Worth a Thousand Words

Blanche Scott [between 1910 and 1915] (from the Library of Congress photos on Flickr)

Prayer After An Election

From the USCCB.

God of all nations,
Father of the human family,
we give you thanks for the freedom we exercise and the many blessings of democracy we enjoy in these United States of America.

We ask for your protection and guidance for all who devote themselves to the common good, working for justice and peace at home and around the world.

We lift up all our duly elected leaders and public servants, those who will serve us as president, as legislators and judges, those in the military and law enforcement.

Heal us from our differences and unite us, O Lord, with a common purpose, dedication, and commitment to achieve liberty and justice in the years ahead for all people, and especially those who are most vulnerable in our midst.

Amen.

Prayer Before An Election

From the USCCB.

Lord God,
as the election approaches,
we seek to better understand the issues and concerns that confront our city, state, and country,
and how the Gospel compels us to respond as faithful citizens in our community.

We ask for eyes that are free from blindness
so that we might see each other as brothers and sisters,
one and equal in dignity,
especially those who are victims of abuse and violence, deceit and poverty.

We ask for ears that will hear the cries of children unborn and those abandoned,
men and women oppressed because of race or creed, religion or gender.
We ask for minds and hearts that are open to hearing the voice of leaders who will bring us closer to your Kingdom.

We pray for discernment
so that we may choose leaders who hear your Word,
live your love,
and keep in the ways of your truth
as they follow in the steps of Jesus and his Apostles
and guide us to your Kingdom of justice and peace.

We ask this in the name of your Son Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

I would like also to direct any Catholic undecided voters to these guides to inform their consciences and order their priorities.

Worth a Thousand Words

The Entrance to the Fountain of Pomona, Known as Fontanone, at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli. 1760. Red chalk. Jean-Honoré Fragonard. (From Olga's Art Gallery)

What Would Jesus Do?

Over the weekend I received a long email from a gentleman deploring the desire to use legislation in stopping abortion. He began by talking about higher brain function and then went on a long and winding road that moseyed by gay marriage along the way and wound up postulating that Jesus would not support changing abortion laws.

I will admit that along the way I began wondering if Jesus felt as tired when faced with the Pharisees' and Sadduecees' little legal puzzles as I did upon looking at all the logical constructs that this gentleman mustered in support of his view.

Honestly, I have no idea what Jesus would say to this gentleman. However, thinking of the model that Jesus presented of a pithy presentation, usually composed of Scripture, here is what occurred to me as I was reading the Gospel of Matthew this morning. It will have to suffice ...

Thus says the Lord, "You shall not kill.

Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.

See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your name ..."

Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.

(Sources Exodus 20:13, Isaiah 49:15-16 Matthew 25:45)

McCain on SNL: A True Maverick...a Republican Without Money

John McCain and Tina Fey ... truly hilarious.



Via Deacon Greg.

BTW, the little aside that Palin/Fey had with the camera was echoing what I have already thought, as undoubtedly have others.

Check out Roger Ebert's commentary on McCain and Fey on SNL which then goes on to assess Palin's star power. Here's a bit of it:

She didn't learn how to be a vice president during this campaign, but she learned how to be a star. Star power is real. It's celebrity that is fake. ...

Sarah Palin will never, ever, be another Marilyn Monroe. That's because she is an original, like Monroe was, and she plays Sarah Palin better than anyone else possibly could. Notice I didn't say, "plays herself." I don't think she does. From what we know from old tapes, she didn't even once talk like that. Nor did Norma Jean Baker ever talk like Marilyn Monroe. It's a matter of projecting yourself into a persona that vibrates with people. ...

That's why she's had that uncanny effect on people. Some voters like her so much they're voting for Palin, not President. In office, she might do better than Marilyn, who didn't have the hands-on executive experience, and couldn't look out of her house without bodyguards. If she is not elected, I think Americans will discover they want to keep her around.

We Should All Desire to Be Saints

I hadn't even remembered this train of thought from last year and was put in the surprising situation of enlightening ... myself! I repost it for today's feast of All Saints' Day for anyone else who is interested and also doesn't remember it!

Shortly after he converted to Catholicism in the late 1930s, Thomas Merton was walking the streets of New York with his friend, Robert Lax. Lax was Jewish, and he asked Merton what he wanted to be, now that he was Catholic.

“I don’t know,” Merton replied, adding simply that he wanted to be a good Catholic.

Lax stopped him in his tracks.

“What you should say,” he told him, “is that you want to be a saint!”

Merton was dumbfounded.

“How do you expect me to become a saint?,” Merton asked him.

Lax said: “All that is necessary to be a saint is to want to be one. Don’t you believe that God will make you what He created you to be, if you will consent to let him do it? All you have to do is desire it.”

Deacon Greg's homily

I read this earlier in the week. It really made an impression and kept returning to my mind.

Yes, the goal is to get to Heaven, but didn't I expect a stopover in Purgatory? Didn't everyone I talked to laugh somewhat about how long they'd be stuck there too?

It struck me that what this attitude reflects is not aiming for Heaven, but settling for Purgatory. We should be happy that Purgatory is there like the net under tightrope walkers, to catch us if we fall short. But we should be aiming for, and expecting, to achieve our greatest potential ... that for which God created each and every one of us. That with His grace and our cooperation we can each be a saint.

St. Teresa of Avila crossed my mind. St. John of the Cross. You know where I'm going with this right? Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (a.k.a. Mother Teresa). The dark night of the soul. I know that these saints thought it worthwhile but I'm not into signing up for that duty.

I then thought of my grandfather, Raymond. A wonderful man, always happy and cheerful, willing to work hard to help anyone who needed it ... an anonymous saint to the Church but one to all who knew him. No dark night of the soul there. Yet, I'm sure he skipped right over Purgatory. Would I be willing to follow his example? Of course.

I thought of my patron, Saint Martha (you know, of the "Mary has chosen the better part" story). The last time we see her serving is notably different from the first. Mary is washing Jesus' feet and Martha is mentioned as serving in the background. To me that says she has learned the lesson Jesus gave her about "the better part." Would I be willing to follow her example? Natch.

My glance fell on a book I recently received about Solanus Casey, a favorite of mine because he was a humble porter whose holiness shown through to the people of Detroit. Similar to St. John Vianney, another favorite of mine (yes, I have lots of favorites), in that both found studies difficult and consequently were not thought much of by their orders.

Of course, it was borne in upon me yet again that we have so many examples of all the different sorts of saints God makes to suit each time and place. Why I would feel that it necessarily requires a "dark night of the soul" I don't know ... how silly of me!

The culmination of all this thinking took place last night while I was waiting for the Vigil Mass to begin. I was saying the rosary (more about that in another post) and kept coming back to the subject of saints. I got a growing feeling of excitement and anticipation at the unknown future when we completely give ourselves over to God ... when we desire to become a saint. Nothing new here intellectually that's sure, but for me it is that sense of possibilities, of waiting for a surprise ... and that is always what we discover when God is involved.

I'm not settling any more. I'm aiming higher.

More Goodness on the Saints

• From my favorite Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household's homily.

  One day, a saint, St. Symeon the New Theologian, had a mystical experience of God that was so strong he exclaimed to himself, "If paradise is no more than this, it is enough for me." But the voice of Christ told him, "You are very poor if you content yourself with this. The joy you have experienced in comparison to paradise is like the sky painted on paper in comparison to the real sky."



• Steven Riddle, reports a conversation he had with his son, Samuel, who had the benefit of spending time with a wise priest.

  ... I asked Sam what happened on the trip, where did they go?
  
  "To a cemetery."
  
  " A cemetery?" I asked.
  
  "Yes, and Father said that some people are afraid of cemeteries, but a cemetery wasn't a place to be afraid of. It was a place where the people you knew here started on their way to Jesus and that was a good thing." ...

• November is the month when we think of Purgatory and pray for all souls (whose day is tomorrow). Vultus Christi has an old prayer specifically for intercession for the souls in Purgatory. Thanks to Web for telling me about this one.


• Patrick O'Hannigan considers whether it is the main task of life to become heroic. This one doesn't start out about the saints but how can he help winding up there? This bit is going in my quote journal but go read it all.

  Turning again to a musical cue, as is my wont, I like to suppose that there's a reason that the saints go marching in. They do not shamble. They do not sneak. They do not sashay, crawl, clomp, duck walk, sidle, sprint, strut, shuffle, somersault, or slither. They've been through the boot camp of life on Earth, and they've fought the good fight. They answer to the King of Kings. It's going to show in how they present themselves.

• Isn't this gorgeous? There's more where that came from ... Recta Ratio.

Weekend Joke

Combining two of my favorite joke genres, Cajuns and ghosts, from the incomparable Miss Cellania.

This happened about a month ago just outside of Cocodrie, a little town in the bayou country of Louisiana, and while it sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tale, it's real.

This out of state traveler was on the side of the road, hitchhiking on a real dark night in the middle of a thunderstorm. Time passed slowly and no cars went by. It was raining so hard he could hardly see his hand in front of his face. Suddenly he saw a car moving slowly, approaching and appearing ghostlike in the rain. It slowly and silently crept toward him and stopped.

Wanting a ride real bad the guy jumped into the car and closed the door; only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the wheel, and no sound of an engine to be heard over the rain. Again the car crept slowly forward and the guy was terrified, too scared to think of jumping out and running. The guy saw that the car was approaching a sharp curve and, still too scared to jump out, he started to pray and begging for his life; he was sure the ghost car would go off the road and in the bayou and he would surely drown!

But just before the curve a shadowy figure appeared at the driver's window and a hand reached in and turned the steering wheel, guiding the car safely around the bend. Then, just as silently, the hand disappeared through the window and the hitchhiker was alone again! Paralyzed with fear, the guy watched the hand reappear every time they reached a curve. Finally the guy, scared to near death, had all he could take and jumped out of the car and ran to town.

Wet and in shock, he went into a bar and voice quavering, ordered two shots of whiskey, then told everybody about his supernatural experience.

A silence enveloped and everybody got goose bumps when they realized the guy was telling the truth (and not just some drunk).

About half an hour later two guys walked into the bar and one says to the other, "Look Boudreaux, ders dat idiot that rode in our car when we wuz pushin it in the rain."

Email Notice

We had a huge server crash yesterday and among other major things, one thing that went down was email.

If you have sent me an email in the last week or so and had been waiting for an answer or to see a notice posted, etc., please be aware that it has been lost to me for good. If I answered since yesterday afternoon then I've got your communication.

Feel free to resend. I am getting emails now, but can't answer them from home for the time being. I'll probably set up another account but am waiting to see how things are going in picking through the wreckage.

I would like to ask for prayers in guiding Tom as he picks up all these pieces and puts them back together for our clients and our business. Thanks.

That Was Unexpected

Lying in bed, usually I hear the strains of classical music broken up with traffic reports and a bit of "top headlines."

Didn't expect to hear that I'd slept through a 2.5 magnitude earthquake ...

C'mon, Lighten Up ...

I was startled to run into a usually eminently sensible Catholic this morning who barely held back from a rant about Halloween. He said that if kids dressed up as saints then he had no objection. Otherwise he had no use for Halloween.

Talk about sucking all the fun out of the holiday! That feeling is akin in my mind to Richard Dawkins' lamentably literal condemnation of Harry Potter because it is an "anti-scientific" fairy tale.

What is it about Americans that makes us unrelentingly hew to such Puritanical lengths? (Yes I realize Dawkins is English but his extreme zeal makes him a prime candidate to immigrate ... and, remember, those Puritans originally came from England.)

I recommend to all those similarly minded that they seek out Ray Bradbury's short story Usher II from The Martian Chronicles.

In the meantime, they can go read Darwin's Short Halloween Rant instead.

I don't have anything against the idea of having a saints themed costume party on All Saints Day -- there's no real tradition behind it, but it's not a bad idea. However, All Saints Day is Nov. 1st, not Oct. 31st. And I'm not really sure why we as Catholics should feel the need to counter-program against Halloween parties. Certain Protestant groups, certainly, are convinced that all that surrounds Halloween is evil superstition, but there's no reason for Catholics to go off the deep end about this stuff.

Others on record in supporting Halloween can be found here:

• Aliens in This World who pulls in G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown in support
  
  
• Simcha ... But I'll tell you the thing I really enjoy about Halloween: at least it's not a religious holiday -- I mean, Halloween as a boo, eek, Kit-kat and Smartees, oh-how-cute day, setting aside saint and souls and praying and such, which is a different day.
  
  
• Last but certainly not least, The Anchoress...

  I was excitedly discussing our Halloween plans at a meeting one night, when this woman told me I was being used as a tool for the devil “to make evil ordinary.”
  
  I told her that evil is made ordinary every single day on television and in movies and in how we treat each other, and that my gleeful Halloween antics had less to do with making “evil ordinary” than in proving that externals are mostly powerless over us, except as our own minds and souls perceive them. I said, “mock the devil he will flee from thee…”

For those wanting true tradition, I recommend Recta Ratio. You won't find a better source anywhere for history about all things of the faith, including Halloween!

Worth a Thousand Words

Geese Flying Across the Moon taken by Remo Savisaar

Word of the Day: Irenic

irenic

Main Entry:

Pronunciation:

\ī-ˈre-nik, -ˈrē-\

Function:

adjective

Etymology:

Greek eirēnikos, from eirēnē peace

Date:

circa 1864

: favoring, conducive to, or operating toward peace, moderation, or conciliation

Merriam Webster Online

I actually had to go look this up as it was entirely new to me. I came across it in TS's comment:

... Christian unity is personal for me, having a non-Catholic wife, but the better reason to care about Christian unity is for Christ's sake. The irenic Julie Davis puts it beautifully in her review ...

He never says the name of the book but he's talking about my review of The Shack, which I generally liked but which one must read critically. Thank you for the new word and (I think) the self-definition.

Looking Both Ways

You Know You're a Republican If ...
You think public education is broken and doesn't deserve more money,
and you send your children to an expensive private school.

You Know You're a Democrat If ...
You think public education is the backbone of America, it just needs more money,
and you send your children to an expensive private school.

You Know You're a Republican/Democrat If...

Worth a Thousand Words

Coming and Going by Barcelona Photoblog

No Comments? No Reason ...

Haloscan suddenly isn't working for the comments boxes, although the Haloscan Support Team tells me that "everything looks fine to us."

The emails I'm receiving beg to differ.

I'm trying to work through it as I prefer Haloscan to Blogger's comments. However, if it continues for too long, I'll switch to Blogger.

Right at the moment I don't have time to fiddle with anything ... that busy, busy work thing.

Thanks for your understanding ... and I MISS YOUR COMMENTS!

Do You Trust Your Father With Your Life?

Now there's an interesting question.

It is even more interesting in the context given by the Internet Monk as it arose in a classroom discussion. Very thought provoking.

I'd give you a snippet but I want it to unfold for you the way it did for me when I was reading it. Just go read it.

This has given me much food for thought, especially taken together with a discussion at last night's scripture study about how Americans' individual independence makes it so difficult for us to understand the strength of the "clan" in both Old and New Testament times. In fact, this very independence which we nurture and cherish is what makes it difficult to understand the concept that my sin hurts the whole body of Christ, just as my virtue enriches it.

Halloween Countdown: Costumes

Mental Floss Blog ( the only blog that has ever moved me to subscribe to a magazine, by the way), has 10 Epic Costumes.

Though, to be honest, my favorite costumes are those such as we see at The Anchoress where she has a defense of Halloween with plenty of adorable costume pics.

A LIttle Useless Information

It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information. -- Oscar Wilde

WEREWOLF • In Old English, this word actually translates literally into its meaning. The prefix wer- in Old English meant "man," with the compound form, werewulf meaning "man-wolf." Wer itself derives from the Latin form vir, where it also means "man," from which we also get the English word "virile."

The Word Origin Calendar

Worth a Thousand Words

California Flower Fields by Belinda Del Pesco

Thank You

Much thanks to everyone who has so kindly commented or emailed about Daffy's death. I hadn't planned on dragging everyone with me along through that sad event but the more I reflected on those words flashing into my mind, the more that I felt perhaps I should share it.

I actually do feel very calm and peaceful about the whole thing which I attribute to the many prayers that have been said for me and for our family. Which is amazing in itself when I think of how many people have been so kind over our dog's death.

Some people, who know us more personally, have been asking about Pepper's reactions. He is our gentle giant, a black lab-Great Dane mix of 115 pounds who is sweet, self-effacing, and terrified of our cat (which tells you something). Pepper doesn't seem to have noticed a thing, unless we are doing something that used to be a "group activity" such as when Tom takes the dogs along on the way to put the trash out and Pepper checks down the hall to see if Daffy is going to come barreling along at a breakneck speed.

On the contrary, it is interesting to watch his personality bloom a bit. Daffy was not a bully but she was always "on" and we wonder if that may not have been overpowering for Pepper. He is suddenly lying in main traffic areas, bringing in all his bones from the backyard "bone yard" and leaving them around, and when I took him for a walk this morning he went at a relaxed pace and didn't pull my arm off as usual.

We were talking about getting a new puppy fairly soon (or puppies ... we think it would be fun to have two Boxers to play with each other and while training one, we might as well train two, right?). However, now we think that we will put it off until the spring to let Pepper continue being an "only dog" for a little while and perhaps to gain some more confidence as "the" dog of the house.

Again, thank you for your many kind wishes, condolences, and prayers. I am truly touched.

Jesus in My Mind's Eye

The following story is true.

And I just want you to see how much I trust y'all to even go public with it!

For the last few weeks I've been changing up my prayer habits. Trying to get more in touch while avoiding distractions, I've been taking 20 minute walks each morning. Out in the early morning light with nature all around it is easier to keep my mind on connecting with God. Notice that I said, "easier" not "easy." My mind can provide all the distractions to mess up 20 minutes without being in the house as I have found out.

Some of the time I will say the rosary but this is preceded by my attempts to get into a more personal relationship with Jesus. I will imagine that he's walking beside me and then, somehow, it is easier to just simply tell him what is bothering me, what I hope for, and then to try to listen.

That all backfired in a way last week. It was the first true cold snap of the season. I was wearing sweat pants and a jacket. In my mind's eye, Jesus strolled alongside. I was thinking over how my image of Jesus matched all those traditional pictures of the long dark hair and beard, the brown robe. Shaking my head, thinking, "well, at least I realize I'm doing it."

Suddenly, I was completely caught off guard when "mind's eye Jesus" took the initiative.

"I suppose I have you to thank for this?" he said, laying a hand on the collar of a white t-shirt showing under the neck of his robe. "Keeping me warm?"

I snickered. I hadn't seen that in my "mind's eye" but was colder than I'd think a robe could handle.

"And these," he continued, sticking out a sandal shod foot from beneath the robe. Uncharacteristically, the sandal was on over a white tube sock, "are so my feet don't get cold?"

I couldn't help it. I howled with laughter. So glad that none of the other early walkers were around at that moment.

Ok, so maybe not so much time should be spent on the visualization as on the communication.

On the other hand, those are true moments of connection even if it isn't what I would have thought of communicating about!

Worth a Thousand Words

... Huebscher Laden ...
Originally uploaded by Juergen Kurlvink and found in Flickr's Door Pool.

"There. Now you can breathe."

Spoken in a low, gentle tone, with her hand resting on Daffy's side, those kind words came from Dr. Dixon who put our boxer to sleep.

Daffy had cancer and, as one of the vet techs told me, was "a miracle dog." Not only at her advanced age had she survived a spleenectomy for about two and a half months, but she was putting up a dogged fight against the cancer the necessitated the operation in the first place. We always knew she was spirited and lively and the "alpha" dog in our household, but not that she had such sheer determination.

For the last few days I fed her banana bread by hand, just thanking my lucky stars that I had uncharacteristically made three loaves of it last weekend. We kept waiting for her to have a day that didn't have those bright spots of her wanting to go get the paper with Tom or barking at the mailman (and everyone with the temerity to walk on "our" sidewalk) or the many other little things that put the fun and purpose into a dog's day.

Finally, the tumors spread to her lungs and it took most of her strength to breathe. I took her to the vet on Saturday and sat on the floor with her head in my lap. Lying down made it hardest to breathe but she didn't have the strength to sit up for very long, so on the floor we were. Of course, I was crying. (I made it to the car before breaking down into whole-hearted sobbing.)

Watching her struggle for breath suddenly cease and hearing those gentle words from the vet ... that stuck with me all day. I would recall those words and suddenly miss Daffy and cry while simultaneously being glad that she wasn't struggling to breathe any more.

Tom had taken his mother to a reunion near Houston so I was alone all day. That was fine. I did my errands, albeit sometimes with reddened eyes which clerks kindly saw and ignored. I wandered the house, doing laundry, making spaghetti sauce.

As I was walking through the living room, suddenly thinking again of Daffy and mentally telling her, "I miss you" something startling happened. I am just going to tell you and then you can think whatever you want about it. All I can tell you is that I was astonished.

Like a bullet or a speeding boxer, into my mind simply and without emotion shot the thought, "i'm happy, mom."

Now it is those words that come to my mind. They make me cry some, but I am happy too.

Worth a Thousand Words

From Art Knowledge News

Halloween Countdown: Zombies, Zombies Everywhere ...

... and not a brain in sight!

I realize that Halloween has snuck up on me and is coming up soon. To help get us in the mood, here are a movie and a book that are favorites of ours.

I've never been a real zombie fan. Too much blood and guts everywhere (literally). However, these two examples are too good to pass up.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD
Shaun and his best friend are a couple of slackers. A good evening is one that ends at the pub and every evening ends at the pub. Shaun's girlfriend is less than pleased with this lack of initiative, especially after celebrating their third anniversary ... at the pub. She breaks up with Shaun who is so distraught that he doesn't notice all there is a zombie epidemic all around them. This leads to some hilarious scenes, such as when Shaun and his friend first encounter zombies and think they are drunks. Shaun takes the lead in rescuing his mum and ex-girlfriend to take them to the safest place he can think of ... the pub. I was anxious to see this from the first moment I heard the premise, yet put it off for fear of the "R" rating (for zombie violence ... yes, that's actually what it says). There is plenty of warning for any such scenes and much of it is so fake that it doesn't matter. The directors are really good at combining our awareness that this is a zombie movie with Shaun's general cluelessness to provide many very funny jump scenes as well. HC rating: nine thumbs up!

WORLD WAR Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
This is a very clever premise that provides much food for thought about how individuals and governments respond to unexpected emergencies ... or fail to respond. In this "future history" a reporter travels the world to interview key individuals who fought in the zombie wars after a virus surfaces that sweeps over populations in an epidemic, leaving huge numbers of zombies roaming the earth. Brooks uses this vehicle not only to tell an excellent story but to skewer both governmental policies and lambast the powerful who take advantage of any situation for their own gain. This is a real page turner that resulted in many late nights as I watched civilization collapse and wondered what was found that allowed victory over the zombie hordes. HC rating: nine thumbs up!

Daybook

What I'm Watching
Sahara. We finished Sahara with Michael Palin. I think other than the sheer foreignness of all those places what fascinated us most was that practically everyone he came across spoke passable French or English or both. We were, of course, keeping in mind that most of these people had been vetted ahead of time to be guides or interviews. However, it was still quite impressive.

Arrested Development. Finishing up the last seaso. Except for the seemingly random use of Tobias whose character the writers seem not to have known what to do with anymore, it is still so funny how they can weave such nonsensical elements into a cohesive whole that packs a hilarious punch in each episode.

Life on Mars. Is anyone else watching this? I haven't seen the British original, not having cable, but am enjoying this American adaptation. So far with three episodes down it is interesting not only in the mystery of the main character's "time travel" but in the contrast between 1973 and now ... though I do find the emphasis on constant police brutality a trifle wearing.

Happy Catholic ... It's Bubbly, It's Lively, It's Canned!

Wait a minute ... that didn't sound right at all!

Aren't these fun?

Scott made them for me here.
Thanks Scott for one more way to waste spend my time!

Ah yes, the Reformation ... she continues apace

Bishop Kevin Farrell will rue the day he crossed this unsavory bunch.

I have to admit that when I heard about the formation of Catholics for Change as a protest against the DFW Bishops' statement being read from the pulpit ... I laughed ... out loud.

It's been done, folks. And much more effectively than we're hearing about in the piece linked to above from the Dallas Observer. Y'all might want to check Father Powell's list to see how far you're going to get with this little protest.

Looking Both Ways

You Know You're a Republican If ...
Your idea of "compassionate conservatism"
means giving your employees praise instead of a raise.

You Know You're a Democrat If ...
Your idea of "liberalism"
means using other people's money liberally for the causes you support.

You Know You're a Republican/Democrat If...

Question: Catholic Food Theology

Since you are a prolific writer on all things Catholic and Food, my wife and I figure you were the right person to ask for sources of Catholic teaching about food. Let me explain:

The Catechism doesn't tell us to what extent should we investigate and/or avoid eating animals that have been mistreated, and what constitutes mistreatment. By way of illustration, California is voting on a proposition this year that requires that calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens and pregnant pigs be confined only in ways that allow these animals to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely.

That SEEMS like a reasonable proposal. However, since we know that animals are God's creation but do not have souls, to what extent do we have to be concerned about the economic (making food more expensive for the poor, etc) and practical impact such a decision? Conversely, is this an issue of right and wrong, where such considerations are entirely beside the point? I'm sure you get the point. Do you have any links or ideas?

My immediate thoughts would be that the proposal is simply requiring humane treatment. As for the economic impact on the poor, it seems to me that what with legumes, nuts, and other relatively inexpensive sources of protein, that this is not something that needs to be a concern.

My purely human thought on it, religion aside, is that if we can't afford to treat our animals humanely then perhaps we need to rethink what we eat no matter what our economic status. People didn't used to have meat except during feasts. We can live without it and have done for many centuries until recently. Certainly we can use it more as a flavoring such as is found in much of Asian cooking.

Let me hasten to add that I, personally, am no vegetarian. In fact, I enjoy meat quite a bit, so much so that I struggle to include a couple of meatless meals each week for health as well as economic reasons. However, I am willing to eat less of it and pay a little more for what we do buy so that an animal may be able to stand, sit or lie in comfort. Those requirements are not unreasonable for any living creature. I find it very sad that there is a necessity for that bill at all.

None of this comes from Catholic teachings and if anyone wants to chime in on that aspect, please feel free to do so.

Worth a Thousand Words

Three Jota Singers from Aragon, Spain taken by Barcelona Photoblog

Justin's Answers ...

In case people haven't swung by there yet, Justin Catanoso, author of My Cousin the Saint, fought free of the things keeping him from the comments boxes.

You can read his thoughtful and interesting answers here!

Thanks again, Justin!

One More Reason I Like Good News Film Reviews

Scott cracks me up! It just don't get any better than those short reviews ...

The Jacket (2005)

from Good News Film Reviews

Should I see it?
No.

Short Review: This is a time-travel movie. After watching it, I wanted to travel back in time to when I decided to rent it and kick myself in the shins.
[...]

Plus the rest of what he writes is good too ... even if I quite often don't agree on his opinions about which movies to watch.

It's All Downhill From Here ...

A little humor to help us over Wednesday ... from the hilarious Savage Chickens.

Worth a Thousand Words

On a Mountain Stream from the talented DL Ennis at Visual Thoughts

A Little Useless Information

It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information. -- Oscar Wilde

CRIME • In Latin, this word's background began as the verb cernere, "to decide." Over time, a more specialized form arose, also in Latin, the noun crimen, meaning "a judgment," or "an accusation." Appearing in Middle English, its first uses were more in the sense of wickedness than illegal behavior. The first use in the modern sense dates to the 1600s.

The Word Origin Calendar

Congratulations Irma!

In our out-of-the-hat (actually out-of-the-bowl) drawing, the winner of "My Cousin the Saint" book giveaway is Irma!

This is a double pleasure because I actually know Irma ... you know, in person, face-to-face, in the real world!

What I do not know, however, is your address, Irma ... send it to me so we can get that book headed your way!

Worth a Thousand Words

Karl Brulloff. Italian Woman Blowing a Kiss. 1826.

Worth a Thousand Words

Bewick's Swan by Remo Savisaar

Sarah Palin on SNL

Palin's a good sport and so is Baldwin. I like that. Via Deacon Greg.

Worth a Thousand Words

The World According to Le Monde, taken by Paris Daily Photo.

Do You Believe? Reviewing "My Cousin the Saint"

Get the book here.

"Tell me about the miracles," Danny asked, bursting into an eager smile. "What miracles did your cousin perform?"

All right, I can do that. It's just another couple of stories. I started in on them as matter-of-factly as recounting the details of a ball game. Danny was looking at me funny again, like I was missing the point of what I was actually saying.

He leaned in over the table. "Do you believe, Justin?"

Believe in miracles? Me? Am I supposed to? I honestly had never thought of that and told him so.

"Well, I believe," Danny said with an urgency that struck me as entirely genuine. "Goodness, Justin. He's your cousin. You've got to believe!"

Justin Catanoso's discovery that he is actually related to an honest-to-goodness, canonized Catholic saint begins a journey that takes him not only to a discovery of family and heritage, but also on the exploration of a faith that had long fallen by the wayside.

In some ways, Catanoso's story is the dream of every American whose family lost their roots when they came to this country. He receives an email one day from a woman who wonders if they might be related. It turns out that the American branch of the family has long been missing a deep heritage rooted in the Italian countryside. As well, Catanoso discovers that his grandfather's cousin, Padre Gaetano Catanoso, is being considered for canonization. This unbelievable news, prompts a family visit to Italy where they are lovingly embraced by their newly found relatives and where they begin hearing stories about "the saint."

... Don Guiseppe Agostino, a young priest who was supposed to accompany the archbishop that day, received that startling news [that the archbishop had been killed]. Not knowing what else to do, he woke Padre Gaetano, who also lived at the seminary. Noticing Don Agostino's agitation, the older priest responded, "Remain calm. Everything is a mystery. In domino."

Together, they went out on foot to inform Monsignor Montalbetti's mother.

"It is late and you have not retired for the night," said the mother, Carolina Portman, answering her door. "Has something happened?"

Rather than explain, Padre Gaetano bowed his head and said barely above a whisper, "In domino." Clutching her hands to her heart, the woman understood at once. "God is passing through my life," she moaned and invited the priests inside her home. There, in a small chapel, she fell to her knees and, with anguished cries, prayed for nearly an hour. To the young priest with him, Padre Gaetano urged, "Remain still. Don't move. Adore God in this moment and take example from this great mother."

"At times he seemed naive," Don Agostino recalled later, "but instead he had a shrewd depth. So it could be understood that his was a suffered peace, a word matured in silence, a smile born of real passion."

Returning to the seminary in the middle of the night, the two priests roused the others to meet in the chapel, where Padre Gaetano led them in prayer. "He had such a presence," Don Agostino recalled. "That evening remained with me as a vital lesson on the meaning of faith."

Catanoso tells the parallel stories of his immigrant grandfather and his saintly cousin vividly and honestly. In so doing, he skillfully pulls us into the uniquely American immigrant experience of his grandfather finding his vocation as an Italian grocer in New Jersey. We see Padre Gaetano tirelessly work to improve Italian peasant life at a time when it often meant a brutish existence of ignorance and want simply because there were no other options. As Catanoso's Uncle Tony fought in World War II he wound up in Italy and that portion of the American experience is also conveyed skillfully while weaving in Tony's AWOL search for family roots.

This would be enough for most memoirs but it is merely a portion of Catanoso's story. The discovery of extended family and his saintly relative comes at a crucial time for his family as his brother, Alan, begins waging a grim fight against cancer. The many devout Catanosos begin praying to "Uncle Gaetano" for a miracle. We become just as engrossed in the fight for Alan's health. Will a miracle save him?

It is at this point that Justin Catanoso begins grappling with his faith. Raised Catholic, he had fallen away from his faith and did not know what to believe any more. Again, in many ways this parallels many Americans' struggles with faith and with the Catholic Church in particular. What are miracles? What does it mean to be a saint? What does it mean to be related to a saint, if anything? A typically pragmatic and independently minded American, Catanoso honestly recounts his struggles, questions, and doubts. In the process, he interviews Vatican officials, recipients of Padre Gaetano's miracles, believers, and skeptics. As Catanoso uncovers facts and explanations, will he be able to find for himself a real and lasting faith?

"For many people, there comes a time when you just start asking fewer questions because you accept that there are now answers to be had; you have to trust," Father Louie explained. "You search and you search until ultimately, you have to say: 'I believe.' I don't know if that's going to happen to you. You're a pragmatist. You're a rationalist. You're very American. That doesn't mean you're doomed. You have to be true to yourself. You have to be honest. But basically, it all comes down to one thing: Faith is a gift. Are you accepting the gift?"

We become equally engrossed in the search to discover just what a saint shows us as believers. Catanoso's quest becomes ours and, if we are honest, we must contemplate our own faith, belief, and the reality that we are all called to be saints.

On a side note, I found it quite interesting that he got a certain measure of reassurance about the Church from reading "Why I am Catholic" by Garry Wills, since that is a book that many faithful Catholics including myself would avoid due to Wills' criticism of certain tenents of the faith. It is a good lesson that an honest and tenacious seeker can ferret out the information they need in many more places than we could predict.

This is an absolutely fantastic book by a talented, honest, and compelling writer. It is going to be on my list of top books of 2008. Highly recommended.

Looking Both Ways

You Know You're a Republican If ...
You plan to become a generous philanthropist.

You Know You're a Democrat If ...
You plan to help out at the local soup kitchen one of these days.

You Know You're a Republican/Democrat If...

Worth a Thousand Words

Woman aircraft worker, June 1942. From The Library of Congress on Flickr

Christians, Slavery, and Abortion

I recently was in a scripture study class where unexpectedly the talk turned to abortion. We all were Catholics but soon I was face to face for the first time with people who were proclaiming their personal horror of abortion while simultaneously justifying their decisions to vote for a candidate on record as the most liberal, bar none, in voting for abortion. One of these was employing the usual knee-jerk argument although I think that she believed it sincerely, she just never had actually looked into the facts of the matter. A couple of others, who I like very much, were more thoughtful and clearly had put a great deal of thought into this matter. Nevertheless, their decision was more about themselves and their feelings than it was about the facts of the matter.

This was rather disheartening and also rather mystifying.

I then proceeded to read George Wiegel's Newsweek article, Pro-Life Catholics for Obama: Should abortion be the litmus test for political support?. I was cheered to see that it appeared in a national publication.

Reading Robert George's Obama's Abortion Extremism I was plunged into a deep gloom upon encountering the unyielding facts about just how strongly opposed to life Obama is. I knew about his extreme opposition to legislation protecting infants born alive after partial birth abortion. I thought that was bad ... until I read the article.

However, something in that article tickled my memory. It was George's contextual use of slavery to bring the abortion arguments into clearer focus.

The defect in this argument can easily be brought into focus if we shift to the moral question that vexed an earlier generation of Americans: slavery. Many people at the time of the American founding would have preferred a world without slavery but nonetheless opposed abolition. Such people - Thomas Jefferson was one - reasoned that, given the world as it was, with slavery woven into the fabric of society just as it had often been throughout history, the economic consequences of abolition for society as a whole and for owners of plantations and other businesses that relied on slave labor would be dire. Many people who argued in this way were not monsters but honest and sincere, albeit profoundly mistaken. Some (though not Jefferson) showed their personal opposition to slavery by declining to own slaves themselves or freeing slaves whom they had purchased or inherited. They certainly didn't think anyone should be forced to own slaves. Still, they maintained that slavery should remain a legally permitted option and be given constitutional protection.

I was reminded of the 2004 election when that comparison was made clear to me for the first time. I am reposting it below. Alas some of the links no longer work as those bloggers have gone on to other pursuits. Aren't we glad that I copied at least a bit of their actual prose?

Two other things became clear in mulling all this over.

1. I no longer am going to allow the language to control this issue. The two camps are either "pro-abortion" or "anti-abortion." Let's be clear and call the thing what it is.

2. Christians were the impetus and mainstay of the fight against slavery although we all know that mightier forces eventually were brought to bear on the matter. Just read Uncle Tom's Cabin or the book I link to below for a nonfiction documentation.

We can prevail again. However, like those Christians who fought through prayer, influence, the Underground Railroad, and legislation, we too can overcome. We must remember that we are warriors no matter what our method and never give up. Even if it is simply having a calm discussion during a scripture study class with those who disagree.

============================

Slavery and Abortion: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Reposted from August 3, 2004

We're starting to see the comparison of abortion to slavery become more common. It makes sense. Slavery is another moral issue that only Christians cared about at first, divided families and friends, was legal until enough people put their feet down, and destroyed people in the name of "ownership." Recently I have seen it specifically mentioned in two places.

Patrick Madrid at Envoy magazine's blog, Envoy Encore briefly discusses Biblical principles against abortion and opens the article with this reminder.

NOT SINCE THE CIVIL WAR crisis over slavery has a controversial moral issue so divided Americans and roiled society as has abortion. The deliberate killing of an unborn child through an abortion, though currently enjoying the "legitimacy" of legality in this country (just as slavery was once also legal), is, nonetheless, a grave evil that must be opposed.

The Mighty Barrister dissects a recent interview of John Kerry by Peter Jennings with his usual style and pointedly makes us aware of the parallels.

There was a period of time in the life of this country when another group of human beings were not considered persons. See, for example, Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 U.S., 1856, where the Supreme Court announced that slaves were not "men" as defined in the Declaration of Independence, and were not "people" as declared in the Constitution, stating, "When the Constitution was adopted, they (blacks) were not regarded in any of the States as members of the community which constituted the State, and were not numbered among its 'people or citizens.' Consequently, the special rights and immunities guarantied to citizens do not apply to them."

You can't ignore the obvious parallels between the way the unborn are treated today, and the way Americans of African lineage were treated 150 years ago. And you can't ignore the fact that John Kerry uses practically the same language to describe the unborn as white racists used to describe blacks -- they're not "people."

This may be the startling idea that is needed to shock sense back into pro-abortion people. The same sorts of arguments were used to support slavery as to support abortion. If nothing else, these comparisons should give renewed energy to pro-life supporters. Slavery was big business and entrenched in Western civilization at one time. It was only by tenacity and sticking to what they knew was true in the face of any other arguments that Christians got the ball rolling for stopping slavery. We can do the same.

An excellent resource for finding out about the role of Christians in ending slavery (and other positive impacts of Christianity on our society) is Christianity on Trial: Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry by Vincent Carroll and David Shiflett.

UPDATE: I can't believe I missed this as I am a dedicated Catholic Analysis fan but Oswald Sobrino wrote a fabulous article about this just yesterday. He points out all the parallels between the struggles faced by Abraham Lincoln and George Bush. Thanks to Jeff Miller for pointing this out.

Let's Get Mystical ...

The Anchoress has been praying and fasting for the nation and will do so until the election.

...what I have not written about this regimen is that these 16 days have brought such a sense of interior peace that I almost cannot describe it.

Grounding myself in prayer, examining every odd yearning (and not just for food) and choosing to surrender that yearning rather than gratify it has had an empowering effect, and a clarifying one.

What I am reminded, repeatedly, is that time is a construct - that everything is happening simultaneously. Right now, I am writing at my computer. Right now, I am voting at my local school. Right now, Christ is dying on a cross. Right now, He is making a covenant and receiving a kiss. Right now, Napoleon is heading to Waterloo. Right now, George Washington is facing defeat for the umpteenth time. Right now, I am being needlessly cruel to someone. Right now I am being born. Right now I am 78 years old and grousing that my kids never visit me. Right now, Obama has won the election. Right now John McCain has won the election.

This is why prayer has power. In the quantum world, where everything is occurring all at once, prayer changes things. Sacrifice changes things. Wisdom knows this - it is why every religious tradition, Eastern or Western, encourages prayer and sacrifice - because this is how you pierce illusions.

Last week Pope Benedict XVI said: ”He who builds only on visible and tangible things like success, career and money builds the house of his life on sand”…money vanishes, it is nothing. All these things that appear to be real are in fact secondary. Only God’s words are a solid reality”.

Yes. Everything is happening, all at once. What appears to be solid and three-dimensional would does not even exist between its busy atoms. That which the world regards as most ephemeral, and least grasp-able, is actually the solid platform upon which all illusions spin. ...

This is powerful and somehow it also makes me feel peaceful as well.

I also have been praying with increased zeal that feels akin to the praying I did during the papal election for God to guide us, for the election to send us the direction he wants us to go ...

Though I'm not fasting.

Up Close and Personal with John Paul II

Pope John Paul II: An Intimate Life: The Pope I Knew So Well
by Caroline Pigozzi

During larger audiences in the second floor apartments, the Holy Father would receive high-ranking international officials and ambassadors to the Holy See. ... Each and every one of them would try to have a private conversation with him, but he would always make his excuses and leave if he felt an audience was at risk of becoming monotonous and predictable. He had developed an infallible two-tier tactic for dealing with such situations. First, as soon as the conversation started to drag, the Supreme Pontiff would adopt the look of a tired old man, which would discourage the person in front of him (who often already felt quite uncomfortable if they were divorced, for example, or cohabiting and knew that the Pope knew). The other trick was to direct the person toward his prime minister Cardinal Sodano while sternly intoning, "Welcome to Rome!" The imposing surroundings also helped to inhibit unwanted conversation.

Caroline Pigozzi was a reporter for Paris Match magazine who became determined to get the story about Pope John Paul II behind the scenes at the Vatican. Partially because of her cleverness and determination and partly because she made the Pope laugh, Pigozzi achieved her goal. The result is a book that shows us more than usual of Pope John Paul II's personality and also enlightens about daily workings in the Pope's schedule. Most of all, the personal tidbits Pigozzi gleans from those who worked with the pope, enliven the book and round out our view of him.

On July 10, 2003, Cardinal Poupard had lunch with him [John Paul II] at Castel Gandolfo. "That day," he told me, "I said to the Pope, 'Most Holy Father, today there are just three things I would like to discuss with Your Holiness: Oslo, Nagasaki and Moscow.'"

"'Just three things?' the Pope replied. 'That's not much for a French cardinal! Aren't you feeling well today?'"

She takes us to dinner, among the pilgrims to Rome, on airplanes, and on vacation with the pope. As well, Pigozzi takes opportunities to enlighten about Church and papal history about particular subjects so that we have context for why she is covering Pope John Paul II on a particular issue. This includes such subjects as how few of the previous popes traveled abroad (except to Avignon, but that is a different subject altogether!) or into the history of the Church in Russia. All this is communicated in an easy to read style that is not afraid to critique, while clearly admiring John Paul II's many good qualities. The many intimate stories make the history lessons go down easily.

Subsequent to his first visit to New York in October 1979--one that, according to press reports, cost the US government and the well-off American Church (a most generous group that donated 23.5 million euros in 2002) some 3 million dollars--a journalist referred in the Pope's presence to his travel expenses. This was one of the very rare occasions when John Paul II lost his cool in public, and he answered with real anger: "I do not consider it something to account for when you remember that we humans were bought for a price beyond measure. There is no way to calculate that. It is stupid. People talk about cost as a way of trying to stop the Pope. People say that he costs more than the queen of England. That is just as well, for the message he carries is of transcendental value.

Karol Wojtyla could not abide the thought of money-changers in the temple. He refused to allow the issue of the cost of his travels to become the subject of controversy. ... For John Paul II, his trips were simply an extension of his missionary and ecumenical zeal. He was driven to develop religious and inter-religious dialogue, culture and a new evangelization of the character of Jesus himself. In his view, nothing else was of any importance.

Those personal stories are what made me love this book, as well as Pigozzi's clear admiration for John Paul II. I was not really interested for another "JPII" book until I began reading but this one is different because it is so personal. On another note, reading over the daily schedule, I have nothing but sympathy for Pope Benedict whenever I think of him and a fuller appreciation for all that being the Vicar of Christ entails on a personal level from the Pope.

Highly recommended.

Two more excerpts from this book appeared previously:

• Pope John Paul II: Those White Habits He Wore
• Pope John Paul I and the Telephone
  

Update on our move from The Dallas Morning News to The Wall Street Journal

Overall the WSJ has just enough interesting articles to give me something new and different to ponder in the morning. There definitely would have been a better time for us to begin reading headlines about business every day (no matter how level-headed the headlines), but we try to keep equally level heads personally.

Got a letter from the Dallas Morning News yesterday. Silly me, I thought that perhaps they had noticed we canceled our paper and were asking us back. Pffft! No way.

The essence of the thing, which not only shows the depth of their self-delusion in their references to "quality you expect" but also took many paragraphs to get to:

We have taken aggressive steps to offset rising costs and reduce expenses while preserving the quality you expect from The Dallas Morning News and the convenience of home delivery. ...

It is necessary that we increase 7-day subscription prices by $2.00 per month ... from $19.00 to $21.00 per month.

That makes the annual rate for the paper $252.

No decision ever looked better.

I Am Sylar Spock

As the first photos began to surface from JJ Abrams' upcoming Star Trek movie, I had a nagging feeling that I knew that actor playing Mr. Spock.

Indeed, I did. Not only is he Sylar from Heroes, but we have often seen Sylar in that intent pose. One assumes that here he is on the side of good not evil as in Heroes.

Worth a Thousand Words

Under the Archway, Carrer del Bisbe, Barri Gotic, Barcelona from Barcelona Photoblog

Click through on the link to read a meditation on the photo.

A Little Useless Information

It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information. -- Oscar Wilde

MOUNT RUSHMORE • This famous site of monumental presidential carvings is in the Black Hills of South Dakota. During the early exploitation of the are for its mineral resources, Charles Rushmore, an attorney representing a mining company, arrived in the area to do business. In 1885, according to lore, he asked local miners about a local granite outcropping that had no name. They responded by naming it after him.

The Word Origin Calendar

What Reduces Abortions?

Sometimes election years produce more policy myths than good ideas. This year one myth is about abortion. It goes like this: The Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision is here to stay, and that's fine because laws against abortion don't reduce abortions much anyway. Rather, "support for women and families" will greatly reduce abortions, without changing the law or continuing a "divisive" abortion debate.

Various false claims are used to bolster this myth. It is said that over three-quarters of women having abortions cite expense as the most important factor in their decision. Actually the figure is less than one-fourth, 23%. It is said that abortion rates declined dramatically (30%) during the Clinton years, but the decline stopped under the ostensibly pro-life Bush administration. Actually the abortion rate has dropped 30% from 1981 to 2005; the decline started 12 years before Clinton took office, and has continued fairly steadily to the present day. ...

An interesting article that you should read at the USCCB pro-life site. I know I was surprised by the info.

The Anchoress is Fasting ... So What Does Everyone Do?

Tease her with pie, of course!

Ah, but 'tis all in good fun.

I, myself, could not resist sending her a virtual piece of Perfect Pecan Pie.


Because I care, you know ...

A Brilliant Combination of Animation and Video

Found at lines and colors where, among other things, they tell us:

Taking off from the notion of a sketchbook in which a computer keyboard and screen have been drawn, it goes on to self-referentially show a hand-drawn YouTube interface on which a series of Lohbeck’s other short animations, also very clever and amusing in themselves, are shown. Several of them feature the sketchbook in other whimsical roles.

Ladies for Life? Sign Me Up!

Ladies, I don’t know about you, but I object strenuously to people claiming to speak for women when they promote abortion. They sure don’t speak for me. And I know I’m not alone. So, if you are a civilized woman who thinks human life should be protected from conception until natural death, please drop a note in the comments and let people know about your blog or website. It doesn’t have to be a site that talks about pro-life issues. It just has to be hosted or co-hosted by a lady who is pro-life. Thanks!

So says Kathryn Judson and she is not alone as most people who drop by here regularly know. Drop in and say hello. Via Wittingshire which also has some good links to check out.