portal and the redemption of unity gain

it's been awhile.....I know

2012-01-02T10:37:00.002-06:00

Ok - so it's been a long time since I've bothered posting anything of any importance here. Not to say that what has been posted previously was always important (LOL) as it often was not. I have no excuse other this though: I've been busy.

I've been back in school for the better part of a year and half and there is no foreseeable end in sight. :/ This is somewhat saddening as it squeezes out my every bit of free time and I have to drop some of the things that I've been used to sharing/doing...whether its offering classes or even just blogging. However - I plan on trying harder. Classes will still have to be just in the summer but I'm going to try to keep writing, whether it's in book form or just a quick blog.

on that note - there were several important posts here that I never finished. And I shall start with attempting to wrap those up before I go back to school mid January.

alrighty - there's my semi New Year resolution.

and while it hasn't been mentioned in awhile the process is still moving forward regarding the Association of the Faithful that was being formed. When more info is available it will be posted here: Elian Servants of the Holy Parousia

The real source of Fr Corapi's cross....

2011-06-20T10:10:00.001-05:00

Photo Credit: Kurt Rogers

For all those who, like myself, wish to offer spiritual support to Fr Corapi may I remind everyone of something that I've seen get lost in this hubbub of rabid hate, blind support and even well-reasoned concern:

Being SILENCED by the CHURCH is a sure sign of a trial from GOD, not the devil.

Therefore, to humbly submit to the hand of the Lord, which is heavy indeed, and obey one's superiors is the only true way to serve God and His Church in that moment. Obedience is of paramount importance, especially as a religious and a priest - for it was by obedience that Christ saved us, suffering through the most unjust trials and false witnesses. He didn't try to save himself or run away to find some other method of preaching the Good News. He accepted the cross which God had predestined for him and obeyed his Father by laying down his life....completely!

I only say this because I've read so many comments over the last months which give the impression that were Fr Corapi to be permanently or even "indefinitely" suspended and "silenced" that he'd somehow be unable because of this to minister and serve the Church. There is then much hysteria that this is of such gravity that the Church will suffer a loss because he will be unable to continue his "good works."

THIS IS FALSE! God is showing and reminding all of us that He gives the grace to preach and bear good fruit in the world and He also removes it and gives a GREATER grace to suffer in humility and obedience and therefore bear even GREATER fruit in the world. Suffering in silence trumps all the words any man can fit in his mouth. Every time.

Everyone needs to retain their peace here. It is GOD at work, not Satan. You think the devil is trying to silence Fr Corapi but it is God allowing him to enter into the mystery of suffering, deservedly or not, so as to do a greater work. He and we should listen to what God is doing and not struggle so against the wood of the cross. It is the throne of God where we are safe in our Father's arms.

Peace to all!

silence, sacrifice and celibacy

2009-06-07T12:51:00.023-05:00

alrighty! here is the promised followup to the post below ("a word of encouragement...")

Not sure how I'll put into words what is typically better discussed in conversation or in class, but we'll see how it goes. The point of this post is to better explain what the gift of celibacy really is (for those who are baffled by it or think it un-biblical or even un-christian) as well as to be a bit of an encouragement for those who are celibate and struggle with it from time to time (as everyone does) or feel that their gift is being devalued, taken for granted or dismissed as unimportant these days...even by their fellow believers.

Now - if you were in my class this would be round about the time when I'd make you get out your notebooks. I'm a big believer in notebooks. Mostly as I'm a bigger believer in CHALKBOARDS. hahaha..... How someone runs a class without one I'm not sure. I feel utterly handicapped without a large gray expanse behind me to fill up with various ideas, and several times over to boot. It's how I organize my thoughts. And I'm pathetically lost without it.

Soooo....this post may suck! LOL

Bear with me then! Here we go:

If I had to think of one thing, off the top of my head, that was one of the biggest obstacles to a person drawing closer to God through his or her Christian vocation, it would be, strangely enough, a poor grasp on the real meaning of certain words.

What?! Vocabulary can keep you from growing in faith? Yep. I think so.

Mostly as some of the best words we own have had their meaning turned inside out over the millenia - and if you don't believe me on that, look at a personal favorite of mine: LOVE. Now try navigating that minefield of modern and erroneous nuances unscathed. Try being born and raised to appreciate its shining truth in this day and age. Near to impossible. An utter plethora of diminished and twisted applications have been ascribed to it over the years, no? Say the word LOVE to 20 people on the street and you'll get back 40 strange and sometimes downright frightening definitions.

Now why is this an issue? Well , there are certain things that a Christian must clearly grasp, not only as ideas but in practice, if they wish to both discern their vocational path and embark on it with God's grace. These are necessary things. The BASICS, if you will. And if the meaning of them has been sufficiently distorted, then you will not find growth and forward momentum. You'll find apathy, stuntedness, and even apostasy.

Look. Who do we say is Truth? God, yes? And when He speaks His Word, that Word is Truth as well, right? Right! Now Truth is unchangeable. Unassailable. Immutable. It is what it is. No one can change that.

Not even the Evil One, the Accuser and Father of Lies can change the truth. So what's his only alternative then? To change what it means to you. To try to convince you of another definition to the Word. Can't change God. Can't change Truth. Can't change the fact that the Word is spoken. All's he can do is try to corrupt the meaning of it in your own mind and heart. To get you to believe the lie, the counterfeit.

And so there are ideas and terms which are important in the life of a believer that have come under assault. "Family", "love", "marriage", "faith", "tolerance", "chastity", "Church" etc etc etc. We're dreaming up new and false ideas as to what these things mean every day. And one doesn't have to be a deep thinker to recognize it.

But there are others that aren't as noticeable and yet may be just as important, if not more so. For those terms we already listed are going to be understood and undergirded only by clear comprehension and practice of these others. We'll deal with just 3 of them here. Three words that the devil wants desperately to confuse you on and have you shun like the plague.

Soooo - if you had a notebook I'd have you open it and on the left page write 2 terms. At the top I'd have you write SILENCE and about halfway down you could put SACRIFICE. Mostly as these are two sides of one very important and too often overlooked coin. In truth, one is simply a continuation and blossoming of the other.

A WHISPER ON A SCREAM

When you think of silence what comes to mind?

is it something to be avoided? something that makes you uncomfortable (ie that "awkward silence" that can happen on a date)? maybe it strikes you even as something unnatural?

Or - are you on the flip side and so frazzled that you'd give your first 2 kids and dearly beloved husband for a little "peace and quiet"? has it thus been reduced to merely a calm oasis or respite from your day where you can have some "me" time?

Oh, there he goes. Making it mean something to us that it's not. Making it either an evil to be shunned or a self gratifying paradise so forever elusive and narrow in scope that we begin to resent another's mere presence for snatching it from us. But that's not it. They're both wrong. Truth has been cleverly and subtly redefined again.

You know, we live in an astoundingly noisy world. Moreover, we live as astoundingly noisy people. Can't hear others. Can't hear ourselves. If you're anything like most of us, you find yourself (sooner or later), sitting at a computer, with the TV on in the background and music playing online, while instant messaging, emailing, tweeting, and working on some paper/project/assignment, all at once. And all of this whilst talking to friends who are either on your cell phone or seated next to you.

the noise is deafening.

This, in and of itself, isn't necessarily bad. I personally like to view it as people exercising their superior multi-tasking abilities....LOL....as long as the opposite is true as well. As long as one is able to turn all of that off and be comfortable in their own skin while in utter silence. The noise of the world isn't, in itself, an obstacle to silence - for once you understand what silence actually is, you can practice it even in a stadium full of people. But it IS healthy to turn it all off...and on a daily basis to boot. I highly recommend it.

reason being this: The devil will use it against you. Sooner or later. Usually, it's sooner. If he can keep you tied up and titillated and distracted with all the noisy details, he can keep you from not only focusing on the task at hand but from even having a chance to hear God's voice.

That being said: what IS silence?

honestly, entire forests of trees have been cut down to supply the gargantuan amounts of paper that have been filled with ink on that topic. And, unfortunately, most of those trees have been wasted. LOL

I've rarely found a "spiritual life" book that I haven't eventually labeled a load of rot, especially some of the modern ones these days. But even in the good ones they almost never explain to you what it is, but instead use all kinds of ambiguous terms....or else go on & on about stuff they assume you understand. About interior recollection and interior silence (like you're supposed to automatically know what that even means). About God's small, still voice and learning to listen for the whisper.

Oi!! And these are the great books! The end result is usually just me feeling very stupid and inept, as I just don't get it. Is it a matter of technique? Am I just doing it wrong? Because if it depends on sanctity I'm gonna be sunk! A lot of deep writing and odd words tends to just make me feel as though it is almost some super-exclusive gnostic club, one that they don't really intend average folks to belong to. No secret knowledge for you! (I am, to my everlasting shame, hearing the Soup Nazi declare that last bit in my head...aye aye)

ok - so anyhow, let me cut through all of that and tell you plainly, as though you were as dumb as me:

SILENCE IS SIMPLE. It consists in this: closing your eyes to everything else and giving all your attention to God.

That's it. That's all! (err...you can write that on your page under the word if you like. LOL) Silence consists solely in closing your eyes to everything and giving all of your attention to God.

But of course, everything means EVERYTHING. It isn't exclusively a matter of sitting in a dark, candle lit church for a Holy Hour where you can tune out all the physical noise and distractions. No. I know people who do that week in and week out and have yet to practice silence. As I said earlier, you can be in a stadium cram packed with rabid fans and enter into silence with God. Turning down the noise is good, yes, but not necessarily required. What is required is all of your attention. And it proves itself to be both the simple and the hard part.

Here is an illustration as to why:
let's take that same person who faithfully makes Holy Hours every week. Sometimes every day. They love Jesus. There is no doubt about that. They are truly faithful followers and adherents to his church. And yet, let's say they've found they haven't really grown in their relationship with God. Most likely the root of it is because they've never practiced SILENCE.

Now...they have no noise sitting there. Ok. They have managed to fight the distractions that always come. Ok. They have closed their eyes to the whole wide world. Ok. But they've forgotten to close their eyes to themselves.

When they pray, hour after hour, this person goes on and on to God about their own self. When they enter, the first thing they do is make a long list of all the sins they've committed and, instead of greeting the Lord in warmth and love, they proceed to accuse themselves of all these awful things. Then they'll go and talk about their resolutions and sacrifices and the mortifications they either have done or are going to to do to right these wrongs. After which they feel somewhat better about their status with the LORD and feel that perhaps God will now look kindly on them and so they present to him a list of intention, petitions and general wishes SO LONG that it could roll out the door.

NOW DON'T GET ME WRONG!! before I go any further let me say that God expects you to examine and accuse yourself of sin! Yes he does. He wants you to confess so he can heal you. And He expects you to mortify yourself too. Picking up your daily cross and suffering with him are divine mandates. A man who denies that is a fool. Moreover, he DELIGHTS in you confiding your fears, needs, wants and wishes.

So don't mistake what I'm saying here. These are all good. But they are not silence. And if this is all your prayer life ever consists of then you have but HALF a prayer life. You must eventually go further than this and die to self, eh? Close your eyes to the world, yes, but close them to yourself too. Because these things, while good and necessary in prayer, are ultimately ALL ABOUT YOU. Once you're done with this part in your prayer time, then move on to the second. Where you can truly give God ALL of your attention and focus.

Hard? YOU BET!!

If it makes it easier, praise His divine attributes. Out loud. Is that breaking the SILENCE? nope. Because what is silence again? Closing your eyes to everything and giving all your attention to God. The focus then is on Him. So if you have to read scripture verses that are simply praise with no petitions, DO SO. If you know a beautiful hymn of praise, SING IT. Tell him all the beautiful things he is. Praise his power and mercy and creativity. Praise his wonders and the life he has brought into being. Name all of it. Address him by all his titles. (whatever works, eh?) You can find tons of them both in scripture and in the tried-and-true litanies of the Church. Instead of praying the litany with the normal "have mercy on us" response, try using a different one blessing that attribute or praising the Lord through that title. Present to your mind the utter wonder of God and tell him about it.

Eventually, when you get more used to it you'll find the Lord WILL speak to you and you WILL hear that "still, small voice". Not that he wasn't doing so before. You just couldn't hear him outside of SILENCE. See...I don't think God really has a still, small voice. (Well, actually I do....just not like that phrase sounds anyhow.) Scripture comes to mind where it speaks of God's voice thundering and stripping the trees bare. Of it shaking the wilderness and thundering in his holy temple. Of its magnitude and power. That's no small thing. But it seems small and still because you must be small and still to hear it. He speaks, but if we are full of the noise of the world and ourselves how will we perceive his voice???

at some point, you will be able to be truly silent. Audibly and spiritually. And he will speak of himself to you and thereby hold your attention. And at other times you will have to speak words of praise to help keep your attention on Him alone. Back and forth. You won't ever advance to one and without going back to the other eventually. That's just life.

But grasping and practicing this idea of SILENCE is necessary in the life of every Christian. Especially when it comes discerning and living a religious vocation. Honestly, how are we to hear him if we never shut up about ourselves?

PUTTING IT IN GOD'S BASKET

This brings us to SACRIFICE, which, as was said earlier, is simply an extension and maturation of SILENCE. It is also another word the Devil likes to play with. He wants you to think it is something so impossibly difficult and unpleasant that you should avoid it at all costs. But once again, he is simply twisting the meaning of its truth by distorting the common nuance of the word.

Don't think so? what comes to mind when you say the word out loud? anything good?

Or is it more along the lines of: suffering, sorrow, pain, something which is unpleasant, to be endured, borne or "gotten through".... or else, altogether avoided? something which costs you dearly or is a heavy obligation you feel you must carry out?

At best, we can think of "noble" or "meritorious" sacrifices, such as a soldier or fireman giving their lives in the line of duty, but it still is something deeply sad in our perception. Something which extracts a heavy price on us.

is that what it really means though?

I'd have to argue no.

If we accept that SACRIFICE comes from the Latin noun sacrificium (and it does) then we have to merely break down the root words in that term to see that we have "sacr" stemming from "sacer" (which means sacred) and the rest coming from "facere" (meaning to do or to make).

So we find that sacrifice, at its root, simply means "to make (something) sacred". To make it holy. And how do we do that? By giving it to God. (yep! you can write that down!) This is why you hear talk of a "sacrifice of praise" or a "thanksgiving sacrifice". It's not that there is something painful or sorrowful to endure in doing those things (I mean, what's so bad about them right?) but that they are simply being made sacred by giving them to God.

So, extrapolate that out now into the rest of your life. We've got the nuance of the word all wrong, don't we? Now I'm not saying that sacrificing something to the Lord may not hurt. It usually does cost something. Most gifts do. Just that THAT isn't the real sacrifice itself. He doesn't want your pain itself, even though we give it to Him (and rightly so). It is more along the lines of the pain is a side effect or a consequence and is then gathered up into the original sacrifice and made sacred to Him as well. But that's not specifically what was being offered to start with.

here is another illustration:
A nun asked one of the 12 year olds at the orphanage to teach a 4 year old boy how to make a sacrifice. So the girl took him by the hand and led him into the playroom and shut the door. Now that is a tall order, simply because there are ADULTS that I know who couldn't teach another adult how to do that, but nevertheless...the child was game for it. So by and by the nun came back and asked her is she had done it. The girl replied yes. "And what did you teach him to do," came the question. "I taught him to make the Sign of the Cross," the girl said. And the nun was not pleased. "I told you to teach him to make a sacrifice!" she scolded her. "But I did Mother," she said, "because when he makes the Sign of the Cross he has to shut his eyes to all of his toys and for those couple seconds use his whole body and mind to be very still and cross himself while saying 'In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.'"

now - whether or not the Reverend Mother would agree, that girl was onto something!! Because for those brief moments the boy did, indeed, have to close his eyes to all his new shiny toys and give all his attention to God. Sound like SILENCE? Yep. I told you they're two sides of one very important coin. Here's the difference. SACRIFICE is the natural growth of SILENCE because not only are you giving God all of your attention, you're also giving Him WHATEVER YOU'VE CLOSED YOUR EYES TO.

So the boy was giving God, in those few seconds, all of those favorite new toys of his, yes? But, you say, what does God want with a firetruck and a wooden boat? Nothing!! He wants what they mean to the child!! So when the boy put them in God's basket, if you will, he closed his eyes not only on them, but on all the things he could be doing with them, all the myriad of games and enjoyment he could be occupied in, as well as all the affection and desire he had for them.

This is the real sacrifice. Those are all good and legitimate things. POSITIVE things. Things a boy has a right to, frankly. But in taking that brief moment to give God his whole attention, he voluntarily gives not only his whole self in prayer, but all those things which he has shut his eye on. All those good things. Does it cost him something? Of course! But that wasn't the original sacrifice. Whatever pain it caused gets swept up and "made sacred" by giving it to God as well. Why? because he shuts his eye to that as well. In those moments, nothing distracts him from signing himself in honor of Christ's salvific work on the cross. Not even his small pain of delaying his playtime.

so what does that mean for us? Does it change how we view what we're giving God?

There are people I know who feel it isn't a sacrifice unless it cuts them to the quick, unless it is a hair-raising mortification of biblical proportions. That the "good" of whatever they "give up", whether it's candy for Lent or a spouse forever, is the pain and difficulty they endure. Like God is a sadist who wants them miserable. But that's not true!

I'm gonna repeat that one again. Fasting, abstinence, chastity, TV, you name it.....whatever sacrifices are made to the Lord, they takes their value first and foremost from their union with Christ's infinitely meritorious sacrifice, and thereafter from your offering to Him all the good things they are to you. All the wonderful positive things they mean to you. You make them holy and sacred to God by giving them to him. In gratitude and appreciation for them you give them back to the Lord....

You put them in His basket, if you will, (whether for a time, a season, or forever) and you say, in effect, "Watch over these things Lord, my heart's desire, which I have given you. Take care of them and keep your eye on them for me....so that I, free of attachment and responsibility for them, can keep my eye on You alone. So that having shut my eyes to everything but You I may hear you in this SILENCE and offer you my whole service in this SACRIFICE."

This maybe leaping into the next topic a touch early but it seems as appropriate a place as any to point out the fact that men are not really called to celibacy in the priesthood so that they can minister to the large numbers of people under their care more fully. They are called to it so they can serve GOD more fully and therefore, by default almost, their flock. They can more closely live out their vocation in Christ and in so doing are better enabled to minister to His people.

Since I've already jumped topic here , let me say these 2 things as well in regards to vocation and priestly sacrifice.

One - a vocation is a calling. It comes from the Latin "vocare", which simply means "to call". Well I should check that. My Latin is rusty and I trust those who are still adept will quickly point it out if I have it wrong. Nevertheless, absolutely everyone who has ever been conceived has a vocation. We have all been called by God to live a certain way. It is not the property strictly of priests and religious, nor is it even the property strictly of Christians, but every man and women, by virtue of their BEING man or woman, has a calling to live out their lives according to God's plan for them. The simplest vocation that belongs to everyone is to live out your calling AS a man or woman, not only in this life but in the next as well.

Two - we are "called" as Christians to practice not only SILENCE (where we close our eyes to all except God) but SACRIFICE (where we offer not only ourselves and our attention, but sweep up in ever increasing circles everything of value and meaning to us and make it sacred to God) by virtue of our universal priesthood. That which Christ confers on every soul at baptism. He didn't do it cuz it sounds nice. He did it because you now have a mission and obligation to make "sacrifice" to the Lord. Christ gave up all. You are not called to less.

That being said...one could deduce that tuh-nee-uh is leading up to celibacy here. And I'd say smile and say, "mm-hmm.....I am."

Well...sort of. LOL

"THAT" GUY

Before you start rummaging for your now lost notebook and putting CELIBACY in the middle of the right hand page....I have to make a confession.

I'm not sure celibacy itself is the next word...so much as maybe PRIESTHOOD is. Celibacy is certainly the main theme of what is being defended here but maybe not the whole thing. I just decided to go with it in the title instead as, I must admit, it had a bit more ring to it! haha...I rather liked the sibilance of it all!

Nevertheless, we will certainly cover it - but I think it would be truer to think of this last section actually being about Jesus as High Priest and how anyone else who bears that title conforms themselves to him.

certainly it is true to say that Chastity and Celibacy are words that the Devil has had more fun messing with and frightening people about than Priesthood. But PRIESTHOOD has taken a hit in value lately as well.

First, I have to ask you how many priests you think there are in the world right now? In the whole wide universe? I don't even care if they're all Catholic. How many??

I asked this question once, in all sincerity, to a room half full of priests, and got a different answer from each. Some of the older ones refused comment as they claimed they had no clue - but others ventured some ideas. One thought maybe 30 or 40,000. Another said to him, a little testily, that I asked about the whole world, not the US! (which I found rather funny) He then said that was too low and called out "at least 150,000." There were a couple of ordained administrative types there as well who were, for lack of a better word, very zealous and enthusiastic to come up with a real number. They went back and forth and decided on the very precise figure of 405,000. FOUR HUNDRED AND FIVE THOUSAND?! I can only assume they had a good reason for that figure. LOL But sitting smack dab in the middle was a young, newly minted cleric who waited for all the laughter to die down and said, looking around very solemnly but with a big smile, that he felt there was in fact only ONE priest...anywhere.

and he, kiddies, was right.

There is one priest in the whole entire universe. And if we find out the crazy astrophysicists are right and there are actually numerous universes (.........huh.....would the plural of that actually be universii?) there will still only be ONE high priest, Jesus Christ.

That's it. There is no other. Everyone else is a priest by virtue of sharing in His priesthood.

so if we want to examine what that PRIESTHOOD means we have to examine Him.

Now every one of us knows that person who always manages to notice and appreciate the real truth of things, don't we? We all know "that" guy. The one a group of friends can stumble out of the theater laughing with who will suddenly turn and point out a blazingly gorgeous sunset. Amidst the slapstick and the rehashing of dialogue he doesn't fail to notice the glory of the evening does he? We've all been there. We've all witnessed him point it out. We all know that guy!

Or you're out ramming around in a car with friends and are so hysterical over your collective funniness that your stomachs ache from laughing and one of you declares that it is so good to all be together, it's so great that you're all friends. They get it. It's not the jokes that are great (they usually aren't!!! LOL), it's not the way the lines are delivered....it's the friendship. And you find yourself being thankful for "that" guy and his insight, hey? Cuz he's right!

He's the one who remembers that no matter how big or small, festively decorated or bleak, food laden or barely fed a holiday is, what matters is family and spending quality time together. And he is quick to point it out. Year in and year out.

Yeah..."that" guy. He just gets it. And some people do. And we need them in our lives to remind us of all that we're missing and losing focus on amidst all the NOISE. They cut through it and are sometimes so attuned to the big picture, the (dare I say it) REAL picture that they stand out against the rest of us like color on black and white. They possess a clarity in certain moments the rest of us are still striving for hey?

but "that" guy is, in the end, just a guy. A guy just like the rest of us. He has faults, foibles, and failings.

Now take Jesus.

Jesus, who is "that" guy par excellence, no? That guy without the shortcomings. And that guy without fail. Day in and day out. Nothing escapes his notice because while he is just like the rest of us, he isn't as well. As a Divine Person, he sees and understands all, without any of the clutter and noise of our sinful hearts. Without any distractions or selfishness. His vision of the value, worth and beauty of these things is perfect....moreover, his appreciation and affection for them has a singular clarity and depth ours never could, even if we somehow were perfect as well.

And that unique aspect has to do with the fact the He Himself is the creator and designer of all that He sees with his human eyes. And as such, He has an appreciation and love for it that we never could. For it's one thing to be in awe of the beauty and mystery of a sunset, and another to fully plumb the depths of its science and see its true inherent goodness and genius....and still another to enjoy one's own creation. Even little kids like proclaiming "Look how good that is, I made that!" Why? There is a higher sense of connection and love for that which is your own.

A woman can understand the value and beauty of children, and even love them very much, but its altogether different than what she feels for her own. It simply is. You can admire other lands, but your own is where your heart is. One can can have a fantastic time with someone else's family at the holiday but it's not the same as going home to those you love.

But everything that IS is His. And so, in His heart, when He looks about, He not only consistently "gets it" like that "that" guy we talked about, but he "gets it" in a way "that" guy never will. For "through Him all things were made...and in Him they continue in being." He loves them and wants the best for them as their source, sustainer, and final end. You surely can recall how in Genesis the Lord saw all that He had made and repeatedly proclaimed it good. And when He got to Man He proclaimed it VERY good. Why? because finally, with Man, who was made in His own image and likeness, He could see the reflection of His own communion of Persons. And this was VERY good.

So you think that Jesus couldn't appreciate a good joke over some wine or babylonian beer with his friends? You bet he could! More than you, because it wasn't cluttered up with the banality we drag it down to. He "gets" how good and special friendship and socializing is. He sees it and pronounces it good.

Or do you think that Jesus was dismissing the value of family because he chose to live as a single, celibate, and itinerant preacher? Ridiculous! No one on earth would have been a better, more beautiful father. No one!! He fully understands the beauty and worth of a wife and children, of what it means to take and be a spouse! He DESIGNED the whole notion for heaven's sake! He sees marriage and pronounces it SO good that it is now a sacrament in His Church. It is a means for His own divine life to be poured into souls.

Or maybe you're of the mindset that Jesus would have been so "republican" and "conservative" that he'd think the whole environmental movement a load of hogwash dreamed up by some wingnuts? Then you've got the wrong Jesus! He made this planet. He entrusted us to be good stewards, and like everything else, we've cocked up the job. While we may not see the importance in one or two endangered species going under form our own behavior, He DOES. And I daresay, isn't precisely pleased.

So what do we have with Jesus? A man who is not only cognizant of of the importance, value and truth of His creation but who also, within Himself is the perfect, the ideal man. Not wishy washy, not ugly, untalented, not the one who couldn't find anything better to do with his life, or the guy who wasn't able to find a chick who'd want him anyhow....

NO THIS POST IS NOT DONE!! check back later...lunch beckons!!

a word of encouragement....

2009-05-26T10:32:00.012-05:00

Ok - I do realize that I have been very angry lately and that has shown in some of my posts. I also realize that I have given more ink to this Padre Alberto mess than he'll ever deserve. Well, despite the fact that we don't really use ink anymore, eh? hahaha.....

anyhow - as one reader put it recently regarding a very irritable post on the beach pix: "estas despotricando!" In other words: You're ranting!! Yes, I know. I have been.

Let me explain why and how that's all going to change as of now.

One - I have known and enjoyed Padre Alberto's programmes since his beginning on Telemundo back in 99 right up to his weekly show on the spanish EWTN. I have always appreciated his dynamic and charismatic preaching, his sound and prudent advice, and his love for God and the church.

For all of my non hispanic (and even non catholic readers), you could compare him to a modern day Bishop Fulton Sheen, but more on fire (sorry fulton!). And conversely, for those of you who knew and loved Archbishop Sheen you can understand why this whole scandal would come as a complete shock from out of left field. Picture this being the good bishop instead of some hispanic priest you have never personally heard of till now and you can get a glimpse into how UPSET I AM! and why it has put me in such bad humour!

Perhaps I am naive but I never saw this coming. *shrugs* perhaps this was, in fact, inevitable given how he chose to minister and to whom. *shrugs again* None of this is for me to say, that's for certain. But it has taken me THIS LONG to be calm enough to write what I'm about to write. As it needs saying. Actually, a LOT needs saying but being unclear of where to start I'm going to just plunge in and you'll simply have to try and keep up.

First I was angered by people's far too harsh condemnations of him, which put me in an awkward and difficult position of defending him, which was NOT what I wanted to be doing. Then he started spouting nonsense and lies and this put me back in an asshat position of reneging on what I had already said of him. Back and forth this whole thing went, with worse and worse revelations, till we hear now how he'd like to possibly leave the church for ANGLICANISM and marry this chica there. Now who's an asshat?

ok sorry - that's me mad again. *sigh* Point is, it's been frustrating just listening to what has come out of HIS mouth let alone anyone else's. But it is the "anyone else's" I'd like to address first. We'll save his spiel for later.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MOUTHS......

This whole mess has made me realize a couple things. Things which, if addressed by la Iglesia at large, can possibly have some good come out of this at least.

One is people's utter ignorance of the church. Utter ignorance. And this isn't their fault entirely. If they don't know it's because we haven't taught them. I mean, bottom line, right? But I've heard such stupidities, and out of the mouths of CATHOLICS, that I have been overwhelmed and disheartened this last few weeks. And it didn't matter if they were backing him or damning him....the ignorance abounded.

Some have gone like this: "there's nowhere in the bible where what he did is listed as a sin, leave him alone! He did nothing wrong!" Umm....it's called, at the very least, FORNICATION! What bible are you reading?!

another goes like this: "God said it wasn't good for man to be alone, he's just following God's will....it's the church who's wrong here!" Yeah. God said that. And Jesus also told his apostles that whoever could receive celibacy for the sake of the kingdom, should. And that a man's yes should be yes and no should be no. In other words, keep your word. Keep your promises. But all of that is easily overlooked because it is much nicer to find scripture which actually justifies our sins, yeah? I'd like to find some handy and pithy verses to justify mine, that's for sure. Except I suppose even looking for something like that would be almost tantamount to being another sin in itself. And my list of those is long enough! haha....

the last head scratcher I'll mention here that was in "support" of him is this: "Let him marry her and just be a Deacon instead!".....WHAT?! Actually, that one made me laugh. Till I saw the laundry list of people who wrote in agreeing. He can't "go back" to being a Deacon. He's a Priest. Forever! That's how that particular cookie crumbles. I'm sorry to say it's not a career, peoples. He can't give up one "job" or "position" for another. He is what he is. Even if he was laicized he cannot, and will not ever be a deacon. Or any other kind of minister. Why? Because he's still a priest! Yes, a deacon receives holy orders - but not as fully. How do you go back and change what is a permanent mark on a man's soul to something less complete? Or different? oi!....try explaining this in spanish to rabid fans and see how well your day goes. Yeah. That's how mine went. LOL

All of this, on some level, was expected. You can sort of foresee how those who are a little fringey or left of the mark would come up with such stuff. But these last weeks have also brought out baffling comments from those who are, for lack of a better word, typically quite orthodox in their belief and thinking. They do not, in any fashion, support Fr. Cutie.

"He should just be excommunicated!"....WHAT?! ......WHY?!.....We don't just excommunicate people because they sin for godsakes! What in the world?! That makes no bloody sense to me at all.

"One more bad priest! Just what we need!" But he's not. Well, he never was. Maybe I'm off the mark in what makes a man a bad priest. I know this was already discussed awhile back in another post so I won't reinvent the wheel here, but I don't think effing up does it. I think the unrepentant, self justified effing up does it. Therein is the difference.

"He has no excuse! God's grace is sufficient for all priests...he was given grace to do what he has to do!" This one made me really mad, I'll be honest. Aren't we ALL given grace? I know I'm in confession every week nonetheless, yes? The same can be said for married couples. Aren't they given grace through the sacrament to live out their vows? but they don't, do they? at least not consistently. Every one of us is given "sufficient grace" and yet every one of us sins. A lot. Every day. Now I'm not saying that a venial sin is as a mortal sin but they are still sins. Besides, I don't know of anyone who can get through life without any mortal sin. Don't know them!! not altogether sure I'd be COMFORTABLE knowing them.

THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO WE ALL......
here is my take on grace. And it's not mine, but I stole it from someone. haha... Well, first let me explain how I stumbled upon this "take" as the rest will make more sense then.

I have a very unhealthy habit of wallowing in the mire once I eff up. If I commit a big sin, whatever it may be, then I tend to think (erroneously) that all is currently lost and I may as well just keep on doing whatever I please, in any aspect of my life, till I can work up some true repentance and confess. Now that is, dear friends, stupid and I know it. But it is a quirky fault of mine. I don't bother praying as I figure what's the point? What grace can God give me if I've already cut my self off from him, and quite willingly to boot? Again....STUPID. See, I know logically, that's wrong. It's just a feeling that I act on. More than likely one to be filed under some kind of "shame" (in other words, the lunacy runs like this: Why show yourself to God? As you'd have to admit to what you're about lately and either repent or flat out tell him to his face that you're not altogether done acting like an ass).

So this has, over the years been brought up in confession more than once. Quite regularly in fact. As all the advice I'd been given to pray more during those times never seemed to help or be actually doable. I just couldn't do it! Till I stumbled across a little book by Lorenzo Scupoli maybe 8 years ago or so. Now, I'm not one for spiritual help books or prayer life books as I've found most of them to be rot and a complete waste of trees to be honest. But this one is one of the few gems that are out there.

here's Scupoli's take on grace (well, my own paraphrase of it anyways):
"you've effed up! ....don't be bewildered or shocked but turn to God and say: what more could You expect of me than what I have already done? Am I not prone to weakness and attracted to evil? And even this would not have been the end of it if You, BY YOUR GRACE, did not stop me from committing even worse atrocities. So then thank Him profusely for having stayed your hand in committing even more and worse sin than you just have done."

For sometimes we are so blind to God's grace and aid, so hardhearted, that it reaches and penetrates us only in time to mitigate the circumstance. To pull us up short of our true potential to wreak havoc, yes? And you say, but it's already mortal sin?! YES! But how many more must we add to the ones already committed??? And THAT is the point. Somehow, if we let it, God's grace does in fact stop us from being even more despicable. Even in a bad situation, he can give us grace to stop, to swim for the surface, yes? Does that mean we always reach our full potential for holiness? ....no. It means we are fragile and wounded creatures with a proclivity to sin. We are all men who lumber along under the weight of concupiscence. We sin. We fall. We get back up. Sometimes we are not able to stand upright immediately. Sometimes we only can manage to get to our knees or lift our head, yes? But if he can stop us from laying there, or even worse, continuing to dig a deeper grave, is that not still something to be celebrated? Is that not still grace as well?

of course it is.

Now how in bejeezus does this apply to Padre Alberto?

In this sense only. It angered me that those people just dismissed out of hand A) the real struggles of vowed celibacy and B) that God's giving of grace should mean equal receptivity of it.

WHEN IS ENOUGH ENOUGH?

They are ready to throw stones at him for considering leaving the active priesthood. I am not. Not because I think that it's a great statement (I do not). Not because I think it will precipitate change. (I do not and I hope not). Not because I am a hopeless romantic who thinks love triumphs over all. (I certainly neither am nor think so)

I won't throw stones at him because I think there is, sometimes, a lot to be said for calling it a day. Let's look at this reasonably. People get themselves in asininely STUPID situations. Once in, it can be all but impossible to get out. Now - what is most important at the end of the day, is it that you are the greatest, most austere, self sacrificing saint who ever walked God's green earth or is it one's own SALVATION??? and that's it! those are the choices. Are you going to heaven or not? Are you going to be a saint AT ALL? And the answer is the latter not the former.

Love for God impels us to do all within our power to give him the greatest glory by our lives. Si si!! Ad majorem Dei gloriam. And I believe it. But sometimes, we cannot do what we feel we are called to do. Sometimes we are too broken to manage that. We are wounded by sin. Both original and personal. And that woundednesss makes it difficult to respond to God's grace.

Excuse? hardly. That's not remotely what I am trying to say.

I'm simply mean this. Perhaps the "sufficient grace" in some of these situations like Padre Alberto's (and I do stress the word SOME) is simply the grace to call it a day. Perhaps the best situation for his particular soul and salvation is to remove the pressure and obligation that were undeniably voluntarily taken upon himself and let him live out a good, holy, christian life as a laicized married man. Just call enough enough. What good purpose does it serve, if he is unable to devote himself to serving God undividedly, to force or expect him to when he is going to continue to sin gravely and scandalize people?

The Church does not expect a man to be driven to the point of a nervous breakdown, or to destroy himself spiritually, or to jeopardize his eternal salvation for something which he is unable to carry out any further. No she doesn't. Would it be nice to tell everyone to buck up and offer it to God? That the sacrifice is worth it? That he'll get through this if he just does X Yand Z? SURE! but we're dealing with real people who have made real choices (albeit poor ones) in a real and imperfect world....all of which affects a man's ability to carry out a promise which isn't, strictly speaking, necessary for salvation. He can get to heaven another way. Will he give God the same glory? Nope. But he'll at least GET THERE.

If his remaining an active ministering priest was his only means of working out his salvation with fear and trembling then WE'D ALL HAVE BEEN CALLED TO IT. Jesus said to go preach the good news and baptize all nations. Not go and ordain everybody!

I don't think a man leaving the ministry would be something to celebrate but I can reconcile the fact that, perhaps, this could be God's "sufficient grace" mitigating a bad situation and keeping it from getting worse. In that particular circumstance. For others, perhaps they are meant to stay and work it out. Everyone is different. Every case is different. That is why they are given "rescripts" if they are laicized. It is something OUTSIDE of the normal law. It is a personal favor, extended to them individually. There is no blanket way of handling this written in canon law. There are some basic things, true, which seem to apply to most men when released but each one is viewed as an individual thing. An individual grace. (For lack, unfortunately, of a better word.)

Apparently - Alberto Cutie decided not to go this route even but to abruptly leave without any release and jump over to Anglicanism. Well - shame on him. There is a right and wrong way even out of bad situations and he chose to not even try. That says a lot right there.

A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT
But this whole post was meant to be a word of encouragement. Which, heretofore, it has not. I am going to stop ranting on this man and this scandal as of now. I have been outraged, shocked, disappointed and scandalized. And ultimately, nauseated when I heard his final decision on things. But enough is enough and I think I shall focus on more encouraging things. Some hopefully helpful words both to those who don't get celibacy to begin with or are tired of hearing of this fall in the news and to those who struggle with it as a number of people do who read these posts.

That, right now, is the best I can do with the lemon we've given to suck on for 3 weeks.

I will post it separately from this one. Either above or below. Probably below. *shrugs* I think it'll be titled something along the lines of SILENCE, SACRIFICE and CELIBACY as those are the topics at the top of the jumbled heap in my head. Anyhow -you'll find it. LATER!!

the joys of HTML...

2009-05-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

changed the template here from the dreary headache inducing BLACK, which looked great but made everything hard to read to this nice spring color.

of course, now I have to re-customize EVERYTHING.

ugh....

anyhow - all the former posts were published in a med gray so it wouldn't be as harsh on the black as white would have been. UNFORTUNATELY, now that the background color is light green, it too is hard to read. Only the posts above this one have been redone in black type.

IF THERE IS A POST YOU'D LIKE TO READ BUT IT IS IN GRAY PRINT....LEAVE A COMMENT AT ITS BOTTOM AND I'LL CHANGE THE COLOR WHEN I LOG ON FOR YOU. Otherwise, I'll leave the rest as they are and do it per request only. There's just too many to play around with otherwise. I can't redo hundreds of archived posts unless you say wanna read them!!

cheers!

Aqui Y Ahora

2009-05-13T00:09:00.009-05:00

Parte 1

Parte 2

Parte 3

Parte 4

well - now I don't know what to think!

the first interview with Cutie on the Early Show (which was really the second one) seems to me to be a far cry from the second one on Aqui Y Ahora (which was really the first one).

confused? me too.

And it doesn't stop there. As if I wasn't confused enough about where my sympathies lie in all this or where I come down on the issue, it appears the man himself is even more confused on what HE believes. Cutie, on the Early Show was his usual humble, thoughtful, all-but-obedient-to-the-church-self. But tonight I watched the hour long interview on Univision and was treated to a totally different man. (Let alone priest!)

he was, for lack of a better word....shameless.

he says he's sorry people are hurt by his actions and wants their pardon but he will not beg forgiveness for loving a woman. Never!!

well - ok- fair enough.
Don't if you don't want to...one can't help being in love.

but how's about apologizing for sticking your hand down her pants in public you nincompoop! doesn't that warrant a little contrition? no? a bit of remorse? how about faking it?

THEN, when asked if he felt any guilt he says nope! I am a man. Under this cassock there are pants!

WHAT?! what kind of freaking answer is that???
and if I'm not mistaken he said it more than once. Or maybe it was a preview for after the commercial break. LOL ...but it was disturbing nonetheless! I thought, "I couldn't possibly have heard that right! what does that even mean?"

we won't dwell on that here.

the funniest part was when it was asked if he thought his "God fearing" and "full of faith" girlfriend (oh watch me yawn) could possibly be behind the pix herself (IE - she set him up to expose their affair and force his hand).

IMPOSSIBLE! IMPOSSIBLE!

I like how the anchor, as an aside, goes "but, really, it ISN'T impossible, is it?"
it just underscores what is either his naivete or hardheadedness in all of this.

there also seemed to be a point where he was speaking of possibly serving in other churches as "Christianity was bigger than the catholic church". (???) Please, if someone watched it please tell me if I totally misheard that. If he did go on about it as I think he did, then he's lost his marbles. And I cannot and will not support his arse one second longer.

bottom line is this:
anyone can screw up.
sympathies from most everyone all around.
anyone can fall in love when they shouldn't.
again, sympathies.
but there is a right way and a wrong way to deal with this.
HE'S PICKING THE WRONG WAY.
If you can't live without her and you can no longer FAITHFULLY fulfill your duties and promises as an active priest then show some remorse, some humility, and some common effing sense and get down on your knees and quietly beg for release. And when/if you get it, go off even more quietly with her and stop making trouble. Live a good life. Be a good example.

But DON'T go on about maybe having your cake and eating it too in another church. You'll leave the one true church of God to "serve him" somewhere else? To even say that you're thinking of it is asinine.

just goes to show that if this relationship was as "good", "healthy", and "smiled upon by God" as he and the rest want to pretend it is then we wouldn't have been treated to not only the display of crazy lewd behavior on the beach but the display of arrogance on tv as well. Perhaps whatever is between the two of them, in fact, is not love at all but one long slippery slope into hell.

A "good Christian" woman and a "good Christian" relationship draws one CLOSER to God...makes one a better man. Is that really what we have here?

hmmph! proof is in the pudding, mates.

reply to cindy lou about the infamous padre cutie

2009-05-12T23:57:00.003-05:00

cindylou....
what he did is never mentioned as a sin in the bible? it is called FORNICATION! LOL
I couldn't care less if priests marry or not, but sleeping around as a purportedly Catholic Christian man with an allegedly "God fearing" woman (well....according to him) without the benefit of marriage is, according to the very same bible you speak of, A SIN.
feel bad for him? yup, I do. But he'd be the first to admit he sinned. Gheeesh - he sinned big time. And has, ever since, passed himself off as a fraud.
It is one thing to fall in love with a woman. It is another to stick your hand down her pants in public. THAT'S NOT LOVE....that's stupid. Marriage itself wouldn't make a move like that OK. It is grossly inappropriate. You think allowing priests to marry would have stopped such a lewd move? nope.
if the relationship is as "good", "healthy", and "smiled upon by God" as he and the rest want to pretend it is, then such a relationship will aid one in being a better man. But from the behavior we have all been treated to seeing, it appears it has NOT for him.
therefore, perhaps what is between them is not love at all, but he is too naive to see the forest for the trees. A GOOD christian woman and a GOOD christian relationship draws you closer to God, not into junior high sexual hi jinks out in public.
proof is in the pudding mates. :^D

fresh from the BBC.....

2009-04-25T22:01:00.001-05:00

here is a copy and paste from BBC news of what's good for a chuckle...or a cry. What is confusing is why they're listed as atheists!

Force is strong for Jedi police

Jedi Knights such as Yoda use the Force to battle the evil Empire

Eight police officers serving with Scotland's largest force listed their official religion as Jedi in voluntary diversity forms, it has emerged.

Strathclyde Police said the officers and two of its civilian staff claimed to follow the faith, which features in the Star Wars movies.

The details were obtained in a Freedom of Information request by Jane's Police Review.

Strathclyde was the only force in the UK to admit it had Jedi officers.

In the Star Wars films, Jedi Knights such as Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda use the Force to battle the evil Darth Vader, who has strayed to the dark side.

Jane's Police Review editor Chris Herbert, who requested the information, said: "The Force appears to be strong in Strathclyde Police with their Jedi police officers and staff.

"Far from living a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, some members of the noble Jedi order have now chosen Glasgow and its surrounding streets as their home."

Provided voluntarily

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police confirmed: "At the time of the request, 10 (eight police officers and two police staff) had recorded their religion as Jedi."

She added that the force monitored "six strands of diversity" - age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief, and sexual orientation.

The force said the information was provided voluntarily and securely stored.

About 390,000 people listed their religion as Jedi in the 2001 Census for England and Wales. In Scotland the figure was a reported 14,000.

The Office for National Statistics did not recognise it as a separate category, and incorporated followers of Jedi with atheists.

Last year, brothers Barney and Daniel Jones founded the UK Church of the Jedi - which offered sermons on the Force, light sabre training, and meditation techniques.

Strathclyde Police employs 8,200 police officers and 2,800 civilian staff.

EPIPHANY - or how to be a magi

2009-01-05T10:34:00.007-06:00

today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany.

Many still think it is just the day when the "three kings" came to worship the new born Christ Child, wherein it is really, more or less, when we celebrate God manifesting himself as who he really is. He showed forth to the Magi not only his royalty but his divinity. And when they saw this "epiphany" they came not only to Bethlehem, not only to worship....but to belief. The last, ultimately, being the reason for the first.

so on this day we celebrate the numerous ways God has both manifested himself and man has come to the realization of Who it is they are encountering in the Person of Christ.

as the antiphon for the divine office has for this feast:

"Three mysteries mark this Holy Day:
today the star leads the Magi to the infant Christ;
today water is changed into wine for the wedding feast;
today Christ willed to be baptized by John in the River Jordan
to bring us salvation."

we're going to just focus on the story of the Wise Men here for the sake of brevity. Something I never seem to manage on a good day.

Right off what strikes me is that they've come following a star. Pagans. From the east. Following a star. They had come to the determination, through their own religion and astrology that they needed to embark on a terribly long journey to pay homage to this newborn king of the Jews.

Where were his own people? The shepherds had come, true, but they had direct divine intervention to lead them there. If not for the choirs of angels and the shekinah glory shining about for that select group was there anything else to distinguish this night from any other? I guess not, for we don't find anyone else coming to worship in Scripture.

So how were his people to know?

maybe not all of them were to know just yet but some should have. The ones at the top, yes? the chief priests, the scribes, even the king. And how is it then they were they to know?

the Magi themselves.

the Magi came chasing a star but they were to BE the star for these Jews. Once they came to Herod's palace seeking the infant and he gathered all the chief priests and scholars together to search scripture, you want to tell me that NO ONE in that room was able to put two and two together?

Of course some did.

where do we hear of a star in the Old Testament?

right off the bat we find in one of the Books of Moses the very prophetic passage that we all refer to when we think of the nativity star, that being Numbers 24: 17 :

"I see him but not now;
I behold him but not near:
a star shall come forth from Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel."

what is striking about this is that here we have a perfect parallel for those speaking with the Magi that should have raised a flag for them, should have alerted them to prophecy being fulfilled in their very presence. In Numbers, the one who is giving the oracle is Balaam, a pagan prophet from Babylonia. From the east. Despite other allegiances and other gods he traveled westward and came to open his mouth on behalf of the Lord and show forth the Lord's plan for his people. He prophesied a king, a savior for God's people Israel.

There standing in front of them were astrologers and pagans from the east who spent their lives making the same kind of divinations and oracles that their forefather Balaam made. And they too, had come westward, despite their own allegiances and religion to pay homage to this self same King. Because they had seen that star. Now, the Jews didn't pay astrological attention to the stars. They knew them and marked them but really mostly for the seasons. Apart from something ominous, such as a comet or an eclipse, they didn't import any meaning to the various configurations.

But those who did had come, practically wearing Balaam's clothes and shoes and searching for the one who was promised.

there was, of course, the Prophet Isaiah as well who foretold in the Book of Consolations how Jerusalem would be filled with caravans of camels and dromedaries from the east and how the wealth of the nations would be brought there, that they'd come with gold and frankincense to proclaim the praise of the Lord. Shall that happen in more than one way before history fold ups the apron strings? Of course, but these were scripture scholars and the more than passing resemblance had to be noticed.

King Herod had gathered them to inquire as to where the messiah would be born and they quickly ascertained that it was Bethlehem, no more than maybe 6 miles away. I've often wondered if any had half a notion to go look for themselves or if they were too scared of Herod's methods of intimidation to risk a trip.

regardless of whether any of the priests or scribes recognized, let alone believed, the signs in front of them, one thing can be said for certain: that at least one man in that palace not only recognized it but believed it.

The Magi were not the only ones who had an epiphany that day, so did Herod.

Ironically, you have the Jewish leaders who put all their stock in Moses and his words and the Law, but as Christ said, were hypocrites who didn't believe in Him because they didn't really believe Moses either.

And then you have crazy Herod: a half jew and, really, a usurper to the throne who believed it outright.

The Jews should have been the ones to spot it right off in Scripture. They studied it night and day and placed all their hope in Moses and the Law. If they could follow it perfectly they would in essence "save themselves" by self righteousness. In other words they would make themselves right with the Lord by complete adherence to the Torah. But for all their studies they were either blind in their pride or refused to see what Moses himself had said.

But here you have an insane, ambitious, impious, immoral half-Jew who has murdered his own family and children to hang onto a throne he had no right to and who hasn't bothered to follow Mosaic law ever....and he gets it.

let me say right now that this is proof that God will find you and reach you where you are. He did so with the Magi who, in their belief, responded as every man should --- and he did so with Herod, who turned his epiphany into more bloodshed and injustice. I'm just saying that this goes to show that God sends his truth and grace to men as they are. You don't have to reach a certain "level" of goodness or orthodoxy before he reaches out for you. He reaches out however far off you may be.

So crazy King Herod, when confronted with these Magi from the east and their "star" knew precisely what was going on. He knew what the star symbolized and he knew the scripture involved with it. He had even gone so far in the past as to make coinage with a star on it so as to make the spurious link that HE was the messiah...and therefore shore up his shaky foundation for ruling. Not that he wanted to be a savior, he just wanted people to think of him as such.

So when the chief priests and scribes gathered before Herod were reading Balaam's prophecy out loud that "A Star shall come out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise up from Israel....." he already was thinking of the next lines:

"it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be dispossessed ...."

what difference does that make? HE is Edom. Herod the Edomite, as the Jews were want to call him, just to remind him that he wasn't fully one of them. Half edomite and half samaritan. Not a Jewish king of the house and lineage of David (though he tried once to make an incredibly tenous claim to such).

So when he reads Edom shall be dispossessed what he really thinks is HE shall be dispossessed. He shall lose the throne he has tried so maniacally to hang onto by this newborn king of the Jews. The real one. The Messiah. He was no fool, he knew it was true. Herod was a lot of things but stupid was never one of them. And so, in the face of everything else this newborn "king" became the greatest single threat in his life.

So what does Herod do with great threats? .......the same as he does with lesser ones. He crushes them. With his power. With his genius. With his smooth political charm. And above all, with his fearsome, single-hearted determination. For when he wanted something, no one doubted he would get it. And he wanted this new threat annihilated.

****

will be back later!
off to lunch....

SNOW IN NOLA!!!

2008-12-12T19:17:00.004-06:00

New Orleans saw a real snowfall on Thursday. It hasn't snowed like that since I was down there. I don't think we saw this much even back then. There was enough accumulation this time to actually make snow men. Little snow men, but snow men just the same.

these are some of my fave photos from the times picayune page...for more go HERE

Canal Street palm trees in the snow! how cool is that?

streetcar near South Claiborne

Former Baraboo Priest's Book Banned By Bishop

2008-12-11T10:20:00.004-06:00

looks like those who wanted to get a better idea of of whether he "did" or "didn't" are now going to dangle their own feet in hot water if they don't either destroy or return Fr. Gerald Vosen's book to the store.

this according to Bishop Morlino of the Madison diocese.

He says that Vosen revealed what went on in the church proceedings when authorities investigated allegations that he had touched a child inappropriately years before. In revealing this, he breached what was under "Pontifical Secret".

yeah ... I never heard of it either.

But be that as it may, now those who are aware of this are risking a "canonical crime" of their own unless they destroy or return said book.

*sigh*

I get why this is necessary.

I also get that this looks really bad and appears for the uniformed, already-made-their-mind-up crowd like the Church is right back to its "keep it under cover" routine.

If this was a secular civil trial that was sealed (as they often are) any breach of that seal would be punishable by law. The Church has her own court proceedings, if you will, and the same can apply to those. Especially if it is still an open case, as Vogel's is. That's the bottomline to all this.

meantime - he is suspended from all priestly duties but still collecting pay from the diocese at his home in Merrimac, while they come to some final judgment.

the only civil case regarding this was put forward by HIM against the alleged victim, who still has not made any criminal charges against the priest to this day.

go figger....

we will never know what really went on and this is a lesson learned for people at large to not let curiosity get the better of them. I guess it's time for y'all to send the little tome back to the store, folks. That's the only option I can suggest. You know I don't support burning books.

ye gads!
what silliness!

it's law - I have to post this pic every time book burning comes up

here is the link to the story:

http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/317994

open letter to Sr. Arlene Welding

2008-12-04T10:03:00.013-06:00

...and whoever else arrogantly believes the same heresy she does.

MILWAUKEE NUN PROCLAIMS THAT GOD IS PRO-CHOICE

really - I read this one myself in "YOUR Catholic Herald" as they like to label themselves. If they were really my Catholic Herald they wouldn't print such tripe.

tripe.
now that's a word that just doesn't get used enough anymore.
you hardly ever hear it these days.

anyhow - Dear Sr. Arlene of the woe begotten School Sisters of St Francis (who must be spinning in his grave over them lately) took her precious, ministry-filled time to write to the Herald and lament on how the bishops were "picking" on Obama for his abortion stance.

she then went on to make some mind-numbing claims:1. God is prochoice

2. she's known some poor children who would've been better off to be aborted

3. other issues, such as poverty and economic injustice (note how it always come down to money with these women) are the real sins crying to heaven for vengeance.

apparently she made the last comment in such a fashion so as to leave one to conclude that she means abortion, in fact, is not one crying to heaven for justice.

interesting.

seeing as it has been a week or so since I read it (and decided to make pumpkin pies rather than blow my top in writing a letter of my own) I will now attempt to put charitably into words the RAGE I feel at her audacity. (....besides, the dear editors at the paper always seem to re-write my letters in such a way as to make them quite good, but lamentably not mine. They rid them of all the best parts and make me sound like the lady I still haven't managed to become.)

soooo - from the bottom up:

since we are arbitrarily making up what God finds most offensive I'll join that bandwagon and say that in my book, the latest and most infuriating sin crying to heaven is not economic injustice.....but so-called professed religious who so abuse their ministry and vocation as to use it to blaspheme the Lord. If I wore a veil (or for that matter, if you still did) I would tear it off in frustration.

where precisely do you get off, luv?

you are so obsessed with building a world of "social justice" you long ago forgot to build the kingdom of God.

for shame.

and you leave Him out of any equation when you seek to better the world around you. There is no justice apart from Him. So why do bang your head on that wall? You can accomplish nothing if He isn't at the central part of the plan. Whose "justice" and "mercy" are you referring to when you feel it would've been better off for those children in the Honduras to have been aborted?

NOT HIS!

are you nuts?!

while you may heretically believe He is pro-choice, in fact, He is not. He is the God and Giver of Life who is gravely offended that we end the lives HE CHOSE TO CREATE. Those little souls whom He willed into existence for this very moment in time.

is that the mercy of the Lord to say that they'd have better off if they were murdered in the womb? Maybe of your "social justice god" but not of mine. Mine instills dignity and worth into every human life no matter what its economic or social circumstances. Mine gives value by His own Passion and Death to our every human suffering that it may be salvific, that we may enter with Him into his redemptive plan and "make up what is lacking in the suffering of Christ."

mlechh!

you are right in saying He doesn't force any one to do what is right. He certainly isn't cattle-prodding you.

but Pro- choice? no. He gave us free will that we His finite and limited creatures might choose Him in love. But in and of Himself, the Almighty has no "choice" for evil in Him. He cannot be other than that which he is by His very nature, which is All Holy, All Knowing, All Powerful, Eternally Living Truth.

He IS life.
He IS Holiness.

how could He be pro choice?
How could He be "pro" choosing that which is evil, and therefore apart from Him? He cannot. He gives you the freedom to come to Him in love but that is not the same as approving your evil choices. There is no legitimate choice but to choose God. Any route that doesn't lead to Him isn't of Him, and cannot claim authenticity because of some strange twisted idea that He is "Pro Choice"...simply because he gives you the freedom to actually have authentic love.

cr-aa-aa-aa-ziness !

I don't know who is responsible for your formation or if you slipped off track after some good nun did her best - but you are not a shining example of what it means to be a sister in the Church of God. I shall fervently pray that your Spouse sets you down and has a long discussion with you on where you are headed, if you even still recognize Him as such.

it is a terrible scandal that a professed religious would say publicly, in a diocesan publication no less, what amounts to nothing other than heresy.

when will the Bishop have his fill of you lot?

what you falsely say and teach under the mantle of Catholicism ruins more souls than the priests who have run around touching people. You are a destroyer of the faith if you choose to go down such an evil path. I pray that you think long and hard on what the Lord said about those who are a scandal to the innocent, because you are presenting yourself as such. Please come back home to the truth.

life site still has the full text of Sister's letter on its page:
http://www.cathnewsusa.com/article.aspx?aeid=10498

cardinal lustiger's prophecy

2008-11-10T10:32:00.008-06:00

for those of you who don't know, Cardinal Lustiger was a Polish Jew who converted to Roman Catholicism quite young (in his early teens) when he was in Paris and followed his calling into the priesthood as an adult. He was appointed Bishop, Archbishop and then Cardinal in France by John Paul II and was a close friend and favorite of his. He was often referred to as "the bulldozer" for his manner of simply getting things done and getting rid of those he felt were too liberal in their theology. Cardinal Lustiger always viewed himself as still being a Jew and often referred to himself as such, as a "fulfilled Jew" and a "modern traditionalist" much to the displeasure of some in both the Christian and Jewish communities.

he said:

"I was born Jewish and so I remain, even if that is unacceptable for many.
For me, the vocation of Israel is bringing light to the goyim. That is my
hope and I believe that Christianity is the means for achieving it."

Why all this on a dead prelate?

well, often through these elections I have said that prophecy will out.

Now, I've been spanked for that (sometimes publicly) because those who'd hear that would want to know just what prophecy I was referring to. And frankly, there are some things which cannot be divulged as they are not a public matter, they are private matters. But true nevertheless. Others were upset because they thought I'd be referring to some ludicrous anti-christ issue and when I'd say I was not this got them going too, as what they really wanted was more fuel for their off base fire. Writing entire posts on how they were wrong on this didn't really go over well.

well now I can give you a little taste of what I meant, as this particular prophecy was made by someone who already openly declared it to the public. I stumbled across it the other night in a book that I was using for research (on a subject that was far and away unrelated to the elections - in fact, so much so that it made little sense that this nugget would be tucked into the middle of the book as it barely connected even to the text's subject.)

What I found was this:
In the December 24th, 1994 issue of TIME magazine, Cardinal Lustiger was interviewed for an article dealing with who John Paul II's successor would be. Here is the blurb:

Asked by TIME about his chances of succeeding John Paul, Lustiger replies, "Me? Totally excluded. Out of the question." Lustiger fidgets silently with his breviary in its brown leather case, then suddenly announces, "I had a dream. I dreamed that the President of the United States was black, the President of the ex-U.S.S.R. was a Muslim -- and the Pope was Chinese. And in my dream I asked God to let me die before that day would come. Because if ever we had a Chinese Pope" -- he clenches his fist and makes a screw-turning gesture -- "they know what administration is!"

how interesting, no?
and this was over 14 years ago.

Just when did he die?
last august.

If you go through life missing coincidences and failing to see them for what they are you will blindly step off a cliff at some point.

anyhow - why did he want to die before hand?

because these three were so bad?
no.

Because of what their elections portend. Now is when we are hearing more and more of the Chinese Church. Now is when Russia is openly declaring its great desire to strengthen its ties to the Muslim world. Now is when we've finally elected a black president. The dream says nothing negative about the players (except the funny remark about the Pope who will have to be even more "authoritarian" and "administrative" than even Lustiger was bashed for being. Errrr....he was being wry)

No the players in this are merely signs.

if you haven't a stomach for such things as this then be patient, and all will play out for you in the end in real time. One shouldn't despise prophecy though. Because it too will always play out.

time to wake up, donnie.

more pithiness from Biden

2008-11-06T15:32:00.003-06:00

Biden, who "attends Mass on Sunday", is often attacked for his decisively non-Catholic Christian views on abortion, which he still supports as a woman's choice, despite his bishop trying to educate him on his error.

Bristling at this he, had the following to say: "the next Republican who tells me I'm not religious, I'm going to shove my rosary down their throat."

nice Joe.

that's right up there with when you stripped off your coat and made a spectacle about "how men handle things where you're from."

I though we didn't want any more cowboys in office?

VOTING DAY

2008-11-04T08:53:00.005-06:00

got up and left early to go vote today. Was in line at 6 AM. (polls open at 7) Two others were there before us. They got there at 5:30. Die hards. Soon enough, though, there was well over a 100 folks in line with 40 minutes still to go. By the time the polls opened we were pushing 200. That is more people than often vote ALL DAY in our polling place...even in a presidential year.

decided late last night how I'd vote.

16 years I've been voting. Never missed except for two local referendums when I found myself was in the ER instead. And I will tell you...I have never been undecided. Certainly not up to the 11th hour.

but this year sucked.

I can't stand McCain but I adamantly don't want the socialism that is offered by an Obama-Biden team either, despite the rest of America's seduction by it.

sooooooo....what to do then hey?

Having desperately wanted the sound constitutional and fiscal policies of Ron Paul I have been lamenting all these months that it has come down to two horrid choices....OBAMA or MCCAIN. ugh! are you kidding?

My neighbor has a great sign in his yard that reads: 350 MILLION PEOPLE AND THESE TWO ARE THE BEST WE CAN COME UP WITH?

precisely.

anywhoo - I have thought and thought on this and have even prayed over it as I have a moral obligation to vote, yes? I can't just stay home. Or vote PRESENT like Barack does when he doesn't want to make a choice. I have to decide!

so taking into consideration the fact that I am obliged to cast my ballot I had to weigh my other moral obligations as well. One being to elect someone who will bring about good in the country...fiscally, socially, politically, etc. I am (even now) unconvinced that McCain will do that. Ohhh....he won't wreck things. Don't get me wrong. But he won't change them either, maverick malarkey aside. It will be more of the same. If you think otherwise you are deluded.

But my other obligation is to prevent evil from happening, even if I know a candidate who'd be better than either of them. And if I'm honest with myself, my personal choice in president has no chance of preventing the election of the great evil which will descend upon this asleep-at-the-wheel nation who has their hands stuck out the window for every entitlement and gimme gimme that Barack can dream up.

socialism?
you bet it is.

don't like being called a socialist?
stop being one!

there was a day when that was a dirty word. When we fought wars over such things. Now we want to elect it. BAH! A woman I know from the Netherlands says she left there to escape socialism...now it's followed her here. She is deeply depressed over this because she knows that society won't realize what's happened till it's too late.

ugh ugh and ugh.

short of a miracle we will have Obama as president-elect by tomorrow. Just wish that if the miracle came through it would really be something to cheer about. But McCain isn't that, that's for sure. How the hell he got to the the top of the dungheap still stymies me. Republicans (of which I'm NOT) really shot themselves in the foot this time. Should've chose better, hey?

doesn't matter.

prophecy will always out.

*shrugs*

I did the right thing nonetheless. But it doesn't mean I'm happy about it. I am not.

as I said before....

2008-11-04T08:43:00.003-06:00

Obama is not the anti-christ. One of his precursors? one of the ones who ape the role of the Baptist? hmmm...with all the lies and shiftiness coming out of his mouth the jury is still out for me on that. He certainly propses an agenda and philosophy which is entirely opposed to the Gospel message.

Famed author Michael O'Brien has written an excellent letter stating these things far more eloquently than I tried to do a couple posts ago.

here is the link for what it's worth:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/081103a.html

trick or treat

2008-10-24T18:34:00.001-05:00

some timely, seasonal humor regardless of one's political affiliations....
err - happy voting!

on the other sticky hand....

2008-10-23T19:39:00.006-05:00

I can't stomach McCain either.....

*sigh*

this is the worst election EVER.
I wish to God Ron Paul had a snowball's chance in the Great Below but he doesn't. Which leaves me in a tight spot come voting day. I am almost forced to do the very thing I despise (voting for someone I don't like to keep someone I like even less OUT).

it makes me feel all dirty inside.
or maybe I am anyhow and these things just made me notice it today.....

CHICAGO FACTS

2008-10-23T10:20:00.007-05:00

I got this via email the other day.....
I found it rather intriguing and CONCISE.

copy and paste - copy and paste -
I love these kinds of posts where I don't have to type too much.

BODY COUNT IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS:

292 MURDERED IN CHICAGO

221 KILLED IN IRAQ

OUR LEADERSHIP IN ILLINOIS :

SEN. BARACK OBAMA

SEN. DICK DURBIN

REP. JESSE JACKSON, JR.

GOV. ROD BLOGOJEVICH

HOUSE LEADER MIKE MADIGAN

ATTY. GEN LISA MADIGAN

MAYOR RICHARD DALY

.....ALL DEMOCRATS

THANK YOU FOR THE COMBAT ZONE IN CHICAGO!!!

OF COURSE THEY ARE BLAMING EACH OTHER

CAN'T BLAME THE REPUBLICANS, BECAUSE THERE AREN'T ANY!!!!

STATE PENSION FUND $44 BILLION IN DEBT, _WORST IN THE NATION.

COOK COUNTY (CHICAGO) SALES TAX 10.25%, _HIGHEST IN THE NATION.

CHICAGO SCHOOL SYSTEM ONE OF THE _WORST IN THE NATION.

THIS IS THE POLITICAL MACHINE THAT OBAMA SAYS HE COMES FROM IN ILLINOIS .

AND NOW OBAMA SAYS HE'S GONNA FIX WASHINGTON POLITICS.!!!!!
PLEASE DON'T!! IT'S BAD ENOUGH!!

(thanks to Mike Saaf for his daily deluge of forwarded political emails...this one was actually quite good.)

Barack Obama is NOT the antichrist

2008-10-20T09:21:00.005-05:00

frankly....you sound like a wingnut if you keep spouting such craziness. That's like, "outer limits" craziness where all the super nuts float around.

you want a reason to not vote for him? I've got a ton. You want a reason to be afraid of his administration? got about the same number.

but let's not go bouncing into the deep end of the loonie waters with the whole Antichrist business. it's bringing us all down.

for the simple fact that there IS an Antichrist, or more accurately, there will be. And it is disingenuous to label someone as something that they simply aren't. In other words.....is Barack him? No....simply doesn't fit the bill.

I mean look, what do we know about the antichrist?

apart from the four verses which explicitly mention him in scripture (1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3, and 2 John 7 ) the Catechism explains simply this:

Paragraph 675 Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.⁵⁷³ The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth⁵⁷⁴ will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.⁵⁷⁵

676 The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism,⁵⁷⁶ especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism.^{577 (think Nazism, Communism, Socialism, etc)}

677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.⁵⁷⁸ The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven.⁵⁷⁹ God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.⁵⁸⁰

after the catechism we have the views of the early Church Fathers (which don't all jive together on certain things) as well as personal revelations and prophecy (which don't stack up with the same weight as Scripture, Tradition and Magisterium.)

nevertheless...it is prudent to be familiar with these as well. we'll get into them a bit later.

for now this is what we are we are bound by faith to acknowledge and believe:
1. the Gospel must be preached throughout the whole world even though some won't accept its message.
2. before the Second Coming there will be a great apostasy or religious defection and after this falling away has happened/begun the Antichrist will be revealed.
3. the Antichrist will rise to power and persecute the Church more than any other before him, seeking her very extinction.
4. Christ will triumph over this final unleashing of evil and this will take the form of the Last Judgment....will happen after the "final cosmic upheaval of this passing world".

now there are other things, traditionally believed, that have been in the thoughts of many of the early Church Fathers, regarding Antichrist.

some of them follow:
***there will be a great and final "roman empire" (or one which could be said to look and operate much that way...) which will be divided up into ten "kingdoms" by a great (and evil) military leader. 3 of the "kingdoms" won't go along with it and they will be crushed.

***there will be a "false" prophet who will ape the role of the Baptist and prepare the way for the Antichrist's arrival on the scene.

***there will be a conversion (some feel en masse) of the Jews

***some believe there will literally be a return of Enoch and Elijah as the two witnesses to preach conversion to the world and the Jews.

***Others have taken to identify the witnesses as the Church and the Spirit (the church as lampstand and the Spirit as the Olive tree which continually feeds oil to the lamp and keep it lit) (see Zech 4:14 and Rev 11:4)

*** a number of the Fathers and later mystics felt that the Antichrist would be from Jewish origin so as to ape Christ's own patrimony and that he either will have once claimed to be Christian and later reject it or he will outright reject it from the start.

etc etc etc....

what does any of this have to do with Barack peoples???

probably very little if you wore your thinking cap today. ( I know it's Monday but give it a shot). but really, how does any of this fit in with him?

it likely doesn't....

....except for this:

we will choose the antichrist.
we will choose his ideas, his philosophy, his vision of "change" for a better tomorrow.
we will put him in power and we will clap each other on the back that we've done so.

he doesn't take over through brute force but through his very seductive and false ideas. Which the whole world will rejoice over and go " look! what a peacemaker he is....look how he brings together peoples from such diversity.... look how he brings such refreshing change"

he takes over because good people choose the pretty lie coming out of his charismatic mouth rather than accepting the often challenging and difficult Truth.

and they pull the lever in the symbolic "ballot box" to reflect that.

this is a dry run people.
a dress rehearsal.

wake up already before the real one presents and you believe him too.

EDIT: for those who still want to conjecture on whether he is or isn't the real thing or is perhaps merely a forerunner, I have even included a little blog which will suit your taste in conspiracy. On it, "Grasshopper" waxes long and (I will admit) quite well on the in's an out's of Obama's logo matching the logo for Lucis trust (formerly Lucifer Publishing). A most interesting read even if you believe, like me, he's not him.

here ya go:
http://www.the-obama-nation.blogspot.com/2008/05/let-future-stand-revealed.html

outrage of the week update

2008-09-05T10:41:00.003-05:00

5 new outrages in the OUTRAGE column....

here is the link.

*medjugorje priest in HOT water
*indian nuns burnt alive and raped
*delaware churches profaned
*italian monks viciously beaten while at dinner
*genetically modified wheat raises canonical questions

is this the CHANGE FOR AMERICA???

2008-08-23T09:17:00.007-05:00

you bet!
guess what Obama's change is though......we get to move directly from abortion on demand to full out infanticide.

This little video was passed along by our priest via email.

I embed it here for your educational experience. Really.
Think not? Think he's the right one? Consider yourself an open-minded American who makes your decisions on facts and not emotions and hype? then I challenge you to watch this and read the info below.

no matter where you come down on abortion rights, this isn't the kind of change America is up for.

he likes to pride himself on being a WORLD citizen and playing to the Sophisticated European crowd (mind you, not the average one but the sophisticated ones...a little clarification I thought may be needed for my European readers, as "sophisticated" in one of my blogs is never something you wanna get labeled as).

anyhow - point being:
what he says is true!

you've got parents who have the right to terminate the life of kids up to twelve in the Netherlands, you've got Germany with its personal suicide machines, you've got socialistic healthcare where the gov't makes the decisions on what they'll cover for you or not (heart attack , YES- heart disease, NO).

let's see if you think he's that different after this.

If life isn't sacred EVEN AFTER BIRTH then not one person alive is safe. Not the elderly, not the sick, not the criminals, not the mentally ill, not the homosexuals....no one.

then let's move on to ideologies.

NO? think it's never gonna happen?

Look at Germany and the Nazis. All of it did. And it started with the others groups and moved up to ideology, ethnicity and religion.

y'all better WAKE UP!
you're sound asleep and Barack's about to take the wheel.....

DID OBAMA LIE ABOUT THE BORN ALIVE BILL OR NOT?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/08/did_obama_lie_about_born_alive.html

The general facts on the bill and its implications
http://www.religioustolerance.org/abo_aliv.htm

(the only flaw I found in the second link was that it stated that Christ Hospital's policy was to give comfort care to those infants in question. But this is not true. There are usually placed in a basin of some kind and dirty towels are put over them. Frankly this has been hospital policy in a lot of places since the 50's and earlier.)

speaking of liturgies....

2008-08-19T14:42:00.004-05:00

here is one RUN AMOK!!

this BIG LINKIE will take you to Fr. Ray's fantastic blog across the pond in England. He has a you tube capture of Cardinal Mahoney presiding at mass during an educator's conference.

YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS!!!!
mind boggling to say the least....

But Fr. Ray nails it in his blurb regarding the fiasco. His first lines are "Cardinal Mahoney enters Pharoah-like to preside over the conference...."

PHAROAH LIKE!!!

hahaha!!

every time I looked down to see that line and then back up at the foolishness on screen I started giggling again. Which is wrong but unavoidable. Talk about understatements! Between the dancing girls waving gigantic fans and the others stalking about with huge bowls of incense over their heads, all you needed was him in a sheer linen loin cloth to make the picture complete.

TERRIBLE!

never quite seen anything quite as bad before.
Thanks be to God. The strange Indian Mass I had to attend once comes close but at least they have a tenuous excuse. This one doesn't.

may we be preserved from the liturgical wingnuts.

vatican says no more "YAHWEH", and other text issues

2008-08-14T10:03:00.006-05:00

well between this ^ ^ ^ and the new translation for mass that just came back "approved" we oughtta have some good times with catechesis in the near future. (that is sarcasm you smell) I think it will be much needed, but disastrous in implementation. Too much resistance from too many unhappy eggs.

article here on the removal of the name of God from all songs and any newly composed variable prayer texts:
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0804119.htm

if anyone would like to have a PDF copy of the new missal translation (slated for 2010) let me know. Be forewarned....it's about 45 pages long. You may just want to read it from your computer instead of printing.

I read it last week and I think (in my very humble, nobody-cares-opinion) that it is fantastic. A bigger change than they first made it out to be but fantastic just the same. Despite their downplaying of it, almost every prayer on the part of the faithful has undergone at least minor revision. And others have had truly major reworking.

well - let's all be honest. SOME NEEDED MAJOR REWORKING. hahaha.....

anyhow - they have turned out quite lovely and more poetic than before.

for the rabid amongst us (and you know you're out there) the words of consecration now have returned to "for many" rather than "for all". This was never an issue I worked myself up over as I feel the Church has the authority to approve whatever translation she chooses and have it be valid. But some of you are heretics and think she doesn't. And I say that only slightly tongue in cheek.

*shrugs* --- now what's your excuse for not attending?

the other matter (one I did rather care about) was the credo.
I had long wished for a return to the "I believe" formula rather than the corporate "we believe" as I've always said that neither you nor I can stand up and profess belief for someone else. So all this "it shows we are one in faith" bologna doesn't hold up in the wash. We ARE one in belief but that faith, that creed, has its.... unity, if you will......upheld be the very fact that it is made by individuals.....each professing to believe what their brethren believes but not speaking for them.

more than that...it is what the latin says. To all those who used to say "you don't understand the original texts"...well, now I do, so just shift, mate. If you want to argue with my logic that's fine but you can't argue with text anymore by saying I don't know what it says. I know perfectly well.

it says you're wrong! hahaha.....

anyhow - the opening words have been rectified much to my secret delight. That bit was changed and they also upheld the current translation "for us men and for our salvation".

THANK YOU!!!

bra burners the world over can start their bonfires now. That's how it goes. It wasn't changed and I can only say it is the workings of the Spirit which preserved it, because many, many were against it.

I distinctly remember a conversation with a pastoral associate (who shall remain nameless) at least 14 years ago about this very topic. Both the "we believe" and "for us men" business. And he opined loudly that it would not only remain WE BELIEVE but that "soon and very soon I would have to face the facts that the word "men" would be eliminated."

I said this would never be. For a couple reasons. One, being obviously that the Latin says MEN. Two, being that those whom he saved were MEN. And three, being that the creed has always evolved to fight off heresies by its clear definition of the faith. And if these naysayers don't have their nose to the ground to smell what one of the new ones is then let me take a moment to tell you:

there is an ongoing movement...idea,...bad spirit, if you will.... afoot on the planet to say that animals and men are no different. Don't think so? ask your kids. they're the product of your tax dollars at work. Blimey - I've had teenagers in CCD proclaim as much. They have no notion of what makes man different. No sense of sin or what the purpose of salvation is. And it is a hair's breath away from the notion that we were all saved.

that's not true. All creation will be renewed. All creation will in that sense be redeemed, yes. But only man was saved from his sins. Only man has a soul which is spirit and immortal. Christ did not become incarnate as a dog, he came as a man --- and if it is important enough for him to do it, then it is important enough for us to say it. He came as man to save MAN. Not the monkeys, not the aliens, not the angels, and not whatever else will crop up in the near future.

we need this phrase to be kept as it is. To stave off the ever-growing nonsense.

anyhow - this pastoral associate was quite upset and said that church was going to "move forward whether I liked it or not." That it was just like the Latin mass....we'd never go back to it.

I disagreed vehemently with that, even way back then and said that in his lifetime (and no spring chicken was he) he would see it's full comeback.

Perhaps, looking back now, it was near to prophecy as I was absolutely confirmed in that idea. But I have never had any vested interest in whether or not it would come back, having never attended one nor having any real desire to do so, apart from the most basic of curiosities.

So when I read the translation I thought of him and how upset he must be.
over the new text, the old text, the Latin mass being allowed everywhere.....

it must be hard to remain in a church so different from what he wanted to make her. But she must always be purified of the dross , yes? Even if it's hard for us.

and I thought, yes, you're right, the church does move forward. But she must be spotless, because where she's going is Calvary. Can't you see it?

something to think about....

2008-08-10T15:57:00.002-05:00

PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN SAID:
"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damages morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, quickly tried and hanged!!!"

well then!
we can't do that or else
there'd be a lot of empty seats.....

new "outrages" are up

2008-08-07T11:30:00.002-05:00

including the MN professor, the Milwaukee woman seeking ordination and some hunger striking priests in India.

must be the dog days of summer......

here is the big linkie

Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe finally opens in LaCrosse, WI

2008-08-06T11:52:00.006-05:00

here is the website:
http://www.guadalupeshrine.org/Home/Home.asp

I'll post more here on it later.
One more thing we can thank the Good Egg Burke for.

Before I go though, I'd just like to add that during the procession I realized how prescient it was of him to begin planning this pilgrimage site years before we knew we'd even need it. Certainly before such a thing would even make sense. But now we have a national Shrine for Guadalupe, patroness of the unborn, here in Wisconsin, the state that was all too happy to be the first to kick in the sad doors of embryonic stem cell research.

when anyone asks you why in the world this church would be built wayyyyy up here, you can tell them it is plainly the Lord's work. He has His own way of doing battle.

now that's more like it.....
what a treat compared to THIS.

Milwaukee gets first married priest

2008-07-28T09:52:00.005-05:00

Fr. Michael Scheip

article on him and his family here:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=776571

well!
never saw that coming but it's a nice surprise nonetheless. welcome to him and his family, hey?

hope no one here gives them static over what would just be ignorance. although, it's sad to say, there is a LOT of ignorance out there.

it will be interesting to see where he winds up being assigned. probably in a parish actually in Milwaukee County rather than one of the surrounding diocesan cities (as it seems his wife is going to be working in Waukesha - I rather doubt she'd like a huge commute).

but it remains to be seen. Bishop Dolan asked among all the priests as to who'd like to take him on board at their church, so they'll sort it all out in the end. Like I said, wherever they land I hope people treat them with respect and equity.

as this is bound to bring out all the usual "progressive" pan beaters, here is an article that may clarify some of the in's and out's of what is actually required for ordination:

http://www.catholic-question-box.blogspot.com/2006/05/january-2005-part-2-of-3_23.html

you've gotta be kidding

2008-07-12T21:02:00.005-05:00

go HERE now..... (the MN professor post on July 11th)

what takes the cake beyond the whole outrageous story is the yahoo who wrote the comment below it but then is too patsy-fied to make his profile available.

that's like sending a whining letter to lodge a complaint on something but not signing your name. If you have something to say, SAY IT ---- but then stand behind it brah!!

BE A MAN already! You wanna open your mouth and play with the big boys then learn to be one. But don't spout your bigoted line of bull and offend me by blaspheming my God and then run off into anonymity.

only punks do that...

hmmm - they may even be braver come to think of it. They at least act out in person.

summer reading plan from Auntie Tuh-NEE-uh

2008-07-11T11:58:00.003-05:00

here goes......

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE STILL SCRATCHING YOUR HEADS OVER WHY IRAN IS A PROBLEM, this one is perfect for you. I vetted it out awhile ago for someone who needed a simple, concise and yet easy read on the whole why's and wherefore's of the issue. Mostly as I got tired of verablly explaining it. The book does a bang up job of succinctly covering the history of the mess we all helped to make and why the current strategies are not enough to stop the problem.

The Iranian Tine Bomb by Michael A. Ledeen

two thumbs wayyy up

________________________________________________

next on a slightly related topic:

RELIGION OF PEACE? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn't by Robert Spencer

y-y-yuup!.... he goes there. And in a fine fashion too I might say. This one will help you understand why the factions within Islam that you were introduced to in the first book above are hell bent on destroying the whole planet if need be.

_________________________________________________

closer to home.....

here are two books which cover what's wrong with our own backyard:

DECLARING INDEPENDENCE: The Beginning of the End of the TWO PARTY SYSTEM by Douglas E Schoen

INDEPENDENTS DAY: Awakening The American Spirit by Lou Dobbs

maybe one or the other ^ ^ ^ will wake you up out of the two party hype....

more later......

well, welcome aboard....

2008-07-10T10:38:00.004-05:00

The Rt Rev'd Andrew Burnham SSC

leading his flock to greener pastures

http://www.blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2008/07/08/c_of_e_bishop_will_lead_anglicans_to_rome

time to roll out the welcome mat for some more of our Anglican brethren.....one can pretty much view this as a done deal already, as the new pontiff has been most welcoming to the notion of allowing such an en masse conversion in England and Wales.

Formerly, the only real widespread groups that had come home had been primarily in the US, where they were allowed to continue in Anglican Use parishes (whereby keeping much of their traditional liturgy). But the kabosh had been put to that in the UK because the bishops (the Catholic ones at that) made a fuss over it and it was decided that Anglicans could only come over if they did so as individuals, not as entire parishes and the sort.

ohh, there's more to the whole thing than that to be sure. I'm just glossing over it here - but still, something about that reminds me of a reading from Romans in this morning's office where it said to "not put obstacles in the way of your brethren"...but who am I to point that bit out, eh?

*shrugs*

anywhooo - I think there'll be a large influx of new Catholics in the UK very soon....priests, parishes and all. This is the Lord's doing. Make no bones about it. Men would only continue to divide and subdivide. Only the Lord brings unity. And it is a marvelous thing.

So a big hale and hearty welcome to our Anglican brothers and sisters. I hope that they find open arms and some peace (at last) in their new spiritual home and most of all, that their unique voice and gifts are heard and made use of. (k*chem)

ANOTHER WELCOME GOES OUT TO THE NEW BISHOP OF GREEN BAY

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080709/GPG0101/80709012/1206/GPG01

Bishop David Ricken will be installed August 28th. I'm sure everyone up there is very glad to have a new replacement for Bsihop Zubick ( who was himself transferred last fall to Pittsburgh). And frankly, it's one lass thing on the already every full plate for Archbishop Dolan to have to administer.

so - welcome to Green Bay! It gets really cold up there. That's all I'm gonna say......well, apart from the fact that it's full of packer wingnuts but that's just my personal bias. (I loathe sports) The cold is indisputable.

this was forwarded to me the other day....

2008-07-01T20:31:00.004-05:00

I merely cut and pasted the whole thing here rather than bother others with mass mailings in their own box......

*****************************
How many zeros in a billion?

This is too true to be funny.

The next time you hear a politician use the
word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the 'politicians' spending
YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
but one advertising agency did a good job of
putting that figure into some perspective in
one of it's releases.

A.

A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B.

A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C.

A billion hours ago our ancestors were
living in the Stone Age.

D.

A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

E.

A billion dollars ago was only

8 hours and 20 minutes,

at the rate our government

is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain...

let's take a look at New Orleans ...

It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division.

Louisiana Senator,

Mary Landrieu (D)

is presently asking Congress for

250 BILLION DOLLARS

to rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number...

what does it mean?

A.

Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans

(every man, woman, and child)

you each get $516,528.

B.

Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in
New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.

C.

Or... if you are a family of four...

your family gets $2,066,012.

Washington, D. C

< HELLO! >

Are all your calculators broken??

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax <>Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunti ng Licen se Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? ;-p

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago...
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt...

We had the largest middle class in the world...

and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened?

Can you spell 'politicians!'

And I still have to

press '1' for English.

What the heck happened?????

_________________

this ^^^ was sent to me the other day in one of the mass mailings folks are wont to do.....make of it what you will.

what I make of it is this: may I humbly suggest you do a write in vote on Nov 4th for RON PAUL. (you knew I'd get that in there somehow)

EDIT: I rather disagree with the whole premise of their complaints on how much $$$ it will take to rebuild New Orleans. The mailer's theory is flawed as they are assuming that ONLY homeowners would be receiving that money whereas it really is primarily going to shore up infrastructure and levees which have been utterly decimated by the storm....

MY complaint about it is simply that the homeowners and citizens are unlikely to ever see a dime of it....(k*chem)

but is serves as a sobering reminder just HOW MUCH this catastrophe costs to try and rectify. Mind boggling amounts of money. SO when America wants to think "oh hey, aren't they back on their feet yet? we donated a little cash to whatever charity back then, right? that surely should've done it by now!" then they can ponder what it would really cost to fix the problem and why the gov't is prepared to never do that. They are going to let them swing. Mark my words.....this funding will never happen.

gone for the next week.....

2008-06-28T09:17:00.003-05:00

due to vacation I may not be posting anything anytime soon.

well - actually I haven't posted anything lately anyhow and there have been some doozies that should've been addressed.

oh well.
*shrugs*

I may toss out some saved drafts of things if I get time - errr, such as this uber-frivolous one below.......

2008-06-19T10:39:00.003-05:00

READ ALL ABOUT IT... The News You May Have Missed June 2008By Michael S. Rose Michael S. Rose is Book Review Editor and Web Editor of New Oxford Review.

Gay Graveyard

A special graveyard has been opened for Danish homosexuals in Copenhagen, where the "gay" activist organization Rainbow has reserved 36 places for funeral urns in a section of the municipal Assistens cemetery. Ivan Larsen said he and his "partner," Ove Carlsen, wanted to be close in death, as in life. They cofounded Rainbow a year ago in order to offer members a funeral urn site for the equivalent of $560. "We have our own places where we can meet and have fun -- gay bars and such. That is why we wanted our own graveyard," Larsen, a Protestant priest, told Radio Denmark (April 8).

ohh blimey! that' just silly. thank heaven it's a protestant priest this time and not one of ours....how bizarre.

'Religion, Flesh & Power'

Christoph Cardinal Schönborn defended a retrospective exhibition at Vienna's Cathedral Museum honoring Austria's renowned artist Alfred Hrdlicka, who recently turned 80. But Cardinal Schönborn drew the line at Hrdlicka's depiction of the Last Supper as, in his words, a "homosexual orgy," depicting cavorting Apostles lounging on the dining table and engaging in sex acts. It was supposed to be a highlight of the display. Though Schönborn ordered that painting to be removed from the exhibition hall, he praised Hrdlicka's initiative: "I still hold the opinion that we must welcome the fact that artists who do not share our faith, or are still searching for belief, occupy themselves so intensively with biblical subjects." Museum director Bernhard Boehler defended his decision to host the artist's controversial versions of biblical imagery in a museum tied to the Catholic Church: "We think Hrdlicka is entitled to represent people in this carnal, drastic way" (Reuters, April 7).

Push-Button Suicide

A German lawyer and politician has unveiled Europe's first suicide machine. Dr. Roger Kusch, 53, head of a suicide-assistance society in Germany, said, "Press one button, and seconds later death arrives." He calls it "an act of Christian love." The lethal-injection machine can be rented and is then collected to be re-used to painlessly kill other clients at the push of a button. Kusch said he will be present at the first suicide, but there is no indication yet when that might be (Daily Mail, March 28).

Mr. Mom?

Thomas Beatie is expecting his first child in July. That's correct: The pregnant Beatie is a man -- well, sort of. Beatie, from the state of Oregon, was born a woman but had a sex change in which she had chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy, but no change operation to her reproductive organs. She stopped taking testosterone injections in order to get pregnant. She and her "wife," Nancy, resorted to home insemination after buying an anonymous donor's sperm from a cryogenic sperm bank (Sydney Morning Herald, March 26).

Homosexual Breeders

A group of influential scientists reports that a new scientific technique could soon allow same-sex couples to "create" their own biological children in a laboratory. The Britain-based Hinxton group, made up of 40 world-renowned experts in embryology research, says that the laboratory creation of eggs and sperm from other cells is a breakthrough that "could be used to create human fetuses within 15 years." Undeterred by the possibility that this artificial reproductive process could result in passing genetic fertility problems on to offspring, John Harris, a member of the group and a professor of bioethics at the University of Manchester, told the Daily Telegraph (April 21) that the most difficult part of this process is creating sperm from female instead of male cells, but it is still "possible."

A Doll Hitler

A Ukrainian toy manufacturer is marketing an Adolf Hitler doll. The 16-inch figure, complete with movable arms, will first be available in the capital Kiev and comes with a selection of outfits: There will be an "early days Adolf" with brownshirt and jodhpurs, and "wartime Adolf" with a grey, double-breasted tunic, black trousers, and simple Iron Cross medal. The doll comes with a miniature Blondi, Hitler's faithful Alsatian, whose loyalty was repaid with a cyanide capsule in their Berlin bunker (Ananova, April 23).

Abortion as Fine Art?

Art major Aliza Shvarts of Yale University produced a senior art project this spring in which she documented the nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition featured video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process. The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts told Yale Daily News (April 17), was to "spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body." She said she was not concerned about any medical effects the forced miscarriages may have had on her body. "I believe strongly that art should be a medium for politics and ideologies, not just a commodity," Shvarts said. "I think that I'm creating a project that lives up to the standard of what art is supposed to be."

Abortion as...?

According to a statement released by Yale University, Aliza Shvarts was never impregnated and never miscarried. The senior project of the Yale art major was officially dubbed a "creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman's body." But Shvarts stood by her project, calling the university's statement that the whole thing was merely performance art "ultimately inaccurate." She reiterated that she repeatedly used a needleless syringe to impregnate herself. At the end of her menstrual cycle, she took abortifacient herbs to induce bleeding, she said. Shvarts's project took the form of a large cube wrapped by hundreds of feet of plastic sheeting, with blood from her self-induced miscarriages lining the sheeting. Recorded videos of her experiencing miscarriages in a shower stall were projected onto the four sides of the cube (Yale Daily News, April 17).

A Letter From RON PAUL

2008-06-13T09:45:00.009-05:00

Friday, June 13, 2008

Over the past 17 months you and I delivered a message of freedom, the likes of which American politics has not seen in decades. With the primary season now over, the presidential campaign has come to an end. But the Revolution has only begun.

Today I am happy to announce the official launch of the Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty. Please visit our new website and join us: http://www.campaignforliberty.com

Over the next few months I will be developing a program, assembling a team, and announcing new and exciting projects. We will have a permanent presence on the American political landscape. That I promise you.

Right now, I need your patience and support. I want the Campaign for Liberty to be a grassroots campaign; so your energy, your creativity, your feedback, and your participation are essential.

Together, we will educate our fellow Americans in freedom, sound money, non-interventionism, and free markets. We will write commentaries and broadcast videos on the news of the day. And I'll work with friends whom I respect to design materials for homeschoolers.

Politically, we will expand the great work of our precinct leader program. We will make our presence felt at every level of government. We will keep an eye on Congress, and lobby against legislation that threatens us. And we will identify and support candidates who champion our great ideas.

"In the final analysis," I wrote in my new book The Revolution: A Manifesto, "the last line of defense in support of freedom and the Constitution consists of the people themselves. If the people want to be free, if they want to lift themselves out from underneath a state apparatus that threatens their liberties, squanders their resources on needless wars, destroys the value of their dollar, and spews forth endless propaganda about how indispensable it is and how lost we would all be without it, there is no force that can stop them."

Our time has come to act on these words.

May future generations look back on our work and say that these were men and women who, in a moment of great crisis, stood up to their politicians, the opinion-makers, and the establishment, and saved their country.

For liberty,

P.S. Please join me. Go to our website, www.campaignforliberty.com and become a member of the Campaign for Liberty. Our goal is 100,000 members by September. Can we reach it?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

so I invite you to head to his new web page ^ ^ ^ and join today.

I may still vote for him for president come Nov 4th nonetheless, as I feel he is the best candidate and I no longer feel burdened to avoid voting for someone just because they don't stand a chance. I have to sleep at night and I will vote my conscience. Which just cannot include Obama or McCain.

here is also a quick link to his "mission" page which includes at the bottom a Statement of Principles which you may find an interesting read:http://www.campaignforliberty.com/mission/

Felipe Baeza and the Cooper Union Student Art Exhibition

2008-06-06T09:22:00.014-05:00

COOPER UNION....
.....for the advancement of science and art?

really?
time for a new logo mates.

*sigh*

here's goes their crappy student exhibition again.

up this year is a series of paintings from a deeply disturbed man who goes by the name Felipe Baeza. One shows a crucifix shoved up some guy's bum (no I'm not making this up! you can't make stuff like this up) with a caption that reads (errr, once translated) "the day I become a Catholic".

well then....don't hold back, brah!

another shows --- y'know.... I can't even bring myself to go into the others here.

read the Associated Press article HERE

I find this bit....rich:
Cooper Union says on its website about this exhibition that (and I quote): “The School of Art faculty have selected major pieces by students representing ‘the best of’ each discipline ranging from sculpture, graphic design and painting to video installations.”

wow.
sorta breathtaking.

now I know a lot of you think of Catholic League President Bill Donohue as a bit of a loose canon and rabid dog (and perhaps he is - *shrugs*) but he summed up the reply to such nonsense far more succinctly than I can at the moment:

“Surely there is a difference between art, traditionally understood as conveying beauty, and junk. Admittedly there is so much junk that passes as art these days that the public can be forgiven if it is no longer capable of making critical distinctions.

But we should expect more from the art faculty at a distinguished institution of higher education. “That the works of this student should be deemed ‘major,’ representing the ‘best’ of the student contributions does not speak well for Cooper Union.

On the other hand, I have the sneaking suspicion that these paintings made the cut precisely because they were an assault on Catholic sensibilities. No, I can’t prove what the motive was, but I can be deadly certain that if even a reverential portrait of Muhammad had been offered, it would have been rejected. I hasten to add that if a reverential portrait of Jesus had been submitted, it too would have been rejected, but for entirely different reasons.”

undoubtedly.

am I so far off as to think that art is supposed to lift us up, even when the subject itself may be dark? or that because it is its own language, and a universal one at that, I shouldn't need some oddly dressed "guide" or "critic" to tell me the real meaning of what I'm looking at? shouldn't it be self explanatory? I mean, apart from the spoken word, all other language is universal...do you need someone to ell you what a hug means? BAH! how condescending!

apart from the filth that passes for artistic commentary these days, there is a problem in general with the art world lately. Now I'm not nearly sophisticated or educated enough to pin down precisely what that is but let me give you an innocuous and innocent example:

this is what has replaced the beautiful baldachin that was
in St John's Cathedral in Milwaukee

now - I can make a deduction that since I am standing in a church that what I'm looking at must have something to probably do with Christ....maybe the crucifixion. mmmm - and that's a big maybe. But apart from that, it is a post modern attempt at what passes for art these days.

because I shouldn't have to have a blurb this long from a tour guide to "get it":

The Corona

Suspended twenty-eight feet over the altar is a corona or crown 14 feet in diameter, designed by the well-known Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro in collaboration with Giuseppe Maraniello, who created the figure of Christ that completes the piece. It is made of fiberglass that has been bronzed and gilded. This piece serves to highlight the altar as the symbolic center of the cathedral. Johanine in its symbolism, it presents a powerful portrait of Jesus, thoroughly incarnate, yet Divine Lord and Master of every moment. His inner glory shines forth, especially at that hour when he is lifted up on the Cross and gives his life for the salvation of the world. The Dove in his open right hand represents the gift of the Holy Spirit, the very life of God, breathed out upon the entire world at the moment of his death on the Cross (John 19:30). The corona can be seen as a symbol of the crown of thorns transformed into a crown of glory radiating from and transforming the sufferings of the Lord’s Paschal Mystery.

for real?
yeah...huh...I didn't get any of that from just looking at it.

And you say "you're a dumb hick, tuh-nee-uh". And I say "you're a persnickety snob, crappy art lover".

BUT THAT'S JUST IT!!!

is art supposed to be strictly for this elitist, "intelligentsia" crowd who make it so difficult that the masses around us can no longer recognize what they're seeing and then only the privileged (and deluded) are in the know???
...well, at least until they take ENORMOUS pleasure in attempting to educate the great unwashed in the finer points of the what the artiste was really saying.

I can tell you what they're saying.

that they can't paint or sculpt anything that passes for realism anymore and have drifted off into caricature. And it is caricature that is base, that is for the lowest common denominator to laugh at. When you get those goofy sketches done of you at the amusement parks where it is a big head with little feet and all your worst features blown up into nuclear sized appendages, IS THAT ART? no, that's why you laugh at it and put it down behind your make-shift tiki bar in your partly finished basement. It's a joke, not something to replace your wedding photos.

that's all this stuff is.
dressed up caricature.

and that is too bad.
shouldn't have caricature in cathedrals.
art that isn't recognizable as to what it really is.

ugh!

at least with the despicable Felipe Baeza, I know precisely what he's saying.

one nation under BARACK

2008-06-04T09:48:00.005-05:00

you think I'm kidding?

c'mon now, time to wake up and smell reality kids. You are officially looking at your next president. Not that he has my vote, he does not. I'm just saying that even I, who tightly keep the mayonnaise jar screwed over my head 99% of the time, can read the writing on the wall --- especially when it's written in BIG JUMBO MARKER LETTERS and says something like INEVITABLE COURSE OF ACTION. Some things are simply destined to be. This is one of them.

resistance is futile.
hahaha....wait....is that star trek? mmmm - don't remember.

give me a pass on it though!
I was up till 5 in the morning last night and have now downed an entire pot of full blooded coffee (errr, typically I only drink one and a half dainty cups of decaffeinated brew, and only at my Saturday luncheon - I tell you, I quit the hard stuff years ago)

anywhoo - McCain doesn't stand a snowball's chance in Tuscon against him. (just wanted to bring the Arizona reference in there, cuz when you're this sleep deprived things like that actually strike you as FUNNY.......yeah.......it's probably not.)

*shrugs*

anywhooooo - I will not make pot shots against Obama today. No, today I am formulating my reply to McCain's BANAL speech which he gave to AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) the other day. Just because I just heard Barack's opening bit today with that same group. And he is, if nothing else, a dynamic orator. Errr...and McCain (k*chem) is not. What?! IT'S TRUE!! Yes, I should have written my stunningly brilliant comeback that day, when I was actually awake but who knew I'd be this tired! hahaha....

anyhow - my official retort may need to be posted tomorrow when I make more sense but briefly, may I interject this much:

when McCain wants to publicly spank Barack for not knowing his history when it comes to Iranian-US relations and all the pointless diplomatic efforts that we've exhausted with them, (only to have those same attempts summarily pissed upon by that country), let me remind him of these 3 words:

IRAN CONTRA AFFAIR

ohhh yeah.

yes yes yes, Israel and the US can't have diplomatic relations with Ahmadinejad and his loonies because of their pigheaded resistance to any effort that has already been made. mmm-hmmm. Everyone nod your head at this point. Why we've tried it all!! (nod again) They just won't work with us!! And we would NEVER, (and he means NEVER) stoop to actual back room deals with that lot if they won't negotiate above table....would we?

I mean, would ISRAEL or her "STRONGEST ALLY" ever resort to actually arming a nation who threatens to annihilate her very existence? Of course not, sayeth McCain!! He makes it sound, by his own mouth, as though neither country would ever stoop to, err, "trade".... to back-handed deals.....to "unfreezing" assets.....gheeesh - let alone to weapons sales with Iran. We should, in his own words STRANGLE them by di-vesting in that country.

ummmm - smell the hypocrisy anyone?

what was it when Israel not only helped to purchase, but to smuggle WEAPONS to them for chrissakes? who are we kidding?? you wanna talk about a short memory and poor knowledge of history, there ya go!! how well did that deal work out for us hey?

Was it wise or prudent to sell them military aircraft in the past? hmmm? to build up their "air force"? oh sure, they are "outdated" planes, yeah...but they still work don't they? And they weren't so "outdated" when we sold them to the Iranians! PLEASE! we were using them ourselves!! STUPID STUPID STUPID!

or hows about the fact that we are still, to this day, auctioning off miscellaneous military spare parts world wide?

let me be a little more blunt.....

our gov't doesn't seem to too terribly troubled with the fact that Iran has full access to purchase these spare parts for equipment that we no longer use because it is so "outdated". There is no prohibition for them! EVEN NOW!!

I'll be even more specific.....

we pat ourselves on the back and say, look this is old junk parts that we can make a buck on to support the war....we can't be responsible for who buys it! we don't even use this stuff anymore! it is open to anyone who wants to make a bid on it.

well.... if you are in the dark as to the ONLY COUNTRY ON EARTH WHO EVEN USES THESE PLANES WHERE THEY WOULD NEED THESE PARTICULAR "SPARE PARTS" LET ME ENLIGHTEN YOU!!

it is called the Islamic Republic of IRAN!

hahaha!

who the hell are we kidding?

ooooh.....Johnnie luv....I'm afraid that's called REVISIONISM.

ohhhh blimey - the caffeine just hit! hahaha.....hooooooo.....nothing like the jitters when at the keyboard! typo-licious!

anyhow - there goes that NIN song in my head...

"I got my propaganda - I got revisionism
I got my violence in hi-def ultra-realism
All a part of this great nation
I got my fist, I got my plan, I got survivalism"

*sigh*

all from that one little word.....
BAH! I hate that!

well - there's a note to end on for today!
once that little number starts marching through your head you've got yourself too big an ear-worm to bother thinking of an intelligent reply to a speech. It sorta gallops off with you. hahaha....

anyhow - They're BOTH liars.
Obama just sounds prettier doing it. In fact, when he came to town a while back I really wanted to go...y'know...just to hear him speak. No could do, I'm afraid..... I think I had CCD that night. Oh well - don't get me going on the fact that some historically brilliant orators have, at times, turned out to be nothing but trouble. The comparisons would be nothing short of tired and cliche. We all know who they are anyhow.

*shrugs again*

more tomorrow I think....I fear I am rambling right now!

that vast american empire

2008-06-03T11:50:00.002-05:00

I can just hear how people are clicking their tongues even now over the ever expanding American empire! There's the little flag even on Mars! *shrugs* ahhh well. That's how it goes, hey?

anyhow - guess the contraption just picked up a scoop of dirt. For all the uber-exciting pix head over to the website: http://www.phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/news.php

SPOILER ALERT:
the dirt is red.
not to give it away or anything.....

outrage is back!

2008-05-30T12:04:00.003-05:00

and not willingly either!!

it would take something as egregious as Fr. Pfleger's piehole to resurrect that column so here ya go, THE BIG LINKIE ..... before I think better of wasting my time on it.

Not that there haven't been other outrages since we last posted but I've been, err, busy. It was nice to have a break, really. Now and then things would happen, like the orthodox Jews in Israel burning hundreds of New Testaments....but even that didn't get me too fired up. Mostly as I think book burnings are more STUPID than outrageous.

What??
the book is SO BAD that they only way you can save yourself from it is to burn it??
really?!?

bah! you give power to something when you look at it that way. I don't care how god awful some book is....it is not powerful enough in its own right that the only way to protect myself is to burn it! Geeezzz.....at least recycle it people. Let it go to good use! hahaha....

for those of you who swear by such silliness

anyhow - OUTRAGE of the Week is back.

....for now.

what BUSH and BARACK have in common

2008-05-28T18:04:00.006-05:00

they are two of the most gaff prone and blunder proclivious politicians in decades. (yes I just made that word up)

for your viewing pleasure:

a direct quote for the lazy amongst us (hey hey -that's ok - no one will ever know you didn't click it, your secret is safe with us):

"I had a uncle who was one of the, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps," Obama said, slowly and methodically. "And the story in my family is that when he came home, he just went into the attic, and he didn't leave the house for six months. Alright? Now, obviously something had affected him deeply, but at the time, there just weren't the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain."

BLIMEY!
if you can get past the tired and insistent call for BIGGER and BIGGER gov't that he always tosses in at the end you will find some breathtaking nonsense mixed in at the start.

His uncle (turns out it's his great uncle, but that's not the crazy part...no one would split hairs on that unless they were just crochety...which I am...but I"m not gonna) liberated Auschwitz. Hmmmmm - his UNCLE was in the US NAVY not the Soviet Army and it 'twas the Communists from Russia who liberated Auschwitz....errrr....not us.

MOREOVER - when called to task for it his camp said ''no no no, he meant to say Buchenwald, not Auschwitz!"

okaaaaay - BUT - if I may interject, now that we have it hammered down that he was in the 89th division (of the NAVY !?) that doesn't get around the fact that the 89th of the ARMY didn't liberate Buchenwald either. Errr....the 83rd did, along with the 6th armored division.

lost yet?
yeah...so is Barack!

But wait - NOT DONE YET!!

now the story is that his uncle liberated Ohrdruf, a sub camp of Buchenwald...and one which the 89th division of the US ARMY did, in fact, free.

uhhh - how that explains the fact that his great uncle (by all records) a Mr. Charles W. Payne, born 1924, enlisted 10, Nov'42 in the US Navy, had anything to do with it is more than interesting. Cuz maybe the 89th had something to do with a slave labor sub-camp of Buchenwald (by the name of Ohrdruf) but even that is a universe away from a soldier being traumatized and having to hide in an attic for 6 months from having seen the death camp of Aushwitz in GERMANY for god sakes. Not to mention that a navy man would have had even less to do with it....

ahhhh my my my....

Before I sign off let me end on a funny note.
Here is another jewel from the treasure chest that we can call New Mexico's Obama stump-a-rama yesterday:

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."

WHAT THE???

hahaha..... OMG! For real? he shoulda just said he'd recently gone all sixth sense and simply proclaimed in a furtive whisper "I see dead people". Surely there is some gov't entitlement program we can dream up for them, too, no? HO! wait......we can recycle their social security numbers for all the illegal immigrants.....no....err...we already do that don't we. Well - surely there is some money we can throw at that sort of situation. hahaha....what a doofus!

when called on the carpet for it, Obama’s camp declined to give a decent (or intelligent) reply. Spokesman Bill Burton instead said “Memorial Day is a day to honor our nation’s veterans, not a day for political posturing.”

errr........I thought that was what Veteran's Day was for.

Bozo buttons all around for that camp.

yeah.... army, navy, so what? it's all military.
buchenwald, auschwitz? they're both concentration camps, yeah?
same thing hey?

Bush, Barack - what's the difference? they'll both go down in history as highly entertaining gaff-prone presidents. Can't wait for 8 more years of duncehood. At least while you're busy loathing what they do they can keep you chuckling on a regular basis.

phoenix mars lander lands on mars....

2008-05-27T10:07:00.009-05:00

...or something like that.

it did was it was supposed to do anyhow.
here is a link to the mission's official page so that you other space geeks like me can keep abreast of things till its batteries die:
http://www.phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/news.php

anywhoo - there we go....off in search of ice, water and life. I could wax very philosophical here but I fear it would ruin the moment. So I shan't. Chalk it up to my chagrin as to what defines life these days. Or doesn't. It all seems to be based on what we want it to be and not on what it is. Hell - we can't agree on what makes a planet anymore (POOR PLUTO) but we think we can unanimously decide what on what life is? Well - we can define it, that's not the problem. The "problem" amounts to those among us who arbitrarily choose to make exceptions to all the rules. Mavericks.

we've landed....again.

Anywhoo- said I wouldn't get weird here and yet I did.

....ruining a perfectly good moment when we should be basking in the afterglow of yet another triumphant scientific endeavor.

Yes, it's only day 2 in the mission and it hasn't done anything yet other than take pix of itself - but I think anytime we toss something 400 million odd miles into space and have it land on another planet intact that it is nothing short of awe-inspiring. I can't toss my paper into my waste bin just across my office. Hell - sometimes I can't get a forkful of food into my own mouth properly. (I won't even go into parallel parking or manual transmissions)

we've landed....again.

so I tell you, I heartily appreciate the enormous difficulty of executing that sort of mission, of just getting this far, even though more and more people think less and less of such things these days as they becomes more commonplace. But it's a big deal.

well - later.
I better go before I get rambling on something else that bugs me. (My mind floating over the whole parallel parking thing and the fact that men in their unnecessarily GINORMOUS trucks have to position their vehicle in two slots on the street instead of one, thereby blocking me in, little car or not - BAH!)

bible study

2008-05-26T21:41:00.005-05:00

for more info on the two sessions we are doing on The Gospel of John that are being offered in the Milwaukee Archdiocese starting this September go to www.cssprogram.net and look under "find a class". Both should be listed somewhere under St Lucy/2nd Presbyterian in Racine.

this is a 30 week course.
for full schedule of either session leave a message on the site for the study leader.

continuing education credits available with this course.
(1 scripture and 1 theology per week.)

registration deadline is june 30th, 2008

gimme a minute

2008-05-23T09:42:00.002-05:00

and I'll get all the videos I took the last several days up here eventually.

spent my time taping while the cement guys were laying a new patio and drive.
(hopefully this will keep my studio from flooding in the future, but I won't sleep well till we get a big rainstorm and I can see that I'm not afloat)

anyhow - ziggy's got his brown leather snout in every shot I took. Guess he was the big boss that day. Had to supervise the whole project , he did.

anyhow - should be up soon.
(although I did say that for those Chicago concert videos of NIN from 2006 as well....and I still don't have them up. Lord knows they'd be more exciting than this)

what the???

2008-05-22T08:51:00.003-05:00

you gotta read this!

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2325749,00.html

the UN, world defenders of peace and promoters of humanitarian causes that they are, have decided that what MYANMAR really needs after it was nearly wiped off the map by both the cyclones and their despotic military gov't filching all the emergency aid is CONDOMS.

yeah.

condoms.

that'll help I'm sure.

I mean, what are people thinking? No wait, wait, I know they're obviously not, but still.....something has to be running through their head. Do they have a checklist? rice, milk powder, condoms? really? that's just bizarre. People are dying on the roadside! I hardly think that's even in the top 100 of what's on their minds!

always thinking, those ones are

craziness ...... well, I hope we never pay our UN dues! Block payment forever if this how goofy they're gonna stay.

can you just see the people in New Orleans if money was wasted on condoms instead of food water and real medicine? oh wait...they didn't get any of those things either did they? well.... pretend for a moment.

Yeah, I'd be mad too. Why even waste jet fuel or cargo space with that? give them what they really need for crying out loud.

plainly, the pope has more hope and faith in the UN than I do, but then I've admitted to being a curmudgeon before so this shouldn't surprise anyone.

bill maher, the pope, freedom of speech, rights and what's new on the boobtube

2008-05-01T10:28:00.008-05:00

ahhhh....bill maher.

nothing much ever changes with that yokel. Everyone is now hopping around, going "how could he say such malicious god awful slanderous things about the pope? about the church?"

well...cuz that's what he does. What he always does.
this isn't the first time. And (dare I say it) it won't be the last.

why does he do it?
cuz he can.
we are the only group out there that you can purposely malign and we won't even sue you for slander or defamation. Let alone burn effigies or start riots. Or some misnamed "holy war"! ha!

nope.
nothin'!

ohhh but people think they're funny, guys like them. The bill mahers and the george carlins of the world.

bill maher - classy bloke that he is.....

they eat it up and laugh when they're slamming on others' religions. Or more precisely, (and more frequently) on the catholic church. Or even when it is about politics. Everyone gets their jollies off it.

but they're idiots. Or as we used to say, eejits. Same thing I guess.

Do you really find them so funny when they make fun of disabled kids? no? hmmmm.....but they do. Why is that not alright but the other crap is?

did you laugh when he compared down syndrome kids to DOGS? was that funny to you? or did it make you stiffen and think someone needs to pull the plug on his blithering trap?

if so, why?

did you think to yourself he has no right to say such a heinous thing?

GOOD!
then you're on the right track and are starting to use your God given brain to reason your way to the truth.

Because if there is one thing that annoys me more than having so called "comedians" and "commentators" take potshots at the Church (or anyone else for that matter) it is THOSE WHO BLITHELY SAY JUST TURN THE CHANNEL.

everyone has the right to free speech, they chant.

really?

is which parallel universe does that equate free speech?

because what all these super liberal, super elitist, smarter than you or me yahoos have forgotten, (or failed to learn) is this:

"a right is always (and only) that which protects a moral good."

mm-hmm.

look it up if you don't believe me! and it doesn't even have to be in a church law book. Look up a civil one! or check in any good old philosophy book. You will find the same thing.

now - if that is true, then how does that play into slander, defamation, and the maligning of one's good name and reputation? means you don't have the right to say those things doesn't it?

oh - this has implications on many levels once you let it soak in for a bit......

right to cuss at large?
nope, guess not.
right to rap about gang raping women on your latest album while you call them every derogatory name in the book?
certainly not.
right to march and protest on behalf of evil causes?
plainly that wouldn't fly with that definition either.

and how does it sit with that age old divide in america called abortion?
do you have the RIGHT to that which is intrinsically evil? the RIGHT
to choose? (in this case, the fact that you are choosing death is never actually spoken - we just leave the sentence hanging)

how can one claim something is a right and deserves protection under the law as such, when by every definition of the term, a right only is that which protects a moral good?

are you gonna jump through big, flaming hoops and contort all the facts so that you can try and stretch the truth to make these things look like they are moral goods? yeah - maybe you will. *shrugs*

used to be that people were taught how to reason. A little philosophy in school didn't hurt anyone way back when, hey? But now no one can think for themselves anymore. Which is, ironically, what these same religion bashing yokels claim. That the "church" keeps people from thinking. It's funny they are too blind to see that they've lost their own ability to reason. And this is what prevents them from seeing the truth.

anywhooo - these are some small thoughts of mine on the matter. *shrugs again*
y'know...(k*chem)....people in broadcasting have lost their jobs over lesser issues.....

ANYHOW - on to brighter television news!

PASION has finally wrapped up. I don't really miss it yet. hahaha....
hmmm - that must mean something.

Here are two givens about telenovelas:
1. --- By the time it is almost over, you are almost glad. For it is a lot of work and a huge time suck to watch something five night s a week. Some may debate the point but I do have a life and that sort of schedule is a cramp on it.
2. ---The second given is that on the final episode there is always a wedding, a pregnancy and usually a baptism all in the same night. BAM! BAM! BAM! That's how they do it in telenovela land. And indeed, there were two engagements, a wedding, and yet another pregnancy.

Fernando Colunga had his hands full in this show though because not only did his character have a child with his woman but then he adopted an orphan, as well as his wife's dead sister's girl because the father was released from prison and was leaving to become a priest (?!). But then, as always, to top all that, after the requisite wedding where the whole town turns out and everyone is friends again, his newly minted wife (for the second and hopefully legal time) sneaks in to his room to tell him ....yup you guessed it...she's prenada. Well, that word doesn't look right without the little doohickey thing over the "n" (~) but you know what I mean anyhow. As were some other women around the pueblo as well. Babies galore! well - that's a good thing but it bordered on the ridiculous all at once.

anyhow - it's good to have a breather from the spanish for a bit. I wish Fernando did some english work but alas...no such luck. All the good shows are in espanol.

I will say, I was somewhat disappointed that there was as much kissing going on on the last episode as there was. It wasn't really lascivious or anything (he's only really in clean shows) but it just seemed to be a time filler as they had already wrapped up a lot of the story line.

perhaps that should be the third given about telenovelas....the last show is usually flaky and a little light on plot. Sort of a throw away episode. *shrugs* oh well.

Y'know what's on now???

THE BRAND NEW 4TH SEASON OF DOCTOR WHO!!

ALRIGHTY!!

the t.a.r.d.i.s.

I love DOCTOR WHO. Always have. Used to watch it with my dad on PBS when I was a kid. Coulda been Tom Baker playing it back then. Not sure anymore.

Anywhooo, they revived it a couple years back with Cris Eccleston. Who, for awhile, I considered the best Doctor yet. Then he quit and they got David Tennant.

Now...I like David...I've seen him in others things (most recently that eclectic version of Casanova) but I wasn't sure about him as the Doctor per se.

However, I now think he's the best one to date. Really. Just wish they'd bring Rose back.

But - what is that you say? Did she not appear at the end of Ep.2 and then fade off into the background like a ghost???

WHY, quite right, she did indeed! hahaha...

have no clue what this could mean (if anything).
anywhooo , new season is playing on scf fi on friday nights. So don't call me then. I will be temporarily unavailable.

david tennant as the doctor

pasion update

2008-04-13T02:11:00.002-05:00

here I am in the middle of the night.....blogging.....about a telenovela.

don't ask.....

I think I am so overtired that I've finally lost it. anyhow - not sure why, but I can't sleep. and I thought that after I got done switching over my whole email system (something I've been meaning to do for awhile and never have gotten around to) I would add this quick post about.......you guessed it.........PASION.

fernando colunga
aka - don ricardo

with everything that has been going on around here I have missed the last two nights of PASION. ahhh - caray caray! hahaha....

honestly - with everything going on around here I'm not sure why I care, but this is the stuff that floats through one's mind around 2 AM......I'm just sayin'.

anyhow here is my sad sad update:
last thing I saw was that horrible 'flash' thingie they do when a show has reached its ultimas semanas.......they gave the date for the grand finale!

que horror!

Friday the 25th will be it for the show.
a day that will live in infamy!
then what will I do with myself?
(other than get a life! hahaha....)

aaaaahhhhh well.
adios fernando!
the whole pirate thing this time out has been swell.
hahaha....

this is what television needs, yeah?
more pirates.
less Dateline NBC.

.....or maybe I'm just speaking for myself.

off to bed....

raining mud

2008-04-11T20:28:00.001-05:00

well - most of you know of the flood we had here back in august. Wiped out a good deal of the finished lower level as well as leaving my studio in wet, dripping pieces. grrrr....

a hundred year storm right?

yeah right!

thursday night my back yard was a LAKE! Worse than before. But this time I watched as the water started to come inside was waiting for it with a wet vac. I wasn't going to sleep through it again. Many phone calls later help arrived with sump pumps, plumber's putty (don't ask), and more wet vacs and we more or less channeled it and got it under control. There are still wet spots in the carpeted area that are drying out now though. But at least we didn't have standing water like last time.

The guy who showed up with a sump pump sloshed through the yard in waders and asked where the low spot was. Does it matter? it's half way up to your knees, brah! set her down and I'll plug her in! (this whole scenario was MUCH better in my mind, regardless of where it was placed, than the one from 6 hours earlier that had me out there in 40 degree weather with the rain pouring down on me FILLING A 50 GALLON GARBAGE CAN and trying to remove the water to the street with that. hahaha....over and over.....ye gads!)

anyhow - the next morning brought sunshine and blue skies (temporarily). But in the gleaming light what did my bloodshot eyes spy but a completely mudcovered car! It rained BUCKETS! we got far more than what the news guy claims we did for rain and there was no wind to blow stuff around.

Mud from top top bottom......how is that possible?!!

I thought it must have been the tornadoes from down south kicking up dust into the atmosphere. And a lot of it.

and sure enough - now we find on the news that it was dust from the TX panhandle. Rain must've just been thick with mud to spread it on my car like that. geeeshhh.

Well - things could be worse heh?

could've been volcanic ash. Or radioactive dust.

yes....I am a macabre girl.
hahaha....just be glad you don't live with me.

Medjugorje and New Orleans

2008-04-10T10:07:00.008-05:00

most interesting turn of events regarding Medjugorje:

http://www.spiritdaily.com/medjruling.htm

it comes on the same day that I just planted around thirty eight 4 o'clock seeds straight from the apparition site. Someone brought them back from their pilgrimage there, and as I am always thrilled to have new plants to scatter around my place, I gladly scooped up a couple bags they offered. I've waited all winter to plant them in little starter cups and it's just one of those "ironies" that it so happened to coincide with this news. ^^^^

anyhow - verdict is still out for me on the apparitions there.....despite their having continued nearly 17 years. Good fruit has come of it. That's all I can say.

for more info on the alleged apparitions go HERE

those who are NIN fans may find as baffling as myself (and baffling it is) the inexplicable similarity between the nature of The Presence/The Warning in the Year Zero storyline to the prophesied things of almost the same name. Much has been made that the Warning from Garabandal coincides in some way as the first of the ten secrets given to the seers of Medjugorje.

Here is an interview with the Garabandal seers regarding it's nature: http://www.mgr.org/warning.html
as well as one with an overview of those from Medjugorje http://www.medjugorje.org/overview.htm

(EDIT: let me add briefly that I do not concur with any/all or most of the personal views of those who produced the Garabandal page. ^^^^ I think they're heretical wingnuts.....THAT SAID, they did have a concise, all in one place collection of interviews which explained the nature of what the girls were told. Too bad someone else can't gather that same info and put it out in as plain a package)

I don't posit this stuff here for anyone's belief, as I don't know what I believe myself regarding such things. It is intriguing in it's almost coincidental similarities though.....well, bemusing may be a better word.

(k-chem...hehehe)

anywhoo- on to other news. Just read with sadness that a gazillion and some parishes are being permanently closed in New Orleans. Not that anyone cares, hey? ".....Don't they have that place cleaned up yet?" After all, it's an election year and Brett Favre just retired and there's so many other things more newsworthy than that ten of thousands are still without homes to go home to.

If any other nation on the planet left there citizens high and dry (errr....although high and dry would've been nice in this case) we'd be all over that story. Dateline would have to run news shows on something other than sexual predators and Katie Couric would have to do something other than push her biased, slanted and slightly rabid coverage of the day's news. The imaginary country that failed its own people like this would be trotted out for mass judgment and flagellation on every news station in the US. And then, before you could say "CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION" we'd be sending troops there with all manner of supplies. Even if they were our sworn enemies.

ahhhh, well....
One just might be better off in Guantanamo Bay than getting the shaft in NO.

IMHO, of course.

anywhooo - here is the article: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/17450244.html
the diocese just can't keep afloat financially. Absolutely a shame. I guess we're too busy rebuilding Baghdad's infrastructure to bother with our own.

4 guys up to something.........

2008-04-09T10:06:00.002-05:00

fresh from nin.com.....a new pic of who-knows-what.
really. no one knows.
*shrugs*

"ghosts I-IV" is out now in stores though, I guess.
finally.
for those of us who don't like to download or listen to music on computers.
(k*chem...we're called luddites)

hard to get too worked up about it though.
it's probably nowhere to be found in this town.
I'll have to order online anywhooo.
aaaaahhhhh - the S&H!
hahaha.....

someday - UPS will rule the world.
or buy it.

hehehe....

time flies.....

2008-04-08T10:21:00.002-05:00

.....whether or not one is entangled in fun!

there are so many things which I meant to post here lately but haven't for lack of time. I've tried my best to stick with my resolution of writing more on the book than on here and, while I haven't rigidly stuck to it, I think I've done fairly well. hahaha....

( I can't think of anything that I am rigid on, actually....I personally find it an unbalanced way to live)

anyhow - above and beyond that I've been somewhat sick and incapacitated lately. A day utterly wasted running from the ER (doctor's orders - not mine!) back to the clinic, then to the lab and finally back to the office again later that same day, resulted in an antibiotic that makes me itch and sick to my stomach. HA!

but it works, so that's all that counts. There are very few that I can take now without horrible allergic reactions - so thank God there's still a couple out there I can use that won't off me before they cure me.

anyhow - I'm on the mend now, that's what matters, yeah?

Was going to post something small both for the anniversary of my dad's passing and for my sister Ruth on what would have been her 49th birthday.....but time got away from me. It seems weird to go back and write something at this point. Maybe next year! ;-p and then, y'know, maybe not.....haha!

*********************************************************************************
the thing that is still the most on my mind but for which I've said nothing is really rather long overdue. So I think that instead of the myriads of other small stuff I could post on today I will address this, even though it is more autobiographical than I usually share here. This page isn't a journal or a diary - just a commentary, heh? so you'll have to forgive this exception.

since last august/september I have labored under a terrible, unspeakable burden. Of a strictly spiritual sort. One which I never really put words to. It was too big to see clearly what I was dealing with. I sort of knew it only by feeling my way around its edges and getting a shape for it in my mind. Even then, the name of it was one of those things that pretty much stays on the tip of your tongue that you just can't quite say.

Nor will I say it now. It would have scandalized people then if I had - and even though I've come through it, it would scandalize people now. So.....

suffice it to say that I was at the proverbial end, no? ready to walk away from all of it. Just chuck it.

I tried everything. Truly. I tried praying more. I tried confessing face to face (which I loathe and normally avoid - but I remembered having had a certain degree of more accountability in doing so from....well, from before) I tried being stricter with myself. I tried being more lax.

I even looked into putting myself under someone's spiritual direction, which is something I never would do. never! nunca jamas! hahaha.... But the problem wasn't something that could be readily explained in confession, when there are people waiting to still get in themselves before mass starts. I wouldn't do that to someone. I know I hate it when I'm the one sitting there and 30 minutes later someone pops out and now there's no more time. nahhh.... So, in this circumstance I considered the option of some short, temporary spiritual guidance (despite the cringe factor). I never did find one who was appropriate but that isn't the issue. I was willing to. That's the point.

I even had a mass said for myself on my baptismal anniversary. You name it - I did it. I made a general confession. Sort of. I tried to but I don't think I did very well. Again - that's not the point, heh?

none of it lifted this from me. I won't say it didn't help because who is to say what would have become of me had I not done those things? right? it would be like a couple who is thinking of divorce but never try anything to reconcile. No marriage counseling, no mediation, no attempts to salvage what they have. Of course they will separate. But they don't always see much immediate improvement in their daily lives with all the help in the world. Sometimes temporarily treading water and keeping the status quo is the goal.

anyhow - through it all, I wasn't anxious or at a loss for peace. That wasn't the problem. I trusted that if there was a solution it would present itself eventually. I knew from before all this happened that the next year would bring something big for me. Maybe good, maybe bad. I dunno. But big all the same. Perhaps this, in the end clarified some things for me prior to whatever it is that is coming my way. *shrugs* but that's me speaking in hindsight, with a clearer view. I could be wrong and one has nothing to do with the other.

who knows? like I said, this wasn't about losing one's peace or being anxious or anything. Not even depressed, despite how awful things became. Did I lose my faith? no, that wasn't it. I just...well I won't say it. It was more...vocational in nature. A sort of vocational crisis perhaps...but worse. Like I said, I'd rather not delineate precisely the nature of it as one should never disturb another's peace with things they wouldn't understand anyhow. It doesn't concern them and there's no good reason to.

However all of this is just to say that it has been lifted and I am profoundly grateful. I should have said so publicly from day one. But I was just so relieved that I gave thanks privately. And still do. Every day. As I never want to go through that again. I've been through all manner of things in my life that I tend to keep private as I don't like spewing my problems out on other people, but nothing has come close to this. It was horrible.

And in the end I will not know what happened or why it was now lifted from off me. After all this time. Just that it was the mercy of God himself to do so. I couldn't go on one more minute like that. Not one more day. I'd have broken my every vow for certain. I know it. All I know is that I went to a communal penance service prior to Holy Week and confessed as I always do. I go once a week so this isn't something extraordinary. And after, it was gone. pfffffft! gone! how do ya like that? hahaha..... I am always amused at the quiet efficiency of grace. When there is too much showiness, too much "coincidence" and "signs" and "wonders" I get suspicious anyhow. Just never sat well with my nature. but that's just me. I know it's him when it's hidden and quiet. And when it works just the same.

so - let me publicly give thanks once more that this is gone. For whatever reason it came and went I may never know, but I hope it never comes again.

Not sure that it won't though. Not sure.

But I trusted this time that something would come of it . Help would arrive. And, by and by, when it's purpose was fulfilled, it did. Should this lay me out again, how can I help but be even more assured that that same aid will arrive in due course. So perhaps, even in this, it cannot be worse than it was.

The Lord is good. But you knew that already.

The Death of St John Baptist de LaSalle

2008-04-07T11:01:00.004-05:00

"to touch the hearts of your pupils and to inspire them with the Christian spirit is the greatest miracle you can perform - and one which God expects of you."
- St. John Baptist de LaSalle

for more on St John Baptist de LaSalle go HERE

*******************

I had seen a sketch once, pencil or charcoal, (don't recall) of the death of St John Baptist de Lasalle that someone had in their house. Very simple and lovely. Can't remember who it belonged to now nor can I find that version anywhere on the web now. It may have been titled in french, la mort de Saint Jean Baptiste de LaSalle....or something like that.

hahaha...french ain't my game, so that may be way off!!!

anyhow - that's the version I wanted to post here, as it seems more fitting with his austerity. But what you see is what you get , as I can't find the other.
(any art lovers out there who know where I might find a print online....holler!)

ahhhhh - la pasion

2008-03-27T10:35:00.007-05:00

well - last night senor colunga (don ricardo in this particular soap) was both shot and stabbed. A pity I tell you. But no one "almost" dies looking as lovely as colunga. That much is certain. hahaha....

anyhow - you know a telenovela is coming to an end soon when, on one hand, the leading man is all but mortally wounded and, on the other, the leading lady is wearing on your nerves. Mostly as they start crying too much. aye aye aye.....

anywhooo -last night that silly ciega Lizabeta started screaming for the guard (cuz she's tonta) when she found out that ricardo was not only escaping with HER but also with his wife in-fake-name-only, Camila. Well - her big mouth got him shot and stabbed per orders of her evil and jealous fiance. Now she's blaming everyone else but herself. Alas - she's evil too. He shoulda left her where she was and just rescued his woman from her vengeful clutches and been done with it. Now he's dying on his boat with some strange oriental medicine being practiced on him. And his right hand man and fellow pirate Mario had to knock him out last night to keep him from getting off his deathbed to go back and rescue Camila (yet again).

it's all highly entertaining and way over dramatic. PERFECT! hahaha....I shall miss it when it's done.

I thought it'd be funny to include here the you tubed version of the the opening credits of the show. Every night at 8 pm you can hear them emanating from my dog's room (err....as he has the tv by his bed for some reason). The very sound of the title song brings a disgruntled sigh from him as he finds the whole the spanish language thing confusing. He hears the voices and has no clue what's going on. After staring for awhile he'll bury his head under the covers till one of the women starts her squeaking and crying (especially that little Ines) then he'll groan some more.

I believe Sarah Brightman sings it with some guy....Lima somebody but I can't recall at the moment.

anyhow - before I go, here is a great site that is the love child of one I used to visit when I'd miss episodes of Alborada. it's called "Caray Caray" - in deference to the private joke of all of us who read it about this one chick on alborada who said that each night. EVERY night. ALL THE TIME. (this is the same woman is who is now playing Dona Sofia on Pasion)

anyhow - it got to be an inside joke.

here's the link to it http://caraycaray.blogspot.com/search/label/Pasion
It's a really a funny recap, totally worth the read, of last night's fiasco and shooting. Wish I could find a you tube capture of that too....alas, I'm too lazy to bother. If someone has the link to it give me a holler! I'll toss it up here.

so adios - that's it!

I'm afraid this particular soap's boat has just about sailed.

makes you go hmmmm

2008-03-21T18:09:00.016-05:00

are we done with the snow yet?

just saying that I think it is weird that Lent both opened and closed this year with massive snow storms. Not your run of the mill "no wednesday night bingo at the eagles club" kind of snow fall. Nope. The kind that shuts down entire shopping malls and bus systems.

which never happens.
....well, except this year.

and on these two days.

I find it peculiar to say the least. Yes, we've had a ton of snow this year but the only time, out of all the storms (and only God was able to keep a bean count), that we had such major snow as to shut down the freeways, was Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

go figger....

well maybe I'll lose merit for saying it - but if I wasn't hungry by the time I got home from wrestling the car out of the church lot today, I was starving when I finally finished clearing the driveway and pushing our now-stuck-again vehicle back up it.

I pictured my stomach turning in on itself and eating a little trail through my belly. There I'd be, waking up tonight to find a hole in my gut. hahaha....which isn't all bad. It could use a little reducing. Maybe not quite like that, but still.....

anyhow - enough already with the snow. I hope these storms were bookends to bad times and that we can put it all behind us now. mlechhh......

here's hoping I'll bump into some super attractive guy at vigil tomorrow night who will whisk me off to warmer climes....right....about.....now. Nahhhh - I'm just joking. Old and ugly will do if he has a beach house somewhere. hahaha.....

oh c'mon. I'm totally kidding. Although I do manage to do exceptionally well these days in the over-sixty department. Never could figure out why I score so well with the duffers but it's always been the case. Go figger. They are always suitably impressed with all the stuff I can do. "Really? you do your own carpentry work? that' s fantastic! your own lawn? your own snow? well - I wish my wife would pick up a shovel."

meanwhile I'm thinking why should she? - she's got you and your snow service that comes on a dime! I'm outta options. If I want out of here I gotta do it myself. There isn't some guy standing around to dig my car out or just waiting with a saws-all when the front half of my garage falls down mid winter and needs rebuilding. Nope. That's mine to break out the power tools on.

which isn't all bad. It's nice to know how to change your own oil, fix a flat and pull apart your plumbing. This means, for all the guys, that when I'm with you it's cuz I like you. Not cuz I need you.

because I don't need you.

well - apart from taking me out of this god forsaken state. hahaha... And that's just cuz it's no fun to sit on a beach alone, hey? although if it keeps snowing like this I'm going to seriously consider it.

Or else take up that old dude's offer from just just before Christmas. He's sitting next to me in line for Confession, right? Striking up a long conversation and looking me over. He points at my left hand and goes, is that a wedding ring? I said, yeah sure. He goes, where's your husband? I'm like, I don't have one. This confused him. Divorced? nope. Boyfriend? nope. Kids? nope nope. He's now literally rubbing his hands together, which is hysterical to, like, no one around us but me. He goes - "have you ever been to Florida? I'm leaving tomorrow morning." Wherein he launches into a long speech lauding his fantastico time-shared condo down there. Which he ends with asking me, in front of God and all the old ladies "had I ever thought of being a traveling companion?" OH YES HE DID! I'm like, brah - you're just about to confess! what the hell?

at this point it was my turn to go, so I'm left him to re-think his silly self amidst the sea of hissing old women.

After today though - I'd half consider his, umm, early-seventies' offer. As it would be bound to bring temps in nearly the same digits with it. hahaha..... yeah.
No I wouldn't go! you know better! But it sure would be nice to thaw out somewhere.

now - if he had a son, all bets would be off.

officially.

hahaha...

better times, people. better times.

later!

how was YOUR week?

2008-03-15T13:47:00.004-05:00

oh yeah?....mine too.

bonjour.....

2008-03-13T09:26:00.005-05:00

are my 3 chapters done?

no.
not even.

so you may say then: tuh nee uh! for shame! ---- why are you back here?

well, because I need somewhere to whine about my 3 chapters and those around me aren't interested enough to give a fart really. hahaha..... (not that any of you are either! - it's just that I'll feel better having written this down when I'm all done)

anyhow - for the last I-don't-know-how-long I've been dragging my feet in this certain section of the book. Can't really bring myself to write it down differently than how I imagined it, right? But having researched the whole thing to death I had found that they way I imagined it wasn't quite how they were saying it is done.

OK!
I'm sure none of that made sense. Let me try again.

The book opens up in 10 BC in Savehkanen, Persia, which is better known as modern day Saveh, Iran (for those of you who want to place it in their heads). Eventually there is an initiation rite into the zoroastrian faith that occurs. Now I picture it in "x" fashion, yes? But I'm not the type of person who writes down "x" unless I've researched it to make sure "x" is actually plausible. So I did that. As I said, to death. And what I found was a little of "x" and a lot of "y". But I can't bring myself to change the outline of the story and make it "y". This feels very awkward in what is already a difficult project to begin with.

So I dawdle.
and delay.

until one day I say on this blog that I shan't be back till I've lit a fire under by bum to get this done.

At which point a little voice goes off in my head that if I'm not going to check out the whole slew of books that I usually use for this project, that I should at least check out the three smaller ones on the topic and look again.

went to do that right? and the one I really wanted back out they've already LOST. In a week and a half!

typical.

so what I'm left with is one of those dull tomes where the writing is really dense and the paragraphs are the entire page so it's really hard to slog through. There is nothing to break it up visually. No pictures. No nothing. And all the footnotes are at the back of each chapter! Now - there oughtta be laws for that as it is even worse than having them all the back of a book in one neat spot. A footnote should be at the foot of a page, kids!

durrrr.....yeah?

this too is typical.

anyhow - I started to recheck everything and what do I find now but that the "y" factor was an embellishment that happened in the later sassanian period. Which is, err, not the one we're dealing with.

Sooooooo - I should be happy right? it really was just "x".

but I'm not.
I'm annoyed.
and mostly with myself.

I am annoyed that I am so anal that I have to check and double check things until I've lost confidence in writing what is simply, at the end of the day, a story. That's all.

Now - I know my reasons for doing this. For all the double checking and research. For working backwards in writing this instead of forwards. But ultimately, it doesn't matter if the reasons are good or prudent or not. In the end you can paralyze yourself into either writing nothing or running the risk of changing the story for the sake of trying to be more authentic and then finding out later that you were wrong (which is what the issue was here) .

well fantastic. Now you're not only wrong but you're dishonest with yourself in what you wanted to write.

anywhoo - I have now learned my lesson. I hope. I should've earlier when something similar happened but I guess I didn't take it to heart. I had been looking and looking for a big inland lake on a map that should have been (in my mind anyhow) just to the east of Saveh. It wasn't there. Of course. As I only imagine the story right? right. I just didn't want to write about a lake in a place that is real when there is no lake there as that would make you look muy tonta.

so just as I've given up on the storyline regarding the lake I stumble across this old passage from a muslim chronicler after the conquest of Islam in Persia. I was researching something else at this point as the other idea just hadn't seemed to pan out. And what do I find but that he wrote extensively how locals in the area still talked of savehkanan's large fresh water lake that disappeared after a huge earthquake. And that this took place maybe a hundred or so years after the time frame of this story we're working on.

so it would have been there.

Back then I was only four months into the project so when you find out you were right and don't have to give up the story line you are thrilled and relieved.

Now I'm a year and four months and all I am is aggravated.

Obviously I am too slow in getting this done. Too much rechecking and all.
And I don't seem to just be able to trust the fact that I have the right, as the author, to just write what I please. Why should it be plausible?

yes, I've been saved multiple times from writing something that was incorrect even after I researched it. Or maybe because I researched it. And shouldn't have, y'know? Saved from the research itself! hahaha....

but it is clear to me still that someone else should be doing this. I'm not cut out for it. The whole story spans about a hundred and ten years. I won't tell you how far we are into it cuz you'd just be as sad as me! haha.....

OK - that's all I'm gonna whine on today. Probably didn't make much sense anyhow.
But I'm gone for good this time. Back to work.

adios!

au revoir......

2008-03-04T09:43:00.005-06:00

it was observed over the weekend that I have written a great deal of "religious posts lately" and (more precisely) "what the hell is up with that?"

uhhhh.....you're right. I hadn't noticed. It just sort of happened that way! hahaha....my only real excuse it that it is Lent and I do try (despite my proclivity to most things naughty) to rein in what I see, read, listen to during that time. So maybe my world dials down to a smaller scope. I dunno what else to tell you.

hahaha...wait a couple weeks and we'll get back into whatever riveting social commentary you think I tossed out the window. errr...that's a joke. The riveting part I mean.

anyhow - to me the bigger question isn't what I'm writing on this blog but the fact that I'm writing on here at all. I shouldn't be. If I'm not posting here, I'm posting in the outrage column and between the two that is a time suck I shouldn't be nursing.

every day you see me post here is a day that I'm not writing on the book. Sooooo - shame on me! hahaha.... I took all the books I use for research back to the seminary and the public and university libraries and thought I'd play around a bit meanwhile, y'know? Not dedicating any time to the project while I waited to check them all back out again, heh? (a daunting and dreadful process as they number just over a hundred....mlechh!)

anyhow - I'm still dragging my heels putting in my requests for them again. What's even lamer is I don't really need them to write anything. It's a matter of getting your footnotes and references in the right place as you go (as I loathe having to go back and do them later).

anyhow - this is my last post for the season.
Here or on any of the other pages. I've been so lazy lately and I really need to try to go stoke a fire under my bum. So....au revoir, arrivederci, adios....I'll be back after I get three more chapters done. and not before!

(yeah yeah...I'll still be online now and then.
you can email me.
...you will anyhow.
just don't expect a fast reply)

spring has sprung, the grass is rizzz....

2008-02-29T10:22:00.004-06:00

okay - you're gonna have to use your imagination here and pretend that I'm not as lazy as I am.

As the point of this whole post was to celebrate the sprouting of my real onion sitting in my real kitchen but - alas - that would require me firing up a battery for my digital camera and then downloading the 200 pics already on it before I'd have access to the one I want.

*sigh*

maybe this weekend.....

as my onion is actually far lovelier than this stock photo I dug up online. (we've hit new lows here)

anyhow - said onion was purchased about two months ago before all the snowy madness started up here and it must have given up hope that I was EVER going to finish shoveling and cook something already - as the other night I was letting the dog out to pee around 2 AM and I looked up above my stove and thought "what IS that?"

why - my onion had sprouted itself a lovely three inch top of greens!

now, really, the sane woman throws that kind of thing out as it is OLD. And useless. But it looked so pretty and spring-like in the moonlight that I left it. And, frankly, it has cheered me every day since.

I loathe winter and I'll take anything that will remind me of warmer, better times still to come. (and come soon preferably). Even if it's an old onion.

boy ---- if Theology of the Body was ever needed it's....right....about....now

2008-02-28T10:03:00.012-06:00

this one is good for a giggle:
http://www.newoxfordreview.org/note.jsp?did=0208-notes-emasculate

unless you're in a bad mood - it may only make it worse.

not going to go through her whole bizarre, self-contradicting theory on how only manly men can act 'in persona Christi' upon ordination...no not because Christ is male...not because he is Bridegroom to his church. No....because she feels that only MANLY MEN can take on Christ's other and real role of BRIDE.

aaahhhh yes. Here we go again.
gender confusion and role reversals.

Although her take on it is something one hasn't really heard before. If I could cue up the twilight zone theme I would. That's how nonsensical it is. It reads like something you'd come across on a Monday morning and go...wait....am I that out of it? Has the week not swung into action yet or is it just me?

let me just say this....

apart from having a really odd theology, she has a really poor grasp on history and culture. Two things which I happen to love. (yayy!!) err, the culture and history bit I mean.

Her take on Abraham playing "bride" rather than bridegroom when he served the "bread" that Sarah had made for their three guests is OFF BASE. That he "replaced" her in so doing and could only encompass both identities because he was so strongly masculine is just...well...weird. And unhistorical. She makes the same argument for Christ as "bread giver" at the Last Supper. That he too took on the role of Bride, rather than Bridegroom to do so.

ohhh my.

I could say so many things just on that but there isn't time or space enough to do it. And I'm known for long rambling posts!!

The cultural tradition from Abraham (well, before him even) right up to the time of Christ was that the man, the head of the household, served the guests, served the meals, hosted the gatherings. Yeah...the women cooked it. But sometimes (oftentimes for special meals) they did not. They didn't even eat with them but someone brought them their portion.

por ejemplo: The men cooked the Passover meal. yup and uh-huh. Sorry sister. When the food was ready to go the head of the house served it. Himself. Yup and uh-huh. He led the ritual. He led the prayers. He broke the bread and passed the dishes.

He wasn't replacing anyone. That is his role. That is what the man does. That's the duty of the husband, the father, the host, dare I say it...the bridegroom.

aye aye aye....

my goodness, the same could be said of Abraham's time as well. Poor Father Abraham. So misused lately! and now this! hahaha....neither he, nor Christ, nor the priest at mass appropriates for themselves the feminine role of mistress, maidservant or Bride.

ye gads!

manly men as priests?
I'm all for it!! hoorah!

that they have to subjugate their masculinity to be a better Bride?
phewww! not so much....

all sorts of strange notions floating round these days.
what makes me laugh is that this is her defense for an all male priesthood!

errr... just makes ya dizzy doesn't it?

This isn't the first time I've come across her article. A relative of mine subscribes to Homiletic and Pastoral Review and when I came across it in there (must've been around the holidays as we were waiting for the food to finish cooking) I thought to myself, this reads more like an open season for all of our very liberated sisters. They'd take what this chick wrote and run with it. "Only a manly man can embrace the dualistic nature required to fulfill both the feminine and masculine roles of Bride and Bridegroom."

really? a woman can't do that?

now - I'm no bra burner (a baffling phenomenon in any era given their price) but even I can poke holes in that argument. That's your best defense for an all male priesthood? BAH!

why don't we plumb the depths of what gender really means for us rather than insisting it's meaningless. Why don't we lay off the role reversal crap, as well as who is capable of it and who isn't, and start focusing on fulfilling the task and role given to you. Whatever you are. Male or female. Man or woman. Bride or Bridegroom. Why do we have to be something else? I think I'm fine the way I am. I like men to be the way they are. What is this? Only a real man can be a better woman than me?

oh mlechh!

just let the priests alone - they've enough to put up with.

and stop making them into chicks for chrissakes...

"don't bless my children".....

2008-02-27T10:57:00.007-06:00

hahaha....well - finally someone else has spoken out in full voice about something in which I've long been made out to be a wing nut.

here is the article:
http://www.newoxfordreview.org/article.jsp?did=0206-carstens

many many years ago I gave up helping out in distributing communion for this very reason ^^^.
well - apart from the fact that if you are reading at a mass you really shouldn't be showing up as an extraordinary minister for communion anyhow. haha... One isn't really supposed to mix ministries. Not that I ever really mention that. You pick your battles, hey? I despise hair splitting anyhow and while I disagree with the practice and don't personally participate in it, I'm not gonna ring anyone's bell over it either.

all that aside - this other issue really bothers me. Lay people going through all the motions as though they were clergy and formally blessing the kids.

hairsplitting in and of itself? .....perhaps. But sometimes things aren't what they seem on the surface. This one I stick to my guns on.

anyhow - as I said, some years ago I was informed, mandated really, that I would, from there on out, have to bless all the children who came up for communion but were too young to receive. Now you can say, tuh nee uh, tuh nee uh, what's your gripe? What could possibly be wrong with that? Well - on the surface, nothing, yeah?

Apart from the fact that I can't really bless them. I can pray for God's blessing upon them but we're putting on shams if we are to believe that I can give the same thing as a priestly blessing which is ratified by Christ. I can't. And neither can you! well - unless you happen to be a priest or deacon. hahaha....and some of you are.

I knew this was the case even way back then and I found an alternative way of handling it, which I thought everyone could live with. When the little bean came up to me I leaned down and said "may the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life" at which point I signed myself and had the little papoose do the same.

no harm, no foul hey?

ohhhhh.... hahaha....how wrong of me! HOOPLA HOOPLA HOOPLA!!

complaints were made that THEIR kids weren't getting the same blessing as the one from the priest.

well now, sugar, I can make it look like his, I can go through all the motions and say the same things to satisfy your head but you still won't be getting one. NO LO PUEDO. Can we please take the time to teach our kids the difference between clergy and the rest of us? The generations who used to "get it" are dying out and there are few to be found who still do. And this is only going to make greater problems for us all on down the road.

Now - look - I understand the lack of catechesis these days. I didn't grow up in a particularly religious household. We were, but we weren't, hey? So I know that they are making a stink over something they don't understand. There a TON of things I never learned growing up due to our lack of real involvement. I get it.

But some things were drilled into my head. Odd, random things. And this is one one them.

Because while we weren't super religious.... my grandmother was. In fairness, she had been a nun, (which, really, is its own can of worms....hahaha) so I guess the summer vacations at her house weren't really "normal" time with one's granny. She was very strict and she knew her thing. At least she said she did. And there were to be no arguments brooked with her! anyhow - at some point it was drilled into my head (although I don't remember the conversation itself) that the only people who could bless and have it ratified by God were clergy and parents.

that makes one wonder why they don't bless them themselves??? or teach them to make the sign of the cross. This is a powerful thing in itself which one doesn't have to be terribly old to learn! Or...if it really means that much to you.....shuffle on over to his line.

....just a thought.

*shrugs*

I just wonder why we're not using complaints like that as an opportunity to teach our younger families some good basic truths. Why are we not catechizing them when such a moment literally falls into our laps? ....instead we go along with their "demands" and confirm them in their ignorance.

another giggle from the campaign trail

2008-02-26T18:34:00.008-06:00

tee hee hee.......

but before you get your undies in a twist
over what it all could mean....
consider the following possibilities as well

the last one of our boy bill cracks me up each time...
he's the ONLY ONE dressed like that!
the first "black president" is more african than the africans!
hahaha.....

ahhhh good times.
everyone needs to settle down.
it's just a picture.

curmudgeon

2008-02-19T16:50:00.003-06:00

that's me.

curmudgeon. I freely admit I've been in a bit of a bad mood of late. Everything I say sounds slightly caustic to me - even when it isn't, even when it's done in humor.

aaahhh well.

so be it! hahaha....those who know me know this isn't how I usually am.
I'm a very funny, typically upbeat girl.

I'm just so....well....crabby right now. And the only thing that makes it better is to make sassy commentary on the odds and ends of life.

*sigh*

oh yeah... I voted today. For RON PAUL. Not that he's gonna win but I'll sleep well tonight knowing I did the right thing. HA! For once. ;-p