MommyWrites

And I'm Back

2012-02-11T16:46:00.000-08:00

My husband's library is still in turmoil, we had a baby in January and she got medavac-ed to Chicago when she was two weeks old. So it's been a busy few months but things are settling down.

I may be around here more. I may not, since I'm still working and I'm trying to find other forms of income just in case La Porte County Public Library lays everyone off again in March. We'll have to see - because I have opinions, and they have to go somewhere, right?

Income Gap? Or Something Else?

2012-02-11T16:43:00.001-08:00

The Education blogs have been abuzz with a story from the New York Times about the growing income gap in educational outcomes. While the racial gap is steadily shrinking, the gap between rich and poor has been growing. Is it IQ? Selective mating? Extra curricular activities? Better school districts? Or is it something else. According to the Times (emphasis mine),

One reason for the growing gap in achievement, researchers say, could be that wealthy parents invest more time and money than ever before in their children (in weekend sports, ballet, music lessons, math tutors, and in overall involvement in their children’s schools), while lower-income families, which are now more likely than ever to be headed by a single parent, are increasingly stretched for time and resources. This has been particularly true as more parents try to position their children for college, which has become ever more essential for success in today’s economy.

Is it really an income gap? Or is it just the marriage gap in a different form? More educated parents are more likely to earn high incomes. They’re also less likely to bear children out of wedlock or to divorce. Single parents are more likely to live in poverty, and the children of single parents are more likely to remain poor. The problem may not be a lack of cultural opportunities or summer enrichment programs. It may just be the lack of fathers.

La Porte County Public Library Makes the South Bend Tribune

2011-11-22T05:26:00.000-08:00

It's in yesterday's edition. Once a story gets picked up by the SBT, it gets picked up all over the state. I'm especially amazed that Mark Phillips, the lawyer for the library, considers these violations a 'mere technicality.' The law specifically forbids budget-related personnel discussions in a secret meeting. The La Porte County Public Library discussed budget-related benefit cuts, branch closings, etc.....in secret meetings.

It's only a 'technicality' if you imply that the Indiana Legislature didn't really mean anything by the Open Door Law. And, in fact, the legislature is set to put more teeth in the Open Door Law, at least according to a report from the Hoosier State Press Association. Apparently, Open Door Law related legislation tends to pass unanimously. In the South Bend Tribune article, Mark Phillips expresses an intent to appeal the court's decision if it goes against the library. He doesn't seem to understand - the higher up you go in state government about this, the more serious officials and judges get.

The people I've talked to in state government all see Indiana's open access laws as the only way to clean up corruption at the local level. The laws empower citizens of the state to keep an eye on their elected and appointed officials. Basically, it's up to us to make sure that the people spending our tax dollars spend them wisely. And it was this taxpayer oversight that Fonda Owens, Mike Essling, and the rest of the La Porte County Public Library Board tried to avoid in their secret meetings.

Why? Well, this is just my opinion, of course, but I think it's because they don't actually care what the taxpayers think. They've been treating the library as their personal fiefdom for too long. Fonda Owens and her companions seem to think that the taxpayers of La Porte County will put up with eliminated departments, diminished services, fewer programs, fewer materials and a closed branch so that she and her cronies can give themselves raises and rearrange the library to suit their convenience. Fortunately, the patrons of the La Porte County Public Library have the Open Door Laws at our disposal. It's our library. Fonda Owens works for us. We need to speak up and remind her that the Library Director of the La Porte County Public Library is not a divine right monarch, but a servant of the people.

Not the Background I Promised on the La Porte County Public Library

2011-11-19T15:44:00.000-08:00

Because the La Porte Herald Argus just put the latest installment of the La Porte County Public Library saga online! In a nutshell, Fonda Owens was director of the La Porte County Public Library, but now she's back to interim director. It's even crazier than that though, because she's also the woman who orchestrated the coup to get the last director fired. Mike Essling is the chairman of the La Porte County Public Library Board. It's a volunteer position - his day job is with INDOT. He's the one Fonda Owens persuaded to fire the previous direction, and, in the meeting of October 27, he claimed that he was personally involved in choosing which employees to cut.

But the biggest issue is that they did everything in secret, with no chance for taxpayer comment. Indiana Open Door law forbids this. But I'll have a crash course on the Open Door Law in the next post, followed by a transcript of the meeting where they broke it, so you can see for yourselves! (I'll also post the audio of the meeting. One great thing about Indiana law is that citizens are strongly encouraged to tape all public meetings and disseminate the recordings to the public at large. )

She's Ba...ack

2011-11-19T14:34:00.000-08:00

Wow. It's been a long time since I blogged!

At the moment, I am about a month away from having a baby, have a new part-time job that pays well but keeps me from blogging (because I'm being paid to write!) and am involved in a huge library scandal that has totally turned our lives upside down.

However, I'm starting up the blog again, mostly because I need a place to compile news and links about the library scandal. For those of you who aren't from Indiana, I'll also provide a little background in the next post.

But just a heads up-- I'm back in business, at least until the latest short person is born...

Getting Your Child to Read Good Books

2011-08-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm just a font of unsolicited advice this morning, aren't I? (Who am I kidding? I'm always a font of unsolicited advice!)

My oldest daughter (age 7.5) has really changed in the last year. At this time in 2010, getting her to struggle through an "I can read" book was pure torture.   She hated reading. It was slow. It was boring. It was a waste of time-- why should she have to groan through Green Eggs and Ham when I could read her Narnia?

Less than 12 months later, she devours books.   She worries that she won't be able to give up TV for Lent this year, because she doesn't even really like TV anymore, except for Antique Roadshow. She doesn't just read many books, she reads good books.

So, how do we get her to read really good literature in addition to Choose Your Own Adventure and Magic Treehouse?

It's actually pretty easy. First of all, we ask for good books for Christmas, and we look for good books at library sales. (Last year my parents got us several Betsy-Tacy books. I'd loved them as a kid, and my daughter loves them too.) Then, I gave my daughter two "Big Girl" shelves of her own on one of the parental bookcases.   There are still low shelves filled with picture books for the younger kids, but she's the only kid who can easily browse the special shelves, and they're filled with books she likes.   I keep the shelves filled with a mix of classic children's literature and the goofier stuff (like the Choose Your Own adventures I mentioned earlier. My husband apparently owns ALL of them, and a couple of D&D based ones as well.)   I don't have room for all the books we've accumulated for our kids, so I cycle through them. Once a week, I move some of the ones that she's read and doesn't feel like rereading back to the tubs, and I replace them with a new mixture of books.

I don't force "Good Literature" on her for its own sake-- I try to pick the books that suit her current interests or that I remember as being especially wonderful. And I throw some I didn't like into the mix too, since she's not my clone. (I hated Misty of Chincoteaque. She adores it because she likes horses more than I did.)

After she reads a book, she usually wants to talk about it, and we're working in one book report a month (August's was Homer Price, another of my childhood favorites) She picks the book she wants to report on and fills in one of the forms from this site.

I think the key to introducing your child to good literature is to like it yourself.   A good book has to be a treat, not a punishment. And if your child is a reluctant reader (as my oldest was) and doesn't want to try harder books, read them to her. If you pick books she enjoys hearing, eventually she'll start reading them too - if only because a chapter a day seems WAY TOO SLOW.

Teaching the Faith to teens

2011-08-23T07:04:00.000-07:00

It seems like every few months I get involved in a discussion about teenagers and catechesis. (Which is funny, since my kids are all under 8!) Today it's going on over at Simcha Fisher's blog on the Register.

Anyway, I wanted to point you all to a great article by Fr. Dwight Longenecker on teaching teens about the faith. Some of the advice applies to non-Catholic families as well, so if you plan to have teenagers some day, it's probably worth a read and a bookmark for future reference!

Longenecker focuses on what I think is a huge problem for many families trying to raise children in a society that seems hostile, or at least indifferent, to their faith:

Many parents view the teenage years as difficult. They are usually so if the parents have not understood how the critical instinct is crucial to positive adolescent development. Oppressive parents continue to use methods that were appropriate for young children. They expect their teenagers to obey without question and to accept the authority of their parents blindly. This is a recipe for disaster.

He gives concrete advice on how to handle a teenager's questions, and how to give your kids a faith that we'll be theirs, not a punishment forced on them by overly authoritarian parents. And while he draws heavily on the work of Msgr. Guissani, the founder of Communion and Liberation, I think the approach to catechism and doubts would work for anyone raising kids in the Judeo-Christian tradition. (I don't know enough about Eastern Religions to know if a Hindu or Buddhist would find this helpful.)

Anyway, give it a read! I apologize in advance for the lousy choice of text-color. I used to be able to find this piece on other sites, but it seems to have disappeared!

A Public Service Announcement Concerning Librarians

2011-08-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Today is the Feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr. He’s also the patron saint of Librarians and Archivists. So say a prayer for your local librarian today.

I wanted to pass on something very important about your public librarian. HE WANTS TO HELP YOU. This shouldn’t be a revolutionary statement, but apparently, some people are afraid to ask for help.

Whenever I recommend consulting the public librarian in internet forums, people react with disbelief. “Well, sure, that’s fine if you’re really good friends with the children’s librarian, but who will help me find excellent books about the Civil War?”

Librarians don’t get paid a lot. Their benefits aren’t particularly great. They took the job because they love recommending books to patrons and want to help people find the information they need. Chances are, if you’re looking for information on a unit like “Middle Ages” or “Civil War,” they won’t even need to look for books for you – they actually spend some of their time compiling lists of good resources on popular topics.

So, ask you librarian for help. She’s not like the lady down at City Hall who seems to exist to give people the runaround or like the cranky teen at the fast food place who resents you for interrupting her texting so you can order some fries. Your librarian wants to help. All you have to do is ask.

Thirty Things I Don't Count as "Doing School."

2011-08-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

A lot of my friends and family who use traditional schools are amazed at how much my girls and I can accomplish in two hours of school a day. (We also go 6 days a week, year round except for brief breaks here and there.) When I was looking at what we do all day, I realized: The “two hours” do not include things that most “schools” count as part of the “school day.”

So here is a partial list of the things I don’t count as school.

1. Drinks of Water

2. Snacks

3. Trips to the Restroom

4. Time Spent Disciplining One or More Students.

5. Computer Time (Even if it’s typing, web searching, or educational games!)

6. Videos (Even when they’re educational documentaries. And especially not when they’re Disney.)

7. Oral Quizzes on Reading, Spelling, Math facts or History (Especially if I conduct the quizzes while folding laundry, washing dishes, or driving.)

8. Locating Places on World and US Maps (This is “Recreation” around here.)

9. Silent Reading of Independently Selected Books

10. Recess

11. Exercise/ Gym

12. Arts and Crafts

13. Music Appreciation

14. Dance

15. Cooperative Play

16. Any Project Done in a Group

17. Discussions of Current Events

18. Lunch

19. Trips to the ‘Nurse’

20. Crosswords, Word Finds, Mazes, Coloring Sheets, Magic Squares, Logic Puzzles or any other ‘Game.’

21. Set up and Clean up

22. Time Spent Looking for Lost Papers

23. Feeding Pets

24. Doodling

25. Sitting at Table While I Work with Siblings

26. Attendance

27. Errands

28. Announcements and Calendar Stuff

29. Lunch Orders

30. Getting into and out of Coats

It’s not that my kids don’t do all of these things. In fact, they do most of these on a daily basis. But we don’t call these things “School.”

School is the time they spend on-task, either receiving one-on-one instruction or completing the work that goes along with what we’ve just covered. They get 12 hours of this ‘school time’ a week. How much does your average kid get IN school? And for how many weeks a year? That’s how my family accomplishes so much—we may not spend a lot of time every day, but the time we do spend is focused and on task. (And that’s in spite of the ADHD daughter!)

Back to School Time...

2011-08-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well, actually, I make my little darlings do school all year round. They forget less, we cover more, and our routine is easier to maintain. We take off for Grandparent visits and illnesses, of course. But the rest of the time it's school, school, school.

In spite of that, this time of year always screams "Back to School!" at me. I've got education and curriculum on the brain. The next few weeks of posts are probably going to be very education/home school focused. So if you prefer writing, religion or politics, be warned.

John Allen interviews Archbishop Chaput

2011-07-19T05:27:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this interview with Archbishop Chaput because it was an interesting one. I suspect good things are in store for Philadelphia!

In other news, I thought I'd have time to blog this month, but in addition to my regular part-time job, I just picked up a huge mess of souless "industrial management" copywriting. (Doesn't pay amazingly well, but it's way better than minimum wage, and John Scalzi says you should take paid writing work whenever possible, even if it's not in your chosen genres!

So, blogging will be light until I finish all my assignments. But if I run across any intriguing links, I'll pass them on!

Snallygaster Fixed

2011-07-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

The Snallygaster Shell

Kevin bounced up and down in his seat. He opened the shiny black box and peeked inside. “It’s so rare, it should be in a museum,” Kevin whispered. He walked slowly to the front of the room.

“What family heirloom did you bring?” Mrs. Jacobson asked.

Kevin swallowed. His hands shook. “This is a piece of a Snallygaster shell,” he said, trying to speak slowly. “My grandfather saw the hatching.” He held the shell up and it sparkled in the sun.

His classmates sat silent and still in their seats. Kevin smiled. They’d never seen anything like Grandpa’s treasure.

Then, in the front row, Bill snickered. Javier snorted. Samantha giggled.

“That’s just a piece of quartz!” Jason shouted. “Only babies believe in Snallygasters!” The whole class hooted and laughed.

Kevin’s cheeks got hot. His stomach flipped. He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see all those faces.

He stuffed the shell… no, the rock… into his pocket. He ran out of the class, down the hall, and into the bathroom. He threw the rock into the trash. How could he have been so gullible? Everyone knew that Grandpa told tall tales.

On the bus home, Kevin sat alone and stared at the floor.

Grandpa was waiting on the front porch. “How did it go?” Grandpa asked.

Kevin’s eyes burned. “It was miserable!” He screamed. “Why did you lie to me about that old rock?”

Grandpa frowned. “It’s not a rock – it’s a Snallygaster shell.” He held out his hand. “May I have it back, please? They only hatch every fifty years. It’s the only one I’ll ever find.”

Kevin studied his shoes. “I left it at school,” he whispered. Grandpa’s eyes drilled into him. Kevin bit his lip and hoped he wouldn’t cry.

A strange screech echoed across the yard. “What was that?” Kevin asked. He was glad to change the subject. He looked at his grandfather. The old man didn’t seem angry anymore.

His grandfather’s eyes sparkled. “I haven’t heard a Snallygaster since I was your age!”

“No, Grandpa,” Kevin said, “What is it really?”

“A Snallygaster,” Grandpa repeated. He pointed to a trail in the woods. “That’s the one. It goes up the mountain, to a silver lake. The Snallygaster nests there. You’ll need to go quick. After the screech, it’s only an hour or two until they hatch.”

“You want me to go alone?”

“I can’t come,” Grandpa said. “I’m too old. My grandpa sent me up the mountain when I was your age, and his grandpa sent him. Our family’s been watching Snallygasters since before the English came across the sea.”

Kevin took a deep breath. Grandpa was serious. He waved a quick goodbye and took off up the mountain. At first, the path was clear and the walk was easy. Then it scrabbled over rocks and through pine branches.

“I should go back,” Kevin thought. “If the other kids knew about this, they’d make fun of me.”

He was about to turn around when the path broke out of the underbrush. Kevin stood on a sandy beach beside a wide, silver lake.

He heard the screech again and whipped his head around. Something had dug a huge pit in the muddy shallows. A bird the color of fire flapped and screeched. It shot off into the air like a rocket and disappeared beyond the clouds. A loud “boom!” shook the ground.

Kevin crept towards the pit. Inside, a single egg glowed orange. Kevin reached toward it, but it was too hot to touch.

The egg fell apart. A flicker of flame zipped in spirals into the sky, peeping. Kevin picked up the two largest fragments of the shell. As he scrambled out of the pit, his foot kicked some of the mud loose, and the lake poured in. In a few moments, the Snallygaster nest was gone.

Grandpa was waiting when he got home. “You saw them, didn’t you?” he said softly. “I can tell by the smile on your face.”

Kevin took the shell pieces from his pocket. They’d already faded to the color of quartz. “I brought an extra back for you,” he said. “I’m sorry I lost the other one.”

Grandpa shook his head and smiled. “I’m glad you saw the Snallygaster hatch,” he said. “Most people don’t believe in Snallygasters anymore.”

“I feel sorry for them,” Kevin said. “They don’t know what they just missed.” He slipped the shell pieces back into his pocket. He’d find a safe place for them. After all, in fifty years he might give them to his grandchild.

Letting a Loser See the Light of Day

2011-06-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

I lost the Highlights Contest. It wasn't really a big surprise, but I'd sort of hoped they'd at least want to buy my story. They didn't, and there are very few markets that would want it (and most of those don't pay.) Still, I like this story. I want it to see the light of day. It's not the best thing I've ever written, but I don't want it moldering on my hard drive.

So I'm taking the easy way out. I'm publishing it on my blog, so it will at least get a few readers. If you like it, print it out or cut and paste and pass it on. (Just keep my name attached, please!)

The Snallygaster Shell

by Deirdre Mundy

Kevin bounced up and down in his seat. He opened the shiny black box and peeked inside. “It’s so rare, it should be in a museum,” Kevin whispered. He walked slowly to the front of the room.

“What family heirloom did you bring?” Mrs. Jacobson asked.

Kevin swallowed. His hands shook. “This is a piece of a Snallygaster shell,” he said, trying to speak slowly. “My grandfather saw the hatching.” He held the shell up and it sparkled in the sun.

His classmates sat silent and still in their seats. Kevin smiled. They’d never seen anything like Grandpa’s treasure.

Then, in the front row, Bill snickered. Javier snorted. Samantha giggled.

“That’s just a piece of quartz!” Jason shouted. “Only babies believe in Snallygasters!” The whole class hooted and laughed.

Kevin’s cheeks got hot. His stomach flipped. He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see all those faces.

On the bus home, Kevin sat alone and stared at the floor.

Grandpa was waiting on the front porch. “How did it go?” Grandpa asked.

Kevin’s eyes burned. “It was miserable!” He screamed. “Why did you lie to me about that old rock?”

Kevin studied his shoes. “I left it at school,” he whispered. Grandpa’s eyes drilled into him. Kevin bit his lip and hoped he wouldn’t cry.

A strange screech echoed across the yard. “What was that?” Kevin asked. He was glad to change the subject. He looked at his grandfather. The old man didn’t seem angry anymore.

His grandfather’s eyes sparkled. “I haven’t heard a Snallygaster since I was your age!”

“No, Grandpa,” Kevin said, “What is it really?”

An Unestablished Author Wishes She Could "Write Like Its 1999."

2011-05-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking more about the Katherine Kristine Rusch article on ‘Writing like it's 1999’ and checking out online royalties. I’m feeling a little less scared. On one hand, if I work hard at my day job and scrounge for extra work, I can probably save up enough money to hire a professional editor for my book, after I’m done the current draft. E-books are popular, a lot of YA readers like electronic formats. So, in that sense, maybe I can make it in the brave new world of publishing without the gatekeepers.

On the other hand, there’s the whole “marketing” thing. I’d also have to come up with money to hire a marketer, because I HATE promoting myself. I’ll happily tell people how great things and people I like are, but me? That feels like LYING. After all, I’m no Naomi Novik! There are so many better writers out there---why (even post editing) should anyone read me in a world that contains Neil Gaiman and John Scalzi? On the other hand, that’s a problem with traditional publishing too, I guess. So I’ll have to nail down the answer to that question before I query agents, if I go the traditional route.

There’s also the problem of developing an audience. Sure, Scalzi can gain readership by sheer force of his personality – he’s awesome! Me, I’m a little more quirky, a little less likable, and unlikely to ‘win’ at the social networking game—I don’t want a network full of ‘friends’ I don’t know, and I really, really hate approaching strangers---even online.

So, it seems like e-publishing without a major house to back me up would be crazy—I don’t have a built-in audience like Rusch does, and, without a traditional publisher, I don’t have a way to gain a built-in audience. So, maybe that’s where we’re headed—traditional publishing for people who seek to build an audience, and self-publishing for those who’ve already earned one?

That means, per Rusch, that new authors are going to get screwed---unless we can find a way to create and audience. But building an audience means building a great online persona—and unless you like persona building in the first place, I’m not sure how you’d do it.

Any thoughts?

Rapture and Reconciliation

2011-05-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

This morning, the hilarious Simcha Fischer decided to take on the Rapture —I mean, it’s supposed to be Saturday and all. In the comments, a few people have wondered whether they should hit confession tomorrow, just in case.

I think the answer is a definite maybe.

You should NOT go to confession because Armageddon might start Saturday. On the other hand, if you’re worried, maybe you should go—because your own personal judgment might well be Saturday.

It’s easy to get caught up in all the end-times hoopla, but remember: somebody’s time on Earth ends every moment of every day. There’s no need for weird biblical number games. We’re all going to die, and a lot of us are going to die when we don’t expect it.

My mother was perfectly healthy until she died in her sleep at 48. None of us expected it. We really don’t know the day or the hour.

So, should you go to confession today or tomorrow? Maybe. If you got hit by a bus 15 minutes from now, would you regret not having gone to confession first? On the other hand, if there were no predictions of Armageddon, would you be confident waiting until Saturday at 4:30?

The end of the world is at hand-- but it’s always at hand.

Two Months?!?!?

2011-05-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

Has it really been nearly two months since I last posted? Wow! I thought spring was insanely busy this year!

So, quick updates:

1. Suvudu is about to announce winners for its writing contest. I haven't heard from them, so I'm assuming I didn't win. Also, I haven't heard from Highlights, so it's safe to say I didn't win that one, either!

2. We do year-round schooling, so we've just started in on second grade and kindergarten! I ordered some new books for the 2nd grader-- we're using textbooks for history and science this year. That way, I can still supplement with related literature and books, but I'm spared the effort of coming up with an outline.

3. I'm planning a St. Jude's Walkathon for Sunday, June 5th. We'll have to see how that turns out-- I'm afraid I'm neither pretty enough or popular enough to hold a good fundraiser.

4. I'll try to blog more. Work is going well, but it's time consuming, and the rewrite of doom is taking a fair bit of energy!

Funny Addendum to the Post Below

2011-03-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

So, I have friends and acquaintances who are always complaining about the Masonic influence on the post Vatican 2 Church. And I'm usually pretty doubtful. BUT

While I was leaving this conference (which dabbled in that special baby boomer style 'liturgy') I left the parking lot immediately after a middle-aged woman in an SUV. I ended up behind her at the light. Her car had "Freemason" license plates!

I nearly died laughing. Apparently, the Freemasons ARE involved in liturgy and catachesis!

Church Design and Welcoming the Stranger

2011-03-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: I am a socially awkward introvert. The following may not apply to suave extroverts… but they don’t seem to spend much time in the Catholic Blogosphere anyway.

On Sunday, I went to my diocesan catechetical conference. It was at a parish an hour away. The kids had a nasty virus and we had to split Masses anyway, so I decided to go to the conference Mass instead of my home Mass.

The church had been built in 1968, and it looked it. The parish had tried to jazz it up a bit – they added statues and a really nice series of plaques commemorating the seven sacraments. Still, nothing could disguise the fact that the building was part of the “Alien Flying Auditorium lands next to a giant spike” school of architecture. It even had vinyl siding—on the inside. Truly, it was a site to behold.

The angle of the ceiling beams and the arrangement of the pews drew my eyes down, to the people around me. The tabernacle was off to one side, hard to see. The altar was too low to be easily visible in a crowded church. The architect wanted the congregation to focus on each other, and his design was successful.

I’m not often in strange churches, and when I travel I usually have my husband and kids in tow. This was the first time I’ve been alone in a ‘focus on the congregation’ style church. Frankly, it was oppressive. When I visited Byzantine Churches in Greece or the great Churches of Italy on my own, I never felt alone. The art and architecture directed my gaze, and my thoughts, upward and then back down to the altar. They conveyed the message “This is a space where we worship God, here the Son is present in the Eucharist. You are at the altar of the Lord.” In those spaces, I had come alone, but I was not lonely. I was one of the multitudes, praising God.

The squat alien church oppressed me. It drew my gaze down to the crowd of strangers. I literally did not know a single person in the church. I felt alone. The architect was saying ‘here is your community, the body of Christ!’ while making it hard for me to see the one person in the church I did know, Jesus himself.

I’d never really noticed this aspect of the ‘We the Church’ style of architecture before. I’d always encountered these buildings on family vacations, surrounded by children and in-laws. So I’d never noticed how lonely they can make a single person feel.

Traditional Ecclesiastical architecture makes a visitor forget himself. When the focus is on the altar, the message is “This is the same sacrifice the world over.” A stranger can go to Mass in one parish and the art and architecture remind him that the whole church, the world over, is celebrating the same Mass – there is really only one cross, one sacrifice, one Eucharist.

The alien pod-churches focus on the differences, on the ‘uniqueness’ of the congregation. It may be a style that gives warm fuzzies when your gaze is directed to Mrs. McCulludy, your Kindergarten teacher, sitting with her grandchildren who play on your daughter’s soccer team. But for the stranger, who comes knowing no one but Christ, the entire experience can be somewhat alienating.

My Favorite Dewey Decimal Number

2011-03-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

Hello. My name is Deirdre Mundy, and I have always had favorite Dewey Decimal number. I’ve always had favorites. I used to be a big fan of the 812s. For a while, I loved the 00’s – I couldn’t get enough ‘nonfiction’ about UFOs and monsters. These days, when I’m hanging out in Nonfiction, you can almost always find me in the 398.2 section.

If you’re not a library fiend, you may not realize that 398.2 is the land of fairy tales and folk tales. Some libraries are pretty strict – they reserve this section for collections of folk tales. Not mine. If you want Jamie O’Rourke, Strega Nona, or a gorgeously illustrated version of Cinderella, you have to hit the 398.2’s.

This year, my social studies curriculum for the 5 year old and the 7 year old is almost entirely based in the 398.2 section. Our method goes like this:

1. We pick out 4 or 5 promising folktales from the 398.2 section. They can’t be from the same culture, and they can’t be retellings of similar stories. (I like comparing stories across cultures, but my 5 year old wants more variety in her tales, so we’ll save that project for a few years from now.)

2. After we read a folktale, we talk about the setting. Why are the people dressed like that? What are their normal lives like? Where and when did they live? How are they different from us? How are they the same?

3. We use the web, our maps and atlas, and our history/geography books to learn a little more about the culture that gave us the tale.

It’s sort of a scattershot approach, but it’s working well for us at the moment. So far we’ve had a nice smattering of India, China, Japan, Greece, England, Ireland, and Scandinavia, Italy, Various African tribes, South America, various Indian groups and American. My kids are learning that the same sorts of stories get told again and again, across cultures. They draw parallels between Loki, Hermes, Anansi, Brer Rabbit, the tricky foxes, the leprechauns, etc. They see the ‘abused orphan turned princess’ story play out again and again. They’re starting to get a sense of geography and literature at the same time.

Next year, when my oldest is in second grade, I’m going to start on a more organized history curriculum, at least for her. For now, I’m very happy with learning about the world through the 398.2s.

Crapshoot Investing Deal! Free until Saturday.!

2011-03-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

My dad wanted me to spread the word about a promotional deal for his new book:

Between now and Saturday, you can download Crapshoot Investing free on the Kindle or Nook! That's right, free e-books for a limited time only!

I've started reading it, and I enjoy it. But I'm his daughter, so I can understand if you don't consider me an objective reader. But you know what, who cares? Because for the next few days, you can get it free and see for yourself!

Mass Dash Update

2011-03-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I published a desperate plea for help on this blog. I really appreciate all the good advice, and I have great news! In the last 3 weeks, we’ve been 15 minutes early to Mass 2 times, and arrived just as the processional began twice. (We took the kids to Mass on the Solemnity of St. Joseph too—He’s our Parish patron saint.) So, if the new routine holds, even our “late” won’t be that bad.

So, what’s changed?

Well, I read everyone’s advice, and made the following changes:

1. I’m showering the evening before. One less adult in the shower really speeds things up, especially since we only have one bathroom. We really need to keep people’s time in there to a bare minimum if we want to get out of the hour in 3 hours or less.

2. No more choices at breakfast, and NO MORE OATMEAL. I decide what we’ll be eating the night before, and if there’s any non-microwave cooking to be done, we do it then. We feed the kids something quick and include breakfast meat (which has improved my three-year-old’s behavior. Apparently some of the ‘crazy’ was just ‘hungry.’ And without the ‘crazy’ getting to and through Mass is much easier.) We do not serve anything messy.

3. Calling out times and reminders. Nat’s comment about “Do you really want to read that book right now?” really hit home. We’re a pretty distractable family and tend to get caught up in unimportant things even when we’re rushing out the door.

4. Streamlining the process: I’ve changed where I keep the envelopes so we skip the Sunday morning hunt. I’ve relaxed a little on what constitutes “Dressed up” for the 3 and 1 year old – getting out the door is easier if we just go for “shirt, pants, socks, shoes” and I don’t get fussy. The girls are now getting themselves ready – the easier breakfast means they have plenty of time to get dressed and ready.

So, with 4 kids under 8 and one car, we’re now getting out the door on time. Of course, the weather has been a big help too – it’s a lot easier to get going when we don’t have to scrape the windshield and clear off the car! Pray for me—I hope we can keep this up. Mass is much more pleasant when we’re ON TIME!

On Being Late for Mass

2011-03-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

This is not an informational post. This is a cry for help, and for advice from experienced parents.

Since my fourth child was born, I have been on time for Mass ONCE. That was the week the kids were sick, the car was broken, and my husband and I split Masses and I only had to get myself ready and out the door. I was 15 minutes early. It was glorious.

The rest of time, Sunday is definitely an exercise in penance and humiliation.

I know many of my readers have more kids and have been where I am now. (My oldest is 7). Lent is coming. I need to make major changes and conquer this lateness problem. (Mass isn't the ONLY thing we run late for, but it's the biggest thing, and the problem is worse because my husband and I are trying to leave the house at the same time, the kids can't eat breakfast in Church clothes, and because of the "two-in-diapers" issue, I cannot get dressed/showered TOO early, or I'll have to dress/shower again since diapers seem MORE likely to explode on me when I'm wearing nice clothes......)

Anyway, please! Help! Suggestions!

Long Absence ahead

2011-02-24T09:38:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be very scarce around the blogs in the coming months, for a few reasons:

1. I've picked up 3 work from home jobs. Two pay pretty well, but are dull, and one pays a pittance, but involves writing for Black Chicken Games. All are time consuming. I'd been praying for paying work so that we could pay down our mortgage and move into a less cramped house- God has given me a superabundance of work.

2. A friend told me about a fiction contest at Suvudu. I have less than a month to turn my draft into something worth submitting. Nose, meet grindstone.

3. CCD is taking up more time and mental energy as my kids get ready for their First Confessions and First Communions! If you have time, pray for them!

4. I really have very little left to say about the Legion situation. For me, the kicker was when Pope Benedict referred to Maciel as a "False Prophet" in Light of the World. Jesus was pretty clear on False Prophets in Matthew 7:15. If you're not going to listen to the pope, and you're not going to listen to the Son of God, you're not going to listen to me. So I'm taking Sr. Briege's advice, and focusing on praying and fasting instead.

Anyway, the next few months are going to be busy. I may duck in now and then, if I really, absolutely HAVE to comment on something. But the blog is going to take a back seat to... actual paid work that will help support our family.

Novena, Day 9

2011-02-02T06:21:00.000-08:00

Well, what with the blizzard and all, my internet went from "intermittent" to "Completely gone!" So, I'm finishing the Novena today, on Febuary 2. Which is the day I originally WANTED to finish it, before my counting got off and I started on the wrong day! So, it all works out in the end.

As always, the whole thing is at EWTN.

Ninth Day

PATRON OF A HAPPY DEATH

Saint Joseph, how fitting it was that at the hour of your death Jesus should stand at your bedside with Mary, the sweetness and hope of all mankind. You gave your entire life to the service of Jesus and Mary; at death you enjoyed the consolation of dying in Their loving arms. You accepted death in the spirit of loving submission to the Will of God, and this acceptance crowned your hidden life of virtue. Yours was a merciful judgment, for your foster-Son, for whom you had cared so lovingly, was your Judge, and Mary was your advocate. The verdict of the Judge was a word of encouragement to wait for His coming to Limbo, where He would shower you with the choicest fruits of the Redemption, and an embrace of grateful affection before you breathed forth your soul into eternity.

You looked into eternity and to your everlasting reward with confidence. If our Savior blessed the shepherds, the Magi, Simeon, John the Baptist, and others, because they greeted His presence with devoted hearts for a brief passing hour, how much more did He bless you who have sanctified yourself for so many years in His company and that of His Mother? If Jesus regards every corporal and spiritual work of mercy, performed in behalf of our fellow men out of love for Him, as done to Himself, and promises heaven as a reward, what must have been the extent of His gratitude to you who in the truest sense of the word have received Him, given Him shelter, clothed, nourished, and consoled Him at the sacrifice of your strength and rest, and even your life, with a love which surpassed the love of all fathers.

God really and personally made Himself your debtor. Our Divine Savior paid that debt of gratitude by granting you many graces in your lifetime, especially the grace of growing in love, which is the best and most perfect of all gifts. Thus at the end of your life your heart became filled with love, the fervor and longing of which your frail body could not resist. Your soul followed the triumphant impulse of your love and winged its flight from earth to bear the prophets and patriarchs in Limbo the glad tidings of the advent of the Redeemer.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to die in the arms of Jesus and Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace of a happy death. Help me to spend each day in preparation for death. May I, too, accept death in the spirit of resignation to God's Holy Will, and die, as you did, in the arms of Jesus, strengthened by Holy Viaticum, and in the arms of Mary, with her rosary in my hand and her name on my lips!

NOVENA PRAYER

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

Grant that those currently employed or recently laid off by the Legion may find new means to adequately support their families.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Novena - Day 8

2011-01-31T06:26:00.000-08:00

Our internet was incredibly spotty yesterday evening, so I'll post Day 8 today and Day 9 tommorrow and trust God to sort it all out. I started a day too early anyway (counting issues). Anyway, you can find this over at EWTN.

Eighth Day

FRIEND IN SUFFERING

Saint Joseph, your share of suffering was very great because of your close union with the Divine Savior. All the mysteries of His life were more or less mysteries of suffering. Poverty pressed upon you, and the cross of labor followed you everywhere. Nor were you spared domestic crosses, owing to misunderstandings in regard to the holiest and most cherished of all beings, Jesus and Mary, who were all to you. Keen must have been the suffering caused by the uncertainty regarding Mary's virginity; by the bestowal of the name of Jesus, which pointed to future misfortune. Deeply painful must have been the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the disappearance of Jesus at the Paschal feast. To these sufferings were surely added interior sorrow at the sight of the sins of your own people.

You bore all this suffering in a truly Christ-like manner, and in this you are our example. No sound of complaint or impatience escaped you -- you were, indeed, the silent saint! You submitted to all in the spirit of faith, humility, confidence, and love. You cheerfully bore all in union with and for the Savior and His Mother, knowing well that true love is a crucified love. But God never forsook you in your trials. The trials, too, disappeared and were changed at last into consolation and joy.

It seems that God had purposely intended your life to be filled with suffering as well as consolation to keep before my eyes the truth that my life on earth is but a succession of joys and sorrows, and that I must gratefully accept whatever God sends me, and during the time of consolation prepare for suffering. Teach me to bear my cross in the spirit of faith, of confidence, and of gratitude toward God. In a happy eternity, I shall thank God fervently for the sufferings which He deigned to send me during my pilgrimage on earth, and which after your example I endured with patience and heartfelt love for Jesus and Mary.

You were truly the martyr of the hidden life. This was God's Will, for the holier a person is, the more he is tried for the love and glory of God. If suffering is the flowering of God's grace in a soul and the triumph of the soul's love for God, being the greatest of saints after Mary, you suffered more than any of the martyrs.

Because you have experienced the sufferings of this valley of tears, you are most kind and sympathetic toward those in need. Down through the ages souls have turned to you in distress and have always found you a faithful friend in suffering. You have graciously heard their prayers in their needs even though it demanded a miracle. Having been so intimately united with Jesus and Mary in life, your intercession with Them is most powerful.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to suffer for Jesus and Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to bear my suffering patiently for love of Jesus and Mary. Grant that I may unite the sufferings, works and disappointments of life with the sacrifice of Jesus in the Mass, and share like you in Mary's spirit of sacrifice.

NOVENA PRAYER

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

Grant that those currently employed or recently laid off by the Legion may find new means to adequately support their families.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph's Novena Day 7

2011-01-29T17:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is so late! We had a very busy day! (And my husband hijacked the computer so he could do taxes!)

Remember, the whole Novena is always available at EWTN.

Seventh Day
PATRON OF WORKERS

Saint Joseph, you devoted your time at Nazareth to the work of a carpenter. It was the Will of God that you and your foster-Son should spend your days together in manual labor. What a beautiful example you set for the working classes!

It was especially for the poor, who compose the greater part of mankind, that Jesus came upon earth, for in the synagogue of Nazareth, He read the words of Isaiah and referred them to Himself: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor..." (Luke 4:18). It was God's Will that you should be occupied with work common to poor people, that in this way Jesus Himself might ennoble it by inheriting it from you, His foster-father, and by freely embracing it. Thus our Lord teaches us that for the humbler class of workmen, He has in store His richest graces, provided they live content in the place God's Providence has assigned them, and remain poor in spirit for He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3).

The kind of work to which you devoted your time in the workshop of Nazareth offered you many occasions of practicing humility. You were privileged to see each day the example of humility which Jesus practiced -- a virtue most pleasing to Him. He chose for His earthly surroundings not the courts of princes nor the halls of the learned, but a little workshop of Nazareth. Here you shared for many years the humble and hidden toiling of the God-Man. What a touching example for the worker of today!

While your hands were occupied with manual work, your mind was turned to God in prayer. From the Divine Master, who worked along with you, you learned to work in the presence of God in the spirit of prayer, for as He worked He adored His Father and recommended the welfare of the world to Him, Jesus also instructed you in the wonderful truths of grace and virtue, for you were in close contact with Him who said of Himself, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life."

As you were working at your trade, you were reminded of the greatness and majesty of God, who, as a most wise Architect, formed this vast universe with wonderful skill and limitless power.

The light of divine faith that filled your mind, did not grow dim when you saw Jesus working as a carpenter. You firmly believed that the saintly Youth working beside you was truly God's own Son.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to work side by side with Jesus in the carpenter shop of Nazareth. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to respect the dignity of labor and ever to be content with the position in life, however lowly, in which it may please Divine Providence to place me. Teach me to work for God and with God in the spirit of humility and prayer, as you did, so that I may offer my toil in union with the sacrifice of Jesus in the Mass as a reparation for my sins, and gain rich merit for heaven.

NOVENA PRAYER

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

Grant that those currently employed or recently laid off by the Legion may find new means to adequately support their families.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph's Novena Day 6

2011-01-28T12:46:00.000-08:00

The whole novena is at EWTN's site.

Sixth Day

PATRON OF FAMILIES

Saint Joseph, I venerate you as the gentle head of the Holy Family. The Holy Family was the scene of your life's work in its origin, in its guidance, in its protection, in your labor for Jesus and Mary, and even in your death in their arms. You lived, moved, and acted in the loving company of Jesus and Mary. The inspired writer describes your life at Nazareth in only a few words: "And (Jesus) went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them" (Luke, 2:51). Yet these words tell of your high vocation here on earth, and the abundance of graces which filled your soul during those years spent in Nazareth.

Your family life at Nazareth was all radiant with the light of divine charity. There was an intimate union of heart and mind among the members of your Holy Family. There could not have been a closer bond than that uniting you to Jesus, your foster-Son and to Mary, your most loving wife. Jesus chose to fulfill toward you, His foster-father, all the duties of a faithful son, showing you every mark of honor and affection due to a parent. And Mary showed you all the signs of respect and love of a devoted wife. You responded to this love and veneration from Jesus and Mary with feelings of deepest love and respect. You had for Jesus a true fatherly love, enkindled and kept aglow in your heart by the Holy Spirit. And you could not cease to admire the workings of grace in Mary's soul, and this admiration caused the holy love which you had consecrated to her on the day of your wedding grow stronger every day.

God has made you a heavenly patron of family life because you sanctified yourself as head of the Holy Family and thus by your beautiful example sanctified family life. How peacefully and happily the Holy Family rested under the care of your fatherly rule, even in the midst of trials. You were the protector, counselor, and consolation of the Holy Family in every need. And just as you were the model of piety, so you gave us by your zeal, your earnestness and devout trust in God's providence, and especially by your love, the example of labor according to the Will of God. You cherished all the experiences common to family life and the sacred memories of the life, sufferings, and joys in the company of Jesus and Mary. Therefore the family is dear to you as the work of God, and it is of the highest importance in your eyes to promote the honor of God and the well-being of man. In your loving fatherliness and unfailing intercession you are the patron and intercessor of families, and you deserve a place in every home.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of living in the Holy Family and being its head. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain God's blessing upon my own family. Make our home the kingdom of Jesus and Mary -- a kingdom of peace, of joy, and love.

I also pray for all Christian families. Your help is needed in our day when God's enemy has directed his attack against the family in order to desecrate and destroy it. In the face of these evils, as patron of families, be pleased to help; and as of old, you arose to save the Child and His Mother, so today arise to protect the sanctity of the home. Make our homes sanctuaries of prayer, of love, of patient sacrifice, and of work. May they be modeled after your own at Nazareth. Remain with us with Jesus and Mary, so that by your help we may obey the commandments of God and of the Church; receive the holy sacraments of God and of the Church; live a life of prayer; and foster religious instruction in our homes. Grant that we may be reunited in God's Kingdom and eternally live in the company of the Holy Family in heaven.

NOVENA PRAYER

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

Grant that those currently employed or recently laid off by the Legion may find new means to adequately support their families.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph's Novena Day 5

2011-01-27T12:28:00.000-08:00

As always, the full Novena is over at EWTN.

Fifth Day

PATRON OF THE CHURCH

Saint Joseph, God has appointed you patron of the Catholic Church because you were the head of the Holy Family, the starting-point of the Church. You were the father, protector, guide and support of the Holy Family. For that reason you belong in a particular way to the Church, which was the purpose of the Holy Family's existence.

I believe that the Church is the family of God on earth. Its government is represented in priestly authority which consists above all in its power over the true Body of Christ, really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, thus continuing Christ's life in the Church. From this power, too, comes authority over the Mystical Body of Christ, the members of the Church -- the power to teach and govern souls, to reconcile them with God, to bless them, and to pray for them.

You have a special relationship to the priesthood because you possessed a wonderful power over our Savior Himself. Your life and office were of a priestly function and are especially connected with the Blessed Sacrament. To some extent you were the means of bringing the Redeemer to us -- as it is the priest's function to bring Him to us in the Mass -- for you reared Jesus, supported, nourished, protected and sheltered Him. You were prefigured by the patriarch Joseph, who kept supplies of wheat for his people. But how much greater than he were you! Joseph of old gave the Egyptians mere bread for their bodies. You nourished, and with the most tender care, preserved for the Church Him who is the Bread of Heaven and who gives eternal life in Holy Communion.

God has appointed you patron of the Church because the glorious title of patriarch also falls by special right to you. The patriarchs were the heads of families of the Chosen People, and theirs was the honor to prepare for the Savior's incarnation. You belonged to this line of patriarchs, for you were one of the last descendants of the family of David and one of the nearest forebears of Christ according to the flesh. As husband of Mary, the Mother of God, and as the foster-father of the Savior, you were directly connected with Christ. Your vocation was especially concerned with the Person of Jesus; your entire activity centered about Him. You are, therefore, the closing of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New, which took its rise with the Holy Family of Nazareth. Because the New Testament surpasses the Old in every respect, you are the patriarch of patriarchs, the most venerable, exalted, and amiable of all the patriarchs.

Through Mary, the Church received Christ, and therefore the Church is indebted to her. But the Church owes her debt of gratitude and veneration to you also, for you were the chosen one who enabled Christ to enter into the world according to the laws of order and fitness. It was by you that the patriarchs and the prophets and the faithful reaped the fruit of God's promise. Alone among them all, you saw with your own eyes and possessed the Redeemer promised to the rest of men.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being the Patron of the Church. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to live always as a worthy member of this Church, so that through it I may save my soul. Bless the priests, the religious, and the laity of the Catholic Church, that they may ever grow in God's love and faithfulness in His service. Protect the Church from the evils of our day and from the persecution of her enemies. Through your powerful intercession may the church successfully accomplish its mission in this world -- the glory of God and the salvation of souls!

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:
Grant that those currently employed or recently laid off by the Legion may find new means to adequately support their families.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.
MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph's Novena - Day 4

2011-01-26T07:28:00.000-08:00

Remember, you can find this Novena at EWTN. I'm just publishing it here day by day to make it easier for me, and others, to remember! :)

Fourth Day

FAITHFUL SERVANT
Saint Joseph, you lived for one purpose -- to be the personal servant of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Your noble birth and ancestry, the graces and gifts, so generously poured out on you by God -- all this was yours to serve our Lord better. Every thought, word, and action of yours was a homage to the love and glory of the Incarnate Word. You fulfilled most faithfully the role of a good and faithful servant who cared for the House of God.

How perfect was your obedience! Your position in the Holy Family obliged you to command, but besides being the foster-father of Jesus, you were also His disciple. For almost thirty years, you watched the God-Man display a simple and prompt obedience, and you grew to love and practice it very perfectly yourself. Without exception you submitted to God, to the civil rulers, and to the voice of your conscience.

When God sent an angel to tell you to care for Mary, you obeyed in spite of the mystery which surrounded her motherhood. When you were told to flee into Egypt under painful conditions, you obeyed without the slightest word of complaint. When God advised you in a dream to return to Nazareth, you obeyed. In every situation your obedience was as simple as your faith, as humble as your heart, as prompt as your love. It neglected nothing; it took in every command.

You had the virtue of perfect devotedness, which marks a good servant. Every moment of your life was consecrated to the service of our Lord: sleep, rest, work, pain. Faithful to your duties, you sacrificed everything unselfishly, even cheerfully. You would have sacrificed even the happiness of being with Mary. The rest and quiet of Nazareth was sacrificed at the call of duty. Your entire life was one generous giving, even to the point of being ready to die in proof of your love for Jesus and Mary. With true unselfish devotedness you worked without praise or reward.

But God wanted you to be in a certain sense a cooperator in the Redemption of the world. He confided to you the care of nourishing and defending the Divine Child. He wanted you to be poor and to suffer because He destined you to be the foster-father of His Son, who came into the world to save men by His sufferings and death, and you were to share in His suffering. In all of these important tasks, the Heavenly Father always found you a faithful servant!

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being God's faithful servant. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to be a faithful servant of God as you were. Help me to share, as you did, the perfect obedience of Jesus, who came not to do His Will, but the Will of His Father; to trust in the Providence of God, knowing that if I do His Will, He will provide for all my needs of soul and body; to be calm in my trials and to leave it to our Lord to free me from them when it pleases Him to do so. And help me to imitate your generosity, for there can be no greater reward here on earth than the joy and honor of being a faithful servant of God.

NOVENA PRAYER

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

Grant that those currently employed or recently laid off by the Legion may find new means to adequately support their families.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph's Novena for those in the Legion's Employ -Day 3

2011-01-25T07:33:00.000-08:00

As always, I'm just getting this from EWTN's site.

Third Day

MAN CHOSEN BY THE BLESSED TRINITY

Saint Joseph, you were the man chosen by God the Father. He selected you to be His representative on earth, hence He granted you all the graces and blessings you needed to be His worthy representative.

You were the man chosen by God the Son. Desirous of a worthy foster-father, He added His own riches and gifts, and above all, His love. The true measure of your sanctity is to be judged by your imitation of Jesus. You were entirely consecrated to Jesus, working always near Him, offering Him your virtues, your work, your sufferings, your very life. Jesus lived in you perfectly so that you were transformed into Him. In this lies your special glory, and the keynote of your sanctity. Hence, after Mary, you are the holiest of the saints.

You were chosen by the Holy Spirit. He is the mutual Love of the Father and the Son -- the heart of the Holy Trinity. In His wisdom He draws forth all creatures from nothing, guides them to their end in showing them their destiny and giving them the means to reach it. Every vocation and every fulfillment of a vocation proceeds from the Holy Spirit. As a foster-father of Jesus and head of the Holy Family, you had an exalted and most responsible vocation -- to open the way for the redemption of the world and to prepare for it by the education and guidance of the youth of the God-Man. In this work you cooperated as the instrument of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the guide; you obeyed and carried out the works. How perfectly you obeyed the guidance of the God of Love!

The words of the Old Testament which Pharaoh spoke concerning Joseph of Egypt can well be applied to you: "Can we find such another man, that is full of the spirit of God, or a wise man like to him?" (Gen. 41:38). No less is your share in the divine work of God than was that of Egypt. You now reign with your foster-Son and see reflected in the mirror of God's Wisdom the Divine Will and what is of benefit to our souls.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for having made you the man specially chosen by Him. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to imitate your virtues so that I too may be pleasing to the Heart of God. Help me to give myself entirely to His service and to the accomplishment of His Holy Will, that one day I may reach heaven and be eternally united to God as you are.

NOVENA PRAYER
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

Grant that those currently employed or recently laid off by the Legion may find new means to adequately support their families.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.
MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Magazine Stories versus Picture Books

2011-01-24T07:27:00.000-08:00

Over at Verla Kay’s boards (an essential resource for all aspiring children’s and YA writers, btw – if you don’t have an free account over there, you should get one today!) there’s a discussion going on about magazine stories versus picture books. There are already several articles available on the subject, but people wanted more concrete examples.

I’ve had a magazine story that almost made the transition to a picture book, so I thought I’d post both here to help illustrate the difference.

This post is going to be enormous, so if you're interested, keep reading after the jump!

The original story, How Zebra Learned to Hide,appeared in Clubhouse, Jr. Magazine. (They bought non-exclusive rights, so I can republish it here.) I submitted it as a picture book to the Sylvan Dell contest a few years ago. First, I submitted the magazine story as it was. The editors asked me to rewrite it so that it would be better suited to a picture book. My rewrite was mostly successful, since I made it into the finals and eventually lost because of my complete lack of marketing ability. Not a bad way to lose, in my opinion. After all, I know I am a far cry from a marketing genius!

Anyway, I’m no longer an aspiring picture book writer since I’d rather spend my time on middle grade science fiction. So, rather than letting “Zebra” molder on my hard drive, I’m putting it out here.

A disclaimer – This work is about 5 years old. (Wow! It’s been a long time!) Even though this was SUCCESSFUL work, reading it now makes me want to cry with embarrassment. But hey, what are blogs for if not embarrassment, right?

Also, Sylvan Dell allowed much higher word counts for picture books that your run-of the-Mill publisher. Frankly, I have no idea how I could manage to tell this story in 500 words or less while still keeping the requisite number of spreads. (Which is probably one of the reasons I gave up on the picture book game and moved on to novels. Well, that and the fact that, really, I like space battles and laser guns and big explosions. It’s difficult to write a picture book with all of those. Well, the Captain Raptor guys managed it delightfully, but that’s because they are beyond awesome.)

How Zebra Learned to Hide – The Clubhouse, Jr. Edition:

Zebra feared Lion.

“Lion is always hungry,” said Zebra. “If he finds me, he will eat me. I must hide.”

Zebra did not know how to hide. He asked Monkey for help.

“Hide in a tree,” said Monkey. “Lion will not find you there.”

Zebra tried to climb a tree. His hooves could not grab the branches. His tail could not help him balance. He fell with a “Thump!” and a “Bump!”

“I can not hide in a tree,” said Zebra. “What will I do?”

“Ask Hippo,” said Monkey. “She hides well.”

Zebra walked to the river. He was afraid. What if Lion saw him?

He found Hippo. Hippo was sunning herself on the riverbank.

“Hello, Zebra,” Hippo called. “What are you doing here?”

“I am looking for you, Hippo,” Zebra answered. “Will you teach me how to hide from Lion?”

“When I want to hide from Lion, I go for a swim,” said Hippo. “I sink under the water. Only my nose shows. Lion never sees me.”

Zebra walked into the river. The water was around his ankles. He walked further and further into the river.

The water grew deeper and deeper. Zebra began to worry.

“Go a little bit further,” called Hippo. “Then you will be ready to hide.”

Zebra didn’t want to go further. Water got in his nose. The mud clung to his feet. Weeds wrapped around his legs. He panicked.

“Hippo, help me!” Zebra called.

Hippo swam out into the river. She brought Zebra back to shore.

“I can’t hide in the river,” Zebra moaned. “What will I do? I don’t want Lion to catch me!”

“Why don’t you ask Elephant for advice?” Hippo replied. “He is very old and very wise.”

Zebra walked across the grassland. He had to find Elephant. He had to learn how to hide from Lion.

Zebra heard a noise in the tall grass. Lion was nearby!

Zebra was very frightened. He was too frightened to think. He had to get away. He ran as fast as he could.

Lion followed. Zebra ran and ran. He zigged. He zagged. He ran over hard, rocky soil.

Zebra couldn’t run any longer. He stopped beneath a tree. He took deep, ragged breaths. His legs shook.

The branches rustled. Had Lion caught him?

“Hello, Zebra,” a friendly voice called.

The voice came from the tree. Zebra looked up. He saw Monkey.

“Why are you shaking?” Monkey asked. “Why are you so tired?”

“It’s Lion!” Zebra gasped. “He’s chasing me. I can’t hide. He will catch me and eat me.”

Monkey climbed to the top of the tree. He looked around. “Lion is very far away,” he called.

“He’s lying down. He looks exhausted. Are you sure that he is chasing you?”

“I outran him,” Zebra sighed. “What luck!”

“Are you sure that it was luck?” Monkey asked.

Zebra thought for a moment. Monkey could hide in a tree. Zebra could not. Hippo could hide in the water. Zebra could not.

“I can’t hide,” Zebra whispered, “but I can run! I have long, running legs.

“I’m faster than Hippo. I’m faster than Monkey. I’m even faster than Lion!”

“You don’t need to hide at all,” Monkey replied. “That’s incredible!”

Zebra didn’t feel tired anymore. He had a wonderful gift. He ran off to tell his other friends the good news.

Zebra Learns to Hide – The Sylvan Dell Edition

Zebra feared Lion.

“Lion is always hungry,” said Zebra. “If he finds me, he’ll eat me. I must hide.”

Zebra didn’t know how to hide. He asked Monkey for help.

“I hide in trees,” said Monkey. “Lion never finds me.”

Zebra tried to climb a tree. His hooves couldn’t grab the branches. His tail couldn’t help him balance. He fell with a “Thump!” and a “Bump!”

“I can’t hide in a tree,” said Zebra. “What will I do?”

“Ask Hippo,” said Monkey. “She hides well.”

Zebra crept to the river. What if Lion saw him?

Hippo was sunning herself on the riverbank.

“Hello, Zebra,” Hippo called. “What can I do for you?”

“Can you teach me how to hide from Lion?” Zebra asked.

“When I want to hide,” said Hippo, “I sink under the water. Only my nose shows. Lion never sees me.”

Zebra walked into the river. The water chilled his ankles. He walked further.

The water grew deeper. Zebra shivered.

“Just a bit more,” called Hippo. “Then you’ll be ready to hide.”

Zebra didn’t want to go further. Water got in his nose and mud clung to his feet. Weeds wrapped around his legs. Zebra panicked.

“Hippo, help me!” He called.

Hippo swam out and brought Zebra back to shore.

“I can’t hide in the river,” Zebra moaned. “What will I do? I don’t want Lion to catch me!”

“Why don’t you ask Hyrax for advice?” Hippo replied. “Lion never catches him.”

Hyrax lived on a big, gray rock. Zebra found him asleep in the sun.

“Hyrax, wake up!” Zebra shouted. “I need your help.”

Hyrax stretched and yawned. “How can I help you, Zebra?” he asked.

“Can you help me learn to hide from Lion?” Zebra replied.

“Hiding is easy,” Hyrax replied. He ran up the side of the rock. Then he squeezed into a tiny crack.

“Hyrax, where are you?” Zebra called.

Hyrax poked his head out of another crack. “Here I am,” Hyrax said. “It’s fun to hide among the rocks. Why don’t you try it?”

Zebra tried. His hooves slipped on the smooth rock. He fell and scraped his knee.

Now Zebra ran as fast as he could towards the rock. He climbed a little higher this time.

Zebra stopped running. He slid to the ground.

“Maybe you should hide near the ground,” Hyrax suggested.

Zebra squeezed into a nearby crack. Rocks scraped the sides of his face. One leg twisted under him.

“Am I hiding?” Zebra asked hopefully.

Hyrax sighed. “Only your head is hiding. You’re not very good at this.”

Zebra backed out of the crack. “I’m doomed,” he sobbed. “I can’t hide in a tree, in the water, or in the rocks.”

“Why don’t you talk to Meerkat?” Hyrax suggested. “He never leaves the ground.”

Zebra galloped towards Meerkat’s warren.

Meerkat popped out of his hole. “Hello Zebra,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to hide from Lion,” Zebra replied. “I’ve tried all day. Hyrax said that you could help me.”

“I hide under the ground,” Meerkat said. Meerkat dug a tunnel and disappeared. After a few moments, he came back.

“I dig very small tunnels,” Meerkat said. “You’re very big. I bet you dig gigantic tunnels!”

Zebra took a deep breath and began to dig. He moved his front legs as fast as he could. He kicked up a huge dust cloud.

“Keep going, Zebra!” Meerkat called. “Your tunnel must be very large. I’ve never seen so much dust!”

Zebra dug and dug. He was drenched in sweat. He stopped digging.

He looked for his tunnel. He saw a long, shallow ditch.

Meerkat shook his head. “That’s not a very good tunnel,” he said. “It’s much too small to hide you from Lion.”

Zebra felt like crying. He would never learn to hide. Lion would catch him and eat him. He ran across the savannah.

A small voice shouted, “Hey, watch where you’re going! You almost squashed me.”

Zebra looked around. He didn’t see anyone. “Where are you?” he asked the voice.

“Right here.” Baby Impala slowly stood on wobbly legs. “My mother told me to hide in the grass.”

“You’re really good at hiding,” said Zebra. “Will you teach me to hide in the grass?”

“It’s not hard. Lie down.” Baby Impala replied.

Zebra lay down. “Am I hiding yet?” he asked.

“I still see you,” said Baby Impala. “You’re taller than the grass.”

Zebra rolled onto his side. “How about now?” he asked hopefully.

“I still see you,” said Baby Impala.

Zebra curled into a ball. “I must be hiding now,” he said. “I can’t get any smaller.”

“Your black and white stripes are really easy to see,” said Baby Impala. “And you’re really big.”

“What can I do?” asked Zebra. “I can’t hide anywhere.”

Baby Impala thought for a moment. Then she said, “Rhino is really big too. He’s not afraid of Lion. You should ask him how he hides.”

Zebra found Rhino drinking at the water hole. “Rhino,” Zebra asked, “How do you hide from Lion?”

“Hide?” Rhino snorted. “I don’t hide from Lion. I charge him!” He backed up and ran. The ground shook. His feet sounded like thunder.

“Can you teach me to charge?” asked Zebra.

“Of course,” said Rhino. “Just pick something. Then run into it as hard as you can.”

Zebra picked a tree. He ran as fast as he could. He thought, “It’s really going to hurt if I hit that!” He zigged out of the way.

“That’s no way to scare Lion,” said Rhino. “Try again.”

Zebra tried again. At the last moment, he zagged.

“Zebra, you can run, but you’re no good at charging,” said Rhino. “No wonder you’re afraid of Lion. Maybe you should ask Elephant for help. She’s old and wise.”

Zebra hurried across the grassland. He must find Elephant. He must learn how to hide from Lion.

Zebra heard a noise. Lion was nearby!

Zebra was too frightened to think. He ran as fast as he could.

Lion followed.

Zebra zigged. He zagged. He ran over hard, rocky soil.

Zebra ran until he couldn’t run any longer. He stopped beneath a tree. He took ragged breaths. His legs shook.

The branches rustled. Had Lion caught him?

Zebra looked and saw Monkey.

“Why are you shaking?” Monkey asked.

“Lion’s chasing me,” Zebra gasped. “He‘ll catch me and eat me.”

Monkey climbed to the top of the tree. He looked around.

“Lion’s lying down,” Monkey called. “He looks exhausted. Are you sure that he chased you?”

“I outran him,” Zebra cried. “What luck!”

“Was it really luck?” Monkey asked.

Zebra paused. Monkey could hide in trees, but Zebra couldn’t. Hippo could hide in water, but Zebra couldn’t.

Zebra couldn’t hide among rocks, in the ground, or in the grass. He couldn’t charge like Rhino.

“I can run,” Zebra whispered. “I’m faster than Hippo, Monkey, Hyrax and Meerkat. I’m even faster than Rhino and Impala. Best of all, I’m faster than Lion!”

Zebra jumped up. He had a wonderful gift. He ran off to let everyone know.

My Notes:

I've sold four short stories to magazines so far. (Ever since I started working on novels, I've written and submitted very few short stories. They're completely different kinds of writing!) Of those sales, I am confident that this is the only story that comes close to working as a picture book. And even this one turned out to be a near-miss, not a win!

You'll notice that both versions of the story have a lot of visual humor. Zebra gets into some pretty bizarre scrapes, which would translate well to a picture book spread. Also, it's a story line that appeals to young children. For a magazine story to work as a picture book, it needs to be targeted to the very young AND it needs to be something that would benefit from illustrations. (Clubhouse, Jr. ran the original story with awesome illustrations.)

This story is also not a mood piece or a 'slice of life'. It has a pretty clear character arc, a varied cast, and a solid, satisfying ending.

One last random thought. Most book editors have never worked on a magazine. So saying "This is more of a magazine story" may not actually mean that the story is a good fit for a children's magazine. It might just be a polite way of saying that it's not a good fit for a picture book.

A Jesuit Writes about Abortion....

2011-01-24T05:52:00.000-08:00

And mentions Plato while he does it! I've been enjoying the series of articles over at the blog Whosoever Desires. In part one, Anthony Lusvardi discusses why opposition to abortion is an essential issue to Catholics, and in fact to all Christians who claim to take the New Testament seriously. In the second essay, he discusses why our theological opposition to abortion must lead to practical opposition.

An clearly argued, even-tempered set of pieces. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. Besides, he uses PLATO to make his point. How much cooler can you get?

A really interesting database of Old Newspapers

2011-01-24T05:45:00.000-08:00

Papers Past. It's run by the New Zealand national library, and it has newspapers from 1839-1945. It's especially useful for the years that the NYT keeps behind the subsciption wall!

I played around with it a bit last night. The advanced search works really well, and the text was readable. I think I like it better than the NYT search, actually. And hey, a wire report is a wire report, whether it's published by the Yanks or the Kiwis.....

St. Joseph's Novena- Day 2

2011-01-24T04:47:00.000-08:00

The whole Novena is available at EWTN.
Second Day

VIRGINAL HUSBAND OF MARY

Saint Joseph, I honor you as the true husband of Mary. Scripture says: "Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, and of her was born Jesus who is called Christ" (Matt. 1:16). Your marriage to Mary was a sacred contract by which you and Mary gave yourselves to each other. Mary really belonged to you with all she was and had. You had a right to her love and obedience; and no other person so won her esteem, obedience, and love.

You were also the protector and witness of Mary's virginity. By your marriage you gave to each other your virginity, and also the mutual right over it -- a right to safeguard the other's virtue. This mutual virginity also belonged to the divine plan of the Incarnation, for God sent His angel to assure you that motherhood and virginity in Mary could be united.

This union of marriage not only brought you into daily familiar association with Mary, the loveliest of God's creatures, but also enabled you to share with her a mutual exchange of spiritual goods. And Mary found her edification in your calm, humble, and deep virtue, purity, and sanctity. What a great honor comes to you from this close union with her whom the Son of God calls Mother and whom He declared the Queen of heaven and earth! Whatever Mary had belonged by right to you also, and this included her Son, even though He had been given to her by God in a wonderful way. Jesus belonged to you as His legal father. Your marriage was the way which God chose to have Jesus introduced into the world, a great divine mystery from which all benefits have come to us.

God the Son confided the guardianship and the support of His Immaculate Mother to your care. Mary's life was that of the Mother of the Savior, who did not come upon earth to enjoy honors and pleasures, but to redeem the world by hard work, suffering, and the cross. You were the faithful companion, support, and comforter of the Mother of Sorrows. How loyal you were to her in poverty, journeying, work, and pain. Your love for Mary was based upon your esteem for her as Mother of God. After God and the Divine Child, you loved no one as much as her. Mary responded to this love. She submitted to your guidance with naturalness and easy grace and childlike confidence. The Holy Spirit Himself was the bond of the great love which united your hearts.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being the virginal husband of Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to love Jesus with all my heart, as you did, and love Mary with some of the tenderness and loyalty with which you loved her.

Novena Prayer

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

Please help the employees and ex-employees of the Legion find new jobs that will adequately support their familes.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

The First Day of the Saint Joseph's Novena

2011-01-23T07:20:00.000-08:00

You can find the whole thing over at EWTN. I'm praying this one for all the families who depend on LC/RC for their salaries-- that those who work for the Register will weather the change, and that anyone who ends up needing a new job finds one quickly. It's a tough economy, and none of these people started working for the Legion with full information. No one woke up one morning and thought, "You know what? I really want to work as a cog in an organization devoted to lining the pockets of a false prophet!" But it's a tough economy out there. And so, we pray...

Day One

FOSTER-FATHER OF JESUS

Saint Joseph, you were privileged to share in the mystery of the Incarnation as the foster-father of Jesus. Mary alone was directly connected with the fulfillment of the mystery, in that she gave her consent to Christ's conception and allowed the Holy Spirit to form the sacred humanity of Jesus from her blood. You had a part in this mystery in an indirect manner, by fulfilling the condition necessary for the Incarnation -- the protection of Mary's virginity before and during your married life with her. You made the virginal marriage possible, and this was a part of God's plan, foreseen, willed, and decreed from all eternity.

In a more direct manner you shared in the support, upbringing, and protection of the Divine Child as His foster-father. For this purpose the Heavenly Father gave you a genuine heart of a father -- a heart full of love and self-sacrifice. With the toil of your hands you were obliged to offer protection to the Divine Child, to procure for Him food, clothing, and a home. You were truly the saint of the holy childhood of Jesus -- the living created providence which watched over the Christ-Child.

When Herod sought the Child to put Him to death, the Heavenly Father sent an angel but only as a messenger, giving orders for the flight; the rest He left entirely in your hands. It was that fatherly love which was the only refuge that received and protected the Divine Child. Your fatherly love carried Him through the desert into Egypt until all enemies were removed. Then on your arms the Child returned to Nazareth to be nourished and provided for during many years by the labor of your hands. Whatever a human son owes to a human father for all the benefits of his up-bringing and support, Jesus owed to you, because you were to Him a foster-father, teacher, and protector.

You served the Divine Child with a singular love. God gave you a heart filled with heavenly, supernatural love -- a love far deeper and more powerful than any natural father's love could be.

You served the Divine Child with great unselfishness, without any regard to self-interest, but not without sacrifices. You did not toil for yourself, but you seemed to be an instrument intended for the benefit of others, to be put aside as soon as it had done its word, for you disappeared from the scene once the childhood of Jesus had passed.

You were the shadow of the Heavenly Father not only as the earthly representative of the authority of the Father, but also by means of your fatherhood -- which only appeared to be natural -- you were to hide for a while the divinity of Jesus. What a wonderfully sublime and divine vocation was yours -- the loving Child which you carried in your arms, and loved and served so faithfully, had God in Heaven as Father and was Himself God!

Yours is a very special rank among the saints of the Kingdom of God, because you were so much a part of the very life of the Word of God made Man. In your house at Nazareth and under your care the redemption of mankind was prepared. What you accomplished, you did for us. You are not only a powerful and great saint in the Kingdom of God, but a benefactor of the whole of Christendom and mankind. Your rank in the Kingdom of God, surpassing far in dignity and honor of all the angels, deserves our very special veneration, love, and gratitude.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of having been chosen by God to be the foster-father of His Divine Son. As a token of your own gratitude to God for this your greatest privilege, obtain for me the grace of a very devoted love for Jesus Christ, my God and my Savior. Help me to serve Him with some of the self-sacrificing love and devotion which you had while on this earth with Him. Grant that through your intercession with Jesus, your foster-Son, I may reach the degree of holiness God has destined for me, and save my soul.

Novena Prayer
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

Please help the employees and ex-employees of the Legion find new jobs that will adequately support their familes.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Novena Heads Up

2011-01-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

With the news that the Register is changing hands, and with rumors of other massive changes in Legion-land, I think it's time to start another St. Joseph's Novena for all the families who depend on the Legion for income.

I'll be starting it on Sunday and using the same Novena as before. I'd like to invite any of my readers to join in, I'll post the daily prayers here, or you can just get them off EWTN.

These families all started working for the Legion thinking they were doing God's work. Let's pray that God honors their good intentions and helps them find new means of feeding their children!

Writing-Related PSAs

2011-01-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Just in case you haven't noticed, Editorial Anonymous is back! EA is a great source for information on writing for kids, she's got an excellent community of commentors, and she's an all around great read. So if you're interested in Kidlit, start hanging out over there - it's a good use of your "hanging out on the internet to avoid revising" time.

Also, remember that the Highlights Fiction Contest is now accepting entries! You have until January 31 to enter. I'm sending off my entry today - I've been working on it since July and I think it's a good one!

And, the incredibly awesome Dawn Metcalf has a book available for pre-order. I read one of the early drafts of this novel, and it's a good one.

And, not kidlit at all, but he'll be mad if I don't mention it: My dad has a book coming out this spring. I haven't read any of the drafts or seen an ARC, but he's a good writer and it's his area of expertise -- so if you're interested in business and investing, it's a good pick. Plus, I'm really proud of him! :)

Her Body, Her Choice

2010-12-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

Joanne Jacobs tells us about a St. Paul, Minnesota school where sweets have been banned. I think the most telling quote comes from one of the fifth-graders:

“All my friends say, ‘This really sucks,’” said Misky Salad, a 10-year-old fifth-grader at Chelsea Heights Elementary. “A lot of us feel it should be up to us to determine what we should do with our bodies.”

So, what do we do when two liberal social programs collide? Should women be able to decide what to do with their bodies? Or only if they're not obese?

I actually think the underlying philosophy is that the government, not the parent, is to decide what girls can and cannot do with their bodies. So, it's considered acceptable for a school nurse to give birth control to a child without her parents' permission. But if Mom sends a Little Debbie in her daughter's lunch, it's a crisis.

This isn't a new trend among do-gooders and social reformers. Chesterton wrote about this a century ago in What's Wrong With The World, though at the time the argument centered on poor girls having long hair.

Whenever we decide to 'uplift' a population, we end up denying parental rights. Why? I suspect it's because we see the poor as 'less human' than we are. We don't ask mothers, "What do you want for your daughters?" Instead, like farmers trying to raise the perfect livestock, we make decrees intended to produce the ideal breed of urban woman.

Of course, the answer to these plots against parental rights is to treat each other as beloved children of God. That is why religious schools seem to do better with poor children. They see the kids as people, not an inferior species in need of 'improvement.' Meanwhile, the same class that rails against factory farming of animals demands factory farming of children. Well, of other people's children. If their own children were subjected to such strict rules, it would be an unfair encroachment on parental rights. Because, you see, the reformers are the RIGHT kind of parent.

Failing Advent

2010-12-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

If Advent was a high-stakes test, I’d be repeating a grade this year. I started off the season with grand plans for nightly prayer services, themed baking projects, craft ideas and maybe even a Jesse Tree. Heck, if nothing else, we’d at least steal Charlotte’s “box of books” idea, right?

My plans fell apart almost immediately. The baby was teething and glued to me day and night. Then my husband’s grandfather died and we had to take a funeral trip to Jasper, 6 hours away. Somewhere in there, there was a blizzard, and we couldn’t leave the house for a few days. So much for complicated crafts that needed supplies!
Finally, in the last week or so, I started to get my act together. On Gaudate Sunday, I finally found my magnetic Advent calendar. (The one in the picture-- got to love the Amazon widgets! :) ) We went down to Indy to visit family. (Another visit, to Scottsburg, got cancelled due to ice.)

Yesterday, I made Toffee, Gingerbread, and a Cheesecake for my mother-in-law’s birthday. Then, my husband reminded me about the evening of recollection at church. We dashed out the door. (I’d forgotten it was Tuesday. Not the evening of recollection – I knew that was on a Tuesday. But I’d thought it was still Monday, for some reason. My internal calendar tends to go a bit berserk when I’m exhausted.)

We made it there about 15 minutes late- not bad – and we got to hear all of the second talk and a decent junk of the first one. Best of all, we made it to confession! And Father even gave me some really awesome advice about praying every time you change a diaper (because that way you’ll be praying all day long! Especially if you’re a nursing mom with two kids in cloth...)

Today, I made a huge dinner, got the kids’ pictures taken in front of the tree, and celebrated Grandma’s birthday. Advent was back on track.

And then it happened. The toilet overflowed. It didn’t just overflow a little. It hemorrhaged water all over the bathroom and the kitchen. The water was so deep that it started running between the floor boards. It was raining sewage in my basement, over by the hampers and the laundry machine. So, Advent had to go on hold again, so that I could bleach all my floors and everything else the flood had touched. (I think the man who invented Clorox should be canonized. Seriously. How would we live without it?)

Anyway, as I was scrubbing my floor at 10:30 at night while the baby screamed and the other kids complained about the bleachy smell, I realized something:

Maybe the interruptions in my Advent weren’t actually interruptions at all. After all, Advent isn’t really about preparing for Christmas. I mean, sure, we act like it is, but Christmas already happened. Christ has been born. Heck, He already grew up, died on the cross, and saved us, too!

Advent is about preparing for the Second Coming, and for our own death and judgments. Jesse Trees and Wreaths are nice tools for preparing ourselves to spend eternity with God. But so are funerals, unexpected changes to plans, and even nasty kitchen floors that demand several hours with a bucket of bleach. God gives us these tasks to prepare us.

“Overflow your toilet and then kill all the bacteria” may never make it into the “Catholic Mom’s Guide to Raising Saints-in-Training by Doing Advent RIGHT,” but it’s the task God has given me today, the task that will eventually lead me to His side.

Maybe next year I'll be able to give my kids an Advent to remember - but then again, maybe not. And that's OK too.

More on the Legion

2010-12-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

From the UK Catholic Herald. Once again, a major problem with the new norms is that they do NOT amount to the repudiation of Maciel. They are simply about the PUBLIC repudiation of Maciel. But, in order to survive, the Legion cannot just change outward appearances.

Any real reform has to happen at the roots.

It's like dandelions-- if you cut the leaves and flowers, you have not changed the plant. The root of the weed is still there, beneath the surface, and when conditions are ripe, it will grow again.

To remove a weed, you must completely remove the root. And then, you must plant something else, something GOOD, in the same soil, so that there's not an empty space for the weed to re-colonize.

Without a total refounding, how can the Legion ever be anything but what Maciel created it to be?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2010-12-14T16:23:00.000-08:00

When Medieval Pious Legends suddenly count as big news.

What I find interesting about the article is the researcher's suprise that the Medieval Church taught that women could have useful roles in society. Because clearly, before the 1960s or so, Christian widows were expected to be buried alive with their husbands or something.

Also, I'm a little curious about why Mary's grandmother would still be living when Jesus was in his 30s... wouldn't she have been well over 100?

Legion Leaders Work to Avoid Embarassment

2010-12-14T12:58:00.000-08:00

I was going to take a break from Legion-blogging for a while. At this point, I don't have anything new to contribute - thanks to the steadfastness of the internet, anyone who is interested can check out this blog’s archives, or click on the tags for Legion-related editorializing.

Still, even after closely following this mess for nearly 2 years, I found the latest announcement from Legion –Land baffling. (The Spanish is available over at Life-After-RC. The Catholic News Agency report tones down the problematic nature of the original.)

This announcement is more proof that the men running the Legion just don’t understand the nature of the “Maciel Problem.”

The Vatican declared their founder devoid of scruples or religious sentiment. (See the May 1 Communique) Yet the solution seems to be to ban all PUBLIC devotion to Maciel. LC/RC members may still meditate on his writings IN PRIVATE. Even worse, priests are allowed to use his words as the basis for talks and homilies, as long as they don’t cite the source.

The whole approach seems to be one of avoiding embarrassing questions. (“Father, why are you quoting a known child-molester and ‘false prophet’ in your talks?”) Instead, the devotion to the founder can continue, and his words can still be used to mold hearts and minds – as long as nobody openly discusses what’s going on.

At this point, I have a hard time believing that there can be any authentic reform of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi, especially if members are still using the founder’s writings for their spiritual formation.

If a house is founded on sand, the solution is not to keep living in it and to hope the ground magically repairs itself. It’s not to build the same structure in the same place. It’s to find new, firm ground and build a new, stable house. If there’s to be a reform or refoundation, this latest document shows why it can’t come from within. I

think, like the Fils-De-Marie/ Missionary Society of Mandeville case, any real reform and refounding is going to have to come from the men who’ve left. It seems that those who stay have not yet grasped what it means to follow a spirituality set out by a false prophet.

Ooops!

2010-12-13T18:28:00.000-08:00

I posted that on the wrong blog! A real post here tomorrow, when I have more time and less spotty internet!

Like a Lourdes, Except Affordable as a Pilgrimage Option....

2010-12-08T17:19:00.000-08:00

There is now an officially approved Marian Apparition in the United States! Unfortunately, it's near Green Bay Wisconsin, so we should probably wait until spring before we start planning our pilgrimages.....

An Experiment Born of a Midnight Joke

2010-12-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

I'm starting a new blog. About sofas. And couches and davenports too. Why? Because my husband dared me to. I'll still keep blogging politics, religion, education, kidlit and anything else that catches my fancy from this site.

BUT, over at http://sofanyms.blogspot.com/ , I'll be making a concerted effort to become the internet's premier sofa-blogger. Why? Probably because I dropped myself on my head as a baby! Also, because anything is interesting, if you research it enough.

Besides, the snows have started up here in Lake-effect land. Obsessing about sofas will make the dark months go faster.

And yes, I am bizarre, and possibly insane. It's probably genetic.

Newsflash: Kids get distracted at school....

2010-11-26T11:58:00.001-08:00

No wonder the newspapers are dying if http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?_r=2 is what passes for news these days.

We didn't have cell phones and twitter when I was in school, but we still procrastinated and ignored the teachers. We just used old fashioned implements like rubber bands, paper clips, pens, and paper. We flipped pens passed notes, constructed gadgets, and doodled.

Oh, yeah, and we had those new-fangled things called 'windows.' And we stared out them and daydreamed.

Throughout elementary school, teachers were always banning one fad or another-- because sticker books, friendship pins and Trapper Keepers were distractions.

My parents used to bring comic books and yo-yos to school.

Do you think pioneer newspapers lamented the prevalence of stag beetles and frogs in the classroom?

Children have been distracted in schools as long as there have been schools. Today's problem is not one of technology or rewired brains.

It's a problem of authority and discipline - of teachers who can't or won't confiscate distractions and of parents who don't care if their child distracts himself and others.

If they didn't have texting, they'd just find something else.....

No, I'm not dead...

2010-11-09T10:55:00.000-08:00

But today I was hit with the full magnitude of the impending Thanksgiving Season. And Advent. And the wreck that is my home. And it looks like the baby is finally done teething (he's gone from one tooth to 6 in 2 weeks, and the last 2 of his first eight should be in any day.) So, with my newly free arms, I'll be out conquering the chaos --- See you when I get back. (I hope to be absent from comment sections too--- because my house needs me!)

Looking at the Fruits

2010-10-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

When a movement comes under investigation, observers are often told that we ought to look to the fruits.

This morning, my husband pointed out that Paul's letter to the Galatians actually TELLS us what fruits we ought to be looking for: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Notice that, on this list, there is nothing about: Numbers of Vocations, Speed of Increase, Signs, Wonders, Visions, Fundraising, Conversions, Retreats Given, Books Published, Numbers of Followers, Healings, Buildings Dedicated, or Youth Groups Started.

Meanwhile, we also have the Fruits of the Flesh: Immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies...

When we look at the fruits of a new movement, an association of the faithful, or an apparition, perhaps we should use Galatians as our guide.

An Apology and an Interesting Item

2010-10-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry to be so absent from the blog this month. October is a busy month for us - Birthdays, Anniversaries, Reunions, Guests - and when you add in our first foray into fall sports season and potty training and apple picking and cooking squash in all it's delicious variety.... well, blogging was really the LEAST important thing in the world to me. (As it should be...)

Anyway, I just wanted to point out this new article by Sandro Magister on the current struggles within the Legion.

There were a few points I found especially interesting.

Now that he has been made a cardinal, Archbishop Velasio De Paolis will have even more authority in implementing the mandate he has received from Benedict XVI to salvage the Legionaries of Christ, brought to the brink of ruin by their founder, Marcial Maciel, and by the men of his inner circle.

Why should a red hat affect his ability to salvage the congregation? Will Garza et. al. suddenly say "Oh, my goodness!!! We were placing roadblocks in the path of the official papal delegate--but how could we hope to oppose a Cardinal?" That seems unlikely.

So, the only way he will get more authority from his new title is if the rank-and-file Legionaries will respect a Cardinal more than they respect a Delegate. BUT if it really takes a red hat to get the necessary respect, the congregation is already doomed, in my opinion.

After all, in that case they're not really being obedient to the Church, but to outward signs of influence. The Delegate should not have to be a Cardinal in order to reform the congregation.

In mid-September, De Paolis asked Garza to give up the main offices that he holds, at least those of territorial director for Italy, supervisor of consecrated virgins of the movement Regnum Christi, general prefect of studies and head of the financial holding company Integer. But Garza said no. A chill has fallen between the two

Why does the Delegate simply ask? Why not demand? Is his hesitation due to the "Roman" way of doing things, or is it necessary that Garza resign on his own? This is a curious bit of information, but Magister's sources are usually impeccable. Still, did anyone really expect the Legion's leadership to meekly hand over the reigns?

The maddening thing about these games is that there are men's souls and vocations on the line. There have got to be at least some men who remain in this congregation because they hope to see it be refounded and changed into something better. Once they realize that they're signing up for decades of power struggles, they may leave, and the Legion will be left with only the men who cannot leave because they are damaged by the bad formation, methodology and violations of the internal forum.

In a sense, this attempted reform of the Legion has been a huge experiment. There have been other 'orders' founded by frauds. However, most of those stayed local and were easily suppressed by the bishops. This is the first time we've had an international con game disguised as an order.

The big question for me is - can a religious order have a charism "apart from the founder?" De Paolis seems to suggest putting them at the service of the new dicastery -- so something like the Pima missionaries, but for RE-evangelization. It's an interesting idea -- but in the same letter he mentions the concerns about formation. How can we expect these men to form others if they haven't been well-formed themselves?

I think we're going to have to take a wait, see, and pray approach here. Personally, I don't think reform is likely at this point. And if a friend considering a vocation to religious life mentioned he was considering the Legion, I would... vociferously... try to dissuade him. And respond with a list of other orders to consider.

Some of my friends think the Legion is still salvageable-- because there are men on the inside who love Christ and who joined with good intentions. The question is, can love for God fix an order where the entrenched interests are full of love for self, money and power?

**NOTE: Edited because I forgot to run spell-check!**

Halloween Wars

2010-10-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

It’s October again, which means it’s time to repeat a venerable Catholic Blogosphere tradition. No, not Rosary Novenas- Are you mad??? It’s time to begin the Halloween Wars!

In past years I’ve been a bystander, but as my kids have gotten older, I’ve gotten a bit more entrenched in my position.

We trick or treat. Loudly, joyfully, and with much skipping, twirling, jumping, smiling and singing. My kids start planning their costumes in August and change their minds about 3,457 times before Halloween.

We live for the annual pumpkin patch trip. We draw haunted houses and witches and Jack-O-Lanterns. We obsess about candy. I am treated to calculations on every trip to the store—a Hershey’s miniature is worth three Smarties. But there’s a one to one lollipop to Smarties ratio, especially for the child with the corn allergy.

I know what you’re thinking: “But Deirdre, how can you allow your children to participate in devil-worship this way? One day they’re dressing up as princesses, and the next they’re pagan priestesses! Don’t you realize you’ve set your toddlers on the road to perdition?!?!?”

I see Halloween a lot like I see the Fourth of July. Some people choose to celebrate the Fourth by getting drunk, smoking pot, fornicating and disobeying local fire ordinances. I will not allow my children attend such celebrations. On the other hand, we ecstatically attend the local parade, cook bratwurst for lunch, and go to the fairground to watch the fireworks.

Halloween, as we American’s celebrate it, is mostly a harvest festival. That’s why the pumpkins are such a big deal (for my family, Halloween has always marked the first pumpkin pie of the season—which ought to be eaten BEFORE trick-or-treating…). And trick-or-treating is not about sneaking out into the woods for human sacrificing. It’s about small children playing dress-up, and adults telling them how cute (or pretty, or scary) they are and giving them treats.

In most neighborhoods in the United States, Halloween is basically “Children’s appreciation day” and has been for generations. And given how little our culture appreciates children on most days, it doesn’t hurt to remind people that children are a treasure.

Now, in recent years, especially in urban areas, adults have tried to take over Halloween. They’re trying to take “kids dress-up and get candy” day and turn it into “adults dress like porn stars and get drunk and fornicate” day.

Personally, I think this is a result of the fact that many ‘adults’ are no longer getting married and having kids. 25-year-olds used to celebrate Halloween by putting their toddler in a bear suit and making a trip around the block. But when you don’t have kids, there’s really no ‘age appropriate’ Halloween celebration. So the current generation is using Halloween as yet another excuse to get drunk and party. (I fully expect that in a few years “Veteran’s Day” will be an excuse to get drunk and party. It’s that whole ‘Fading Years of the Roman empire” vibe.)

So, what’s a Catholic Mom of little ones to do? Well, you can decide to boycott the whole thing – it’s your right, and this is an area where there’s no “Officially Orthodox” choice – it’s a matter of personal preference.

But me and mine will do the Halloween thing. We’ll march around the neighborhood in costume and fill our plastic pumpkins with treats. And afterwards, we’ll head home to warm cider and bed. Because, after all, the next day is All Saints’ and we’ll want to be up early for Mass!

St. Therese and Me

2010-10-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

I’ve come to the conclusion that, although she died young, St. Therese is primarily a saint for grownups. When I was in high school and college, I loathed St. Therese. I thought she was sappy and wimpy. All her talk of “Little ways” and flowers and small, homely miracles left me sick to my stomach. She may have been Holy, but she never did anything. She was no example for me. I was going to change the world, create something totally new, be a heroine. What could a sickly girl who lived practically her whole life in a convent have to teach me?

Fifteen years and some heaping doses of humility later, I’m in a different place – almost a different person in some ways. I don’t change the world. I change diapers. And also sheets. Lots and lots of sheets. I may not live in a convent, but my home is a sort of enclosure – most of my time, energy and prayer-life are spent within these walls. And now, when I approach St. Therese, I don’t see a weak, sickly girl. I see a woman who understood that, when God has blessed us with an absence of large temptations, we ought to wage the same battle against the little temptations that DO afflict us. I see a Doctor of the Church, who teaches that even a humble unnoticed life has great value in the eyes of the Church.

St. Therese has gone from a target of my scorn and derision to one of my favorite saints. Here are a few reasons why:

1. St. Therese teaches us how to be good parents. When Therese describes her early life, her parents stand out. Her mother and father loved their daughters and doted on them. They were interruptible – when one of the girls wanted to talk, or play, or show off an accomplishment, their parents were willing to watch and listen and be present to them. Therese’s mother died young, but she was such a good example of maternal care that her older daughters were able to carry her love to her youngest child. Therese’s father took his daughter on long walks and on fishing trips.

St. Therese could bask in Christ’s love because she had already absorbed so much love and care from her family. She teaches us that to give our children a straight path to Christ, we should first give them our love and attention. Her description of her parents helps me to remember that the first job on my list should always be to convey God’s love to my children as best as I can. St. Therese helps me be a better mother.

2. St. Therese teaches us to accept the tasks we’re given instead of dreaming of the ones we wish we’d been given. Therese dreamed of doing really big things for God. She wanted to join the Carmelite mission to Asia, but that’s not what God had planned for her. Instead, she stayed in France, praying, working at homely tasks, and caring for the younger sisters in her convent. She didn’t give in to disappointment and daydreams. Instead, she focused on doing the little things before her well. And, because she was faithful in the small tasks, she now has a much bigger one: Patroness of the Missions.

3. St. Therese understood how hard it is to keep your temper in the face of little annoyances. One of my favorite episodes in Therese’s autobiography occurred as she was washing clothes. One of the other sisters accidentally splashed her and soaked her habit. Therese was angry, but she knew the other sister had just been clumsy – there was no malice in her action. So Therese stayed calm, continued to smile, and offered up the soaked habit. This incident is basically the “Mother of small children” experience in a nutshell. St. Therese can intercede for us as we face the spills and leaky diapers and broken dishes of our lives, because she knows how we feel.

4. St. Therese understood the importance of small, homely miracles. She accepted even the small gifts God gave her with great pleasure. She didn’t ask for the ability to levitate, or huge acts of healing. Instead, she asked for things like snow. And she was as awed and happy when God gave her snow as another saint might have been by the ability to cast out demons. For most of us, the small, homely miracles are the important ones: A car that makes it to the gas station on an empty tank, an open ‘sick appointment’ 20 minutes after we call the doctor because we’re sure the babies in bad shape, an out of season rose in bloom just when we’re at our lowest and really need a sign that God is still taking care of us. St. Therese is the saint for anyone who’s ever gotten an unexpected check just as the kids’ dental bill is due or who’s encountered a helpful stranger to change that flat tire. She knows that for ‘little souls’ like us, even the tiny gifts from God are very important.

I wish I’d understood Therese a little earlier in my life – I could have spent more years learning from this great saint. But I’m glad I gave her a second chance – because her little way is a great help to this mother of little ones.

Series Mania

2010-09-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

Series Mania

Last week, my husband brought a stack of books home from work. He’s a librarian, so that’s a normal occurrence. But all these books were novels! For me! A month earlier than I’d expected!! (Which reminds me – I must return them on today. Other desperate readers are in line behind me.)

First, I got to read Tongues of Serpents, the latest (and I assume the last) novel in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series. The final book in a series is always bittersweet – a series that doesn’t end gets dull and exhausting, but it hurts to say goodbye to characters still in their primes. Novik handled it well, I think. The book follows Temeraire and Lawrence as they go into exile in Australia. Novik wraps up the main story-lines, but leaves a few of the side plots unfinished – perhaps there will be room for other novels in the world she’s created? The ending was satisfactory- not unicorns and rainbows, but a good, sturdy ending that was faithful to the characters we love. I’m sorry to see the series end, but I’m glad it ended well.

On the other hand, since the series HAS ended, it’s time for all my friends who wait until and author has finished to get started on this series! (Thank you, George R.R. Martin, for breaking their hearts and turning them into cynics. I just love waiting years to discuss books with the people you’ve burned. ) I like to describe Temeraire as “Master and Commander meets The Dragonriders of Pern for grownups.” It’s the Napoleonic wars. With dragons. And Lawrence, a naval captain, acquires a young dragon by mistake. Except, where McCaffrey’s dragon riders are perpetual adolescents, Novik’s are adults, with adult responsibilities, problems and aspirations.

Honestly, if you’re at all interested in fantasy, you ought to read this series.

(As a bonus, Novik was also part of the team that designed the “Never Winter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide.” I wish I was a tenth as talented as she is!)

The second book my husband brought home was good clean YA fun: Ally Carter’s latest Gallagher Girls novel:
The Gallagher Girls books take place at an exclusive school for teenaged spies. While the early books had the feel of Katherine Hepburn’s screwball romantic comedies, the more recent ones have been dealing more with the dark side of being a teenaged spy. In Only the Good Spy Young, Cammie is in hiding from “The Circle,” a shadowy, black-helicopters style conspiracy. A missing teacher holds the key to her father’s disappearance, and Cammie is ready to risk her life for the information. After all, she’s a Gallagher girl, and that’s what Gallagher girls do. The book ends with a dark cliffhanger, which means we’ll get at least one more book in this series. I can’t wait.

Ally Carter’s YA books are clean (just a few kisses), exciting, and have well-crafted characters. Even though she writes romantic spy thrillers, she doesn’t cut any corners. I can’t wait until my own daughters are old enough to read these – they’re the sort of YA I wish had existed when I was in junior high!

The final book was critically acclaimed, much anticipated, and had an incredibly long waitlist at my library. Suzanne Collins' MockingJay is the final book of the “Hunger Games” Trilogy. The books are set in a post-apocalyptic United States, where “The Capital” rules over 11 districts, each devoted to serving a particular need. There are farming districts, fishing districts, technology districts, etc, The districts are surrounded by barbed wire and wilderness. Their residents are not permitted to travel or to communicate with people in other districts. Once a year, the capital holds something called ‘The Hunger Games.” The games are a coliseum-style battle to the death – a version of ‘Survivor’ where the contestants kill each other for the entertainment of the capital.

Each district must send two tributes – a boy and a girl. Katniss is from 12, the mining district. When her delicate younger sister is chosen for the games, Katniss volunteers to go, and to die, in her stead. Her spontaneous act of love makes her an instant celebrity.

The first book in the trilogy follows Katniss as she fights in her first Hunger Games. In the second, the districts are beginning to tire of the Capital’s cruelty, and Katniss must stop a rebellion or risk losing her family. In Mockingjay, the third book in the series, Katniss is among the rebels, an unwilling symbol of the revolution. Her life has become a series of compromises as she attempts to protect the people she loves. But how can she even be sure that she’s chosen the right side in the conflict?

Collins closes her series on a much darker note than Novik chose for hers, but it’s the right note. In the end, a new beginning in post apocalyptic America can’t be as happy as one in nineteenth century Australia.

So, that was my weekend – a welcome respite in the land of good fiction – better fiction than I can write—unless I get back to work and start working harder!

Associated Press Story on 3gf

2010-09-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Associated Press published a story this weekend on the 3gf - Regnum Christi's so-called Consecrated Women. Hundreds of papers have picked up the story -- hopefully it will make more Catholics aware of the situation these women are in.

If you know anyone considering the 3gf, or considering sending her daughter to the school in Rhode Island, make sure she reads this article.

Discernment doesn't just mean warm fuzzy feelings. It means prayer and RESEARCH - faith and REASON.

If your daughter wanted to join the Franciscans, the sisters would suggest that she read up on their history and their founder and their way of life.

Do the same bare minimum BEFORE she gets involved with the 3gf!

Prudence in the Face of Spiritual Scams

2010-09-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

If someone trained by Bernie Madoff, using a “Madoff-Approved” investment strategy tried to get me to invest with him, I’d send him away. Quickly. Loudly. With a few sarcastic remarks.

I like my money. I want it to grow. So I wouldn’t imprudently risk it with someone trained by a known conman, no matter how nice and earnest the young investment advisor seemed. And, if he wasn’t trying to con me and he really couldn’t see why a method designed by Madoff was a bad idea, I would be flabbergasted.

Here’s the thing : My kids, and their faith formation, are a LOT more important to me than money. (Obviously –or I wouldn’t keep having them, since there seems to be an inverse relationship between the number of kids and the money in the bank…)

So, when someone comes to me and wants me to let my kids participate in a Marcial Maciel approved youth activity – and when they start NEW Maciel-approved youth activities and ignore the programs origins, I get a little…annoyed.

My parish school is now using K4J in religion class. (Thank goodness we home school!) Challenge is using the home school mailing list and sent my daughter an invitation to one of their events. (sigh) I honestly can't comprehend why parents think it's OK to enroll their kids in programs approved by a man with no religious sentiment or scruples (Citation ).
No one would choose a “Madoff-approved” investment scheme for their hard-earned money. It would be imprudent. So why are they LESS prudent with their children than they are with their retirement funds?

And I apologize for the lack of intelligent argument. But blogging beats screaming.

Of Stolen Cows and Crooked Lines

2010-09-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

I’ve been arguing with Jack Keogh, otherwise known as “The Monk,” for months. We’ve butted heads on several blogs, we’ve disagreed vociferously, and on a few occasions, if we’d been in the same pub, I would have leapt across the table and tried to strangle him!

With that history, I wasn’t sure what I’d find when I opened “Driving Straight on Crooked Lines.” I think I was expecting a rousing defense of the Legion. Instead, Jack gave a fascinating, deeply personal account of what it was like to be a Legionary in the early days. His writing puts the reader behind his eyes and takes you along for the ride. In the end, his book answered a few important questions for me: What were they thinking? Why didn’t anyone see? Why would anyone have stayed? How do people decide to leave?

It seems like most accounts of Legion life have been written by melancholic introverts with a tendency toward extreme scruples. For these people, Legion life was Hell. The whole structure seemed to be set up to keep introverts miserable, subservient, and broken. Unfortunately, these accounts also repel many current LC and RC – it’s easy to write the authors off. “Well, of course the Legion was a bad experience for him. He was a bad fit! He should never have stayed! After all, it’s not like the door was locked!”

Jack Keogh was not introverted, melancholic, or overly scrupulous. He was an extrovert, set all afire in his quest to save Latin America from the communists. He was an optimist, and enjoyed most of his time in the Legion. He saw Maciel’s crushing lists of rules as mere guidelines, and broke them without guilt, treating punishments as the price to pay for having some fun.

And Jack did have fun. Lots of fun. As a driver, he didn’t have to spend much time in stifling community life. He traveled with Maciel, met heads of state and movie stars, and received glamorous assignments like turning around failing schools, working with cardinals, and establishing a Legion presence in a wealthy New York suburb. He took vacations, went to musicals, and entertained wealthy donors.

As I read, I got sucked in by all the travel, glamour and fun. I had to work to remember that, as the Vatican declared in its communiqué, Marcial Maciel had no religious sentiment or scruples. If I, an adult reading Monk’s memoir, found it so easy to be sucked into the exciting world of the early Legion, is it any wonder that so many boys were ensnared by Maciel’s order?

Still, even as Jack was having fun, there were hints of the revelations to come. Maciel repeatedly condones or recommends acts of dishonesty –For instance, lying about the contents of a lost suitcase to receive a bigger settlement. Or allowing the brothers to build a compartment in the bus so that they can smuggle electronics and alcohol across European borders. Why did they go along with his suggestions? It seems like their consciences were lulled to sleep by the knowledge that Maciel was a living saint. So obviously, these sins weren’t really sins, but simply God’s Providence helping the young congregation save money.

In between all the fun and busy-ness, Jack has doubts about the Legion. He begins to think of Maciel as a ‘slick operator,’ not a living saint, but a flawed man that God is using for great things. Jack has doubts about his call to the priesthood, and is on the verge of leaving several times. Yet whenever he’s about to return home to his family, there’s a new challenge or treat. Legion life becomes fun and exciting again and he doesn’t have time for all that difficult reflection and doubt. In a way, Maciel is almost Satanic, tempting Jack away from his vocation and a deeper relationship with God with pretty baubles – enjoyable but fleeting.

Jack is a golden boy in the Legion – loved, feted, coddled and treated as long as he is useful. Then the day comes when he’s no longer useful, and, like so many Legionaries before him, he’s exiled, ignored, and finally gone.

In the end, I think it was his early faith formation that helped him leave. Even though Jack enjoys himself in the Legion, he has a niggling sense that something’s not right – that the life he’s living isn’t really what religious life is supposed to be like, and that Maciel isn’t really what the founder of a congregation ought to be.

I found myself wondering about the other sort of Legionary—the sort who grew up in a Regnum Christi family, spent his formative years in K4J and Conquest and then went straight into Apostolic School at 12. How can a boy like that even understand what’s wrong with Maciel’s vision? If he’s been formed to be Maciel’s ideal apostle since pre-school, how can he hope to break free as an adult?

Jack was lucky – he had a loving family who was happy to welcome home the prodigal son. Because of his time as ‘Golden Boy,’ he had friends and connections on two continents. He was able to build a good life for himself outside of the Legion. At the same time, I finished the book feeling deeply sorry for him.

The Legion took twenty years of his life. Those are twenty years where he had almost no contact with his family – twenty years that opened a chasm between Jack and his brother, twenty years he couldn’t spend sharing his parents’ joys, and twenty years that his absence contributed to their sorrows.

I also mourned for the Church. As a boy, Jack had dreamed of being an Irish missionary priest and ministering to the sick in Africa. If only he’d tried his vocation with a different order, instead of with the Legionaries!

I’d heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in the early history of the Legion, to anyone who wonders why some Legionaries insist that the Legion was a good experience for them, and for any of my friends and acquaintances who still aren’t sure why people are so upset about the damage that the Legion and Regnum Christi have done to the Church.

One huge caveat – Jack does not tell his story straight through from beginning to end. He jumps around a lot, going forward and backwards in time. I found it helpful to make a timeline to keep track. Still, I enjoyed the book – Jack’s voice is unique among ex-legionary accounts, and he gives an excellent view into the founding of the Legion. I didn’t go into this book expecting to like it or to like Jack Keogh. (Honestly, I was ready to rip it apart before I began.) I finished it with a deeper understanding for how Maciel tempted the early Legionaries, and how even those who weren’t abused were seduced and used.

In a way, Jack’s tale is like the story of a young Irishman who is kidnapped by fairies and spends years dancing and eating and drinking under the hill- only to emerge decades later to find that he’s been frozen in time while the world has grown and changed- and the ‘gold’ given to him by the fairies turns out to be nothing but a pocket full of dried leaves.

While it might not be essential for understanding Maciel or the Legion, it’s helpful for understanding the Legionaries, where they’re coming from, and how they might get to where they need to go.

An English Catholic Changes his Mind about Pope Benedict

2010-09-10T06:01:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have been apprehensive about the BBC's upcoming documentary on Benedict. The BBC has claimed that it's fair and balanced, but this is the BBC we're talking about, right? So how COULD it be?

Well, an article in the Catholic Herald gives some hope that the movie will actually be interesting and fair (Highlights mine) :

The making of this film has been something of a voyage of discovery for me. I can’t be the only Catholic in the world who had major apprehensions on April 19 2005 as the conclave made its decisive choice to elect the first German pope since the 11th century (I don’t count Adrian VI, born in Utrecht in 1459, part of the Holy Roman Empire). I was worried about whether the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith might be just a little too polarising. I am no expert of conclave arithmetic, but my hunch was that he simply had too many doubters inside the College of Cardinals to get the required votes. Wrong. And I have been wrong about him, too. It is not that he has changed radically since taking up the papacy; it is simply that when you have to make a one-hour programme on one of the most clever and gifted people on the planet you have to look behind the headlines and the angry rants on the blogosphere. In short, you have to do justice to the man as best as you can.

The whole article is worth a read. Basically, as the filmmaker read Benedict's works, interviewed people who know him, and got to know the "real" Benedict, he learned something important about Orthodoxy--something I can't stress enough. Orthodoxy is NOT something that fits into a neat little political box manufactured by the world.. It's not about liberals and conservatives. It's BIGGER than politics. Benedict is not "conservative on liturgy and abortion but liberal on economics and the environment." He simply views EVERYTHING through the lense of God's relationship to man and man's realtionship to God.

Anyway, after reading the linked piece, I have hope that the BBC might manage to produce a decent documentary on the pope.

Of Screaming Dolls and Chortling Babies

2010-09-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

The local junior high does a project called ‘Baby Think It Over.’ The kids bring home a computerized doll that periodically cries, demands attention, and needs to be ‘fed,’ ‘burped,’ and ‘changed.’ The doll records all the interactions, and the students get a grade based on how well they care for their ‘baby.’

This is billed as a pregnancy prevention program. Pro-life groups have even funded the project in the past.

Basically, the doll gives a good indication of what a really bad day with a baby would be like- if your baby was made of plastic, wore an expressionless mask, and had three modes: 1. Crying hysterically, 2. Calmed, but waiting for you to do something wrong so it can record what a bad parent you are, and 3. Zombie-like torpor. (I.e. “Is this thing even on?”) Actually, I forgot about the fourth mode: dead. You can give the doll ‘shaken baby syndrome’ and fail the class. Except that normal parent-type interactions with a one month old are enough to ‘kill’ these dolls!

Supposedly, these dolls prevent teen pregnancy by showing the kids that being a parent is hard work. But when a girl’s out by the lake in her boyfriend’s truck, is she really going to push all the hormones aside and say “Wait, this feels good right now, but remember that screaming doll project?” She won’t have time to think about her horrible day with ‘baby’ until she’s staring at the second line on the pregnancy test. Instead of “Baby Think-It-Over,” they should be called “Baby Abort-Me.”

The dolls also send the wrong message down the line. They don’t treat babies like a gift or a blessing. Instead, they teach the students that babies will ruin their lives. We live in a world where many kids will never get to experience younger siblings, nieces and nephews, cousins, or even a regular babysitting job. For many students, “Baby Think It Over” will be their only baby experience. How can we ask our children to be open to life when we’ve spent years teaching them that new lives are nasty and irritating? When ‘baby’ means ‘something that screams at you for months on end,’ can we be surprised that Peter Singer is quoted as a mainstream voice?

If we really want our teens to learn about parenthood, we should encourage them to spend time around real parents. Instead of spending a weekend babysitting a doll, they should spend time helping new moms and their babies. Students should rock a colicky baby so a new mom can shower, help out with chores and older kids while a mom nurses, or make dinner for a family with a new baby. They can learn about the challenges and rewards of children the old-fashioned way: as members of a community.

We don’t need to teach our kids that babies are a bad thing to be avoided. Rather, we should be teaching them that marriage, sex, babies, and families are good things, but that they’re good things that need to happen in the right order. We need to give them the spiritual and emotional strength to avoid those dangerous evenings by the lake. We need to give all teens, not just the Catholic ones, the message that marriage and family are worth the wait – that they’re a gift that’s waiting for the right time, not a penalty for bad behavior.

What messages does the screaming baby project send to your kids? Think it over, baby.

The "Virtus" of Bad Liturgy

2010-09-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

I’m teaching CCD at my parish this year. It’s exciting and a little nerve-wracking, because I have the second graders – First Confession AND First Communion! We’re using the Ignatius Press Faith and Life series, which looks like a great text.
Last night, I did my mandatory Virtus training. The moderator was very good – she’s the principal of our local Catholic School, but the videos themselves were pretty terrible.

The information was superficial and out of date, especially with respect to technology. Even the discussion of ‘warning signs’ was nothing new or unexpected- after a year and a half of following the Legion saga, I’m apparently pretty well-informed about child abuse and the tricks molesters use to groom children. (Hey, maybe the bishops should make an updated video, featuring Father Maciel!)

One thing really jumped out at me. Periodically, the video showed scenes of parts of the Liturgy to emphasize the idea that we as a Church must “Protect God’s Children.” The baptism scenes were fine, but every other scene showcased an example of Bad Liturgical Practice.

We saw: A girl taking a glass chalice filled with the Precious Blood from a lay minister, drinking it herself, and then passing it back to the lay minister.

A bishop filmed in front of a bookcase holding clay chalices.

An apparent Mass which involved children processing in holding multi-colored burlap banners.

A really bad folk choir.

Children being sent out of Mass for a ‘Children’s Liturgy of the Word.’

As I watched, I wondered what message the Bishops were trying to send by including bad liturgy in the Virtus video.

1. Was it supposed to evoke warm fuzzy feelings? “Why, that parish is just like MY parish!” It didn’t, because those liturgical abuses wouldn’t fly around here.

2. Was it supposed to show us what the Bishops think a parish SHOULD look like? If so, I weep for our Church.

3. Or was it something more subtle? Was it supposed to help us make the connection between Liturgical abuse and sexual abuse? After all, if we can’t treat the body of our Lord and Saviour with respect, why would we treat the bodies of our neighbors with respect? Is there a short, slippery slope that runs between sloppiness at Mass and sin?

I have a feeling that the makers of the video were aiming for 1 and 2. But I think our pope would probably point to number 3. When we take Mass and the Eucharist seriously and let all our relationships flow forth from that first, essential relationship as Christ, we cannot use other people as objects. When the Mass goes, everything else starts to go too.

Of course, abuse can happen in ‘Good Liturgy’ settings too – because good liturgy can not be our goal. Our goal is to love and adore Christ. I think that a reverent liturgy flows naturally from a love of Christ in the Eucharist and a realization that we’re in the presence of God. (For instance, I noticed my 6-year-old’s behavior at Mass has improved DRAMATICALLY since we started attending Children’s adoration once a month.) If you have a nice-looking Liturgy, but no love, it’s just an empty pageant.

On the other hand, most awful liturgies are also empty pageants, focused on the congregation instead of the Divine.

In the end, I did learn something at Virtus training. Father Z is right. “Save the Liturgy, Save the World.” It’s not a coincidence that the pope who is focused on cleaning up the filth of abuse in the Church is also focused on cleaning up the Liturgy. If we can’t respect God, we won’t respect each other.

A Brief Fashion Rant

2010-08-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

I recently had a birthday and bought a new dress. I'm blessed to have friends who are great internet shoppers and find me websites with gorgeous retro clothes. Otherwise I wouldn't have bought anything, and would have resigned myself to church in Khakis.

Because have you been in a mall or looked at dresses on the web recently? Nearly everything current is also ugly. Heck, the current dress styles are even making the models look dumpy. And if it makes the model look dumpy, it's going to make me look.... atrocious.

Maybe we need a federal government blue ribbon panel to investigate the fashion industry for a plot to deliberately prolong the recession -- because until they make something worth buying, why should cash-strapped women buy anything?

Look, I can see your mind working, Mr. Designer Man: "Oooh. A recession. Like the Depression. Poverty. Hopelessness. Dresses from potato sacks! I'll make dresses that make everyone look like they're wearing....no, like they ARE a sack of potatoes!"

Except, the original 'potato sack dresses' had pretty floral patterns and actual --seams. And darts. And, dare I say it... style. The point wasn't 'we're in a depression, so let's look depressed.' It was about making the best of what you had and making something beautiful from leftovers.

Anyway, I highly recommend the line of dresses at Pin Up Girl Clothing. Some have a bit too much attitude for a thirty-something Catholic mom looking for a good Church Dress, but others are... gorgeous. And they carry several variations of 'the sundress of my dreams,' so I'll be saving my pennies, dimes, and birthday money for NEXT year, too! :)

(Note on 50's style dresses: I am an apple, so I always shied away from the big skirts, but I'm finding that they actually hide a lot of the remains of multiple childbirths. With a full skirt, no one SEES that lumpy belly! It's amazing! Almost like dresses used to be designed for women who had...actually given birth! :) )

We'll now return to our regular schedule of blog posts.... I'm just really excited about getting a new dress! (And really fed up with fashion designers who design UGLY and fill the stores with it!)

I know it's not built yet, but....

2010-08-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

When it is, I really want to go here. Wyoming, Carmelites, Beautiful Architecture AND Coffee? It would be the pilgrimage of a life time!

So... I'm Always saying how lucky I am to be in a good Parish....

2010-08-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

And now I have photos to prove it! My Parish's website now has photos of our Corpus Christi procession AND the interior of the church!

(The fresco on the ceiling has lulled many a Mundy-baby to sleep.)

QUICK QUESTION

2010-08-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

Why is the media obsessing over the Ground Zero Mosque when Iran is about to go Nuclear?!?!?! Right now it doesn't look like Israel is going to do anything...

So isn't a nuclear Iran more important than a public relations triumph in NYC? Or is it unimportant until they actual wipe a few countries off the face of the planet?

UPDATE (Via the Anchoress):

Except, apparently, that the mosque project MUST go through while a Church that was actually destroyed by the attack isn't allowed to rebuild? That's kind of bizarre.... why is one project a necessity and the other inappropriate? St. Nicholas, pray for us!

Protecting your Daughter from The Regnum Christi Consecrated Women

2010-08-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

Why you shouldn’t allow your daughter to become a Regnum Christi ‘Consecrated Woman.’

1. They’re not actually ‘consecrated women.’

They are not consecrated virgins. The Catechism tells us that “Consecrated Virgins” are

"Virgins who, committed to the holy plan of following Christ more closely, are consecrated to God by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical rite, are betrothed mystically to Christ, the Son of God, and are dedicated to the service of the Church."462 By this solemn rite (Consecratio virginum), the virgin is "constituted . . . a sacred person, a transcendent sign of the Church's love for Christ, and an eschatological image of this heavenly Bride of Christ and of the life to come.”(923)”

Regnum Christi Consecrated Women do not participate in this rite. They do not make vows before a bishop. They are not actually 'consecrated' in any real sense.

They are not religious sisters. The ‘consecration’ they are making is on par with a consecration to Mary or the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It should be for devotional puposes only. But, in practice,

2. The Regnum Christi Consecrated Women live in imitation of religious sisters, yet with none of the protections of religious life.

Regnum Christi Consecrated Women lack a sufficient discernment period. Most religious orders require a period of mutual discernment followed by postulancy and than novitiate.

Regnum Christi Consecrated Women lack the protections of normal religious life. Normal religious life is a contract between the sister and her order. The sister has a responsibility to her community, but the community has an obligation to feed, clothe and educate her, and to care for her in sickness and old age. Regnum Christi Consecrated Women have none of the guarantees. They can be sent home at any time, for any reason. They exist outside of canon law and so do not have the protections of canon law.

Regnum Christi Consecrated Women lack a clear rule. During the CDF’s investigation of the Legion of Christ, the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women discovered that most of the ‘rules’ they were living under had never been approved by the Vatican.

3. The Vatican is about to launch a Visitation of the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women.

Their status within the Church and their relationship to the Legion of Christ is irregular. Girls who join today have no idea what the group will look like in 5 years.

4. The Regnum Christi Consecrated Women were founded by an evil man for a sinful purpose.

As a result of the CDF investigation, The Vatican has declared Fr. Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement, to be a man without scruples or religious sentiment. He was also a criminal, a child molestor, a drug addict and an embezzler. He is not a good model for a community of religious women, no matter what their canonical status.

Maciel founded the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women so that they could work in dioceses where the local bishop had banned the Legion of Christ. This is why he insisted that they remain lay women. However, the laity are required to obey the commands of their local bishops. So these women, when they work in a diocese where the Legion is banned, are actually committing a sin of disobedience. This disobedience is encouraged and applauded by their superiors. This is NOT an appropriate life for a young woman interested in serving Christ.

What should you do if your daughter insists on joining the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women?

If she’s under 18, forbid her. Do not let her have contact with the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women, especially for “Formation Dialogue” or as “spiritual directors” They do not care about her long term spiritual well-being, they only want to get her into their group.

Withdraw your daughter from Challenge and EYCD. Encourage her to join activities with people who DON’T have an ulterior motive. It doesn’t matter how ‘nice’ the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women seem. Mormons are nice too, but you wouldn’t let your daughter seek religious advice from them.

Take your daughter on retreat with actual an actual religious order. Many good orders offer teenage girl or even mother/daughter retreats. Many girls are drawn to the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women because they have no experience with authentic religious life in the Catholic Church.

Check out the CMSWR and find a community near you that offers retreats. Encourage her to investigate many different orders, so that she can better discern her vocation.

Have her read the Vatican Communique and as much information about the life of Maciel and the treatment of Regnum Christi Consecrated Women that she can handle at her age. She needs to know what she is asking to join. The Life After RC website has some good links for more information.

Pray with and for her. Try to take her to daily Mass and weekly adoration. Give her time to sit quietly with Jesus.

Get her thinking about college. Most orders won’t take a girl before she’s 21 or 22. If she thinks she’s called to religious life, she should think about her education. Take her on college visits. Some of the lure of the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women’s academy might be due to the boarding-school atmosphere- it’s pretty glamorous for a teenaged girl. Give her something better to daydream about.

Pray like crazy.

If your daughter is over 18 and wants to join the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women, you have fewer options. Chances are, by the time she mentions it to you she’s already been sucked in and made up her mind.

Try to get her to read information. Pray. Know that her mail, email and phone calls will be monitored once she moves in with the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women.

Contact the local bishop and see if he has any resources that can help you.

Write the CDF and the papal delegate. Have her read the communiqué.

See if you can get her to wait, at least a few weeks or a few months to ‘tie up loose ends.’ Groups like the Regnum Christi Consecrated Women succeed in recruiting because they don’t give the target a chance to pray, reflect and listen to the Holy Spirit before extracting lifelong ‘promises.’ If you can get her to wait, and to hear testimony from ex-members, you might just save her years of pain and heartache.

Your daughter is in a perilous position. Pray for her constantly. Ask the intercession of Mary, and for the protection of St. Michael and her guardian angel. If you act with love and wisdom now, you may save her from a terrible mistake.

Theology of the Body: Indifference is OK!

2010-08-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

At least, according to Mark Shea!

I enjoyed his article, and I have to admit, I'm relieved to find a "Big-Name-Catholic," whose position on Theology of the Body is pretty close to mine.

I'm completely indifferent. I would like to read Love and Responsibility some day. But, it's pretty dense, and I'm not very good with phenomenology, so I need to do some groundwork first. I find Christopher West incredibly annoying, and so his personality tends to overshadow any good I might get from his writings. But in the mean time, do I really need TOB?

From the bits I have read, it doesn't really seem to be anything new-- just what the Church has always taught, but presented differently. I love the 1950's marriage manuals by Fr. Leo Kinsella that EWTN has in their library. Three to Get Married by Fulton Sheen is one of my favorite books on Marriage and the Trinity.

So do I really need Theology of the Body? Should I have to endure listening to and wincing at Christopher West when I'm really more interested in Church History at the moment?

I'm going with "no." I'm married. I have small children. Everywhere. All the time. My husband and I like each other. We like our vocation. We don't really need someone to persuade us that this is what God is calling us to - we're here already.

I think a lot of the biggest TOB fans are genuinely happy that West's writing changed their view of marriage and sexuality. I'd argue, however, that if it was really a huge change for them, they probably didn't understand the teachings before they met West. TOB is not a revolution in Catholic thought. It's the same tune the church has always sung -- it's just a slightly different setting.

Anyway, for the time being, I'll remain firmly in the 'indifferent to TOB' camp - there are other things I'd rather study. But the next time people accuse me of being a bad Catholic because I don't care, I'll point them to Shea's piece.

Offering Hospitality

2010-08-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

Amy Welborn has a great reflection on the gift of an unlocked church. As Catholics, we seem to talk a lot about how to be more hospitable. After all, we're competing with the Protestants. They welcome people with coffee and donuts after services, potluck dinners with Jell-o, all sorts of family fun nights and movies and free food and praise bands. What do we have? Well, we have the Sacraments. But what good are they if you're not already Catholic?

The thing is, turning our church into a year-round carnival doesn't work. People don't become Catholic because we have Jelly Donuts when everyone else just serves plain old glazed. They become Catholic because we have Christ physically present in the Eucharist. Our tabernacles are what we have to offer - our churches are our invitation to the lapsed and the un-churched.

That's why it's so tragic when they're locked. Imagine you're considering returning to the Church, and you happen across a quiet country chapel. You're looking for a sign from God...and the door is locked. You can't slip in to pray anonymously, to light a candle and begin to make peace with your Lord. The door is barred unless you come during regular business hours. If you were looking for a sign, the message you get is "Go Away!"

I've encountered locked Churches before-- not as dramatically as in the example above, but just when I've been running early for an appointment and wanted to slip in, light a candle for a suffering friend, and spend a few quiet minutes with God. It still hurts a little when the door is locked, even though I didn't really need it to be unlocked and I understand concerns about vandalism and sacrilege.

As Catholics, we need to be committed to keeping our churches open. They need to be oases of peace and places of love and forgiveness. As parishioners, we should work towards open churches. We'll need volunteers to "church-sit." There may be days where the only people who visit are the scheduled sitters. But we have a great gift in the Eucharist, and we make a mistake when we hide Christ away and meet the world with donuts instead.

Any group can provide pastries-- only we can share the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ our Lord.

He who lies down with dogs....

2010-07-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Father Z has a pretty sad post about an Anglican minister letting communion go to the dogs. Literally.

In a way it's a natural progression -- we already have serious political discussions about whether it's all right to treat human beings as if they were dogs. We talk about putting grandma to sleep when she's too old to be worth saving, sterilizing people who've had enough kids, eliminating genetically unfit offspring.

Now that we're practicing animal husbandry on people, why not allow animals to practice religion?

A Notice to New Readers

2010-07-13T07:07:00.000-07:00

I seem to be getting some new readers for the Regnum Christi and Legion of Christ posts, so I wanted to explain, once again, why I’m blogging on these topics.

I know and respect a lot of people involved in these groups. When the Maciel news hit back in 2009, I was completely flummoxed – I tried to ask friends in RC about it, and they met all inquiries with a stony wall of serenity and a few words culled from Legion press releases. It seemed out of character for people who, in other discussions of religion and politics, are smart, funny, passionate and quick to think through implications for larger issues.

Time passed, more news came out, and my friends remained ‘serene.’ So I started researching the group and discussing it on line. And eventually, I started blogging about it.

Maciel conned a vast swath of American Catholics, not just the ones who joined his group. Richard Neuhaus got conned. Mary Anne Glendon got conned. Patrick Madrid got conned. Scott and Kimberly Hahn got conned. Heck, even Servant of God Father John Hardon, SJ got conned.

I got conned. I never joined, but I took the claims about the Legion and Regnum Christi at face value. If I’d run across them in college, I probably would have been set afire, dropped everything, and run off to join the 3gf. If I’d run across them a few years from now, when I will be looking for alternatives to the Girl Scouts, I would have enrolled my daughters in Challenge and tried to get my husband to enroll the boys in Conquest.

Basically, I was saved by timing. My friends, the people who have given many hours and much money to the building of Maciel’s kingdom, joined because, at the time, with the information available, it looked like the right thing to do.

We now know that the “Kingdom of Christ” was not what it claimed to be, that it was built on lies. But many of us on the outside still have friends on the inside. And they’re still ‘serene.’ So we pray, like St. Monica did when her son was trapped in a lie. And we write and we think and discuss and then write some more, hoping that justice will be done, that our friends will be freed and healed, and that next time a conman disguised as a saint comes along, we'll be ready.

On Regnum Christi and Shunning

2010-07-12T06:53:00.000-07:00

I’ve been hanging around on Life-After-RC for some time now, and I need to comment on a disturbing trend, one that seems to be unique to Regnum Christi.

Many women have reported that when they leave the movement, they are shunned. Their children are shunned. The women who have been their friends for years, sometimes decades, suddenly treat them like garbage.

They feel like they’re going crazy. They’re lonely and depressed. They wonder if it was really worth it to leave in the first place.

If you left RC and are being shunned, You are not the crazy one. Your former “friends” are not the ones suffering, like Christ, from betrayal. You are the one suffering betrayal.

For those of us on the outside, the shunning seems like madness. Catholics don’t shun. Even if someone leaves the Church, we’re supposed to love them as Christ loves them. And the women who’ve left RC haven’t left anything close to the Church. They’ve basically left a club. The Knights of Columbus doesn’t shun inactive members. Why does Regnum Christi?

I think the whole practice of shunning is evidence that RC has, in fact, set itself up as a parallel Church.

The most famous examples of religious shunning in America are the Mormons and the Amish. Both groups shun lapsed members – they cut them off entirely from friends and family. Shunning usually has two purposes: 1. To pressure the shunned woman into returning to the congregation and 2. To protect the people still inside from her ‘taint.’

Why do Mormons and Amish feel justified in delivering such a cruel punishment? Because both groups believe that they hold the keys to salvation. By leaving, the woman has damned herself. If she encourages others to leave, she is damning them as well.

Now, look at the women who’ve left Regnum Christi. They’re still Catholic. They still attend Mass, go to confession, volunteer in their parishes and believe in Christ. THEY ARE NOT DAMNED. They’ve just decided that there are problems in Regnum Christi, and that the best decision for their families is to pull back and focus on more important things. In the eyes of the Church, they are like a woman who decides that Vincent De Paul is eating up too much time, and so decides to quit volunteering.

Actually, given the CDF investigation, they’re more like a woman who prudently decides to avoid an unproven Apparition. She should not have to defend her reasons for avoiding “Our Lady of The Bridge” or whatever she’s avoiding. The burden of proof is with the people who choose to stay with a group that was founded by a man without scruples or religious sentiment and that is UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE CDF.

Yet Regnum Christi continues to shun ex-members. They have no reason to shun unless they believe that “Outside Regnum Christi there is no salvation.” They’re equating RC with the Church. THIS IS HERETICAL. The very fact that they shun is proof that the group is not Catholic.

Catholics don’t shun. Even if you believe someone has left the Church, Catholics, like St. Monica, love, pray, and entrust precious souls to the Blessed Mother.

If you’re currently being shunned by Regnum Christi, I am praying for you. You’ll need strength and grace, but God will prevail.

If you’re currently shunning those who have left, I am praying for you as St. Monica prayed for St. Augustine when he was ensnared by the Manicheans.

If you are in Regnum Christi, and are afraid to leave because of the shunning, take courage. There are more Catholics on the outside than on the inside, and shunning takes its power from group-think. Step outside the group.

Regnum Christi is not the Church. More and more, it’s looking like it’s not even vaguely related to the Church.

Laundry Prayer

2010-07-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

I stand in the basement surrounded by hampers. I sort. I stain treat. I add vinegar to the diaper load. I am thankful for the laundry.

I am thankful for the diapers and the two boys who wear them. One still nurses round the clock and fills my day with chubby squeals. The other is trying to make the change to Spiderman underwear. My diaper load is shrinking, but my ‘slightly damp underwear’ pile grows.

I am thankful for the towels. They’re used for many baths and showers, for swim class twice a week, for cleaning up the water that gets all over the bathroom floor when the big kids try to help. There’s no room for the heaps of towels we’d need to make it through the week, so I wash and I dry and I fold.

I am thankful for the stains. Blueberry, Mulberry, Watemelon. Chocolate Ice Cream, Grass, Mud. They’re proof of an Indiana summer well-lived. And so I treat them, instead of preventing them.

I am thankful for the permanent press load. Button down shirts, dress pants and socks get washed separately. Early on, I learned a hard lesson while mixing my husband’s work clothes with my children’s play clothes. It involved a pocket full of crayon fragments and a new wardrobe for the man who works all day so that I can stay home with our children. Now, I carefully check the kids’ pockets, but I still wash their father’s clothes separately, just in case I miss something.

I am thankful for the quiet cool of a basement on a hot day, for electricity restored after a raging storm, for appliances that work and for children who play.

I hate doing laundry, but I am thankful that I have laundry to do. The alternative, a life where laundry is three loads once a week and occasional trips to the dry-cleaners, a sterile life without spit-up or mysterious juice spills, is too horrible to contemplate.

I am thankful for my laundry.

Women's Ordination: What are they THINKING?

2010-06-09T04:36:00.000-07:00

Erin had a good post on the latest Women's Ordination 'protest.'

As an ex-supporter of women’s ordination (hey.. I was 19! And I’m properly embarrassed by it now!), I think I can give some insight into what’s going on in these women’s heads.

1. They’re confusing “Justice” with “sameness.”

My women’s ordination craze started back when I was an altar server. I was one of the first girls to serve at my parish, and I *LOVED* being that close to the action at Mass. I got pretty good at serving, and served until I grew out of the robes. (For some reason, the height limit at our parish was about 5’4”)

I saw male-only-ordination as deeply unfair. After all, women could be policemen and firefighters – why not priests? I was a really good altar server—how come boys who weren’t as good as I was were allowed to become priests, but I couldn’t? It wasn’t fair.

At the peak of my fairness crusade, I even wrote the Superior General of the Society of Jesus demanding that he start a women’s order, admit me, and ordain me. He wrote me back a very nice letter explaining that he didn’t have the authority to do any of those things and promising to pray for me. At the time, I was angry and crushed. Today, I’m thankful for his patience and prayers.

2. They suffer from a weird sort of hyper-clericism, which leads them to misunderstand the nature of the priesthood.

I wanted to be a priest. I swore God was calling me to be a priest, in spite of what the Church, through her documents and through my confessors, told me. But I didn’t even have any idea what a priest really is. I saw a priest as primarily a king – a person with authority who gets to ‘be in charge.’ It wasn’t about serving the people of God – heck, if I wanted to do that, I could be a nun. But nuns were oppressed by the male hierarchy. Why couldn’t women also run a parish and boss people around? If we could be CEOs, why not priests?

Basically, I saw priesthood as a career within the Church for people who thought living in community with a bunch of women would be a horrible life, and a great career because it meant you got to be a dictator! With a salary! And be better than everyone else, because you were ordained!

I missed the point of the whole suffering servant/sacrifice/Persona Christi thing. It was all about me and what I thought I wanted, and obviously God would want whatever I did because he loved me, right?

3. They want attention.

When you advocate something like women’s ordination, you’re guaranteed lots of attention. People will call you brave and selfless, even when you’re being precisely the opposite. Protestant friends will invite you to their churches and tell you to apply for their seminaries.

Even the people who disagree with you will take the time to argue with you. And if you actually succeeded in changing things, you’d get to stand on that big stage behind the pretty table, wearing gorgeous silks and have everyone look at you and admire you and your holiness! What’s not to like?

Fortunately, I eventually repented and learned to love Church teachings. (The story involves rash oaths, exams, the flu, a friend’s late paper, and St. Thomas More, of all things. And a Holocaust-surviving-Quaker.) Fr. Kolvenbach’s prayers probably helped too. We should pray for the women in this picture – that God will give them the grace they need to stop worrying about ordination and learn to love the Church.

Are Kids REALLY less Empathetic today?

2010-05-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

The big health news this morning (at least according to Google) is that college kids today lack empathy. The linked article is pretty much the normal rant about video games and facebook. At the end, they have a link to the survey used to measure empathy.

After taking the survey (I came out as above average, btw, so I clearly feel your pain!) I realized that there were a few big problems with the methodology.

This survey doesn't matter how empathetic you are. It measures how empathetic you THINK you are compared to the people around you. If you live in a culture where everyone, even presidents, are expected to tear up and show they care, you'll see yourself as less empathetic.

A number of the questions aren't really about EMPATHY at all. They're about how to argue and defend your ideas. For instance, there are questions about trying to understand an opponents viewpoint, or about listening to all sides of a question.

Of course our youth score poorly on these marks-- they're taught from Kindergarten to accept the standard position on issues and to refrain from questioning at all costs. They've seen what happens if you try to understand the other side and test their arguments-- look at that law student from Harvard!

If are kids are less 'empathetic' it's because we've taught them to dampen their sense of justice, to ignore faulty arguments, and to equate crocodile tears with caring.

The cure to Solipsism is more Socrates. If they learn to question, think and judge, they'll be more able to understand where the other guy is coming from. As it is, our nation has taught them that political heterodoxy results from an evil heart. If you don't empathize with your enemies, it's easier to dismiss their arguments as pure malice.

Sin and Superiors

2010-05-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

This account of how Legionaries reacted to Maciel's sinful requests really shook me.

I thought the following was obvious, but maybe it got skipped in most catechism classes:

God never EVER calls us to sin, because sin seperates us from his love. If someone orders or encourages you to do something objectively sinful (lie, disobey your bishop, gossip, fornicate, disobey just laws, etc. etc.) then you are OBLIGATED to call them on it. A superior cannot ask you to do something sinful--if they ask you to sin, they lose their authority over you. You must NOT obey them.

You must test your superiors commands against the laws of the land, the laws of the church, your conscience and the laws of God. You cannot break the commandments because 'it's for a good end.'

If your directors in LC/RC ever asked or encouraged you to sin, THEY WERE WRONG. They were not speaking with God's voice, but with Maciel's.

If they encouraged you to put your pseudo-vocation to RC over your ACTUAL vocation to your marriage, THEY WERE WRONG.

There is no glory in obeying an ungodly command. There is no salvation in sin. Please understand. Some things are OBJECTIVELY sinful. "I was under orders" is NOT an excuse.

No matter what oath you swore or promises you made, they cannot trump your allegience to the laws of God. You are NEVER bound to sin.

If anyone has tried to tell you otherwise, they are not speaking with the voice of God, but with the voice of a criminal.

In the meantime....

2010-05-11T06:08:00.000-07:00

I'm currently researching a longer post on Authority, Obedience, and the Laity. So, in the meantime, I think you all need a dose of Deacon Payne.

Because sometimes, trying tp be TOO pastoral can lead you into heresy....

A Quick Foray into Homeschool Mommy Blogging

2010-05-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

My infants always love "A-Ram-Sam-Sam," a nonsense finger play from Morrocco. However, my older ones are GRAVELY offended that the words mean nothing in ANY language. So, I've kept the motions the same but changed the words to:

A jar of jam, a jar of jam,
Gooey gooey gooey gooey
gooey jar of jam.

(repeat once)

Straw- berry, Straw-berry!
Gooey gooey gooey gooey
gooey jar of jam!

--- If you know the rhyme/tune you'll find it fits. And your kids can replace strawberry with any kind of jame that scans! We've done Raspberry, Blackberry, Blueberry, grape jelly, gooseberry, etc.

All right... back to serious matters...

OSV Interviews Father Thomas Williams, LC

2010-05-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here.

A few points. Father Thomas says (emphasis mine):

The content of the statement was basically what I expected. I loved the last section, where the Holy Father assures us of his closeness to us, reminds us that our vocation originates in Christ's call, is a genuine gift from God, and represents a treasure for the Church. This gives me great confidence for the future, and also allows us Legionaries to present this path to others as something that the Church appreciates and values. Personally, I was greatly encouraged by the Holy Father's evident concern for us, and paternal care

Most non-LC people read the last part of the Communique to refer to the Universal Call to Holiness. A few Legion watchers were afraid that the LC were taking this the wrong way. It appears that they were right.

Fr. Williams is claiming that the Legion's spirituality, crafted by Maciel, investigated by the CDF, and found to be problematic in areas of authority and conscience, is an authentic path to holiness!!!! This is beginning to be like a Monty Python skit.. it just keeps getting more and more over the top. I think it's time for the British Colonel to stroll through and inform us all that this is too silly and it's time to cut to the animation.

When he's asked if he's ever considered leaving, Williams responds:

What I found, however, is that I can't deny the vocation I received from Christ. It wasn't my imagination; it was, and is, real. Someone else's failings don't excuse me from living out the vocation I was called to

Once again, there seem to be some problems in the Legion's theology of Vocation. God doesn't call people to follow evil men, or to join a congregation that dehumanizes members and deforms their consciences. Fr. Williams may have a vocation to the priesthood, he may have a vocation to religious life. That is NOT the same as having a vocation to the Legion. The fact that Williams seems incapable of realizing this worries me.

On the idea that Maciel did not act alone:

I don't believe that Father Alvaro knew anything about Father Maciel's immoral behavior, either, and I have no reason to believe that any of our current leadership was aware of this. I know that for people outside the Legion this can seem unbelievable, but for those on the inside it's just the way it was.

??????? I've seen some people claim that the US Legionaries are much more skeptical and more prone to question than the Mexican ones. If Fr. Williams is an examplar of "US Legionary," the visitation is going to have its work cut out for it!

On what needs to change:

Most of us have had a really good experience of authority in the congregation, with excellent superiors who truly are fathers and brothers to us.

The visitation said that there were problems with the exercise of authority. You said you had a 'good experience'-- here's my question-- since you can't even understand the Vatican's criticisms, how can you reform? You're like a high-schooler who's been asked to rewrite an English paper-- and thinks the teacher must not have liked the font, because you can't understand her criticism of the arguments!

Sigh. I can understand why Cardinal Sandoval said that, if asked, he would turn down the job of reforming the Legion... it seems like an impossible task for one man! Luckily, I suspect the Holy Spirit will be involved too.....

George Weigel Doesn't Believe in Crooked Lines Either

2010-05-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

George Weigel has an excellent article on the Legion up at First Things. I'm glad to see one of my favorite Catholic magazines address the Legion Crisis - it's sad when the only place covering a story honestly is the National Catholic Reporter.

Weigel also makes an important point on the nature of good and evil:

To propose that such an unprecedented course of action be seriously considered is not a question of desperate situations calling for desperate measures, but of great evils requiring the remedy of heroic virtue—in this case, the heroic exercise of the cardinal virtues of courage, justice, and prudence.

Great evils require heroic virtue. This is not a case of "God drawing straight with crooked lines." This is the case of God giving good men the grace they need to confront evil. God does not bring good out of evil, but he does give grace to good men so that they can fight evil.

For instance, the Nazi concentration camps were an immense evil created by twisted men. But Maximilian Kolbe provided a witness to God's love even in that horrific environment. He answered evil with heroic virtue, and he is a Saint.

God does not call us to ignore or excuse evil. He calls us to confront it with Justice, Mercy and Love. This has been one of the weaknesses in Legion formation from the very beginning. Maciel taught an anemic version of 'love' in the face of evil, mostly to protect himself from repercussions. Now, the LC/RC must unlearn Maciel's theology and learn the Church's. The study of saints like Maximilian Kolbe might be a good place to start.

Somehow, I think they've missed the point....

2010-05-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Benedict this weekend sought to affirm control over a hard-line group, the Legionaries of Christ, whose influence in the past decade in Latin countries has grown quite powerful – but whose leader, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, was unable to adhere to the churches mandatory celibacy, having fathered several children and molested young men in a seminary.

Yes, of course... If only Maciel had been able to be married, he wouldn't have abused boys! Except... he did get 'married'...multiple times... and then abused his sons...

Does everything HAVE to fit the predetermined narrative?

Vocation Rustlers and Community-building

2010-05-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, when the LC wanted to move into our Diocese, Bishop Melczek was disturbed. His main argument was that they were "Vocation Thieves" -- they took the boys with vocations to the Diocesan priesthood and to other orders and corralled them into LC.

At the time, I thought he was crazy. How could ANY order steal vocations? Vocations were such a personal thing, and the calling to Diocesan life is NOT the calling to religious life. And being called to the Jesuits is not the same as being called to the Benedictines....

So when he relented and let them in, I was glad that he was acting in a sane, rational manner.

EXCEPT - Maciel was rotten from the start (even the CDF says so!). There never was a charism. Maciel created LC/RC to scam orthodox Catholics.

There never WERE any Vocations. The bishop was right. They are Vocation thieves. (Vocation rustlers? Rounding up the 11 year olds on retreat and rebranding them with the Legion seal?)

I appreciate the fact that there are good, kind, caring people like Jo in RC. I think they'll be OK no matter how this turns out.

What concerns me are the 'stolen vocations'. I worry about the men already in formation, the men who've been with the Legion since they were 11 or 12, and the boys who are still sent away from home to join order that never existed in the first place. These guys have been told that they were called from all eternity to a group led by an evil man. Now they have a choice-- to realize that the Legion lies, or to believe that GOD lied (yoke = easy, burden= light...etc.).

One of the things that really appalled me as I dig deeper into Legion land was the tendency of Legion seminarians to use MISERY as proof that they're doing God's will. They're missing out on the peace and joy that comes from answering God's call. They need to spend some time talking, one on one, with members of other communities.

I hope that the new commissioner has the Legionary priests and seminarians go through an intense period of prayer and discernment. God didn't call them to follow Maciel--we're never called to follow evil. God calls us to freedom, NOT to slavery.

They've missed the fact that God loves us intensely, and that he calls us to a life where we 'fit' and will find joy... He knows us better than we know ourselves and He WANTS us to be happy.

God was calling the Legionaries somewhere when the vocation rustlers got them. I pray that these guys can heal, and eventually get to where they were going in the FIRST place.

**
As for RC members like Jo, God may be calling you to attend a particular prayer group, or to engage in a particular ministry. I can't know that--it's a private thing. BUT if you are a wife and mother, I CAN know that he's calling you to a life of service to your family, and to grow in love for Him as you serve them -- so I'll pray you get all the graces you need for that! Please pray the same for me! (I will readily admit that I need more grace than most just to do SIMPLE things...like washing my floor!)

Basically, most of the people I know from RC are like Jo-- nice women who were looking for a way to grow in Faith while fighting the horrors of overflowing toilets and whining kids. And this does point to a huge hole in modern Catholic life-- we're more isolated than our grandmothers were. Between work and school and activities and everything else we do, we don't have as much time as we'd like to pray together, to study together, and to work together.

We DO need to form communities. In that, RC was not wrong. It was wrong because was pre-packaged community created by an evil man to further his own ambitions. It was wrong because it asked you to force your sons and daughters into 'vocations' that were the creation of Maciel, not God. Maybe now, under Vatican guidance, people like Jo can turn RC into something beautiful.

Even if they do, this is a wake up call to the rest if us. We need to form communities in our parish. We need to reach out and be a good friend and a good neighbor (even if we're hermits who'd prefer to do all our socializing via facebook and blogs! :) ) Maciel was so successful because he created a good-looking product that filled a gap in modern Catholic society. We need to close the gap, so it can't be exploited by other conmen in the future.

Novena to St. Joseph - Day 9!

2010-05-01T05:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Feast of St. Joseph the Worker! It's the last day of our novena from EWTN.

Meditation

PATRON OF A HAPPY DEATH

Saint Joseph, how fitting it was that at the hour of your death Jesus should stand at your bedside with Mary, the sweetness and hope of all mankind. You gave your entire life to the service of Jesus and Mary; at death you enjoyed the consolation of dying in Their loving arms. You accepted death in the spirit of loving submission to the Will of God, and this acceptance crowned your hidden life of virtue. Yours was a merciful judgment, for your foster-Son, for whom you had cared so lovingly, was your Judge, and Mary was your advocate. The verdict of the Judge was a word of encouragement to wait for His coming to Limbo, where He would shower you with the choicest fruits of the Redemption, and an embrace of grateful affection before you breathed forth your soul into eternity.

You looked into eternity and to your everlasting reward with confidence. If our Savior blessed the shepherds, the Magi, Simeon, John the Baptist, and others, because they greeted His presence with devoted hearts for a brief passing hour, how much more did He bless you who have sanctified yourself for so many years in His company and that of His Mother? If Jesus regards every corporal and spiritual work of mercy, performed in behalf of our fellow men out of love for Him, as done to Himself, and promises heaven as a reward, what must have been the extent of His gratitude to you who in the truest sense of the word have received Him, given Him shelter, clothed, nourished, and consoled Him at the sacrifice of your strength and rest, and even your life, with a love which surpassed the love of all fathers.

God really and personally made Himself your debtor. Our Divine Savior paid that debt of gratitude by granting you many graces in your lifetime, especially the grace of growing in love, which is the best and most perfect of all gifts. Thus at the end of your life your heart became filled with love, the fervor and longing of which your frail body could not resist. Your soul followed the triumphant impulse of your love and winged its flight from earth to bear the prophets and patriarchs in Limbo the glad tidings of the advent of the Redeemer.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to die in the arms of Jesus and Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace of a happy death. Help me to spend each day in preparation for death. May I, too, accept death in the spirit of resignation to God's Holy Will, and die, as you did, in the arms of Jesus, strengthened by Holy Viaticum, and in the arms of Mary, with her rosary in my hand and her name on my lips!

Prayers

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

That the leaders of the Church deal with the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi in Wisdom, Mercy, Justice and Love.

That all those who currently work for the Legion may find new ways to support their families.

That families injured through their experiences with the Legion and Regnum Christi may find healing and peace.

And for Benedict, our pope, that he receives all the graces he needs to lead the Church through this crisis.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph Novena - Day 8

2010-04-30T06:08:00.000-07:00

Once again, this is the Novena from EWTN. (Blogging will resume once we finish the Novena this weekend, btw. :) )

Meditation
FRIEND IN SUFFERING

Saint Joseph, your share of suffering was very great because of your close union with the Divine Savior. All the mysteries of His life were more or less mysteries of suffering. Poverty pressed upon you, and the cross of labor followed you everywhere. Nor were you spared domestic crosses, owing to misunderstandings in regard to the holiest and most cherished of all beings, Jesus and Mary, who were all to you. Keen must have been the suffering caused by the uncertainty regarding Mary's virginity; by the bestowal of the name of Jesus, which pointed to future misfortune. Deeply painful must have been the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the disappearance of Jesus at the Paschal feast. To these sufferings were surely added interior sorrow at the sight of the sins of your own people.

You bore all this suffering in a truly Christ-like manner, and in this you are our example. No sound of complaint or impatience escaped you -- you were, indeed, the silent saint! You submitted to all in the spirit of faith, humility, confidence, and love. You cheerfully bore all in union with and for the Savior and His Mother, knowing well that true love is a crucified love. But God never forsook you in your trials. The trials, too, disappeared and were changed at last into consolation and joy.

It seems that God had purposely intended your life to be filled with suffering as well as consolation to keep before my eyes the truth that my life on earth is but a succession of joys and sorrows, and that I must gratefully accept whatever God sends me, and during the time of consolation prepare for suffering. Teach me to bear my cross in the spirit of faith, of confidence, and of gratitude toward God. In a happy eternity, I shall thank God fervently for the sufferings which He deigned to send me during my pilgrimage on earth, and which after your example I endured with patience and heartfelt love for Jesus and Mary.

You were truly the martyr of the hidden life. This was God's Will, for the holier a person is, the more he is tried for the love and glory of God. If suffering is the flowering of God's grace in a soul and the triumph of the soul's love for God, being the greatest of saints after Mary, you suffered more than any of the martyrs.

Because you have experienced the sufferings of this valley of tears, you are most kind and sympathetic toward those in need. Down through the ages souls have turned to you in distress and have always found you a faithful friend in suffering. You have graciously heard their prayers in their needs even though it demanded a miracle. Having been so intimately united with Jesus and Mary in life, your intercession with Them is most powerful.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to suffer for Jesus and Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to bear my suffering patiently for love of Jesus and Mary. Grant that I may unite the sufferings, works and disappointments of life with the sacrifice of Jesus in the Mass, and share like you in Mary's spirit of sacrifice.

Prayer
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

That the leaders of the Church deal with the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi in Wisdom, Mercy, Justice and Love.

That all those who currently work for the Legion may find new ways to support their families.

That families injured through their experiences with the Legion and Regnum Christi may find healing and peace.

And for Benedict, our pope, that he receives all the graces he needs to lead the Church through this crisis.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph's Novena - Day 7

2010-04-29T04:50:00.000-07:00

From the Novena at EWTN:

Meditation:

PATRON OF WORKERS

Saint Joseph, you devoted your time at Nazareth to the work of a carpenter. It was the Will of God that you and your foster-Son should spend your days together in manual labor. What a beautiful example you set for the working classes!

It was especially for the poor, who compose the greater part of mankind, that Jesus came upon earth, for in the synagogue of Nazareth, He read the words of Isaiah and referred them to Himself: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor..." (Luke 4:18). It was God's Will that you should be occupied with work common to poor people, that in this way Jesus Himself might ennoble it by inheriting it from you, His foster-father, and by freely embracing it. Thus our Lord teaches us that for the humbler class of workmen, He has in store His richest graces, provided they live content in the place God's Providence has assigned them, and remain poor in spirit for He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3).

The kind of work to which you devoted your time in the workshop of Nazareth offered you many occasions of practicing humility. You were privileged to see each day the example of humility which Jesus practiced -- a virtue most pleasing to Him. He chose for His earthly surroundings not the courts of princes nor the halls of the learned, but a little workshop of Nazareth. Here you shared for many years the humble and hidden toiling of the God-Man. What a touching example for the worker of today!

While your hands were occupied with manual work, your mind was turned to God in prayer. From the Divine Master, who worked along with you, you learned to work in the presence of God in the spirit of prayer, for as He worked He adored His Father and recommended the welfare of the world to Him, Jesus also instructed you in the wonderful truths of grace and virtue, for you were in close contact with Him who said of Himself, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life."

As you were working at your trade, you were reminded of the greatness and majesty of God, who, as a most wise Architect, formed this vast universe with wonderful skill and limitless power.

The light of divine faith that filled your mind, did not grow dim when you saw Jesus working as a carpenter. You firmly believed that the saintly Youth working beside you was truly God's own Son.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being able to work side by side with Jesus in the carpenter shop of Nazareth. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to respect the dignity of labor and ever to be content with the position in life, however lowly, in which it may please Divine Providence to place me. Teach me to work for God and with God in the spirit of humility and prayer, as you did, so that I may offer my toil in union with the sacrifice of Jesus in the Mass as a reparation for my sins, and gain rich merit for heaven.

Prayer

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

That the leaders of the Church deal with the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi in Wisdom, Mercy, Justice and Love.

That all those who currently work for the Legion may find new ways to support their families.

That families injured through their experiences with the Legion and Regnum Christi may find healing and peace.

And for Benedict, our pope, that he receives all the graces he needs to lead the Church through this crisis.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph's Novena -- Day 6

2010-04-28T07:32:00.000-07:00

From the EWTN site:

Meditation

PATRON OF FAMILIES

Saint Joseph, I venerate you as the gentle head of the Holy Family. The Holy Family was the scene of your life's work in its origin, in its guidance, in its protection, in your labor for Jesus and Mary, and even in your death in their arms. You lived, moved, and acted in the loving company of Jesus and Mary. The inspired writer describes your life at Nazareth in only a few words: "And (Jesus) went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them" (Luke, 2:51). Yet these words tell of your high vocation here on earth, and the abundance of graces which filled your soul during those years spent in Nazareth.

Your family life at Nazareth was all radiant with the light of divine charity. There was an intimate union of heart and mind among the members of your Holy Family. There could not have been a closer bond than that uniting you to Jesus, your foster-Son and to Mary, your most loving wife. Jesus chose to fulfill toward you, His foster-father, all the duties of a faithful son, showing you every mark of honor and affection due to a parent. And Mary showed you all the signs of respect and love of a devoted wife. You responded to this love and veneration from Jesus and Mary with feelings of deepest love and respect. You had for Jesus a true fatherly love, enkindled and kept aglow in your heart by the Holy Spirit. And you could not cease to admire the workings of grace in Mary's soul, and this admiration caused the holy love which you had consecrated to her on the day of your wedding grow stronger every day.

God has made you a heavenly patron of family life because you sanctified yourself as head of the Holy Family and thus by your beautiful example sanctified family life. How peacefully and happily the Holy Family rested under the care of your fatherly rule, even in the midst of trials. You were the protector, counselor, and consolation of the Holy Family in every need. And just as you were the model of piety, so you gave us by your zeal, your earnestness and devout trust in God's providence, and especially by your love, the example of labor according to the Will of God. You cherished all the experiences common to family life and the sacred memories of the life, sufferings, and joys in the company of Jesus and Mary. Therefore the family is dear to you as the work of God, and it is of the highest importance in your eyes to promote the honor of God and the well-being of man. In your loving fatherliness and unfailing intercession you are the patron and intercessor of families, and you deserve a place in every home.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of living in the Holy Family and being its head. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain God's blessing upon my own family. Make our home the kingdom of Jesus and Mary -- a kingdom of peace, of joy, and love.

I also pray for all Christian families. Your help is needed in our day when God's enemy has directed his attack against the family in order to desecrate and destroy it. In the face of these evils, as patron of families, be pleased to help; and as of old, you arose to save the Child and His Mother, so today arise to protect the sanctity of the home. Make our homes sanctuaries of prayer, of love, of patient sacrifice, and of work. May they be modeled after your own at Nazareth. Remain with us with Jesus and Mary, so that by your help we may obey the commandments of God and of the Church; receive the holy sacraments of God and of the Church; live a life of prayer; and foster religious instruction in our homes. Grant that we may be reunited in God's Kingdom and eternally live in the company of the Holy Family in heaven.

Prayers

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

That the leaders of the Church deal with the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi in Wisdom, Mercy, Justice and Love.

That all those who currently work for the Legion may find new ways to support their families.

That families injured through their experiences with the Legion and Regnum Christi may find healing and peace.

And for Benedict, our pope, that he receives all the graces he needs to lead the Church through this crisis.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Saint Joseph's Novena - Day 5

2010-04-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

From the EWTN page.

Meditation:

PATRON OF THE CHURCH

Saint Joseph, God has appointed you patron of the Catholic Church because you were the head of the Holy Family, the starting-point of the Church. You were the father, protector, guide and support of the Holy Family. For that reason you belong in a particular way to the Church, which was the purpose of the Holy Family's existence.

I believe that the Church is the family of God on earth. Its government is represented in priestly authority which consists above all in its power over the true Body of Christ, really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, thus continuing Christ's life in the Church. From this power, too, comes authority over the Mystical Body of Christ, the members of the Church -- the power to teach and govern souls, to reconcile them with God, to bless them, and to pray for them.

You have a special relationship to the priesthood because you possessed a wonderful power over our Savior Himself. Your life and office were of a priestly function and are especially connected with the Blessed Sacrament. To some extent you were the means of bringing the Redeemer to us -- as it is the priest's function to bring Him to us in the Mass -- for you reared Jesus, supported, nourished, protected and sheltered Him. You were prefigured by the patriarch Joseph, who kept supplies of wheat for his people. But how much greater than he were you! Joseph of old gave the Egyptians mere bread for their bodies. You nourished, and with the most tender care, preserved for the Church Him who is the Bread of Heaven and who gives eternal life in Holy Communion.

God has appointed you patron of the Church because the glorious title of patriarch also falls by special right to you. The patriarchs were the heads of families of the Chosen People, and theirs was the honor to prepare for the Savior's incarnation. You belonged to this line of patriarchs, for you were one of the last descendants of the family of David and one of the nearest forebears of Christ according to the flesh. As husband of Mary, the Mother of God, and as the foster-father of the Savior, you were directly connected with Christ. Your vocation was especially concerned with the Person of Jesus; your entire activity centered about Him. You are, therefore, the closing of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New, which took its rise with the Holy Family of Nazareth. Because the New Testament surpasses the Old in every respect, you are the patriarch of patriarchs, the most venerable, exalted, and amiable of all the patriarchs.

Through Mary, the Church received Christ, and therefore the Church is indebted to her. But the Church owes her debt of gratitude and veneration to you also, for you were the chosen one who enabled Christ to enter into the world according to the laws of order and fitness. It was by you that the patriarchs and the prophets and the faithful reaped the fruit of God's promise. Alone among them all, you saw with your own eyes and possessed the Redeemer promised to the rest of men.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being the Patron of the Church. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to live always as a worthy member of this Church, so that through it I may save my soul. Bless the priests, the religious, and the laity of the Catholic Church, that they may ever grow in God's love and faithfulness in His service. Protect the Church from the evils of our day and from the persecution of her enemies. Through your powerful intercession may the church successfully accomplish its mission in this world -- the glory of God and the salvation of souls!

Prayers

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

That the leaders of the Church deal with the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi in Wisdom, Mercy, Justice and Love.

That all those who currently work for the Legion may find new ways to support their families.

That families injured through their experiences with the Legion and Regnum Christi may find healing and peace.

And for Benedict, our pope, that he receives all the graces he needs to lead the Church through this crisis.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

Saint Joseph Novena, Day 4

2010-04-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

This is day four of the novena posted on EWTN.

Meditation

FAITHFUL SERVANT

Saint Joseph, you lived for one purpose -- to be the personal servant of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Your noble birth and ancestry, the graces and gifts, so generously poured out on you by God -- all this was yours to serve our Lord better. Every thought, word, and action of yours was a homage to the love and glory of the Incarnate Word. You fulfilled most faithfully the role of a good and faithful servant who cared for the House of God.

How perfect was your obedience! Your position in the Holy Family obliged you to command, but besides being the foster-father of Jesus, you were also His disciple. For almost thirty years, you watched the God-Man display a simple and prompt obedience, and you grew to love and practice it very perfectly yourself. Without exception you submitted to God, to the civil rulers, and to the voice of your conscience.

When God sent an angel to tell you to care for Mary, you obeyed in spite of the mystery which surrounded her motherhood. When you were told to flee into Egypt under painful conditions, you obeyed without the slightest word of complaint. When God advised you in a dream to return to Nazareth, you obeyed. In every situation your obedience was as simple as your faith, as humble as your heart, as prompt as your love. It neglected nothing; it took in every command.

You had the virtue of perfect devotedness, which marks a good servant. Every moment of your life was consecrated to the service of our Lord: sleep, rest, work, pain. Faithful to your duties, you sacrificed everything unselfishly, even cheerfully. You would have sacrificed even the happiness of being with Mary. The rest and quiet of Nazareth was sacrificed at the call of duty. Your entire life was one generous giving, even to the point of being ready to die in proof of your love for Jesus and Mary. With true unselfish devotedness you worked without praise or reward.

But God wanted you to be in a certain sense a cooperator in the Redemption of the world. He confided to you the care of nourishing and defending the Divine Child. He wanted you to be poor and to suffer because He destined you to be the foster-father of His Son, who came into the world to save men by His sufferings and death, and you were to share in His suffering. In all of these important tasks, the Heavenly Father always found you a faithful servant!

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being God's faithful servant. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to be a faithful servant of God as you were. Help me to share, as you did, the perfect obedience of Jesus, who came not to do His Will, but the Will of His Father; to trust in the Providence of God, knowing that if I do His Will, He will provide for all my needs of soul and body; to be calm in my trials and to leave it to our Lord to free me from them when it pleases Him to do so. And help me to imitate your generosity, for there can be no greater reward here on earth than the joy and honor of being a faithful servant of God.

Prayers

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

That the leaders of the Church deal with the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi in Wisdom, Mercy, Justice and Love.

That all those who currently work for the Legion may find new ways to support their families.

That families injured through their experiences with the Legion and Regnum Christi may find healing and peace.

And for Benedict, our pope, that he receives all the graces he needs to lead the Church through this crisis.
Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph Novena, Day 3

2010-04-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this a few hours early because Sunday mornings are usually pretty hectic around here! (The shoe-finding alone can take hours.) Reminder, This is EWTN's St. Joseph Novena.

Meditation

Saint Joseph, you were the man chosen by God the Father. He selected you to be His representative on earth, hence He granted you all the graces and blessings you needed to be His worthy representative.

You were the man chosen by God the Son. Desirous of a worthy foster-father, He added His own riches and gifts, and above all, His love. The true measure of your sanctity is to be judged by your imitation of Jesus. You were entirely consecrated to Jesus, working always near Him, offering Him your virtues, your work, your sufferings, your very life. Jesus lived in you perfectly so that you were transformed into Him. In this lies your special glory, and the keynote of your sanctity. Hence, after Mary, you are the holiest of the saints.

You were chosen by the Holy Spirit. He is the mutual Love of the Father and the Son -- the heart of the Holy Trinity. In His wisdom He draws forth all creatures from nothing, guides them to their end in showing them their destiny and giving them the means to reach it. Every vocation and every fulfillment of a vocation proceeds from the Holy Spirit. As a foster-father of Jesus and head of the Holy Family, you had an exalted and most responsible vocation -- to open the way for the redemption of the world and to prepare for it by the education and guidance of the youth of the God-Man. In this work you cooperated as the instrument of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the guide; you obeyed and carried out the works. How perfectly you obeyed the guidance of the God of Love!

The words of the Old Testament which Pharaoh spoke concerning Joseph of Egypt can well be applied to you: "Can we find such another man, that is full of the spirit of God, or a wise man like to him?" (Gen. 41:38). No less is your share in the divine work of God than was that of Egypt. You now reign with your foster-Son and see reflected in the mirror of God's Wisdom the Divine Will and what is of benefit to our souls.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for having made you the man specially chosen by Him. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to imitate your virtues so that I too may be pleasing to the Heart of God. Help me to give myself entirely to His service and to the accomplishment of His Holy Will, that one day I may reach heaven and be eternally united to God as you are.

Prayers
Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

That the leaders of the Church deal with the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi in Wisdom, Mercy, Justice and Love.

That all those who currently work for the Legion may find new ways to support their families.

That families injured through their experiences with the Legion and Regnum Christi may find healing and peace.

And for Benedict, our pope, that he receives all the graces he needs to lead the Church through this crisis.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph Novena -- Day 2

2010-04-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

Today's 2 of our Novena. Remember, if you want a direct link to the entire Novena, it's at EWTN.

Meditation:

VIRGINAL HUSBAND OF MARY

Saint Joseph, I honor you as the true husband of Mary. Scripture says: "Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, and of her was born Jesus who is called Christ" (Matt. 1:16). Your marriage to Mary was a sacred contract by which you and Mary gave yourselves to each other. Mary really belonged to you with all she was and had. You had a right to her love and obedience; and no other person so won her esteem, obedience, and love.

You were also the protector and witness of Mary's virginity. By your marriage you gave to each other your virginity, and also the mutual right over it -- a right to safeguard the other's virtue. This mutual virginity also belonged to the divine plan of the Incarnation, for God sent His angel to assure you that motherhood and virginity in Mary could be united.

This union of marriage not only brought you into daily familiar association with Mary, the loveliest of God's creatures, but also enabled you to share with her a mutual exchange of spiritual goods. And Mary found her edification in your calm, humble, and deep virtue, purity, and sanctity. What a great honor comes to you from this close union with her whom the Son of God calls Mother and whom He declared the Queen of heaven and earth! Whatever Mary had belonged by right to you also, and this included her Son, even though He had been given to her by God in a wonderful way. Jesus belonged to you as His legal father. Your marriage was the way which God chose to have Jesus introduced into the world, a great divine mystery from which all benefits have come to us.

God the Son confided the guardianship and the support of His Immaculate Mother to your care. Mary's life was that of the Mother of the Savior, who did not come upon earth to enjoy honors and pleasures, but to redeem the world by hard work, suffering, and the cross. You were the faithful companion, support, and comforter of the Mother of Sorrows. How loyal you were to her in poverty, journeying, work, and pain. Your love for Mary was based upon your esteem for her as Mother of God. After God and the Divine Child, you loved no one as much as her. Mary responded to this love. She submitted to your guidance with naturalness and easy grace and childlike confidence. The Holy Spirit Himself was the bond of the great love which united your hearts.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of being the virginal husband of Mary. As a token of your own gratitude to God, obtain for me the grace to love Jesus with all my heart, as you did, and love Mary with some of the tenderness and loyalty with which you loved her.

Prayers:

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

That the leaders of the Church deal with the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi in Wisdom, Mercy, Justice and Love.

That all those who currently work for the Legion may find new ways to support their families.

That families injured through their experiences with the Legion and Regnum Christi may find healing and peace.

And for Benedict, our pope, that he receives all the graces he needs to lead the Church through this crisis.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

St. Joseph Novena, Day One

2010-04-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

As I said below, I'm using the one from EWTN.

Meditation: The Foster Father of Jesus

Saint Joseph, you were privileged to share in the mystery of the Incarnation as the foster-father of Jesus. Mary alone was directly connected with the fulfillment of the mystery, in that she gave her consent to Christ's conception and allowed the Holy Spirit to form the sacred humanity of Jesus from her blood. You had a part in this mystery in an indirect manner, by fulfilling the condition necessary for the Incarnation -- the protection of Mary's virginity before and during your married life with her. You made the virginal marriage possible, and this was a part of God's plan, foreseen, willed, and decreed from all eternity.

In a more direct manner you shared in the support, upbringing, and protection of the Divine Child as His foster-father. For this purpose the Heavenly Father gave you a genuine heart of a father -- a heart full of love and self-sacrifice. With the toil of your hands you were obliged to offer protection to the Divine Child, to procure for Him food, clothing, and a home. You were truly the saint of the holy childhood of Jesus -- the living created providence which watched over the Christ-Child.

When Herod sought the Child to put Him to death, the Heavenly Father sent an angel but only as a messenger, giving orders for the flight; the rest He left entirely in your hands. It was that fatherly love which was the only refuge that received and protected the Divine Child. Your fatherly love carried Him through the desert into Egypt until all enemies were removed. Then on your arms the Child returned to Nazareth to be nourished and provided for during many years by the labor of your hands. Whatever a human son owes to a human father for all the benefits of his up-bringing and support, Jesus owed to you, because you were to Him a foster-father, teacher, and protector.

You served the Divine Child with a singular love. God gave you a heart filled with heavenly, supernatural love -- a love far deeper and more powerful than any natural father's love could be.

You served the Divine Child with great unselfishness, without any regard to self-interest, but not without sacrifices. You did not toil for yourself, but you seemed to be an instrument intended for the benefit of others, to be put aside as soon as it had done its word, for you disappeared from the scene once the childhood of Jesus had passed.

You were the shadow of the Heavenly Father not only as the earthly representative of the authority of the Father, but also by means of your fatherhood -- which only appeared to be natural -- you were to hide for a while the divinity of Jesus. What a wonderfully sublime and divine vocation was yours -- the loving Child which you carried in your arms, and loved and served so faithfully, had God in Heaven as Father and was Himself God!

Yours is a very special rank among the saints of the Kingdom of God, because you were so much a part of the very life of the Word of God made Man. In your house at Nazareth and under your care the redemption of mankind was prepared. What you accomplished, you did for us. You are not only a powerful and great saint in the Kingdom of God, but a benefactor of the whole of Christendom and mankind. Your rank in the Kingdom of God, surpassing far in dignity and honor of all the angels, deserves our very special veneration, love, and gratitude.

Saint Joseph, I thank God for your privilege of having been chosen by God to be the foster-father of His Divine Son. As a token of your own gratitude to God for this your greatest privilege, obtain for me the grace of a very devoted love for Jesus Christ, my God and my Savior. Help me to serve Him with some of the self-sacrificing love and devotion which you had while on this earth with Him. Grant that through your intercession with Jesus, your foster-Son, I may reach the degree of holiness God has destined for me, and save my soul.

Prayer:
NOVENA PRAYER

Saint Joseph, I, your unworthy child, greet you. You are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love and venerate you. You know that I have special confidence in you and that, after Jesus and Mary, I place all my hope of salvation in you, for you are especially powerful with God and will never abandon your faithful servants. Therefore I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me and all that belong to me, to your intercession. I beg of you, by your love for Jesus and Mary, not to abandon me during life and to assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the Immaculate Virgin, obtain for me a pure, humble, charitable mind, and perfect resignation to the divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Divine Heart of Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now implore:

That the leaders of the Church deal with the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi in Wisdom, Mercy, Justice and Love.

That all those who currently work for the Legion may find new ways to support their families.

That families injured through their experiences with the Legion and Regnum Christi may find healing and peace.

And for Benedict, our pope, that he receives all the graces he needs to lead the Church through this crisis.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I feel confident that your prayers in my behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

ITE AD JOSEPH!

2010-04-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned yesterday, Friday is the day to start our novenas to St. Joseph since May 1 is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Since Pete’s out of town, I’m apparently on Novena Duty, so I’ll be posting the prayers for each of the nine days.

If you’d prefer to follow on your own, the Novena I’ll be using is here. It’s a really beautiful one, since the reflections amount to a mini-catechism on the role of St. Joseph in the Church.

So, beginning on Friday, let us pray for St. Joseph’s intercession:

1. As the Patron of the Universal Church, that our leaders will treat the Legion and Regnum Christi in Mercy and Justice.

2. As the Patron of Families, that the families damaged through their experiences with LC/RC may find healing, faith and peace.

3. As the Patron of Workers, that all those who currently work for the Legion may find new ways to support their families.

4 And as the name-saint of the Pope, that Benedict XVI will receive the graces he needs to deal with all of this.

If you have any other suggestions for the novena, please put them in the comments and I’ll add them up here! (Yes, I’m already putting a lot on Joseph’s shoulders, but he can take it! )

ITE AD JOSEPH!

Silence and Novenas

2010-04-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long blog silence. Honestly, I haven't had much to say recently. We've been enjoying the Easter Season, I've been working on the yard, and I've had very little time to think.

But I've had time to pray.

I have a lot of friends who are working for the Legion. It's easy to launch into people for working for such a corrupt organization, but they all have families. They need to feed their kids and they need health insurance.

The Feast of St. Joseph the Worker is a week from Saturday. I'd like to propose a novena for all those who are in the Legion's employ- that they'll be able to find other means of supporting their families.

My favorite is the one at EWTN.

I may have more to say later. But honestly, right now my feelings are so tangled (Joy that Benedict is cleansing the filth from the Church, sorrow for all the good-hearted people who were used by Maciel), that I can't write anything coherent.

So I'll just pray instead. For my friends, for our pastor (since he'll have to deal with the fall out in the parish), for the pope and for the Church.

Infallability has its limits

2010-04-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

No, seriously. It does. So when the pope sayws "Mary was Immaculately Conceived," he's infallable. But if he says "This priest is really great with the kiddies," or "Gee, these private revelations are mighty cool!", he is not.

For more, see Patrick Madrid.

Personally, I think this hyper-clericism regarding the pope is dangerous. You should not lose your faith just because a pope sinned or made mistakes. Remember-- they're following in the footsteps of Peter. Read the Gospels-- he makes Joe Biden look suave and well-spoken!

In other news-- I'm not dead. Just had a busy Easter, and am having in-laws all week. And since Lent is over, I'll be able to comment on OTHER PEOPLE'S blogs again! :) Once I have a second to breathe, of course......

Triduum = Less blogging, more 'spiritual reading'

2010-03-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

I won't be blogging much over the next week-- We'll be having houseguests for the octave of Easter.

And, for the Triduum, I'm rereading my favorite Catholic book of all times, the one that rekindled my faith in college. The book that I tend to see as an antidote to many of the Legion's woes (though that might be because it's the book that lit the fire for orthodoxy in my heart.)

I first read this book under the direction of an aging Quaker who'd escaped the holocaust and had a great love for history. I've read it over and over in many seasons of my life-- not just for the spiritual wisdom, but also to better know the man who wrote it...and now that I have kids, to know his mother as well.

Yup. I'm spending this week with Sts. Augustine and Monica in the Confessions. So why did I put "Spiritual Reading" in quotes? Because, frankly, I tend to think of daily 'spiritual reading' as a chore that is supposed to get done. And I love St. Augustine so much I'd gladly ignore all my chores and spend all day with him. Well, except that when I ignore my duties, I end up with bodily fluids all over the house.....

Ugh.

2010-03-31T05:53:00.000-07:00

Bonum, Verum, Pulchrum has the story. It never ends, does it? I'm still wondering how people can argue that the "Good outweighs the Bad" in the Legion's work.