And While You're Out There ...

... cruising around St. Blogs' ... don't forget to ... (yes, you know what I'm going to say don't you?) ...

C'mon, say it with me...

You still got to go kiss the egg ... for this little Jamaican bobsled.

We Have a Word For It ... And Here's Why

TIT FOR TAT

This phrase was generated from the original uses of the two key words, "tit" and "tat," both meaning "a light hit." The reference was to retaliation, as in replying to a hit by hitting back.

The Word Origin Calendar

HPV Vaccine: Medical Cost versus Benefit Modeling

This was too good to leave in my comments box. Thanks to the commenter for leaving this comprehensive information which is a post in itself.

In medical cost vs. benefit modeling (which strongly informs national medical public policy making and far too strongly informs the medical policies of HMOs), the most critical component is a value called "cost per life year gained."

If the cost per life year gained is under $50,000, that is generally considered a decent investment by US medical policy makers. If "cost per life year" gained is over $100,000, that is generally considered a wasteful medical policy because that money could surely be put to much better use elsewhere. Yes, this is cruel and heartless to some degree, but wide scale medical cost allocations do need to be made and, more relevantly, are continually made using these cost plus risk vs. benefit analyses. Think HMOs. Now consider why pap smears, blood tests and urine tests aren't recommended every month for everyone. Testing monthly could definitely save more than a few lives, and there is no measurable associated medical risk. But the cost would be astronomical versus the benefit over the entire US population when comparing these monthly tests to other therapies, procedures and medicines.

Now on to GARDASIL. By the time you pay doctors a small fee to inventory and deliver GARDASIL in three doses, you are talking about paying about $500 for this vaccine. And because even in the best case scenario GARDASIL can confer protection against only 70% of cervical cancer cases, GARDASIL cannot ever obsolete the HPV screening test that today is a major component of most US women's annually recommended pap smears. These tests screen for 36 nasty strains of HPV, while GARDASIL confers protection against just four strains of HPV.

Now let's consider GARDASIL's best case scenario at the moment -- about $500 per vaccine, 100% lifetime protection against all four HPV strains (we currently have no evidence for any protection over five years), and no risk of any medical complications for any subset of the population (Merck's GARADSIL studies were too small and short to make this determination for adults, these studies used potentially dangerous alum injections as their "placebo control" and GARDASIL was hardly even tested on little kids). Now, using these best case scenario assumptions for GARDASIL, let's compare the projected situation of a woman who gets a yearly HPV screening test starting at age 18 to a woman who gets a yearly HPV screening test starting at age 18 plus the three GARDASIL injections at age 11 to 12. Even if you include all of the potential medical cost savings from the projected reduction in genital wart and HPV dysplasia removal procedures and expensive cervical cancer procedures, medicines and therapies plus all of the indirect medical costs associated with all these ailments and net all of these savings against GARDASIL's costs, the best case numbers for these analyses come out to well over $200,000 per life year gained -- no matter how far the hopeful pro-GARDASIL assumptions that underpin these projections are tweaked in GARDASIL's favor.

Several studies have been done, and they have been published in several prestigious medical journals:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.290.6.781
http://tinyurl.com/2ovy95
http://tinyurl.com/2tbuma

None of these studies even so much as consider a strategy of GARDASIL plus a regimen of annual HPV screenings starting at age 18 to be worth mentioning (except to note how ridiculously expensive this would be compared to other currently recommended life extending procedures, medicines and therapies) because the cost per life year gained is simply far too high. What these studies instead show is that a regimen of GARDASIL plus delayed (to age 21, 22, 23, 25 or 27) biennial or triennial HPV screening tests may -- depending on what hopeful assumptions about GARDASIL's long term efficacy and risks are used -- hopefully result in a modest cost per life year savings compared to annual HPV screening tests starting at age 18.

If you don't believe me about this, just ask any responsible OB-GYN or medical model expert. Now, why do I think all of this is problematic?

1) Nobody is coming clean (except to the small segment of the US population that understands medical modeling) that the push for widespread mandatory HPV vaccination is based on assuming that we can use the partial protection against cervical cancer that these vaccines hopefully confer for hopefully a long, long time period to back off from recommending annual HPV screening tests starting at age 18 -- in order to save money, not lives.

2) Even in the best case scenario, the net effect is to give billions in tax dollars to Merck so HMOs and PPOs can save billions on HPV screening tests in the future.

3) These studies don't consider any potential costs associated with any potential GARDASIL risks. Even the slightest direct or indirect medical costs associated with any potential GARDASIL risks increase the cost per life year gained TREMENDOUSLY and can even easily change the entire analysis to cost per life year lost. Remember that unlike most medicines and therapies, vaccines are administered to a huge number of otherwise healthy people -- and, at least in this case, 99.99% of whom would never contract cervical cancer even without its protection.

4) These studies don't take in account the fact that better and more regular HPV screening tests have reduced the US cervical cancer rate by about 25% a decade over the last three decades and that there is no reason to believe that this trend would not continue in the future, especially if we used a small portion of the money we are planning on spending on GARDASIL to promote free annual HPV screening tests for all low income uninsured US women.

5) The studies assume that any constant cervical cancer death rate (rather than the downward trending cervical cancer death rate we have today) that results in a reduced cost per life year gained equates to sound medical public policy.

As I said before, if any of you don't believe me about this, please simply ask your OB-GYN how the $500 cost of GARDASIL can be justified on a cost per life year gained basis if we don't delay the onset of HPV screening tests and back off from annual HPV screening tests to biennial or triennial HPV screening tests.

The recommendations are already in: http://tinyurl.com/33p9q6

The USPSTF strongly recommends ... beginning screening within 3 years of onset of sexual activity or age 21 (whichever comes first) and screening at least every 3 years ...

We Finally Watched House from a Couple of Weeks Ago

I was curious to see exactly what was said by everyone because I'd seen people swearing off the show due to the pro-abortion stance, which, to be honest, is only to be expected these days in medical shows.

We were both pleased and disappointed.

We were pleased by the fact that while House was spouting his nihilistic viewpoints forged by suffering, there was a counterpoint of showing that life, however worthless it might seem to someone else, is always sacred. While House was doing his best to be "compassionate" in his own warped view by bludgeoning the girl into aligning with his idea of what was best, Cameron listened to the homeless man's desire to have his death mean something. Even though she didn't agree with what he thought about how to make sure he was remembered (by dying naturally, pain and all), she honored his wishes and his life by sitting with him until the end. The tenderness with which she cared for his body afterwards was well shown. She cared. He had mattered even if in the eyes of the world he was meaningless. He was a human being and he had mattered even if, as he told her, he had no family, friends, or job. His life was sacred.

We were displeased not so much by House's pro-abortion message (to be expected and he has said as much before on the show) but as by the girl's lack of defense. If she truly was a student of comparative religion one would have expected she would have examined her faith along the way in the light of what she learned about other beliefs. Therefore, we would have thought that she might muster up a slightly better defense theologically. Certainly in such an environment one would have expected that she would have had to defend her faith against all comers. Let's get real. That's how it is these days, especially in college.

However, on one level it rang quite true for me in terms of the unexamined faith of someone who never has been put to a hard test in life up to that point. The oft-repeated phrases that haven't been given sufficient thought ("life is sacred") suddenly have hard meaning put against them as a measure. These tests of faith come when we are vulnerable and often mistakes are made along the way, especially if we put our faith in someone who is a weak reed. Certainly there is not much more of a weak reed than House to lean on. In that context, her choice became logical ... quite regrettable as this was the writers' chance to be truly counter-cultural ... but logical. And logic and reason what House was pushing all along ...

In the end, it came down to supposed success for getting her to "talk about it so she can heal." However, the irony is that House himself, while bowing to the pressure of doing this and succeeding, pointed out that there is no panacea in "talking about it." He did and it helped him not a whit.

Obviously the writers were more interested in putting pressure on House to delve deeper and connect with someone despite the fact that he resisted the entire time. Yet, I still find it interesting that while House was pressuring the girl to discard an unborn life, they took the time to deliberately show the counterpoint that life is sacred.

Actual Worship Faux Pas

From The Curt Jester's continuation of Ironic Catholic's list comes these two comments from plantlady in the comments box that were just too funny not to pull out and share.

I volunteer at a facility for the elderly. The following are true happenings in its chapel:

1. If you ride your electrified scooter up the aisle to receive Holy Communion, remember to brake BEFORE you reach the priest. (A lady actually drove into Father, who lost his footing and quickly handed me the chalice so he wouldn't drop it!)

2. Remember to put on underwear. (As an elderly gentleman returned from receiving Communion, his pants fell down. Of course, he bent over to pull them up. After Mass, Father remarked that that was the first time he had ever been mooned on Easter!)

A Brief Reflection on Jeremiah 17:7-8

In Scripture study we look at the Mass readings for the upcoming Sunday. The first reading was from Jeremiah:

5

Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD.

6

He is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, But stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.

7

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD.

8

He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit.

Source

It occurred to me, reading over verses 7-8, God does not promise us that life will be easy if we trust in Him. The heat will come. The year of drought will come. What God promises is that we will flourish despite hardships. That He will be with us.

A simple realization, I know. Those verses from Jeremiah just seemed so real to me. Because that is truly what life is like. That is the difference that having God makes.

Poetry Thursday: Screwtape I

Rose's summary of The Screwtape Letters in five poems. Today, the first poem.

Oh my dear Wormwood, how can it be true?
The patient’s a Christian all because of you!

Now listen quite closely to the advice I give,
Devoutly religious is no way to live.

Make him look at his neighbor, not at the priest.
Make him wonder why her shirt is creased.

He knows for a fact that the woman’s a sinner.
Why she was the topic of yesterday’s dinner!

And if she really is as bad as they say,
Why, your task is so simple, it’s mere child’s play!

Never let him consider that he’s just the same,
For he knows deep down he’s never to blame.

So just do what I say and you’ll be in great shape.
Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape

They Have a Word for It ... And We Don't

Sekken

There is a Japanese word, "sekken", I would like to understand better. It is used to name the otherwise nameless social consensus, that is held to control Japanese public life...

A Japanese friend, who is irreverent towards her own culture, explained “sekken” to be the power that moves a large school of fish this way and that, as if they were a single organism. It is “the power that can move the entire school into the astute fisherman’s net”. She experienced it once herself, in a small way, when she wrote something controversial that happened to be true. She found herself in the position of the lone fish, who has somehow missed the tribal instruction to turn a sharp left.

David Warren

Worship Faux Pas

Ironic Catholic has a hilarious list (funny because it's true!) of worship faux pas and how to avoid them. My favorite:

4. If you come to Mass tired, don't slump disrespectfully. Depend on the skills that got you through high school. At least hold your head in your hands in such a way that you look reverential.

Tom's favorite:

10. When all else fails, remember the secret Catholic motto: "I can sing quieter than you can sing."

My contribution would be: If you are kneeling in prayer avoid breathing down the neck of the person in the pew in front of you (discreet throat clearing is allowed so the person knows you're there and might lean forward slightly.)

This has spread like wildfire so be sure to check IC's comments boxes for other good additions, as well as her links at the end of the post to other bloggers who have taken up the list.

Three Things I Learned When Debating the HPV Vaccine Issue

1.

Essentially this issue boils down to whether you trust the government to have your best interests at heart in protecting you and your family.

I was stunned at how many people have such a great trust in this that they were willing to wave aside a possible money trail between Gov. Perry and Merck. I am not. People are people, profit is profit, and corruption is ever with us, sadly enough. Shouldn't the "smoke" be investigated to see if it is a dust cloud or a real fire before we put our children's health in the mix? I say yes.

I have discovered that I do not trust the FDA not to be influenced by pressures that may not include my family's best interests. Vioxx. Fen-phen. Rezulin. Remember those? I do.

I do not trust Gov. Perry to not be pandering to some special interests group or interested in money. I do not trust him to care more about my children's health ... or mine ... than I do. Or even as much as I do.

So there you go.

2.

We are a nation of the fearful. I had heard that before but it never struck home as these conversations made it do. We have forgotten how hard life can really be and really is for people in most other places in the world. We have it easier than any generation in history and we spend all our time being afraid ... of suffering, of disease, of death.

Is natural to be afraid of those things. Our desire for the quick fix, the safe bet, the sure thing has led us to stop thinking for ourselves and often simply parrot the ideology of either the Pilgrims or the Park Rangers (mentioned in Right to Be Wrong, linked to below). We are trading our freedoms at an alarming rate for governmental promises of protection and safeguards. Our ancestors would have laughed at us. They would be right to do so.

3.

I was reminded that the principles written about in The Right to Be Wrong apply to all facets of life today and not simply with religion. It has been a pleasure to debate various items with the courteous, reasonable people even as they have disagreed with me over the last day. It has made me think, made me investigate the issue more deeply, and made me examine the other point of view.

That old phrase, "agree to disagree" has never had more meaning. I can respect them while still not agreeing with them. In short, the people with whom I have been disagreeing have the right to be wrong. And I appreciate them respecting my right to be wrong too.

Real Transformation

Her [Edith Stein's] contemplative practice led to her firm belief in the traditional Christian doctrine of deification. If we are not being transformed along the way, she was convinced, then all our preaching and service is in vain. She was careful to point out the difference between "leading the self-satisfied existence of the 'good Catholic' who 'does his duty,' ' reads the right newspaper,' and 'votes correctly' -- and then does just as he pleases" and becoming a new man in Christ. The beginning of real transformation precipitates a difficult but lifesaving crisis: "If, up to now, a person has been more or less contented with himself, the time for that is over. He will do what he can to change the unpleasant things he finds in himself, but he will discover quite a bit that can't be called beautiful and yet will be nearly impossible to change. As a result he will slowly become small and humble, increasingly patient and tolerant toward the specks in his brothers' eyes."

By Way of Grace: Moving from Faithfulness to Holiness
by Paula Huston

This really hits the mark for me in terms of forcing our dependence of God and also being able to see ourselves for who we really are.

Bleg - God's Ball of Yarn

I'm trying to find a post that I thought I had bookmarked but obviously didn't ... the blogger wrote not too long ago about their mother (or mother in law) knitting ... and ended with a reflection about God's ball of yarn.

Can anyone help me out with that? Thanks!

Undeserved Love

Undeserved love also brings with it the possibility of being shamed. From the great chasm that lies between what we are and what those who love us think we are rises up a fruitful and challenging embarrassment, especially when it is they who glimpse our true calling long before we ourselves can see it. The German philosopher Nicolai Hartmann says that someone who is loved this way is "pushed beyond himself." In this sense, love becomes a clarion call to transformation -- the transformation of human nature made possible through the sacrifice of Christ.

This aspect of love -- that it urges us to be better than we are, to grow into what God intended us to be -- explains how the person who loves us most can also be our best critic. It is because he or she wants our life to be truly good. Thus, the true lover forgives rather than excuses our human failings. The distinction is an important one. In excusing, he pretends that something bad did not happen after all. In forgiving, he affirms that it did indeed happen and that he hopes and prays we will come to recognize this fact and repent.

By Way of Grace: Moving from Faithfulness to Holiness
by Paula Huston

I never thought of that concept before ... that someone who is undeservedly loved is pushed beyond himself. But that is exactly what God does with us. Fascinating ... and humbling.

I Never Thought I'd Be a Conscientious Objecter

Updated resources below.

*Alliance Teacher: And now, everyone can enjoy enlightenment and the comfort of true civilization....

Pupil: Why were the Independents even fighting us? Why weren't they looking to be more civilized?

Alliance Teacher: So with so much social and medical advances we can bring to the Independents, why would they fight so hard against us?

River: We meddle.

Alliance Teacher: River?

River: People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think. Don't run. Don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.

Alliance Teacher: River, we're not telling people what to think. We're just trying to show them how. (Stabs River in the forehead with pen)

Serenity

In my cowardly way I always was secretly relieved that my girls were too old for me to have to worry about what to do when I heard about certain vaccines for children that were made using aborted babies (ugh!).

However, here comes a different vaccine with different issues attached ... that requires us to take a stand.

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry – usually a hero to social conservatives – surprised many of them Friday by making Texas the first state to mandate a vaccine for sixth-grade girls to prevent a sexually transmitted infection that leads to most kinds of cervical cancer.

Dallas Morning News (free registration required)

It so happens that not too long ago I had printed out Catholic Medical Weekly's evenhanded and informative article about this virus. I even read various portions aloud to Tom and Rose, with this being the money quote for us. (I have edited the layout to make it easier to read.)

Why isn’t it a swell idea?

First. The vaccine does not remove the need for Pap smears nor will it do anything for a lady already infected.

Second, it doesn’t do anything about other sexually transmitted diseases, although it’s easy to imagine a 12 year old (remember, that’s the target audience) who thinks it does. For that matter, I can easily imagine a 20 year old who might think it does, but that’s neither here nor there.

Thirdly, there are concerns that the FDA has "fast-tracked" licensure of Gardasil, without adequate study of its safety in little girls.[5]

Fourth, and most importantly, no one knows what effect universal vaccination of 9 year olds might have on adolescent tendency to have sex. However, the data of the past forty years of social experimentation suggest that it would tend to increase sexual activity. That’s been the outcome of all the other experiments on early immersion of young children into the fetid world of “sex ed” and teenage contraception, and there’s no reason this should have a different effect.

Regarding the morality of the vaccine itself, its manufacture does not involve aborted babies[6]. So the moral problems attached to, say varicella or rubella vaccines do not apply here.

HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. You don’t get it if the person next to you coughs, and you don’t get it from a water fountain or a toilet seat. Requiring HPV immunizations for young girls (and that is what ACIP “recommendations” amount to: requirements) is, in my view, no different from requiring that all school age girls be put on contraception....

I encourage anyone with daughters to go read the full article as it gives very good information about the vaccine and the issues involved. No matter what your thoughts on the main issues it is important to be fully informed when you make decisions about this vaccine.

It is important to keep in mind also, that although this vaccine is being trumpeted as the answer to avoiding cervical cancer, it is vital to recognize what it really does. The vaccine may reduce the incidence of infection with the HPV virus and does not necessarily prevent cervical cancer.

I have had grave misgivings from the time that the FDA changed policies to allow fast tracking of drug clearances and this just seems to prove my point. Our society at this time seems to be governed by knee-jerk reactions and policy mandates made based on public opinion and incomplete research. I object on those grounds, much less on those outlined in CMW's article.

I am not sure whether this requirement will be imposed as a retroactive measure on girls over the age of 12 such as my own high school and college age daughters. Governor Perry does allow an "out" for objectors.

In his executive order, Mr. Perry said girls must receive the human papillomavirus vaccine before school starts in September 2008. While noting that parents may opt out of the vaccine for conscience or religious reasons, he said it "provides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer."

Dallas Morning News

Talking about the legislation yesterday, I told Rose that I do object. Without missing a beat she said, "I don't need you to object. I object on my own behalf. They can forget it." (A proud mom moment there.) I will be sending article links on to Hannah so she can see the facts behind the spin.

* I knew I was missing some TV quote to set this whole post off ... and just couldn't think of which one. Thanks to Tim for stepping up on this one!

UPDATE - way more than you wanted to know about what I was thinking

A good friend challenged me on some of the material and also was surprised that one of the reasons I didn't like the idea of the vaccine was the possibility of the effect on adolescents' tendency to have sex (as mentioned in the excerpt above).

I guess I should have qualified it more ... mostly because I hear through Hannah and Rose how much misinformation they are told by friends "is absolutely true" and most of the time it is about half-true if that.

So I looked at this and thought of the girls who come into their freshman year of high school pregnant because "everybody knows" that you can't get pregnant when you're on the pill or using condoms or without full penetration ... or whatever the myth is that they've been told. And this just looked like a silver bullet for people to start saying that it works on all STDs.

Another objection of mine is the money trail from Merck to Perry mentioned in the DMN article, but I didn't get into that ...

It also annoys the heck out of me that one of Perry's main justifications was "but I talked to my wife about it" .... does she think with her ovaries? And is he unable to think on this issue because he doesn't have any? Sheez! (Don't blame me, I voted for "one tough grandma!")

Also I guess that I was responding to my extreme dislike recently of having a "nanny" government mentality everywhere. Cities than ban transfats, people who want to ban smoking in all public places in Texas, etc. I just saw this as one more thing that "the man" is sticking to us. It comes down to trusting us to make intelligent decisions ourselves ... OR letting us choose how to go to hell in our own way.

Talking to the girls about "the old days" when I was growing up I also have seen the contrast between "live-and-let-live" back then and an extremely narrow-minded, intolerant judgement meted out by individuals and governments. So I react to that as well ...

However, I didn't feel like writing about it that way. Lazy ya know.

Actually it was good that my friend pushed me on this because I went looking for more information and found 10 things you might not know about Gardasil (see Other Resources above for the link). Interesting if for no other reason than giving us other questions to ask ... and I'd never have found it if not for my friend making me smarten up! Good on her!

Other resources to check - updated:

• Catholic Mom has been addressing this issue for some time.
• American Papist is doing full coverage as well with many links to different resources.
• Dr. Melissa Clouthier has another look at this issue and also brings good questions to mind.
• A letter to the editor in our newspaper this morning brought up the fact that thalomide was thought perfectly safe and, therefore, was prescribed to women for morning sickness ... an uncomfortable situation to be sure but one that most people can get through on their own while just feeling terrible. The now-infamous result was to mutate the next generation in a terrible way. Tom points out that this was a problem was visited upon British children but not Americans because the FDA was still testing the drug ... back in their cautious days for which I am thankful. An interesting comparison to be sure.
• Rev. Thomas Euteneuer has a good column about this issue. (Thanks to Georgette for this ... I still miss her blog.)
• 10 things You Might Not Know About Gardasil looks into the HPV vaccine for a whole slew of different reasons and backs up their questions with info from Merck and the FDA.
• I really don't think of myself as being part of the "religious right" (which I realize may make some laugh, especially with a blog name like Happy Catholic). However, having excerpted something which mentions a possible increase of sexual activity for minors seems to have put that particular topic top of mind for most readers, despite the other more pressing misgivings mentioned in this post and the update above. My attention was politely directed to a post which discusses the fact that mandatory vaccination requirements allow availability to the less fortunate and keep costs down. I would have found this more convincing had there been more facts to back up the basic premises and less time spent lambasting those with which the author took umbrage, namely the abstinence movement and the religious right. However, be that as it may, the core arguments are valid for those who believe the vaccine is safe and you can read it for yourself here: Rejecting Vaccine "Choice". (If anyone can provide me with a post but that has some solid documentation and less polemics to sort through ... let me know and I'll put it here ...)
• Medical Cost versus Benefit Modeling: from a commenter comes excellent, unemotional information about how to evaluate this vaccine ... and links to recommendations already made in professional medical journals.
  

Faith is Hard

Only then did I discover the truth: religious faith is not comforting, as atheists so often accuse, but hard. Hence, its status as a virtue. In order to keep it, we must nourish it and protect it; otherwise it will be blown away by the changing winds of fashion. More, we must never forget that this virtue is a theological one, which means that it comes through grace. Sometimes keeping faith means nothing more than clinging with the desperate need of a trusting child.

By Way of Grace: Moving from Faithfulness to Holiness
by Paula Huston

Amen to that! I never had characterized it to myself in that way until reading this passage. I was raised with the understanding that religious believers were clinging to false hope because they couldn't take real life, they needed the easy answers. On the other side of the equation, as it were, I know that living one's faith is a challenge that never ends ... luckily it is an interesting, exciting ride ... even when one is not having the best of times it is never boring.

Catholic Blog Award Nominations

Don't forget the nominations begin Sunday and are open through Friday.

This is a great way to recognize your favorite blogs. I know I have a long list that I'll be nominating. The categories are much more to the point this year, so take a look and see who you think fits them best.

The A&M Report

Hannah is up to all kinds of things these days. Her classes are easier than last semester (thank Heavens!) and so she's able to plan a trip to Austin to see a concert, start thinking about how many hours of work she needs to log on a summer job to earn the money for a 4-week trip to do field research with bats next year, get in lots of rock climbing at the MSC ... and all kinds of other interesting things.

Dearest to my heart is the fact that she was chosen Chaplain of the Christian sorority she joined last semester. I'm not sure what else the position entails but it includes running a Bible study. She didn't have anything available to specifically study the Bible but she did have that old reliable Mere Christianity to hand.

Who better than C.S. Lewis to start a discussion of the cardinal virtues? She was really surprised because no one had ever heard of cardinal virtues. "I didn't remember what they were," she said, "but I did know that they existed!"

Inevitably, after she read the excerpt containing this unknown concept to the girls, the question arose, "Is this a Catholic book?"

She was thankful to be able to assure them that C.S. Lewis wasn't Catholic.

Subsequently a good and interesting discussion was had by all.

Why Did You Revert or Convert?

That's the question that Open Book asked and the comments are worth the time taken to read them. I am printing these out to read at my leisure but answers range from "my iPod!" to John Paul II (yes I saw you in there Bender!) to the Eucharist (which is my personal reason). I love getting to see all the ways that God reaches out to pull people to the Church.

And I see that Baptists asking questions have a lot of Catholic converts/reverts to their credit also. Interesting.

Via A Quiet Catholic.

Resting in God

"In meditating," he [St. Francis de Sales] says, "we as it were count the divine perfections which we find in a mystery, but in contemplating, we sum up their total." The contemplative gaze is a holistic one, and one steeped in love. We are in the presence of God, and like human lovers who "are content, sometimes, with being near or within sight of the person they love without speaking to her, and without even distinctly thinking of her," we simply rest in God's nearness.

This contemplative repose is easily disrupted if we become overly aware of ourselves, a special temptation in modern times. People who "voluntarily forsake [the state of contemplative repose] to note their own behaviour within, and to examine whether they are really in content, disquieting themselves to discern whether their tranquility is really tranquil, and their quietude quiet," soon become distracted.

Rather than maintaining their focus on God, they "employ their understanding in reasoning upon the feelings they have; as a bride who should keep her attention on her wedding ring without looking upon the bridegroom who gave it to her. There is a great difference ... between being occupied with God who gives us the contentment, and being busied with the contentment which God gives us." We must stop studying our emotional reactions as though we were involved in a scientific experiment if we are ever to meet God as he is. Though honest self-awareness is critically important to the spiritual life, contemplation only happens when we learn to set aside self-study in order to lose ourselves in God.

By Way of Grace: Moving from Faithfulness to Holiness
by Paula Huston

I agree that this is quite a challenge in modern times where, as a people, we tend to analyze everything up to and including ourselves. However, it is a part of "letting go" in general to just push those inclinations aside when it comes to prayer.

Around the House

Rose and Kill Hannah
She came belting in from Kung Fu last Tuesday with her eyes alight and aquiver with excitement. "Kill Hannah is having a concert on Friday and there are 11 tickets left!"

Ah, Kill Hannah, every girl's androgynous dream band!

Her good friend Anna got two of those last 11 tickets and also managed to sweet talk her parents into letting her attend. The only thing they were worried about was the same thing that we were ... the trip downtown and back. Tom will be driving them down and picking them up later. And I might just go along to keep him company. It will mean a late night. But it's worth it to see Rose all revved up like that.

To Ruin that Voice in Your Head ...
... at least if you're like me and have mental "voices" to go with the bloggers you read.

I'm going to be interviewed on "The Catholic Guy," hosted by Lino Rulli, to discuss Happy Catholic live around 5:00 ET (which is 4:00 to me). It airs on The Catholic Channel on Sirius Satellite Radio, 159.

For those of us who don't have Sirius or know anyone who does I am trying to find out if they have a download or some such thing.

Felting Question
Every time I see felting mentioned, a top-loading washer is always specified. What about us poor schmoes who have front-loading washers? Are we doomed to live felt-less forever? Or is there a technique that works as an alternative?

Craft 'N Pray
For those who were interested in that Craft 'N Pray time I mentioned long ago, it is finally time to get it going. We'll be meeting on the second Saturday of the February, from 2-4 in the afternoon at my house. If you live in Dallas and are interested email me and I'll give you the details (julie @ glyphnet . com). [If you don't get a response in a day or so, it is safe to assume that my spam filter ate your email. In that case, leave me a comment with your email and I'll contact you.]

Perpetua & Felicity Book Club
As long as I have the Craft 'N Pray notice above I might as well throw in our little Catholic women's book club too ... we meet on the third Monday of each month from 8-10 p.m. at my house. We're beginning Triumph: The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church by H.W. Crocker III. Nothing like reading a history of the Catholic Church during Lent, eh?

I see that I didn't actually review this book but piggybacked on a review of Mama T's and that link is dead for some reason. Suffice it to say that this was one of my favorite books of 2004. Crocker is hilarious (or snarky as Mama T says) and I liked the fact that he made no attempt to hide his partisanship ... especially obvious when talking about Martin Luther ... maybe because I agreed with him. It was refreshing to find a history that didn't stop and back up every few steps to apologize for the non-correctness of our forebears. I remember that I was so caught up in it that I read this in about a week. I'm looking forward to rereading it.

Again, if you're interested email me for information.