CNMC: Wow!

We went to the Catholic New Media Conference in San Antonio three years ago. It was ok, but ultimately satisfactory. Somehow it didn't register at the time that that was only the second CNMC.

This year, suddenly registering it was the 5th CNMC, I am able to judge just how very far they have come.

And believe me, there is light years' difference between then and now.

This CNMC is a well presented conference, smoothly done but with plenty of personal contact available between everyone there. The content is simply fantastic. I spent yesterday wishing that Tom was there. As the perpetually curious guy who takes it all in and synthesizes information in a "big picture" way I think he'd have been fascinated by the talks.

As someone just taking it all in myself, just there for the face-to-face time, I found it well-rounded, informative, thought provoking, and mostly entertaining.

(None of us are ever going to forget the very ill-considered "elephant in the room" ... and in the video ... which was the only misstep I saw from a presenter ...)

I'm impressed and y'all know I don't say that if I don't mean it. Let me say it like this. I have no idea where the conference will be next year, but I actually would travel somewhere to attend. Seriously. It came on my radar because it was going to be in Dallas where I only have to drive 30 minutes to get to it. I'll be looking out for it next year, wherever it is.

Today is the Bloggers Day, at which I speak, and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has to say.

Congratulations to Father Roderick and the SQPN board and everyone who kept the vision, worked so hard, and gotten the CNMC to this point. I can recommend it without reservations to anyone who may be considering the Virtual Ticket which has audio recordings of every talk.

Gone CNMC'ing UPDATED

I'm at the Catholic New Media Conference ... may be able to check in here, but probably will be super busy the whole time.

If you're there, look me up and be sure to say hi!

Catch ya Monday!

UPDATE
Check out these great people who gathered at my place for some cocktails and pizza. What a fun evening! The rest of the conference just will not be able to match up. Period.

Well, except for that 2:00 slot on Friday afternoon for Catholic Blogger's Day.

Well Said: The common people pray ...

From my quote journal.

The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends. It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace. They never are.

George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones

Worth a Thousand Words: Solomon's Wall

Jean-Léon GERÔME, 1903, Solomon's Wall
via French Painters

Busy with the pizza, the cleaning ... the preparations ...

Since the Catholic New Media Conference is in Dallas (which is what made me even think of submitting a topic for the Blogging Conference Day ... I'm speaking at 2 p.m. on Friday if anyone is going to be attending who is also reading this) ... we're having a group of bloggers over for cocktails and homemade pizza (and suchlike) this evening.

AND Sarah Reinhard will be our houseguest for the duration of the conference. So very much talking as I anticipate ... oh yeah ...

Rides have been coordinated. Housecleaning has been done (do not look too closely in the corners, please!). Groceries have (mostly) been bought.

And now I commence wit da cookin'.

We're having Vesuvio pizza, Garlic Chicken pizza, and a Mexican pizza of my own devising. And some Caesar-ish salad and possibly some Tiramisu to follow.

Worth a Thousand Words: Matt Damon Reading

Matt Damon Reading
via Awesome People Reading ... which is itself pretty awesome.

I like it when we see someone reading a thick book. The tendency is to show celebrities with a newspaper or script. Yes, that's reading. But this ... this is Bleak House thick-book reading. Now I can admire Matt Damon not only for his amazing acting, but for his reading. Oh yeah.

Well Said: Trials do not break us

From my quote journal.

He is admirable. I realize it is not the trials that break us and make us weak. It is low expectations.

Stephen Tobolowsky,
tweeting about his father's recover after an accident

What I'm Reading Now: Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bleak House is on my personal challenge list, meaning that I should be chiseling away at some book from that list or I'll keep putting them off forever and never read one.

Having been surprised by how much I loved A Tale of Two Cities and having heard that Bleak House is Dickens' best, it is the next of his books I thought I'd try. However, it is so intimidatingly hefty that I've had the book on hand for several months before finally launching myself at it. (I'm about halfway through this 800+ page book at the moment.)

Dickens begins by introducing several strands of story and then settling on a first-person narrator, Esther Summerson, at least for this section. At this point we are just meeting Mrs. Jellyby and I actually laughed aloud. I know a Mrs. Jellyby. Don't we all? So much engaged in her African cause that she ignores the very real want in her own family gathered around her. I love the way that everything Esther picks up or tries to use garners the comment, "It was dirty." Children fall down stairs unnoticed, the carpet is coming off the stairs in a most dangerous fashion, dinner is almost raw, and all the while Mrs. Jellyby "fixed her fine eyes on Africa again."

However, as she at once proceeded with her dictation, and as I interrupted nothing by doing it, I ventured quietly to stop poor Peepy as he was going out, and to take him up to nurse. He looked very much astonished at it, and at Ada's kissing him; but soon fell fast asleep in my arms, sobbing at longer and longer intervals, until he was quiet. I was so occupied with Peepy that I lost the letter in detail, though I derived such a general impression from it of the momentous importance of Africa, and the utter insignificance of all other places and things, that I felt quite ashamed to have though so little about it.

I laughed aloud reading this.

Meanwhile, the fog is everywhere. One wonders if that fog which makes lawyers focus on details in the Jarndyce case until the money is gone although they are still making a fine living, is the same which clouds Mrs. Jellyby's vision. It is easy to ignore the real significance of life around you when focusing on the intangible elsewhere gives us the excuse to ignore the immediate demands we find less attractive, like a filthy home or crying baby. It adds a disturbingly eerie element.

I must concede Will Duquette's contention that Dickens characters can be very unrealistic. But who would give them up for the realistic ones? And Dickens does realistic very well, when he needs to. Esther is realistic. Mr. Guppy also ... although so amusing while one is sorry for him. And then there is Mr. Bucket. Possibly one of the best detectives I've ever seen (at this admittedly early point in the book) ... how is it I didn't know Dickens wrote a detective? And one so canny and good at blending in?"

You know, I expected that I'd read a few pages (slogging through them) and intersperse them with a newer book. But I'm hooked. I can never possibly convey how great, how riveting I am finding this book. It is a mystery, a horror novel, a romance, a look at character (or the lack thereof), and much more ... all laced with a self awareness that I find startlingly modern. O Dickens. And here I thought A Tale of Two Cities was sublime. How little I knew...

As a result of my amazement at how good this book is, it will be the November book for A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. 900 pages of solid goodness. Ladies and gentlemen, start your reading now!

Ginger Chicken

Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Well Said: Arches and Marriage

From my quote journal.

Arches have been interpreted symbolically as being like hands clasped in prayer, or arms thrown up in worship of God. A happy syymbolic meaning relates to marriage. Couples are usually married under the chancel arch, which divides the chancel from the nave. Michelangelo defined an arch as two powerful forces that meet at their weakest point to make a stronger whole -- a metaphor that seems good for marriage too.

Richard Taylor, How to Read a Church

Worth a Thousand Words: Watercolourist in the Louvre

Watercolourist in the Louvre, 1881, Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret
via French Painters

Community - The Third Season

We got the fresh-off-the-press dvd of the third season of Community and have really been enjoying watching it in a concentrated dose.

One thing that hit me, now that we're four episodes from the end, is that I thought it was uneven when watching during the season. But rewatching I see that the entire season was good. It is just that three brilliant episodes made the others look below par.

1. Remedial Chaos Theory - you know this one, Community fans. Rolling the die to see who goes to get the pizza.
2. Pillows and Blankets - part of the struggle between Blanketsburg and Pillowtown, in Ken Burns' documentary style.
3. Basic Lupine Urology - Who killed the study group's yam in Biology? Investigated "Law & Order" style, with a special thank you to Dick Wolf at the end.

I am looking forward to another episode that may join these three in the Hall of Fame: Digital Estate Planning.  (Pierce and his friends must play a video game to see who will inherit his family fortune ... as part of the game.)

Joe Ledger: The Missing Files

This review originally appeared at SFFaudio.

The description for this brief collection of short stories says "... author Jonathan Maberry fills in the blanks in his action-thriller 'Joe Ledger' novels."

This isn't something I'd have picked up myself and, frankly, wouldn't have bothered if it weren't sent as a review book. I am usually disinterested in add-on short stories that sew up "loose ends" of novels or serve to tell us what a character's been doing between one book and the next. In my experience, those are toss-offs and these days, what with 99-cent stories on Amazon, they just serve as money grabbers.

However, we all know I'm a sucker for Joe Ledger and I absolutely love the narrator's way with these stories so if I wasted a few hours on mental cotton candy so be it. Also I was mildly interested in what seem to be two stories that aren't connected to any novels, "Deep, Dark" and "Material Witness."

Countdown: The prequel to Patient Zero and it told me nothing I didn't learn in the beginning of the book. Honestly, it seemed as if it were a story prospectus given to a publisher to gain interest.

Zero Tolerance: The second story added a little to Patient Zero's ending since it could have been called "What Happened to Amirah." (Pardon my spelling as I've only heard the audio for the novel.) Worth paying for? Not to me.

Deep, Dark: Finally, with the third story we get to something interesting. As is the case in Joe Ledger novels, it teeters on the knife's edge between probability and supernatural/horror fiction. The Army has a little problem in one of their underground complexes. A little bio-engineered problem. It's just a "bug hunt," as it goes in one of my favorite lines from Aliens, but one that has righteousness on its side.

Material Witness: This story was more interesting than anything preceding it (or following, as it turned out ... yes, foreshadowing!). However, that was mostly because Maberry was filling us in on another series of his, the creepiness that is Pine Deep, Pennsylvania. Imagine the house from The Shining, but ... it's a whole town! Maberry's melding of the two worlds was rather intriguing but not enough to make me want to get whatever book it was he wrote about Pine Deep. For one thing, spoilers abound. I wonder if I already knew all about that "world" if the story would have kept my attention as it did.

Dog Days: The final story and the one which was the test of whether Maberry had improved at short story writing or whether the previous two just created interest because of the unfamiliar material. Yep. Choose door number two. It wasn't a terrible story, just extremely easy to figure out as Joe Ledger goes to settle a personal grudge against the world's deadliest assassin. The most interesting thing about it to me was the introduction of Ghost, the wonder dog. One feels (at least I do) that this should have been a prequel or flashback in The King of Plagues. I especially feel this since I spent much of the beginning of that book wondering what the heck happened to Ledger's cat and why only one or two sentences gave us the dog's history. This almost reads as discovery writing or something that was edited from a book. Ghost is ok, but he is definitely "made" to be Ledger's dog, as he is a Wonder Dog with super-canine reflexes and understanding.

Summing up - these files could've stayed missing. It's only four hours long but that is four hours you could use on something uniformly good.

Worth a Thousand Words: Indian/Moghul Portrait

Indian/Mughul Portrait
via BibliOdyssey

Do click through and take a look at BibliOdyssey's post featuring these Asian miniatures. I really love these portraits.

Well Said: God still has "seven thousand"

From my quote journal.

In speaking this way to Elijah, the Lord also speaks to us. Though all seem in decline, and losses mount, Yet God still has “seven thousand” who have not bent the knee to Baal of this present evil age, who have not departed. And from this faithful remnant he expects us to draw hope and continue our work. ...

There have been times when the “practicing” Church got very small. On Good Friday all but five had fled: Mary of Magdala, Mary Clopas, Mary Solome, Mary, Mother of Jesus and John. And there they were with Jesus. They even added a sixth that day, the repentant thief. Small, and things looked pretty grim, but still the Church at worship, looking to Christ her head.

Msgr. Charles Pope

Worth a Thousand Words: The Painter's Honeymoon

The Painter’s Honeymoon (c.1864). Lord Frederic Leighton (English, 1830-1896).
via Wikipedia

This is via Books and Reading where there is some more information about the painting and artist. I love the tender way they hold hands. And the glorious ripples of the skirt and sleeve.

A sale to help raise money for a son's surgery ...

My son needs surgery.

Not planned surgery but that kind of kick-in-the-gut surprise surgery that is halfway between, sure okay and It’s An Emergency.

Heather Ordover is truly one of the most generous and giving people I know ... this is a deserving cause. Please take a look at her sale to help her raise money for her son's surgery.

Or you could just drop something in her tip jar. That works too.

A Word From Our Sponsor: Do not refrain ...

From my quote journal ... and originating in one of my favorite books of the Bible.

Do not refrain from speaking at the crucial time, and do not hide your wisdom.

Sirach 4:23

Scott switches to Dapper Dan and Julie sings into a tin can.

O Brother, Where Art Thou is the topic at A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast.

Worth a Thousand Words: Taking a Nap

Taking a Nap
by the brilliant Remo Savisaar

For Hannah's birthday. She loves animals almost as much as she loves trees. Maybe even more.

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Image from Plant Answers

This is from last year but so much of it is still true ... and I love this picture ... that I'll let it stand. And hopefully Hannah will like it too!

I'd have featured a cake with a tree since that is Hannah's latest passion as she finishes her training for Dallas Tree Surgeon, however, they are darned hard to find. Instead I will content myself with offering  an image of one of her favorite trees. In fact, it is the Vitex tree which I'd never heard of until she talked about cutting down some big bushes in the back yard to plant a couple of these. (No Vitex tree in the yard yet, but someday ...)

After looking at the pictures, I had to agree. They look beautiful. Looking for the image above, I found some interesting information. I will now be calling these by the much lovelier name of Texas Lilac.

It is the Texas Lilac Vitex*, or Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus).

This tree is also known as Mexican lavender, monk's pepper, lilac chaste tree, hemp tree, sage tree, or Indian spice. It is a native of China and India, although long ago it became naturalized throughout certain areas of the United Stated. Records indicate that Vitex has been cultivated in the U.S. since 1670.

Click through the photo link to see the blooms up close and read more about the tree.

Now, back to Hannah's birthday in 2012!

She requested her favorite cake, a Doboschtorte, which I made this weekend. It is sitting in the fridge in cakely splendor, waiting to be taken to her house.

Today we'll celebrate with a dinner at a Chinese restaurant that I can't remember the name of, but which is in Richardson's Chinatown. Ok, Richardson doesn't have an official Chinatown ... but believe me, there's a Chinatown.

And, of course, presents! We're now down to nothing but Christmas paper in my closet so I've got to run by Target and hope that they've got some nice designs.

Happy birthday, my darling Hannah! You may be 24 but you'll always be our little girl!

Mary, Queen of Heaven

Coronation of Virgin, Giacomo di Mino, 1340-1350

From the earliest ages of the Catholic Church a Christian people, whether in time of triumph or more especially in time of crisis, has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven. And never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine King, Jesus Christ; nor has that faith ever failed by which we are taught that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother's solicitude over the entire world, just as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen.

Ad Caeli Reginam

His Holiness Pope Pius XII

Encyclical on Proclaiming the Queenship of Mary

Promulgated October 11, 1954

Lagniappe: Waking Books

From my quote journal.

As I climbed to the top of the house I came upon a book here on a stair, another book there on a window ledge, a small pile of books on the step outside a bedroom door, and saw that half of the books here lead a peripatetic life, never knowing where they will be expected to lay their heads next, while the rest sleepsoundly for years in the same position, quite undisturbed. But as in the fairy tales, sooner or later someone wakes you, even from a sleep of a hundred years, and so I have woken books and taken them out, shaken them and slapped them on the back, opened them to the light and fresh air, sneezing as the dust has puffed up from their pages. It must have been a shock for them. Or perhaps it was a wonderful liberation, as they were brought back to life and fresh purpose like Lazarus, for a book which is closed and unread is not alive, it is only packed, like a foetus, with potential.

Susan Hill, Howard's End is on the Landing

GeekLady, c'mon down. You won The Right to Be Wrong book giveaway!

Congratulations for winning our book giveaway! I'll be emailing you to get your contact info to give to the publisher of The Right to Be Wrong.

UPDATE
I can't email you because you are very private lady (which I salute). However, WordPress won't let me into your comments boxes (for reasons which I won't go into here except, really, WordPress? Really?).

Anyway, email me at: julie [at] glyphnet [dot] com

Robot & Frank: "like Philip K. Dick without the amphetamine-induced paranoia"

Now that's interesting.

The trailer shows so much of the movie that I had no fear of spoilers in reading this Tor.com review.

The movie sounds charming and the review completely wins me over by saying that instead of being sappy "The end result feels more like Philip K. Dick without the amphetamine-induced paranoia. If such a thing is conceivable."

That either completely mystifies you or makes you interested. You know which I am.

Well Said: Believing and Seeing

From my quote journal.

Some things have to be believed to be seen.

Madeleine L'Engle, Many Waters

Social Justice and Ryan the Heretic

You know, I love it when I wake up and can read about relevant Catholic stuff in my paper's editorial section. I like that someone's staying on top of that stuff.

Oh, sorry Dallas Morning News, did you think I meant you? We all know I was talking about the Wall Street Journal. Specifically, about William McGurn's piece this morning.

"I'm not endorsing Paul Ryan," [Paul Ryan's] bishop told me later by phone. "People are free to disagree with him, and disagree vehemently. But it's wrong to suggest that his views somehow make him a bad Catholic."

Unfortunately, suggesting that Mr. Ryan is a bad Catholic is the entire case. Stuck with the fact of Mr. Biden, who has long since made his peace with the party's absolutism on abortion, progressive Catholics know that it would be laughable to try to present Mr. Biden as faithful to church teaching. They know too that clarity about church teaching does not work to their advantage. The only way to take on Mr. Ryan is to tear him down.

Think about that. In another age, Catholic progressives would have laughed at the suggestion that people were corrupted by reading certain works; now they believe Paul Ryan's soul is in peril for his having read Ayn Rand. Before, they would not have feared science; now they insist that a program such as food stamps ought to continue ad infinitum without consideration of its effects. And while they believe that the pope and bishops have nothing of value to offer about the sanctity of marriage or the duty of protecting unborn life, when it comes to federal spending, suddenly a miter means infallibility.

Do go read it all.

Worth a Thousand Words: Dante Alighieri Multi-Reads

Dante Alighieri Multi-Reads
via Awesome People Reading

First of all, I like that Dante is considered an Awesome Person Reading.

When I looked around for more information about the image, I found additional information at Books and Reading about this image which comes from a marvelous looking fresco in a marvelous looking chapel.

Dante Alighieri (1499-1502), detail. Fresco. Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto. Luca Signorelli (Italian, 1450-1523)

Books and Reading looks like a really interesting spot for those of us interested in books and art. Check it out.

Review: Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz

Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The basic setup:

Once presided over by a flamboyant Hollywood mogul during the Roaring ’20s, the magnificent West Coast property known as Roseland is now home to a reclusive billionaire financier and his faithful servants. And, at least for the moment, it’s also a port in the storm for Odd Thomas and his traveling companion, the inscrutably charming Annamaria, the Lady of the Bell. In the wake of Odd’s most recent clash with lethal adversaries, the opulent manor’s comforts should be welcome. But there’s far more to Roseland than meets even the extraordinary eye of Odd, who soon suspects it may be more hell than haven.

I love the Odd Thomas books overall. However, what this book showed me above all is that I love the first trilogy of the Odd Thomas books. (Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd). Each of those were written as complete stories showing sweet, gentle but capable Odd Thomas fighting evil supernatural for the good of the innocent who were threatened. They have beginnings, middles, and ends ... or at least resolutions of an evil situation with Odd sometimes on the road to find somewhere that a simple fry cook can earn a living.

The second trilogy, as I've come to think of them since seeing another book, Deeply Odd, is on the way, are told in a completely different fashion which I find ultimately unsatisfying. Beginning in Odd Hours Koontz just drops us in the middle of the action, a la a thriller where we learn the back story later after having begun with a pulse pounding chase. I actually could forgive that if there ever seemed to be resolution to the story. There is a resolution to Odd's current predicament, however, nebulous hints about the "big meaning of things" are all we get, despite all the action. Ho hum ... and they drive off into the sunset ...

Odd Apocalypse picks up about a week after Odd Hours ended, we are finally told after a thoroughly confusing intro where we've been dropped into a series of very odd events (ha!). Poor Odd is put through a series of gyrations and problem solving tasks because no one can give him a single straight answer. Now, I expect this from the bad guys. But for Annamaria, his mysterious companion picked up in Odd Hours, to do the same is just annoying. She may have a mystical hold on everyone she encounters, but I am mysteriously untouched by it. Odd Thomas tells us this is a haunted house book but for my money it gets a toehold in the Lovecraftian universe before settling down solidly into H.G. Wells country. I won't say which book so as to avoid spoilers but it becomes very obvious toward the end.

Koontz seems to have just thrown everything but the kitchen sink into this book without remembering to give us what was so satisfying about the first three books. An actual story.

I will read the next one simply to see if this ongoing murk ever clears up, but at this point feel it will be more from a sense of duty than anything else. And to give Koontz a chance to pull it all together in a way that makes me like all three of the second trilogy in a "really one book" sort of way.

Worth a Thousand Words: Silver Estuary

Christopher Nevinson (1889-1946), "Silver Estuary" (c. 1925)
via First Known When Lost

Well Said: The Mass is long ...

From my quote journal.

And the Mass is very long and tiresome unless one loves God.

G.K. Chesterton

Almost done chopping this CNMC talk down to 20 minutes Bloggers' Summit, August 31

That's what made me suddenly look at the clock and realize how late it is ... with no quote of the day or art or anything!

I'm one of the seven who will be speaking at the International Bloggers’ Summit on the last day of the 2012 Catholic New Media Conference. Be sure to click through on the link to see the range of topics being covered.

My topic is — Catholic Bloggers: Are We the 1st Corinthians of the Internet?

If you don't know 1st Corinthians that may be a bit confusing. Here's a bit more:

Catholic blogs may be the only chance to "meet" a Catholic in real life for many people. What sort of example do we give them? All too often, the face of the Catholic church on the Internet is more scandalizing than inspiring. Readers dropping by may witness division and infighting, criticism of Catholic teachings, and very little love. What does this cost us as bloggers and as Christian examples to others? And can it be fixed?

There's much more, of course, but that gives the gist of the thing.

If you are there be sure to come up and say hello!

Weekend Joke: How to Be a Cat

From Dr. Boli's Celebrated Magazine.

Worth a Thousand Words: Still Life with Basket and Six Oranges

Vincent van Gogh, Still Life with Basket and Six Oranges, 1888
via Feasting on Art

Drop by Feasting on Art to see what delicious dish this art inspired.

The Book J.R.R. Tolkein Read to His Children: Snergs

Pssst! All fans of The Hobbit! And lovers of fantasy, in general...

My latest offering for "Project Kaitlyn" (stories for my niece) is an unabridged reading of The Marvellous Land of Snergs (1927) by E.A. Wyke-Smith, which J.R.R. Tolkien read to his children and acknowledged as a sourcebook for his The Hobbit. This is a most clever and delightful story. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Take Tolkien’s: “I should like to register my own love and my children’s love of E.A. Wyke-Smith’s Marvellous Land of Snergs...”

What's even better is that you don't have to take anyone's word for it.

Amy H. Sturgis, writer of the words above, read this book not only for her niece, but is generously sharing the files with all of us. She is a superb narrator as anyone who regularly listens to StarShipSofa knows. Just click through and download.

If you want to know more about the book itself, Amy's review on Goodreads is here. I have only listened to the first half-hour and already can see the great appeal of this clever, whimsical book which combines just the right amount of reality and sweetness, while never underestimating the intelligence of the reader.

A lot to say based on one half-hour? Yes. But all true. Download for yourself and give it a try. After all, J.R.R. Tolkein can't be wrong.

4 Things Science Fiction Needs to Bring Back

Beginning with optimism.

A great list from Cracked.com. Keep in mind that this is Cracked and they will use offensive language.

Still, it is a great list and perhaps the reason why I still enjoy listening to old science fiction from LibriVox. It's usually got those four things.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease: Myths About Atheism and Christianity

Third, the international polling outfit WIN-Gallup International has released a new global survey that shows atheism is on the rise, but 59 percent of the world's population still describes itself as "religious."

Taken together, the results seem to debunk two persistent myths about global religion:

• Atheism is mostly a Western phenomenon. Instead, Asia is by far the world's most atheistic continent, with China alone home to two-thirds of the roughly 900 million atheists on the planet.
• Christianity is in decline relative to other world religions, especially Islam. Instead, nine of the world's 10 most religious nations are majority Christian, and people who self-identify as Christian are more likely to describe themselves as "religious" than Muslims (81 percent to 74 percent).

A few of John Allen's cogent observations about myth and reality as exposed in the latest poll results released about international religion.

Western atheists are the loudest and Islamic terrorists are the loudest. And we let them define truth for us oftentimes.

Lagniappe: Books

From my quote journal.

I sometimes wonder if the books came into this house or if the house grew around them.

Susan Hill, Howard's End is on the Landing

GetReligion Moves Blog to Patheos

I believe that Patheos actually may actually be part of the Borg collective. (I can say that cuz I am Eighteen of Twenty... or however many Catholic blogs are over there.)

I love GetReligion wherever it is posted. Go. Read.

Worth a Thousand Words: Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl
taken by Remo Savisaar

Be sure to click through to Remo's site where you can see the photo in its full glory.

In which we meet the unique detective team of Doan and Carstairs.

Holocaust House by Norbert Davis, part one at Forgotten Classics podcast.

Don't blame the Church for wicked Christians

This is from Day 201 in A Year with the Church Fathers by Mike Aquilina. Tom and I joke that at the rate we are working our way through this it will be more like 4 years with the Church Fathers. However, we continue reading them to each other at work during lunch whenever we get a chance.

St. Augustine has timely advice which also serves to remind us that human nature doesn't change.

Don't bring up against me those people who claim the name of Christian but neither know nor show any evidence of the power of their profession. Don't hunt down the numerous ignorant people who, even in the true religion, are superstitious, or so given up to evil passions that they forget what they've promised to God. I know that there are many who get really drunk over the dead, and who bury themselves over the buried in their funeral feasts, and indulge their gluttony and drunkenness in the name of religion. I know that there are many who claim to have renounced this world, and yet desire to be burdened with all the weight of worldly things, and rejoice in those burdens.

My advice to you is this: that you should at least stop slandering the Catholic Church by protesting against the conduct of those whom the Church herself condemns, trying to correct them every day like wicked children. Then, if any of them are corrected through good will and by the help of God, they regain by repenting what they had lost by sin. On the other hand, those who persist in their old vices with wicked will are indeed allowed to remain in the field of the Lord,and to grow along with the good seed, but the time for separating the weeds will come.

St. Augustine, Morals of the Catholic Church, 34

Well Said: Lazy Comment and Variations

From my quote journal.

Lazy comment often says that Brookner's novels are "all alike" or "variations on one theme" in the same way as lazy comment says Jane Austen's novels are narrow and small of focus. Well, Monet painted a series of haystacks, each one very similar to the last, each adding a dimension to the set, each complementing the other. Bach composed many variations on a single theme.

Susan Hill, Howard's End is on the Landing

Modern Science and the Assumption of Mary

Holy ... uh ... Moly, I never heard of this before. The Anchoress sez:

When studying Anatomy and Physiology in college, the lesson that briefly discussed fetomaternal microchimerism, became instructive to me on a different level. Learning that every child leaves within his mother a microscopic bit of himself — and that it remains within her forever — the dogma of the Immaculate Conception instantly became both crystal clear and brilliant to me.

Mary, then, was indeed a tabernacle within which the Divinity did reside — not for a limited time, but for all of her life. Understanding this (and considering how the churches seemed to get it ‘way before microscopes told us anything) the Immaculate Conception made and makes perfect sense: God, who is All-Good is also completely Pure; the vessel in which He resides, then, must be pure, too, or it would not be able to sustain all of that “light in which we see light itself.”

Microchimerism also relates to the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, as well. In the psalms we read “you will not suffer your beloved to undergo corruption.” Christ’s divine body did not undergo corruption. It follows that his mother’s body, which contained a cellular component of the Divinity — and a particle of God is God, entire — would not be allowed to become corrupt, either.

I believed it anyway, but that made sense on several levels. Incredible.

The Assumption of the Virgin Mary

El Greco, The Assumption of the Virgin, 1577

via Wikipedia

On November 1, 1950, Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption. Thus he solemnly proclaimed that the belief whereby the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the close of her earthly life, was taken up, body and soul, into the glory of heaven, definitively forms part of the deposit of faith, received from the Apostles. To avoid all that is uncertain the Pope did not state either the manner or the circumstances of time and place in which the Assumption took place — only the fact of the Assumption of Mary, body and soul, into the glory of heaven, is the matter of the definition.

Catholic Culture

You also will find quite a lot of interesting information and art about this feast day at Idle Speculations. It is a Holy Day of Obligation. Which I forgot until just now, because to be perfectly honest, I just found out that today was The Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

*sigh*

Ok. Gotta work on that.

Worth a Thousand Words: A Bit of Organized Chaos

A Bit of Organized Chaos
by Owen Swain

Part of a drawing exercise, but it looked awfully familiar ... as those who spend much time in the kitchen will agree!

Well Said: Since 1969

From my quote journal.

Lots of us have lived 43 years since 1969. But some of us have lived 1969 for 43 years.

NCR commments box, unattributed

Book Giveaway! "The Right to Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America"

... Ask either faction whether it believes religious liberty is a human right and you’ll get a passionate, tub-thumping — mostly hypocritical — speech in favor of the idea. That’s because religious freedom is so familiar, so American a concept that nobody can really admit to opposing it. That would be like opposing apple pie. So even those who are at each other’s throats over religious liberty have to insist they all absolutely love the stuff. Instead of confessing that they’re actually opposed to religious freedom for all, the Pilgrims and the Park Rangers among us equivocate. When they say they support “religious freedom,” the Pilgrims mean the freedom of their religion, while the Park Rangers mean freedom from others’ religions. That way, they can all sound so very American — they can say they’re in favor of something called religious freedom — and still be as oppressive as they want to be.

I'm a huge fan of The Right to Be Wrong by Kevin Seamus Hasson, which has just had an updated paperback version released.

I believe if we respected each person's right to conscience, their "right to be wrong," our country would be a much more peaceful place. My ability to articulate this belief was both solidified and made easier to articulate when I read Hasson's book. It's a book we all need to read in these contentious times.

Hasson is a constitutional lawyer who heads up a non-partisan, public-interest law firm that specializes in defending free religious expression for all faiths. Hasson asserts, “We defend all faiths but we are not relativists. On any given day, I think most of my clients are wrong. But I firmly believe that, in an important sense, they have the right to be wrong.” This is not a very long book and it is written in a conversational and easy style, but it packs a heavy punch.

The updated book adds a chapter and afterward that discuss the latest set of religious struggles, which have been elevated past the tussles over Nativity scenes on government property to include federal healthcare insurance.

Read my original, indepth review here.

To enter for a chance to win a copy, leave a comment for this post!

Roger Ebert's Review of a documentary Rose edited

Curators of Dixon School (a documentary Rose edited when she was in college) premiered at the Black Harvest Film Festival and Roger Ebert gave it a great review.

(And no comments about pacing, so that's a win for the editing side!)

Thought you guys would want to read it!

Well Said: Simplicity

From my quote journal.

Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.

John Maeda

Worth a Thousand Words: The Harvest

The Harvest, 1882, Camille Pisarro

We spent the weekend at our parish's Beyond Cana marriage retreat, behind the scenes for a change. We coordinated the food for the weekend. Not nearly as backbreaking a job as the ladies above are doing, but still ... a job that takes full attention and time for the weekend. Ultimately satisfying as always as we saw the couples who attended leave Sunday mass with glowing faces and renewed marriages.

Well Said: Turning Vice into Virtue

From my quote journal.

The chaplain had mastered, in a moment of divine intuition, the handy technique of protective rationalization, and he was exhilarated by his discovery. It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.

Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Review: Holiness for Everyone by Eric Sammons

Friendship has a powerful impact on people's behavior. Parents often worry that their children will succumb to "peer pressure," implicitly acknowledging the power that friends can have on someone's life. Children aren't the only ones influenced in this way -- adults, too, allow their personalities and choices to be shaped by the company they keep. Communal-ness is part of human nature. We want to be accepted by others. We don't want to seem odd. Natural as this is, it, too, often leads people away from the Faith and into the culture of death in which we live. But friendship's power can work both ways: The Christian who remains faithful to his beliefs and stands up for Christ in this life can have a great influence over those closest to him, even without saying a word.

Very true. For example, I often ask myself "What would Mike Aquilina do?" Never have I been around a nicer guy who consistently sets me on the path of right behavior ... never through a word of criticism but always through his own behavior and words.

I am not a member of Opus Dei, the spiritual movement founded by St. Josemaria Escriva.. Never been much of a joiner really. However, I am well versed in the fundamental way that St. Josemaria Escriva thinks about holiness and every day life thanks to the In Conversation with God series, which I have used for over a decade. Written by a priest from Navarre University, which Escriva helped found, it reflects a lot of Escriva's spirituality which I like. The beauty of the ordinary, the everyday, offered to God is a very practical way to live, as Holiness for Everyone's subtitle reminds us.

Sammons gives a quick look at St. Josemaria Escriva's life and works. He then sets the foundations of what it means to have God as our father and what true love, freedom and holiness really mean. Finally, he comes to how to live a saintly life in our everyday, ordinary lives. Whether at work, at home, with family, with friends, or just driving to the store, the methods to becoming holy are all around us.

Mortifications are all those activities which help us to control our sinful impulses and desires. They can be as simple as denying ourselves a second helping at dinner, allowing others to speak first in conversations, or choosing the longer line at the checkout counter.

This is all interwoven with another theme dear to my heart, that we are all meant to be saints. Becoming a saint sounds like a lofty and unattainable goal because we have only seen the saints after they achieved their goals. Through stories, examples from his own life, and many other sources, Sammons gives us the tools to understand how we too can be saints-in-training right here on earth.

For example, I was struggling with grudgingly doing something I knew God wanted of me. (This is a continual struggle on this particular topic, by the way ... something of a thorn in my side which I must continually strive to overcome.)

A son or daughter of a king is uniquely privileged -- but bears a demanding load of responsibility as a result of his or her lineage. Just so, as children of God, we are called to act in accord with our nobility. Humble submission to the will of our Father will mark us as true children.

It was a real help in my struggle to suddenly see myself as a grown, royal princess, standing to the side of her father the king, awaiting his bidding. This is an image I call up time and again. It helps.

Even if you have no interest whatsoever in St. Josemaria Escriva, you will find something of value in this book. Few of us can pursue holiness aside from the demands of work, family, and friends. Holiness for Everyone gives help and the proper perspective to journey to heaven, together. Highly recommended.

Weekend Joke: Michael Phelps

Cartoon by xkcd

Worth a Thousand Words: The Flutes

Franklin Booth, The Flutes
from Golden Age Comic Book Stories
(via lines and colors)

Well Said: The Man Who Does Not Read

From my quote journal.

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.

Mark Twain

Review: The Odd Life of Timothy Green

On the night they receive the news that they will never be able to conceive a baby, Cindy and Jim Green hold a unique mourning ceremony. They write down all their hopes for what their child would have been like and bury them in a box in their garden. They're surprised when a 10-year-old boy named Timothy shows up in their house, covered with dirt, calling them "Mom" and "Dad," and with leaves growing out of his legs.

This gentle fairy tale looks at parent-child relationships the same the way that The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday did, but using the problems today's children have with their parents. Cindy and Jim are eager to do everything right, be perfect parents, and spare Timothy any of the anguish that they recall from their youth. In no time at all, they are hovering over Timothy's every move. "He can have secrets," Cindy tells Jim. "As long as he tells them to us."

Their own issues with family members come to light as they react to Timothy's experiences. Also, since Timothy's leaves make him "special" they are determined that he will not be made fun of which just increases the hovering.

Writer/director Peter Hedges wrote What's Eating Gilbert Grape and About a Boy, both wryly quirky movies that I enjoyed for their ability to provide insight and humor when viewing the world from an unusual angle. This movie is no different, although it has been necessarily Disney-fied.

Timothy's unusual origin and the difference his presence makes is a nicely original concept and a humorous way at looking at the helicopter parent generation. We enjoyed it and so did the audience we were with which had a nice sprinkling of children throughout. They laughed a lot throughout and gave the movie a round of applause at the end. This is just the sort of movie our girls would have liked when they were young and I am definitely going to recommend it to the parents and grandparents I know who are looking for a good summer movie.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green opens August 15.

It's the end of the world. Who do you choose? The Dark Man or Mother Abigail?

Scott and I discuss that classic tale of good versus evil, The Stand by Stephen King, at A Good Story is Hard to Find.

Worth a Thousand Words: Sommer in Berlin

Sommer in Berlin
Edward B. Gordon

Well Said: Another Date With Meaninglessness

From my quote journal.

A few years ago I was driving the carpool to school. It was the day of the Christmas program. I told the kids I was eager to come to the show. I asked what Christmas songs they were singing. There was a lengthy pause followed by the innocent reply, “We’re not singing any Christmas songs. Our teacher says that they are too religious. We are only singing songs about the Winter solstice.

...  I took a breath and said, “Who is your teacher?”

Alex answered back, “Mr. Webster.”

I said, ”Alex, you know Mr. Webster probably doesn’t know this, but the Winter solstice is religious too. It celebrates Paganism. So if he really wants to cut out religion he should just stick to Beatles songs.”

[...]

The decision to remove Christmas songs from a children’s Christmas show was the definition small-minded. I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was the kind of choice you expect from an expensive private school in Los Angeles.

I dropped the kids off. They ran inside for another date with meaninglessness. ...

Stephen Tobolowsky, A Christmas Reflection

Go read the entire thing. It isn't long but it is plenty long to show why I love listening to The Tobolowsky Files podcast.

That, plus the fact that he uses the same TV trays we have ... the ones from Target. After all, he's only famous sometimes.

Worth a Thousand Words: Winning Oarsmen from Years Past

Winning oarsmen at Waterford Boat Club (1897)
via The Public Domain Review

The Public Domain Review is celebrating amateur sports in honor of the Olympics. Check out some of the great old photos of teams there. I chose this one because I simply could not resist those moustaches. As who could? Am I right ladies? Of course I am!

Gregg Allman: "After all I’ve been through, I can’t help but feel I’ve been redeemed, over and over."

Mockingbird just finished reading Gregg Allman's memoir and shares some of his story about finding God. Which includes this interesting tidbit.

At one point I was going to convert to Catholicism, but they had so many rules. I have to say that the Catholic Church is very much about who has the nicest suit, the valet parking–too much about the money. I don’t think you have to dress up or show God a bunch of gold for him to forgive you your sins, love you, and guide you. Then I went to an Episcopal church in Daytona, and it just felt right. The Episcopal Church isn’t about gimme, gimme, gimme. The Episcopalians are like enlightened Catholics. They have the faith, but they’re a little more open-minded.

I was thinking, "What Catholic church did this guy visit? " Doubtless there are Catholic churches like that but even ours, which has leanings toward Gregorian chant and kneeling at the altar rail, also sees its fair share of families in shorts, blue collar workers and the dispossessed even at the most formal masses.

Strange Herring (where I came across the story) says it better, as always:

So look, if he found some kind of spiritual peace at an Episcopal church, God bless. But I do wonder what Catholic church he wandered into. Not that I have a dog in this fight. And I’ve known some Catholic parishes — in Manhattan and even in London — where you’d think every Sunday was the wedding of Count Romeo to Lady Juliet. But I’ve also been in Catholic churches where it may as well have been the parish of Our Lady of the Alien Homeless. It’s sorta funny that an Episcopalian church is seen as the “everyman’s” church. If ever there was a status-conscious denomination, good gravy. Once upon a time, the church use to rent pews to families, and the more you gave, the closer you were allowed to be to the action (and the farther from hoi polloi).

I base my knowledge of Episcopalians strictly on my grandmother and the few times I accompanied her to church. So, that may not be strictly accurate, but Strange Herring's take is similar.

Well, wherever he wound up, I'm glad he wound up somewhere.

In which Oleron investigates the unnatural happenings.

The finale of The Beckoning Fair One at Forgotten Classics.

Well Said: On Being in the Majority

From my quote journal.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

Mark Twain

Worth a Thousand Words: August

August: Falconry, The background contains the Château d'Étampes
Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
via Wikipedia

Well Said: Holiness in Time ... and some thoughts on prayer (Updated)

From my quote journal.

One of the most distinguished words in the Bible is the word qadosh, holy; a word which more than any other is representative of the mystery and majesty of the divine. Now what was the first holy object in the history of the world? Was it a mountain? Was it an altar?

It is, indeed, a unique occasion at which the distinguished word qadosh is used for the first time: in the book of Genesis at the end of the story of creation. How extremely significant is the fact that it is applied to time: "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy." There is no reference in the record of creation to any object in space that would be endowed with the quality of holiness.

This is a radical departure from accustomed religious thinking. The mythical mind would expect that, after heaven and earth have been established, God would create a holy place -- a holy mountain or a holy spring -- whereupon a sanctuary is to be established. Yet it seems as if to the Bible it is holiness in time, the Sabbath, which comes first.

When history began, there was only one holiness in the world, holiness in time When at Sinai the word of God was about to be voices, a call for holiness in man was proclaimed: "Thou shalt be unto me a holy people." It was only after the people had succumbed to the temptation of worshipping a thing, a golden calf, that the erection of a Tabernacle of holiness in space, was commanded. The sanctity of time came first, the sanctity of man came second, and the sanctity of space last. Time was hallowed by God; space, the Tabernacle, was consecrated by Moses.

Abraham Heschel, The Sabbath

Coming across this quote now just emphasizes a realization I had after reading Msgr. Charles Pope's homily about prayer is that prayer is rest.

Jesus invites them to come away by themselves to a quiet place and rest a while. Most people seldom think of their personal prayer as a privileged invitation by the Lord, nor do they think of it as rest.

I had long abandoned the idea of spending a minimum of 20 minutes to let God speak to me. Not to speak myself, but to listen. Thinking of it as rest, made me long for that time.

I also put it together with what a couple says when they are doing an announcement after Mass, inviting couples to sign up for the Beyond Cana retreat. They point out that one of the greatest sacrifices we can make today is to give up time for someone.

I suddenly saw my measly twenty minutes in that light. Today, O Lord, I offer upon your altar my twenty minutes. Small though it may be, it is my widow's mite. It is precious to me above so many other things.

I began again yesterday with that personal prayer time and it was a difficult sacrifice to make. I actually welcomed the idea of the sacrifice because that made it worth doing. I could weigh it against the other activities I was "neglecting" and find that giving praise to my Maker while listening for His voice was tipping the scales.

Sitting in the back yard yesterday, timer facedown upon my chair's arm, I fought the temptation to do more than look at the clouds, the bees, the birds, while contemplating "I Am" without putting my own wish list out there. Remembering that it was about resting and refreshment in God brought a continual reorientation of my mind. This was a good endeavor. It was ok to just drift. Baby steps.

It brought rest and it brought peace. I look forward to today's sacrifice.

UPDATE
Will Duquette at The View From the Foothills takes these thoughts and turns to something we all have trouble with ... detachment from what we want to do next so that we may spend time with God in the here and now. Excellent reminder and a good read.

The Prime Directive ...

Savage Chickens does it again. Doug Savage says, "The last time I watched ST:TNG, I was surprised how many episodes were about romance with aliens." Me either but it is undeniable.

This one is for Hannah and all her friends who are watching various Star Trek series for the first time.

10 Things I Wish a Facebook Meme Knew About the Church

10. When Jesus forbade judging, that included you.

And when Jesus forbade fornication, that included you. And me. And all of us. Jesus did not say to sinners (by whom I do not mean depraved sick subhumans deserving persecution in this world and eternal damnation in the next, but all of us, “It’s OK, because you are in love, and I will never judge you harshly or tell you you can’t do exactly what you want to do, because even though I’ve talked my ear off about what constitutes the way my Father wants you to live, I realize that’s haaaaard, so I’ll cut you a break because you’re a good person and I wouldn’t want my personal religious beliefs to bother you or anything.” Instead, he accepted their sincere repentance (which means owning up to having been judged by God and found wanting, as are we all), blessed them, and said, “Go and sin no more.”

10 Things I Wish a Facebook Meme Knew About the Church from Joanne K. McPortland is a perfect example of why I love this lady's writing so much. The logic is just part of it. Go. Read.

Free Jack Vance ebook!

Jack Vance is not only a great sf writer, but a great American writer. He started out writing fairly standard pulp adventure sf (albeit very clever and well-written pulp), but over the years, his eccentric writing style, biting view of human nature, humor, and skill at building strange new worlds became more and more important, although they are still allied closely with pulp adventure and tons of plot in a small space. He never loves his sentences more than the whole. He’s a lot like Cabell, if Cabell had written better women and had had more interest in sf and sense of wonder.

Cabell would never have written a character saying, “I would offer congratulations were it not for this tentacle gripping my leg.”

[...]

Anyway, his friends and relatives have made an ebook of The Chasch (aka City of the Chasch) available for free, till the end of August. What a deal! It is part of the thrilling ‘Tschai’ or ‘Planet of Adventure’ series, in which an interstellar scout investigating an old distress call shipwrecks in the middle of an undeveloped planet full of alien (and alien human) cultures, and has to get to the spaceport. It turns out that all of the planet’s alien species (native and not) have variously enslaved or formed odd relationships with the descendants of humans that landed on the planet, so it’s not easy to get around. The weird societies which have resulted, and how the main character disrupts them by his actions, are pretty much the star of the show. There are four books in the series. ...

Maureen from Aliens in This World sums up why you want to try this book. (She says more about the author and his work so do click through.) Pick up the ebook at Jack Vance's site. You do have to register and log in, but it is simple.

Say It Ain't Solo

This short film trailer is hilarious! I'm  a fan of The Tobolowsky Files podcast, which makes it even funnier to me, but even non-Tobo fans will like this one.

Say It Ain't Solo Official Short Film Trailer - watch more funny videos

Worth a Thousand Words: Die Andacht des Grossvaters

Albert Anker (1831–1910)
Die Andacht des Grossvaters, 1893
via Wikipedia

I love the earnestness with which the grandson reads and thinking of the grandfather who must be soaking up the words and presence.

Lagniappe: Picking 5 Favorite Books

From my quote journal.

Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you'd most like not to lose.

Neil Gaiman

Chick-fil-A and a Teachable Catholic Moment About Marriage and Homosexuality

Deacon Ken took yesterday's readings where people were hungry, added Chick-fil-A's incident of last week and gave us a fantastic homily that clarifies two very important points of Catholic teaching.

Please do carefully read the entire thing.

Or you may listen to it (or download it from the link), if you prefer, since he recorded it. (Mass scripture readings are here.)

Homily for 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel story, thousands of people flocked to the place where Jesus was because they were hungry.  They had witnessed, or had heard about the event that took place in the part of the gospel that we read last week where Jesus had fed the 5000 men.  We don't know how many women and children there were but he fed a whole lot of people and they had their fill.  That food came from just a couple of fish and some loaves of bread.

Well, when they heard that Jesus had left, they tracked him down, they followed him, they found him and they showed up because they were hungry.  But Jesus pointed out to them rather quickly that they needed to strive for something more than food.

This past Wednesday, thousands of people flocked to Chick-fil-A restaurants all around the country to eat lunch or dinner.  And they were hungry too.  Some of them were just hungry for chicken and they didn't know about the events that were taking place and so they were quite surprised to see the thousands of people who were showing up in the restaurants all over this country.

The rest may have been hungry for food as well but their greater hunger was to make a statement of support for the president of the company who had, in an interview, witnessed to his Christian faith and had openly spoken his support for the traditional definition of marriage as being one between one man and one woman.

Others were there as a statement of support for his right to speak his principals without suffering the persecution that arose from some segments of our society.

Now if you've been following this you know that a firestorm arose around the country as his statements and his position were taken to be by some, rather than pro-marriage, they were taken to be anti-gay.  Boycotts were called for, even a couple of mayors of some large cities had proclaimed that they would do whatever they could to prevent Chick-fil-A from expanding in their cities.  So Wednesday's events were to counter those boycotts as well as to express their support.

So I thought that in the midst of this controversy which is making national news, that today might be the right time, a good time, without all of the emotion and all of the words being slung, to clearly outline two things.  To have a teachable moment.  To really outline two things about this subject as they relate to our Catholic faith. 

There's tons and tons of material out there.  You can read it, research yourself.  And hopefully very soon, this week, maybe even by the end of the day because he was here at an earlier mass, our webmaster will have posted links to the documents that I'm going to quote from today on our website.  And I just wanted to make this clear and concise which is why I'm up here today instead of down there and why I have notes.

First point, our US Bishops have made very clear that the Church's teaching is that marriage is, and must continue to be, defined as the union of one man and one woman.  This definition is not new.  This definition comes not from man, and not from government, it comes from God.  We see it in the beginning, the book of Genesis.  God created man in His image; in the divine image he created them; male and female he created them.  God blessed them saying to them: be fertile and multiply.  Fill the earth and subdue it.

In a pastoral letter the Unites States Conferences of Catholic Bishops that was issued in 2009 called Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan the Bishops state:

"We Bishops feel compelled to speak against all attempts to redefine marriage so that it would no longer be exclusively be the union of the man and the woman as God established and blessed it in the natural created order."

Further down they reiterate:

The Church has taught through the ages that marriage is an exclusive relationship between one man and one woman.  This union once validly entered and consummated gives rise to a bond that cannot be dissolved by the will of the spouses.  Marriage thus created is a faithful privileged sphere of intimacy between the spouses that lasts until death.

And so this profound, this beautiful document goes on and on to talk about the beauty of a sacramental marriage between a man and a woman. I encourage you to read this pastoral letter Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan.  And our Bishops have been very vocal recently about supporting this definition of marriage and opposing any effort to change the definition of marriage.  So that's point number one.

Point number two. And I want to make this briefly but pointedly, is that this stance by the Church is not a hate filled action or statement against men and women who are gay.  That's what all the controversy was about in the Chic-fil-A event.  It's not an anti-gay action.  There is no place in our faith or in our church for hatred or discrimination.  Period. 

As Catholic Christians, we're called to listen and to embrace the words of the statement from a document entitled Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care for Homosexual Persons. And this was from the then Cardinal Ratzinger, better known now as Pope Benedict XVI. He was, in 1986, when this was published, the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.  It says:

"It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action.  Such treatment deserves condemnation from the church's pastor wherever it occurs."

So hateful actions against someone who is gay has no place in our lives.  Furthermore I think it's important to make this point and I would venture a guess that not many of you have ever heard this.  And I'm summarizing here some statements in Ministering to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Being a homosexual is not a sin.

Being a homosexual is not a sin.  Entering into homosexual acts, that's a sin.

Just as entering into any intimate act of a man and a woman outside of the sacrament of marriage is a sin.

Therefore we, you and I, must help nurture our friendship with those who are gay.  We must nurture our friendship with God so that the virtue of chastity among all of us is both embraced and strengthened.

So please, I encourage you to be open to God's truth.  I encourage you to pray about this.  To embrace the Church's teachings about marriage.  To reject the worldly position that somehow embracing the traditional understanding of marriage, which has been that way since the very beginning, that somehow that's a hateful action against those who are homosexual. 

Knowing that for some this may be a bit challenging, I think we should now look back at the Gospel story for help in understanding how we can accomplish the works of God.

How we can grow closer to the Lord so that there is no place in our hearts for straying from the truth or rejecting the Church's teachings.  So there's no place in our hearts for having hatred or malice.  Remember in the Gospel the people said to Jesus, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"  And His response to them was, "This is the work of God.  That you believe in the one He sent."  There is the bottom line.  To believe in Jesus Christ.

Because you know what?  Just like the people in the Gospel, whether we know it or not, whether we accept it or admit it or not, you and I are hungry for more than just chicken.  We're hungry for the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives.  In our hearts.  Opening our hearts to God's message, opening our hearts to His Son, knowing the one He sent are so essential to us being the men and women that God calls us to be.

God, as we heard in that first reading, is the one who fed the Israelites in the desert with manna.  That same loving God sent His only son to be for us the Bread of Life.  Not just the food that feeds our worldly hunger, but the food that fills the God shaped vacuum that is within each one of us.  That God shaped vacuum that can only be satisfied and filled by the presence of Jesus Christ. 

He is the food that gives life, eternal life to those who believe.  He is the food that overcomes hatred with love.  He is the food that brings us closer to Him so that we constantly seek His will and not the will of the world.

Random Thought About Our Very Ordinary Planet, Galaxy, Universe

I'm doing invoicing today so have plenty of extra mental capacity to also listen to podcasts. I'm trying out The Science of Everything which seems to be good based on Episode 22: Our Place in the Cosmos. It is "a journey through Earth's location in the universe."

Almost at the very end, the podcaster says that Earth is a fairly ordinary planet, orbiting a fairly ordinary star, in a fairly ordinary location in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is fairly ordinary-sized galaxy, which is in a fairly mundane section of a relatively small and insignificant super-cluster, in a not particularly important section of the universe.

What is special he says is that it is the only planet we know of that has life.

As he was going through his list, I kept thinking, "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" (John 1:46)

In the same pattern that we see repeatedly throughout the Bible, God's way of thinking is not ours at all. Jesus came from a backwater, had a public life of 3 years and was crucified.

So our fairly ordinary planet, etcetera, etcetera, is perfectly in line with that logic (which doesn't seem logical at all).

That's all. Return to whatever you were doing.

In my case, matching invoices and envelopes. Oh, and then putting on stamps!

Joss Whedon and Much Ado About Nothing

Including Nathan Fillion .... finally, Shakespeare I can't wait to see! (Yes, Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion are what it takes to make that happen. So sue me.)

It's debuting at the Toronto Film Festival in September. Tor.com has photos.

Worth a Thousand Words: John Singer Sargent and Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson and His Wife. 1885
painted by John Singer Sargent
via Wikipedia

I am reading The Amateur Emigrant from Delphi Classics complete Robert Louis Stevenson collection on my Kindle. Every time I look at Stevenson's face on the cover, I like him more. And I already love his fiction.

The Amateur Emigrant is the first of Stevenson's trilogy about traveling to California. (The other two books are Across the Plains and The Silverado Squatters.) It is altogether delightful, informative, insightful, and common sensical. It goes perfectly with the kind-looking face on the cover. So when I saw this painting by Sargent, who is one of my all-time favorite painters, I just couldn't resist.

Well Said: I could not do God's job

From my quote journal.

This is surely true [that if God exists then God is not good in the way we understand good]. I mean, forget earthquakes, pedophilia, and anti-Semitism — if God exists, then He regularly makes supernovae happen, each time exterminating uncountable numbers of creatures but creating hevy elements essential to life and moving evolution along on planets outside the kill zone.

I'm happy to admit it: I could not do this job, even if I were technically qualified. I'm just too wishy-washy.

Manny commenting at GoodReads

The Beckoning Fair One, part 2

In which Elsie is threatened and Oleron has an encounter. More ghostliness over at Forgotten Classics podcast.

Free Audiobooks: "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" and "A Tale of Two Cities"

Every week SYNC gives away a contemporary book paired thematically somehow with a classic novel. This is directed at YA readers to get them to listen to a book if they won't pick one up to actually read.

What is SYNC?

• SYNC is the audiobook publishers’ and AudioFile Magazine’s commitment to introducing the listening experience to the young adult audience.
• SYNC will give away 2 FREE audiobook downloads each week for 10 weeks this summer.
• The weekly SYNC audiobook pairings will offer a popular Young Adult title and a related Classic.
• SYNC hooks readers by introducing a free download of a Young Adult “first in series” or prolific author.
• SYNC demonstrates that Required Reading can be completed by listening.

YA or not, they've featured some interesting books. I've been tempted. However, until this week none of the books have tempted me enough to make me fight my way through the jungle of the specialized download software needed to get the files ... Overdrive Media Console.

However, I love Simon Preeble who lured me through "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" when I simply couldn't get into the printed page. He narrates "A Tale of Two Cities" which is a book I adore.

Also, I have had "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" on my To Read list since trying a sample on my Kindle.

So both those made it worth picking up the machete and venturing into the jungle. It wasn't easy. It certainly wasn't "organic" and I had to feel my way, but I finally got that darned software to download mp3 files. Those files did pop right into iTunes when I clicked them, so it was all worth it in the end.

These stories will be available for a week so drop by SYNC and check it out!