Blogs are changing how we get facts. That you and I can go out there and tell things as we see them, and in some cases even get quoted by MSM outlets, is a sign of things to come.

For better or worse no viewpoint is left unturned in the blogosphere. The grass roots organizations that fueled the last presidential election depended on this Internet of ours to get their messages across. Drudge busted Clinton. Swift Boat Vets went after Kerry. MoveOn.org went after Bush. There is are even opposing grass roots organizations to fight for and against Wal-Mart. Their purpose? Distribute one side of the information.

"For years, labor leaders were fighting Wal-Mart the old way, but times have changed," Kofinis said. "Instead of organizing workers, they're trying to organize the nation" against Wal-Mart.

Think about this though ... This type of information exchange coupled with a nation unable to discern the difference between fact and opinion. Now thats a scary thought ....

.. One more reason to homeschool and ensure my kids know that difference.

The mainstream media's concept of a lift on the condom ban is far off the mark within the debate between the likes of Barragàn and Trujillo. Neither of the camps is suggesting approving of the use of condoms without or even within marriage. Barragàn is suggesting that within marriage where one spouse is infected with AIDS, the use of condoms may be permitted to save the life of the uninfected spouse.

The difficulty with the argument is that in such dire circumstances abstinence must be counselled as condoms would close the sexual act to the gift of life and would not protect the uninfected partner from transmission. Suggesting condoms for prevention of disease, therefore, would be the equivalent of an anti-smoking group suggesting smokers switch to low-tar cigarettes.

from Vatican Cardinal on Condoms: Error in Reporting, I Don't Have the Authority to Produce a Document. Also †Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam† (OK the crosses in the title are cool)

Shouldn't we be up in arms that Catholic teaching was so grossly misreported by 99% of the press? No ... wait ... I forget ... this is the norm. But yes, we should be up in arms.

Fear of the Bible

The Bible is nothing to be afraid of--and it is something that every Catholic should be involved with in Mass and outside of Mass. Ignorance of Scripture--Old Testament and New--is ignorance of Christ.

Feministe's Church Lady WOW -- an interesting trip into the phenomenon of cultural Catholicism. Heaven forbid anyone ACTUALLY believe what the Church teaches. We pesky converts are ruining the Church and people are leaving because of us?

... speaking of the media again ...

Mark Shea: Vatican Cracks Down on Devout Catholics in Bus Plunge: Hardliner Pope Takes Rigidly Orthodox Position Against Vehicular Homicide

The comments are worth a read ...

Kenyan bishops have achieved what's still stuck in committee in the USA

"The music should be aligned with the doctrine and the liturgy of the Catholic Church," the bishop told the Daily Nation. "There have been cases where choir masters and composers have come up with all sorts of music which tended to be a disgrace to the Catholic faith."

I look towards the vibrant faith in Africa with much admiration.

The press is forever reporting on the truth as they see it ...

Catholic Church to Ease Ban on Condom Use - along with 221 other articles as of this posting on the topic

In a victory for reform-minded critics of the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI has now reversed the Catholic Church's long-standing position with regard to the use of condoms to combat the spread of the HIV virus.

... which is of course based on this gem of a quote

The Vatican's "health minister" Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who is close to the pope, told the Rome-based newspaper La Repubblica "It was the pope who took the initiative over this very sensitive and difficult issue."

What ONE Cardinal says the pope says becomes Truth .. sigh ...

Meanwhile the press also conveniently avoids reporting the Truth as it IS

Catholic Church has not changed life positions, Vatican official says

The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, responding to statements by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, said the Catholic Church has not changed its position on fundamental issues, such as the right to life from conception to natural death.

In a conversation with the Catholic News Agency, Msgr. Elio Sgreccia said he preferred not to directly address the statements by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, retired archbishop of Milan.

“At the Vatican, we do not consider it necessary make a controversy out of something that does not merit it.”

This was the ONLY article mentioning this that I found this morning.

221 articles based on stretches of the immagination and the word of one Cardinal (not the Pope mind you) vs.
1 article based on the longstanding and unchanging teaching of the Church.

No wonder Catholics around the world are confused.

I cannot write today for the life of me ... looks like the south Louisiana heat is already starting its oppression ...

So you get some links instead ... :)

The Nashville Dominicans - "Many young women are considering authentic religious life." ... I could be wrong but I think this is the same group of nuns that conjured up this big hoo-rah when Benedict XVI was elected:

We are thrilled

Yes indeed ... a strange photo essay - Drive-In Church Photo Essay courtesy of Waiting in Joyful Hope

Cathedral Tour: Madrid, Spain - Our ancestors who built glorious monuments to God continue to stand proclaiming "Jesus is Lord"!!!

An interesting little blurb by the Curt Jester .... Two Thousand Years Deep

and

An excellent essay discussing an interesting aspect of conversion ...
Growing with and toward the Church

I will be posting soon, hopefully, on a touchy subject. I am trying to figure out a way to best word things in what I am going to post. It is of a sensitive nature and it involves revealing much about my past that I am not quite comfortable with putting on a public website for the world to see. I had been working on an essay related to the topic when the opportunity for me to engage the sensitive issue came up in a private forum. I was thus able to organize some of my thoughts into the beginnings of an essay.

If you are interested in me posting the topic encourage me to pray more about it ...

Leaf Encounter

I realized that I am like that rubber plant. The plant was given me by a Protestant; likewise, I was baptized by a Protestant pastor and was encouraged in my Christian faith by many others of that faith.

The plant flourished in a hostile environment, as my faith has grown even though I have been outside a church for most of the time I have been Christian. Finally, it needed better soil and a bigger planter.

Like that plant, as I enter the Catholic Church, my world is not becoming smaller. It's becoming far bigger, in every way.

But what really touched me was thinking about the dirt and the roots. I come into the Church with a lot of dirt around my roots — the dirt of old experiences and old ways of thinking.

If Jesus wanted, He could shake that dirt off; He can do anything. But He hasn't purged me of all the thoughts, memories, and behaviors that marked me before I made my profession — because He doesn't want to damage my roots.

One thing to remember is that so much of your Protestant roots you don't have to shake off. It all falls right into place. I think Dave Armstrong was the one that said something like this: "Everything that was wonderful about my Protestantism is available in the Catholic Church"

It just takes some work to find it. Sometimes its harder to find but, as my wife says, He often time leads you to things that are more important than the things you used to hang your hat on which you thought a strength of where you came from. Being Catholic means a change. I know veneration of images and relics and especially the incorruptables were just creepy and weird to me at first. It took a while for God to work my roots into the new soil there.

Often times it takes a while before you realize you haven't really arrived but that you just began a journey that is going to take you to places you never thought God could take you. Its sort of like Chestertons key hole analogy. Once you have stepped into the room and can see it for all its glory, you realize you now have so much to explore. One one side it feels like the end of the road on the other it feels like the beginning of the longest journey imaginable.

Enjoy the journey ...

Christ is Risen Indeed!!!

My MIL was received into the Church last night. It was FAN-TASTIC!!!

A couple of items ...

Married Lutheran minister becomes a Catholic priest from
DeoOmnisGloria

Lots of stories like this coming out today. Few, however, include reasons why people convert. I read another that indicated that the number of people entering the Church in Massachusetts and New Hampshire is the highest it has been in the last four years. Of course, it spends about half the article focusing on the abuse scandal.

There is sin and yet people come.

Gospel of Judas also from DeoOmnisGloria

[The Gnostics] declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.

St. Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:31:1.

Adding his blog to my favorites ...

A hearty welcome to all who entered the Church last night. Read my Easter Vigil essay from when I re-entered the Church a few years ago.

I trusted something would happen to me last night. I trusted that God would change me. I had no idea if what my intellect was telling me was going to happen would. I wanted to believe it would. I wanted God to be every bit as big as the Catholic Church claims He is. I wanted real Eucharist. I wanted Sacrament. God honored the things I accepted on faith, not the things I learned and the things I reasoned out. Any doubt I had about the other things I have accepted on faith; Mary, Indulgences, difficult moral teachings, is now gone. I realize now why the Catholic Church has made it this many years, through so much adversity and challenge. It is simply true. I pray to God that every human being will answer this call, and walk down that aisle and proclaim "Here I am Lord" .. and continue on and on saying "Christ is Risen indeed!!!"

Shamelessly ripped this right off of Julie D's blog ...


I thought it was too funny though ...

I received email regarding http://www.earlychurchfathers.org

Apparently it seems that we were mentioned on Catholic Answers radio ... If any of my ummm few readers listened to it and can tell me what was said I would apprecaite it.

BTW VISIT THE SITE

We went to a homeschooling convention yesterday and listened to Dr. Mary Kay Clark speak on the goal of eternal victory through homeschooling. Most homeschoolers we talk to are always harping on "your style". Our problem is one of chaos. Mary Kay Clark is a hard hitter and she gave some good advice starting with:

1. Daily mass
2. Weekly confession
3. Use of sacramentals

Basically avail yourself of the graces that God has to give for which you are not asking for now.

Then she proceeded to the practical homeschooling advice (which I will save for a different time) ... Now while I realize she was peddling her wares at the conference, I couldn't help but be amazed that with both speakers the focus on BEING a good Catholic is the primary prequisite to being a good homeschooling Catholic.

If you don't live it, then it will ring hollow when you try to tell your kids to live it. Or as Dr. Clark said, "you cannot give what you do not live."

Finally she mentioned a talk by Fr. Fessio about the family being the "Monastery of the New Dark Ages" which was an idea that seemed truly inspiring to me ... so I did a search and found it.

The Family: Monastery of the New Dark Ages -- a couple of choice quotes (read the whole thing)

[The Benedictines] preserved the monuments of our faith by copying Scripture, and copying the great Fathers of the Church. Slowly, but inevitably, a new civilization was built up.
...
For one thing, these are the people having children, and you can’t have a civilization 100 years from now unless somebody has babies. Thank God that the people who really believe in the Church and believe in our civilization are having the babies and transmitting the culture. Because that will eventually take over.

I really like the tag Monastery of the New Dark Ages. Begging for some t-shirts to be made ...

We have also made a decision to go with St. Thomas Aquinas Academy with our first son.

Coming soon

I have collected some statistics on pornography which are shocking. ... I also have some thoughts on that which will show up here in the next few days. One more post for today ... :)

Here is our problem



A few evenings ago my wife calls me at work to tell me that she saw a black widow climbing up under the siding of our new home. She also saw what she suspected was a larger one a few feet to the right. That night I went outside to survey our spider problem. I found NINE black widows.

First they are solitary and they are afraid of human beings. They also rarely "attack" -- the one exception being a female protecting eggs. After they are born they spin a web and are carried by the wind to the location they will spend the rest of their lives. Black widows are by far the most dangerous spider in our part of the world and people have died in the United States. Prior to indoor plumbing and modern medical technology 5% of widow bites resulted in death although in most cases those deaths were the extremely young, extremely old or those with allergic reactions. Mans contact with the spiders has been lessened HOWEVER I have two kids who would be categorized as "the very young". It has supposedly been 15-20 years since a recorded death from a black widow bite has occurred in this country. With as many as I have and since it appears my home is particularly at risk for them precautions have and will continue to be taken.

On the bright side, I found out that mud daubers are natural predators of black widows. In fact, they paralyze them and store them in the mud tubes that they build. On the first black widow that they put in the tube they lay a single egg. The larvae that hatches feeds on the tube full of spiders until maturity. Then it breaks out and goes on about its merry way.

Mud daubers ... my new best friend.

Pretty bad too ... I had 9 in a row and buried it through the nose on the last shot to leave the Big 4. Then I whiffed on the whole thing. Oh well. A most disappointing way to bowl a 258. Any other way I would be happy with that score ... just not that way. The way I see it Michael Jordan missed game winning shots so I am allowed a collosal failure here and there. :) Last time I had pressure on (bowling my first 700) I delivered BIG TIME.

I ended the league with a 202 average. I am pleased about that. Still, chunking that 300 is a big disappointment.

I have not had much time to practice so sadly I am figuring things out during league that I would figure out in practice if I was doing it regularly. I just dont have the time. For 15 years I have mainly shot the arrows. It makes life easy. Tonight I started with a 192 and a 195 because I couldn't get the line I was throwing to carry. I decided to make a minor adjustment and throw 2 boards to the right of where I normally throw. I have done this sparingly in the past. The goal was to get into the dry outside to get a little more angle coming into the pocket. Good move.

I seriously had a shot. I got outside a little too much on that last shot. One stinking board. That is why they say bowling is a game of inches. Next time, I need to take advantage ... and as well as I have bowled the last several weeks I am convinced that I am improving and there will be a next time.

The Pill is a No-No from American Papist.

I find this picture on his blog to be highly amusing.


WASSSSUUUUUPPPP!

Pope becoming a people's man

willing to talk with those who do not share his views.

Ahhh forever trying to keep this door of hope that change of Church doctrine is the whim of the Pope and if only he would listen to his enlightened peers .... They are not just his views. They are the views of Christ and the role of the Church is to protect them and hand them down. The Pope: Doing his job.

Universal approval of Latin Missal could be on the way ...?

I think it would be a good thing.

Beautiful Churches: Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas from The Cafeteria Is Closed.

Trip to Houston now on the list.

Pope: Catholic Church's "Principal Focus" in Public Arena is Life and Family

"As far as the Catholic Church is concerned," he said, "the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable."

"Among these the following emerge clearly today:

- protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;

- recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family - as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage - and its defence from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its destabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role;

- the protection of the right of parents to educate their children.

These principles are not truths of faith, even though they receive further light and confirmation from faith; they are inscribed in human nature itself and therefore they are common to all humanity."

In bold: So is this an endorsement of homeschooling? The rest is more important though. Benedict XVI ROCKS!!!

Bowling

Well ... my average is likely coming down some. I bowled a 581 tonight but I have to admit that I am really pretty happy with it. I started with a clean game -- a 211 with two doubles and the rest spares -- and then followed it with a 182 and a 188. I had some splits in those games because my line was extremely tight. If I got outside even one board I hit the Sahara and the ball dove through the nose. If I got inside a board or two it would slide some but it wouldn't carry. I was aiming two boards right of the third arrow most of the night so that made things hard as well. I only had one turkey tonight and that was it. I missed one single pin spare. I picked up the rest so my spare percentage was very high. All in all a great series for struggling to find my line all night.

One more week to keep my season average above 200.

2006 Yearbook of Churches reflects membership and growth trends

Basic summary. Catholic Church on the increase. LDS on the increase.

Mainline Protestant denominations on the decline. Conservative Evangelical churches and charismatic churches on the rise. Orthodox church on the rise (big time).

Noticing a trend here?

A response on DCF - Bonaventure

-The Arians thought the Church was way too focused on the Divinity of Christ.
-The gnostics thought the Church was way too focused on physical reality
-The pagans thought the Church was way too focused on there being only one God.
-The Jews think that the Church is way too focused on the New Covenant and forgets about them
-The Orthodox think that the Church is too focused on the Papacy.
-Protestants think the Church is too focused on works, tradition, Mary, etc.
-The feminists of today think the Church is way too focused on being male dominated.
-Politicians think the Church is meddles in political affairs too much.
-Communists think the Church focuses too much on private property
-Fideists think the Church focuses too much on the use of reason.
-Rationalists think the Church focuses too much on Faith.
-Existentialists think the Church focuses too much on essence and not existence.
-Relativists think the Church focuses too much on truth

And yes, the modern man who sees himself as free to do anything he wants at any time he wants, especially sexually, is going to project his own personal sinfulness onto the Church, just like all the groups above. He will immediately blame the Church for what he wants to reject.

So who is obsessed?

Well XP crashed on me. First time ever.

I thought I had lost some things I was intending on linking in on this short session tonight. When the crash occurred I was somewhat disappointed because I KNEW I was going to forget what they were. Lo and behold I apparently had installed an extension that saves sessions when Firefox crashes. Firefox loaded with 3 tabs containing the items I was looking at ...

Thus you get:

Babies are so cute

Race and the Catholic Church

Of course what really got my interest was this gem of a quote:

What they have learned is that butting heads with a 2,000-year-old institution is no easy task. People at every level of church hierarchy have told them the same thing: The Catholic Church is no democracy.

I am a newbie and even *I* get that much.

Jimmy Akin -- Always good for this type of thing: Lego Parish

I built a Lego church once and my son destroyed it. I will do so again one day and once again he will likely destroy it.

Some personal notes ...

Bowling: I am currently averaging 202 and I am 21 games into this league. I found out today that carrying a 200 average over 36 games in one league and paying $100+ will get me membership in the PBA. Woo Hoo!!! I would never compete in tournaments though. I just want that cool benefit of $1 games at participating bowling alleys. I think I can bowl enough in a given year to offset that cost.

Work: Major project coming to a close and it looks like things are a GO for heading into production. I will start actually getting some sleep at night. Woo Hoo #2!!!

I have adoration in a couple of hours.

Don't have much time so you only get ONE item today ...

A Jazzman's Conversion Story which links to the article: Notre Dame honors Dave Brubeck
File under: You learn something new every day. Dave Brubeck of "Take Five" fame (rated 100 on my LAUNCHCast station BTW) converted to Catholicism. How bout them apples?

Many, including myslef, have read their way into the Church; with An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Venerable John Henry Newman was said to have wriiten his way into the Church; Mr. Brubeck composed his way into the Church!

I read my way. Did I mention that I love conversion stories or even snippets like this?

Matthew 26:40 - Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter.

My wife and I have taken two slots in the perpetual adoration lineup at our church. One hour a week. Why? Because as our priest says during mass after the consecration "This is Jesus Christ" ....



So music answers the tough questions eh?

Ripped this idea from Dappled Things
Instructions: Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING.

How does the world see you? A Horse With No Name - America
Will I have a happy life? Wishing Well - Terrance Trent D'Arby
What do my friends really think of me? What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1) - DJ Shadow
What do people secretly think of me? Leave It - Yes
How can I be happy? Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head - Gorillaz
What should I do with my life? Humanity - A Guy Called Gerald
Will I ever have children? (I already have 3 but lets see anyway) Shopping Trolley - Beth Orton
What is some good advice for me? Today - Talk Talk
How will I be remembered? Our House - Madness
What is my signature dancing song? La Guerve - Les Nubians
What do I think my current theme song is? Our Day - Colette
What does everyone else think my current theme song is? Outlands - The Orb
What song will play at my funeral? Strangers - Portishead
What type of men/women do you like? Can I Kick It? - A Tribe Called Quest
What is my day going to be like? Back In The Day (Puff) - Erykah Badu

All I got out of this was the humbling realization that the music I listen to, by and large, offers no answers to the pressing issues in life.

... and because I always like railing against contraception ...

No Room for Contraception via DeoOmnisGloria.com

Catholic Minimalism

On the liberal side it'll go something like this...
"Well, abortion is not a dogma, so I can dissent from it and still be a good Catholic"

On the conservative side, it'll go something like this...
"Well, this Catholic social teaching is not about abortion, euthanasia or homosexuality, so we don't actually HAVE to obey it."

To me this has been one of the toughest things about becoming Catholic. I spent my entire life being shuffled into a political identity only to find out it is grossly inadequate to answer any questions of real substance. Furthermore, the truth tends to offend both ideological sensibilities in one way or another.

Dissenting Enigma machine found

Original coded Message:
“The Church is not adhering to the Spirit of Vatican II”

Same message after decoding by the D-Enigma machine:
“The actual documents of Vatican II don’t support my position so I’m going to appeal to something intangible like the feelings and emotions of dissenters who went to Vatican II and then later misrepresented it in the public arena.”

HAHA!!!! LOL FUNNY

BTW I am noticing myself reading the above two blogs on a regular basis. Expect them to be added to my blog roll in the near future.

Check out my Yahoo Avatar (scroll down some .. disco guy) .. Blea Fleck - Bigfoot playing on Yahoo Music (LAUNCH) ... Victor Wooten is unreal good.

Expert Says Time For Change In Catholic Church

"The tradition in Boston and the United States is liberty, and freedom, and constitution, people, so I say we need a people's church(???) in the United States, a homegrown Catholicism would look more like the country itself," he says. "The Catholic Church has to change or it is going to end up as a museum piece."

Apparently "expert" means wrote a book. I have a blog just so you know. As far as the peoples Christianity goes I would say we already have that. There is a denomination for just about any belief set within Christianity. I church hopped for years until I got the crazy idea that there exists truth somewhere and somebody might have it. I even considered that I might not be comfortable with it BUT that it is imperative to go where it is. Enter the Catholic Church.

Now, maybe I am dense, but I have never seen the positions of the Catholic Church as having been particularly popular. It sure doesn't seem so, even from the writings that the Church itself has preserved. If the Catholic Church has survived this long I don't think the novel idea that truth is subject to popular vote is going to make much of a dent in the next 2000 years.

Gloria Virtutis Umbra: Romeward Bound
"They say all roads lead to Rome. This is one Protestant's journey in the conversion to the Roman Catholic Church...."

I love conversions!!!

Let Catholic Charities Be Catholic

Yet children are not a commodity that all should “have,” and no one has the right to adopt. Children do, however, have the right to a mother and a father. Adoption is not about filling an emotional void in adults’ lives, but offering a stable home to unfortunate children.

So while we are at it ... Can I get some voices for letting Catholic pharmacists be Catholic?

Legionaries of Christ

I had a comment on my blog in the past few days accusing Legionaires of Christ of being a cult. IMHO that is quite a high charge. In addition, the offered Regain link provides little evidence to sway my opinion. Of course it must be said that the thinly fact based response that Legionaries offers up (LegionariesFacts) doesn't leave me leaping with joy that the facts are clear. Anyway if anyone is interested in my opinion and how I came to it read Regnum Christi: controversy and my thoughts. We have since decided to homeschool thus ....

I have no dog in this hunt. I am neither LC nor RC and I have no intention of being either. The charge of cult is high indeed. I want proof that the institutional statutes are to blame here rather than a case of bad apples spoiling the bunch. Show me, in the words of the Legionaries of Christ, that they are a cult. I expect that of my opponents about the Church. Why would I expect less with an order within the Church?

The liberal baby bust which I picked up off of Mark Shea's obscure and lightly visited blog.

This, in addition to the Roe Effect, spells doom for secular liberalism. It is just a matter of time. God willing my wife and I will raise many religiously conservative minded Catholics. "God would not let evil occur if not a greater good would come of it" - St Augustine (I think I got the wording right)

I can't trumpet the success of the devil though. I just can't help but feel sad about this. I worry that the religiously conservative increase will usher in another era of revolt, where certain religious values deemed as predominantly liberal** (care for the poor and elderly, sensible environmentalism, fighting against the death penalty) will be jettisoned in favor of a new era of conservatism whose god is capitalism and whose target of morality becomes art and culture rather than the certainly greater evils of the culture of death. A completely conservative world as defined by our American culture is not one I am eager to enter into. Its not an either/or proposition.

See also The Return of Patriarchy which gives some numbers about this phenomenon.

** not that those movements are uniquely liberal -- see crunchy conservatism for example.