Onward and Upward

Say It, Bishop, Say It!

2012-02-01T20:32:00.006-06:00

It was surprising for me to hear someone angrily confront my bishop . . . You know, like he was just some guy it wasn't a privilege to be in the same room with. Like he was just some guy you might be smarter than. And righter than.

. . . And Pray for the Bishops

This post is a response to the above article, which seems to really hit the nail on the head and touched me deeply.

I had the experience of hearing my bishop (Do you like that? MY bishop. It's like . . . get your own bishop.) speak to a mixed Right to Life crowd a few days ago. By mixed I mean that the audience was not all Catholic.

I usually see bishops at all-Catholic gatherings where they are treated with great respect and are rarely challenged on things. It was surprising for me to hear someone angrily confront my bishop during the question and answer time. You know, like he was just some guy it wasn't a privilege to be in the same room with. Like he was just some guy you might be smarter than. And righter than.

Anyway, with the information about the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) just going out in a letter to the churches today, persecution was obviously on his mind. This act puts leaders of the Catholic Church in a position of potentially having to either go against their beliefs or . . . what? Not provide health insurance to their employees? Go to JAIL? I don't know.

So this woman asked him a question with an accusatory voice. Did he mean to say that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops would support Obamacare if it didn't conflict with the Church's reproductive teachings?

In this room there were about 100 riled-up Republicans. Here he was worrying about PPACA leading to persecution from Democrats and now he had to worry about the very Republicans who came to hear him and cheer him on.

At the time my heart jumped to attention! I thought to myself "Say it! Say it! Doesn't the USCCB believe that basic health care should be universally available to all in this country regardless of ability to pay?!" (Yes it does.) This wasn't because I wanted to see a fight, this was because I believe that the Catholic Church is Truer than the Republican Party platform. Both parties have some good ideas and some bad when weighed in the USCCB scales.

He didn't say it. He backpedaled and said something that didn't satisfy me and probably didn't satisfy the questioner either but it diffused the tension. As much as I wanted to hear the dangerous Truth spoken at that moment, though, after reading the . . . And Pray for the Bishops article linked above now I am much more sympathetic. It wasn't my butt that was on the line. I will pray for my bishop and for yours and all the leaders of the Catholic Church.

But bishops,while you are defending yourself from potential attack at the hands of Democrats, remember to keep an eye behind you on the party you call your friend. They are going to figure out sooner or later that the Catholic Church is not a completely faithful bedfellow.

What Does Purgatory Sound Like?

2012-01-25T15:52:00.000-06:00

What the Heck are THEY Up To Now?

2012-01-14T16:45:00.006-06:00

When my good Christian friend started fuming anger and frustration last week about illegal immigrants in California I struggled for a way to put out the fire. It was just as well that I couldn't think of anything to say because I was basically told that my opinion on this subject didn't matter because I was not from California as she and her family had been. She kept telling me I didn't know. I didn't know. On the other hand, I thought, it seemed unlikely that anyone else could really know all the hearts and minds, challenges and motivations of such a large group of people.

After wondering to myself how Jesus would respond to what she was saying it came to me. The problem was with one of her words. THEY. We all have "theys” in our lives. Republicans. Democrats. Immigrants. Pro-lifers. Pro-choicers. Welfare recipients. "The Man". Tea Partiers. Take your pick. You start with a large population with ONE THING in common and put them all in a box marked SAME. You have a bad experience with a few and then paint it with a wide brush over a whole lot of total strangers.

I am not denying the real life stories and examples. There are lots of people doing wrong and many are even hurting other people. HewhoisnotGod sure does love to wrap truth and lies into one big tasty sandwich though.

A few days ago two of my religious Facebook friends, total strangers to each other, posted the same video of an angry man bashing religion in the name of “Jesus”. Their posts were responded to with “likes” and statements of approval. To me, his rantings were all about a "they". Those religious people. The great thing about “they” is that even if the shoe fits, by definition it does not include “you” or “me”. Ask your fourth grade English teacher.

You know, each member of a group called "they” is an individual. For example, let's imagine one we will call Bob. Bob’s motivations for doing things we don't like might include sin, necessity, innocent lack of understanding, being a jerk, etc. Maybe Bob woke up this morning deliberately planning to screw the system and annoy people. Most people don't. And while I may not appreciate Bob’s actions in any case, I am called as a Christian to love Bob. Jesus did not suffer and die for a “them”. But he did for Bob. If you have a problem with Bob, go make it right. All this yelling and accusing can’t be good for anyone’s soul.

Solving the Population Explosion "Problem"

2011-11-23T21:18:00.002-06:00

This seemed like a really confusing issue to me, belonging to a Church that doesn't allow artificial birth control and seems oblivious to the impending doom of a crowded world with limited resources. Recently, though, I attended a Catholic Biomedical Conference and was stunned to hear about the history and development of natural family planning (NFP), a Church-accepted, natural form of birth control.

Seems like when I first got married there were only one or two NFP methods available. Now there are four or five competing methods and the technology just keeps improving.

The state of the "technology" now is VERY accurate and effective when used properly (unlike the frequently joked-about old "rhythm method"). NFP methods are based on recognizing the body's signals of fertility and then either abstaining or not during fertile times, depending on whether you want to achieve or avoid pregnancy.

So NFP could be taught all over the world, even in impoverished third world areas and if people wanted to reduce the number of children they have they could do it.

Boy, that problem was seemingly easy and cheap to solve.

Solving the Abortion Problem

2011-11-23T21:09:00.002-06:00

Want to dramatically reduce the number of abortions in the world? Put ultrasound machines in the hands of pro-life workers. And I suppose praying would help too. :)

NOTE: You might want to check out the WCWCatholic on-line spiritual adoption program.

The Opposite of Yelling

2011-10-19T19:44:00.010-05:00

Last night my hubby was out of town and the kids were not cutting me any behavioral slack, if you know what I mean. It didn't take long for the situation to deteriorate into a great big yellin' fiesta! By the time they were actually installed in their beds I was squelching down a big blob of fury in my heart. I guess God got tired of hearing my groans of frustration because an interesting idea came to mind.

I resolved to speak to my children today only in whispers. (This is a variation of the more annoying and usually short-lived parenting tool called “speaking to your children only like Barney the Dinosaur”.)

I’ll bet Barney would appreciate the Catholic church’s opposites game. In it there are seven opposites or "contrary virtues" to balance the seven deadly sins. The chart looks like this.

Sin/Virtue

Pride/Humility

Envy/Kindness

Gluttony/Temperance

Lust/Chastity

Anger, wrath/Patience

Greed/Generosity

Sloth/Diligence

So what it means is that if you recognize that you have a problem with greed, make yourself do something generous. If you have the sloth thing going on, clean a bathroom. I would extend this list now to say, if you yell too much, make yourself whisper all day.

Another interesting theological angle is that it makes good penance. Whispering is a self-inflicted punishment of sorts that fits the "crime".

On the lighter side, I am a stay-at-home mom with a totally unused psyc degree. Experiments like "what would happen if you only spoke to your children in a whisper all day" appeal to the same side of me that hoped for twins so that for breakfast every day I could feed one twin Cheerios and the other twin shredded wheat. (I wondered how this would affect their high school ACT scores. If anyone has already done the twins/Cheerios/shredded wheat experiment please let me know.)

When you want to say something in a whisper you have to get pretty close to someone and make sure you have their attention. During our regular homeschool reading time today whispering forced us to huddle together on the couch (toothbrushing was appreciated).

All in all it did give us a yelling-free day. On the negative side, when my daughter called home to ask to be picked up she interpreted my whispering as either (a) telling her that someone had died or (b) that "the house was full of Nazis." It did give her quite a fright.

I hadn't realized how much I talk to people through closed bathroom doors (very hard in a whisper). And the killer today was kids saying "MOM!" because I had to actually get up and go to them to see what they wanted instead of just yelling "WHAAAAAAT?"

Finally, it was hard switching from whispering to my kids to using a normal voice with the outside world on the phone and on errands. But you know with the kids being homeschooled and being HOME so much . . . anything different, anything interesting is welcome and distracting from the frustrations of the day.

I am definitely adding the opposite of yelling -- whispering, to my parental toolbox of desperation. And considering all we have learned today . . . Barney would be proud.

Kneeler Peril

2011-08-10T16:23:00.003-05:00

In addition to practicing "fear of the Lord"*, I practice fear of up-positioned church kneelers under the control of small children. Here is a suspenseful, yet tender, haiku my husband helped me write on the subject. :)

Church kneeler raised high . . .
Fidgeting child - watch your toes
OH, NO! CRASH! OW! SHHHHH!

*"The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David. They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations."
--1831 in your Catechism of the Catholic Church

SOMETHING is true

2011-08-03T08:38:00.002-05:00

true - adj. 1. Consistent with fact or reality; not false or erroneous.

--The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Something is true. I wonder if anyone could make a reasonable statement that denies that.

The statement is meant in the most general of senses. It does not attempt to say what is true. You got here somehow. Right? Perhaps you were Big Banged into existence. Perhaps you were vomited forth by a giant rhinoceros. (I doubt that, Good Reader.) Even if you don't believe that you exist in any kind of reality and therefore that it is not necessarily true that you got here somehow, that in itself, if it is accurate, is true.

So what?

What follows is the opposite. For example, "getting here" in one manner will probably eliminate most other manners. So if the rhinoceros thing is true, then your hatching from an egg is probably false. If something is true, then contradictory things are false to the extent that they are actually contradictory.

If something is true, then a person might reasonably try to figure out what it is. That doesn't guarantee that they will find out, but they can look.

Some people have a real distaste for true-ness as a concept. Based on the behavior of some "truth-believers," this is understandable. But even if "truth-believers" are obnoxious-seeming at times -- SOMETHING is still true.

Purgatory is Logical

2011-06-27T10:28:00.005-05:00

There has GOT to be a purgatory. Not because the Church said it (although that is important), but because of reason and logic.

I am a mother of three. One thing I have learned is that if the threatened punishment is too harsh, the punishment will never be given. The threats my children need to worry about are the smaller ones. Forget "grounded for a month"; fear "not going to the party tonight."

How many times do we reassure ourselves with God's justice towards OTHER people? If someone zips out aggressively in front of you in traffic do you try to be holy and mature and leave the judgment of the offender to God?

What punishment options are available to God's justice? We don't like to believe earthly sufferings are caused by this (whether or not they are). Can God give people the silent treatment in this life? (Sometimes it seems like he does.) God can't punish us in heaven because we believe it to be a place without suffering.

So nothing is going to happen to our aggressive driver except maybe he or she will hit a tree? Maybe he or she will not hit a tree. Where is the justice of God? Should the driver go to hell for being in a jerky mood one day? Maybe there is no justice from God. Maybe God wants us to become so good, holy, patient, tolerant and forgiving that no justice is required of those who sin against us.

The answer to this quandary is purgatory, a place where any number of minor or major crimes can be answered for.

I believe that God is 100% justice and 100% mercy. (Mysteries like that are cool.) If you were to break a window with a baseball as a kid you could go to mommy or daddy and confess your crimes. Assuming that there was some fault involved, like today being "No Playing With Baseballs Day" you would be in trouble. Your parents would accept your apology and then you would need to pay for the window.

Maybe they would see that you truly felt terrible about what you had done because you love them and didn't want to make them sad (not just that you were sad that you got caught). Then maybe you wouldn't have to pay for the window. We accumulate these little debts to God every day and the quality of our contrition rarely makes us deserve a full reprieve.

Without purgatory, how do you repay this debt? You can say Jesus paid the debt so you don't have to. Think about that. That means all the crimes committed against YOU are also not subject to justice. People can go around doing whatever they want as long as they're not so bad that they get sent to hell. They get to heaven and all their debts are erased as if they didn't happen and everyone except Hitler and Attila the Hun on are on the same level and in the same place for eternity. There isn't much of a reason to be good in that kind of system.

I just finished reading a book called Purgatory by Father F.X. Schouppe, S.J. it paints a scary picture of God's justice. Many people from purgatory have appeared to saints and other holy people of the Church and told them about the sufferings there. Some saints and holy people were even taken to purgatory for a look around. Purgatory awaits, seemingly, the vast majority of us. That is 100% justice part.

It amazed me in the book how freely and easily we, in our earthly lives, are able to call down the mercy of God on those in purgatory. Sometimes just having one Mass said for a deceased person was enough to send them on their way to heaven.

$10 is the cost to have one Mass said.

$10.

Our smallest sacrifices here on earth seem to have immense power to release God's mercy upon the poor souls. It seems all we have to do is ask. That is the 100% mercy part. We have an important role to play in that mercy

After reading this book, all my sufferings now have purpose. First, sufferings in this life expiate (or pay the debt) for our sin to a great degree. Second, the small sufferings we offer up for those in purgatory release huge amounts of mercy for their souls. Even the normal day-to-day drudgery of life can be put to this purpose. Doing the dishes. Being patient with a child who is moving SLOWLY.

God without justice doesn't make sense to me. Purgatory makes sense. We need purgatory, at least as a concept. And the souls in Purgatory need our help.

Center of the Universe?

2011-06-27T10:16:00.006-05:00

As a homeschool mom, I decided to teach my children astronomy last semester. There was a lot of talk about "red shift" and our expanding universe. It seemed logical to me that the universe had to be expanding from some central point. A quick Google search proved me wrong.

I was floored to read that astronomers do not believe there is a center of the universe. A big bang would give you a point of origin, right? Wrong. Astronomers actually believe that prior to the Big Bang there was no time or space. This belief was confirmed by a friend with a doctors degree who teaches astronomy at the local university and is an otherwise very reasonable person. No time or space.

How on earth do you get an accidental, godless creation of the universe suitable for atheists out of NO time and NO space?

Eucharist as Food

2011-06-27T10:12:00.003-05:00

I had never heard the term "holy anorexics" until last week. It refers to saints and holy people (like Catherine of Siena) who ate little or nothing besides for receiving Eucharist frequently. I am not an expert on this topic. However, I have been ATTEMPTING to fast regularly for almost 30 years now. Sometimes it is really hard. My most successful attempts have been after receiving Eucharist. TRY IT!

Eucharist as "Magic"

2011-06-27T09:50:00.003-05:00

I'm gonna "get calls" on this one! People will probably be upset at the idea of Eucharist as magic. Smells and bells and all that hocus-pocus. I'm going to make the point here that the Eucharist does resemble a good "magic" and that that is a good thing. If the word "magic" bugs you, just substitute "mystery" for the remainder of this posting.

So the priest, by imposition of the bishop's hands, receives the grace and spiritual power to change a piece of bread and a cup of wine into Our Lord's body and blood. He can do this several times a day if he says the right words and has followed all the rules properly. If he is a very holy man he can do this. If he is a total jerk he can do this. I cannot do this. In a general sense, if he says the words wrong and doesn't follow the rules the bread and wine will still be bread and wine.

There are lots of priests in this world. Many are holy guys. Some are not as holy as they should be. It's not my problem to sort it out. Thank you, God.

In the Protestant churches I attended as a child, if the pastor was uninspiring with his homily or personal holiness there wasn't much the church had to give you except maybe some fellowship. I appreciate the "magic" in the Catholic Church that transcends our human limitations.

A couple of stories from history. The Jesuits were recalled to Europe in the 1700s from the mission field here in North America. Priests here had DIED trying to bring the Catholic faith to the Native Americans. Then the enthusiastic new converts they had made here were abandoned. Many areas would not see a priest again for over 100 years.

Imagine generations of no sacramental marriages, no Eucharist, no reconciliation, no sacraments to help you prepare for death. Before and after this time in these remote areas when a priest came to town he had to spend huge amounts of time just giving basic sacraments to residents. At least the people could baptize each other when no priest was handy. But how would it even be possible to hand down the faith for maybe four generations without having any sacramental help?

I've been reading Charles Dickens' A Child's History of England. (Good book.) I'm in the middle of the 1100s and the Catholic Church is a mess. High offices in the Church were given to the king's buddies as presents. Going back a little earlier in their history, some of the priests were common criminals, even murderers! The amazing thing is that the Catholic Church even remains today. That is a huge miracle!

So maybe your priest is a jerk. Maybe he's too conservative or too liberal. Maybe he is from a foreign land and you can't understand his accent. Because the power is from God's holy "magic" and not the worthiness of the priest or (heaven help us) the worthiness of US, Eucharist still works. Thank the Lord that there is still a Catholic Church and someone anointed to bring you Our Lord's body and blood.

Eucharist as Consummation

2011-06-27T09:23:00.004-05:00

Once I heard someone compare Eucharist to the physical consummation of a marriage. This idea stays in my brain for two reasons. First, well come on, it's gonna stick in your brain too now that I have said it. Second, because it answers a lot of questions and make some strange-seeming things make sense.

Compare joining the Catholic Church to getting married. There is a lot of preparation involved with both. I say this as a woman who was required to give up every Saturday evening for a year in my preparation to join the church. (I was only asked to prepare for a few months for my marriage.)

You have this whole physical two-become-one concept, perhaps with both. And there is this physical thing you do. In either case, if you explain it to a sixth grader they will tell you it sounds pretty gross.

In this context, however, it is easy to understand why everyone isn't invited to partake of Eucharist in the Catholic Church. There are a lot of very nice, good, probably holy people, who are excluded. But just as you shouldn't be going around consummating non-marital relations in the one way, the same is true in our relationship with Jesus and the Church.

A marriage involves a big commitment. You go through processes, you fill out paperwork, you make a public statement, you make a life commitment. Only under these circumstances can two really become one flesh and the system work as it should.

So the church asks for "date night" once a week and on a few major holidays. If you didn't show up for date night with your spouse it would not bode well for your marriage. This is one of the many reasons Catholics need to be present at Mass on Sundays.

I'm sorry that the Catholic Church seems like such an exclusive club and I hurt for those who through remarriage, mortal sin, or lack of understanding/interest are excluded. May the Lord heal our separations and divisions and bring us all together at the table soon.

Life 101 Ain't Graded Pass/Fail

2011-05-18T21:21:00.003-05:00

From the book Purgatory Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints by Fr. F.X. Schouppe, S.J. :

"On this subject the Church proposes two truths clearly defined as dogmas of faith: first, that there is a Purgatory; second, that the souls which are in Purgatory may be assisted by the suffrages of the faithful, especially by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass."

I was thinking that most Christians would agree that you can't audit the class Life 101. There is a grade of some sort given at the end. The existance of Purgatory adds the statement, it ain't pass/fail either.

Loophole for the Devout

2011-05-14T21:32:00.004-05:00

About 5 years ago I sat down and talked at length to a Muslim friend. This man is very devout in his faith and is also a great man of peace. The goal of my having this theological discussion with him was to try to find a loophole. He is so sure of his faith, and I am so sure of my Catholic faith. I was hoping to find a way that we could both be right. There must be some way our very different beliefs could mesh without one of us having to be sadly misled.

Long-story short, my memory isn't good enough to remember the details of the discussion. It was long and thorough. I want to say it was several hours long. I came away disappointed and stunned. There was no apparent loophole. One of us WAS wrong. Maybe both of us were wrong, but we couldn't both be right.

Now, this proves, I think, that a lot of very good people in this world who firmly belive they are right, are not right. God cannot be two mutually exclusive things at the same time.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This past week my daughter was riding the bus home from middle school. She overheard a neighbor boy saying he had a crush on a girl from our church but he had to forget about that because she was a Catholic and he couldn't marry a Catholic. He is a Protestant.

Walking home from the bus stop he asked my daughter, knowing that she is Catholic, if she heard the conversation and asked if she understood. Everyone on the bus gave him a hard time about his statement. My daughter agreed with him and he was happy somebody "understood".

This is a wild and amazing story for me! When I first heard it my mind raced back in history to the early years of this country when Catholics often faced persecution. It was a big deal for Kennedy to be elected president since he was a Catholic. Even the KKK had it in for Catholics.

Then I stopped and realized that there is no way I would want my children to marry anyone who was not Catholic. Actually I have threatened them all with haunting if they leave the church and my future generations of grandchildren don't know when to stand and sit at my Catholic funeral.

I told them I will show up as a ghost and wave my finger accusingly at them and if I am allowed to speak I will say "uh-HUH!" (My kids are going to have large therapy bills when they grow up.)

OK, so I know these neighbors relatively well. They are very good, devout people. We exchange cookies at Christmas. We help each other. I know they know a lot of Catholics and have good relationships with them.

Do I think Protestants are going to go to hell? No. So why can't my kids marry one? The Catholic church to me is a great jewel. It is the family treasure. While I hope and trust that there are lots of other ways for people to go to heaven than the Catholic church, I am sure of this one. I am sure this way works. I hope that one does too.

But as I learned from my Muslim friend, devoted, faith-filled people sometimes are sadly misled. Maybe I am, maybe my neighbor's family is. One of us is.

Hisfacebook: Heaven as Social Media

2011-03-08T08:18:00.005-06:00

I think one of the best things about being in heaven will be all the other people from the creation of the world who will also be there. Here are some people I would like to "friend" when/if I get there.

Saints - especially John the Baptist. This guy left his family at a young age, went out in the wilderness to live with the animals and eat bugs. Then he founds a "new religion" with weird dunking rituals. AND HE GETS IT RIGHT!

Family and friends who are alive now but scattered all over the country/world - no more "missing you". Be good and we can hang out together on Hisfacebook forever.

Family and friends who have passed - Nanna!

My ancestors - I can't wait to meet my great, great grandparents and all those who came before me. Won't it be fun to see where all of one's silly quirks and special gifts came from?

My guardian angel - He has watched me do every good/bad/stupid thing I have ever done and still loves me. He must have a permanent cringe on his angelic countenance (and maybe a nervous tic).

With the exception of those who, through whatever actions in this life have chosen not to sign on with Hisfacebook, EVERYBODY is going to be there! You think people from your past are coming out of the woodwork to friend you on facebook now . . .

Jesus Likes Me, This I Know . . .

2011-03-07T20:11:00.003-06:00

Raised in a devout Protestant home, "Jesus loves me" is a no-brainer. Of course, he loves me! Now as a Catholic, priests continue to invest (waste?) a lot of energy making SURE I know this.

The real question for me is "Does Jesus LIKE me?" In family situations sometimes I think it is easier to love than like. I mean love is an action, like is a feeling. Which is easier for you to control?

So I posed the question to Him in prayer. Do you like me? How can I know that you like me? In return came a question. "How do you know that people like you?" I guess if someone likes me they try to spend time with me. They might call, or schedule lunch or some sort of get-together.

Seems like I must like Jesus, based on that. With no one making me, of my own free will and free time I stop by the church to say "hi". I call his name often during the day just to check in or thank Him or ask Him for stuff. I guess I like Jesus.

Later that day, in one of those quiet moments, I felt the familiar closeness of God. You know, one of those warm-heart, precious-quiet presence moments. And the message with them? "I came to see ya."

Mealtime Guilt

2010-08-03T21:52:00.006-05:00

Here is a partial list I made of reasons I often feel guilty at mealtimes.

I used the oven on a hot day. I dirtied too many dishes and made a mess. Too much salt. Too much fat. Too much junk in general. Meal too bland. Cooked things my kids did not like. Cooked things my husband did not like. Cooked things I did not like . . .

no, LOL, just kidding.

Cooked something new with a fridge full of leftovers I will soon have to throw out. Non-organic meal probably poisoning my family. Expensive organic meal wasting money that truly hungry people could use. Ate like a gluttonous pig. We didn't finish everything on our plates and just threw out the excess. Kids ate mac and cheese until they had to lie down on sofa in pain.

Allowing child(ren) to eat the same vegetable every meal for nine solid years. Not feeling grateful for my food. Weekly ramen night. Not enough vegetables. Used veggies purchased on those nasty styrofoam trays. Did not wash and save trays for possible future art project.

My vegetarian child will probably have stunted growth due to lack of protien. That is our third bottle of beer this week, are we becoming alcoholics? Dang plastic yogurt containers aren't recyclable locally. Failed to make my own yogurt this time. Children not being made to eat food served to them. Children not grateful and whiney at meals - obviously bad parenting. My 12 year old shouldn't be eating meat on a Friday. (I understand year-round meatless Fridays are still a lesser known rule of the Catholic church today.)

Meal too luxurious - people are starving out there you know. Ate out and supported company that oppresses farmworkers. Ate out and supported a company that obviously does not care if everyone in the country's health goes to pot and dies as long as they make a profit. Ate out and drove there in our gas guzzling mini-van that only gets 19.5 miles to the gallon.

This is an amazingly long and stupid list! I do this for lunch and dinner EVERY DAY! I am going to try to trade all this in for some simple gratitude. Thank you, Lord, for whatever the heck I was able to put on our plates tonight. Just thank you.

Idea - Confessional Cookies

2010-03-15T10:58:00.002-05:00

"Waiting" by Jeff Gardner (above)

a serious picture for a silly idea

This weekend our 2nd graders had their First Reconcilliation. Some were pretty nervous, reminding me that telling a priest what a jerk you were can be an intimidating thing to do.

I wonder what there is in Church law that says after absolution the priest can't give them a container of milk and a wrapped cookie. They would have to do their penance first and a space would have to be set up outside the sanctuary to eat the snack I suppose.

And then I thought, heck, adults probably want milk and cookies after their confessions too! Maybe the Knights of Columbus could purchase a mini-fridge for the priest's side of the confessional. Can you imagine?!

I don't think I am serious about this. It is fraught with problems and "issues" I am sure. The idea made me smile though. :)

Idea - Nursing Home Survey Book

2010-03-02T19:39:00.003-06:00

This is a project a church could do to help its members become personally connected with the residents of a particular nursing home.

Phase one - the interview phase

First, write-up a questionaire that asks questions about hobbies, skills, interests, needs, etc.

Get together a group of youth or adults and have them talk individually to residents suggested by the nursing home workers. The questionaire forms should provide for a good day of get-to-know-you conversations and the beginnings of some relationships between the visitors and the residents.

Phase two - compiling a book

Have your visitors fill out the questionaires with the information the residents gave and then put them all into a three-ring binder. This can be kept somewhere accessible. Maybe the back of the sheets could have a log on them in which people from the church could make note of their visits to the resident.

By looking through the book, a church member could pick out a specific resident who might be a good match for them to spend time with. For example, you might share an interest in orchids or discussing politics. You might find out that someone needs letters from relatives read to them and you might have a child who needs some reading practice.

It would tell you who is in most need of being visited. It would help if you want to bring Christmas gifts. Perhaps you want to try to send birthday cards.

Residents who don't find easy matches from the church in the beginning could be featured in a bulletin announcement, highlighting their interests and needs.

OK - This is more work than most of my "easy ideas". Admitted. It would also take some upkeep as people come and go from the nursing home. I think the rewards would be big though. If you are committed to nursing home ministry in your church, this would be an interesting way to approach it.

Idea - Family Choir Section

2010-03-02T19:07:00.005-06:00

One thing I miss from my Protestant days (in addition to being able to sing Christmas songs during Advent when the rest of the world is singing them) is singing from hymnbooks in harmony. Harmony is reserved for the choir most of the time in Catholic churches I have seen.

For those who want to go beyond the standard, reserved singing-from-the-pews experience, I propose the Family Choir Section.

Once a month could be Family Choir Week and a poster would be hung in a part of the church near the organ (or whatever you may have) that says "Welcome to the Family Choir Section". Anyone would still be welcome to sit in that area, whether or not they chose to participate.

Songs for that day would be chosen to include some that are more participative. This could involve songs with hand motions/sign-language or harmonies. A quick practice could be held in that pew section ten minutes beforehand and someone could stand in front and lead the section during Mass.

This would take place during the regular music of the Mass. No special solos, just a little extra way to participate that day if people want. It wouldn't be expected to be great art. Kids of any age could try to join in.

And it would also be ok to NOT participate. But let the poster be your warning and watch out for stray, flying elbows on the hand motion songs.

Idea - Bishop's Blog Registry

2010-02-22T11:14:00.004-06:00

We know that the Catholic church has called it's people to use the "new media," and to use it for the purpose of good. Translation: Catholic blogging is potentially desirable on the part of the Church. I have not yet, though, stumbled upon any way this is officially channelled, overseen, assisted, even LISTED by the Church.

I propose that the US Council of Catholic Bishops set up a system in which each diocese will have an assigned, part-time person to manage a list of officially recognized Catholic blogs within the diocese. (This might be a great job for a retired priest with reading time on their hands.)

I propose this as a voluntary program. If you have a Catholic blog you can choose to fill out a form and request to be put on the list. In return, after a quick heresy-check you will be given permission to put a little box on your homepage saying you are listed on the Bishop's Blog Registry.

People stumbling onto a new "Catholic" blog would quickly know, by scanning the home page if this is a site which holds itself accountable to its diocese.

The diocese would have an easy way to know who was saying what and could provide different kinds of training, support and information to these registered people.

Catholic bloggers would have a way to distinguish themselves as Church team players and would benefit from the vague approval of the Church. They could also benefit if the diocese posts a list of registered blogs on their website.

I do mean "vague" approval. No one is going to have the time to actually read everything that is being said on all the Catholic blogs in a diocese. However, the appointed diocesan overseer can just sign on as a follower to all the blogs and put them in his (or her) RSS feed and skim randomly as time permits. If anyone else finds something out of line with the teachings of the Church on a registered site they would have someone specific to complain to and then it can be quickly look into it and resolved.

One problem might be that people will falsely put the registry box on their homepages. That is an issue to be looked at. In this day and age, however, a person can self-publish books as well and falsify an imprimatur in them if they choose.

I know adding new oversight might not be popular but I propose to my fellow bloggers that chaos isn't a good thing either. Maybe we would do well to figure out a helpful system now rather than having one thrust upon us later.

Megaphones

2010-02-22T10:55:00.003-06:00

I recently realized that a good friend of mine thought that since I am a blogger I must be famous. Imagine me with autograph-seekers interrupting my Chicken McNuggets!

In response to this innocent but erroneous thought, I present for you the Catholic Blog Directory! I don't think this is a particularly official collection but it does paint quite a picture. To me it is a picture of a world where everyone is so busy talking that no one has time to listen, self included.

It is like God came down and gave everyone with an internet connection a megaphone. I suppose some of us are using it as a useful footrest, some are singing ballads and practicing for American Idol, and some of us are walking around saying "testing, testing."

You can ponder that if you like. Having given up meat for Lent, I am going off now to try to distract myself from any more thoughts about Chicken McNuggets.

Idea - Secular Sonagrams

2010-02-08T13:28:00.002-06:00

I had a thought today that I would like some feedback on. After prayer, I can't think of anything more effective in the fight against abortion than use of sonograms. After seeing your baby in utero I would think it would be much harder to abort.

The law may allow abortions but science is on the side now of the pro-life cause. Here is a three-part plan for your consideration.

1 - Find a way to offer free sonograms in your community. It would be nice to have the funds to buy your own machine and do this on your own terms but if that isn't possible how about going in with someone who already has a machine and the professionals to operate it. Can you rent or use their services one night a week?
In our town we have two health clinics. Can we find a way to pay for the local hospital to give free sonograms anytime with a referral from one of the clinics?

2 - Provide facts-only, impartial information about services your sonogram recipient might need. That includes where to get an abortion, adoption information, local pregnancy centers, social services, etc. Also include a list of upcoming information sessions (see #3 below).

3 - Schedule regular information sessions on the topic of pre- and post-natal issues. Let the planned parenthood people talk. Schedule them a time and put it on the list and then don't bug them with protestors and signs and such. Let them say their piece. Also offer sessions about the pro-life facts. Include the chance to hear the stories of people who have had abortions. What was involved? What were their feelings afterwards?

While you would be providing information about both sides, you wouldn't be actually providing any choice or life services. This plan is based on the idea that the science and the facts do their own work. There can be few objections to a program like this within a community from anyone. Facts is facts!

Has anyone tried anything like this before? Any thoughts? As nice as this plan sounds I am wondering if there are any ultrasound machines in my whole town, which is a problem. Solutions anyone?

Idea - Sharing Extra Resources

2010-01-15T11:42:00.003-06:00

I ran into this idea at the Diocese of Superior website. The basic idea is to have a place within a system, like theirs is for their Catholic school system, where if you have something extra you don't need or if there is something you do need you can fill out a form, have it put on a website and maybe find a match. It would be nice to have an easier way to work it than printing out a form, filling it out, resending it to someone but I still think this is great.

For those of us without a system like this there is still Freecycle.org.

Keep on sharing, ya'll! :)

Idea - Spiritual Adoption

2009-12-24T10:43:00.005-06:00

Today our family will be celebrating two birthdays. First, Our Lord. Second, baby Jennifer. We don't know if Jennifer will actually be born or if she will have been aborted. Actually, we don't even know who Jennifer is.

It is all part of a spiritual adoption program our parish participated in this year. Our priest choose to begin on March 25, the Annunciation, and have our babies grow in the womb along with Jesus. We had posters every month showing the progress of the babies (and Jesus') development.

Families or individuals could pledge to pray for one unknown, unborn baby every day for the nine month period (and hopefully thereafter). If they liked, they could name the baby as well. About 68 people decided to make the pledge in our parish.

This cost the church only the initial cost of the posters and any bulletin flyers we produced. Even little children were allowed to spiritually adopt a baby if they wanted. Was our parish successful in saving 68 children from being aborted? Only God knows. Maybe we saved one.

Now, having completed our family pledge I wonder a lot about this. What kind of prayers does our adopted unknown family need? Do they need material help? Are they scared or excited? Did they abort Jennifer and now need healing somehow?

I hope I remember to pray for this family for a long time. I hope I meet them in heaven and get all my questions answered. I hope our church does this program again next year.

Idea - Kids Perform VBS Songs at Nursing Homes

2009-12-12T10:26:00.002-06:00

This idea is easy, tested and works! Every summer the kids at many churches go to Vacation Bible School (VBS) or something similarly named. Often, part of their day is spent learning religious songs with easy hand motions or dances.

In the months that follow VBS, if you have a few parents who are interested, you can set some times with your local nursing homes for kids to come in and perform the VBS songs. You will need someone willing to lead the motions in the back of the room, or somewhere that the kids can see them, and you will need your music on a jam box. (Sick kids should be encouraged to stay home so they don't spread germs to the residents.)

When a church I was a member of did this, we kept it very laid back. Even toddler siblings were welcome to follow along the motions (this always stole the show). We would gather 30 minutes in advance in a second room provided by the nursing home while they gathered their residents and we would practice the whole show once. This allowed the kids to refresh their memories and/or bring friends who had not gone to VBS who wanted to join in the fun. If you have VBS t-shirts kids can wear them for costumes but that isn't even required.

We went to a different nursing home or assisted living facility every month and the whole thing would take about an hour and a half. That includes the pre-show practice. After every VBS you have a whole fresh new show so you can return to the same places year after year.

This gets the kids into the nursing homes which gives them a good way be able to share God's love with people who are often lonely, sad and hurting. It also gives the kids a place to perform with their church friends in a non-judgemental setting. Quality is not much of an issue. The kids will be very much appreciated by the staff and residents. Easy, free and win-win. I like ideas like that.

Idea - Proposal to Curb Alcohol Abuse

2009-11-27T15:36:00.003-06:00

This is an excerpt from a recent Letter to the Editor of the Dunn County News written by Mr. Charles M. Barnard.

"People who abuse alcohol are dangerous. We know this, and I won't belabor the point.

Not everyone abuses alcohol, but those who do, repeatedly do so. Yet anyone with cash and age identification can buy as much as they want.

It's long past time that changed. There is no reason to permit people with known records of alcohol related problems to be allowed to buy the stuff. It's not even difficult to implement a system to help control such purchases.

Conviction of an alcohol-related charge should carry a mandatory "no purchase" penalty - for at least a year. Further convictions should make the prohibition permanent. This would include OWI and assault or other violent act where the perpetrator is shown to have been under the influence.

It's even easy to implement.

Driver's licenses and other identification issued by the state should be color coded and carry a printed "may not possess alcohol" warning. And such identification must be shown to purchase bottled goods, meaning people with such prohibitions would not be permitted in establishments which serve alcohol. All underage DLs would automatically be coded.

Like every other abusable substance, alcohol abuse is a serious problem for only a percentage of the population - but it is a deadly problem. This plan permits those who are capable of using alcohol safely to do so, while preventing those who cannot from accessing the substance.

Would it eliminate the problem?

Of course not. But it would certainly cut down on the availability to those with a problem, without drastically interfering with the natural rights of those responsible people to live their lives."

I think this is a pretty good idea although I would change the permanent inability to buy alcohol to requiring the person to successfully complete some kind of alcohol treatment program before giving that right back after a second offense. (I guess I assume that one offense is possibly just a really stupid mistake. A second offense is probably an addiction. That may or may not be true.)

So alcoholism isn't the usual focus of this blog but I am getting interested in easy ideas to make the world and the Church better and this seems like one.

Now it is nice to have a good idea but how can something like this be started on the path to implementation? I decided to contribute $4.40 to the cause. I am xeroxing the article and sending it with my comments to ten people in government and other community leaders that I think might be able to move forward with it.

An easy idea and an easy response. Your comments, as always, are welcome here. :)

Idea - Parishioner Fund

2009-11-13T10:46:00.002-06:00

So a church would set up a fund. People could donate if they wanted and there would be a list that individuals/families could put their names on if they would like to receive from it. Rules I suggest would be something like this (but could be as general or specific as you like):

- You must have been a parishioner at the church for at least a year.
- You must have been laid off from a job.

Once a month, whatever money is in the fund would be divided up between those whose names are on the list with a maximum amount of maybe $500/month or something, beyond which funds would be carried over to the next month's pot.

The point is not to solve all of anyone's financial problems and this is designed to be a non-judgemental system where there are no forms, no board of directors, no one in the position of deciding who is worthy. It is pretty much on the honor system for the receivers and just a way that folks can offer help to fellow parishioners who have come to the point where they would like some help.

It could be tried for 6 months to see if it is a good or bad thing. This has not yet been tried to my knowledge.

Your comments are welcome.

Gratitude

2009-10-17T15:13:00.003-05:00

(Above - Venerable Father Solanus Casey - statue at birthplace, Oak Grove, WI)

Reading about the life of Venerable Father Solanus Casey got me thinking recently about this business of being constantly in a state of prayer and gratitude. That always has seemed to be a great way to live but definitely not something that has come naturally to me.

I wondered how I could feel grateful (instead of guilty) while doing my favorite things, like reading books and "working" on the computer.

To experience gratitude we have to receive the gift. Scenario 1: Imagine someone gives you a present -- say, that Mickey Mouse bobblehead doll you always wanted. Scenario 2: Now image you see a little kid with the same doll and you tell them to give it to you or you will whack them. In both cases you received the doll but gratitude is only involved in the case where it was freely given.

It was shown to me that if I claim my time to be my own, then I really am not receiving the gift. Really, I am just taking what I want. It is only when I fulfill the expectation on myself to respond immediately to the needs and wants of my children and husband FIRST, with leftover time being for myself, that I can enjoy the gift of the remaining free time from God.

Black Santa/Black St. Augustine

2009-10-14T11:43:00.004-05:00

I recently finished reading Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, which is a good read if you are into child psychology and you want someone to tell you that a large percentage of what you already know -- is now scientifically proven to be untrue.

I learned as a college psychology major never to trust a research psychologist. They give you pencils without erasers, lie to you about what they are studying and do unspeakable things to lab rats.

All these memories came back to me as I read about some first grade teachers, with clipboard-holding psychologists looking on, who read a book called Twas the Night B'fore Christmas, by Melodye Rosales to their students (black, white and self-proclaimed "hillbillies").

In this book, Santa Claus is drawn as a black man. The psychologists took notes while the childrens' brains expanded/exploded. They had seen a white Santa at KMart and struggled to reason how this could be. Were there really two Santas? Was one a fake? Did one deliver gifts to children of one race and the other to the other?

Interestingly, just a day or two after reading that my family attended Mass at St. Cecilia's Catholic Church in Wisconsin Dells, WI. As I was photographing their beautiful stained glass windows, the priest chatted with us about them and asked if we spotted the historical inaccuracy in the St. Augustine window.

The correct answer turned out to be that St. Augustine had Caucasian skin even though he was from Africa. Soon a new church building is going to be built and the window will be changed to reflect a more accurate view of his ethnicity. The window was going to be "repaired".

Am I a bigot to be uncomfortable with these things? I hope not. Maybe I'm just a conservative that doesn't like change. Above left you will see the earliest known portait of St. Augustine (6th century). Above right you will see my picture of the St. Augustine window at St. Cecilia's. Red suit, white beard -- wait, he reminds me of someone!

the Market

2009-10-08T21:21:00.003-05:00

I have been enjoying reading books lately by economists who are trying to explain things to the common person on the street, like myself.

Both the books I have read so far have agreed that the cure for poverty, sickness and almost all of society's ills is . . . the Market. It is a convincing argument.

The absolute greatest thing about the Market is what powers it. At best it is our self-interest, at worst, our greed. Whether you are in the first world, the third world, whether you are a rocket scientist or haven't darkened the door of a school in your life you have something powerful you can contribute to the world and that is your desire to look out for your own self-interest. Amazingly, 6 1/2 billion people all looking out for their own self-interest produces a magic force like something you would see on Star Trek re-runs that has a life of its own -- and works for the common good.

Now that common good thing is a big picture common good. So all people will be better off, however, individual people may not seem to be benefitting at any given moment. (That is a matter for the church and social workers, not economists, as sympathetic as they might be.)

So what would happen if people started following God's instructions and making decisions based on OTHER PEOPLE'S interest? Would it "gum up" the Market? That is something to chew on.

Ribs and a good video

2009-10-06T12:59:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday's readings included Genesis 2: 18-24. Here is an excerpt:

"The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. " -- Genesis 20 - 22

My husband and I have a running argument. He is an evolutionist and I am a creationist. We peacefully solve this problem by agreeing that HIS ancestors were hairy apes and mine were created by God in Paradise in a burst of creative love. (This is quite against the will of my own family members who much prefer, in their own thinking, the ape side.) ANYWAY . . .

I often hear people saying that the seven days in the Biblical creation story was just a metaphor for billions of years; that the story is all symbolic. And I admit the order that things would have come about from a Big Bang viewpoint can be related loosely to the seven-day order in the creation story. But now somebody, anybody, tell me how putting Adam to sleep, removing one of his ribs and making Eve from it can symbolize anything in the evolutionary process. According to that way of thinking, the sexes would have to have co-evolved simultaneously.

I personally cannot think of any way to explain the rib story as a logical extension of evolution. And I personally cannot, from an evolutionary way of thinking, do anything with that story except to say that it is just a story. Maybe it has a lesson for us and wasn't meant literally. Maybe it was added there by men wanting to rationalize their perceived superiority over women so they could boss them around.

I think if we are going to look at the creation story as a symbol, though, we have to be very careful not to lose original sin in the process. If it is just an old folk tale, even an inspired one, is original sin still real? What does it matter if we lose original sin anyway?

Without original sin you don't have need of Jesus to do anything other than just show us some good videos on being nice to each other. Really, He didn't even need to die if there was no original sin to be specifically overcome once and for all.

So that should pick a good fight and I will be very disappointed if I don't get one.

Note from Joyce: My understanding of the Catholic Church stance on creation/evolution is that you are allowed to believe most of what evolution teaches but not the ape thing. Souls do not evolve. Last I heard the Church was taking a good look at this matter and may have more to say about it before long.

Stained Glass Collection

2009-10-06T12:00:00.003-05:00

(Jeff Gardner self-portrait taken in St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, Warsaw, ND)

If things are looking just a bit classier around here, graphically speaking, it is thanks to the work Jeff Gardner (above). In just one year he managed to photograph the stained glass windows in 84 Catholic churches in the upper midwest and his beautiful pictures are available for viewing online. After talking with him a bit I am not sure even he really understands why he did it. You can read about him, his project and his photography tips at West Central Wisconsin Catholic.

Also, Gardner has been a big help in identifying several of the apostles in the stained glass windows of the Chapel Challenge. If this interests you, check it out. :)

I am grateful to Jeff Gardner for his willingness to share his work with you through this blog and its sister sites.

Joeyland

2009-10-06T11:37:00.005-05:00

(rain that falls up - Stop that!)

I can imagine a conversation between my children in which my six-year-old invents an imaginary a place, maybe "Joeyland", with all kinds of wild things like summer-saulting birds and rain that "falls" up and trees whose leaves change color. Then it would be the obligation of my 11-year-old to tell him his nuttiness was an unacceptable offense against the proper way things work (and call him a few choice names to teach him his lesson).

So what was God thinking with this autumn thing? It is like He was being silly and decreed that once every year half the trees would just change their leaf color and He had no 11-year-old sister around to abuse some sense into Him. And He made this technical-sounding scientific reason for this really silly thing. Even the word "chlorophyll" probably gave Him a good giggle.

But why red and yellow and orange? Why not blue and purple while He was at it? I was pondering this and thinking how red is the color of blood. And fall is the season before the death season, like maybe the season of the suffering before death. Now don't ask me about the yellow and orange. That is why this is a blog and I hope you will all have opinions on this and jump through all of google's menacing registration hoops to tell me what you think.

But if there is a message about suffering in the color of the fall leaves, how wonderful that it is a month of such beauty. Now, if the birds could only do summer-saults without hurting themselves . . .

Mary the Dawn

2009-09-15T10:49:00.003-05:00

Photo by Jeff Gardner. (More on him in a future post.)

September 15, 2009, Our Lady of Sorrows Day - The Christian Prayer book suggests Mary the Dawn as a hymn today and I had never seen it before. Interesting lyrics:

Mary the Dawn, Christ the Perfect Day;

Mary the Gate, Christ the Heavenly Way!

Mary the Root, Christ the Mystic Vine;

Mary the Grape, Christ the Sacred Wine!

Mary the Wheat, Christ the Living-Bread;

Mary the Stem, Christ the Rose blood-red!

Mary the Font, Christ the Cleansing Flood;

Mary the Cup, Christ the Saving Blood!

Mary the Temple, Christ the temple's Lord;

Mary the Shrine, Christ the God adored!

Mary the Beacon, Christ the Haven's Rest;

Mary the Mirror, Christ the Vision Blest!

Mary the Mother, Christ the mother's Son

By all things blest while endless ages run. Amen.

If this were not in my morning prayer book I would be raising my eyebrows at the theology expressed by this song. I like it but the Lord will have to enlighten me on the "Mary the Grape" thing. When He does, I will let you know.

Conversion - the 95% Rule

2009-09-02T12:12:00.003-05:00

Recently, we heard the reading where Jesus says:

. . . "Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you . . ." (John 6:53)

Then a few verses (and lectionary weeks) later:
"After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, 'Will you also go away?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'" (John 6:66-69)

It reminded me of the point in my own conversion from the Protestant faith where I had searched and pondered for a long time on my own and come up with a set of answers that made sense to me and gave me something that would bring me peace and guide me well. I was pretty surprised to find that my answers lined up about 95% with what the Catholic Church had been saying for 2000 years. (Hmmm. Seems like I could have saved myself some time here, but, oh well.) Anyway, there was one point, the no-women-priests thing, that didn't make sense to me in the Catholic Church teachings. I remember deciding, like Simon Peter, to give the church the benefit of the doubt on the other 5%. Later I read a beautiful document on the subject, I believe it was by Pope John Paul II, that made me accept that church teaching joyfully.

Also, I recently listened to The Conversion of Scott Hahn, in which he, also, came to believe 95% of everything the church taught . . . except the Mary business. He gave the Church the benefit of the doubt on the 5% and now is deeply in love with The Blessed Mother and a great spokesperson for the Church.

I wonder if other readers have had similar experiences in their own conversion. Let me know if you have.

(By the way, you can get a free CD of Scott Hahn's very interesting conversion story from the Mary Foundation . You pay a dollar for postage for each CD and donations are encouraged, but other than that, it's free. They have other great stuff too, like the rosary on CD.)

The Family Who Conquered Heaven

2009-08-20T09:09:00.004-05:00

A friend sent me this link to a great St. Bernard homily, "The Family Who Conquered Heaven," in honor of his Memorial day today (August 20). It will set you back 10 minutes but talks about how his father and all six of his siblings ended up in religious life. It also talks about some rather big mistakes he made.

Nursing Virgin Part 2

2009-08-12T14:08:00.015-05:00

Since writing the Nursing Virgin post I have found more information on this subject at the Fish Eaters website from which I copy the following:

From St. Ephraem's Hymns on the Nativity:

Mary bore a mute Babe though in Him were hidden all our tongues.

Joseph carried Him, yet hidden in Him was a silent nature older than everything.

The Lofty One became like a little child, yet hidden in Him was a treasure of Wisdom that suffices for all.
He was lofty but He sucked Mary's milk, and from His blessings all creation sucks.

He is the Living Breast of living breath; by His life the dead were suckled, and they revived.

Without the breath of air no one can live; without the power of the Son no one can rise.

Upon the living breath of the One Who vivifies all depend, the living beings above and below.
As indeed He sucked Mary's milk, He has given suck -- life to the universe.
As again He dwelt in His mother's womb, in His womb dwells all creation.
Mute He was as a babe, yet He gave to all creation all His commands.
For without the First-Born no one is able to approach Being, for He alone is capable of it.

Wow! Also at this site is a huge list of links to pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary nursing baby Jesus.

The Nursing Virgin

2009-08-12T09:40:00.004-05:00

Proving that you never know WHAT you will find in the free discard magazine section of a public library, I ran into an old issue of Christian Century (January 29, 2008) featuring an article on images of the Blessed Mother . . . nursing Jesus. It was written by Margaret R. Miles and I can't link to it because the magazine archives on-line are for subscribers only (grumble, grumble). However, once again I will save you some time with my helpful oversimplification of the article and if this interests you, check out the author's book, A Complex Delight: The Secularization of the Breast, 1350-1750.

Ms. Miles tells us, "Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of late medieval and Renaissance paintings and sculptures depict the Virgin Mary with one breast exposed as she is nursing or preparing to nurse the infant Christ."

What happened? Well, art got more realistic looking for one thing and it started showing exposed breasts in some non-maternal contexts, both secular and religious. That was followed by the printing press which enabled the spread of pornography to the masses. Also, as medical science progressed there were books on anatomy in circulation that were one more blow to the sacredness we held in our minds regarding the maternal breast. Ms. Miles concludes for us, "By 1750 the public meaning of naked breasts was largely medical or erotic."

I have to say, personally, that I have a much easier time (having joyfully nursed my babies for many years) seeing Mary's maternal breast as a sign of God's love for me than crucifixion images. Not to downplay the importance of that sacrifice but it never really brings up those lovey-dovey feelings in me that I am told it should.

The picture above is of Our Lady of La Leche and she has a shrine in St. Augustine, Florida. When I lived down there I knew several people who, when pregnant, made pilgrimage to that chapel. And the date of that devotion? 1600s.

I would love to hear your (respectful) comments on this subject.

Not Buying It - A book(s) review

2009-08-10T07:29:00.004-05:00

At this point in my life I find myself BOTH (1) miserably cleaning out a whole room of my house full of things I don't know where to put or what to do with, and (2) still making lists in my head of new things I need to buy.

I wonder how really poor people in other cultures spend their time since they aren't reasearching things to buy, buying things, maintaining things, storing things and getting rid of things. Sometimes this seems like a frightfully large chunk of my waking hours. Of course they are probably spending their time making long walks to get water and scrubbing what clothes they have on rocks and working long hours for sweatshop pay. I don't mean to be flip about this serious matter, I am just pondering it all.

On that subject, I recall a book I read a while ago called Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping in which the author, Judith Levine, gives up spending money on all but basic food and necessities (and that much-needed house remodeling project that she started before writing the book) for one calendar year.

Ms. Levine is not a Catholic author - minimally Jewish. And she is prone to now-outdated political tirades and language and subject matter generally offensive to my sensitive ears. Therefore, as the author of this Catholic blog, I cannot recommend that you actually read this book (unless that is your cup of tea). I will give you the highlights.

Interestingly, in her book Ms. Levine didn't seem to spend much time worrying about what constituted a want and what was actually a basic necessity. I would think that I would be agonizing over all that grey, borderline stuff every day. Maybe deep down we all really know the difference better than we think we do.

The two hardest things for her were (1) figuring out how to give a wedding gift to a special family member (she ended up passing on a special piece of family jewelry that was much appreciated) and (2) not being able to eat meals out when friends invited her.

If you actually don't have money and friends are going out for a social dinner they will probably either not invite you, go someplace cheap for you or buy your meal. What if they know you HAVE the money but don't want to spend it? You have to keep refusing invitations and it seems like cheating to tell them you are writing a book . . . Very interesting.

So with the time I have just saved you by summarizing Not Buying It, you should definitely check out another book in this new Minimally-Jewish-People-Doing-Weird-Experiments-For-A-Year (MJPDWEFAY) literary genre called The Year of Living Biblically, One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. Since he is Jewish, when author A. J. Jacobs says "Bible" he means "Old Testament", whose commands may be easier to literally do than New Testament commands (for example growing a beard versus loving your neighbor). And he conducts his experiment in New York City where his visibly odd public behavior probably is less likely to get him beat up than, say, Wisconsin. To make it easier still, he settles for tackling the commandments individually instead of simultaneously. A good, gentle read nevertheless.

During his year, he talks to people from all sorts of fringe and mainstream religious groups. Sufis to snake handlers (no Roman Catholics). He approaches all this, as did Ms. Levine in her book, from a real desire to know and learn, which endears me to this MJPDWEFAY genre. There are also some really funny moments in his book which I will not ruin for you. How do you fulfill the command to stone adulterers or to not sit in any chair that was sat in by a woman in the "unclean" time of her monthly cycle (Leviticus 15:20)? Read and see.

I would like to apologize for this unusually long post. Having read it all the way to the end you definitely deserve to buy yourself a treat. You can spend the rest of the day thinking and researching what that treat should be.

My Favorite G.K. Chesterton Quotes

2009-08-08T18:17:00.004-05:00

In honor of today being the last day of the annual G. K. Chesterton conference in Seattle, I present to you my favorite quotes of his from the American Chesterton Society website.

- "A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it."

- "Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable."

- "The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden."

- On Z.Z. Top - "You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion."

Contagious Haiku

2009-08-06T10:28:00.004-05:00

(This thread actually started on July 21 with the posting "Sister Hell Burns, Media Nun". You might want to read that first and work your way up. Joyce)

Contagious Haiku

Sister Hell Burns fault

Argh! Can't stop. Send help!

Long family car trip.

She says:

"Swirling in my mind

A chaos of gratitude

Senseless thought-less thanks"

He says:

"O.K. Here it is.

The upper peninsula

Wow! Dead porcupines."

Long car trip, we're bored

Husband insults my haiku!

Will the marriage last?

NOT a Haiku

2009-07-24T08:01:00.004-05:00

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. I think the Eucharistic Host in adoration is the window to God's soul. The monstrance kind of looks like an eye, too, doesn't it?

Jesus Christ, Portal
Window, Door
Destination, Path

(Haiku is apparently 5,7,5. This is 5,3,5. I still like it, but I am not Japanese. For some REAL Haiku, reference Sister Burns's site in a previous post.)

Catholic New Media Awards Results

2009-07-22T13:37:00.004-05:00

The results are in for the Catholic New Media Awards, 2009. In an act of brazen-osity (sorry, I couldn't spell "brazenness") I submitted both this blog and West Central Wisconsin Catholic, it's sister website, as nominees in many categories.

You might be interested to check out all the links to the winners. Maybe you will find something that you like on this MONSTROUSLY LONG LIST. Otherwise you can see how my sites did. Mostly at the bottom of the heap, but since I didn't vote for myself, or solicit votes from anyone, even the ONE VOTE I got in some categories means that some total stranger out there somewhere who ISN'T EVEN MY MOM thought that my site was the best. Whoever you are, you made my day. Even if it was just a stinkin' act of mercy, I am good with that.

You can also see, however, that EIGHT PEOPLE who are NOT MY MOTHER thought this was the Funniest Blog out of all those listed. Three people also thought that WCWCAtholic was the Best Social Networking Site.

Thank you.

Sister Hell Burns, Media Nun

2009-07-21T19:25:00.003-05:00

Sister Helena Burns the self-described "media nun" has a blog of original haiku called This Little Scramble which is a really neat site, and MOST unusual! I like this one:

I'm so sorry, God,
for just horizontal thoughts
like this one right here.

Since you know I love scavenger hunts on my sites, see if you can find her haiku about a wombat. (Really.)

If you like movies, you will also like her website, Hell Burns, where she talks thoughtfully about all that sort of media stuff.

Glad we got that settled!

2009-07-20T13:29:00.006-05:00

Well, the polls are closed and Just-Another-Catholic-Blog readers have spoken! Their final message? "We can't make up our minds!"

You may recall the poll in question: "I am hoping that Jesus comes back . . .

real soon
in a long time."

It was a 50/50 tie in an exciting 3 to 3 vote.

One reader suggested that not enough options were given and I apologize for that. If I did it again I would add other options like:

never
whenever He feels like it
anytime I don't have my mouth full
during the next Super Bowl -- especially if they bring Mick Jagger back for half-time.

Thank you to all who participated. Feel free to blog-in and let me know what options you would like added to the poll.

Ut, re, mi, fa, so, la, . . . ut update

2009-06-29T16:29:00.006-05:00

Well, a highly-knowledgable and hardly-doubtable expert in the field of music (that would be my dad) informed me that . . . posh, tosh, this ut stuff is old news! They have a name - solfege syllables, and were used by a guy named Guido of Arezzo to teach musically illiterate monks to sing the Gregorian chants. Then he invented the Guidonian Hand as a teaching aid.

The Guidonian Hand is based on hexachords (six instead of a scale of eight). So the te was actually not included because it was the seventh. And you have to break up the Sanc-te to get it anyway. And te is actually a different solfege note, half a step lower than ti. Not sure where ti came from. WHEW!

Here are the Latin lyrics for your further consideration.

Ut queant laxis
Resonare fibris
Mira gestorum
Famuli tuorum,
Solve polluti
Labii reatum, Sanc
Te loannes

It actually means: "So that these your servants may, with all their voice, resound your marvelous exploits, clean the guilt from our stained lips, O Saint John. "

And that is probably a good place to stop for now. Your comments are welcome.

St. John's Eve & St. John's Day

2009-06-27T16:37:00.004-05:00

I rediscovered the most wonderful website yesterday called Fish Eaters (name referring to the Catholic practice of not eating meat on Fridays) as I was reading about St. John the Baptist's birthday. I learned that his death by beheading has a name: "decollation". (I love words for ways you can die. My favorite word for years has been "defenestration" which means pushing someone out a window.)

But wait! There is more! According to this site he is considered to be one of three people born without sin. The other two are, of course, Jesus and Mary and the three together are the only ones whose birthdays are church feasts. He was filled with grace in the womb of his mother and that, I guess, caused him to be born (but not conceived) without sin. More about that on the site.

It gets more interesting though. The traditional song associated with his birthday is called Ut queant laxis and is the source of ut, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, ut. OK - the uts later became dos. You will do better to read about that from their site.

According to fish eaters, customs on his birthday include blessing bonfires, picking strawberries and eating SNAILS! I can't wait to tell my mac-ar-only and cheese eating kids what's on the menu next June 24!

New Catholic Worker Articles

2009-06-13T14:38:00.004-05:00

I recently posted a new Catholic Worker section at my West Central Wisconsin Catholic website. It includes two original articles on local CW houses (like these gals from the Gilbert House Catholic Worker Community) and some links and general information about the CW Movement, which turns out to be full of life in this area. One of the founders of the CW Movement was Peter Maurin. You can read one of his "Easy Essays" in the right hand column of this blog.

CW stuff is related to several of my earlier postings because:

1) at its best, CW philosophy combines both obedience to the Catholic Church and hands-on help for the poor and

2) in the Stillwater CW article you will see the fulfillment (at least partially) of what I was talking about in the "What Would Dr. Brilliant Do?" post. The LifeCare Center in Stillwater IS very effectively answering the needs of those who might otherwise have abortions.

Doin' the Math

2009-05-20T22:07:00.003-05:00

According to a Gallup poll taken in early May 2009, more people now consider themselves "pro-life" than "pro-choice". Since Gallup started asking this question in 1995 this is the FIRST TIME that has been the case. Click here for the details.

You know, there is a big demographic thing that could really affect all this, too. If the "pro-life" people have lots of children and the "pro-choice" people have few children it is just a matter of time. . . that is basic math.

When you read more about who has changed their mind, though, and the suggested cause in the article I think you will be surprised. :)

What would Dr. Brilliant do?

2009-05-06T08:30:00.003-05:00

It was an encouraging news day on NPR this morning. The federal government decided that the swine flu really didn't turn out to be such a big deal and everyone should go back to school. And then they interviewed this guy, Dr. Larry Brilliant (gotta pay extra for a great name like that I bet). The Skoll Foundation, created in 1999 by Jeff Skoll, the first employee and first president of eBay, has set up the Skoll Urgent Threats Fund and hired Dr. Brilliant (with ties to Google I should add) to run it. The new Fund’s focus will be on fighting climate change, water scarcity, pandemics, nuclear proliferation and Middle East conflict. (You think you have a lot on YOUR plate!)

So listening to Dr. Brilliant on NPR, his goal was basically to solve ALL FIVE of these problems. Well, he had seen smallpox eliminated and didn't see any reason why these biggies couldn't be knocked out before lunch (me paraphrasing here). Now this guy has a history of successfully doing big things and has been generally working to help the human race for many years. You gotta think this is INTERESTING though. When asked how he would solve the Middle East conflict he talked about when they showed the movie Gandhi (translated, of course) to Palestinians who all went "ooh, aah" and started contemplating possible success from PEACEFUL resistance (my wording again).

I think about the times in my life when I have seen major change take place. I remember watching when people all of a sudden all seemed to wake up and say "Gee, smoking is dangerous and addictive, maybe somebody should do something about it". Keep in mind that even as a kid, I and everyone I knew already knew this well. But there was a whole change of attitude all of a sudden.

Then there was the fall of the Berlin Wall. I know politically and in the hearts of people that wall had been chipped at for a long time but we just woke up and it was coming down and it was really surprising.

So my point is that change seems to involve many years of quiet, not-so-successful-looking work that suddenly is joined to grace, to God's "YES!" And it is done.

My mother was VERY involved in Obama's local campaign in her town. After the election the mobilized Obama troops did not want to just go home and forget about it. They organized themselves into a group of about 30 people. First they made a list of every problem in the town they might like to solve. Then they put the problems in groups or task forces and people picked the task forces they wanted to focus on. They got volunteers to attend every local public governmental meeting from city council to school board with the idea that if anything questionable goes on that they can respond as a group to it. That sounds bad. Maybe they hear of a need at the meetings where the group can help. My mom, in following school board meetings, learned about major changes and stepped in to help support the board after well-researching their proposal. OK, so this kind of organization is a little scary and you definitely hope it is on your side just because it is potentially so powerful.

Sometimes I wonder why we CANT just solve the world problems. Sometimes I feel that we can.

Let's consider abortion, if you like (or you can stop here because that is where this posting is going). I think it would be realistic to say that short of MAJOR DIVINE INTERVENTION we are not going to see it made illegal in the next few years. You may think good or bad about that but I think it is a safe-to-say fact.

Another major way those opposing abortion have worked is prayer. Personal prayer, public prayer, loud prayer, quiet prayer, fasting, sacrifices, etc. This has been somewhat successful and when the walls finally come down it will be because of this. However, there still seems to be such a long way to go.

So what if we think about solving this problem in a new way. How would Dr. Brilliant solve this problem? I don't think anyone would argue that people get abortions for reasons and pressures in their lives. SO many people want to see an end to abortion and many of these people have money. Do we really not have the ability to solve this problem? "We" cured smallpox. What if we set up hospitality houses all over the country for those with "reasons and pressures" and set out to try to deal with the "r and p". Is this woman on drugs? Build programs or provide some sort of assistance to get her off. Is she a teenager who will be kicked out of her house if her parents find out she is pregnant? Provide a caring place for her to go.

In bringing up this loaded topic I do not want to get into a political debate but I do pose the question to you. Maybe not "What would Jesus do?" but "What would Dr. Brilliant do?"

I have other sheep . . .

2009-05-05T11:17:00.002-05:00

Sunday was Good Shepherd Sunday and the Gospel reading was John 10:11-18. Listen to Jesus speaking in this excerpt:

"I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd."

In regard to that, here is an excerpt from Father Tom Krieg's homily Sunday.

May 3, 2009
4th Sunday of Easter
Acts 4:8-12; John 10:11-18

"The first reading says pretty directly, 'There is no salvation through anyone else [than Jesus].' Does the Catholic Church teach this? Yes. Does the Catholic Church teach that non-Christians cannot go to heaven? No. Does the Catholic Church teach that non-Christians can go to heaven? Yes. How can it teach all these things?

The basic answer is that we believe Jesus is the only savior because, God saves and Jesus is part of God, the second person of the Trinity, as we developed our doctrine. So, if God chooses to welcome Muslims, Buddhists, etc. into eternal life, well he certainly can and Jesus is necessarily involved as he is the Word of the God and the actor in God who redeems. Now, occasionally a theologian will write a book that says all world religions are just different paths to the same God, like different rivers that flow into the same ocean. The Catholic Church says that is wrong. The Catholic teaching is that Jesus is the unique savior and that his saving truth is most fully contained in the Catholic Church–not only in the Catholic Church, but most fully. Are you sufficiently confused? I only pause to tell you all this because it is a common question, we hear about it in the first reading, AND because I do not want us to use what we hear in the first reading to pump up our spiritual egos and think we have the right to tell anyone else that they cannot go to heaven unless they profess belief in Jesus. In many cases that would violate the greatest law, the Law of Charity, and then it would be our souls not theirs that would be in trouble."

I think it is nice to know that everyone gets a Good Shepherd and not one of those lousy hired guys who run away when the wolf comes. :)

Florida news

2009-05-05T10:47:00.007-05:00

This story from Florida struck me as interesting. There is discussion about having an "I Believe" license plate you can buy, the first overtly religious in the nation. That would be in addition to over 100 other special interest license plates available in Florida at this time. It looks like the plate design with Jesus on the cross is not likely to become available. A more generic cross with a stained glass window is making its way better through the system, with lots of obligatory argument and fuss, of course. (So we are looking at a Protestant plate, as opposed to the somewhat more gorey Catholic version.) To view the original article, click here .

Speaking of Florida, I was surprised to hear that previous governor, Jeb Bush, had gone through a special ceremony to consecrate Florida to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (article pasted below). You know with all the financial, population and climate pressures on Florida, this sure can't hurt. Definitely interesting. This is not recent news. I have no idea how long ago the consecration took place.

Spirit Daily

Florida Consecrated To Immaculate Heart Of Mary, With Governor Attending

By Michael H. Brown

Sources in Tallahassee and at the bishop's office have confirmed that the state of Florida was recently consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a quiet, almost secret Mass celebrated by Most Reverend John H. Ricard, bishop of the Pensacola-Tallahassee diocese. The solemn event was attended by Governor Jeb Bush and his wife Columba. It reportedly took place at Blessed Sacrament Church in Tallahassee with just 24 in attendance."It was a very quiet activity," notes Tina Easter, the bishop's secretary. "It was quiet because of the governor's involvement. It was certainly not a photo-op." According to one woman who attended, the Mass occurred last May and was the length of a normal Sunday liturgy, with a special consecration read and a life-sized image of the Guadalupe Virgin placed in the church for the occasion. According to reports, both Governor and Mrs. Bush have visited the famous shrine at Guadalupe near Mexico City, where Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego. Mrs. Bush, a Mexican-American, recently attended the beatification of Mother Teresa and jubilee for John Paul II at the Vatican. She is known to be devout and has been seen in the chapel of the Tallahassee church. Consecration of a nation or area is considered a powerful means of protection. The famous Fatima appearance included a request for the consecration of Russia. The state has also been consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Discernment

2009-04-21T21:21:00.002-05:00

Boy, the theme for this week is definitely discernment. It keeps coming up in conversation. I especially think about all those situations where we risk making people mad for Truth or whatever the "Spirit" makes us think is a greater good.

I am told that the "Spirit" that tries to guide us can come from three sources: the True Holy Spirit, the false spirit (I like to call him "Not-god") or ourselves. Unfortunately, the latter two are really good at disguising themselves as the first.

I think about someone like John the Baptist. The "Spirit" he perceived made him do some very unusual and unprecidented things. The Bible doesn't say he had any big discernment issues about it. He just followed the "Spirit" willy-nilly.

St. Joseph had dreams where angels told him to do some pretty wild things and he just did them. He didn't ask the angels to show him some ID first.

So why is it that discernment doesn't seem to be an issue in the Bible and is a HUGE issue for us today? One theory is that maybe we want so much for God to be moving actively and visibly in our lives now that we tend to race out in front of him. If we didn't we would probably be at home doing the dishes and picking up after our kids. Boring stuff. You know that finding-holiness-in-daily-duties stuff that is probably as powerful as it gets and not much fun. It is much more "fun" to rush out and do a bunch of God-work.

But then I am just speaking for myself on this one. I would love to hear some opinions on this. What do you think?

Franciscan Brothers of Peace

2009-04-20T16:17:00.004-05:00

Twice in the last two days I heard the name of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace so I googled them. What an interesting story this group has! Check it out if you have a few minutes.

Fluffy Sweaters

2009-04-10T08:20:00.003-05:00

In church last Sunday we were sitting behind a family that had different ideas than I did about how long a crying baby should remain in the pews with its parents before being escorted to the cry room. I really appreciate cry rooms as an option for those who are uncomfortable disturbing people around them. It is also really important to me that those who are struggling be uplifted and not condemned by fellow church attendees. When time comes to pass the peace I always dig up my biggest, warmest smile for those who may fear that they are annoying their neighbors. I was thinking the "ask not why the table isn't set, just go get the spoons" response might be to sit intentionally in front of people with loud-looking toddlers and to wear really fluffy sweaters to try to soak up the eminating sound waves. In Wisconsin you can get away with fluffy sweaters much of the year. Ha, ha.

Easter before Easter pt 2

2009-04-10T08:18:00.004-05:00

So I was talking about Easter before Easter and I wonder when it would be liturgically correct to dye eggs. Could you wait until about 8 PM on Holy Saturday once the Vigil started? I don't know. Would like some ideas. How about those Easter egg hunts?

Easter before Easter

2009-04-04T20:14:00.003-05:00

So I was driving along today and saw an Easter banner hanging in front of a house and my gut reaction was "ugh". I mean tomorrow is Palm Sunday and we have to kill Jesus off before we can be happy he came back, you know. Same thing goes with Christmas songs. We should all sing "so glad the baby is born songs" to women who are still anticipating the pains of labor.

As a convert to Catholicism I have found the hardest thing is not obedience, not all the birth control stuff . . . the hardest darn thing is not singing Christmas carols in church during Advent. Then when it is finally liturgically "cool" to sing them the rest of the world has moved on and doesn't want to hear it anymore.

First post

2009-04-01T20:58:00.005-05:00

OK - Here is my first official blog post. I have been thinking that if you look at the lives of the saints, and here I am specifically talking about the ones who lived after the Catholic church was somewhat settled and institutionalized, you find two interesting consistent things. These people are both obedient to Church authority and committed to helping the poor. I think nowadays people tend to gravitate towards one or the other but rarely both.

I would be interested in your comments. Is my observation wrong? Is that not a frequently recurring pattern in the saints? Do you agree that finding both in Catholics today is somewhat rare?