The Whispering Rose

New Blog

2008-03-10T15:27:00.002-04:00

It has become obvious me that it is simply silly for me to be constantly trying to update or keep up two separate blogs: this one and The Heart of God for my girls.

So...

I am combining them. Unfortunately Blogger will not let me do this easily keeping all the previous posts of both blogs.

Hence....

Here is the new blog:

The Domestic Church

See you there...

Prayer Intentions

2008-02-27T13:18:00.002-05:00

I thought it would be nice and helpful to me to add a list of prayer intentions on the side. Names are by 1 initial to safeguard privacy. If anyone needs to add a prayer request, just let me know.

Catholics Come Home

2008-02-27T08:17:00.002-05:00

A new initiative is underway to call lapsed Catholics home and new souls to the Church.

Catholics Come Home

Here is one of their commercials:

Epic 120

A Modern Holocaust

2008-02-25T13:45:00.004-05:00

The other day I came across a program on television on people who wanted a baby so badly they went so far as to cut open pregnant women and steal their unborn children or at least try to. We've all heard about such cases. They are pretty terrible and terrifying. During the course of the show that focused on a few specific cases, some doctors and therapists and other experts were interviewed regarding the nature of these cases and the people who committed such horrible crimes. I was struck with how every "expert" referred to the unborn stolen children as Fetuses.

Yes, Fetus is the technical word for an unborn offspring of viviparous mammals, including humans. And, yes, the term is often used out of respect for the pro-choice community who, heaven forbid, should actually acknowledge they are killing a human baby. It is pure hypocrisy to refer to unborn babies as fetuses and not refer to adults as homo sapiens and children as offspring. Why not refer to adults as homo sapiens or children as offspring? Simply, it isn't necessary for their purposes. The seemingly universal use of the word Fetus is simply the pro-abortion community's influence at dehumanizing an unborn child.

What is the difference between calling an unborn child a fetus and a tattooing a number on a Jew? There isn't one. Both are trying to force a complete lack of recognition of the individual as a human being. It is nothing new that Abortion is America's greatest Holocaust but anyone who recognizes the inherent evil in abortion should refuse to use the word Fetus considering the reason for its use today.

What Gives?

2008-02-20T15:05:00.002-05:00

On Monday it was over 70 degrees outside.

Now it is snowing.

Too wierd.

Unfortunately my weight ticker will not be moving this week. It's a shame. I was doing really well too. Last week, however, I began to really struggle with weight loss, became very tired even to the point of wanting a nap even before Cecilia's naptime, and began to get daily headaches in the afternoon and evenings. I had an idea what the culprit might be.

I was right.

The doctor confirmed this morning my thyroid levels were off. After all, the last time it was checked I was 8 months pregnant. I start the new dosage tomorrow and hopefully I will be feeling better and losing more weight by next week.

In some sense it can be nice when the thyroid does this and I can at least throw up my hands and protest it is not my fault. At the same time it really sucks when you are working hard to diet and your pesky thyroid gets in the way.

2008-02-13T09:53:00.002-05:00

We got up this morning to this...

And Cecilia wanted to play outside. :::Sigh::: She thought the ice looked like fun. Our deck looks pretty much the same.

How to kick a habit...

2008-02-12T18:23:00.000-05:00

I have bitten my nails for over 20 years. In fact I have bitten them for as long as I can remember. And I don't mean I bit them to trim them. It was worse than that. Talk about a habit.

I have not bitten my nails in almost 3 months. I think I can safely say, I have finally kicked the habit. My primary motivation for wanting to stop was that I didn't want either of my daughters to copy me. The funny thing is, I've been motivated before but never succeeded. Not for very long anyway.

The secret?

Have a 2 year old and an infant to keep you busy from waking to collapsing. LOL. Worked for me.

Reading

2008-02-12T13:43:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed I added a column on the left of books I have read this year. I thought it might be interesting to see how many and what books I read this year.

I do have two books I am working on now and hope to finish by the end of Lent. I won't add them until I finish them but they are the Letters of Jane Austen and the huge biography of John Paul II.

Two Years in Pictures

2008-02-09T14:57:00.000-05:00

Cecilia at 2 weeks

Cecilia at 3 Months

Cecilia at 6 Months

Cecilia at 1 Year

Cecilia at 18 Months

Cecilia at 2 Years

I think He's Happy

2008-02-07T07:18:00.001-05:00

Last night Duke and UNC played each other being the #2 and #3 teams.

This morning James said he was going to head downstairs and see if Duke won.

This greeted us...

LOL. I think Grandpa was satisfied with the scores.

GO DUKE!!!

Book meme

2008-01-31T06:58:00.000-05:00

I saw this on Melanie's Blog and thought it might be fun...

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

I can't think of one I'd consider myself irrational about. I mean books like The DaVinci Code might have good reviews but I have rational reasons for cringing from it. I read The Jane Austen Book Club even though I cringed from it for fear of what it would try to do to Austen and her books. I was right and didn't like it. I don't think I irrationally cringe from any book - there is always a rational reason.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice), Melanie Hamilton (Gone with the Wind) and Beth March (Little Women). I don't think any other three women could improve me so well even in one afternoon tea.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realize it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

This is tough. I am not easily bored by any book even if parts of it bore me. I've heard The Old Man and the Sea is boring and the Grapes of Wrath are boring and The Once and Future King is boring but I haven't read any of them so they might not be to me. If I could pick any book I'd say the Dictionary. But I don't know which novel.

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?

Hmm. I'm pretty honest about what I've read or haven't read. I guess Stephen King's Needful Things. I did buy the book and read a little but was so disgusted by the hate back and forth between the Baptists and Catholics I didn't read any more, threw it out, and forever declared my disgust for the book though I do enjoy the film.

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realize when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t?

Not that I know of, no.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (if you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead and personalize the VIP)

It depends on the VIP. I mean, if he/she was a politician, I'd go for Democracy in America by Tocqueville. If the VIP is a religious leader, I'd opt for the Bible. I think it depends on why the VIP is a VIP and how I could best serve him/her in that regard.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

I guess I'd say French just so I could read all the french authors in their original text. Second choices would be Hebrew and Greek.

A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

I'd be a stinker and say Where Is Spot? since I read that every other day anyway and could easily breeze through it once a year and then read something new. But, if I wasn't a stinker I'd say Pride and Prejudice, ever my favorite.

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?

I first learned of Evelyn Waugh on Melanie's site and now plan to read Brideshead Revisited eventually.

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.

"Floor to ceiling bookshelves are stuffed with everything I've ever wanted to read. Lots of leather bindings, sure. Plenty of first editions, why not? Every book in a series has matching covers. But the most important thing is all those hard to find volumes. A complete Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary is a must. Lots of current atlases and reference books. Books for people of all ages from the smallest babies to the oldest grandmothers. Lots of picture books with the most beautiful artwork. And plenty of copies of the most favorite picture books because you know how babies and toddlers chew through the favorites. All the lovely art books with full color plates I've drooled over and not been able to afford. Books in their original languages as well as the best translations. I could go on all day; but I think you get the drift. There would never be an end to stocking such a library because there will never be an end to the publishing of good books. So that fairy is going to be working hard for the rest of my life and my children's and grand children's lives too while we're at it."
I'm completely with Melanie's answer here on this one. oh I'd love that library and I don't think DH, my dad, my children or I would ever leave it.

Unappealing Appealing

2008-01-27T11:38:00.000-05:00

In our diocese, the Archdiocese of Washington, the Bishop's Appeal is done after Christmas but before Lent. Since Lent begins early this year, that means that we have gone straight from Christmas into the Bishop's Appeal. I dread this every year and every year I find it more repulsive. At least when telemarketers call me I can simply say no and ask to be removed from their calling list. But the Bishop thinks it necessary to mail us a petition for money, call us for money, and saturate our Masses for four weeks with pleas for money. It is overkill. The Bishop may very well be asking for money for some very worthwhile things, but asking 6 times across a month's span is ridiculous. Unfortunately, that is not where it ends. In addition to this harassment is the sin of placing himself in God's place.

During the Mass, the priest becomes, quite literally, "another Christ," and he does so in such a special way. The most obvious, of course, is as Christ the Priest at the consecration. But he is also Christ the King in presiding over the celebration of the Mass - he is leading and responsible for the Mass. He is also Christ the Prophet when he reads the Gospel and preaches to the people during his homily. You cannot divide Christ and omit any of these roles - each is essential. And yet every year we lose homilies to pleas for money, and money, and more money. Today we had to listen to an audio recording of the Bishop's plea for money. (At my previous church we even had to watch a video plea by the Bishop.) And then afterwards our pastor takes time to tell everyone how to fill out the card - as if people didn't know to write their address on the address line. Instead of being given insight and encouragement from Christ in a homily, I was plagued for more money. I believe it is simply a sin to deny Christ HIS time to speak through his priest to his people (to what extent the priest lets him is his affair, but my point remains). People go to Mass to praise, serve, adore, learn about and love God. To inject 15 minutes of pleas for money and deny Christ HIS time with his people - often people who really need that time - is just shameful.

Now, I will confess an extra irritation of mine. James and I have a 2 year old and a 2 month old and we were attending the 9am mass with the children's liturgy. Do I need to draw a picture of how many little children were at this mass. And yet, we did not finish with the appeal information and form-filling-out until 40 minutes into mass. We left right after Communion (we rarely do it but both Cecilia and Felicity were on the brink of hysterical crying) and still did not get to the car until 1 hour and 5 minutes after Mass began. It was extra difficult for us (and I expect many other parents) to enjoy Mass when it was prolonged so and I admit myself especially ungrateful for the Bishop making Mass so difficult simply to ask for money yet again.

2008-01-18T06:57:00.000-05:00

I saw this on Melanie's Blog and thought it looked like fun...

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE ? Yes. My middle name Rose was after a family friend. I don't think at the time Katherine was after anyone in particular.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I don't remember. I don't think I have in January yet but I know I did in December.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes, when I do it well.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yes. Cecilia is 11 days away from being 2 years old and Felicity is 2 months old tomorrow.

6. WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? If not I'm in trouble.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? No. Not fond of it.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No. I'd love to skydive if I knew I would be okay, but no interest in bungee jumping.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Honey Nut Cheerios

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Depends

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Sometimes

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their disposition.

15. RED OR PINK? Red. Don't like pink except on little ones.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF? My weight

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? James when he is at work. I haven't seen Msgr. Conley in 5 years so it would be nice to see him again.

18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black skirt - no pants. Black penny loafers.

19. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Two Chewy Werther's Originals last night.

20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? "Preparations for Battle" by James Horner from the movie Glory

21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple

22. FAVORITE SMELLS? Pine trees, cooking tomato sauce, cold crisp air like yesterday, a newborn's skin, vanilla, baking chocolate chip cookies, Cinnamon, Smoked BBQ

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? The Pediatrician's secretary setting up Felicity's 4 month appt.

24. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Basketball, Football and Baseball

25. HAIR COLOR? brown and gray

26. EYE COLOR? blue

27. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? no

28. FAVORITE FOOD? Italian or TexMex

29. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings

30. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? 3:10 to Yuma, the remake. Great acting. Terrible ending.

31. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Lavender

32. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter Winter Winter. I hate when it is hot.

33. HUGS OR KISSES? hugs

34. FAVORITE DESSERT? Chocolate Soufflé

35. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Slowly reading Home Comforts, will finish St. Francis de Sales' Thy Will Be Done today. Going to start Harris' Red Dragon tonight.

36. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? A Golden Retriever just like my sweetie Biscuit.

38. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Fire crackling, thunderstorms, Mom when Cecilia says it (she usually still calls me Daddy), Wind blowing through the trees, An orchestra in an old church, my daughter's laugh, a cat's purr

39. BEATLES OR ROLLING STONES? I guess Beatles, but I only like about 3 of their songs. Doesn't say much for the Stones, huh?

40. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Athens, Greece

41. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I'm good at organization and can be obsessive about it.

42. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? southern New York

The Magnificence of Marriage

2008-01-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

I have often heard of the priesthood and religious vocations spoken of by priests and religious with great praise and recommendation. And I don't blame them. These vocations are amazing and honorable and beautiful and to be celebrated. Our Pastor did not preach on the priesthood or religious vocations on Sunday but it is fair since he ignored families on Holy Family Sunday as well, though that doesn't make it right. Unfortunately, in my experience, marriage is often left trailing behind, only preached with regard to what the married should be doing and rarely acclaimed for its beauty and honor and magnificence. James and I were saying that we think the last good homily we heard on marriage was at our wedding (much thanks Father Caulfield!) Why? Well, certainly it is easier for priests to preach praise for their own vocation as they live it and not marriage. But I think the fact that marriage is more common and there has been a lack of acceptance of religious and priestly vocations is a bigger culprit. So I wanted to say some things about the vocation of marriage.

I am a wife. I chose to live the rest of my life with one man. I chose to love him for the rest of our lives. I chose to honor him, help him, care for him as no one else does or can. In other words, I chose to lay down my life for him so that I became an Us.

I am a mother. Because my husband and I freely choose to lay down our lives for each other, God blesses our love with the blessing of children. God exaults us to share in a power only He has - the power to create a human being. A person. A person who did not exist before (except in God's own mind) and will exist for eternity is created by the three of us. And even after death in the halls of Heaven, we will always be that person's mother and father. Through the creation of this tiny person, we become a family and our family represents the Trinitarian God and His Church to the world.

I am another Christ. I must be another Christ to my husband, to my children, and to the community I live in. I must exemplify His virtue, His purity, His wisdom and His Charity. I must provide a perfect mirror image of what God's love is, especially to my children who look to me to meet every one of their needs as well as wants.

I am the Church. I must mirror my Husband and support him and encourage others to do so. I must nurture my children through proper instruction, reception of the Sacraments, and education. I must make sure all my children are properly prepared to receive the sacraments and grow to love the Church as their own.

I am a Homemaker. I must provide a clean, well-kept, and cosy home for my family to live, work, pray and play. I dust, vacuum, polish, wipe, scrub, mop, sweep, plant, organize and wash. I launder, washing bedding, clothes, towels, and other odds and ends. I must cook (I'm still working on learning that one as well as I would like) providing healthy, hearty and nourishing meals so my family will be healthy and strong but also enjoy eating and being home.

I am a teacher. I must teach my children how to walk, how to talk, how to have good hygiene and take care of themselves. I will be homeschooling teaching them math, literature, history, art, and many other subjects. I must teach them proper manners and how to behave appropriately at the table, at home and outside the home. And most importantly I must teach them theology that they understand their faith as well as live it.

I am a Guardian. I am responsible for the salvation of not only my soul, but the soul of my husband and the souls of my children. I must do everything I can to preserve their innocence, purity and virtue and foster these constantly.

I am called to do all this and do it joyfully! It is quite a bit of responsibility and certainly no easier than any other vocation. I don't get any days off or any vacation time - my husband and children need me live my vocation faithfully all day every day. Wives and Mothers, and those who will become them, need just as much support and encouragement as those who will become priests or religious and perhaps more so if marriage is seen as the more common and easier vocation. Maybe, just maybe, if priests dedicated more time to preaching the perfection that marriage and family can be and encouraging and supporting their parishioners in this endeavor, they would hardly need to preach for religious or priestly vocations because there would be a plethora of them from solid, faithful families.

Marriage has its own unique beauty and magnificence that is all to often ignored or hidden beneath laziness or self-centeredness. Am I a perfect wife, mother, Christ, Church, homemaker, teacher and guardian of souls? HA! Far from it. But God is most merciful and in just striving to be those things as perfectly as I can it is easy to see that majesty shining.

The Silence of the Lambs

2008-01-09T11:05:00.000-05:00

I remember when I was 12 asking to see the film. My Poppop and dad kept raising the age at which I would be permitted to see it until it got up into the lower 40s. I "triumphed" and saw it when I was 12. It is a good film. But I never read the book until this past week or so. As good as a movie the film is, the book is even better and for two primary reasons. First, in the book, Jack Crawford has a lot more to him and his relationship with Clarice is much more significant. He becomes very much a dear friend as well as a father figure to her. This of course adds depth and emotion to the story not present in the film.

The second reason I find even more interesting. In the book, Buffalo Bill would let his victims go in his darkened basement and, using his night vision goggles, literally hunt them. It is reiterated repeatedly in the book that Dr. Lector seeks only to amuse himself. Once he ceases to be amused, he either switches off or becomes violent. Clarice Starling seeks out plight and hunts those who cause it. All three of the characters are hunting or seeking something. Bill's hunt ends in his death. Lector's search ends in exile as a fugitive. Starling's is the only one that ends in the silence of the screaming lambs. Only Starling's search ends in the blessed silence and peace. Bill's hunt is over. Lector's search will continue but only as others search for him. Starling's will be the hardest to maintain because she will have to earn it over and over again, as Lector observes, because there will always be plight. Yet her search will always have the greatest reward.

This theme and subtle point made me wonder if the author was just a teeny bit asking the reader, "What is it you seek and what will your end be?"

Three Years Ago...

2007-12-31T15:21:00.001-05:00

It is funny to think that 3 years ago today I was excited, tense, anxious, nervous and all smiles in seeing friends and family and taking care of last minute preparations for our wedding day. It seems so long ago. Tomorrow, at approx. 1:30pm EST we will have been married 3 years. James and I actually became friends 11 years ago this past week. While I was lamenting having my wisdom teeth removed, college applications and a minor fender bender.

I never would have imagined that in three years we have had two beautiful daughters.

Cecilia is a very active and intelligent 23 month old. She laughs, runs and plays with delight. She is learning words all the time and has begun potty training. She absolutely loves to be read to and loves her fruit and veggies. She will pass up cookies for an apple. She likes to sing and loves her baby sister and likes giving her kisses (I think Felicity gets more than we do). She is a beautiful and happy little girl.

Felicity is only 6 weeks old but already impresses us with her improvements in head control and hearty nursing and long hours sleeping. She smiles and rarely cries. She likes to nap in her swing and loves being held. She, unlike her sister, likes to be swaddled and likes looking at the world around her. She is laid back and generally calm but is eager to be more mobile.

Two people. Two girls. Two human beings that did not exist 3 years ago are alive and well today already making the world a better place. Two children make us smile and laugh and light up our lives as no one ever has. Imagine if they weren't here. I can't. They make life so much more complete and full in a way that no exploded diaper or toppled plate or temper tantrum can undo. Two little blessings we could not imagine our lives without. God has been very good.

Holy Family Homily

2007-12-31T09:56:00.001-05:00

I didn't get a homily on the Holy Family or even family yesterday so I was grateful to find Fr. Martin Fox's online. I had to share:

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2007

What does your Holy Family look like? (Sunday homily)
This time of year, we all see the Hallmark-Card images
of family that are hard—
no, make that impossible!—to live up to.

So it was with my family, growing up;
probably yours, too, I imagine.
One of the best things I ever did
was to accept the reality of my family’s brokenness,
instead of the ideal that never was.

Speaking of “best things,”
my father says one of the best things he did,
as a husband, was to take mom out for a date
every Saturday night.

This goes with something Pope John Paul the first said:
“Parents begin to educate their children
by their love for each other.”
This is one reason why,
when married people come to confession,
I sometimes give this penance:
“Do something romantic for your spouse.”

But what the pope said calls to mind
something truly amazing:
God, in becoming a true human being,
an infant at Mary’s breast, growing up in a home,
learned about love from Mary and Joseph!

This is the mystery of the Incarnation:
God becoming like us in all things but sin.
He whom all heaven could not contain,
into Mary’s womb came to dwell.
The all-powerful Creator became a defenseless child!
The Ancient of Days learned about human life and love
from watching Joseph and Mary.

And you worry about what you teach your children!

On this Feast of the Holy Family,
let’s acknowledge some things:
Sometimes, in church, we talk so much about married life,
we neglect those who are single,
or those whose marriages ended in deep pain.

We often don’t know what to say.
Well, we could start with, “I’m not going to judge you;
and I do want to welcome you!”

Some people don’t “fit the mold”;
some can’t marry as God and nature define marriage.
It’s not our place to redefine marriage;
but it is certainly our place—indeed,
it’s absolutely our obligation before God—
to embrace everyone without mockery,
without ugliness, as Christ in our midst!

We hold up the Holy Family as an ideal;
but Christ knows well how “dysfunctional”
our families can be.
That’s why he came to be part of our human family!

You and I know about messages in society
and the media that threaten family life.

Let me say this:
Father Tom and Father Ang and I, and this parish—
we want to help!
Please tell us what we can do to help more!

You and I are also painfully aware of family troubles
we don’t like to talk about:
Alcoholism or other addictions;
anger, emotional abuse or physical violence;
depression or other emotional problems.

Yes, Christ took a beating on the Cross;
but he never inflicted such abuse on anyone—
and neither should we!

To make matters worse, some of these issues
aren’t dealt with openly,
but instead become shameful secrets,
wounds that never heal.

Don’t we call this the season of Light?
Christ offers his Light to heal these wounds.
Will we let him?

Christ, who came to carry the Cross
of all our human sinfulness,
will give you courage and walk beside each of us
on our own Way of the Cross. Will we let him?

Our second reading talks about the role
each of us has in our families.

Christ is the child among us—should he witness
parents berating and demeaning each other?

Christ the teenager: we have no idea what music he liked.
But do you think he would have tolerated music
that demeans women and exults violence?

Christ was a worker;
but he did not make work an excuse to neglect his family.

Christ the man saw women as Images of God,
not as servants, or imaginary partners on the Internet.

Christ was strong enough to bite his tongue;
he didn’t need fists or words to prove himself.

Men, are you and I “man enough”
to follow the leadership of Jesus Christ?

And Christ the healer never shamed anyone he met;
not the prostitute, not the tax-collector,
not the leper or the alien.

And he will never shame nor despise any of us
for our sins, our wounds, our secrets…
whatever they may be.

Yes, our families are far from the ideal.
But they, too, can be “holy families.”
Not because they look like a Christmas card,
but because we let Christ bring courage,
and healing, and hope:

Not to the families of our dreams,
but to the real family life we actually have.

Baby-Sitting Disservice at Mass

2007-12-21T07:46:00.000-05:00

Our parish offers a baby-sitting service during mass on Sunday. It has been advertised in the bulletin and encouraged by our pastor. Now, this is not the children's liturgy where children sit with their parents through most of mass and leave only for the readings and homily. For the baby-sitting service, parents drop their children off at a separate room under the rectory, go to mass, and pick up their children after mass.

Now, I'm not condemning parents who use this service - after all, our pastor has been encouraging parents to use it, so they may not have a second thought about it.

However, James and I have a grave objection to the so-called "service." Since the parents go to mass, it is safe to assume, if not all, at least the vast majority of these children are baptized. And at their baptism their parents promised to raise their children in the Roman Catholic faith and doing this means attending mass. The only exemptions I know of from going to mass are for health reasons or if one is truly incapable of getting to one. There is no exemption for age. Even if they are too young to understand the mass, that does not mean they do not benefit from attending mass, hearing the hymns, seeing others pray, or receiving grace from simply being in the presence of Christ. This "service" is not only a disservice to the children but is in fact the breaking of the promise their parents made at their baptism!

As for why a priest would encourage this disservice and breaking of a promise made to God, my only hope is that he does not realize what he himself is doing.

Atheistic Hypocracy

2007-12-08T18:35:00.000-05:00

The website of the Connecticut Valley Atheists reads:

"The mission of Connecticut Valley Atheists is to promote to the public a positive perception of Atheists and Atheism. CVA intends to accomplish this through community activities, charitable works, and sponsorship of educational events which demonstrate that Atheism is an ethical and meaningful way of life. We intend to seek out and encourage like-minded people to join us and contribute to our efforts."

Yet they have erected a sign under the pretense of celebrating the winter solstice with a picture of the World Trade Center Towers and the words "IMAGINE NO RELIGION." I say, "under the pretense" because since when did celebrating the winter solstice necessitate the absence of religion? It doesn't. And when was the sign erected? On December 1st - the day before the First Sunday of Advent. And this is supposed to promote a "positive perception of Atheists and Atheism"??? Spare me. If someone wants to be an atheist, I recognize their free will to do so but don't put up public displays against religion for the Advent and Christmas seasons and claim you just want to encourage a positive perception of yourselves because such an excuse makes no sense.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1936588/posts

Favorite Passages from Spe Salvi

2007-12-06T14:21:00.000-05:00

4.When the Letter to the Hebrews says that Christians here on earth do not have a permanent homeland, but seek one which lies in the future (cf. Heb 11:13-16; Phil 3:20), this does not mean for one moment that they live only for the future: present society is recognized by Christians as an exile; they belong to a new society which is the goal of their common pilgrimage and which is anticipated in the course of that pilgrimage.

23.There is no doubt, therefore, that a “Kingdom of God” accomplished without God—a kingdom therefore of man alone—inevitably ends up as the “perverse end” of all things...

28.Our relationship with God is established through communion with Jesus—we cannot achieve it alone or from our own resources alone. The relationship with Jesus, however, is a relationship with the one who gave himself as a ransom for all (cf. 1 Tim 2:6). Being in communion with Jesus Christ draws us into his “being for all”; it makes it our own way of being. He commits us to live for others, but only through communion with him does it become possible truly to be there for others, for the whole.

32.When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God. When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, he can help me[25]. When I have been plunged into complete solitude ...; if I pray I am never totally alone.

33.Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched. ... To pray is not to step outside history and withdraw to our own private corner of happiness. When we pray properly we undergo a process of inner purification which opens us up to God and thus to our fellow human beings as well.

34. For prayer to develop this power of purification, it must on the one hand be something very personal, an encounter between my intimate self and God, the living God. On the other hand it must be constantly guided and enlightened by the great prayers of the Church and of the saints, by liturgical prayer, in which the Lord teaches us again and again how to pray properly. ... We become capable of the great hope, and thus we become ministers of hope for others. Hope in a Christian sense is always hope for others as well. It is an active hope, in which we struggle to prevent things moving towards the “perverse end”. It is an active hope also in the sense that we keep the world open to God. Only in this way does it continue to be a truly human hope.

35.Only the great certitude of hope that my own life and history in general, despite all failures, are held firm by the indestructible power of Love, and that this gives them their meaning and importance, only this kind of hope can then give the courage to act and to persevere. Certainly we cannot “build” the Kingdom of God by our own efforts—what we build will always be the kingdom of man with all the limitations proper to our human nature. The Kingdom of God is a gift, and precisely because of this, it is great and beautiful, and constitutes the response to our hope.

37.It is when we attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve hurt, when we try to spare ourselves the effort and pain of pursuing truth, love, and goodness, that we drift into a life of emptiness, in which there may be almost no pain, but the dark sensation of meaninglessness and abandonment is all the greater. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love.

39.Let us say it once again: the capacity to suffer for the sake of the truth is the measure of humanity. Yet this capacity to suffer depends on the type and extent of the hope that we bear within us and build upon.

42.A world which has to create its own justice is a world without hope.No one and nothing can answer for centuries of suffering.

43.God now reveals his true face in the figure of the sufferer who shares man's God-forsaken condition by taking it upon himself. This innocent sufferer has attained the certitude of hope: there is a God, and God can create justice in a way that we cannot conceive, yet we can begin to grasp it through faith. Yes, there is a resurrection of the flesh[33]. There is justice[34]. There is an “undoing” of past suffering, a reparation that sets things aright. ... The purely individual need for a fulfilment that is denied to us in this life, for an everlasting love that we await, is certainly an important motive for believing that man was made for eternity; but only in connection with the impossibility that the injustice of history should be the final word does the necessity for Christ's return and for new life become fully convincing.

44. The image of the Last Judgement is not primarily an image of terror, but an image of hope; for us it may even be the decisive image of hope. ... God is justice and creates justice. This is our consolation and our hope. And in his justice there is also grace. This we know by turning our gaze to the crucified and risen Christ. Both these things—justice and grace—must be seen in their correct inner relationship. Grace does not cancel out justice. It does not make wrong into right. It is not a sponge which wipes everything away, so that whatever someone has done on earth ends up being of equal value.

47.The judgement of God is hope, both because it is justice and because it is grace. If it were merely grace, making all earthly things cease to matter, God would still owe us an answer to the question about justice—the crucial question that we ask of history and of God. If it were merely justice, in the end it could bring only fear to us all. The incarnation of God in Christ has so closely linked the two together—judgement and grace—that justice is firmly established: we all work out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). Nevertheless grace allows us all to hope, and to go trustfully to meet the Judge whom we know as our “advocate”, or parakletos (cf. 1 Jn 2:1).

49.The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly, Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of history. But to reach him we also need lights close by—people who shine with his light and so guide us along our way.

God Knew What He Was Doing

2007-12-01T13:49:00.000-05:00

I frequent a few message boards including Catholics ones and ones for moms who were/are pregnant and with small children. One of the hotter topics on the latter pertains to optional medical intervention to bring about labor and delivery before it would otherwise naturally come about. This would include unnecessary c-sections, breaking the bag of waters and using drugs such as pitocin,cervidil, etc.

Now, don't misunderstand me. I understand there are certainly times when a c-section is necessary or drugs are needed to speed along labor and delivery like when an unborn baby's heartrate drops and does not rebound or when mom's blood pressure goes through the roof. Obviously those are things that should not happen simply to give birth.

But I have been in awe of the number of women choosing to have their labor induced or have a c-section simply because they want their baby born on a specific day or because they are tired of the inconvenience of being pregnant. Certainly pregnancy is not all ease and comfort and that last month is generally far from it. But it seems like nowadays there is no sense of the natural order of things. Pregnancy is not a disease. Labor and childbirth are natural processes. "Full-term" is anywhere from 37 to 42 weeks. Some women are scared into induction by medical professionals though ultrasounds. They will be told at 36 weeks that their baby is measuring 7 1/2 pounds and if they go full term they will have huge babies and no one tells them that those late ultrasounds can be off by 1-2 pounds! I've even heard doctors pushing inductions because "no one wants to be in the hospital on (such-and-such) holiday" which really translates into "I don't want to have to deliver you on a holiday."

And of course most of these women do not realize that, like almost all medical interventions, there are risks involved - determined or undetermined - they opt for risks that they might not have even had to worry about.

Where has our respect for nature gone? You'd think with all the talk about being green and driving hybrids and eating organic and saving the planet, people would be MORE aware of nature and the natural order and yet it seems to be the opposite. God knew what he was doing and the baby won't stay in forever. Moms and dads and God chose when the baby got in there. God and the baby should choose when he/she comes out.

The Birthing Ball

2007-11-23T16:07:00.000-05:00

One thing I had to say about my first natural birth experience...

I felt a little odd buying one of those large birthing balls. I mean, I imagine myself on one and think I will look like an idiot. I also wasn't quite sure how it could make a difference or why it would be a big deal.

I must say in that last hour and a half or so before my water broke and before I went to the hospital I couldn't believe the difference it made. I mean it wasn't like I didn't feel anything but the contractions were not as sharp and easier to manage. I keep joking with DH I am going to name my birthing ball! I also can't help but wonder if it helped facilitate things as, only an hour and a half or so after I first began using it for the contractions my water broke and I was rushing to the hospital shortly afterwards.

I can't say that everyone should get one and all will be roses and sunshine, but from my experience I am so happy I got one and will be saving it for every subsequent pregnancy.

Our Birth Story

2007-11-21T16:19:00.000-05:00

For the birth story of Felicity, please click on the link to the left of The Journey of a New Life (I haven't changed the title to the link on my page yet, but it is there.)

We've Moved!

2007-10-02T09:02:00.000-04:00

In mid-September we relocated ... about 3 1/2 miles from where we used to live, but a different city. We upgraded from an apartment to a townhouse we are now renting. It is cheaper than if we had renewed the lease at the apartment and yet gives us more space including and extra room, two extra half baths and a garage not to mention a deck and a backyard. The deck needs to be sanded and stained and the back yard fixed up a bit, but we are working on it. Our kitchen was upgraded to a fridge/freezer only 2 years old instead of 20, a dish washer that doesn't leak, a stove with burners that work and can even boil water in less than an hour and a double oven.

Cecilia has her own room now and sleeps in her own bed every night. She makes us read a few of her bedtime books repeatedly and then lays down on her baby pillow and sleeps in her own bed through the night. She shares a Finding Nemo and fish themed bathroom with grandpa.

We are almost done unpacking and setting up everything having gotten cable and internet service yesterday. We will try to get some pictures up once everything is clean and organized.

Which would you prefer?

2007-08-28T21:12:00.000-04:00

This morning James watched Cecilia while I went to daily mass. (I love going to mass with Cecilia, but I'm lucky if I catch the readings no less the homily she keeps me so busy, so it was a nice treat to be able to focus...or try.) There were several small children at mass this morning and two pairs of them caught my attention.

One mom was seated directly behind me with two children, about 4 and 2 years old. They were quite noisy and not a little distracting but throughout the entire mass the mother tried to keep them quiet and was constantly trying to keep them focused on what was going on. She told them that bread and wine were being brought up to the altar and directed their attention to Jesus during the consecration. Coming back from communion I heard her say, "Okay, it's time to say our prayer to Jesus."

The other mom was seated about 2 pews ahead of me and one aisle over. She had about a 4 year old son and a daughter between 1 and 1 1/2 years old. They were almost completely quiet the entire mass. The little boy had a toy and both children ate pop tarts the whole time.

While certainly one set of children were more quiet, I had to prefer the mom behind me. Even though her children were more distracting, they were not there to eat or play but learn and be involved with the Mass. Isn't that why all of us go to Mass?

Why is it?

2007-07-17T19:20:00.000-04:00

Recently we netflixed a movie called Savannah Smiles. It was a movie I loved when I was little and wanted to revisit and also wanted James to see. It is a little unrealistic and corny but I still love it.

It is about a little girl, about six years old, who is neglected by her wealthy and busy parents (her father is running for the state senate). She has a nanny who puts her to bed, she eats breakfast by herself and is left behind when her parents go on skiing trips. Watching Little Rascals, she gets the idea that running away would teach her parents a lesson. So she packs a suitcase and, during an outing with friends, sneaks away and hides in a run down old car that turns out to be stolen by two petty crooks named Alvie and Bootsy. Because they are fugitives, they are unable to simply return her and when they find out there is a $100,000 reqard for her safe return, hitting the jackpot becomes too good to be true.

I'll stop there for anyone who wants to see it but it is a wonderful story. Bridget Anderson, who plays Savannah, is wonderfully adorable. The story bears themes of conversion and redemption and the imporance of spending time with and knowing your children and how precious they really are.

The title song (I so wish they would release a soundtrack to this movie) begins with these lyrics:
"When Savannah smiles, I hear someone saying, 'hey, loser, you just won.' When Savannah smiles those grey clouds start to prayin', 'bring on the sun'. Music, sweet music, lifts my soul, sets it free. Everything is fine every single time Savannah smiles at me. Oh, smile Savannah, just one more time for me."
The song goes on to describe how just one of this little girl's smiles removes any pain or sadness or struggle and how much just a little smile from a child can do. And it got me thinking...

Why is it that no matter how tired I am and how many times Cecilia wakes up during the night, I can't sleep in another room without missing her like crazy?

Why is it that no matter how many tantrums she throws and whimpers for pity she dishes out, one hug makes it all disappear?

Why is it that no matter how much food she gets on her clothes and her chair and in her hair and on the floor or how many times I have to tell her not to throw her juice cup, whenever she says she is, "Done!" I can't help but smile?

Why is it that no matter how many news stories I see about terrorism or crooked politicians or senseless violence or anti-Catholic bigotry, she can wrap her arms around my neck with a hug and make the whole world disappear in a brightness of warmth and joy?

It is amazing, isn't it? Why is it?

Because it is through our children that it is easiest to see the face of God.

Message Board Comments

2007-07-09T19:27:00.000-04:00

I won't be too specific, but occassionally I visit message boards for women who are pregnant and due around the same time I am. Today one woman posted that, at 22 weeks, the doctors discovered her unborn baby boy had the severest case of Spina Bifida they had ever seen and the "only option" was to terminate.

As I had to look it up, "Spina bifida is the most common disabling birth defect in the United States. It is a type of neural tube defect, which is a problem with the spinal cord or its coverings. It happens if the fetal spinal column doesn't close completely during the first month of pregnancy. There is usually nerve damage that causes at least some paralysis of the legs. Many people with spina bifida will need assistive devices such as braces, crutches or wheelchairs. They may have learning difficulties, urinary and bowel problems or hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain.
There is no cure. Treatments focus on the complications, and can include surgery, medicine and physiotherapy."

The woman on the message board and her husband decided to terminate the pregnancy and hope they will one day have children.

Now, first of all, I am very sorry that their son was diagnosed with such a birth defect. Any such discovery is quite trying on any parent.

That said, I quite simply cannot feel sorry for their loss and feel they do not deserve to be parents. They killed their child. Plain and simple. The child was not dying nor did he have a fatal disease. He had a birth defect that would require special care and treatment. According to the Spina Bifida Association, "The effects of Spina Bifida are different for every person. Up to 90 percent of children with the worst form of Spina Bifida have hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain) and must have surgery to insert a “shunt” that helps drain the fluid—the shunt stays in place for the lifetime of the person. Other conditions include full or partial paralysis, bladder and bowel control difficulties, learning disabilities, depression, latex allergy and social and sexual issues. Thanks to new medical treatments and technology, most people born with Spina Bifida can expect to live a normal life. People with Spina Bifida have many special challenges because of their birth defect, but their condition does not define who they are. People with Spina Bifida have careers, get married and have children just like people who don’t have Spina Bifida."

So simply because their child would have required special care, they killed him. All the replies on the message board were sympathy for their loss. I can't feel sorry for a murderer.

I would further add that I think the lack of humility of the doctors involved is quite disgusting. The "ONLY OPTION" is termination? What about the option of raising a challenging child? What about the option of loving their son? What about the option of having that little boy wrap his little arms around their necks and say, "I love you." They threw all that and more away because of a birth defect and they want me to feel sorry for them? No can do.

I didn't feel I could post this on the message board as it would be classified as "harsh," "unsupportive," and "insensitive." If that is how someone views my comments, feel free, but just consider how harsh, unsupportive and insensitive they were to their son who needed their love, support and care so much more.

The 10 Commandments of Motorists

2007-06-19T18:04:00.000-04:00

Drivers' "Ten Commandments"

61. In any case, with the request for motorists to exercise virtue, we have drawn up a special "decalogue" for them, in analogy with the Lord's Ten Commandments. These are stated here below, as indications, considering that they may also be formulated differently.

I. You shall not kill.

II. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

III. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

IV. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.

V. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

VI. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

VII. Support the families of accident victims.

VIII. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

IX. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

X. Feel responsible towards others.

http://www.zenit.org/article-19915?l=english

And the Rain, Rain, Rain came Down, Down, Down...

2007-06-01T06:29:00.000-04:00

Around 11:30pm on Tuesday night, James heard a strange noise coming from our kitchen. He was not thrilled to discover periodic dripping coming from the wall behind our cabinets onto the counter that extends into our dining room. He woke me and we cleared off the counter. Fortunately nothing was damaged as we had papers and a few books there. We called emergency maintenance and around 12:15am he came and, as no one was living upstairs, he turned off the water to the apartment above us. Within a half hour the water had stopped and James and I were asleep.

We got up around 7am Wednesday morning (rather nice as Cecilia let us sleep in an hour) only to discover a constant drip in the walkway between our living room and dining room. Fortunately it was near the middle such that the only thing getting wet was the carpet and nothing was damaged, but we did relocate my computer, some of Cecilia's toys, etc. to prevent damage. In order to figure out what was wrong, the maintenance man had to rip two large holes in the ceiling. (see picture below.) It turned out it was leftover runnoff from the previous leak that had settled over that spot at the seam of the drywall.

Fortunately the man came to repair the drywall and we no longer have a holey ceiling! Geez. Ugh.

Extra! Extra!

2007-05-24T14:43:00.000-04:00

Well, we had decided not to tell people in general until we were through the first part. But we can now "let the cat out of the bag." We are pregnant. Cecilia is going to be a big sister. We are all very excited!

We heard a healthy heart beat this morning so all seems to be going well!

On the Road Again....

2007-05-23T07:31:00.001-04:00

Two weeks ago we made a drive up to New York City for a few days meeting family there. Of course we couldn't help buying a few new and good quality toys for Cecilia from FAO Shwartz and we visited the World of Disney in the hopes she could see Mickey or Minnie there but the only character they had out was Cinderella and she doesn't really know her.

My highlight was visiting the J.P. Morgan Library, which I've wanted to see for a few years now but they had during previous visits been renovating. I could have spent hours browsing the library and study - so many books and so little time! Cecilia is not even 16 months old and though she doesn't know it, she has already seen a Gutenberg Bible and original sketches by Bramante of St. Peter's. She mostly just wanted to run around the rooms though. It was quite fascinating and well worth the wait. They also have other wonderful exhibits like original documents from Shakespeare, Beethoven and Mozart but as they share their collection with other libraries and were still working on the upper and lower floors, we were unable to see those.

The Florida trip of last weekend, which you can read about Cecilia's return trip on her website, began well with good timing which was a greater blessing than we had realized as we got a flat tire outside Vero Beach. Cecilia sat quietly watching her video as we changed the tire to the spare along the side of I95 with cars and trucks going by at 75 and 80 miles an hour - talk about unnerving.

My brother's graduation went well though Cecilia wasn't fond of it - she found it too long, too crowded and far too noisy (some people brought blowhorns) though she did like the beach balls the students repeatedly tried to get into a volley without success. But she did see him receive the award for Fine/Performing Arts and see him get his diploma. The party afterwards went well for her as she loved all the fruit and veggies out to snack on. Cantaloupe, cucumbers, tomatoes, tortilla chips - you name it and she was onto it - except the strawberries, she still doesn't seem fond of them. We alternated letting her wander the party where we had to follow her everywhere to make sure we didn't get into trouble and retreating to a private room that was at least partially baby-proofed allowing us a break and her some space to herself. We tried to minimize her time outside as it got warm quickly and she would begin sweating and we had to watch her like a hawk around the pool. She absolutely loved all the "Congratulations Graduate" balloons around the house though. She even collected three and brought them back to "her" room.

Cecilia absolutely loved my brother's dogs - two Shelties named Andy and Alicia. At first she was scared of them as they moved very quickly. Then she gained confidence and began chasing them as they fled - all around the house! Eventually Andy developed some courage himself and would walk right up to her and put his nose in her face (I think that began the moment he realized she might be carrying cookies or some other food). Alicia remained a coward until the very end, but she is by definition an adorably sweet courage and intellect-challeneged dog. I think by the end though Andy and Cecilia had an understanding as he would let her catch him and pet him and she would throw food from her high chair for him to get. What are you gonna do?

Our Wedding Picture..., well, one of them.

2007-05-01T15:04:00.000-04:00

Someone requested to see a picture of us, so here it is. Pictures of Cecilia are abundant on her website.

Hope

2007-04-16T08:19:00.000-04:00

"Hope, in its widest acceptation, is described as the desire of something together with the expectation of obtaining it. The Scholastics say that it is a movement of the appetite towards a future good, which though hard to attain is possible of attainment. ... It is a truth constantly acted upon in Catholic life and no less explicitly taught, that hope is necessary to salvation. ... There is both a negative and a positive precept of hope. The negative precept is in force ever and always. Hence there can never be a contingency in which one may lawfully despair or presume. The positive precept enjoining the exercise of the virtue of hope demands fulfilment sometimes, because one has to discharge certain Christian duties which involve an act of this supernatural confidence, such as prayer, penance, and the like.(Newadvent.net)

I have always been a bit of an optimist. I always thought things could somehow work out, things always work out for the best, that good always triumph evil, that if given the chance people will do the right thing, etc. Within the last 7 years or so, I lost some of that optimism. I was excited and hopeful that voting for a pro-life, small-government president who actually won would have good effects. I thought with a Republican congress good things might finally begin to happen. The examples can go on - and not all political either.

Now I never lost faith in God's triumph over the world, etc. But I did lose some of my optimism as people disappointed me. The amount of selfishness, inconsiderateness, greed, laziness and hypocritical negativity I've seen from people over the years - terrorism, the murder of Terri Schiavo, a woman being sued in NJ for homeschooling her children, elephant dung on a picture of the BVM, Maryland's trying to remove any statute of limitations for Catholic institutions but not touching public ones, the increasing gap between the rich and the poor and the increasing cost of living in some areas, euthanasia, abortion, poor public education, road rage, and the list goes on and on from the most dramatic to the smallest incidents. How many of us turn on our turn signal before we need to get over to give another driver the opportunity to let us in? How often do we expect that consideration? How often do we hold the door open for each other or have the door held open for us? I've been pregnant and had people not hold the door or let me pass by. And the disappointing things, because they are part of humanity, span from the smallest moments to the biggest decisions.

The problem is that to ignore such things is to ignore life - good or bad it is part of this world we live in and we can't live outside it. We can't ignore it.

However, I came to notice that the loss of my optimism and my new cynicism and disappointment and low expectations from many people didn't effect them. It effected me. It effected my cheerfulness. It effected my outlook. And it took me a while to figure out why I was less cheerful. And I think the answer comes down to Hope. Now, I do not mean to say I can now hope in crooked politicians or murdering "doctors" or terrorists. But I can hope for them. I can hope for them because I have hope in God.

Easter is the season of Hope. It is the celebration that despair, sin and death do not get the last word. Easter teaches us that all our hope rests in the one who gives hope - the God Son who became "fetus" who became child who became man who suffered and died and took up his life again in glory. He gives us hope and if our hope is in Him, then through Him, we can have hope for others. It is because of Easter that we can live in a world of selfishness and deceit and hypocritical nastiness and not let it get us down. And it is through hope that, when the muck and grime of this world tries to bring us down, God keeps us soaring above it clean and dry.

So the next time a politician stands up to tell me how wonderful they are and then, true to form, serve only themselves or a driver cuts me off or a bomb goes off half way across the world or another innocent unborn child is brutally and senslessly murdered I will feel it and I will lament it but I will not be brought down by it - there is simply too much to hope for.

Divine Mercy Sunday

2007-04-15T15:21:00.000-04:00

I've been sick with a nasty cold - you name it, it included it. Due to this, my head is a bit fuzzy. So I am only going to share a brief reflection on the Divine Mercy.

Adam and Eve disobey God and eat from the forbidden tree and then, shamed, hide themselves and are rebuked and punished for thier sin. (Genesis 3)

Then the LORD God said: "See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is bad! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever." The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken. When he expelled the man, he settled him east of the garden of Eden; and he stationed the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen 3:22-24)

I remember reading and rereading the creation, the creation, the fall, etc. until I was sick of it. But something caught my attention anew about this part not long ago I would like to share.

I had always read Gen 3:22 as though God was upset that man might climb the heights of immortality and be in some way equal to God. It always came across in the translation to me as though God were jealously guarding his special status as knowledgable AND immortal. And hence God banishes the man and the woman. But here is the thing... Adam and Eve at this point are in a fallen, sinful state. IF they had eaten from the tree of life at that moment they would not go to heaven or be eternally happy but be damned to hell for their immortality would have been solidified in a fallen state. So it is actually not jealousy but MERCY that provokes God to exile his disobedient children and great care and concern for them that he places the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword to save them from immediate damnation. By NOT eating from the tree of life, they may yet be redeemed through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Blessed Easter!

2007-04-08T09:27:00.000-04:00

HE IS RISEN!

Sorry it has been a while...

2007-04-06T21:14:00.000-04:00

For two and a half weeks I was without a computer as mine was being worked on by Apple Geniuses. One day it just wouldn't boot. They spent 10 days replacing logic boards and hard drives and couldn't figure out what was wrong. So they ordered me a new one which I now have. Even after we got the new computer, our car decided to commit suicide so we spent a week car shopping. I must say, through the whole thing, Cecilia was fantastic. She had more patience than most adults would have at car dealerships - although she was somewhat placated by all their balloons. In the end we got a Honda Odyssey, which we all like very much. Cecilia has taken to it very quickly.

Sorry I've been away so long but hopefully now I can post a bit more regularly.

Prayer Request

2007-03-09T09:53:00.000-05:00

Please keep the Bettinelli's in your prayers...

The are especially requesting petitions to Mother Theresa of Calcutta for her intercession.

Details are at Melanie's site (link to the left for The Wine Dark Sea) and Dom's website (link to the left for the Musings of Domenico Bettinelli)

Reflections on Motherhood

2007-03-03T06:10:00.000-05:00

A blog I read and to which I have the link on the left has a wonderful reflection on Motherhood:

Motherhood is not a job, not a role, not a pastime. It is a vocation. I have been called by God. He names us, knows us, calls us by name and when we answer, we become what he calls. Mothers are called by God to emulate him, to give life, to pour out ourselves, giving away with abandon, to love completely, selflessly, even when hurts, especially when it hurts. A mother loves. God is love. By being mothers, we draw near to God.

Please pray for Melanie and Dom and their family after losing their dear little Francis by miscarriage last weekend.

Interdaily Prayer

2007-03-01T12:20:00.000-05:00

For my Lenten reading I am reading Fr. Dubay's Fire Within. If anyone were to take only one thing from this book, at least based of my reading of the first 110 pages, it should be that if anyone wants to ascend to any degree of communion with God it is absolutely necessary to maintain a consistant and constant fervant prayer life. It doesn't matter if you pray the Divine Office or the Rosary or just the Our Father. It matters that you pray well and pray often and leave the rest to God and all will fall into place.

This made me wonder how often we, as people in general, pray during our day. Now, I'm a housewife and stay-at-home mother. I fold towels while my daughter unfolds them and try to clean bedrooms while my daughter rearranges the shoes on the floor. Certainly others are in offices and on telephones and doing all sorts of other things during their day. But how often do any of us take extra time to pray? The opportunities are quite numerous: while stuck in traffic or at a red light, while on the phone on hold, while trying to get a little one to sleep, while cooking, while waiting in line - anywhere: the bank, the food store, the cleaners, etc. I can't help but wonder how much better the world would be if we all took more time to simply pray during the day - pray for patience with poor drivers or charity when we answer those annoying telemarketer calls or diligence in work we don't want to do. Even more I can't help but wonder how much better our own lives would be by devoting so much time - even only a few minutes at a time - to prayer. How many things would we not have to regret doing or saying if we prayed before we did them?

Of course, I am no exception to the discussion. As part of my Lent, I am using the time I have to get Cecilia to sleep at bedtime and for naps to pray the rosary... just a decade here and a decade there, but it is impressive how they can add up.

Attack on Christ

2007-02-27T12:16:00.000-05:00

"Jesus' Tomb?"

Doubtless many have heard of this by now. Some people, including "Titanic" director James Cameron, are suggesting they have found the tombs of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and their "son" Judah. Now such a story would not have reached the first telephone if it was not argued to be referencing Jesus of Nazareth on whom all of Christianity is founded - so let's not beat around the bush contending it could be the tomb of some "Joshua" and some "Miriam" from around the time of Jesus who had a son named "Judah." You have to be a plain fool not to know what they are trying to suggest.

Besides, it is not the first time, nor will it be the last, when someone tries to think themselves important and earth-shattering by proclaiming something about Jesus of Nazareth to get headlines, fame, money, etc. Look at the Da Vinci Code if you want a recent example or the gnostic gospels if you want an older one.

At best these attempts are selfish endeavors to make oneself seem important and make one wealthy. But at worse, much graver consequences can be on the horizon...

Suppose even one person, ignorant of scholarly work on the truth of such claims and perhaps not even with a very rich or deep faith to dismiss such claims in the way they truly deserve, actually doubts his or her own previously accepted beliefs that Jesus is the Son of God, fully alive, truly risen and actually in heaven and has no help to pull him or her back from those doubts. Now, whether due to the selfishness and selfimportance of others or through the malicious and cynical contention of them against the Son of God, such little lambs as these may at the very least become very confused.

When I first read the article I wanted to cry. Here were those same people who have insulted and ridiculed my Church now trying to take my Jesus from me completely. He is the light of my life and indeed the breath that keeps me going and, indeed, even makes me pray for those who would take him from me and yet they seek to destroy him. Now, for me, it is true they did not in the least damage my faith except perhaps my faith in the decency of some people, but they did nonetheless hurt me with such stupidity and arrogance and perhaps even maliciousness.

It is sad the world has come to such as this for among many, quite simply, nothing but themselves is any longer sacred.

Lenten Beginnings

2007-02-21T21:01:00.000-05:00

Well, Lent got off to a bit of a penitential start for me. Last night I spent part of the night in bed and part on the floor trying to calm Cecilia as she transitions into sleeping the whole night in her crib and no nursing during the night. It is a big change for her but it resulted in a poor night's sleep for all of us and, since we are not right now used to fasting added to the poor night's rest, significant headaches for James and myself today. Cecilia was somewhat cranky herself.

My Lenten reading is Dubay's Fire Within, of which I only read chapter one today. I hope to read it steadily throughout Lent.

Northanger Abbey

2007-02-13T09:14:00.000-05:00

Well, I have now read all of Jane Austen's six novels. My order of preference is as follows:

Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey.

But do not think I disliked any of them. I liked all of them but to varying degrees. Pride and Prejudice remains my favorite of all books for I have seldom found it matched in humor, wit, tenderness or morality. Emma is plain and simply a fun and fantastic read - one I look forward to in the future. Mansfield Park is a great drama with much to say for itself and much to reflect upon both on the subject of matrimony as well as that of parenting. Sense and Sensibility is warm and tender. Persuasion's appeal is directed to the subject of second chances at love and the tender suffering endured by rejecting it the first time. Northanger Abbey is a satirical parody and, in this, very different from her other novels. In it Austen directs many sentiments directly to her reader acknowledging her "fable" and the rules thereof poking fun at the novel, particularly horror novels of her time, and society in general.

I think, before I read her short stories, I would like to reread Pride and Prejudice. I have watched the miniseries so many times since I last read it I think it would be good to refresh myself with the book before venturing into her unfinished novels, prayers and letters.

Overall I must say I find it quite sad indeed that Jane Austen is not more read today.

Sense and Sensibility

2007-02-10T20:09:00.000-05:00

Well, I finished Sense and Sensibility much sooner than I expected. Having a cold is certainly confining but it does tend to afford more time for reading. Thus far how I would rate my preference of Jane Austen's books:

Pride and Prejudice
Emma
Mansfield Park
Sense and Sensibility
Persuasion

I should make clear that I do not dislike any of her books. I have enjoyed all of them very much but this is my list of preferences.

Mansfield Park

2007-02-06T10:30:00.000-05:00

Well, in just over a week I finished Mansfield Park. It was very good with a large list of characters and quite a complex plot. Only mild fatigue from reading 200 pages in two days is slowing me from beginning Sense and Sensibility, which shall be my next Jane Austen read.

It is commonly regarded that Jane Austen's books are one of romance, generally with a happy ending and usually with something to say regarding marriage and courtship and virtue. I cannot deny this. But I have come to observe that no less a primary subject for Austen is courtship and marriage than is proper parenting. In each of Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion and Mansfield Park there is one or several parents (and even some aunts and uncles) which Austen critcizes severely in their ineptness and disinterestedness in proper parenting or guardianship and the great responsibility they have in rearing children not only in education and manners but also in discernment, temper, disposition, humility and virtue. One could argue that, not separating parenthood from marriage, Austen is simply continuing her discource on the subject of matrimony rather through the superiors of her protagonists and their relations rather than through the protagonists and their relations themselves.

I must, at this time, still hold Pride and Prejudice as my favorite although further recflection and time may change that but I will only consider it upon rereading Pride and Prejudice. This I hope to do after reading Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Sandition and her other short stories, and then Pride and Prejudice again. It seems a lot, but since midDecember I have already completed three of her novels totalling over 1250 pages of reading which, with a one year old, is no small matter.

Jane Austen

2007-02-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

Well, I read Emma and then Persuasion and am now on Mansfield Park. I guess you could say I am on a Jane Austen kick. I have also ordered Sense and Sensibility and Northangler Abbey and will read those after Mansfield Park. Then I will treat myself to rereading Pride and Prejudice and read her short stories. So basically I should cover all her writings before summer (except her letters, which I haven't gotten yet.

So far my rank of preference would be:
Pride and Prejudice
Emma
Persuasion

I don't know exactly where Mansfield Park will fall yet but I do, so far at least, like it better than Persuasion. Persuasion was good but not as enjoyable to me as the others.

House ... of death

2007-01-31T09:16:00.000-05:00

You may be familiar with the FOX show House. It has been on a couple of seasons now about a doctor named Dr. House. It tends to be very witty and can be quite humorous.

I have now watched two full episodes, the second being last night's "shocking revealing secret episode" and BOTH of the episodes I have completely watched had an abortion in them. I must say, in this case, two strikes and you are out. I cannot watch another one. The first I watched was in the first season where a 12 year old swimmer was given an abortion and Dr. House did/could not even tell her parents she was pregnant no less that they gave her an abortion. Last night's was of a girl who was raped and didn't believe in abortion and even argued with House about how it was murder, which House does not contend, and it was immoral, which he also concedes, but after an argument about God and the meaning of life he convinces her to "terminate" her pregnancy anyway. It is quite discpicable to me that such action would be taken and it actually be believed to have helped her - oh yeah like she won't regret betraying her own principles later - it was really for her own good and her own healing. Spare me.

My other issue concerning the series is their magic medicine and how much of the medical references in the show are made up. Of course they never tell the viewer how much is made up and how much isn't, but consider this....In last night's episode the girl had been rapes no more than one week before her seeing House and yet within a day or two at most, they know she is pregnant. Even with a blood test it has to be a MINIMUM of 10 days past conception for a blood test to acurately determine pregnancy. Prior to that the hormones to look for simply aren't there in levels detectable to indicate pregnancy.

While I grant the show to be written with a great amount of wit and humor with quick quips and one-liners, it is most despicable in my opinion not only to be pushing a pro-abortion agenda, but to even do so with fantasized medicine. It is one show I personally can no longer tolerate.

Update

2007-01-20T19:53:00.000-05:00

Well, if you have read Cecilia's page, you can imagine I've been quite busy with her since we all recovered from our holiday illnesses. In short, I've been quite tired lately.

However, James and I did beat PS2's LEGO Star Wars game - a lot of fun. I am also half-way through Jane Austen's Emma. I am also planning Cecilia's 1st Birthday Party, which will be Veggietales themes since she absolutely adores them. I am going to try to make the cake into either Bob or Larry and she can try cake for the first time.

Blessed Christmas!

2006-12-28T13:51:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

I'm very sorry it has been over a week since I posted. Two weeks ago Cecilia got sick with a cold. Last week James got sick with a cold that is quite persistant. And I've been sick since Christmas with some fever/cough thing. So, basically, we have been sleeping in and taking it easy as much as possible. My fever seems to have gone away and Cecilia is better but James and I are still working through the coughs.

We do hope everyone is having a very Blessed Christmas Season though and we will try to get some pictures of Cecilia's first Christmas on her website within the next couple of weeks. When you are sick, everything goes slower.

Airport HELL

2006-12-18T19:31:00.000-05:00

First, let me clarify that I am NOT speaking of the BWI airport, which was most accomodating, nor Ft. Lauderdale's airport which we also had no problem at.

However, when we flew out of Orlando's airport this morning, it was a nightmare I never would have anticipated. Lines and chaos seem to be the two most prized things in the airport. For out 11:10am flight back to BWI we arrived at the airport at 9:15 - almost two hours beforehand.

We got to the ticketing area and there were two lines - one from each entry way - both ending in the same spot. We waiting in one of these lines until we got to the front where an employee was listening to each person's situation and then directing them to the correct line. So, then we waited in a second line. (Ingenius system wouldn't you say?) By the time we finished checking in we became worried about time since James still hadn't returned the rental car. So, knowing security would take longer for Cecilia, the stroller, the car seat, the diaper bag, the camera bag and whoever had them, we decided to split up - James left to return the car while I pushed or carried Cecilia and all of the forementioned items on a cart to security. Oh if only the saga had ended there.

I waited in one line only to be told when I got to the front of it that my cart could not come through (at BWI they did permit the cart through and the only sign to tell me it was not permitted I later saw on the far right of security) and if I needed help I would have to go back to ticketing and ask for help there. So I got out of line, pulled over and put Cecilia and everything else either in or on the stroller or myself. So I was now pushing Cecilia in the stroller, my purse and the camera bag hanging one off each handle bar, all of our coats and her blanket and a towel draped over the stroller, the diaper bag on one shoulder and carrying the car seat with the one arm not pushing the stroller. I got back in line at security. After waiting in one line and nearing the front by only a few people, they closed that line and I had to get in another. I finally got to the front of that line where they checked my ID and our tickets and let us pass into a mob of people who were pushing for the next found of lines to get through the X-ray machines. Eventually, we got up to the counter on which to put everything. I put up the diaper bag, the car seat and the camera bag and my purse while I took off my shoes. I got a bin and places my shoes BESIDE the bin. A security employee commented that my shoes had to go through security on the belt - not in a bin and then took the bin. By now I was ready to lose it. I picked up the jackets and blanket and towel for which I had gotten the stupid bin in the first place and threw them on the counter. The employee wasn't even't paying attention and just pushed everything through on the belt. I finally got Cecilia out of the stroller but, not familiar with folding the stroller without shoes on, I couldn't do it. I had to set her and our IDs and tickets on the floor and she began crying. Finally, an employee saw me struggling, and came over to help with the stroller. She asked how to fold it, I explained, and she got another employee to fold it and put it through. While getting everything together after security was not too difficult, Cecilia was scared and crying hysterically. Having been surrounded by so many people and mommy struggling and going from out of the stroller to in to out to in I finally took her out and held her putting the car seat in the stroller.

Now, completely forget for a moment that we are in Hanukkah or that Christmas is a week away and this is a season to be kind and joyful and generous - ignoring all this, I was still a paying customer by myself with an infant struggling and it took until Cecilia broke down screaming on the floor before ANYONE - employee OR passanger helped me. And for the record, in the end I received far more help from other passangers than from employees.

P.S. - get this - while going through security at the BWI airport, the guard told me that it would be easier for them if I placed the ziplock bag with Cecilia's peaches and juice separate from the other things. So, in Orlando, I did this ... they never even checked them.

The Orlando airport has to be the slowest, stupidest, most idiot run airport when it comes to ticketing and security I have seen in years. And to think this is an airport that sees an especially high number of tourists with small children!

It will be a frozen day in Orlando before I ever fly out of there again.

The Birthday Meme

2006-12-11T07:56:00.000-05:00

The Rules:

1) Go to Wikipedia.
2) In the search box, type your birth month and day but not the year.
3) List three events that happened on your birthday.
4) List two important birthdays and one death.
5) One holiday or observance (if any).

3 Events:
1. 4004 BC - On the preceding eve of this day (in the proleptic Julian calendar), the universe was created, according to the archbishop James Ussher in what is now called the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar.
2. 1930 - The first miniature golf tournament was completed in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
3. 2001 - Apple Computer releases the first iPod.

2 Birthdays (and 2 for added fun):
1844 - Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (d. 1923)
1925 - Johnny Carson, American television host (d. 2005)
1942 - Michael Crichton, American writer
1959 - "Weird Al" Yankovic, American musical parodist

1 Death (plus 2 for fun):
42 BC - Marcus Junius Brutus, Roman senator (b. 85 BC)
Giovanni da Capistrano, Italian saint (b. 1386)
1950 - Al Jolson, American singer and actor (b. 1886)

Holiday/Observance:
R.C. Saints - Saint Giovanni da Capistrano; Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
Hungary - National Day (revolution of 1956 and the proclamation of the Republic of Hungary in 1989)
Astrology: First day of sun sign Scorpio in Western tropical astrology.
Chemistry: Mole Day

Another Hot Topic - Crying It Out

2006-12-08T08:58:00.000-05:00

A topic so controversial on mother message boards so as to be placed on their "Great Debate" boards along side Circumcision and Vaccination is whether or not to let a baby CIO or Cry it out.

Now, let me first say, that, at least for the purposes of this post, I am not speaking about when a parent is on the verge of losing it and prudently chooses to set the child down and walk away for a few minutes to regain control of themselves. In such a case, it is a prudent decision for the parent to do so so as to prevent any greater harm from coming to anyone even if it means the baby cries for a bit. I am also not speaking of an incrimental or gradual CIO method where the parent would leave the child and when the baby began crying, the parent returns to the baby, calms him and then leaves again.

I am speaking of when a parent makes sure as best as they can that there is nothing wrong with the baby and then leaves him in his crib and does not return even if the baby cries for over an hour. I've heard some parents let their infants cry for 3 hours or more, persistantly hoping the baby will just get the point, give up and go to sleep. I have heard mothers say that they use this method because their baby "deserves the opportunity to learn to sleep on their own."

Over the course of Cecilia's 10 months now, Cecilia has been anything but a great or easy sleeper. She has been attached to me since we brought her home, she fusses very easily, has been a very light sleeper making moving her almost impossible, has struggled greatly with teething, and indeed, has at times woken up 8 or more times a night. Indeed, it can be very tiring for her and me. I don't think I've ever had a Diet Coke with breakfast before simply to get the caffeine. Cecilia still sleeps in our bed, beside me. Some nights she is fantasic and will not wake more than once. Other nights it seems she is awake more than she is asleep. And more than one or two people have advised James and me to simply "let her cry."

It is however, a completly natural instinct to hold and comfort your child when they are crying. No parent should ever wish to see their child cry and, indeed, God has built us with an innate desire to wipe away all their tears. So it is reasonable that there should, indeed, be a very good reason, to simply ignore a baby's crying as well as our desire to calm that baby.

Personally, I cannot bring myself to do this for two reasons:
1. When God entrusts his innocent and completly dependent creation of a baby to me such that I become everything to that baby, yes, indeed, even becoming a representative of God to her and she is psychologically and intellectually incapable of intentionally trying to manipulate me but rather seeks only to fulfill her needs of nourishment and comfort, how can I morally and with justification ignore her cries? When we are sad or angry or in pain or lonely and we cry unto God, he is ALWAYS there. He never ignores us or abandons us or lets us wallow in sadness or pain so we can "have the opportunity to learn on our own," but rather he is always there guiding, comforting, enlightening, caressing, and wiping away our tears. As we are so gently and lovingly treated by Our Father, how could I justly choose not to strive to treat my daughter likewise?
2. Everyone, including her pediatrician, makes the defense, "they won't remember it." I grant you I don't know anyone who remembers such an event, but can anyone provide absolutely proof positive evidence that when a baby is left to cry and her whole world - her parents - ignores them, it has absolutely no negative consequences, especially psychologically? I am not saying there is proof positive evidence that it does cause harm, but without evidence to the contrary, shouldn't we always err on the side of caution?

I am certainly not saying not letting a baby CIO is easy. Heaven knows it isn't. There have been about 4 or 5 nights in the last two weeks where I have barely slept. But I simply cannot justify leaving Cecilia to CIO. I have been and will continue to work with her regarding her sleep (which has improved quite a bit I must say over the past month or so - The No Cry Sleep Solution has been helpful) but beyond that it is one more sacrifice my vocation calls me to make, as every vocation demands sacrifices.

I am certainly open to discussion on the topic, but I have explained my reasonings and would need those to be addressed before even considering such a course of action. Regarding any responses, please remember to be respectful and consider seriously my objections such that they be regarded in a thorough manner in any response. Thank you and God bless.

Santa, Part II

2006-12-03T10:08:00.000-05:00

It seems the Santa Question is a hot topic on more than one Catholic website or blog.

Here is Rod Dreher's Blog (he writes for the Dallas Morning News) where, if you scroll down, the debate continues.

So I just thought I'd expand a bit more on the topic from my perspective. Please feel free to comment below but do remember to be respectful.

There seem to be three approaches to Santa:
1. There is a man at the North Pole with flying reindeer and elves, etc. as real as you or I or the Incarnation is.
2. There is a myth of a man at the North Pole who symbolizes the spirit of Christmas or a characture of a real Saint that has been embellished but continues to capture the spirit of Christmas.
3. Santa who?
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Regarding Option 1, there have been several arguments made against it as well as several made in favor of it.
Favor:
1. It is a pleasure to believe in Santa not to be denied to a child.
2. It encourages fantasy and wonder.
3. It accents and emphasizes the Spirit of Generosity and of Christmas.

Against:
1. It is a lie and we should avoid lying to our children.
2. It distracts children from Christ - the reason for the season.
3. It isn't necessary to celebrate Christmas.

Now, I hardly think the whole thing to be a serious moral issue, so I would respect any parent's decision on the subject with regard to their own children. However, here are my comments on both arguments.
In Favor: 1. It may be a pleasure, but there are many pleasures in life. Pleasure by its very definition is enjoyable but is not a necessity nor a right. Many children and adults alike took pleasure in Christmas long before there was the modern version of Santa Claus. So, granted it is a pleasure, but not a necessary one, and the question becomes, is it a pleasure that is worth it? 2. I would certainly grant that it does encourage fantasy and wonder. So does the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. And Charlotte's Web and the Chronicles of Narnia and Bing Crosby's White Christmas and Harry Potter and playing dress up and having tea parties without real tea, Lincoln Logs, etc. ad nauseum. Santa certainly encourages fantasy and wonder, but so do many many things. So my question now becomes, is telling a child the myth of Santa is a reality worth the pleasure and the fantasy and wonder? 3. I think Santa CAN accent the Spirit of Christmas depending on how it is treated. Secular society shoves him down our throats proclaiming him the national mascot and representative of Christmas itself. By the same token, a family certainly can treat him in a way where he would accent the meaning of Christmas. But he isn't necessary in this capacity either. So my summary of my comments on the arguments in favor are, "Telling children the man at the north pole with the flying reindeer and elves is as real as you are does give pleasure, does encourage fantasy and wonder and can accent the spirit of giving, but at what price and is that price worth it?"

Against: 1. I am not going to debate if there are ever times it is okay to lie to our children, but I will say that to consider it I'd have to have a very good reason. Consider what happens when they find out I did lie. Some people are hurt. Some get angry. As for myself I felt like a gullible idiot for having believed it until I was in the 5th grade. Could a child resent their parent for having lied to them? I don't, but it is a possibility worth considering. Would they then doubt other things they have believed because this "reality" that they have held so long has turned out to be a lie? There are several risks in lying to children. Are those risks worth their pleasure and a source of fantasy for them? Depending on the parents, the family, the children and how the whole thing is handled, some might say yes, some no. 2. The reason Christmas exists at all is quite simply that the Almighty and Most Merciful God humbled Himself to become human and was born to save humanity from sin. Does Santa detract from this amazing reason to celebrate? Personally, for me, I believe it did. I don't remember any of my Christmas masses growing up. I remember wanting stuff. I remember going through the entire Pennys catalogue and writing out over 2 pages on a yellow legal pad stuff I wanted from it. In my naivite, I simply figured since Santa didn't need cash, I could ask for as much as I wanted. It was very easy to focus on stuff I wanted rather than sitting through Church for an extra long mass. Now as an adult, I see secular society working all the harder to force the Stuff angle to be all the easier and easier to fall in to. This argument really is the most crucial, for, if anyone is distracted away from Jesus at Christmas, then the entire celebration is hollow. To tell a child that Santa with his reindeer and elves is just as real as the birth of Christ is to put them both on the same level of truth as they share the same holiday. For me, this is the critical point, for I would see no pleasure, no source of fantasy or wonder, no risk to faith or trust and no accent to the spirit of the season as being worth even risking (no less putting another subject on the same level of view) the failure to gaze in relentless joy at the Christ Child and celebrate His birth and the source of our redemption. 3. I think I've already commented enough above to simply state that Santa is not a necessity but a luxury that I don't believe to be worth the cost when he is treated as a complete reality.
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Regarding Option 2:
Santa, as I stated in my previous post, is originally based on a Catholic Saint - St. Nicholas. And, as my previous post stated, I have no objection to Santa Claus as a symbol of a truth and as an embellishment of St. Nicholas, provided children know that it is a myth and a symbol and an embellishment and are not really told that there is in truth a chubby guy at the north pole with flying reindeer and elves. In this manner, the objection regarding lying ceases to exist, Santa is not placed as a reality along side Jesus but rather, as simply a reflection of the Spirit of Christmas, directs our focus not at himself, but directly at Christ, removing the second objection. In this way, he can still provide pleasure and a sense of fantasy even while the children know it to be a fantasy and truly highlight and accent the spirit of Christmas.
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Regarding Option 3:
I suppose circumstances could one day arise such that I would consider completly erasing Santa (not St. Nicholas) but I cannot say I am in them now, don't see them arising anytime soon, and, indeed, am not even sure what they would be.

I hope this post has further elucidated my thoughts on the Santa argument which seems to be a bit of a hot topic in some areas. I would certainly respect other parent's making any of the three options above and I would likewise expect them to respect our choice. As I said above, I'm certainly open to comments or discussion on the subject, but I am not sure how much more I can say on the subject. If anyone should choose to comment, please remember to be respectful. To not be so would not only be rude, it would hurt any argument you would make. God Bless and Blessed Advent!

Since when is being a flirt a good thing?

2006-12-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

I am certainly open to comments on this, but I am wondering when and where it became a compliment to refer to someone as a flirt?

Last night, James, Cecilia and I went to dinner with Cecilia's Godparents, Kristen and Andy. We went to a local, family run restaurant - a very nice quaint place. Cecilia, true to herself, from her high chair began waving and smiling at anyone and everyone within range. She loves to wave at people - at Church, any store, and yes, in restaurants as well and she loves when they wave back.

Well, she waved at 3 or 4 tables near us and most people simply waved back and smiled. A couple asked how old she was and what her name was. She simply likes interacting with people and is a very friendly baby provided no one tries to hold her.

One man, at one table with another woman who I assumed to be his wife and two young girls (about 12 and 14) I assumed to be his daughters, to whom she waved and smiled responded by waving back and pointing back in what seemed to be a very friendly manner. And then he began to call her a flirt and tell me that my daughter was "a little flirt." Now he may very well have simply meant to be cute or funny, but I must say I took offense. Not only is the sheer idea of a girl as little as she is flirting with a grown man with his wife and daughters disturbing, but it is hardly a compliment in my book to tell me my daughter is a flirt. If anyone told me that about my teenage daughter and I found it to be true she and I would have to have a little talk.

Perhaps I am simply old-fashioned but I was neither amused nor flattered by such a comment.

The Santa Question

2006-11-28T19:46:00.000-05:00

As Christmas approaches James and I have discussed at length the question of whether or not to tell Cecilia there is a Santa Claus, North Pole, flying Reindeer, elves, etc.

The brief answer is no, we are not going to pretend there is a Santa, for Cecilia or any of our children.

Here are our reasons why...

Saint Nicholas was a 4th century bishop who was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so they could marry. His feast day is December 6th. St. Nicholas became the origin for the myth that flourished in the form of a jolly and generous red-suited and white-bearded man who gave gifts in celebration of the Incarnation, that is, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I must say, not a bad foundation for such a myth. Basically though, Santa became a symbol for the charitable joy we all should demonstrate at the birth of our Savior. It is for this reason, that we have nothing whatsoever against the myth of Santa in and of itself.

However...

We cannot ignore the violent assault waged against Christ and his birth at Christmas by the ACLU, retailers and many politicians who want to makes millions of dollars in Christmas sales and have "holiday" parties but make it illegal to have a nativity within public view. Meanwhile, it has become socially acceptable to replace the nativity with a Santa Claus as a Christian symbol of Christmas making Santa not a heart-warming symbol of the spirit of Christmas but rather a replacement for the whole reason for Christmas - Jesus Christ.

Hence, while we both enjoy Bing Crosby's Santa Claus is Coming to Town and I enjoy wearing a Santa hat, since outside our home there is little we can do to stop the deletion of Christ from Christmas and the obsession with Santa as a replacement for Jesus, we intend to keep our home Christ-centered throughout Advent and the Christmas season and this means Cecilia and any brothers or sisters she may have will grow up knowing Santa Claus as no more than a warm-hearted symbol for the generous giving of God in his gift of his only Son on Christmas Day.

Tepeyac Center Award

2006-11-17T14:03:00.000-05:00

You may recall Cecilia was delivered by the doctors of the Tepeyac Center. There recently was an article in the Arlington Catholic Herald about them and their fundraising Gala. You can read the whole thing here:

http://www.catholicherald.com/articles/06articles/divinemercy.htm

Here is one exceptionally nice snippit (recall Susan Torres was the young woman who entered a coma but her family and doctors kept her alive to try to save her unborn daughter. James and I also worked with her and her husband at UD):

The emotional highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Susan M. Torres Award. This award is given to a TFC patient “who has lived out the Gospel of Life and mystery of suffering in her own medical experience.” The award is named in honor of Susan M. Torres, a young mother who died while comatose in 2005 as she attempted to bring her child to viability.
Anderson presented this year’s award to Kirstin and Matt Page of Olney, Md.
“The medical staff of TFC unanimously chose Kirstin for this award because of her courageous fight for the life of her child against insurmountable odds,” Anderson said.
“At 13 weeks of pregnancy, Kirstin prematurely ruptured her membranes and lost her amniotic fluid. She failed to reseal and continued to leak throughout the rest of her pregnancy.
“Since very few babies survive this grave medical condition, several doctors recommended abortion,” Anderson said. “One even wrote in her medical record that her child had a ‘zero percent chance of viability.’”
But the Pages never gave up hope. Instead, they came to TFC where the staff carefully watched Kirstin for signs of infection and hospitalized her for the last five weeks of her pregnancy.
The birth of Joseph Page on Oct. 2 was truly a “one in a million medical phenomenon,” Anderson said. “He took a breath of air into lungs that were not expected to develop and let out his first cry.” Joseph is almost six weeks old now and is expected to go home from the hospital next week.

By the Light of the Moon

2006-11-11T06:12:00.000-05:00

Well, I finished Koontz's By the Light of the Moon. I must say overall I did not like it and do not recommend it. It had some good themes and points but overall was just too bazaar and seemed random at parts. Here was my favorite part though:

"I love the natural world, it's what I paint. You see perfection everywhere in nature. The perfect efficiency of bees in the hive. The perfect organization of an anthill, a termite colony. But what makes humanity beautiful is our free will, our infividuality, our endless striving in spite of our imperfection."
"Beautiful...and terrifying," she suggested.
"Oh, it's a tragic beauty, all right, but that's what makes it so different from the beauty of nature, and in its own way precious. There's no tragedy in nature, only process--and therefore no triumph, either."

There are a few moments like this in the book, this being my favorite, but I just think the plot is too chaotic and wierd such that, in the end, I only really cared about one of the characters - Shepherd, the autistic one.

Anyway, I'm moving on to St. Catherine of Siena's Dialogue, which I must say so far is wonderful and fascinating. It is written as a dialogue between "she" (St. Catherine refers to herself in 3rd person) and God the Father.

Books!

2006-11-09T15:20:00.000-05:00

Well, a couple of weeks ago I saw a Biography on Linda Blair, which made me curious about the book The Exorcist. So I read it. Then I rewatched the film. The film is pleasantly very close to the book. Having read a few books on exorcism, I'm not sure how accurate the work of fiction would be of an actual exorcism, but it has other points to make. Not the least of these points seems to be how for many modern people, it is easier to believe that a person could have a form of schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder (about which the book claims doctors know almost nothing about) along with hysteria exhibiting evidence of guilt-driven self-punishment, hallucinations, ESP, telekensis (moving things with only the mind) and super human strength all rolled into one individual rather than the possibility that a demon could possess a person. I don't know why the first option with its many questions, would be easier to believe, but I don't doubt for many it would.

I am on to new books. I'm speedily working through a Dean Koontz book titled By the Light of the Moon. So far it is okay. I enjoyed my only previous reading of his work, The Face, much more I think, but I'll hold final opinions until I finish the book, which I expect to be within the next week as I am already half way through it. Upon completion I will then dive into St. Catherine's Dialogue for something a bit brighter.

Signs of the Times

2006-10-24T18:57:00.000-04:00

Today at lunch the waitress was admiring Cecilia and asked if she was my first child. Then she turned to James and asked him if he was her first as well.

:Sigh:

My thoughts on N. Korea, Iran, etc.

2006-10-22T18:57:00.000-04:00

The Wolves and the Sheep

After the Wolves and Sheep had been at war
Some thousand years, or maybe more,
At last on terms of peace they hit
By which both parties seemed to benefit;
For if the Wolves ate each stray sheep they found,
Each Shepherd in a slain wolf's skin was gown'd;
And neither side could seek their diet,
Of grass or flesh, in peace and quiet,
Or of their goods have any calm fruition,
So peace was signed and hostages exchanged,
The Sheep-dogs for the Cubs; the whole arranged
By an Extraordinary High Commission
In strict accordance with tradition.
As time went on, the Whelps grew large and bold,
Each one by now a full-sized glutton
With a developed taste for mutton;
And when one day the Shepherds left the fold,
Choosing their moment with exactitude
In privy concert with their sires and dams,
They throttled half the fattest Lambs,
And bore them 'twixt their jaws into the wood.
Meanwhile the old Wolves fell upon the Dogs,
Who in their blind trust lay asleep like logs,
And scuppered the whole pack in one eye-twinkling:
All were mincemeat before they had an inkling.

Compound not with the wicked - there's my moral.
With such, the wise man has a truceless quarrel.
Peace in itself is a good thing, I know,
But not with a perfidious foe.

By Jean de la Fontaine

Whistle Down the Wind

2006-10-19T08:13:00.000-04:00

Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the music for a musical called Whistle Down the Wind. I have never seen it. It is actually one of the six shows of his I have not seen. (He has composed 16.) I am quite familiar with its soundtrack however and was curious about the book it was based on, Whistle Down the Wind by Mary Hayley Bell. Mary Hayley Bell is actually the mother of the well-known Hayley Mills. My mom bought a copy for me as they are not easy to find. It is actually a hard cover first edition. I'm going to see if I can get someone to remove the crayon marks and typical wear from library usage.

It is only 175 pages and is basically a children's book. I would not say it is for small children as the narrator likes to use the word "hell" a number of times but perhaps a 10 year old or so would enjoy it.

It is simply a story of a group of children, three primary ones strangely named Swallow, Brat and Poor Baby (they are all really named after birds with Swallow being the only one to use her birth name), who find a strange man and they believe him to be Jesus. With a high fever, the man says the name "Jesus" when asked who he is while looking around the barn. He bears a hole through each foot and even quotes the bible. The children are convinced that he has returned to earth and they must care for him. It is soon discovered that all the adults are on the lookout for a convicted felon who is on the run and, as an adult reader, it becomes obvious that the man is in fact the convict. But through the man's kindness, the children still believe him to be Jesus.

In the end, it really doesn't matter that he most likely is not, in fact, Jesus. There is more than one moral to the story. First, every life must always have purpose and the greatest purpose is in caring for each other. Second, with the faith of a child we can see Jesus in others. Third, you have to have faith - faith in miracles, faith in the impossible, faith in each other - and hope in God.

It is a children's story every child and adult should read. (Now if only one could find a copy!)

Baking

2006-10-09T07:32:00.000-04:00

Well, I had made two cakes for our Church's Fall Festival weekend. It has been a while since I baked and I missed it but dieting doesn't allow a whole lot of room for baked goods, especially when there are only two of you to eat it. So our Church's festival provided an opportunity for me to have some fun without having to eat it! Here is one of my cakes (the other's picture had trouble showing up, but it was the same thing but chocolate):

Why the Bumble Bee? Our Church's name is a saint that begins with the letter B, so it is often referred to as St. B's. In fact the icon often used for it is a bumble bee. The candycorn just seemed like a fun idea.

Never Broadcast Christianity

2006-10-08T17:50:00.000-04:00

As you may or may not know, we have been fans of Veggietales for quite some time. And as I play them for Cecilia, she is growing quite fond of them herself. She will actually bounce up and down when she sees their theme song come on. Veggietales believe:

The same media, used responsibly, can have an equally positive impact
The best way to improve people's lives is to promote biblical values and encourage spiritual growth

Our Core Values:
Personal and corporate integrity
Creative excellence and design innovation in all we do
The prioritization of people over products and profits

Our Core Purpose:
To markedly enhance the moral and spiritual fabric of our society through creative media

At the end of the summer, it became known that the fun, funny and loveable veggies would be airing on NBC. However, they are being aired without their references to God. NBC required that the dreaded "G-word" be removed in order for the shows to be aired. They also refuse to air the Bible verse always found at the end of every episode. NBC claims this is so as not to offend viewers.

And yet...

NBC did not hesitate to air a segment on their Saturday Night Live spoofing Veggietales where a cucumber dressed as a priest resigns as he admits to molesting several gerkins. Of course that wouldn't offend anyone right? Everyone would just think that was funny right? Seems to me NBC should be renamed to stand for the Never Broadcast Christianity channel!

Open Cold Season

2006-10-07T07:24:00.000-04:00

Well, James came down with a nasty cold last Monday. Thursday night it hit me. I spent yesterday feeling like Cecilia was sitting on my head and my chest at the same time. Ugh. Our hope at this point is that Cecilia won't get it or if she does, she gets a milder form. So far the most we have noticed is a slight congestion in her nose when she is breathing at night but nothing more than that and she is as happy as usual. This is the first time I've been sick this year. Hopefully it will pass swiftly for all of us, but I was hoping Cecilia wouldn't get her first cold until after she was a year old.

If Jesus Came to Your Local Sports Arena

2006-10-04T08:11:00.000-04:00

Cecilia and I went to mass this morning and I had to wonder something as I looked at the people there for mass.

If it was announced that Jesus would be coming to your local sports arena and making a personal appearance there. Tickets were completely free and seating was on a first come first serve basis. Given this scenerio, and if you were to come, would you opt to sit in the nose-bleed seats?!?! So, why at mass do so many people choose to sit in the back or the corners or so far away from the altar when there are plenty of open seats near to the front and Jesus Himself will be there? I know I'd want to be as close as possible and do sit half-way up the pews even though I know I will probably end up having to get up and walk Cecilia around the back of the Church for a while.

I suppose the same scenerio would also give rise to the question of why more people aren't at daily mass, but there could be many reasons for that so I'm not going to go there.

It just seems to me that if people really reflected on what happened at mass a lot more of them would sit a lot closer.

The Weekend

2006-10-02T09:46:00.000-04:00

Well, James, Cecilia and I all went up to New York this weekend. A friend of mine and her husband were baptizing their new baby girl, Therese Marie, and after missing the baby shower I had to go to the Baptism! Overall the trip went quite well. The drive up was smooth with Cecilia sleeping 2 1/2 hours of the 4 1/2 hour drive. Unfortunately, having to eat off the NJ turnpike my diet died this weekend, but hopefully I can kick it back into gear this week. But Saturday afternoon Therese and Cecilia had their first play date which mostly consisted of Cecilia trying to pull off Therese's stockings and then eating Cheerios on the floor while Therese nursed and slept but they did get a little time to say "Hello" and hold hands and see each other. Considering Therese is only 6 1/2 weeks old and Cecilia is 8 months (35 weeks), it went quite well.

We did manage to keep Cecilia's bedtime before 9pm both nights (she is used to between 8 and 8:39 so the difference wasn't much). Unfortunately Cecilia's nights did get worse, I think, primarily due to sleeping in strange places and circumstances, etc. The Church was not located in my favorite part of town - the Bronx (I like their zoo but don't care to wander much) - but it was an absolutely beautiful Church with elaborate stained glass, paintings of the saints on the walls and ceiling and a beautiful altar.

The Baptism went well being said in Latin but poor Therese cried almost the whole time. Cecilia felt for her little friend and became quite fussy herself.

The drive home went well in that Cecilia slept through all of New Jersey but in Delaware we ran into slow traffic so it was good we left when we did. It was a wonderful weekend.

New Computer

2006-09-28T08:57:00.000-04:00

Yipee! I got my new computer last week! A computer that works ... well, ... like a computer! The screen isn't pink and the F key actually types Fs!!! And it hasn't randomly shut down on me!

In Memoriam

2006-09-22T08:38:00.000-04:00

One year ago today I lost a dear friend

Sometimes when I am driving I will mistake my jingling keys for his collar

He would have loved our recent Autumn weather and my walks with Cecilia.

Although he left far too soon and before Cecilia was born, he guarded her before birth. He would have loved to play with her now and she would have loved to pet him and grab those soft golden ears.

One year later, I can't forget him and still miss him.

Is EVERYTHING Business now?

2006-09-19T11:42:00.000-04:00

I spoke to my mom for a half hour or so this morning. She is doing well. She can walk down a hall and eat but she is still in pain and her stomach is very sensitive.

She recalled to me her transfer from the hospial to the facility where she will receive physical therapy for the next 5 days or so. She could have been transferred by wheelchair to my dad's car and he driven her but it was thought better to have her moved by stretcher and driven by ambulance. In hindsight, the car would probably have been better.

The EMTs were a couple of young men and they brought the stretcher up to her room. She gently shifted herself onto the stretcher and then, without proper care, the young men lifted up the side railings of the stretcher. My mom had not properly centered herself first and the side railing went into her incision. Needless to say, the tears just began falling. Whose wouldn't?

Now, after wheeling her down to the ambulance, she asked them what route they were taking to the facility. Now the quickest and easiest route from the hospital to the facility was to head south and then directly west and it would have been a flat 4 miles taking about 10 minutes. Instead, they drove north, then west passing the facility, then heading south and then east driving 5.5 miles and taking at least 20-30 minutes depending on traffic. My dad left the hospital after the ambulance left with my mom (he went back up stairs to get the rest of her stuff) and he arrived at the facility and was waiting 10 minutes before she got there!

Now, I suppose one could try the excuse that these two young men just had no clue where they were going, but after my mom told them in the ambulance which ways they should take and argued with them about how they were taking the longest route possible, upon arriving, she heard one of them tell the other, "5.5."

Is anything not just a business now? These young men drove the longest possible route (without looking like they were completely lost) with complete disregard for my mom in pain in a bumpy ambulance so they could collect more miles. I suppose it is more disturbing than all the doctors and pharmacutical companies who push every drug on patients regardless of possible negative effects. But I for one find it sick and appauling that these two young men could hear and see my mom in pain in the ambulance while she is telling them to go a shorter route and they go a longer one, causing her more pain, soley so they will get more $$$.

Unfortunately, in a society where unborn children are mercilessly slaughtered, the family degraded and disregarded, and drugs more imporatant than health, we can only expect to see more of this type of behavior where no person is regarded higher than the almighty dollar.

Personal Reflections on Islam

2006-09-15T16:22:00.000-04:00

Okay, I know just in typing this I will have many people upset at me but it is something I've wanted to type for a while now.

Everyone has probably heard about the Pope offending Muslims, unintentionally of course.

Now, if someone came up to me and said, "overeating makes you fat," why in the world would I react in rage to their comment by pigging out? It makes no sense unless I am not a human being functioning on a rational level but simply responding on my emotions in a tantrum-like manner to something I did not like.

So, the Pope tries to make the point that religious beliefs are never an excuse for violence and what happens? Muslims react enraged with violence.

Personally I see this as evidence of my personal belief regarding Islam for a while now. Now, let me be clear...
I DO NOT BELIEVE EVERY MUSLIM IS EVIL.
I DO NOT BELIEVE ISLAM ITSELF IS EVIL.
I DO BELIEVE THAT ISLAM HAS A NATURAL PROPENSITY TOWARDS EVIL.

I hope those are clear to avoid misconception. I've known people who were very nice, not terrorists in the slightest, and were indeed proud to be Muslims. I am NOT speaking about them or any like them. However, given history and recent political events, I have come to believe that Islam has a natural tendency to being interpreted and used for evil and recent headlines support my belief.

I find it childishly absurd that Muslims react so violently to any "insult" even if it happens to be true. I've never heard of a people being so sensitive as to throw violent tantrums because someone disagreed with them.

And this is not only true of the fanatical terrorists, either, as the media demonstrates - it is quite a number of Muslims.

I sincerely hope the Pope does not apologize simply because HE DID NOTHING WRONG! He quoted a historical fact for the purpose of demonstrating a personal and Catholic belief - that religion never be used to justify violence.

It would appear that it is a Muslim belief that if anyone says or does anything to offend you, then you are justified in getting angry to the point of burning, exploding, igniting, shooting, etc. until you feel vindicated. And it does not appear that this belief is held only by Osama Bin Laden and his cronies but by a fair amount if not all of the Muslim world. And such a belief is, indeed, evil. Hence my belief that Islam has a natual propensity towards evil.

I don't know about you, but I know which religion I prefer to hold.

Prayer Request

2006-09-15T16:13:00.000-04:00

Please keep my mother in your prayers as she recovers from hip surgery. The surgery went well but it will be a long, slow and painful recovery.

Also please keep a friend, C., in prayer as she will be having neck surgery Sept. 27th.

Thank you.

Crapola in a Box

2006-09-13T15:47:00.000-04:00

Cecilia and I were walking around the Columbia mall today since it was raining outside and we browsed the KBToystore. I saw a toy that seemed to resemble a toy my brothers and I had when we were young. The one we had was a long rectangular toy with 4 different doors on top and four different devices along the front, one for each door. The devices, when activated either by pushing, turning, flipping, etc., popped open the door on top and a small head of Mickey or Elmo or some other character popped up. The toy I saw today did not have any well-known characters but the idea was the same - four different devices to open four different doors. Curious, I activated all four doors but was surprised when I saw that the four heads that popped up were bobble heads, the springs of which I could see along their "necks." I thought, "geez, my daughter would open each door and make a beeline for heads and pull those things off in no time."

It seems that many of the toys companies push on little children nowadays are basically cheap crap not intended to last very long but always costs too much. I don't mind buying toys, but I at least want them to be of such quality as to last through at least a few children. I'm not saying all modern toys are crapola in a box, but it seems to me that the toy stores push quite number of them.

In Memoriam

2006-09-11T08:21:00.000-04:00

On September 11, 2001, 2996 people were brutally murdered by Islamic fanaticals in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. Please take a moment today to pray for all those who died, all who lost loved ones and the capture and justice of Osama Bin Laden.

May the souls of the faithfully departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

Sexualizing Six Year Olds!

2006-09-10T09:17:00.000-04:00

The Drudge Report had this article linked to their website: Retailers Peddle Padded Bras for Girls.

Upon looking at the story I was disgusted to read that some stores are actually selling PADDED BRAs for girls as young as SIX years old! Now, even if you disregard the plague of pedophilia and child pornography in this world, to allow a child to wear such clothing naturally inclines anyone to regard them more as sexual beings or even sexual objects, including themselves.

When asked about this, one distributor replied:
"The idea of the padding is for girls to be discreet as they develop," a spokeswoman said.

"It is more about hiding what you have got than showing it off. It is certainly not there to make children look like they have breasts."

Since when do 6,7,8,9,or 10 year olds need padding to "hide what they've got?" Furthermore, since when do 6-10 year olds have anything to hide? Target also defended the products.

It amazes me how some adults seem to think the best way to treat children is to completely ignore their childhood and fast forward through any innocence and push them straight into adulthood. Absolutely Shameful!

The Dangers of Day Care

2006-09-09T09:19:00.000-04:00

I visit a message board occassionally and this morning there was a message that a baby born in August of 2005 had died:

"katie is now in heaven died sept 6th she was the smartest and most beautiful little girl in the world she was a very happy and enegetic baby who had just begun to walk i dont understand why she died i dropped her off at daycare and was called 7 hours later to be told she had stopped breathing she had gone down for a nap to never be awoken im so mad and upset an cant stop crying this was the first time she was in daycare in her life and had only been their for a week and half and never took a bottle well since she was breastfed but they didnt bother checking on her for almost 3-4 hours from what the sheriff said their doing a full investigation i just cant imagine everyday is going to be with out her she is survived by her big brother whos only 2 and 1/2 and mommy"

I can't imagine what Katie's mom is going through. But it is stories like hers and like this one that make me refuse to ever put any child of mine in any day care. I'm not saying accidents can't happen at home or with a child's parent or that SIDS cannot stike at any time or place. But how much more attentive would a parent be to his or her own children rather than a complete stranger who simply gets paid to. For a parent's own child, there is so much more invested than any amount of $$$. A parent invests not only time, money, energy, effort, etc. in his or her own child but also a part of himself or herself. Just as there is no way any day care provider could take the place of a parent to that baby, there is no way any day care provider could care for that child the way its own parent could.

I'm not blaming parents who do use day care. There are circumstances when it may very well be necessary. However, personally, if was merely a matter of dollars and cents, no amount could outweigh the risk of something like this happening to one of my own children. No amount could be worth it.

Marriage as Witness

2006-09-03T16:53:00.000-04:00

His Holiness on Marriage as Witness:

I think we priests can learn from married couples, from their suffering and sacrifice. Often we think that only celibacy is sacrifice. But in getting to learn the sacrifices of married persons - think of raising children, the problems that arise from that, the fears, the suffering, the ailments, rebelliousness, or just think of the first years of having children, with sleepless nights attending to crying babies - there is much we can learn from their sacrifices, and our own sacrifices.

Together with them we can learn how beautiful it is to mature in suffering and to work for the sake of others. Don Pennazza, you have cited the Vatican Council which affirmed that Matrimony is a sacrament to save others - above all, this means, to save the other, the spouse, husband or wife, but also the children and ultimately, the community. Even we priests are able to mature in our encounters with our married parishioners.

Weekend Six

2006-09-03T15:09:00.000-04:00

From Patrick's The Weekender

1. What was the last charity you donated something to? How long ago did you make your last donation?

Actually, ironically enough, it was the Tepeyac Family Center. Last month. (I didn't count our parish church as that is a weekly given.)

2. Describe the worst weather event/national disaster that you experienced firsthand.

Well, I think in terms of an overall event it had to be Hurricane Andrew, but Hurricane Frances was a peach too.

3. Did the experience you just described change you in any way, (or if you've never experienced such an event firsthand, do you think it would change you significantly)?

It taught me how to be properly prepared and handle such events and gave me one more reason I prefer to live further north.

4. Take the quiz: What subjects should you have studied in school?

Your Learning Style: Unconventional and Insightful

You are very intuitive and ingenious. You're attracted to any field of study that lets you break the rules.

You Should Study:

Art
Art history
Architecture
Comparative religions
Eastern religion
Education
Music
Philosophy

What Should You Study?

5. Did you actually study or major in any of the courses suggested by the quiz?

Yep, my major as an undergrad was Philosophy. I also took courses in Education, Theology, Art and Architecture.

6. What's your current screen saver? How long have you had it, and what do you like best about it?

It is a simple Windows one that I update monthly that says "Cecilia is 7 Months Old!" and it rotates around.

Washington Post Article on Tepeyac Center

2006-09-01T07:36:00.000-04:00

An article appeared in the Washington Post yesterday on medical offices blending health and faith.

The OB/GYN office mentioned in the article, the Tepeyac Family Center, is where my OB/GYN practices. In fact it was Dr. Fisk at Tepeyac who delivered Cecilia.

Here was my letter:

Mr. Stein,

I read your article on washingtonpost.com and would like to comment. I am a patient of Tepeyac Family Center and greatly enjoyed all my visits there last year and earlier this year during my first pregnancy and have continued to be grateful to them for a wonderful delivery of my daughter last January. But I’d like to explain why I sought them out as my doctors.

Several years ago, when I was away at college, I sought out a local doctor because my throat was bothering me and, due to a history of being very susceptible to strep throat, I wanted to get it checked. Even though I was only going there for a throat ailment, the doctor tried to put me on birth control pills. I declined because I don’t believe in contraception but the doctor persisted on encouraging me to get them. I never went back. A couple of years later I went to a doctor for an illness and the subject came up that I had just gotten engaged. The doctor asked if I was on any contraception and when I said no, she simply said, “well we will get you on some.” Not only did the doctor not ask me if I wanted contraception, she arrogantly assumed I would not want children once I got married. I have even had my endocrinologist, whose only concern should have been my thyroid gland, encourage me to get on the pill.

I would like to point out that while your article mentions the concern that medical centers combining health and faith do not inform the patients of all their options, I have never once had a doctor try to push the pill or some other form of contraception on me and also mention Natural Family Planning. Not once did any of the three doctors I referred to above mention NFP as an option and I have to wonder how many doctors out there do. While I am sorry some patients feel “rubbed the wrong way” or “judged” by such practices as Tepeyac’s, there are, unfortunately, just as many who have felt the same way by doctors who do push contraceptives.

Doctors who encourage patients to take contraception or have abortions believe these things are okay or good. Doctors who don’t pray for or with their patients believe prayer isn’t necessary or doesn’t help. Every doctor practices according to what he or she believes. If a patient believes contraception is a good thing and they want to be on it, they should go to a doctor who believes likewise. I go to a doctor who believes as I do that contraception and abortion are anything but good and it is important that such doctors continue to practice their beliefs for those like me.

Sincerely,

Katherine

Thanks!

2006-08-29T09:28:00.000-04:00

I've been Blogrolled at Elige Ergo Vitam! Thanks Nate!

Monday Meme and If You Could Meet Five People...

2006-08-29T09:03:00.000-04:00

I saw these on Nate's blog and thought they would be fun...

1. Do you do dishes by hand or do you use a dishwasher?

Dishwasher unless they can't handle it.

2. How many people have your cell phone number?

About a dozen, not a whole lot.

3. Do you shower in the morning or at night?

At night. There is no way to do it in the morning with an infant and I like getting into bed clean.

4. Do you ever have a song 'stuck' in your head?

Sometimes. I've even woken up from Cecilia at 3am with a song stuck in my head. (I hated a Pizza Hut commercial for a while because of that!)

5. Do you pay your bills when they arrive, or do you wait until closer to the due date to pay them?

I don't do the bills, James does.

6. Are you obsessive about anything in particular?

I'm obsessive about turn signals and using proper English.

7. What one thing would you say you have a zero tolerance for?

Persistent and continuous Stupidity!

If You Could Meet Five People...

"If you could meet and have a deep conversation with any five people on earth, living or dead, from any time period, who would they be?" (Explaining why is optional).

Name five people from each of the following categories:

Five Saints:

1. St. Michael the Archangel

2. St. Catherine of Siena

3. St. Mary

4. St. Joseph

5. St. Bernadette

Five in the Process of Being Canonized:

1. Pope John Paul II

2. Bishop Fulton Sheen

3. Ven. Pope Pius XII

4. I can't think

5. of any more.

Five Heroes from Your Native Country:

1. Harriet Tubman

2. Abraham Lincoln

3. John and Abigail Adams

4. Thomas Jefferson

5. John Muir

Five Authors/Writers:

1. C.S. Lewis

2. J.R.R. Tolkien

3. Jane Austen

4. William Shakespeare

5. A. A. Milne

Five Celebrities:

1. Celine Dion

2. Billy Joel

3. Sandra Bullock

4. Michael Crawford

5. Mel Gibson

NBC Sensitivity Crashes

2006-08-28T09:27:00.000-04:00

If anyone watched the Emmys last night, there was a intro parady of the series Lost which featered a plane crash. NBC decided to air this intro even though there was a tragic plane crash in Kentucky at 6:30 that morning in which 49 out of 50 people died.

Many people are stunned and offended that NBC would be so insensitive to air such a clip on such a day.

Personally I hardly find it surprising. After all, why should it be surprising? When it comes to television, hollywood and the media in general, God is not sacred, religion or Churches are not sacred, human body parts are not respected, unborn children are disregarded, marriage is degraded, ad nauseum. If the fundamentals of life such as marriage, children, faith and sexuality are not respected and regarded with some dignity, why should anyone expect the industry to suddenly regard the deaths of people in a tragic accident with any respect or integrity? Anyone who thinks that this industry such as it has been would find anything beyond the almight $$$ sacred has not been paying attention.

My sincere condolences to all those who lost loved ones in the Kentucky plane crash. God be with you.

The Benefits of Children

2006-08-23T09:33:00.000-04:00

Fanny emailed this to me this morning....it was too good not to post...

The Price of Children

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich." Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
* going to Disney movies, and
* wishing on stars.
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, So one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren. It's priceless!!!!!!!

Bush Betrays Pro-Lifers?

2006-08-22T08:38:00.000-04:00

Q Thank you very much. Mr. President, some pro-life groups are worried that your choice of FDA Commissioner will approve over the counter sales of Plan B, a pill that, they say, essentially can cause early-term abortions. Do you stand by this choice, and how do you feel about Plan B in general?

THE PRESIDENT: I believe that Plan B ought to be -- ought to require a prescription for minors, is what I believe. And I support Andy's decision.

So what exactly is Plan B?

"Plan B is emergency contraception, a backup method to birth control. It is in the form of two levonorgestrel pills (0.75 mg in each pill) that are taken by mouth after unprotected sex. Levonorgestrel is a synthetic hormone used in birth control pills for over 35 years. Plan B can reduce a woman’s risk of pregnancy when taken as directed if she has had unprotected sex. Plan B contains only progestin, levonorgestrel, a synthetic hormone used in birth control pills for over 35 years. It is currently available only by prescription."

So basically it is a contraceptive device. Except.....

"Plan B works like other birth control pills to prevent pregnancy. Plan B acts primarily by stopping the release of an egg from the ovary (ovulation). It may prevent the union of sperm and egg (fertilization). If fertilization does occur, Plan B may prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the womb (implantation). If a fertilized egg is implanted prior to taking Plan B, Plan B will not work."[emphasis mine]

So it isn't quite so simple after all.

Neighbor Update

2006-08-20T17:28:00.000-04:00

Well, I regret to say my neighbor continues to confirm my concerns regarding her.

Yesterday she came by asking for $10-20 to buy the children food and snacks for camp. She got government support to buy food for the month last weekend. How in the heck did she go through them all already!?!? She even mentioned she had her mother and sister downstairs, as if to add how many mouths she had to feed.

I told her quite honestly that neither James nor I had any cash on hand. She didn't seem to mind my answer and left. I hate to think so, but I now fear our neighbor is completely incapable of running her household in any way but efficiently.

I did however pick up 10 packages of Ramen Noodles (5 beef flavor and 5 chicken flavor) for a total with tax of $1.05 for the next time she comes by and says she needs money to feed her children.

Valley of the Tramps

2006-08-18T14:30:00.000-04:00

James and I took Cecilia to lunch today and wanted to visit a nearby store so Cecilia could get out of her carseat and we could walk a bit (in air conditioning). We decided to go to ToysRUs since we are also browsing toys that might aid her in practicing walking. She already crawls like crazy, pulls herself into a standing position almost anywhere, and even cruises a wee bit.

While we were there we also browsed the Dolls section just to see what was being sold in the area of dolls for future reference. We were mildly amused and thoroughly appauled to discover Barbie has turned into a mother's worst nightmare. There is now the "My Bling Bling" collection by Mattel including Madison, Chelsea, Nolee, and, of course, Barbie. Now in addition to the waist Scarlet O'Hara would envy and feet only larger than my six month old daughter's and a C cup chest, little girls can play with dolls wearing knee-high go-go boots, miniskirts that couldn't fit on your thumb, and tube tops or other such tops that barely cover anything. (Of course none of these dolls wear bras.) Now I suppose I might just be thankful Mattel has not made them anatomically correct yet, but is this the "woman" that we should hope our daughters aspire to?

You know these are not primarily purchased and played with by 16 olds or older. So frighteningly Mattel must believe the market for such a doll to be out there among the younger girls. Perhaps Mattel has been making them like this for years and I just didn't notice.

I would not object to getting my daughter a doll when she is older but it will definately not be along this line.

Repaying Charity with Complaining.

2006-08-13T09:48:00.000-04:00

There is a woman who lives in our apartment building about whom I have decided to post. She seems to tell her story to anyone who will listen, so I do not think I am betraying any information to tell some of her background first. She is about 40 with two children, a boy about 12 and a girl about 9. Her husband is in prison and will be for about the next 9 or 10 years. Her mother is older and not well and lives with her sister, who struggles to provide for her 3 children, each from a different father. This woman who lives in our building, I'll refer to her as C, has explained to me that she knew nothing about her husband's previous life/crimes, etc. until after they were married and she struggles to provide for her two children by herself.

James and I have been sympathetic and tried to be charitable towards her. Over a year ago we began letting her use our phone since she couldn't afford one. When she lost her car, we began occassionally giving her rides. She comes by asking for eggs, milk, tomato paste, celery, hotdogs, etc. In fairness, she has given us two of her daughter's infant dresses, one new dress for Cecilia from Target, a package of diapers and a tin of formula (even though Cecilia has never nor will ever get formula). We have never asked her for anything nor expect anything but who could ask for anything from someone who has made it very clear they are in need of help?

This summer she lost her job at UPS. Personally I think her incapability to ever be punctual in my experience could have played into that but she says it was because she had to keep taking off work to take her son to some sort of therapy. She takes him to therapy or something of that sort in order to get his record expunged because he was caught taking a knife to school. She claims he got picked on and brought it simply, and stupidly, to defend himself.

Since she lost her job she has repeatedly come to us asking for food products and rides to places and never fails to retell her situation. I've heard more than once that they have nothing to eat except pancakes (not the simply add water kind I might add but the kind that requires eggs, milk and oil), she can't pay her rent or her phone bill, she needs to buy groceries for her mother, she's so tired of struggling, it's so difficult to raise two kids by herself, etc. Now, I have no doubt it is not easy to raise two children on her own, esp. since she cannot get child support as her husband is in prison. In this regard she has my utmost sympathy and it is for this reason James and I have repeatedly helped her. However, it has gotten to the point where she is repaying our charity by complaining nonstop about her own situation. Yesterday when I drove her and her two children to three different destinations she asked me, "Can you imagine what it is like for me raising two children by myself?" I responded quite honestly that I couldn't, but I have gotten the distinct impression that she is trying to play upon me as a fiddle. She has even told me she had to hide crying from her son after scolding him when he asked her if he could "exercise his skills" (a.k.a. shoplift) at Safeway because he was so angry at not having enough food.

Not three weeks ago when James and I were blessed to sell his old car and she told us they had nothing to eat we gave her $80 so her children could eat (we also gave her about $20 we had on a bus pass so she would use the public transportation to get around). I realize $80 is not much, but there are ways to make it last if you have to. I told her that those Ramen Noodles come in several flavors and were on sale at our nearest grocery store for 10 cents a package. (They are quite good and very filling.) She said she forgot to look for them and was hinting again yesterday for more cash.

There are other inconsistencies and facts that have made us hesitant. Perhaps her son has caused her so much trouble but I must say, even for a 12 year old, he has always been very nice and especially polite whenever I have seen or spoken with him. James and I have come to agreement in instituting a "NO CASH" policy when it comes to her or her children but if there is something in particular in terms of a grocery or something, we will try to help. However I have also said I am much more weary now about letting her into our apartment. She has her own phone again and I'm becoming more weary of allowing anyone in her family near Cecilia or in our apartment.

Perhaps this post is more of a vent than a reflection but I do feel as though our charity and neighborly kindness is being repaid with complaining and almost a nagging of further donation. A dear priest friend of mine told me several years ago that it was a charity to not complain to others. Now of course complaining should not be confused with answering truthfully to personal questions of close friends or family, but if an acqaintance asks me how I am doing I am not about rant about every difficulty or complaint or problem I have to them. There is probably not much they can do about them, only makes them a dumping sight for my difficulties and probably makes me less than a joy to be around. As Christians it is our Christian duty to bring Christ's love to others and whining or complaining to someone who is not at fault and can do little to help is not very Christian. Personally, when it comes to such people, I find it harder to have sympathy to self-proclaimed martyrs. True martyrs let their lives witness for them. They do not need to tell everyone how unfair their life is. And it is in watching such people do their best without complaining that they become admirable and an inspiration to everyone else.

The Terrorists and The Devil

2006-08-11T08:35:00.000-04:00

There has been a lot of talk and print lately involving terrorists, politics, etc.

It seems to me that if the devil appeared on the earth tomorrow, his agenda would be along the lines of the terrorists: destruction of Jews and Christians by any means possible. After all, if you are the archenemy of God, you'd seek to destroy any and all of God's people. Now, if a giant winged demon by the name of Lucifer did appear on the earth, I personally would have no qualms about trying to destroy him in any way possible. But I am left wondering how many people would debate about the Devil's "civil rights" and not "judging" him and how we should be "tolerant" of diversity and how we should not impose ourselves on him. I can see the headlines already:

"Can Lucifer Aid Mideast Peace?" "U.N. Defends Diversity of Demon" "PETA Demands Protection for New SuperSpecies" ad nauseum.

Or would the world even recognize the Devil if they saw him? Has evil become so undistinguishable in our world of abortion, mass destruction, nuclear missles, contraception, embryonic stem cell research, propogation of homosexual acts, etc. that we have trouble telling when evil rears its horned head?

Let me make this simple. The Devil seeks destruction, suffering, pain, loss and death. The Islamic extremists, a.k.a. "terrorists," seek the destruction of Israel and many nations of the West, the suffering of anyone they deem their enemy, and the loss and death of millions of people. If a person came up to you with a knife, a gun and a grenade and said, "I want you extinct and I will stab you with my knife and if you try to run I will shoot you and if I think you even could survive outside of my reach I will use my grenade to kill us both because killing you means more to me than living," what would you do? What would you say?

Would you try to negotiate for your life? Would you give up your children, your home, your freedom to try to bargain to live? It would be completely pointless to give up anything and everything to someone who desires your death more than his own life. It is similar to a Jewish man in 1940 trying to bargain for his life from Hitler. Bargaining with Hitler didn't help anyone either - it simply delayed the inevitable and cost many more lives in the process.

I argue that, as unpleasant and pessimistic as it sounds, you simply cannot bargain with terrorists, not in money, not in supplies, not in land, not in time, not for lives. Terrorists insist that the rules of the game are kill or be killed. I am tired of hearing about pleas and desires for peace with people who seek only death. The only peace that will come is when such people are no longer able to pursue their agenda of death. Until the murderous destruction of the extremists is completely and permanently extinguished, there will not be peace for there is no peace with the Devil. As Spencer Tracy said in Inherit the Wind, "Fanatacism and ignorance is forever busy and needs feeding," and terrorism will never stop unless the terrorists are snuffed out.

*As a Catholic I am always in understanding with the Church that conversion be the first goal, but seeing as how Bibles are, well, shall we say, scarce to be found in terrorist nations, and terrorists breed their hate from childhood and forbid Christian influence within their circles, barring a miracle, which, by all means everyone can keep praying for, I believe the conversion of terrorists to be an unrealistic pursuit in our times.

Time to Press the Press?

2006-08-10T08:33:00.000-04:00

I have despised most of the mainstream media for quite a while now so I was not in the slightest surprised over the recent photography scandal. But it does present a very real problem. The Bill of Rights do not in any way restrict the freedom of the press. And the press seems to profess the freedom to make up "news" and lie and manipulate to their hearts content to sell whatever story they deem best. Now, I will not deny that the media is not a charitable institution but a business and so must consider which stories will sell magazines, newspapers, etc. However, at what point does the media become responsible for being simply honest and admitting that they are no longer reporting facts or possibly even "news?" Are the examples of Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair and now the Reuters photographer simply isolated incidents? Or are they merely the most obvious extentions of the general media's desire to twist stories to their own agenda?

Now this places Americans in a difficult situation. If the media in general is so manipulative and dishonest, how do Americans know what is true and what isn't? How do they know what the reality of a foreign war is? Or what politicians really said? We have all heard so many conflicting reports about what exactly happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. What is the truth? How are Americans to think or feel or, perhaps most importantly, vote if anything and everything they are told or read could be a festering pit of lies and twists and spin? And yet under every story is that ever-waving right to freedom of the press. Should there be some legal restrictions that any outlet professing to provide political, legal, or social"news" (no, I don't consider celebrity news "news") never willfully and deliberately manipulate facts or quotes to intentionally deceive the public? Certainly it would not be easy to prove in a court of law. But I'm not a lawyer. That is their problem.

I just find it repulsive that, under the banner of the Bill of Rights, the general media is protected to mislead, manipulate, and deceive the public leaving the public often at the whim of a "journalist's" personal political, religious, or other slant on any set of events.

The Horror of Horror Films

2006-08-06T17:37:00.000-04:00

I've always enjoyed many of the films that would fall in the "Horror" genre. James and I found a book called Monsters from the Id: The Rise of Horror in Fiction and Film. I admit I haven't read all of it. (I made some good headway in it last year but the pregnancy put me onto other books.) But James has read it and we have discussed its ideas at length. The primary points I'll be using from the book are that the genre of horror began with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as a reaction to the Enlightenment and that the original purpose of horror was to draw the reader/viewer back towards a concept of the supernatural. IOW, human beings do not know everything. Hence horror always had a moral whether it was not to try to "play God" with human life as in Frankenstein or to practice chastity and sobriety as in Halloween.

However, I have noticed a more recent trend (oh say the last 5-10 years) whereupon horror films do not strive to have any moral whatsoever but simply to be the bloodiest, most violent and goriest films. Somehow gory/bloody/violent is supposed to = horror. I admit I have not seen all of them, but Saw, High Tension, Cabin Fever and, my most recently viewed film which spurred this reflection, Hostel all seem to have one simple goal - to be as gory and bloody and violent as possible. And I'm sure there have been others which I have been blessed not to see.
In Hostel there really isn't any innocent character for which to root or feel much sympathy. In fact it is in the survival of a sinful character in which any lack of moral is obvious.

So do such "horror" movies have any redeeming value? I would say no. I can watch Nightmare on Elm Street and plainly see that Freddy does not attack his victim when she has her crucifix on the wall or understand that Jamie Lee Curtis survives the immortal Michael Meyers because she is the virgin and faithful babysitter but it seems modern "horror" films have lost any sense of deeper purpose than spewing as much blood on the screen as possible. According to imdb.com, Tarantino used 150 gallons of blood in Hostel alone.

I would further argue that such films become an instrument of the devil placing evil images before human eyes with no purpose other than to present such images. And they become images that plague our memory and dull our senses and numb our reality to violence.

The relatively recent plague off such films has left me longing for the older films like The Haunting (the original) and skipping going to the theater.

Just for the record, I still think the scariest film I've ever seen remains The Exorcist. Either version counts, but the more recent version have an extra edge over the first.

CONTINUED: I wanted to add, that I do not hold the position that a film, even a horror film, cannot simply be fun and entertaining, but I further want to add that anyone who is entertained by such films should ask themselves why? What is "fun" or "entertaining" about severed body parts or gallons of blood? I cannot find any appropriate answer to this. Now I can agree that senses of humor may vary and what is enjoyable may be subjective but material such as this can only be entertaining and fun to those who would bask in human suffering and relish in the destruction of human beings.

Am I saying that all who see these movies are evil? Of course not. Most people do not realize the evil propgated by such films. What I am saying is that such films are evil by their nature and, while the evil, common to evil itself, is not obvious to many, it has a natural propensity to cause harm to those who view it.

Hours of Confession

2006-08-04T08:15:00.000-04:00

Today is the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron of priests. St. John Vianney is most known for his many hours spent in the confessional. He used to sit in the confessional hearing confessions each day for 16 hours (and this was before air conditioning)!
At mass this morning our pastor mentioned in passing that it was not easy to sit in the confessional for more than an hour or two and that even his experience of 3-5 hours at a previous assignment could be a challenge.
This made me think of a parish I went to briefly in Dallas called Blessed Sacrament. At the time the pastor was a priest by the name of Fr. Paul Weinberger. I remember when I first went there I was stunned to learned he heard confessions for 16 hours over the course of one week. I had never heard of a modern priest hearing confession so many hours in one week before. I did go to confession there once and the line formed around the inside of the Church. Around the time I left Dallas, this wonderful priest who had been given this parish 10 years prior when it was deep in debt and had managed not only to get rid of all debt but also redecorate the inside of the Church and repave the parking lot was ordered to transfer. Blessed Sacrament was indeed a poor parish of poor people of various and diverse ethnic backgrounds. Fr. Paul unified them all under English, Spanish and Latin masses. He said he wanted to "spoil the poor." But he was transferred to St. William parish quite a ways away from Blessed Sacrament.
I decided to look up his previous parish, still fairly large holding at 2000 and compare the hours available for confession with his new parish, a much smaller 725. The parish that used to be able to fill 16 hours of confession in one week is now only offered 2 hours and 15 minutes of scheduled confession time. And Fr. Paul's new parish of less than half his previous parish has 8 hours and 40 minutes of scheduled confession time.
I have not been to either parish since I left the Dallas area but I have to wonder, it is Fr. Paul that brings so many to confession? Is it simply, if you offer the hours, they will come? I cannot believe the people changed since, being such a poor parish, it is not likely many moved very far. So the question becomes, does the priest make the difference or does the hours make the difference or is it both? I honestly cannot say I know the answer to this but I think they would go hand in hand. The better the priest who encourages frequent confession the more hours he will offer confession and the more parishoners will go to him for confession. So then the question becomes, "What must happen to get more people back in the confessional?"

Book Meme

2006-08-04T07:51:00.000-04:00

Book Meme

1. One book that changed your life: The Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska. It was quite a long read since I didn't rush through it. When I began I thought just getting through it should be worth some indulgence. By the end I realized reading all of it was worth much more in itself.

2. One book that you've read more than once: Although there are many books I'd like to read again, there are so always so many I want to read I rarely read the same book twice but I have read The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis more than once now.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: I'd have to say something regarding survival or raft-building.

4. One book that made you laugh: The Harry Potter Series, by J. K. Rowling

5. One book that made you cry: Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell

6. One book that you wish had been written: Mary, the Autobiography.

7. One book that you wish had never been written: The Koran.

8. One book you're currently reading: The Bible, by God. I'm reading it from cover to cover but thus far am only in 2 Samuel.

9. One book you've been meaning to read: A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

The Agony of Teething

2006-08-01T08:16:00.000-04:00

Well, Cecilia is in the depths of teething. Sunday afternoon and most of yesterday, especially yesterday morning, she was in misery. She sat on the living room carpet crying while I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying anything and everything I could think of to make her feel better. I had given her Tylenol, refridgerated teething rings, frozen washclothes, ice water in a sippy cup, diluted apple juice in a bottle, my fingers, teething toys, nursing, music, etc. It was only after about 2 hours of this that she calmed down sitting in my lap gumming on my keys. Poor thing fell fast asleep after three hours awake. Last night she woke almost constantly. At least once every hour my poor little angel was fussing at her face and whimpering. I even gave her Tylenol before bed and again at 3am.

Needless to say I am quite tired. She is as well. She was yawning this morning on the way to Mass even though she usually doesn't take a nap until we are heading home from Mass. My daughter's agony has left the theologian in me wondering WHY. Why would God permit such agony to the most innocent? No one is harming her. It is no one's fault. And yet there seems to be so little I can do. Granted not all babies agonize so much over their teeth. But here my little sweetheart, only 6 months old, is often in misery though she has done nothing wrong. It cannot be so she will learn the unfairness of life for she will not remember this. It cannot be so she can offer her pain in atonement for sins for she is too young to understand anything of any purpose to suffering or any value in it and hence is unable to offer it up. It seems to me that the pain and discomfort of teething in an infant is of no value whatsoever to the infant.

This leads me to believe that God permits such misery in teething not for the sake of the infant, but that of the parents. Perhaps, as her mother and the one who made promises for her at her Baptism, I can offer up her sufferings for her. But perhaps the greater reason is that it is indeed a hard lesson as a new parent that there will be pain and discomfort and harshness in life from which no parent can protect their child. It introduces me to the agony of seeing my little girl suffering from a fallen world when I can do so little to help her. I've reflected a few times lately of what the Father must have felt watching His Son agonize in misery at the hands of those who hated him by the betrayal of His own friends and then die the shameful and painful death of a slave on a cross and not do anything to aid his Son. Even though His Son understood why everything had to happen as it did, as a parent, it has become an intimate reflection on the reality of parenting and the pain a mother or father feels being greater seeing their own child suffer than if they had to suffer themselves.

Perhaps it should also be a reflection of how the Father feels seeing any of us hurt, especially in sin. And while He is never powerless to help us, we often refuse to let Him and so his hands become tied just as much as if he were powerless. A Father who surrenders his power for the love of His children and yet still agonizies in their misery, never severing his heart from theirs.

While I have begun offering each daily Eucharist for my little baby and her teeth and pray for her in this regard daily, I cannot say that her misery has been completely for nothing. When I would do anything for her and yet can do so little to ease her pain, I have to feel sympathy and shame for the times I and others have put our Heavenly Father in the same position, not by involuntary teething, but by our own free choice.

The Female "Ordination" Theme Song

2006-08-01T07:56:00.000-04:00

This was just too funny not to share. ...

Father Z. has posted these lyrics by Tim Ferguson, to be sung to the tune of the Gilligan's Island theme.

Come sit right back
and you’ll hear a tale,
a tale of some heretics
That started from a Pittsburgh port,
aboard a tiny ship.

The mate was a fan of labyrinths
The skipper was a nun
10 other women were on board
for sacramental fun.
(for sacramental fun)

The liturgy was getting rough,
The litany was long,
Invoking Lilith, Gaia too,
Seemed just a bit too wrong
(though not to Bishop Spong)

The ship set ground in a strange new world,
uncharted heresy
With lesbians And feminists
An acting deacon’s wife
Peace activists
And the rest
Here on Womanchurch Isle

So this is the tale of the priestesses
There here for a long, long time.
They’re sure to make a mess of things
And bitch and moan and whine.

No pope! No men! No canon law
Not a dime to Peter’s Pence!
Like Lollard, Hussites, Bogomils,
They’ve left out common sense.

So join us here each year my friend,
There’s sure to be more fun,
With a hearty shout, “non serviam!
My will, not Thine be done.”

H/T to Gerald Augustinus at The Cafeteria is Closed.

For the Love of a Letter

2006-07-26T16:25:00.000-04:00

I'm sure many people remember not so long ago before email and websites when people wrote each other letters. Growing up I was never fond of writing letters. I thought my penmanship was awful. I still don't think it is very good. I have to wonder why truly beautiful and elegant penmanship is not something taught and sought after more, but I digress. I find it interesting how much I enjoy waiting for the mail. I usually forget to get it and James usually ends up doing so, but still. I enjoy looking through the mail and get excited when I receive something. Unfortunately, as no one writes me letters, my hope can only be satiated by a few catalogues and ads (based on their mailings, Lenox must think I worship them). There is something exciting and romantic in receiving letters from friends, acquantences, etc.
But perhaps it is not simply letters. Perhaps it is that anticipation in waiting that makes anything one waits so anxiously for so exhiting and satisfying. My computer has been slowly dying over the past 6 months. Each time it messes up or my screen turns pink or my F key fails to print an F I look forward to a new computer. I figure by the time I get it I will be so happy to have keys that work and a screen that is white they wait will be well worth it.
Perhaps that is a major setback of modern progress. Everything now is so immediate - emails, overnight shipping, cell phone calls, etc. - that it becomes difficult for our natural human desires to fully appreciate the fulfillment of them.
It is a shame we cannot start Letter Circles where people could simply write letters to each other, chit chatting, but simply to experience the joy of receiving a letter in elegant handwriting. (Of course, in my case, once I get down the elegant handwriting part.)
This leads me to another question: Has the speed and immediacy of our current society made us less impatient people in general? I simply look at the way people drive or shop at Christmas or eat and would have to say yes. It makes me wonder how people might be different if we relaxed a bit more and rushed a bit less.

What do you say when your preschooler asks about homosexuality?

2006-07-20T16:23:00.000-04:00

In the June 2006 edition of Parenting there was an article on answering sexual questions little children ask titled "The Birds and the Bees and Curious Kids." It covered topics like when a little girl asks why her little brother is different than her and other such questions. However, among such simple and common circumstances was included the following:

"Your child tells you her classmate has two mommies. 'How can that be?' she asks."

The magazine's response is as follows:

"Homosexuality may seem like a conusing subject--especially for kids who haven't even gotten the concept of heterosexuality down yet. But your explanation doesn't have to be complicated: 'In Ginny's family, her two mommies love each other the way that Daddy and I do. So they live together, and both take care of Ginny.' The topic may also come up after your child hears a homosexual slur. Christi Cole's daughter Caitlyn, 6, said a boy at school had been telling kids in her class, "You're gay"--so of course she wanted to know what that meant. The Augusta, Georgia, mom explained that sometimes boys fall in love with boys and girls fall in love with girls but that the boy in Caitlyn's school probably didn't really understand what he was talking about. Then she reminded her daughter that calling people names isn't nice and might hurt someone's feelings."

Where do I begin with this?
First of all it is a sad testimony to our society that homosexuality is so public and promoted that a small child would be asking about it. However, as we live in a society that often cannot tell dog from God, I can well see such a question arising. (One more reason we are going to homeschool.)

1. I find it ironic that the magazine proposes to explain homosexuality as normal and natural to small children as heterosexuality and yet the author herself, Margaret Renkl, recognizes homosexuality to be much more complicated that heterosexuality. Why? If it is so normal and natural, why is it more complicated? It would seem Mrs. Renkl herself knows there is something unnatural about it even if she propogates parents trying to convince their children it is not. Interestingly enough, in a subsequent question about intercourse, Mrs. Renkl encourages a very frank explanation about eggs and sperm and says, "A penis is made to fit into a vagina sort of like an arm fits into a sleeve." Well, saying first that mommies with mommies is the same as mommies with daddies and then saying that daddy is designed to fit with mommy in order to make babies (including Ginny) would confuse anyone!
2. Secondly, as homosexual acts are the inverse of heterosexual acts, they are quite different from the way that Mommy and Daddy love each other. As Holy Matrimony is a sacrament ordained by God, homosexual acts, regardless of whether intended as such, mock the conjugal union of a man and a woman joined in marriage. I would be outraged and take personal offense at anyone who told any child of mine that any homosexual relationship was the same as my relationship to my husband.
3. It was pointed out in the August edition by a woman who wrote in that not all parents agree with the author. "I was shocked when I read your advice about how to answer a child who has a question about two mommies. A homosexual relationship is not just like the one I share with my husband. There are a number of people who feel homosexuality isn't right, and we would never tell our children that it is." The reader from Kentucky points out that this issue of homosexuality is, generally speaking, a pretty divided one and for the magazine to try to propogate it and pretend it is not divisive is quite narrow-minded and ignorant regarding its readers. When it comes to divided issues like this, a general parenting magazine should know better than to take such a stand or risk losing part of its readers.

Now, if my daughter had asked me the same question, here would have been my reply:

Some people believe that a family doesn't need a mommy and a daddy but God told us that that is not true. Every child should have a mommy and a daddy and it is not good or right to try to replace a mommy with another daddy or a daddy with another mommy. Some people think doing that is okay but it causes confusion and does not make God happy so we should always pray for such people. However, Ginny did not choose to have two mommies so you should not be mean to her but remember that because she does have two mommies, she might think different things than you do.

Of course I would also severely limit any interaction my child might have with Ginny as I cannot in good conscience permit such influences as her "mommies" might have given her.

Maybe in the September issue Mrs. Renkl can come up with a sweet explanation to give children when they ask what an abortion is when mommy went from having a baby in her tummy to not!

Needless to say I will not be resubscribing to Parenting.

Dear Catholic Priests...

2006-07-17T18:04:00.000-04:00

James found this on a website and I just had to post part of it here as I couldn't agree with her more...

Dear Catholic Priests,

Let me start by saying – thank you.

Thank you. For hearing the call to priesthood and then for following through to devote your life to god and the Church.

Really, I know I don’t say this nearly enough – Thank you.

I tend to be a Catholic who never interacts with priests (seriously – never). I never talk to priests outside of a confessional (and rarely there), mostly because I am scared of you and unlike some people I know I am not adept at making friends with priests through baked goods. But even so, I really do appreciate all that you do.

However, I do have a request. Can you please, please, please wear clerical clothing?

And no, a golf shirt with the name of your order embroidered on it does not count.

I won’t be greedy and ask for cassocks (though that is what all the cool priests are wearing). Just a Roman Collar would be good.

Now, I understand that everyone needs some time ‘out of uniform’ as it were. Running errands, family social events, and casual time off – perfectly reasonable to not be wearing a collar.

However, is it too much to ask that at Church functions you wear a collar and clearly identify yourself as a priest?

There are certainly benefits to wearing a clerical collar. I know that I am naturally nicer and more automatically respectful to priests. For example, one day at work I saw a slightly bewildered looking priest who was clearly lost in the maze that is O’Hare. I walk past many lost and confused people at O’Hare all the time but that collar ensured that I stopped and helped him to his gate.

Also, if there is an emergency, it would be nice to know if there is a priest around. That Roman Collar is a clear sign to those all around that God is present in his servant the priest. That can be incredibly comforting, even when you as a priest don’t even realize that people around you are taking comfort in that fact.

Priests in clerical garb are also excellent for recruitment - both to the Church and to the priesthood. I mean, if young boys and men never see a priest except at the front of the church then how can they envision living life as a priest. We as lay people need to see and know that there are priests out in society, living with us wherever we are. So often we live in a society that denies the importance of religion and faith. A priest dressed in clerical garb is a bold statement to the world that Yes – the Catholic Church is still here, vibrant and contributing to our society. I really think that is an important statement for a priest to make, and clerical clothing makes it without saying a word.

I can’t quite figure out why priests wouldn’t wear a collar. Are you ashamed of being a priest? Do you want to ‘blend in’ with the group? Or, as my sister in law theorizes, is it to be deceitful and try to trip us up by masquerading as lay people (I don’t think that is the case, but she is adamant).
...
I will say this to all the priests out there. When I see you in clerical clothing it personally makes me happy. I just feel comforted by the very fact that you are there, in the world. So please, please, please do wear clerical clothing. It really is a good thing.

Update

2006-07-16T18:57:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been pretty busy.

I've primarily been busy with Cecilia. Her naps are anything but regular so it is difficult for me to plan too much.

Unfortunately, the only progress I've made in my Bible reading is that I have finished Joshua and am on Judges. It has gotten more difficult to read now that Cecilia can figure out the book is behind her and never tires of trying to grab it.

We had some car trouble. The Escape kept stalling. Ugh. In fact it was so bad we couldn't drive it anywhere. We did get it fixed but for $800. Talk about expensive carbon build up. I'm sure it would have been cheaper to take it to anywhere but the Ford Dealership that we did, but since it was across the street and we weren't sure how far the Escape could get without stalling, we took it there. We are also currently trying to sell James' Mustang. Say a prayer we do. It is in good condition even if it is 8 years old. It has about 20,000 fewer miles on it than the Escape which is only 5 1/2 years old. It is just silly to keep it and keep paying insurance on it when all three of us cannot fit in it.

At the same time as Bible reading I am also working on putting together a family Recipe book, typing each one's ingredients and directions one page at a time and then printing them and putting them in a binder. Some we haven't even tried yet, but they sure do look good on Food Network. I am also working on sewing a few new patches onto my Bookbag and a few other projects....I do a little here, a little there, between cooking and cleaning while Cecilia naps.

I've also researched doing a couple of day tours into D.C. We were going to do two on Monday and Tuesday but as the highs are supposed to be 98 degrees F. both days, we are postponing it temporarily. We do want to go in July though so we can see the Houses while they are session.

I'll try to update regularly but as Cecilia keeps me busy, I don't seem to get too much done too quickly.

NOTE: I apologize for any missing Fs in my posts....that key on my laptop is fickle.

Sooooo Tired...

2006-07-04T19:02:00.000-04:00

Well, last night's sleep was an improvement from the previous night. But not by much. Cecilia's sleeping at night has just seemed to get worse and worse the last 2 weeks or so hitting bottom Sunday night. After the 4th or 5th time she woke up I thought it must at least be 3 or 4 am. It was 12 midnight! She let me sleep only in little spurts...not even one hour solid the whole night. I was so tired. And then she was up and ready to go at 5am. Last night was an improvement with her waking no more than once an hour. I'm still catching up though.

Update

2006-06-21T18:10:00.000-04:00

Well, we are back from vacation. First we drove to Dallas and East Texas to visit friends and family, then we drove to South Florida again to visit friends and family and then we spent a week at Disney World with family. Hopefully we will get some pictures up on Cecilia's site soon!

Cecilia was fantastic despite all the driving but she certainly seems happy to be home. So am I. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight! And I'm so looking forward to home cooked food again.

The Pentateuch - Review

2006-06-12T07:29:00.000-04:00

Well, now the Bible is no small book. And since I will not remember the early books very well by the time I finish Revelation, I figured I'd review them in sections. Since it took me two weeks to read the Pentateuch, it seemed like a good point to write a review of it.

Pentateuch - The Pentateuch consists of five (hence, "penta") books, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Genesis concerns just that, the genesis or beginning.

Most are pretty familiar with the stories in Genesis. Adam and Eve, Noah, and Abraham are all well known, so there isn't too much unfamiliar about the book. I did find it mildly amusing that God gives only plants to mankind to eat at creation but after the flood gives him animals as well. So are we therefore mandated to be carnivores and not vegetarians? I can't say as I would find this argument a strong one even if someone wanted to use it, but I did find it amusing. I was also happy to read about Rebekah, who I feel is a most overlooked strong female character in the Old Testament. Unlike her husband Isaac, with whom God has his covenant, she alone understands God's plan for her twin sons. It could be considered deception that she aids Jacob in taking the blessing of the first born, but Genesis 25:23 says that the LORD said to her that she had two nations struggling within her womb and "the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger." Here God does not reveal his plan to Isaac but only to Rebekah, to a woman. And so she acts accordingly. Isn't it fantastic that for all those feminists who faint at the word [whispering] "patriarchy," here you have, in the heart of the beginning of the patriarchs of the Old Testament (OT) there is a woman blessed to not only hear the voice of God but be told of his plan as well. I must say it made her one of my favorite females in the Pentateuch.

Exodus follows God's freeing of his people from Egypt and forming his covenant with them. I noticed as I progressed to Exodus, after God uses Moses and frees the Israelites from Egypt that what was considered morally acceptable by God gets narrowed and fine-tuned. What was acceptable for Abraham doesn't necessarily please God by the time Moses is in charge. While I certainly knew the Israelites were an unruly bunch, I was pleasantly surprised at how often Moses not only pleads on behalf of his people, but in fact prostrates himself and begs for mercy on their behalf even while God is offering Moses his own kingdom if he will let God destroy the Israelites. I had to sympathize with Moses as the people argue and complain nonstop even after seeing pillars of smoke and fire, walking through the Red Sea, seeing the plagues God brings on Egypt and seeing water flow from rocks. They are like children whining and complaining no matter what is done for them. Of course, I cannot criticize them but remember that this was a different time and a more primitive way of thinking about life and about God. Overall I enjoyed Exodus except for all those specifications on the building of the ark, the tent of meeting, the lampstand, etc. that read like stereo instructions. Ugh.

Leviticus focuses primarily on the order of priests that is set up for Israel in its covenant. I found Leviticus somewhat boring at all the specifications of offerings, etc. All I will say is every priest today should thank God that he is not a priest from the Old Testament. If anyone thought the rules of the RCC today to be tough, imagine the ones of then not to mention how bloody and violent all those sacrifices were! Yuck!

By Numbers I found myself pleasantly surprised. Numbers did include some of the repitition of the offerings, etc. But overall I found it quite enjoyable continuing the history of Israel and all their grumblings in the desert. It read very much like a historical novel but with the significance of truth in God's love for his people. I also loved Balaam's donkey. I want a talking donkey now! Imagine if when you left your house your dog always diverted you from danger and then when you got frustrated proceeded to talk to you about what it was doing. Too cool.

Deuteronomy I found to be probably the most difficult book in the Pentateuch to read. It was like a recap of the previous three books. I felt like I was reading the Cliff's Notes to the previous three books. It also seemed to not only repeat the previous books, but repeat itself a few times. Out of all five books, this one took me the longest to read and gave me the hardest time.

Overall I found the Pentateuch quite enjoyable and despite its slower parts, it should be read by everyone at least once. It is a testament in itself to God's love for man and his aching desire for us to be one with him in trust and virtue. Trusting God and faithfulness in Him are central themes of the whole Bible that spans from the beginning unto the end and I think if people could get this much from the Bible, the rest would fall into place.

Movie Review: Where Angels Go, Troubles Follow

2006-05-26T08:36:00.000-04:00

I don't usually review movies. With a brother studying film, I don't usually need to. However, in this case I felt compelled. I've been a fan of the first film, "The Trouble with Angels" staring Rosalind Russell as Mother Superior and Haley Mills as the unruly Mary Clancy, ever since I first saw it several year ago. So I was curious to see the sequel "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows," and when it was available for free on Comcast, I put it on. I was gravely disappointed. The first film balances quite nicely the difficulties changes in America put on young girls and the challenges those confused young girls place on the religious sisters who strive to educate them academically as well as in matters of conduct, behavior and life. The second film begins with a bishop telling Mother Superior, again played by Rosalind Russell, that times are changing and they have to change to and so tells her she should lead a bus of girls from her all-girls Catholic school across the country to a peace rally in California. A desire for the trip is lead by a young sister named Sister George. Overall I must say Sister George must be one of the worst sisters I've ever seen. To her fellow sisters she is condescending, rude, bossy and quite obnoxious. To Mother Superior she is disobedient and defiant. She enjoys being friends with the girls so much she seems to be one of them but merely in a habit. She arranges to have the sisters and girls stay overnight at an all boys school. But it is easy to tell this movie was made before the whole sex scandal (fortunately, otherwise the director would have been far more out of line) as a poster in the boys' school says, "Spend time in the chapel sometime, Father Chase gets lonely." Sister George seems to be intended to represent so much "modern" thinking about the Catholic Church. When the bus breaks down in the desert, she advises removing their "medieval" habits to cool off and oh so wittingly remarks that it is no secret that they have legs. Mother Superior tries a few times to instruct Sr. George on being considerate of the other sisters and of the need to worry more about what is best for the girls than on being their best friend but Sr. George is very determined in her liberal mindframe. In the end Mother learns that "the cloister isn't always a place, but it can also be a state of mind." (awe, let's all hug!) the girls to me seem ridiculously unrealistic. When they reach the boys' school they all shout in unison, "Boys!" as though they had never seen one before and had practiced to scream altogether the same.

You never actually see them reach the rally. In the end the sisters try to remove their minds from "the cloister" as they shorten their veils, show their hair and wear habits resembling business suits with skirts. As heartfelt as the first film is, that is how political this one was.

I will say one thing. At least I never paid to watch it.