Cardinal Dolan and the Single Girl

I saw the photo at the Deacon's.  I liked it so much I had to post it.  It shows what a gentleman Cardinal Dolan is.  I'm really not all that concerned about the Cardinal's politics or his banquets - he's a Cardinal Archbishop and Cardinals and Bishops do what they do.  I have no say in how they do their job.

That said, Helen Gurley Brown is another story, isn't she.  She used to be on Carson a lot - in fact she always presented so prim and proper, though chic and sophisticated, that I found it hard to believe she was a 'sexologist'.  Her book, Sex and the Single Girl, did much to teach women about their new found freedom, as well as to level the sexual playing field between the sexes, on some level it is regarded as a contributing factor to the sexual revolution.  As it turns out, her persona came to be identified as something akin to a female Hugh Hefner:  Brown recognized her market and published for it - to great success.  Men - and the pill - permitted her to promote what she did.  She always claimed to enjoy herself doing it.

We all get old, and then we die.  The Cardinal was very charitable to show such kindness to an old lady.

RIP

+ + +

  "Each soul is the object of My special love. That is why I am so grateful to those who are resourceful in bringing back sinners to Me. Keep this in mind then. I gave My life for them in the most atrocious torture, for these poor beloved ones. A humble repentance, and they are already on My heart. So speak gently to them. Speak with tenderness. A brusque remark could drive them farther away." - He and I

Original article here.

Joanna is boggled...

She too looks askance at Catholic wanna-be celebs...

Praising Cardinal Dolan, The British Auntie writes:

There's a new fashion for indignant, muddled young(ish) fogeyish Catholics who are less well formed in the Faith than they think they are, to announce themselves as commentators on the Internet. There are a great many good and large and generous things that they could be doing, but becoming a (sort of) Catholic wanna-be celeb instead is too big a temptation, so they get excited with camera and computer and talk a lot and post it on the web. Verbal bashing of the Cardinal and other pro-life leaders and workers is their current excitement. Time to chuck it, boys. There are great and noble tasks awaiting you in your generation, and you need to get on and seek out what God is asking of you. Being an active Catholic consists of more than feeling good and being rude about the grown-ups. - Well said Cardinal Dolan!

Well said Auntie! 

My, my.  She does have quite a high opinion of herself though, doesn't she.

Public art.

I wanted to write a story titled "Peeing in Assisi" and while searching for a photo, I came across the photo of a public fountain by famous Czech artist and sculptor David Cerny.  I decided to forget the  story and just run the photo.

Don't be pissed at me.

Cardinal Dolan says there is nothing to worry about the Obama invitation to din-din.

My favorite photo of Dolan.

There's always a place at the table folks...

So long as...

... an invitation to the Al Smith Dinner is not an award, or the provision of a platform to expound views at odds with the Church. It is an occasion of conversation; it is personal, not partisan.
... people of faith gathered in an evening of friendship, civility, and patriotism, to help those in need, not to endorse either candidate.
... you can accomplish a lot more by inviting folks of different political loyalties to an uplifting evening, rather than in closing the door to them.

In the end, I’m encouraged by the example of Jesus, who was blistered by his critics for dining with those some considered sinners; and by the recognition that, if I only sat down with people who agreed with me, and I with them, or with those who were saints, I’d be taking all my meals alone.* - Cardinal Dolan

Works for me.

Although probably not for the Catholic blogosterium.

I know, I know, it is not the same thing...

*I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Pope Pius XII did exactly that - he ate alone.  God save the Church from an American pope!

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin

Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer? - Little Office BVM, Matins, First Lesson, Cant. 3

+

Intercede for Syria, O Our Lady,

in this grave hour when from all around

blow furious winds, bringing cries of death

against Your Son and against civilization

founded on His teachings,

 deceiving minds, perverting hearts and

lighting the fires of hatred and

revolution in the world.

Help of Christians, pray for us!*


+ + +

*Would you please join in praying with Archbishop Nassar of Syria - the Act of Consecration of Syria to the Immaculate Heart of Mary which he will make at 6pm (Syrian Time) on August 15th 2012- Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven. Wherever you are in the world on that day at 6pm– or when you can - please join in this consecration in support of the Archbishop. - Consecration text here.

Urgent! Prayers requested for Syria.

Editor's note:  A friend sent me this - I think it is very important.

Would you please join in praying with Archbishop Nassar of Syria - the Act of Consecration of Syria to the Immaculate Heart of Mary which he will make at 6pm (Syrian Time) on August 15th 2012- Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven.
Wherever you are in the world on that day at 6pm– or when you can - please join in this consecration in support of the Archbishop.

Act of Consecration of Syria to the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be made by Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus in his Cathedral before the Shrine of Our Lady and the Martyrs of Damascus on August 15th 2012 Feast of the Assumption on behalf of the bishops, priests and people of Syria. The Act of Consecration will be made at 6pm Syrian time which means 3pm British time -hour of Divine Mercy. Please join this courageous Archbishop in a union of prayer with this Act of Consecration of Syria to the Immaculate Heart of Mary “The Shepherds chosen by Your Son to watch over and feed in His name the sheep He has acquired at the price of His blood – in this “Land of Holy Mary”, whose name cannot be pronounced without pronouncing Your own – come today – as the official and consecrated representatives of their flocks, and in an act of filial “homage” (vassalagem) of faith, love and trust – to solemnly consecrate the Syrian nation to your Immaculate Heart. Take it from our fragile hands into Your own; defend it and guard it as Your own property; make Jesus reign, conquer and rule in it. Outside of Him there is no salvation… We, the bishops of your people, feel a terrible storm raging round us, threatening to disperse and destroy the faithful flock of those who bless You because You are the Mother of Jesus. Afflicted, we stretch out our suppliant hands towards Your Son, as we cry out “save us, O Lord, for we perish!”… Intercede for Syria, O Our Lady, in this grave hour when from all around blow furious winds, bringing cries of death against Your Son and against civilization founded on His teachings, deceiving minds, perverting hearts and lighting the fires of hatred and revolution in the world. Help of Christians, pray for us! Intercede for Syria, Our Lady, in this troubled hour when the unclean waves of an open immorality, which has even lost the notion of sin, exalt the rehabilitation of the flesh in the face of the very Cross of Your Son, threatening to choke in this world the lily of virtue nourished by the Eucharistic blood of Jesus. Virgin most powerful, pray for us!... Intercede for Syria, Our Lady, in this hour of passions and doubts when even the good run the risk of being lost…Unite all the Syrian peoples around Your Son in the love of the Church and the cultivation of virtue, in respect for order and fraternal charity. Queen of Peace, pray for us! Remember finally, Patroness of our country and Mother of Jesus that we now only have recourse to Your Immaculate Heart and Divine Mercy. O Blessed Virgin Mary through the powerful intercession of your Immaculate Heart, save Syria, by giving it Jesus, in Whom it will find Truth, Life and Peace.” Amen. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us Immaculate Heat of Mary, Pray for us St. Joseph, patron and protector of the Universal Church, Pray for us Martyrs of Syria and the Middle East, Pray for us Saints of Syria and the Middle East, Pray for us St. Charbel, Pray for us (Based on the form and text of the Act of Consecration of Portugal to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Portuguese Bishops in 1931 – this amazing Act of Faith in the Intercessory Power of the Immaculate Heart of Mary transformed the fortunes of the Church and State and turned them back from the brink of disaster.)

The Martyr of Charity

St. Maximilian Kolbe

In my spiritual travels I spent a summer with the Conventual Friars at their original Marytown in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  As a kid I was enrolled in the Militia of Mary Immaculate, the sodality founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe after his studies in Rome.  In Rome he witnessed the Masonic anti-Catholic actions against the Catholic Church, and this moved him to form the Knights of the Immaculata, Mediatrix of all Graces, in defense of the Catholic faith.  For well defined details, please visit this site.

I was attracted to St. Maximilian as a kid on account of his devotion to Our Lady, and of course, his martyrdom at Auschwitz.  As a child, Maximilian had a vision of Our Lady, who offered him two crowns, one for chastity, the other for martyrdom.  He explained:

"... the Blessed Mother appeared to me holding in her hands two crowns: one white the other red. She looked at me with tenderness and asked me if I wanted these two crowns. The white one signified that I would preserve my purity and the red that I would be a martyr."
[...]
In 1973 Paul VI beatified him and in 1982 John Paul II canonized him as a Martyr of Charity. - Source

St. Maximilian offered his life in exchange for a prisoner who was to be executed.  he died by lethal injection, after many days of starvation.  Kolbe's death was truly a heroic act of the most perfect charity by which he won his martyr's crown.  Since his canonization, the Saint's intercession is often sought for people addicted to drugs because of the manner in which he died.  However, I see his death foreshadowing the growing practice of euthanasia we hear about in our times: withholding nutrition and hydration, as well as lethal injection.  That is exactly how Kolbe was put to death - although much more cruelly, no clinical pretensions to comfort.  On account of this, Kolbe must be considered a major patron of the pro-life movement.  

̈“Charity should be open to all without discrimination; her only limit should be whatever is possible, which because of its spirit of sacrifice- should reach to the extreme.” (St.Maximilian)

Charity covers a multitude of sins.

b. 5 August 1912

“The Emmaus community is not made up of saints – They are ordinary men who are no less good than you, nor better. But amongst the rubbish they found a small excerpt from the Gospel that we had found too difficult and so threw it away: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'” - Abbé Pierre

The French priest Abbé Pierre, if he had lived, would have turned 100 this year.  He was a very controversial, heroic priest, who founded the Emmaus Community, a world-wide organization which assists refugees, and the homeless poor.   He didn't get along with everyone.  The Jesuit Fr. Henri de Lubac told him on the day of his priestly ordination: "ask to the Holy Spirit that he grants you the saints' anti-clericalism".  I believe He did.  I think St. Catherine of Genoa had the same gift.

Who are you Lord and what am I?

Jacob wrestles with Angel

Jacob's dream of the

ladder of Divine Ascent.

The prayer of St. Francis.

I believe Br. Leo records that Francis repeated these words in ecstasy: 'Who are you Lord, and what am I?'  Similar perhaps, to what the psalmist prays, 'What is man that you should be mindful of him?' But not the same.  What did Francis mean?  If you have ever been touched by grace and lifted out of yourself, you might know something of that blessed confusion.  On the other hand, and perhaps even better, if you wrestle within the cell of self-knowledge, you have known how difficult it can be to accept what you are.  One reason why spiritual writers always urge that prayer, with confidence in the merciful love of God, must accompany us in this work, lest we become discouraged and give up.  It would be wonderful if we could always see ourselves in God's light, as God sees us - but we don't.  Ordinarily, we must wrestle, not unlike like Jacob wrestled with the Angel, in the darkest night, and like Jacob, we must not let him go until he shows us who he is... Then, even in that depth, we echo the prayer of the saint - making it our own, "Who are You... my God?  And... what, what am I?"

Where is this leading? 

I've been reading many things by Catholics who identify themselves as either same sex attracted, gay-chaste-Catholic/Christian, gay-Catholic, and so on.  I was confused by a lot of what I read.  Naively surprised that all Roman Catholics did not accept the program for sanctity which Courage offers.  A program I consider a good support and guide to men and women who have homosexual attractions and who desire to live a chaste life in fidelity to Roman Catholic teaching.  Instead, after six years of blogging about this stuff, I've encountered many different attitudes on the subject, and not all of them agree with the Courage model.  Of course, from the beginning, Courage was a hard sell, even to many bishops.  But that's another post.

What all seem to have in common however, aside from sexual orientation, is the very strong inclination that is summed up in the prayer of St. Francis I quoted, it seems to me, each in his own way asks, "My God, who are you?  And what am I?"

"Three ages of gay."

I realized this most clearly in my encounter with Melinda Selmys and her blog Sexual Authenticity.  Of course I've read Eve Tushnet, Joshua Gunnerman, Ron Belgau, as well as Thom of Faith In The 21st Century, CourageMan, and the popular guy, Steve Gershom, amongst others who have come and gone - especially in the com box.  I've read these people suspecting I'm a little bit more conservative than they are - and not nearly as well versed.  Nevertheless, their writing has forced me to see things differently - or at least to be more open minded as regards personality and spiritual experience.  In a sense, some of these folks who embrace their queerness, are not all that different from those we have come to regard as dissenters, Catholic gay activists - in my local are, the most well known would be Michael Bayly.  And yes, he is Catholic - a gay Catholic - he's written extensively on how he manages that.  Much like Melinda and the others I might add - differing only in what they accept in Catholic teaching as far as being gay and Catholic. 

To make a long post short, for now all I want to say is that I've come to see this matter as 'the three ways' or 'the three ages of gay Catholic life' as it were.  (Non religious gay is a world unto itself.)  I see it this way because of what amounts to as the new paradigm shift, or reality, wherein society is in process of accepting and recognizing homosexuality as a natural variant, especially as it gets closer to recognizing same sex marriage and same sex families with children.  It should go without saying, I'm against it.  I repeat it all of the time and I mean it.  I accept everything the Church teaches on sexuality and so on.  Likewise, I believe and accept that the Church cannot change her teaching, no matter what any one says or how they choose to live their life.

Having said that - no one person I know of in these three categories or ages of gay life have been excommunicated.  Some of the activist-dissenters have indeed been reprimanded, perhaps censured, maybe even had their views condemned, but to my knowledge, no one has been excommunicated or  placed under interdict.  Indeed, the faithful self-identifying LGBTQ group have pretty much been praised and encouraged by some Church officials.  Eve Tushnet is a popular speaker and writer, and she was accorded many compliments by the Bishop of Denver recently.  Likewise, Melinda Selmys addressed this years Courage Conference with good success, and has a popular book on her life.  Finally, there is the Courage-style SSA person - no queer-gay-monikers-for-me kind of men and women - not all of them may be in a Courage group, but they more of less live up to the same commitment.  Faithful to the core and on the narrow way of perfection.  Objectively speaking, all three categories remain Catholics in good standing, all three have access to the sacraments, and for all I know, all three consider themselves faithful Catholics.  I can judge the obvious - actions and words, but not another person's soul. 

My convictions remain the same.

Within each group are a variety of individual personalities, a variety of experience; and ironically, none of them are willing to be pigeon-holed - and yet they do it all of the time themselves.  Fiercely independent, with few exceptions, most individually struggle to understand, to know themselves - which is a very Catholic thing to do BTW.  Each in their own way wrestles with the same question every soul must wrestle with, "My God.  Who are You?  And what am I?"

I recognize that each person lives his or her life as best they can - I can't tell someone how to live their life.  I cannot know their soul, I cannot judge their conscience, I cannot change them, and I have no authority over their lives to do so.  Each person, like the philosopher and theologian, may speculate upon his existence, he may debate the problems associated with it, he may publish his convictions, but he cannot change Natural or Divine Law, nor Catholic teaching to suit himself.  Not even the Pope can change Catholic teaching on faith and morals. 


That said, I respect each persons right to know himself, even as he is known.

Going forward, maybe I'll add to these thoughts - maybe not.

Ze Pep's butler's beg mestake...

The road to hell is paved with good intentions...

Paolo Gabrielle, the butler, did it because he wanted to shock and expose corruption in the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI's butler will be tried on an aggravated theft charge over the leaking of hundreds of secret papers from the pope's personal apartment to an Italian journalist, a Vatican spokesman said Monday.

The butler, Paolo Gabriele, acted out of a desire to combat "evil and corruption everywhere in the Church," according to a prosecutor in the case.

"I was certain that a shock ... would have been healthy to bring the church back onto the right track," the prosecutor, Nicola Piccardi, wrote in a report released Monday by the Vatican. - Source

He could have just started a blog using a pseudonym, such as Peter Canisius instead.  Or is that how he did it? 

Hate Groups in Minnesota?

Book-burners too.

Sunday's Minneapolis Star/Tribune ran a story titled, "Trying to track hate, in Minnesota and around the country" followed by "The Southern Poverty Law Center lists 12 hate groups in Minnesota, though the criteria for inclusion aren't always clear." For a listing, click here.

The same organization that was keeping track of the shooter at the Wisconsin Sikh temple has identified a dozen active "hate groups" in Minnesota.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has listed organizations ranging from a group founded by a member of the former American Nazi Party to a parents' organization that opposed repealing a controversial Anoka-Hennepin School District policy on issues of sexual orientation.

Leaders of those groups and others listed by the center dispute the "hate" label. Some call the Law Center hateful and slanderous. 

 "The only reason why some people would consider us a hate group is because they're too ignorant to open their eyes and see what we are really all about," said a man who identified himself over the phone as Mike Schmidt, public relations director for the National Socialist Movement, which the Law Center lists as "neo-Nazi." "There's nothing on our website that promotes hate. ... Our organization is about self-preservation of our own people and the promotion and advancement of it." - Star/Tribune

"Leaders of those groups and others listed by the center dispute the "hate" label."

That's an understatement, to be sure.  Be that as it may, I was surprised to see one group identified as a hate group, that being The Remnant Newspaper and Publisher.   The reason?  Rad-Trad.  Seriously.  Here is how SPLC  defines the danger:

“Radical traditionalist” Catholics, who may make up the largest single group of serious anti-Semites in America, subscribe to an ideology that is rejected by the Vatican and some 70 million mainstream American Catholics. Many of their leaders have been condemned and even excommunicated by the official church.

Adherents of radical traditional Catholicism, or “integrism,” routinely pillory Jews as “the perpetual enemy of Christ” and worse, reject the ecumenical efforts of the Vatican, and sometimes even assert that recent popes have all been illegitimate. They are incensed by the liberalizing reforms of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, which condemned hatred for the Jews and rejected the accusation that Jews are collectively responsible for deicide in the form of the crucifixion of Christ.

Radical traditionalists are not the same as Catholics who call themselves “traditionalists” — people who prefer the old Latin Mass to the mass now typically said in vernacular languages — although the radicals, as well, like their liturgy in Latin. They also embrace extremely conservative social ideals with respect to women. - SPLCenter

Hmmmmmmmmmm ...  I wonder if the SPLCenter tracks bloggers?

More Mass Chat: Cosmic Mass... Evolutionary.

Click here.  For the 11 second shot - go here.

"We are called to be whole-makers, to evolve by uniting, growing and becoming more complex. We are not to seek the living among the dead. Rather, we are to forge a new future, a new hope, a new life that begins with our own lives." - Sr. Ilia Delio

These people continue to influence the Church - here and there... through some crack... the smoke... still gets in.

Our Lady of Medjugorje at the Olymics! Croatia Wins Gold!

Croatia's Paulo Obradovic, top, shoots against Italy's Amaurys Perez during the men's water polo gold medal match at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2012, in London.

I watched it happen too!  Then I napped.

Disclaimer: Photo from another event/sport. 

Kat has another nice faith story here. 

Yay Croatia!  Photo not from 2012 Olympics.

Comments are closed:  Please use the sharing buttons, and for heaven's sake, please donate and send Fr. Z to the UK.  Click here.

What?

Now they are talking... Lions and tigers and Barbara Marx Hubbard's heretical roots... oh my!

Hildegard Von Bingen, Tree of Life*

Witchy woman.

Now the influential bloggers are talking.  Now. 

I told you.  I asked, What is Barbara Marx Hubbard doing ...

and then I discussed, The Barbara Marx Hubbard LCWR Seedbed initiative...

No matter - at least the word is getting out.  Oddly enough - variations of the Barbara Marx Hubbard conscious evolution and social synergy movement toward an evolutionary politic has been around since the 1960's - in one reincarnation or another, that is.  It has influenced the formation of numerous seminarians and religious throughout the decades since - it has many Theosophical roots and branches...  The Enneagram, Transcendental Meditation**, Trance-dance, Esalen Institute, maybe a few Cenacle retreat centers and so on.  They are here and they are indeed queer - in the original sense of that word.  

And yet all of this time you just thought it was the communists and the gays in the priesthood, and you blamed it on the Novus Ordo.  Now it's right smack dab in your face, and you still don't take it seriously.

And who let this smoke of Satan into the Church?  The men in charge.  So hold onto your pom-poms guys, "Unfortunately, it is painfully obvious that the Church’s male leadership is not prepared to accept this new wave of educated women... "   Why did you ever let them wear the pants in the first place?

Maybe now you'll all wake up and smell the fusion...


*Hildegarde was not a witch of course, she is a saint and soon to be Doctor of the Church.  nevertheless her mysticism is esteemed by New Age cults and Catholic feminists.

**Did I ever mention I was into TM at one time? 

Christ is mine and all for me ...

I've decided it doesn't matter what other people do or say, or what kind of accommodations they make with their consciences to make it through this earthly pilgrimage.  I can't live their lives, and I can't tell them how to live their lives.

No matter what happens, what is said, what is done - the Church can never change her teachings.  Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  I am Christ's and Christ is mine...

"Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God Himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me." - St. John of the Cross

Remember Lot's wife, who turned into a salt-shaker after she went back to check her email one last time... 

Feast of St. Clare

St. Clare - J.R. Howley

Clarissa.

Chiara. 

Clare.

lovely Clare,
so pure,
so clear,
so poor,
so simple,
so aflame,
so lovely,
so a'love,
... love.

Archbishop Burke was on Raymundo Live...

 I noticed in a video, Arroyo has a new set.  Nice.

The Cardinal addressed the LCWR issue.

Darn, I missed it.  I used to watch EWTN World Over Live every Friday night, but since it switched to Thursday nights, I always miss it now.  It conflicts with Big Bang Theory and 30 Rock.

Last night Cardinal Burke was on.  He is so kind - and he obviously doesn't think the controversy is a joke, but a very serious problem, stating: "If it (LCWR) can't be reformed, it doesn't have a right to continue."  And he said that because the Holy See is the reason for their existence, and if they do not cooperate with the Holy See - that's it.  I agree - but what are they going to do about all the bad seeds they sowed?

Too bad Cardinal Burke wasn't the man to address the conference instead of Archbishop Carlson.

TGIF

Archive photo: 

Cathy passed out in the back of

the squad car after

Ray was stopped for a DUI - by Adoro

 when she was a cop

 - that's how they all met -

Ray's in the background

doing the sober walk

for the other officer. 

Thank God It's Friday... reflective, glow in the dark, thoughts.

• Years ago I had friends who began drinking right after work on Friday and drank through to Sunday afternoon.  When they got older - like into their late 50's, they stopped drinking, just like that.   Some would say they were alcoholics, but I never thought they were.  What's my point?  I don't have one.

• I was up late last night looking for St. Lawrence's tears but could barely see the stars in the clear sky, which reminded me that I'm going blind.

• Years ago my friends and I laid on our backs on the eve of the saint, after dropping mescaline, and watched St. Lawrence's tears shooting through the star studded sky above a remote hill in a place called Eden Prairie.  We didn't know at the time that it was a meteor shower. 

• This morning I was reading about St. Martin of Breve-La-Gaillarde, + c. 407.  He fled Spain and went on pilgrimage, ending up in the town that is his namesake, and proceeded to evangelize the pagan inhabitants.  When he overthrew one of their idols, the townsfolk stoned him to death.  Imagine that today.  Imagine going into a pagan temple and overthrowing an image of Ganesha.  Or imagine going to a Sikh temple to evangelize.  I know.

• Did you know St. Monica was not an alcoholic?  She is just the patron of alcoholics.  Her maid scolded her for sneaking wine - which she enjoyed.  She just stopped drinking because her maid called her on it.  She never went to treatment, never did the 12 steps, never got a DUI, never drove into a 7-11, never danced on tables, never slept around, never wrote a blog about it, - she like the wine however.

Things have changed, haven't they.  Not a question - simply an observation.

I don't get into TGIF stuff any longer BTW.

What point are you trying to make here Terry?   

Just reflecting ... and observing ... behavior.

The next planet was inhabited by a tippler. This was a very short visit, but it plunged the little prince into deep dejection.

"What are you doing there?" he said to the tippler, whom he found settled down in silence before a collection of empty bottles and also a collection of full bottles.

"I am drinking," replied the tippler, with a lugubrious air.

"Why are you drinking?" demanded the little prince.

"So that I may forget," replied the tippler.

"Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who already was sorry for him.

"Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head.

"Ashamed of what?" insisted the little prince, who wanted to help him.

"Ashamed of drinking!" The tippler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.

And the little prince went away, puzzled.

"The grown-ups are certainly very, very odd," he said to himself, as he continued on his journey. - The Little Prince

Disclaimer:  This is just a random post - it is not directed at any one - and no - I am not going to pursue my lifelong ambition to become an alcoholic, and I am not drinking anything but Dr. Pepper.  I only thought of this because I remembered my weekend friends, Angelo and Eddie, as well as the accusations that Monica was an alcoholic.  She wasn't.

Bonus:  When I was younger - in my late teens early twenties, most of the homosexuals who befriended me were heavy, heavy drinkers - nightly - but cocktail hour never began before 5PM.  Alcoholism was/is considered a major problem amongst homosexuals.  When it became fashionable to go into treatment - ala Betty Ford, Elizabeth Taylor, Murphy Brown - many gay people sobered up to get rid of the puffiness.  Suprisingly, treatment helped them to accept being gay - hence the drinking was discovered to be only a symptom - of depression.  Today, most homosexuals I know are on some form of anti-depressant - or a combination of meds to balance them out.  I suppose in many cases, they are just treating the symptoms...

Again, St. Monica was not an alcoholic - she just liked to drink.

Feast of St. Lawrence

Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, Giotto

What a hoot!  Huh?

They say he joked while being roasted alive and told the executioners they could turn him over because he was done on that side.  Maybe.

That stuff works for religious people when they want to make light of otherwise serious situations.  Cardinal Dolan likes a good joke - so does Fr. James Martin S.J. and Stephen Colbert.  Oh hell, who doesn't?  Dolan and Martin and Colbert have a show coming up, don't they?  So cool!  “This is just what the Catholic Church needs,” said Martin, who has been on “The Colbert Report” so many times that he is called the official chaplain of the Emmy-winning news parody program. “Being joyful does not mean that you overlook suffering or pain or even scandal.”

Oh man!  I can't wait.  And I think Dolan even invited Obama and the Mormon guy to a big dinner, or is it a roast?  (Canned laughter!)

Back-slapping, rib-nudging, good humor - works for me too.

Bring back those nuns playing baseball in their habits, and cigar chomping, cocktail swilling prelates, 1950's Deborah Kerr Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison kind of American Catholicism any day! 

Lighten up folks!

What?  I'm being positive.

A beautiful tribute to Fr. James Martin, S. J.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Sister-tistics - Up-dated.


and...


Mea Maxima Culpa: An Upstart Blogger Eats Crow


Joanne K. McPortland even captured Fr. Z's admiration...


Love this title - love this title - love this title –  Egregious Twaddle 

That's just beautiful.

I think we are all coming together after this... we're all Catholics - we're on the same side - we're a big Church people! 

Remember bloggers, people make mistakes.


There But For The Grace of God.

The need to be more sensitive online.

Mental illness.

Yesterday I lifted a term from a blog for a post I composed, which was really used as part of my running commentary on blogs, popularity and status in the 'blogosphere'.  I must confess, I did not read the entire post and had no idea that the author linked to another woman's post dealing with mental illness.  I left a comment in the com box of my post explaining what happened and killed the link to the original post.  I have to admit I don't really read a lot of bloggers, and those I do, I often skim their posts.  Sorry.  I'm a bad man.

Very seriously, mental illness in the blogosphere - diagnosed or undiagnosed, in the closet or out of the closet - is a fact.  Personally, I think it accounts for a lot of snark and mean spirited comments in com boxes, misunderstandings, jealousy and envy, as well as some of the great humor.  No doubt, mental illness is indeed an illness, and a terrible suffering.  There are many degrees and a whole lot that I don't understand about it - nor do the professionals.  Though I went through a period in my life struggling with mild depression and panic attacks, I've never had serious difficulties, and though I did some therapy for a time hoping to 'straighten' out some sexual 'addiction' issues, I've never been diagnosed with anything other than mild depression and panic disorder.  All good now, thanks be to God.  In my case, confession did more than therapy.  I stopped therapy when the therapist told me my main problem was being a Roman Catholic.  I should write about it some day.

That said, I've always been fascinated with mental illness, and the mentally ill.  Perhaps it's because my parents were so nuts.  In their case it was exasperated by childhood abuse, serious moral difficulties and alcoholism.  Likewise it could be related to my use of psychedelics in the late 1960's.  I've also worked with people who were mentally ill, and actually became friends with religious people whom I later discovered were mentally ill.  As I've mentioned before, I particularly enjoyed my bi-polar friends in their manic stages, and of course, the alcoholics were delightful drinking buddies.  My experience with these friends helped me to understand to some extent, strange behavior much better than I ever could have otherwise, as well as an ability to see humor in the absurd and life's most difficult circumstances; although much more deeply, to recognize that compassion enables us to share in one anothers sufferings - after all, we are all human. 

Benedicta a Crux - Blessed by the Cross.

I came across two very interesting posts today:  One by a man who suffers from mental illness, and the other, by a guy who was raised by lesbian mothers.  I will reprint an excerpt or two from both - the accounts struck me, I'm not sure if they will you - but I reprint them nonetheless.  

From Catholic Lane:  "I have been struggling with my illness for 16 years, and on medication for 13. Apart from my Catholic faith and my relationship with Jesus I am certain I would be dead. It’s as simple as that. Whether from a bullet from a prison guard or by my own hand, I’m not sure, but the world would be getting along without me. And no one can suffer mental illness without wondering if he’d be better off dead anyway. It’s hard to imagine a cross harder to bear, or heavier, or more laden with shame. But through it all Jesus has given me hope, strength, and indefatigable peace. He has not saved me from suffering; rather, he has given me a much greater gift: he has saved me through suffering. My suffering, my weakness, is a badge of honor, and not a scarlet letter.

My Catholic faith gets me through everything. I know that I am a human person who has value, despite consistently under performing in almost every job I’ve had in the last 13 years, and there have been many. I am not a “mentally-ill person” or a “schizophrenic”; I am a human person who struggles with mental illness. My illness does not define me; my relationship with Jesus does. And Jesus, in our relationship, looks out for me." - Anthony Schefter

Crazy home life and gay parents... its effect on a kid.

I kind of get this - coming from the background I come from.  Disordered and dysfunctional homes disorient a kid. The following from a man raised by lesbian mothers.

From The Public Discourse:  "Quite simply, growing up with gay parents was very difficult, and not because of prejudice from neighbors. [...] When your home life is so drastically different from everyone around you, in a fundamental way striking at basic physical relations, you grow up weird. I have no mental health disorders or biological conditions. I just grew up in a house so unusual that I was destined to exist as a social outcast.

My home life was not traditional nor conventional. I suffered because of it, in ways that are difficult for sociologists to index. Both nervous and yet blunt, I would later seem strange even in the eyes of gay and bisexual adults who had little patience for someone like me. I was just as odd to them as I was to straight people.

Life is hard when you are strange. Even now, I have very few friends and often feel as though I do not understand people because of the unspoken gender cues that everyone around me, even gays raised in traditional homes, takes for granted. Though I am hard-working and a quick learner, I have trouble in professional settings because co-workers find me bizarre." - Robert Lopez

Fascinating stuff, if you ask me.

St. Benedict Joseph Labre,

pray for us.

The LCWR Seed Bed: Mothers of Conscious Evolution...

How they've evolved...

These women still have real jobs in the Church.

Many online Catholics are making fun of the LCWR, dismissing them as useless old ladies on their way to extinction - and there are a few who make no secret of an eager anticipation for the 'biological solution'.  Nice Catholic thought.  Anyway - as I mentioned in a comment on another post - these women still work, they remain Catholic women religious - they remain active sisters.  Most still have jobs, some as spiritual directors, some as retreat masters, hospital administrators, others work in parishes and chanceries - and if they themselves are not actively employed in those positions, there remain other sisters in their 'dwindling' communities* who still work.  Archbishop Carlson addressed the assembly, therefore it's not as if they are a group of unemployed church ladies on a North Shore camp out.

Never underestimate the resolve and determination of a nun.

Their keynote speaker, Barbara Marx Hubbard applauded the assembly proclaiming them as the 'seed bed' for evolutionary change in the Catholic Church.  These women simply didn't suddenly materialize this past week, their New Age ideology wasn't just conceived this past week - these women have been cultivating their 'doctrine' for many years.  They have been active participants in the Church, working for a very long time.  Some of them have probably been vocation directors and formation partners in seminaries.  Hence, BMH wasn't so much making a prediction as she was recognizing a fact.  Indeed, she addressed the 'seed bed' which has influenced even the bishops who should have been the ones doing the teaching.  Wake up - the damage is done.

And one of the best hopes for the continuation of humanity, said Barbara Marx Hubbard, are the women religious themselves.

"You are the best seed bed I know for evolving the church and the world in the 21st century," Hubbard, an author known for her advancement of a worldview called "conscious evolution," told the crowd at the annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).

"That may be a surprise for the world, but new things always happen from unexpected places. Let's think of it … that God has given a seed bed that is capable of helping to evolve the world and the church of the 21st century. Why not? Where else would it come from? It has to come from the women." - NCR

Unlike bishops and priests, nuns rarely retire until they're at least 90.  So don't laugh too hard.

Links:

 

Link to National Catholic Register coverage.

*Link to Catholic Culture:  "Claims that liberal women’s religious orders are dying out “are not based in fact,” according to an analysis by two women religious in America magazine."

And then there is this: Lies, Damned Lies and I had to tone down my rhetoric because I - fill in the blank.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Something to think about...

"If we love to be nothing, to accept contempt, and not only accept it, but end by loving it, we shall make great progress in prayer; we shall be loaded ... Former pride disappears when a man no longer finds in himself anything that might cause him to look down on others." - St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Art source Teresa Satola

Wasted

Today I was going to stay off line completely.  And I posted repeatedly.

Mrs. Obama don't get paid.

"I just wanna get paid!"

President Obama spoke to women supporters today at a Denver event. 

"...I wanna make sure that when she's working she is getting paid the same as men, I gotta say that First Ladies right now don't, even though that's a tough job!" - Source

Really?  Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura complained about the same thing when he explained why his wife didn't do anything for the state. 

What?

Archbishop Hart blasts Melbourne Newspaper for publishing sacrilegious dog story.

I'm glad I didn't make a tweet, do a post, or write on anyone's wall making fun of it.

Story here...

Randy... Randy Travis.

A guy walks in to a convenience store naked, asking to buy cigarettes.  The clerk says, "Didn't you see the sign?  'No clothes, No service!'  Now get the hell outtta here!"

He can't be an addict, according to Damien Thompson, that is just a crutch...

There is no medical test for addiction: no brain scan or blood screening that enables a doctor to detect its presence.

And the disease model doesn’t just fail to meet scientific criteria: it doesn’t pass the common sense test, either. - Damien Thompson

So maybe Travis is just randy?

A-list Bloggers?

Really?

Are there really A-list bloggers?  A-list speakers?

Really?

Is there a wealthy donor out there

who could send money for

a trip to London?

So anyway - I watched the video of Barbara Marx Hubbard and...

I wrote the following in an email reply to a friend on the subject...

"I know about Theosophy too - I dabbled in the occult before my conversion - that stuff sticks to you like pitch - while listening to the tape of Barbara Marx Hubbard I felt an interior rush - an artificial feeling of bliss - almost like the threshold of feeling high - hard to explain.  A bad spirit, to be sure.  Anyway - Hubbard is filling a spiritual void in these fallen angels/sisters of the LCWR."

Which is precisely why I do not find the gathering in St. Louis amusing.

Once, the author Michael O'Brien told me I should not have my astrological sign available in my profile - explaining how even that connection to the occult can be bad.  I don't necessarily agree with that, however, if people think charms, images, and occult references are dangerous and open one to demonic influences, why on earth do they mockingly dismiss what the LCWR is doing by inviting actual occultists to address their conferences?  Especially when these same women continue to influence the Church in the United States.

It is no laughing matter.

Funny bloggers.

Duane

Fr. Longenecker.

I don't read everything he posts, but the fact that he invents all of these blogger personalities makes me laugh.

Remember how Jeffrey always called him Dwight in the com box discussions?  I miss Jeffie.

Memorial of St. Dominic

Image source and anecdote from the Saint's life.

Set, O Lord, a guard over my mouth;

keep watch at the door of my lips!

What?

Pope Benedict XVI and 'modern evolutionary world view'.

Consciously evolved and loving it.

"The great vision of Teilhard de Chardin"

Toward the end of a reflection upon the Letter to the Romans, in which St. Paul writes that the world itself will one day become a form of living worship, the pope said, "It's the great vision that later Teilhard de Chardin also had: At the end we will have a true cosmic liturgy, where the cosmos becomes a living host.  "Let's pray to the Lord that he help us be priests in this sense," the pope said, "to help in the transformation of the world in adoration of God, beginning with ourselves." - Source

That's interesting, isn't it.  I'm not asking a question.  Perhaps that helps explain the Barbara Marx Hubbard  invite to the LCWR conference in St. Louis - considering she too is an admirer of de Chardin?     Maybe not. 

As Cardinal Ratzinger, the Holy Father referenced de Cardin in his book The Spirit of the Liturgy, specifically mentioning the Noosphere.

"For example, against the background of the modern evolutionary world view, Teilhard de Chardin depicted the cosmos as a process of ascent, a series of unions.  From very simple beginnings the path leads to ever greater and more complex unities, in which multiplicity is not abolished but merged into a growing synthesis, leading to the 'Noosphere', in which the spirit and its understanding embrace the whole and are blended into a kind of living organism.  Invoking the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians, Teilhard looks on Christ as the energy that strives for the Noosphere and finally incorporates everything in its 'fullness'.  From here Teilhard went on to give a new meaning to Christian worship: the transubstantiated Host is the anticipation of the transformation and divinization of matter in the christological 'fullness'.  In his view, the Eucharist provides the movement of the cosmos with its direction; it anticipates its goal and at the same time urges it on." - The Spirit of the Liturgy

Maybe the LCWR is orthodox then?  Somehow I don't see the same understanding in the evolved thought of Barbara Marx Hubbard and the LCWR...

Cosmic girl.

“Here we are in 2012, we now have a noosphere: It’s Facebook, it’s Twitter, it’s the 5.7 billion cell phones, texting,” Hubbard said. “The planet has grown a new nervous system in the last 50 years, and this nervous system connects us.”

Catholic theologians familiar with Hubbard and her writing on “conscious evolution” say there is, indeed, a link between her work and Teilhard’s.

Though Teilhard’s writing was not without critics in the Vatican, it had a significant impact on the Second Vatican Council, said John Haught, senior fellow in science and religion at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center in Washington.

“Teilhard would find in Barbara a kindred spirit,” Haught said. “He thought that the basic division in humanity is not between believers and nonbelievers, but between those who hope and those who do not.”

Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio, a senior research fellow in science and religion at Woodstock Theological Center, said Hubbard is a “forward thinker” who, during the LCWR meeting, may call on women religious “to be more creative and engaging in our life and the way we think about God and creation.”

“I think she might say that we are in a new age, knowing ourselves to be in evolution, and certainly for religious women, this is a very different awareness than where religious life evolved in a static universe, and developed within the parameters of a static universe,” Delio said. “And we no longer live in that universe, we live in an evolutionary one.” - NCR

Really?

There is a gay-Catholic connection here as well... wouldn't you know I'd find that connection?  A sort of gay-fusion, synergy perhaps ...

Evolution is speeding up in the universe, and we are moving into a new level of religious consciousness that is more global and pluralistic in nature. Does Christianity have something distinct to offer, or are we too worn out by internal divisions and complex theological traditions? Do we long at times for the old fixed universe?

We are called to be whole-makers, to evolve by uniting, growing and becoming more complex. We are not to seek the living among the dead. Rather, we are to forge a new future, a new hope, a new life that begins with our own lives. - Sr. Ilia Delio Source