To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda or even in stirring people up, but in being a living mystery; it means to live in such a way that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist.
Cardinal Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, Archbishop of Paris 1940-1949
Church lady: I don't see why things can't stay the way they have been--whites go to our church, and blacks have theirs. I mean, it doesn't harm anyone. It's the way it's always been, separate but equal. This is our special space--I just don't want to be that close to them, you know? I just don't understand why you want to invite blacks to our church.
Pastor: Well, ma'am, I just want to keep some folks from going to hell.
Church lady: Oh, well, I don't want them to go to hell!
Pastor: I wasn't talking about them.
LetterCult highlights artists and designers doing remarkable work with Custom Letters. This group includes type designers, letterers, sign painters, graffiti artists, stone carvers, calligraphers, poster artists, and graphic designers.More samples from LetterCult: last year's AlphaBattle "E". It was held to offer designers a chance to express themselves letter by letter.
... ladies and gentlemen — the gangstas are wearing rosaries. This has been denounced ... as an insult to the Holy Rosary, degrading it to the status of jewelry and gang culture. To the latter I respond, it's always been a symbol of gang culture. Just a really big gang. To the former, well maybe. But I am instantly reminded of the boast of St. Louis de Montfort, "Let me but place my Rosary around a sinner's neck ... and he will not escape me." ... wearing a rosary because it's cool — which it is — is no reverence to Our Lady, but she's not up in heaven angry that so mamny people are rocking her beads. She says, alright. I can work with this. And she will.
Marc, Bad Catholic blog
I don’t think that they would be shocked by the gore and the sex and the violence in the movies as much as they would just feel that their time had been wasted. (On sharing all the movies with her community)Hey, that's how I feel about the Oscars!
When I see Natalie Portman masturbating [in Black Swan], I hear the kids come in and talk about their problems with masturbating. What offends me is, Is the movie itself going to leave people without hope? You have to help them know that there is a way through their grief and their pain.Precisely.
We live in a bizarre society where one of the national pastimes is getting all huffy because someone else’s life isn’t one long giant defense of your own personal decisions.I have never seen it put so well.
If I wanted to escape I could do coke. But I don’t want to escape. I want redemption.
On July 22, 2007, I was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Patricia Fresen, of Germany and South Africa who was ordained by three male bishops in Germany for the group called Roman Catholic Women Priests. The ordination took place at the Santa Barbara Immaculate Heart Spiritual Center. Because neither Patricia Fresen nor myself were given permission for the ordination by Pope Benedict XVI, the ordinations were illegitimate and not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. Thus an excommunication process called Latae Sententiae occurred, excommunicating oneself by failure to observe the Canon Laws of the Church.It takes courage and humility to admit your mistakes, especially those made so publicly. Let us pray for Ms. Coon and also for those who have not yet admitted their errors. You may see the original post on this at The Last Papist Standing. Via The Curt Jester.
I wish to renounce the alleged ordination and publicly state that I did not act as a deacon as a part of this group except on two occasions, when I read the gospel once at mass and distributed communion once at this same mass. I withdrew from the program within two weeks of the ceremony because I realized that I had made a mistake in studying for the priesthood. I confess to the truth of Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. I confess the authority of the Holy Father on these issues of ordination and recognize that Christ founded the ordination only for men.
Formally, I relinquish all connection to the program of Roman Catholic Women Priests and I disclaim the alleged ordination publicly with apologies to those whose lives I have offended or scandalized by my actions. I ask God’s blessings upon each of these folks and their families.
Norma Jean Coon, RN, MFCC, PhD
San Diego, California
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
I was lucky enough to be right up front for the show, and during Do You Realize, I turned around towards the audience and took this photo.There are some pretty good photos in the series, especially when I think of them being taken with a cell phone.
Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).
I'm a semi-professional writer in real life with a tidy handful of paid publications under my belt--mostly horror and dark fantasy short stories--but in recent months I've been feeling the call to write something altogether different. Actually, calling it "a call" is being generous, unless "the Call" involves occasional divine whacks over the head. It's more like this:I like that: God: *points*
Me: Ooh, I just had this idea for a novel, but... God, I can't write stuff like that, I have no experience...God: *points*Me: Yeah, but... listen, that's a LOT of research you're asking of me, and we're talking, like, years of notes and writing and revising and actually talking to professors and you know I'm anti-social...God: *points*Me: But other people have done it already...God: *points*Me: There's no money in it!God: *points*Me: But... but... I WRITE HORROR STORIES.God: *points*Me: Sigh. Fine. *slinks off to the computer*
So, I'm trying hard to listen and trust that He knows what He's doing. On that note, if anyone has any book recs about the historical St. Peter, and the history and culture of his time period, please feel free to send them my way. I have quite a few already, but I'm always on the lookout for more.
I would not hesitate to do anything the Beloved [God] asks, regardless of its difficulty. Experience has taught me that when I accept a challenge for his sake, a gnawing doubt regarding my ability to perform will bless me. When the work is finished, the reward is high satisfaction This is a reward we receive her and now rather than in heaven.Those goals are individual to us. They can have a big impact on others, no doubt about it. But, they are tuned to what we need at that particular time.
The only ones who can understand what I am saying are those who have also tasted these sweet pleasures. I have been through this many times.
Sometimes an assignment has far-reaching implications. In such cases, I will give you my best advice: If you are inspired to take on a worthy project, don't hesitate. Have no fear that you may not be able to accomplish it. Turn yourself over to God. Take yourself out of it. You need not be afraid you can't do the job. God can do all things.
St. Teresa of Avila, excerpt in A Little Daily Wisdom
My relationship with God so often feels like an extremely patient father dealing with a recalcitrant three year old. I keep kicking, yelling, and throwing myself boneless on the ground, and he keeps patiently picking me up, dusting me off, and guiding me back into place. The funny thing, though: When I stop fighting him and actually -look- at what it is he wants me to do--sure, it's going to be difficult, but it's also something I'm uniquely suited for.The fact is, I know God is going to do something with me while I am working on this challenge. Slowly, imperceptibly perhaps. But if he's made it this clear, then who am I to say no? And with that acceptance comes a certain amount of relief, even as I prepare for difficult, challenging work along the way.
I have learned, through experience as well as reading, that an obedient soul receives much blessing. Through obedience, we advance in virtue and gain humility. Obedience prevents us from worrying about straying from the path to heaven.Amen.
We also gain a precious spiritual relaxation. Once we completely resign ourselves to the practice of holy obedience, surrendering our thoughts and not seeking any other opinion than our confessor or superior, the devil will stop harassing us. Our restless fidgeting, which makes us eager to do what we desire even if it is unreasonable, ceases.
But it don't do to begin counting risks. I believe in an all-wise and beneficent Providence, but you have got to trust Him and give Him a chance. What's life anyhow? For me, it's living on a strict diet and having frequent pains in my stomach. It isn't such an almighty lot to give up, provided you get a good price in the deal. Besides, how big is the risk? About one o'clock in the morning, when you can't sleep, it will be the size of Mount Everest, but if you run out to meet it, it will be a hillock you can jump over. The grizzly looks very fierce when you're taking your ticket for the Rockies and wondering if you'll come back, but he's just an ordinary bear when you've got the sight of your rifle on him. I won't think about risks till I'm up to my neck in them and don't see the road out.
John Buchan, Greenmantle
Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart?
St. Gerard Majella
BUT I HAVE recently been spending some time thinking about Haiti and have finally concluded after 21 years of living here, that it can be a very dangerous place. Some may be saying, “Ah it’s about time John got his head out of the sand and admitted that Haiti can be a dangerous place.”Read it all at Rollings in Haiti. Via Jennifer Fitz at Riparians at the Gate.
Yes, those of us who live here can be in great, grave danger. We can be in danger of:
Yes, it is true Haiti can be a dangerous place, perhaps as dangerous as where you live.
- Becoming numb to the cries of the poor.
- Not being moved to anger and compassion at the conditions in which many people live.
- Looking but not seeing.
- Hearing but not listening.
- Seeing what is but not what can be.
- Thinking that we need to change the Haitian culture to look like our culture and that the people aren’t doing it right because they don’t do it like we do.
- Thinking that living here is a sprint, when in reality, it’s a marathon.
- Being so practical about what we need to live that we limit God in what we do.
- Not totally depending on God for God’s work.
- Thinking that doing is more important than being.
... the ultimate reason for Botros’s success is that — unlike his Western counterparts who criticize Islam from a political standpoint — his primary interest is the salvation of souls. He often begins and concludes his programs by stating that he loves all Muslims as fellow humans and wants to steer them away from falsehood to Truth. To that end, he doesn’t just expose troubling aspects of Islam. Before concluding every program, he quotes pertinent biblical verses and invites all his viewers to come to Christ. Botros’s motive is not to incite the West against Islam, promote “Israeli interests,” or “demonize” Muslims, but to draw Muslims away from the dead legalism of sharia to the spirituality of Christianity.Read it all at NRO. We should all do likewise, and following Zakaria Butros' example, we should know what we are talking about well enough to bring those we may debate to silence before undisputed facts. Given charitably, not in enmity. (I can't remember how I got here but someone linked to this ... sorry I can't give credit.)
As an empiricist, you are only prepared to believe in that which can be seen or measured. You don't enjoy my conviction that there are aspects of existence that are, by their nature, beyond the reach of science. Fine. So when we Theists look carefully at the astounding complexity and improbable fine-tuning of our universe and conclude that there's no way that this happened randomly, you then turn around and ask us to accept that it is the result of undetectable organizational forces or of an un-testable (and thus non-scientific) multiverse. Isn't your argument every bit an assertion of faith, rather than knowledge? Maybe we can at least agree that forces unseen, however we conceive of them, seem to be playing a major role in our lives?The letter is written, "... not to convince you to change your mind (which, I've discovered, is close to impossible) and not to judge your choices, but rather so that we can understand each other better and possibly "walk back" some of the clamorous dialogue." Worthy goals indeed. Read the whole letter here. Thanks to Deb for sending me the link.
Impressive as it is, I still balk at the notion that this is the first step towards The Singularity, for the simple reason that I believe The Singularity is the greatest farrago of nonsense since the Population Bomb. Time Magazine recently ran a long, hilarious piece on The Singularity. I laughed all the way until the end, and then I realized that it wasn't satire, thus reminding me yet again that Time isn't so much a news magazine as it is a source of absurd trend-chasing and juvenile credulity wrapped in a squishy coating of bias.I'm a fan of Thomas L. McDonald's State of Play blog where he mostly covers games, playing card design and suchlike. However, he's a powerful writer about larger issues as you can see from this article. Read it all here.
Let me state this as clearly as possible: The Singularity--the moment at which computers essentially become sentient--is the greatest load of BS to come down the pike in many generations. That intelligent people believe it's All Really True! doesn't make it so. Aristotle, the most intelligent man of his age or almost any other, was certain that the blood cooled the brain and the liver was the true seat of human life. At one point, all the brightest minds in the world were utterly convinced in the truth of geocentricism. In our own day, powerful interests continue to flog the big lie of anthropogenic global warming.
I wanted to address two errors I’m seeing in the comboxes that deal with just the basics on lying and telling the truth. One is the question of social lies (“Do you like my haircut?”), and I’ll answer that one second. The other is this:That's something we could all stand to get better at. The idea that a simple question forces full disclosure. Again, I like to go back to the 1950s style manners on this. Sometimes a polite refusal of information is the best policy. Jennifer Fitz from Riparians at the Gate does a nice job covering these two topics, though I found it interesting that she does not allow the "polite social lie" which the priest doing our RCIA said was fine (he was solidly orthodox, believe me ... in fact our former Bishop Grahmann found him infuriating ... and in Dallas, that was considered a good thing). I also loved the fact that he pointed out that God didn't care if you dyed your hair green. So practical.
“No one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the right to know it.” (CCC 2489)
I really only love God as much as the person I love the least.
Dorothy Day
A man calls home to his wife and says, "Honey I have been asked to go fishing at a big lake up in Canada with my boss and several of his friends. We'll be gone for a week. This is a good opportunity for me to get that promotion I've been wanting, so would you please pack me enough clothes for a week and set out my rod and tackle box. We're leaving from the office and I will swing by the house to pick my things up. Oh! And please pack my new blue silk pajamas."
The wife thinks this sounds a little fishy but being a good wife she does exactly what her husband asked. The following weekend he comes home a little tired but otherwise looking good.
The wife welcomes him home and asks if he caught many fish. He says, "Yes! Lots of Walleye, some Blue gill, and a few Pike. But why didn't you pack my new blue silk pajamas like I asked you to do?"
The wife replies, "I did, they were in your tackle box."
I’ve been away from the Catholic faith for 40 years, in essence wandering in the wilderness as the Jews who were led out of Egypt. My trek toward belief in the Real Presence has been slow and methodical, perhaps even too cerebral; my struggles have been, well . . . real and present. Pitre’s book has helped fill the intellectual gaps and in that sense is an enormous assist.Simcha Fisher, who I have mentioned here before for her humor and candor alike, appreciates the same details that I did ... and more.
But, the details!
Did you know that the Jews’ Passover lamb was commonly nailed to a cross-shaped board? Did you know that the manna which sustained the Hebrews in the desert was thought to have been created before the Fall, and “had existed ‘on high’ in heaven” until God gave it to the people to eat? Did you know that the Bread of the Presence, which was consecrated and reserved in the tabernacle of the Temple, constituted both meal and unbloody sacrifice, and was offered with wine each Sabbath?
Did you know that temporarily-celibate Jewish priests would elevate this bread on feast days, and proclaim, “Behold, God’s love for you!”
"Did you ever notice how books track you down and hunt you out? They follow you like the hound in Francis Thompson's poem. They know their quarry! ... It's one of the uncanniest things I know to watch a real book on its career--it follows you and follows you and drives you into a corner and makes you read it. ... Words can't describe the cunning of some books. You'll think you've shaken them off your trail, and then one day some innocent-looking customer will pop in and begin to talk, and you'll know he's an unconscious agent of book-destiny. ... That's why I call this place the Haunted Bookshop. Haunted by the ghosts of the books I haven't read. Poor uneasy spirits, they walk and walk around me. There's only one way to lay the ghost of a book, and that is to read it."
"I know what you mean," said Titania. "I haven't read much Bernard Shaw, but I feel I shall have to. He meets me at every turn, bullying me. And I know lots of people who are simply terrorized by H. G. Wells. Every time one of his books comes out, and that's pretty often, they're in a perfect panic until they've read it."
Christopher Morley, The Haunted Bookshop
It is the dismissal of comedy as "un-important" that worries me. ... RCA and I had a similar discussion a few weeks ago, when she said "I just don't see the point of Comedy." I'm still a little shocked by that statement--it has left me speechless for three full weeks, because, it seems to me Comedy is, in some way, the point of everything. Dante's journey through the afterlife is called a "comedia" for a reason. And while slapstick and puns and romantic comedies are not la comedia in this fullest sense, they share something of it's nature. Comedy is about justice and about reason--even at its most absurd. A pun is funny because it surprises our reason with a new connection. Slapstick is funny because no one deserves a pie in the face. The Misanthrope is funny because he is absurd, and yet, we pity him and see ourselves in him, and the only way to deal with such absurdity in ourselves is to throw up out hands and laugh.Margaret at Ten Thousand Places defends comedy very well (go read it). Once again, Margaret says what I am thinking with her speechlessness in the face of a complete rejection of comedy. (That quote which serves as my headline? It's going straight to the
The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.
Samuel Johnson
Paradise is not for this world. All men cannot be masters, but none need to be a slave. We cannot cast out pain from the world, but needless suffering we can. Tragedy will be with us in some degree as long as there is life, but misery we can banish. Injustice will raise its head in the best of all possible worlds, but tyranny we can conquer. Evil will invade some men’s hearts, intolerance will twist some men’s minds, but decency is a far more common human attribute, and it can be made to prevail in our daily lives.
Bernard Baruch,
1953 essay for This I Believe radio series (CBS)
, is a fun romp through the zombie genre that is more akin to Shaun of the Dead than to the more "serious" zombie books I've read (World War Z, The Reapers Are The Angels).LetterCult highlights artists and designers doing remarkable work with Custom Letters. This group includes type designers, letterers, sign painters, graffiti artists, stone carvers, calligraphers, poster artists, and graphic designers.More samples from LetterCult: last year's AlphaBattle "D". It was held to offer designers a chance to express themselves letter by letter.
The courthouse coffee was terrible, but the morning after Valentine's Day was no time for a domestic violence prosecutor to go uncaffeinated.
Allison Leotta, Law of Attractionvia Mystery Scene magazine best first lines column
Twelve science fiction stories featuring Catholic heroes. Meet a time traveler who sacrifices his life to give a man a sip of water, and the nun who faces venomous snakes to save a friend. Share the adventures of priests who battle aliens and machines in order serve the greater good. Infinite Space, Infinite God II spans the gamut of science fiction, from near-future dystopias to time travel to space opera, puzzles of logic to laugh-out-loud humor and against-the-clock suspense. A great read for any science fiction fan--a must-read for the Catholic sci-fi lover.Murder in the Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes
Do you or your readers like mystery? Sherlock Holmes? Then I invite you to join the virtual book tour for Murder in the Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, written by Ann Margaret Lewis.
About the Book: A sudden death in the Vatican. An international incident over stolen artifacts. A priest’s wrongful imprisonment for murder. In this collection of three as yet untold tales, hinted at in the original Holmes stories, the voices of Dr. John H. Watson and the legendary Pope Leo XIII reveal how the great Sherlock Holmes brought these grim ecclesial cases to startling and poignant conclusions. Learn more here.
This book has been receiving critical acclaim from both mystery and Sherlock Holmes organizations, including the Chesterton Society.
No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.
Mary Wollstonecraft
In the climate models, the extremes get more extreme as we move into a doubled CO2 world in 100 years," atmospheric scientist Gilbert Compo, one of the researchers on the project [The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project], tells me from his office at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "So we were surprised that none of the three major indices of climate variability that we used show a trend of increased circulation going back to 1871."Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal.
In other words, researchers have yet to find evidence of more-extreme weather patterns over the period, contrary to what the models predict. "There's no data-driven answer yet to the question of how human activity has affected extreme weather," adds Roger Pielke Jr., another University of Colorado climate researcher.
NYT columnist Paul Krugman has determined that the Egyptian uprising was due to Global Warming™ [I mean, Climate Change; I mean, Climate Disruption]. The rationale is that Global Warming results in droughts (when it isn't causing increased rainfall or snow) which leads to reduced crops, which leads to higher prices, which leads to mobs crying out for governments to sprinkle magic pixie dust to make food cheaper. It's a wonderful theory. Except for one thing.Another interesting instance of "what everybody knows" versus the facts.
The raccoons Bonnie deals with are almost exclusively orphaned, usually by efforts to remove the mother from someone's house or backyard. This is, in fact, one example of a reason live-trapping can be inhumane. Most people can't tell if a raccoon (or squirrel, opossum or skunk) is a lactating mother, and taking her to another location could mean leaving her babies to fend for themselves.Crowded Creatures has the scoop. Take a look around the other posts at this new blog to find out why coyotes probably didn't eat someone's dog and tips about what to do in event of a dog fight.
A Texan farmer goes to Australia for a vacation. There he meets an Aussie farmer and gets talking.
The Aussie shows off his big wheat field and the Texan says, "Oh, we have wheat fields that are at least twice as large."
Then they walk around the ranch a little and the Aussie shows off his herd of cattle. The Texan immediately says, "We have longhorns that are at least twice as large as these."
The conversation has, meanwhile, almost died when the Texan sees a mob of kangaroos hopping through the field. He asks, "And what are those?"
The Aussie asks with an incredulous look.
"Don't you have any grasshoppers in Texas?"
Cathy Erway needed an interesting subject for the food blog she was considering beginning. She decided to give up eating out, though that would be difficult for a young twenty-something in New York City, and begin cooking her meals at home. What began as an interesting experiment became something of an obsession. As Cathy's blog, Not Eating Out In New York, grew in popularity, she threw herself into the project with an increasing passion that lasted two years.My review is at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.
Think James Lee Burke filtered through Cormac McCarthy's The Road with zombies. Boy, that really wasn't very helpful was it. Let me try another pair of words: unexpectedly lovely.Such is my respect for Steven that I'm not sure what made me happier, reading that he liked the book or his opening paragraph about our compatibility as reading partners. I feel super smart now.
O my Lord, you seem determined to save me. I pray this may happen.
But since you have granted me so many favors, doesn't it seem reasonable that it would be a good thing (not for my benefit, but for your honor) if the inn where you continually dwell did not get so dirty?
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Tarot cards were not created for "divination," but to play games. Some people dispute this, claiming that the trump cards of a tarot deck (called the "Major Arcana") can be traced back to Jewish Cabbalism or ancient Egyptian mysticism.
This is the worst kind of pseudo-history, and yet another example of new agers inventing ancient "sources" for modern practices in order to give them a patina of credibility. There is no evidence at all that the Trumps were adapted for fortune-telling purposes before the 18th century, while the cards themselves date back at least several hundred years earlier. Any person or source that claims otherwise is just making things up.
Medieval Italian Manuscript Feeds Entire Colony. Safeway Stocks Up on Dante, Ariosto.
So this book, written in 1293, started to decay, as really old things tend to do. But it was decaying in a manner that caught the eye of microbiologists. Turns out it was home to “an entire ecosystem.”
Now you know how the mainstream press will play this: “Vatican Library Withholds Food for Millions. Pope Blasted.”
Our prayer for those who give us light should be unceasing. With the storms that rage in the church today, what would we do without them?
If some clergy have gone bad, the good ones shine more brilliantly.
May it please the Lord to keep those who lead the church under his care. God help them that they may help us.
Don't imagine that it is a waste of your time to write to me.
The only thing I request is that you stop telling me you are getting old. I am dismayed. Is there something more secure in being young?
Looks like Stephen Sommers wrote the script himself, and is producing it as well.This news just gets better and better, right?
A new app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch has been “developed for those who frequent the sacrament and those who wish to return” in what is the first known imprimatur to be given for an iPhone or iPad app.I'm sure that I am late in noticing this, but a pal sent me the link, asking what I thought about it. I thought I'd post this as it is how I let Tom know about interesting Catholic news.
When I repeat the Lord's Prayer, my love causes me to desire to understand who this Father is and who this Master is who taught us the prayer.
You are wrong if you think you already know who he is.
[...]
Imagine that Jesus taught this prayer to each one of us individually and that he continues to explain it to us. He is always close enough to hear us. To pray the Lord's Prayer well, there is one thing you need to do. Stay near the side of the Master who taught it to you.
"Ah!" you say. "This is meditation. I am not able to meditate. I have no desire to meditate. I am content to pray this prayer out loud." Maybe you are one of those impatient people who doesn't like to be bothered. Yes, it is a little troublesome to begin to consider Jesus when you pray the Lord's Prayer, until it becomes habitual. You are right. This step turns vocal prayer into mental prayer. In my view, it is faithful vocal prayer. We need to think about who is listening.
You might think you will lose something if you keep working at prayer. My view is that your loss would be gain. Try to imagine yourself in the presence of Christ. Talk with him. Delight in him. There is no need to weary yourself by composing great speeches to him.
St. Teresa of Avila is not a lofty, inaccessible saint; she’s a companion, and has been taking Christians on a journey through their own interior “castles” for hundreds of years. Honest, humorous, and insightful, her devotional and spiritual reflections show readers how to open up themselves to God in new ways.This little book from Paraclete Press is true treasure. The daily quotes from St. Teresa may be tender or pithy, patient or sharp, but they have so far had something I needed to hear practically every day. Partially this is because of Bernard Bangley's accessible translations which capture Teresa's sparkling, vivid personality in naturally flowing language. Partially, though, it is because St. Teresa herself has a gift for communicating the important things we need to remember in striving to grow in our love for God.
