Dawn Eden's new project.

A book of saints who were abused.
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I've always wanted to do a book on the lives of saints who were abused - be it sexually or physically - to be a help to kids who live in abusive situations, as well as those adult children who had been abused.  The saints are truly our help and models in our earthly pilgrimage - their example and intercession can sustain us in any difficulty.  As a kid I read the lives of the saints in every available book from the library - I still do, which is one reason I love Magnificat - the editors always include biographies of the saints for each day.  The lives of the saints certainly helped me endure a difficult childhood.  Devotion to the saints, as well as to the Divine Child Jesus is especially efficacious in healing the wounds left behind by childhood abuse - wounds that always remain as a sort of stigmata, but are transformed by the merciful love of God reflected in the wounds of Christ and his saints.
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New book.
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New York City, N.Y., Jun 7, 2011 / 06:00 am (CNA).- Dawn Eden, a popular Catholic author known for her work on chastity in the modern world, is set to release a new book on the central role of the saints in healing wounds from childhood sexual abuse.

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“I was struck by the sheer number of saints who experienced childhood sexual abuse – there were many more than I had imagined – and how relevant their stories were to people living in the present day,” Eden told CNA in a June 2 interview.
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Eden, the author of the 2006 bestseller of “The Thrill of the Chaste,” said the inspiration for her new book came from her discussions on chastity with thousands of young people.

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“It became apparent to me that a major reason people resist the Church's teachings on chastity and the culture of life is because they have suffered childhood sexual abuse, or have witnessed sexual inappropriateness,” Eden said.
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She said that victims of this kind of abuse often believe that they are impure or have been defiled by what happened to them. - Finish reading here.
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A couple of saints I hope Dawn Eden might consider including in her book:
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Blessed Nunzio Sulprizio:  Born in Pescosansonesco, Pescara, on 13 april 1817 - died Naples 5 may 1836. The short life of the young blacksmith was marked by a series of tragic losses (his father, then his mother) and a painful disease in a leg, as well as severe abuse from his employer. In Pescosansonesco there is a sanctuary, and behind the altar there is still the spring used by young Nunzio to wash his wound. That water is believed to be miraculous. His shrine is one of the most famous and popular in the Pescara Valley. - Source 
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Santo Nino Cautivo:  Protector of the kidnapped or abducted, especially those children of any age who have been similarly caught up in vice, drugs, slavery, difficult circumstance and life problems. - More information.
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Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha:  She certainly suffered abuse from pagan tribesmen.
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The Uganda Martyrs.
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Albertina Berkenbrock: Albertina Berkenbrock was born on 11 April 1919 in São Luís, Imaruí, Santa Catarina, Brazil. She was baptized on 25 May 1919 and confirmed on 9 March 1925. She made her First Holy Communion on 16 August 1928.   Albertina grew up in a devout family. She willingly helped her parents at home and on the land.  At an early age she learned to pray with deep devotion and was strong in the practice of her Catholic faith. She spoke of her First Communion Day as the most beautiful day of her life and had special devotion to Our Lady and to St Aloysius Gonzaga, a model of purity and the Patron Saint of São Luís.  Albertina was murdered by a would be rapist. - Vatican website.
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Prayers and best wishes to Dawn for the success of her book - I think it is very much needed.
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Art: Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock

Weiner weinen...

Why do guys do that?
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Why do they lie and cry?  Anthony Weiner crying on television, apologizing for showing off his junk and hurting his wife and friends and family.  Frequently when you are caught with your pants down, any tears that start to flow are because you got caught doing something wrong, and the lies just won't work any longer.  The guy is most likely more sorry he got caught and might lose his job.  If the guy was so cavalier about sexting to strangers, you'd think he'd just shrug the whole thing off after he was exposed.  The lying always makes it worse, especially if you are not popular to begin with.  (Clinton was popular and so he got away with it.  He also had a sense of humor, Weiner just seems to be a prick.)
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A man and his dog.
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The real question is why do guys like Weiner flash?  He's a newly-wed after all, and an up and coming politician.  Why be so stupid, stupid?  Because the sensual man's best friend is his ____.  Weiner is a typical, conscienceless, numb-nuts narcissist who goes to the gym and is proud of his junk.  It's kind of gay really.  Guys like Weiner are really exhibitionists, flashers.  "Show hard."  Creep is cool these days - creep has gone mainstream.  How many guys with cell phones do that stuff now days?  What is Facebook for?  Twitter?  Craig's List? 
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Never use a younger man's cell phone - remember Monica Lewinski's stained blue dress...  ick!   

Kevorkian's art.

Commenter ck suggested I Google Dr. Kevorkian's art...
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Try it yourself and see what you think.
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"His work tended toward the grotesque; he sometimes painted with his own blood, and had created pictures such as one "of a child eating the flesh off a decomposing corpse."  Of his known works, six were made available in the 1990s for print release. The Ariana Gallery in Royal Oak, Michigan is the exclusive distributor of Kevorkian's artwork. The original oil prints are not for release." - Wikipedia
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In the 1960's Dr. Jack Kevorkian enrolled in an adult education oil painting class in Pontiac, Michigan. He combined his understanding of the human anatomy with his fascination with death and created, as author Michael Betzold describes in his book Appointment with Doctor Death, 18 canvases that "are as bold and strident, as critical and unforgiving, as pointed and dramatic as Kevorkian's own fighting words. They are strikingly well-executed, stark and surreal --and frightening, demented and/or hilarious, depending on one's point of view." - Frontline

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Interestingly, Kevorkian never considered himself an artist.
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Art shown:  For he Is Raised.  Kevorkian's narrative:  "The annual resurrection by dumb bunnies of a pathetic, despairing, almost scorned image of the purported divinity is hardly noticeable amid the tawdry paraphernalia of irresistible paganism at its vernal orgy. It is a spectacle badly conceived, badly manipulated, and superbly desecrated by those hare-brained disciples of Mammon, who, with armfuls of brilliant multi-colored eggs and gleeful joy, framed in parade-stopping millinery, might, in a rare pseudo-pious mood briefly condescend to acknowledge some sort of disquieting mystery pervading it all. Such is the perfunctory Easter of modern western society which seems to have lost appreciation for anachronisms like rods and staffs and angels and lambs."
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I think Kevorkian must have been a very bitter, hateful man who hated God and humanity.

The Pride

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To know the true nature of pride, we should first note that it is a spiritual sin, in itself less shameful and less debasing, but more grievous, says St. Thomas,(1) than the sins of the flesh, because it turns us more away from God. The sins of the flesh could not be in the demon who was irremediably lost through pride. Scripture on several occasions says that "pride is the beginning of all sin," (2) because it does away with the humble submission and obedience of the creature to God. The first sin of the first man was a sin of pride,(3) the desire of the knowledge of good and evil,(4) that he might be his own guide and not have to obey. In the opinion of St. Thomas,(5) pride is more than a capital sin; it is the source of the capital sins, and particularly of vainglory, which is one of its first effects.

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Some are deceived, at least practically, about the true nature of pride, and as a result, without wishing to do so, may commend false humility, which is a form of hidden pride more dangerous than that which displays itself and makes itself ridiculous. - Garrigou-Lagrange

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What is more ridiculous than the burlesque theatrics of a gay pride parade?

The importance of the family.

The Holy Father speaks in Croatia.
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Yesterday morning the neighbors prepared for their son's graduation party.  They moved in shortly after I moved into this house, so I watched the kids grow up.  They are a wonderful family and the boys well behaved.  Interestingly enough, they rarely go to church on Sunday.  I know the boys were confirmed in the Lutheran church - yet there is hardly a Sunday anyone attends church.  My sister's family is the same way, as are many American families, Catholic or Protestant.  People fail to realize the worship that is due to God on Sundays, but more seriously, their indifference to the Sunday obligation reveals a certain secularism, a compartmentalizing of religion.  Such attitudes affect societal morals and values far more than they realize or understand.
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That said, I think the Holy Father's words in Zagreb are important for all families to listen to and to put into practice.
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"Be courageous!"
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In today's society the presence of exemplary Christian families is more necessary and urgent than ever. Unfortunately, we are forced to acknowledge the spread of a secularization which leads to the exclusion of God from life and the increasing disintegration of the family, especially in Europe. Freedom without commitment to the truth is made into an absolute, and individual well-being through the consumption of material goods and transient experiences is cultivated as an ideal, obscuring the quality of interpersonal relations and deeper human values; love is reduced to sentimental emotion and to the gratification of instinctive impulses, without a commitment to build lasting bonds of reciprocal belonging and without openness to life. We are called to oppose such a mentality!

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Alongside what the Church says, the testimony and commitment of the Christian family - your concrete testimony - is very important, especially when you affirm the inviolability of human life from conception until natural death, the singular and irreplaceable value of the family founded upon matrimony and the need for legislation which supports families in the task of giving birth to children and educating them. Dear families, be courageous! Do not give in to that secularized mentality which proposes living together as a preparation, or even a substitute for marriage! Show by the witness of your lives that it is possible, like Christ, to love without reserve, and do not be afraid to make a commitment to another person! - Catholic Online

Dr. Kevorkian hailed as a hero, a martyr.

I knew it would come to this.
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As news broke of Dr. Jack's Kevorkian death on Friday, MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing invited on defense attorney and friend Geoffrey Fieger to praise the convicted criminal known as 'Dr. Death': "Dr. Jack Kevorkian will be looked at as a hero, a true hero, and as a martyr for what they did to him for nine years. Putting him in prison..."
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"I doubt very many people will ever remember him as a cold-blooded killer. Obviously there's some on the fringe, but I think most of us would recognize his, not only his greatness and his kindness and his beneficence and his importance." - Source

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I guess it is only the 'fringe' element then, that knows we have contracepted and aborted our way into esteeming euthanasia as the only 'happy death'.  I suspect few in the world know that the only real happy death is to die in the state of grace.

"Frankly my dear..."

"I don't give a damn."
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Some days I feel like that.  I wonder why I bother to blog about the things that I do.  Who appointed me to do it?  No one.  I feel completely alone sometimes.  Especially when I read articles about bishop's like Brooklyn's retired Bishop Joseph Sullivan, or Fr. James Martin SJ praising the Bishop for his profound sensitivity to gay issues.  I'm sure I would like Bishop Sullivan, I'm sure he's nice.  I do like Fr. Martin SJ - and since he's involved with theater people, I totally understand his sympathy for the personal lives of homosexuals.  When you are very close to individuals you arrive at a greater understanding and acceptance - ostensibly of the person, not necessarily their sin.   One can try to understand the genesis of their sin and come to some conclusions without approving of it, but familiarity often breeds approval.
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"So the people turn to follow them and drink in all of their words.'
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Whenever I write about gay agenda and the homosexual political movement and infiltration into every level of society - especially religious sects and institutions, I am frequently dismissed as homophobic, old, a dinosaur since the gay lifestyle has been all cleaned up and presentable for general consumption, and or I'm completely ignored because I lack scholarship on the subject... I don't have a theological degree as some do from some rural Bible college or online degree mill.  However, whatever my deficits, it hardly means I lack any experience, knowledge, or that I haven't studied the same sources, read the same books and studies, and so on.
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'Yet my feet came close to stumbling...'
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Over the years, in my struggle against sin I have studied and read practically all of the literature available - everything, and there is nothing new these days that wasn't proposed thirty or forty years ago.  The difference today is that academia is saturated with the very inventive, novel research of years gone by; gay studies professors and theologians have been using the same propaganda for decades and it has been ingrained upon their students who've entered the professions, especially teaching, clergy, law, and psychology.
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'They scoff; they speak with malice...'
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Throughout the years, I too even tried to live unconstrained by the Church's moral teaching, trying to believe and put into practice the new theology as proposed by activists such as Fr. McNeil and Sr. Grammick, or the proof for gay unions by Boswell.  I looked into groups like Dignity way back when.  I tried to balance the lifestyle with authentic Catholic teaching and found many gay priests to help me do so, claiming monogamous relationships were just fine, just like marriage.  Promoting pornography as better than promiscuous cruising, and so on.  I read and praised people like Larry Kramer and other non-religious activists who called for the gay community to clean up their act and make themselves more respectable, and so on.  I can provide 'credentials' and experience, believe me.  All of that means and proves nothing to the know-it-all activists who continue to try and convince society gay is good and that God made them that way, and everyone should feel so sorry for them because they've been discriminated against and have been bullied.  I can tell you right now there is no bigger bully than a gay activist demanding their so-called rights.
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'I strove to fathom this problem... until I pierced the mysteries of God...'
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So.  Believe it or not, I know what I'm talking about.  However, by some miracle of grace I was not able to continue long in compromising my faith and betraying my conscience, 'to sell my birthright for a meal', as it were.  To be sure I know what the struggle entails if you want to be genuinely faithful, to be in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.  I have learned from experience that as Teresa of Avila said, 'prayer cannot be coupled with self-indulgence':  Likewise, one cannot engage in homosexual acts and remain in the state of grace.  Similarly one cannot condone or support the gay lifestyle and agenda and remain faithful to Roman Catholic teaching.  Yet I'll never say one can't be Catholic, because just claiming to be Catholic is no guarantee of salvation - no matter how traditional the liturgical pomp and circumstance.
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'And so when my heart grew embittered...' 
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I know what it is to be discriminated against as well.  It's part of the cross.  Even those who one would imagine should be your friends whisper and speculate about you.  It doesn't matter if you are faithful or not.  The self righteous gossip and slander you.  After monastic life, I tried to avoid any public work in association with Catholic groups, even renouncing an active participation in the Third Order or taking up the collection in the local parish.  At times it made me angry and I blamed others for it, eventually I understood it was necessary to avoid giving scandal.  I think it is human nature to blame others for our weakness, our inconsistencies, and our failures.  Sometimes we lash out and 'protest too much' - but in my case, that was how I came to understand what was and what was not my responsibility.  Forgoing active participation despite the protests of volunteer-do-gooders and idealistic pastors, it was necessary for me not to be involved.  Sometimes one's active participation is more spiritual and therefore silent and hidden.
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'Yet I was always in your presence...'  
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Sadly, for others who struggle to be faithful, they simply can't understand the paradox of being 'damned if you do and damned if you don't'.  I'm talking about faithful Catholics with SSA, who accept the Church's teaching and face bigotry both in the pews and from active gay people.  It's a double-cross.  It is part of the whole cross - a penitent needs to understand that - without self pity, or seeking affirmation or praise for their conversion.  If they demand special recognition they are making the same mistake as gay rights people are making.
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'All those who abandon you will perish...'
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Finally, the Holy Father recently said that every Catholic needs a spiritual director.  God bless him.  I hope he realizes I've had many whose counsels, if I followed them would land me in hell.  I've had confessors I needed to beg to give me absolution despite the fact they told me I had not sinned.  The Church is infiltrated.
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+++

To be near God is my happiness...

Though I said in my alarm,

'How useless to keep my heart pure.'

Then I said:

'If I should speak like that,

I should betray the race of your sons.'

I have made God my refuge.

I will tell of your works

at the gates of Zion.

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"Yes, I would say that the homosexual network is alive and "well" here in the U.S. - and worldwide. Queer theology has permeated many of the seminaries and chanceries. And now, homosexual "marriage" is making inroads. Gay is good, you see.Not that the American church can be blamed entirely for the advancement of the homosexual agenda; there are other factors that must be taken into consideration. But it isn't much of a stretch to say that "gay-friendly" bishops, along with "gay-friendly" priests, along with "gay-friendly" theologians, along with "gay-friendly" chancery bureaucrats, along with "gay-friendly" teachers, along with "gay-friendly" politicians, have facilitated this advancement in recent years." - Matt Abbott

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Fresco: Ascension, Basilica di San Clemente, Rome  "No ruined wall no exile" - Someday... but not at this stage in history.  For me images of the ruins of old churches tell the story of what has happened to the faith in our century.

Mass Chat

What?

Pride and shame.

"Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source.  Humility is the only antidote to shame."
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The sin of pride is an inordinate desire or love of one's own excellence.  Through pride a man thinks himself better than he is or he thinks he can do things which are beyond his own power.  The proud man thinks all of his talents are his own, he will not even acknowledge that he owes them to God.  If he does concede they come form God, he he still thinks they are due to his own merit.  He boasts of gifts which he does not possess, while despising other men and imagining himself to be unique.  Pride is a serious sin because it leads man to resist even God himself, not to mention God's plan for humanity.  Pride and presumption calls vice virtue.
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The original sin of our first parents was a sin of pride.  Through pride, through a disordered desire to attain some spiritual perfection without God, they fell.  (Paraphrased from My Way of Life, Confraternity of the Precious Blood)
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Original sin is the source of disorder in man's soul.
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Shame is good.
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When we do something wrong and we are exposed as doing so, we become ashamed.  Shame, or guilt is a necessary realization or understanding of wrong doing.  Modesty, or sexual shame protects us from sin - it is a safeguard against sin.  Shame is the result of original sin.  The ordinary man knows instinctively that moral shame is a consequence of sin, as is sexual shame.  Sexual shame is in fact a positive shame in so far as it is the guardian and protector of purity and chastity.   To construct a perfect definition here is beyond my 'pay grade' but it is something Blessed John Paul II discusses at length in his Theology of the Body.
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"(T)he mutual shame of the man and the woman as a symptom of the fall..." - JPII
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A certain fear always belongs to the essence of shame. Nevertheless, original shame reveals its character in a particular way: "I was afraid, because I was naked." We realize that something deeper than physical shame, bound up with a recent consciousness of his own nakedness, is in action here. Man tries to cover the real origin of fear with the shame of his own nakedness. Thus he indicates its effect, in order not to call its cause by name. Then God-Yahweh says in his turn: "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" (Gn 3:11).
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Man alienated from love

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2. The precision of that dialogue is overwhelming; the precision of the whole narrative is overwhelming. It manifests the surface of man's emotions in living the events, in such a way as to reveal their depth at the same time. In all this, nakedness does not have solely a literal meaning. It does not refer only to the body; it is not the origin of a shame related only to the body. Actually, through nakedness, man deprived of participation in the gift is manifested, man alienated from that love which had been the source of the original gift, the source of the fullness of the good intended for the creature.
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According to the formulas of the theological teaching of the Church,(1) this man was deprived of the supernatural and preternatural gifts which were part of his endowment before sin. Furthermore, he suffered a loss in what belongs to his nature itself, to humanity in the original fullness of the image of God. The three forms of lust do not correspond to the fullness of that image, but precisely to the loss, the deficiencies, the limitations that appeared with sin.
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Lust is explained as a lack which has its roots in the original depth of the human spirit. If we wish to study this phenomenon in its origins, that is, at the threshold of the experiences of historical man, we must consider all the words that God-Yahweh addressed to the woman (Gn 3:16) and to the man (Gn 3:17-19). Furthermore, we must examine the state of their consciousness. The Yahwist text expressly enables us to do so. We have already called attention to the literary specificity of the text in this connection. - Real Significance of Original Nakedness, Pope John Paul II

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Art: The Fall of Satan.

The very perfection of the angels exposed them to the constant danger of the gifted, the danger of enchantment with the splendor of the gifts to the denial of the Giver. - My Way of Life, The Angels

God created them, male and female.

After the fall.
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It cannot be said God created a person to be homosexual - in other words, God did not make you gay.  The natural sexual identity of the human person is male or female.
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The genesis of homosexuality is mysterious and difficult to understand, nevertheless it cannot be said God created the homosexual.  Natural law and scripture defy such an assertion.  As the Catechism teaches: "Basing itself on sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved" - Catechism of the Catholic Church 2357
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Even if it could be proven there was a genetic predisposition to homosexuality, it would not make the behavior natural.  A person may be genetically inclined to alcoholism, but it doesn't change the disordered nature of the behavior - it doesn't make alcoholism good. 
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Statements from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
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Providing a basic plan for understanding this entire discussion of homosexuality is the theology of creation we find in Genesis. God, in his infinite wisdom and love, brings into existence all of reality as a reflection of his goodness. He fashions mankind, male and female, in his own image and likeness. Human beings, therefore, are nothing less than the work of God himself; and in the complementarity of the sexes, they are called to reflect the inner unity of the Creator. They do this in a striking way in their cooperation with him in the transmission of life by a mutual donation of the self to the other.
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In Genesis 3, we find that this truth about persons being an image of God has been obscured by original sin. There inevitably follows a loss of awareness of the covenantal character of the union these persons had with God and with each other. The human body retains its "spousal significance" but this is now clouded by sin. Thus, in Genesis 19:1-11, the deterioration due to sin continues in the story of the men of Sodom. There can be no doubt of the moral judgement made there against homosexual relations. In Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, in the course of describing the conditions necessary for belonging to the Chosen People, the author excludes from the People of God those who behave in a homosexual fashion. - On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons

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The 1975 Statement.
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At the present time there are those who, basing themselves on observations in the psychological order, have begun to judge indulgently, and even to excuse completely, homosexual relations between certain people. This they do in opposition to the constant teaching of the Magisterium and to the moral sense of the Christian people.
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A distinction is drawn, and it seems with some reason, between homosexuals whose tendency comes from a false education, from a lack of normal sexual development, from habit, from bad example, or from other similar causes, and is transitory or at least not incurable; and homosexuals who are definitively such because of some kind of innate instinct or a pathological constitution judged to be incurable.
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In regard to this second category of subjects, some people conclude that their tendency is so natural that it justifies in their case homosexual relations within a sincere communion of life and love analogous to marriage, in so far as such homosexuals feel incapable of enduring a solitary life.

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According to the objective moral order, homosexual relations are acts which lack an essential and indispensable finality. In Sacred Scripture they are condemned as a serious depravity and even presented as the sad consequence of rejecting God.[18] This judgment of Scripture does not of course permit us to conclude that all those who suffer from this anomaly are personally responsible for it, but it does attest to the fact that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and can in no case be approved of. - DECLARATION ON CERTAIN QUESTIONS CONCERNING SEXUAL ETHICS, 1975
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Art: Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel.  "Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside." (Genesis 9:20-22)

Pilgrimage Lost

The 'way' becomes a 'lifestyle'?
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Like monasticism, the spirituality of pilgrimage has been watered down in modern times.  Personal comfort, convenience, nice accommodations, and pleasant company seem to be high on the priority list, not to mention ease of travel as well as the availability of sightseeing side trips and good eating.  One or two exceptions to this rule may be the more obscure  pilgrimage destinations which have not been developed for tourism.  Even in St. Therese's time, the bourgeoisie secured for themselves all the comforts their Grand Tour counterparts enjoyed in their travels.
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The pilgrimage as tour.
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I came across this story about a festival in Rome celebrating pilgrimage:
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Rome, Italy, Jun 2, 2011 / 09:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Rome is hosting a gathering that would be unusual in almost any other city-- a festival showcasing possible pilgrimage destinations from 31 different countries.
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The Journeys of the Spirit Festival, or JOSPFest, is bringing over 120 exhibitors from 31 countries to the Italian capital to promote their particular locations as destinations for pilgrimage.
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The organizers predict that over a million people will descend on Rome to take part in the festival. For those in the tourist business there are numerous seminars, debates and trade shows.
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This year’s theme connecting all the events is “The Pilgrim Lifestyle.”
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“The pilgrim lifestyle is really an interesting way of life,” said Mancini.  "The idea with a pilgrim lifestyle is that the values that come along with that journey of the spirit – building bridges, interacting, dialogue, being respectful, being kind - those values don’t have to end after you finish your pilgrimage. You can use them and implement them in your everyday life afterwards.”  - CNA
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The pilgrim lifestyle.
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I wouldn't be surprised if the festival presents more of a Disney-esque version of pilgrimage rather than anything close to the earliest concept of the meaning of religious pilgrimage.  It is obvious the festival version is about tourism as much as it is about religious pilgrimage - and both spell profit - which accounts for the festival/market in the first place.  Modern pilgrimage today makes Canterbury Tales look positively austere.
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Authentic pilgrimage is about penance and prayer, be it done in reparation, in petition, in thanksgiving, or simply for the sake of worship - it isn't a tour, or at least it shouldn't be.  A rock-wall climber ascending the most state-of-the-art climbing wall in the best of gyms is more ascetic than most pilgrims today.  A tour through the Tibetan mountains to visit Lhasa is probably more spiritually challenging and fulfilling than most first class pilgrimages to Rome or Rue de bac in Paris.
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Traditionally pilgrimage meant leaving the comforts and securities of home, seeking God, emptying the self as Christ did - arriving as a pilgrim and stranger, demonstrating to the world that we are not at home on the earth, rather we seek a fatherland which is above.  Ideally, it is a time of ascesis and contemplation, as well as spiritual renewal.  of course it is different for people of different ages and conditions, such as the sick who go to Lourdes, but pilgrimage of itself is an act of prayer and worship, and no matter the condition of the pilgrim, it should always have some character of self-renunciation.
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Like so many other spiritual endeavors of today, including monasticism and even priesthood, many seem  to be seeking to accommodate themselves, and even profit from their endeavors - that profit not always being spiritual.
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The Christian life should have the character of a pilgrimage.
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The pilgrim "withdraws from his acquaintance and those dear to him, and keeps his mind disengaged from all temporal comfort, so the blessed apostle Peter beseeches the faithful of Christ to keep themselves as strangers and pilgrims in the world." - Imitation of Christ
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"For there is no lasting city here on earth, we are looking for the city which is to come." - Hebrews 13
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Hence, in reality a pilgrim, and even the monk, does not need to ask for donations or secure accommodations to set off in pursuit of God, knowing he will receive everything he needs, "provided he is content with a sufficiency."
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"Today we love the world and it's luxuries and profits more than God.  We place our trust in insurance rather than God.  The whole idea of the pilgrim is to follow Jesus in a life of humility, poverty, hiddeness and ceaseless prayer in obedience to the will of the Father.  He walks in the way of abandonment to Divine Providence, and since he has been raised with Christ he seeks the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the Father; his whole mind is set on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for he has died and his life is hidden with Christ in God." - Rule for a Pilgrim
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Wenski and Farrel - betting bishops.

A lot of hot air in the south.
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Miami, Fla., Jun 2, 2011 / 07:36 pm (CNA).- As the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks begin the NBA Championship series, the Catholic bishops of the teams’ hometowns have made a friendly wager on the outcome.
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Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami offered Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas three items from three parts of his archdiocese: a collection of Key Lime pies and stone crabs from Monroe County, a box of cigars handmade in Miami, and a fish bowl containing Ft. Lauderdale sand, shells from the beach, and water from the Atlantic Ocean.
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He will also include some “ocean breezes and oranges” if the Miami Heat lose, the Archdiocese of Miami reports.
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Bishop Farrell has accepted the challenge. He has offered barbeque ribs from Rudy’s Country Store and Bar-B-Q in Frisco, tortillas and salsa from Luna Tortilla Factory in Dallas, and a deep dish pecan pie from Colin Street Bakery in Corsicana. He is also offering a “Don’t Mess with Texas” hat.
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If the Heat loses, Bishop Farrell said, he would like to receive a picture of Archbishop Wenski wearing the cap, perhaps while sitting on his Harley motorcycle. - Catholic bishops bet on Heat v. Mavericks NBA Championship
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Who the hell cares?

Whatever happened to Euteneuer and Corapi?

Remember Dave Stone?

Uganda Martyrs - reprised.

Saint Charles Lwangda and Companions
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I always find it ironic that the feast day of a group of martyrs who were put to death for refusing King Mwanga of Uganda homosexual advances is celebrated during what has come to be known as Gay Pride Month.  Though many Christians were killed by Mwanga, a group of pages were sentenced to death not only out of hatred for the faith but for resisting homosexual relations with the King.  Homosexuality is a cultural taboo in Uganda to this day, although it is believed the king learned and acquired the practice from the Arabs. (Source)  Since certain cultural taboo were more or less ratified by Christianity, while other practices such as polygamy were condemned, Mwanga sought to rid the country of the new religion and all Christians.
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The story of the martyrs is at once gruesome and edifying.  Imagine accepting torture and death rather than committing a sexual sin which has become so commonplace in our day?  The sacrifice of the martyrs demonstrates that conquering sin is indeed possible for anyone, and their witness offers the Christian great hope, reminding us how they "endured the opposition of sinners", thus encouraging us, "do not grow despondent or abandon the struggle."  Their intercession is powerful before God, for their blood cries out on our behalf, encouraging us...  "In your fight against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood." - Hebrews 12: 3-4
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St. Charles and Companions pray us.   

The ever evolving, progressive Bishop Joseph Sullivan on LGBTQ equality.

Bishop Sullivan's new ways ministry.
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I guess when you're retired you can come out and say whatever you want in support of the homosexual movement...
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Joseph Sullivan: Catholics are reaching out to the LGBT community.
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One need only flip through some of today’s cable news channels to witness how some of our society’s most sensitive public policy matters are overly simplified in black-and-white terms, in which only the most strident voices seem to get heard. Of those many hotly debated issues, the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community continue to make headlines.
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What you would probably be surprised to learn is that Catholics are among those who increasingly are reaching out pastorally to the LGBT community. A recent study released by the Public Religion Research Institute found that a majority of Catholics believe that job discrimination against gay and lesbian people should be outlawed. By almost 2 to 1, Catholics believe that gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to adopt children.
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The views of Catholics about the LGBT community have been evolving for years. - Bishop Sullivan Read on
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"The views of Catholics about the LGBT community have been evolving for years..."  Evolved.  Progressive.  No small thanks to bishops like Sullivan.


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Links:

Bishop Sullivan, friend of New Ways Ministry

Two Bishops Speak at Gay Conference Condemned by a Third Bishop
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Bishop opposes church teaching

BREAKING! Cardinal Burke Scandal

Cardinal Burke withdraws from London conference at last minute.
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Mystery surrounds the unexpected withdrawal of Cardinal Raymond Burke as the main speaker at a conference organised by Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice at Westminster Central Hall on June 18. - Source
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One can only speculate why, can't one.  I'm afraid there is quite a scandal waiting to happen here, Lady Hestor.
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Photo:  Cardinal Burke incognito.  It is a little known, often unspoken fact; the Cardinal slips about not wearing his usual red cassock, rochet, mozzetta, zuccheto, biretta, and cappa magna.  Again, one can only specualte why.  One source tries to explain that the cappa gets caught in the bus doors.
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What?

Fr. Peyton's Family Rosary Crusade, San Francisco Redux.

This is a great idea.
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When I was little Fr. Patrick Peyton visited St. Paul, Minnesota and hundreds - perhaps thousands - of faithful Catholics assembled on the lawns of the Capitol Approach, the huge area in front of the State Capitol, to recite the rosary.  My brother and sister had to take me to it - probably some mandate from the school sisters, I don't know.  They weren't happy about it - especially when they had to kneel, and we prayed the rosary publicly with the famous Fr. Peyton.  I was so thrilled, I was sure the Blessed Virgin would appear or that the miracle of the sun would take place.  After all. it was around 1960 and everyone expected the Third Secret of Fatima to be made public.
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Anyway, the Legion of Mary is reviving the practice and will stage a public rosary rally in San Francisco on the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Fr. Peyton event.  Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR will be the keynote speaker.
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Throughout history, during times of plague and famine, war and disaster, public prayer and processions were  key factor in obtaining God's mercy and an end to these chastisements.  The miracles of the rosary in this regard are numerous and well known.  I've been thinking how good it would be if bishops and the pope would call for such public prayers in these days when the faith is under attack and the world is beset by so many evils.  "Public prayer is far more powerful than private prayer to appease the anger of God and call down His Mercy and Holy Mother Church, guided by the Holy Ghost, has always advocated public prayer in times of public tragedy and suffering." (Secret of the Rosary) 
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The announcement of the San Francisco event seems to me to be a wonderful opportunity to re-introduce the practice of public prayer and processions to obtain the grace and mercy of God in our perilous times, when the faith and morals are under relentless attack.  If only the hierarchy would take leadership roles in this and promote such public devotions and prayers in reparation and petition in their dioceses.
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Public Rosary in San Francisco
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San Francisco, Calif., Jun 2, 2011 / 06:01 am (CNA).- Fifty years after a 1961 public Rosary gathered over half a million people in San Francisco, a Catholic lay group is organizing the same event for October of 2011.

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“We expect thousands,” spokesperson Gibbons J. Cooney told CNA June 1.
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On October 15, the Bay Area chapter of the Legion of Mary – an international community of lay Catholics – will host their Family Rosary Crusade. The event will be held in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza, starting at noon.
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In the 1950s and 60s, Holy Cross priest Father Patrick Peyton led Rosary events in countries across the globe. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the record-breaking 1961 Rosary Rally at the Polo Fields in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
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That event drew 550,000 people, making it one of the largest gatherings in the history of San Francisco. - CNA
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Pray the rosary every day.
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Finally, when people say the Rosary together it is far more formidable to the devil than one said privately, because in this public prayer it is an army that is attacking him. He can often overcome the prayer of an individual, but if this prayer is joined to that of other Christians, the devil has much more trouble in getting the best of it. It is very easy to break a single stick, but if you join it to others to make a bundle it cannot be broken. "In union there is strength." Soldiers join together in an army to overcome their enemies; wicked people often get together for parties of debauchery and dancing, and evil spirits join forces in order to make us lose our souls. So why, then, should not Christians join forces to have Jesus Christ present with them when they pray, to appease Almighty God's anger, to draw down His grace and mercy upon us, and to frustrate and overcome the devil and his Angels more forcefully? - Secret of the Rosary

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Photo credit:  Family Rosary Crusade 2011  Father Peyton addressing the crowds at the San Francisco Family Rosary Rally, October 7, 1961

Sagrado Corazon Jesus

"Mira este corazón mío, que a pesar de consumirse en amor abrasador por los hombres, no recibe de los cristianos otra cosa que sacrilegio, desprecio, indiferencia e ingratitud, aún en el mismo sacramento de mi amor. Pero lo que traspasa mi Corazón más desgarradamente es que estos insultos los recibo de personas consagradas especialmente a mi servicio."

Medjugorje! Medjugorje! Medjugorje!

She could never be a saint, but she thought she could go to Medjugorje if you donate quick.
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Or is it, "She could never be a nun, but she thought she could be a martyr if you killed her quick."  Whatever Flannel wrote - I don't know.
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Kat is planning on going to Medjugorje!  This issue is almost as controversial as the decision to wear a chapel veil or not... To veil or not to veil?  Oh!  The humanity!

June: The month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The Twelve Promises of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary for those Devoted to His Sacred Heart:


•I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.
•I will establish peace in their families.
•I will console them in all their troubles.
•They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of their death.
•I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
•Sinners shall find in My Heart the source of an infinite ocean of mercy.
•Tepid souls shall become fervent.
•Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
•I will bless the homes where an image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored.
•I will give to priests the power of touching the most hardened hearts.
•Those who propagate this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be effaced.
•The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under my displeasure, nor without receiving their Sacraments; My heart shall be their assured refuge at that last hour.
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"The devotion produces rich fruit and makes a great change in those who are devoted to it and earnestly practice it." - Letters of St. Margaret Mary

Summer Job Postings: Christian Camp Counselors Needed!

Qualified candidates please send resumes to:

Deacon Jason Vorhees
Westborow Baptist Bible Camp
Camp Crystal Lake, Kansas

Memories that last a lifetime!