quality of life" someone else must die for it.

Somehow I don't think sending President Bush taxpayer-funded condoms is going to remind him anything except the stupidity and moral corruptness of Planned Parenthood.

This is all just Condomganda.  You can't call it propaganda since they would have no truck with propagating.  The selling of condoms as a wonderful thing reminds me of a fairly new series on TV.  There is a wonderfully funny and eclectic show that started at the beginning of the season called "Pushing Daisies." The plot line is that this boy discovers that if he touches something dead it comes back to life.  The side effect though is that if he does not touch them again within a minute and returning them to death, someone else will die.  Now you might wonder exactly how this related to condoms? In the series as an adult he brings his childhood sweetheart who was murdered back to life and he can never touch her again without her immediately dying.  The same goes for his childhood pet dog who he had also brought back to life.  Watching the show you get the sense of the loss of intimacy since he has to keep away from his dog and always uses gloves if he is going to pet him.  The same goes for his childhood sweetheart and the show shows the lengths they have to go to try to show affection for each other without her dying, such as kissing through saran wrap.  The comic sadness of this is easy to see, yet somehow people see using a condom as something intimate and it is an act of separation on a couple of levels.

Thanks to Dawn Eden for the heads up and be sure to pray for the woman who is subject of her post 'The right choice' leads to a 'fountain of pain'

SOUTH BEND — A theological seminar for Roman Catholic bishops that had been scheduled for the University of Notre Dame will be moved off campus because of a planned performance of the play "The Vagina Monologues."

The Catholic bishops made the decision because they disagree with the university administration’s decision to allow a student performance of the controversial play.

"Because of the likelihood of the presentation of the play ‘The Vagina Monologues’ at Notre Dame this year, the bishops made a collective decision to move the seminar off campus," the Most Rev. John M. D’Arcy, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, said today in a written statement. The bishop declined a request for an interview.

The seminar, which includes Notre Dame faculty speakers and is co-sponsored by the university’s Institute for Church Life, had been scheduled for Monday through Wednesday on campus. Instead, it will be at the convent of the Sisters of St. Francis in Mishawaka.

Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown confirmed that the bishops moved the gathering off campus and that the decision was related to "The Vagina Monologues."

The university issued the following written statement:

"We understand that not all are in full agreement about the propriety of allowing performances of this play on a Catholic campus. Because of concerns about the play and its potential performance, we have worked collaboratively with the bishops to move the conference out of respect for everyone involved.

So I guess moving the Bishop's conference off campus makes so much more sense than moving VM off campus.

London, Feb 7, 2008 / 04:41 am (CNA).- A British woman’s twin girls saved her life when, while still in the womb, they kicked free a tumor growing in their mother’s uterus, the Daily Mail reports.

Though advised she needed to abort the twins so she could be treated for cancer, the mother avoided harsh cancer treatment so her babies could be born.

Michelle Stepney, 35, was expecting twins when she went to a hospital with a suspected miscarriage.  The doctors realized that she had cervical cancer, saying that the kicking of the twins had dislodged a tumor.

Had the tumor not been dislodged, the cancer may not have been discovered in time for successful treatment.

After the discovery of the cancer, Stepney’s doctors told her that she would need to undergo chemotherapy and a hysterectomy.  To do this, she would need to abort the twins.

Stepney refused. "I couldn't believe it when the doctors told me that the babies had dislodged the tumor," she said, according to the Daily Mail.

"I'd felt them kicking, but I didn't realize just how important their kicking would turn out to be."

I use to respect pro-life Democrat Ray Flynn, not anymore.

A nun in Silver Springs is making waves as an author, but don't judge her book by it's cover just yet.

By day, Sister Christine Kresho studies scripture with lady friends at leisure world, talking about God and how to be holy.

By night, she writes novels about wicked priests, sex, and murder stories.

"They might not read an essay, something serious, they might not read a theology book. But if they read a novel, my hope is it would be in the grocery store and they would see it and pick it up!"

She says she purposely pushes the envelope to get people to talk about issues facing the Catholic church.

Her latest work, "Sacred Betrayal," is about an archbishop threatened by a progressive group in the church and his evil assistant father who she says will "Go as far as raping and murdering the archbishop's sister, who's a leader in this group, if that's what it takes."

Sister Kresho joined the convent when she was just 17-years-old.  She's been a teacher, principal and now Pastoral Associate at our Lady of Grace Church in Silver Spring.

ABC 7 News myTAKE - What's Your Opinion?"If you really follow the gospel and you're really a disciple of Jesus, you have to be a radical," Sister Kresho says.

Her lurid novels, the first about two murdered priests, aim to somehow get those ideas out and talked about.

Her boss says he's had no complaints. "It's her private work and it's her private thoughts. The church allows people to publish without imprimaturs or permission and that's a good thing," says Father Peter Sweeney.

Her leisure world ladies support her too, "She took vows, but her vows didn't prohibit her from thinking. So why not," says Adeline Loftus.

In fact, Sister Kresho is already praying about her next, equally provocative paperback, working title, "My Priest, my Husband!""

Sister Christine Kresho  I guess by the topics of her books (printed via a vanity press) is trying to be the female equivalent of Fr. Greeley. 

"The Washington Archdiocese dismisses her works as poorly written and say they do not reflect reality but has no plans to take any action against her."

What you mean to tell me there aren't evil priest assistants out to rape and murder the leader of a progressive group who happens to be the Bishop's sister?  I guess albino monk assassins were already taken.

 A reader sent me more on the story I posted on earlier this week about the action of my bishop.

 A scheduled performance of "Magdalene," a traveling one-woman play about the often controversial Catholic saint Mary Magdalene, was banned from St. Augustine Catholic Church this week after a University of Florida student appealed to the bishop of the diocese.

According to a statement published in St. Augustine's weekly bulletin, Bishop Victor Galeone decided to cancel the performance on the grounds that portions of the script "call into question the Church's position on two sacraments." Hosting the play in a Catholic setting, Galeone said, "would be a counter-witness to important Church teaching."

Galeone's decision came days after an 18-year-old member of St. Augustine's parish, Jonathan Knox, submitted a letter outlining his concerns about the church-sponsored performance, which was being promoted as a theatrical representation of Jesus' life through Magdalene's eyes.

"I found excerpts online that really disturbed me," Knox said, specifically pointing to the show's final scene, when, according to his research, the actress lifts bread and wine to mimic the sacrament of Eucharist performed only by ordained Catholic priests.

Knox said he interpreted the scene as an attack on the current Catholic stance against ordaining women as priests.

"From this scene alone, I fear scandal will be brought about and a great mockery will be performed against Christ in the Eucharist and against the priesthood," Knox wrote in his letter to Galeone.

... In response, Galeone banned the performance from St. Augustine's and all other local Catholic facilities, but left it up to organizers to decide whether they wanted to reschedule the performance at a different location. Much like recent depictions of Magdalene in novels such as "The Da Vinci Code," Knox said the script also alludes to a romantic relationship between Magdalene and Jesus.

The play is by an anonymous author and is now going to show at The United Church of Gainesville instead.

I ran this test last year so you can check your progress

Funny how tomorrow this post will elicit no reaction.

Well since it is "Ash"  Wednesday

The capybara kap-i-'bar-uh, hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, is a semi-aquatic rodent of South and Central America. It is the only species in its genus, which belongs to the family Hydrochoeridae, order Rodentia.

When the Spanish missionaries found the capybara in Brazil during the 16th century, they wrote to the Pope to ask - there's an animal here that's scaly but also hairy, spends most of its time in the water but occasionally comes on land; can we classify it as a fish (and thus, the indigenous people could continue to eat it during Lent)?. Not having a clear description of the animal (and not wanting the petitioners to starve), the Pope agreed and declared it to be a fish.

Marcel LeJeune has a good Lent FAQ.

Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP  has Fr. Philip's Ten Commandments of Confession

Jimmy Akin has a good roundup of Lenten information.

Jimmy also has the guidelines for fasting from the Code of Canon Law.

May are spiritual and physical fasting make more room for Christ and may we all grow closer to Christ and Have a Holy Lent in preparation for the feasts of feasts - Easter!

Well with today being Super Fat Tuesday it seems to me that this confluence of events is appropriate since the continuing political season is sure to be quite penitential and unfortunately goes way beyond forty days.  With the candidates available I feel like saying "Bless me Father for I have voted."  There are of course never any perfect candidates and they are all flawed in one way or another.  With the internet us political wonks certainly suffer from too much information as to these flaws.  Though it is much better to go into the voting booth with your eyes wide open and being able to take this into account to best promote the culture of life.

Now I had already voted in the Florida primaries and I voted for Gov. Huckabee, but without much enthusiasm.  Gov. Giuliani was out of the question and McCain and Romney both support embryonic stem-cell research at least in regards to frozen embryos.  Since Fred and Duncan Hunter had already bowed out.  I was left with Gov. Huckabee and Ron Paul who are both fully pro-life.  I simply didn't trust Ron Paul to pull our troops out of Iraq without a subsequent massacre and think we owe it to the Iraqi people to fix the situation we helped to create.  I have lots of caveats on Mike Huckabee but it doesn't really matter since Huckabee and Paul are not going to get the nomination and it will be either Sen. McCain or Gov. Romney. They  both support ESCR - John McCain voted for ESCR twice though has since narrowed his support to not allow cloning  which makes his position seemingly now identical to Romney's.

I kind of like the positions of Romney 2.0 for the most part.  The question is is Romney 2.0 a firmware upgrade or to extend the software metaphor has he selected a conservative skin to pretty up his conservative interface?  No doubt Romney 2.0 is much better than Romney 1.0 in pretty much all the right directions and I certainly like to give people who become pro-life the benefit of the doubt.  I find it quite strange just how many conservative talk radio pundits and other conservatives buy into Romney 2.0 without and spoken qualms.  Though I guess that is part of human nature in the political process is that you ignore or diminish the doubts or faults of the person you end up supporting.  Can't say though I am very impressed by his actions as governor and when it came down to really doing something about their court ruling on same-sex marriage, making Catholic hospitals use Plan B, and forcing homosexual adoption on Catholic Charities. I don't see how he says he "stood up" against same-sex marriage.  

Now I put Senator McCain at version 1.1 since with the Senator what you see and hear is mostly what you get.  He has had some slight changes in positions such as now he supports the fence first, before addressing immigration, as I mentioned has tightened his view on ESCR, and he now has a different reason for why he opposed the Bush tax cuts (class warfare before and now because spending wasn't reduced).  The problem with John McCain 1.1 is that I didn't much like 1.0 and the minor upgrade isn't much better.  Though there are some things I do like about the Senator.  If it wasn't for ESCR his pro-life voting record would be perfect.  His view on torture and not being one of the people to think that water boarding is "enhanced interrogation" also knocks him up for me.  His consistent fight against government spending and earmarks also gives him a checkmark in my book.  He was willing to take a strong stand on the surge during a time when many had written off Iraq.  There is not doubt that McCain sticks to his principles, my problem with him is often that these are not conservative principles and the reason he is so often called a Maverick and so loved by the press at times is because Maverick principles go all over the map.

He is running a commercial saying he was a foot soldier for the Regan revolution. Well considering his support for global warming hysteria and carbon caps, restriction of free speech,  voting against the Federal Marriage Amendment, comparing drilling in Anwar with drilling in the Grand Canyon,  saying “It’s not social issues I care about” and “I have no doubt Senator Clinton would make a great president.”,  his diatribe against "greedy" corporations and seeing profit as something less than good, I think that he is a foot soldier in the Ron Reagan revolution, if anything.  If John McCain has made a negative comment about someone you can be sure it was against a fellow conservative and not someone in the Democratic Party.  There is good evidence that he considered jumping ship in 2001 ala Jumping Jim Jeffords and that he also considered running with Sen. John Kerry.  Considering his falling ACU rating I am not sure how he can be considered a Ronald Reagan foot soldier.  He certainly has shown no leadership in regards to social conservative issues and the trend of bills he sponsors like McCain-Lieberman, McCain-Fiengold, McCain-Kennedy don't exactly help him make his case.

Though I am not like Ann Coulter or James Dobson and would certainly vote for Sen. John McCain over Hillary or Barack.  John McCain is much more likely to appoint a judicial conservative (though I have my worries) and you know the Democratic nominee will certainly pick judges who will ensure that Roe v. Wade will continue to be the unjust law of the land.  There is also no doubt that a President McCain would not veto pro-life  legislation (except possibly on aspects of ESCR).

Unfortunately judicial activism has made Supreme Court nominations so vitally important and an issue and requires a high trust level.  I don't have a high trust level on nominees for either McCain or Romney.  Mitt Romney does not have a good record of judicial appointments in Massachusetts and while McCain backed all of the judges appointed by Republican presidents, he did the same for Democratic presidents.  Though when it comes down it to I would want Romney or McCain and part of that is because I prefer governors over senators as candidates and maybe part of it is that I have disliked McCain longer than I have had mixed feelings about Mitt Romney.

Though I am not like some pundits who say a vote for one candidate is a vote for another one.  If you can't vote your conscience in the Primaries exactly when are you allowed to?  While someone can prudently select a candidate for electability or in a close race to try to support one over the other, one can choose to not make their decision on this criteria.   I have certainly in the past during the primaries supported Quixote candidates like Alan Keyes who I knew were never going to get the nomination.

The Catholic Hack is a podcast now up to its fortieth show which focuses on apologetics and Church teaching and recently became an affiliate podcast with SQPN.

Joe McClane who runs the Catholic Hack is a convert to the faith from Protestantism and has created yet another well-produced Catholic specific podcast.  You can certainly pick up his excitement for the faith as he talks on standard apologetic topics and he covers the various subjects thoroughly.  Some of the topics span multiple shows such as the ones he did on Jehovah Witnesses. Besides the good apologetics fare what makes this podcast excellent is the quality of the interviews he conducts with many well-known Catholics involved in apologetics and other fields.  He has had people like Tim Staples, Carl Olson, Mike Aquilina, Steve Ray, Marus Groudi, and several others.  This week he had Christopher West on in another good interview as they discussed Pope John Paul II's the Theology of the body and his recent book The Love that  Satisfies (which I reviewed here.)

This is an informative and fun podcast that is well worth your while.

Podcast Feed

Subscribe via iTunes

Last week in the bulletin for the St. Augustine Church which is the Catholic Student Center for the University of Florida.

MAGDALENE PLAY AT ST. AUGUSTINE!!
St. Augustine is pleased to sponsor a very special theater presentation on the first Friday of Lent, February 8, 2008.  This will be an original play providing a perspective on Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as seen through the eyes of Mary Magdalene.  In the play, an angel appears to tell Mary Magdalene her life on earth is near its end, and she offers her reflections on what she has come to know of Jesus and the early Christian community.  It is a one-woman production by Thelma Ann Jones who has traveled across the United States and Europe.  Read more about the production on the bulletin board across from the office.  Tickets are on sale in the parish office for $5.00 per person.  This will be one night only, and promises to be a unique way to begin our Lenten season!  Buy your tickets now!  Child care will be provided in the main nursery.

This week this blog reports that in the bulletin is a notice from my bishop Victor Galeone.

Bishop Galeone has decided that the Magdelene Play … should be canceled. In his opinion, certain lines of the monologue call into question the Church’s position on two sacraments. Accordingly, such a performance in a Catholic setting would be a counter-witness to important Church teaching.

I don't know what exactly what was in the script since there is really no information available about this play, but you can probably guess since the hosting parish is not exactly known for orthodoxy and their celebration on the feast day of St. Mary Magdelene is a hotbed of women's ordination supporters.  Regardless thanks to Bishop Galeone for stepping in.

Winston Churchill made no secret of his love of brandy and cigars; Margaret Thatcher was bereft without her handbag, and Pope Benedict XVI, I can reveal, has Fanta.

When the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, visited the Vatican this week, he gave the Holy See a case of Holy Grail beer, brewed in North Yorkshire. The Pope, however, opted instead for the orange stuff.

"He doesn't normally drink," Catholic priest Fr Tim Finigan tells Spy. "He prefers Fanta. I'm not really sure why, perhaps because it was originally created in Germany."

And what does Fanta make of its most famous customer?

"We're very flattered," says a spokesman for Coca-Cola, which produces the fizzy drink.

So might the Pope be fronting its next campaign? "I don't think so," he adds. "He's not quite right for our target audience."

Well the Pope is right for all target audiences, but I don't think we want to see him with Fantanas saying "Don't You Wanta Fanta? "

Fr. Finigan who was quoted maintains an excellent blog here.

From a column in the NY Sun

The Spitzer bill S.5829 is euphemistically called the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act. It would raise abortion to the level of a fundamental right, like the freedom of speech, and would therefore prohibit virtually any restrictions at all. According to an urgent "news & action update" released by the New York State Catholic Conference and distributed at all masses last week, the act would force doctors to perform abortions; force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions; force health care insurance plans to cover them; force employers to purchase abortion coverage; authorize non physicians to perform abortions, and undermine parental involvement in the life decisions of their children.

In addition, the Conference warns that the state's civil rights laws protecting doctors and nurses who do not wish to be involved in abortions would be in serious jeopardy. The state's funding to abortion alternative programs and agencies would be required to cover abortions. Many regard this proposed law as ultra radical and beyond the pale, but when it comes to abortion, Mr. Spitzer has consistently been loyal to the abortion advocates who've helped fund his political career.

One of the first actions Mr. Spitzer took after narrowly winning the attorney general race against Dennis Vacco in 1998 was to target the crisis pregnancy clinics that rival abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. In a speech at a NARAL luncheon in January 1999, he announced that he would be establishing a reproductive rights unit within the Bureau of Civil Rights. Ostensibly, the unit was to prevent acts of violence and, Spitzer said, "the murder of doctors who simply seek to fulfill their professional oath." Now I wonder what oath he was talking about, because the classical Hippocratic oath included a commitment not to cause abortions. That oath, of course, has been modified to meet the declining relevance of morality in the practice of modern medicine involving reproductive rights.