Found this one on Mark Shea's blog...

Catholic Ragemonkey.

Congratulations to Brother Bowling! He has been formally accepted into the Permanent Diaconate program here in the Archdiocese of Louisville! All of us who know the Deke are extremely excited for him and I am a bit jealous as I had put off my plans to apply this term. He beat me to it.

Can't wait until he is ordained. Gonna be in the front row for that first homily. :)

Remember Alan Keyes? He was an incredibly eloquent candidate for President back in 1996. Catholic. Black. And most shockingly... a Conservative Republican! :)

Anyway, he has his own website at Renew America. Great place to go for conservative reading and Catholic commentary too.

Our Canadian brothers have recently passed a bill that outlaws hate speech against homosexuals. The only problem is the wording that is used. It is so broad that the reading of the various passages in Scripture that condemn homosexuality would be called hate speech. Saying that homosexual BEHAVIOR, not the person, is disordered or unnatural would be hate speech. Not falling down at the alter of gay "marriage" would also likely get you thrown in jail.

Look, I have no problem with the love the sinner, hate the sin approach. If you believe that God's Word is Truth, with a capital T, then you have to come out against the behavior. Especially the promotion of it in our schools and as a totally equal, if not better, "lifestyle" to married heterosexual couples. My problem begins and ends with the attempts to make the 98% or so who are NOT homosexuals accept and celebrate it as if that were the norm.

Think about shows like Will and Grace and others that have gay characters on TV... Heck, do any shows NOT have gay characters anymore? There seems to be a major push to make sure that this lifestyle be presented in as raunchy a way so as to desensitize us when seeing it while getting us used to seeing it all the time. But if the 2% figure (give or take a point) is correct, only 1 in 50 people you have ever met is actually gay. Not the 10% reported by Kinsey in his patently flawed and made up studies.

Anyway, these moves by the Canadians will mean that you can no longer hold or express a disapproval of the behavior, never mind the person. That is extremely chilling. Why is it hate speech? Is it because liberals cannot disapprove of what we do in Church or in our lives without hating us? Is it that they cannot imagine that disapproval of something or someone doesn't involve hating them? Looking at the way conservatives and devoutly religious people, and I don't mean John Kerry, are spat upon by the left, I guess I have my answer.

Well, I just got back from my first Parish Council meeting. I was 3rd alternate and it actually got to me. Lucky. :) Actually, I am very glad to be on the Council. I'd really rather be working with/for the Church full time if I had my druthers. Got to figure out how I am going to do that.

Anyway, it's probably like most meetings. Mostly stuff that could be emailed out. Commitee reports and the like... We didn't really vote on anything tonight, though we tentatively set the dates for a couple of events. Not sure that requires the whole group to get together though.

Personally, I think about 75% of all meetings should be done away with in general. From personal experience most meetings are more about someone getting to put on a show or pretending to take in comments, come to a consensus and do something else anyway. Unless some major decisions are being made or ideas generated for later action, I think it's pointless. Not saying our meeting tonight was. But in the corporate and institutional world, it seems like most meetings are nothing more than reports that nobody would even bother to read if sent out, so you force everyone to get together for an oral presentation you try to stay awake through.

I guess I'll offer up my time if we have any of those kinds of meetings...

Was listening to Cardinal George on Catholic Answers (Monday's show) talking a bit about this. He gave a satisfactory answer to the question of why we need a committee to study this issue. Basically, because we have always left this up to the individual bishops and now a push for unity is on us, they want to make sure they are all on the same page. They may not come out as a conference for denying communion to the likes of Kerry, but that is what the committee is for. They need to figure out the implications of a public rebuke, what specifically would trigger it, when and to what degree, etc. etc.

What amazes me is when you have bishops out and out say that they will NEVER deny communion to anyone, specifically those in England. What about this? Let's say the Queen visits a Catholic Church and comes up for communion. Do you give or deny? You know she is obviously not Catholic in her beliefs and how she acts on them. You know she is not disposed to receive. How is that different from someone like John Kerry? He is obviously not in line with FUNDAMENTAL, NON-NEGOTIABLE Catholic teachings. He is persistently against Church teaching on life issues. He actively, 100% of the time votes against life and goes to pro-abortion rallies. He doesn't even make the fool's pretense of the "personally opposed but" argument. Church officials from the Pope to several US bishops have indicated that a Catholic politician in his state ought not to receive. Cardinal Arinze has gone so far as to say if a person ought not to receive, it should not be given.

We stand at a unique point in history in my opinion. As faithful Catholics we are called to spread the Gospel and strengthen the Church. Coming out of the recent scandals, we MUST represent and stand for TRUTH. That means we rebuke those who do wrong. Did we learn NOTHING from the past 2 years? The Church is the only institution to have continually and consistently taught the same thing on life and moral issues. We must stand as a beacon of truth and morals. This is something that attracts people. We cannot bring in people who will grow the Church if we don't stand fast.

Francis Cardinal Arinze.

Remember that name. While he may not become the next Pope, he most certainly is a holy man and a man dedicated to the Truth. He has been interviewed and made statements in the past that just make the liberals and heterodox nauseous. Which is probably a good thing since that would impair their ability to muck with things...

Anyway this week he made the statement that Bishops and priests ought not give the Eucharist when a potential communicant ought not to receive. In other words, when you know a person is in a state of grave sin, don't offer the Eucharist! He also made the point that an unambiguously pro-abortion politician is not fit to receive communion.

Hello! John Kerry! Are you listening?

OK. Maybe those words are too strong. But from what I have read in the document and reviews of it, they are specific and adamant that certain things stop. I for one am ecstatic about this. Even though I am a convert of just two years, it truly drives me to distraction when I hear about abuses or see the rare one at my own parish.

One of the things I believe God's Grace granted me early on in my conversion process was that Catholics do just about EVERYTHING for a reason. Especially in the liturgy. We genuflect to the tabernacle (not the altar or Crucifix if one is there as some believe) because we acknowledge the presence of our Lord. We bow when the power of the Holy Spirit is mentioned conceiving Christ when reciting the Creed because He too is God. Everything is done for a reason, but after 2000 years, it's hard to keep track of it all for us pew-sitters.

This document will be seen as one of the most important to come from Rome in a long time in my opinion. As I read more and get the chance, I will comment on it further.

Man... I do computer stuff for a living and I STILL get my butt kicked by the darned things once in a while. Of course, if I would regularly back up my data like I am supposed to, it wouldn't be such a hairy ordeal. After several days spent attempting to recover from the problem and getting caught up, I am back to blogging.

Of course I missed doing timely blogs on the recent stuff that happened. Still gonna put some comments out there though. Coming soon. Assuming I don't drop kick the computer, that is.

I know that's going to get me in some hot water, but I really don't care. I absolutely detest this "Native American" thing. If you don't want to be called indians, I don't mind. After all, that's a cartography mistake to begin with. Go with the tribal names. That's appropriate. But to call all descendants of those people living in the Americas when the evil (now) dead white guys showed up "Native Americans" is intellectually dishonest.

Do we call the non-white inhabitants of Africa "Native Africans"?

Do we call white inhabitants of Europe "Native Europeans"?

Of course not. The first would likely invoke images of tribal bushmen running around in loin cloths and that would be offensive. The second just sounds stupid and would probably make those dead white guys spin in their graves for being linked to the modern, spine-free versions that run around France anyway.

So why "Native Americans"?

I think to try to ram home the idea that we don't really belong here. Also to get across the point that the US steals and is imperialistic. It's about denying and protesting what gives you the very right to be the idiot you so obviously are in my opinion.

Besides, to be a native ANYTHING, you have to be born there. I was born in the US which happens to be in North America. That makes me a Native American just as much as anyone shaking down the not dead yet white guys at the casinos.

OK... I admit when I saw the article about an indian (I refuse to say Native American... more on that in the next entry) skinning the head of a bald eagle that I thought this would be some story about indian ritual challenging the law like that case about peyote a few years back.

The guy did say he was preparing the eagle for a ritual, but this is why he was arrested.

Local 6 News reported that Rogers is licensed to handle the bald eagle but not to dismember them after they're dead.

Apparently he can do whatever he wants with the carcass as long as it remains whole. And he has LICENSE to do this! And the bird gets an autopsy.

Does the quincy in question have a license for that?

I don't know about you people, but I am about fed up with the word PASTORAL.... As in "We must have a PASTORAL response to the heretics, apostates and dissenters in our ranks." Why can't you call a spade a shovel without getting everyone's panties in a bunch?

This goes beyond loving correction. It seems everywhere you turn there's some statement by some priest or bishop or Church committee about how we must have a pastoral response to those calling for gay marriage or women in the priesthood. I don't have a problem with the idea that we need to bring these people into alignment with Church teaching without losing them entirely. Our actions will be judged accordingly in such situations.

However, aren't our actions going to be judged accordingly when we allow pro-abortion Catholics to receive Communion? Or when Sister Mary-Why-Can't-I-Be-A-Priest is allowed to give the darned HOMILY every couple of Sundays? What about when we have priests tell the pew-sitters that it's OK to disregard Church teaching if we pray over it first? When does something become so reprehensible that the hierarchy of the Church will exercise its authority?

Sorry to rant, but this has been gnawing at me for a while...

George Weigel, the official biographer of PJII, has a new article on whether the Iraq war was just or not.

Weigel is an excellent author and politically conservative to go with his orthodoxy. Unlike many in the Church, including JPII, Weigel believed the war was just then and still does.

I agree with him. There has been so many short almost non-covered discoveries about links to al-Queida, bin Ladin and terrorist groups, moving WMD's, non-compliance with UN resolutions, etc. etc. etc. that to me it is a slam dunk that this guy was in bed with terrorists. As we well know, this is not your father's war. What was a "just war" then and now is different. Weigel lays it out.

Dems in Congress are getting ready a Catholic Scorecard so they can compare their voting records to those of Republicans on issues identified as a high priority by the USCCB. I quote:

...the scorecard will compare the votes of Catholic members of both parties on a issues defined as legislative priorities by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, including partial-birth abortion, human cloning, child tax credits, the Defense of Marriage Act, AIDS relief funding, assistance to needy families, and raising the minimum wage.

A few things...

1. This is really funny. This is like pouring gas on the fire.

2. The USCCB is notoriously liberal in their political and social outlook. Therefore I expect to see a lot of socialist slants to the issues on this list.

3. Notice that these all seem to be given equal consideration. Read the whole article too. Notice that the word abortion only appears as part of the term "partial birth abortion". Instead, the leftist codeword, "CHOICE" is listed.

Here's a great quote from Peter King from New York.

Rep. Peter King, R-New York, told The Hill that both the bishops and the Democrats are confusing means with motives. "Many of the issues they're talking about really have nothing to do with actual Catholic teaching or religion," he said. "It is interpretation of economic policy."

This guy is my hero. He has correctly identified the problem with the Bishops and even the Pope sometimes. Just because you are liberal politically/socially doesn't mean that you're views are now Catholic TEACHING on the subject!

This is also what I blogged about several days ago. The whole idea that you can equate the minimum wage or "social justice" (which apparently only means whatever Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton want it to mean when they want it to) with abortion, fetal stem cell research or gay marriage is totally ludicrous.

Unfortunately, we have so many poorly catechised Catholics out there that keep voting for pro-abort Dems election after election because Kennedy was a Dem or because that's the way it's always been.

Newsflash!!!!

Kennedy, like the new JFK - John Kerry, publicly denounced his faith as far as I am concerned. When you tell the voters you won't let your faith influence your voting, you cannot run as a Catholic anymore. It also tells the voter who is at least half-awake, and those dozen of you know who you are, that this person has no center... No soul. They stand for nothing at all if they won't stand for their faith in the public arena. Early Christians were fed to the lions or crucified for just stating their belief. Yet Kerry and these Dems can't even stand up to the heat of their money men?

They have sold their souls for 30 pieces of silver. At least Judas Iscariot realized what he did and was sorrowful for what he did. Let's hope these Dems also realize and accept the grace of our Lord to ask for forgiveness, unlike Judas.

Finally!!!!

On Friday the Vatican is going to release the follow-up document to the Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharista. That was an 87 page letter to the Church on the importance and meaning of the Eucharist. This new document is supposed to set out disciplinary norms to govern liturgical abuse.

I don't know about you, but I have been looking forward to this. I am relatively lucky in that there are few, if any, liturgical experimentations to speak of. I do think we have way to many extraordinarily ordinary Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist at each Mass and not nearly enough Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I also get the urge to beat the crap out of some young kids who reach up and grab the consecrated host from the priest's hand. But, it being Mass and all, I manage to accept the grace of God and not do that. :)

OK... OK...

So, it's been several days since I posted something. Had a busy end of the week and lots went by that I wished I had commented on. Ah well.

Something I do want to explore is something I heard on Radio Replies on Friday. Radio Replies is a great, old Q&A program with 2 priests. Anyway, Friday's session was a series of questions about why Catholic countries tend to turn on the Church whereas Protestants don't do this. It was an interesting series of questions.

The reason why the Church is rebelled against and suppressed where the Protestants don't is because the Church is Truth. Consistent, unchanging truth. Protestantism is not. At one time all Christians denounced divorce, contraception and abortion, but now you can find Protestant churches that accept these. As the program put it, why bother with the Protestant churches when they don't matter?

Why don't they? Because they look at what man wants and figure out a way to make it work. The Catholic Church looks at what God wants and sees how we can do that.

I don't know about you, but that struck me so powerfully. It made me think of many televangelists and other TV preachers today. You see them in the Word of Faith movement, also called Name it and Claim It Gospel and the Properity Gospel. They go through Scripture and pull out all kinds of stuff to support the pursuit of wealth and prosperity. They never seem to talk about sacrifice or death to self or submitting to the Will of God.

One I know of actually has said that God wants everyone to have that Mercedes and big house. There seems to be any sense of what the proper use of money is. Don't get me wrong. I have no desire to be dirt poor. I used to have a burning desire to be rich and have all the toys. I even used to say, "He who survives with the most toys, wins!" After all, what use are all the toys if you are dead? There's a lot of truth in that, that I never realized.

At the same time, I also believed that money is just a tool. I thought the money was the means to the lifestyle. Now I realize that it's ALL Mammon, not just money, but the pursuit of material things exclusive of all else. I see this a lot in certain strains of Evangelicalism and other groups. It seems as though they have forgotten that you can receive your reward here rather than after you die. Remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus?

Well, it's about time!

I have read numerous articles, web pages and a couple of books about the Catholic response to the End Times Fevor, but I don't think a single one came from the episcopate. Finally you get that from Living Light, the official quarterly publication of the US Bishop's Dept. of Education.

Get the story here.

Well... Not exactly.

Turns out though that the international bureaucrats at the UN really would like us all to just get along. At a recent conference, they proposed that all religions stop proselityzing and accecpt that all religions get their truth from the same source.

Ooooookay.

Francis Cardinal Arinze (who I got to meet and receive a blessing from last July) said Catholics would go along with the one world religion idea... As long as it was Roman Catholicism! Gotta love that Cardinal. :)

That title pretty much sums up modern feelings about Western religion, I think. In Catholicism we see not just the advent, but the acceptance, of cafeteria-Catholics. In Anglicanism we see the slow but steady discarding of ancient moral standards, beginning with the acceptance of divorce at its beginning and on to contraception, ordaining women and making active homosexuals bishops. In other Protestant sects we see division after division of Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, etc. on points of doctrine and discipline until there are thousands of "denominations". Some put the number as high as 30,000 denominations when you include the independent non-denominational churches.

As a side note... How can you be NON denominational? Even if you are alone, that is a denomination. The First Church of Speaking in Tongues may only have 17 people in it, but it's still a denomination.

Anyway what I see happening is an age-old story. It started in the Garden with the first parents. It continued every time Israel broke their covenant with the Lord. It continued when some disciples left Christ over eating His flesh and drinking His blood. It continued when Peter and the other Apostles fled at Jesus' arrest. It continued with the Gnostics, the Arians, the Pellagianists, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, you, me...

Whoa there, Boy! You talkin' 'bout me?

Well, yeah. And me too. Hopefully we both come to our senses, repent in Confession and continue to work out our Salvation in fear and trembling as St. Paul said.

The issue is authority and who has it. Everyone has some kind of authority, even if it's just over their own thinking. The problem comes when we start to usurp the authority of the Church which Christ left us to guide us. We decide we like our sins a little too much and no longer go to Confession. We decide that we are more sophisticated than an old man in Rome and therefore know better. We decide that as long as we feel OK about something, it's no longer a sin.

In other words we become not only our own Pope, we become our own God. We decide what is sinful and what requires repentance. We decide what dogmas are correct and what disciplines are outdated.

The problem is that once you start down this path, you begin to throw out everything. You throw out the little sins, because they don't really hurt anyone. Then the big ones, because everyone else does it too. Then you start to resent that old man in Rome and all his cronies for telling you what to do. After all it's none of their business! Once here, you begin to see the "absurdity" of celibacy, the all-male priesthood, the Real Presence and just about anything that requires REAL FAITH to believe.

You pride yourself on your open-mindedness and acceptence of everyone and whatever they do. Doesn't matter if all Christians taught is was sinful for 1900 years, start contracepting! Abortion? Well, it is a woman's right after all. Who am I to say? Who is anyone? Gays getting married? It's only fair.

Once we start turning to anything other than God and His revealed Truth, which the Holy Catholic Church is here to guide us in, we take God from the top of our list of what to love and honor. If we no longer love God first, we are now heretics and idolators.

Yep.

Because looking to anything other than God and Church for the Truth is essentially worshipping something else. It may be yourself. It may be money. It may be your career. It may be some guru. Doesn't matter what it is. The point is that we no longer submit ourselves to God's Holy Will. We no longer seek His guidance or His Wisdom when we choose what is true based on our feelings rather than what He has revealed.

How often have you asked yourself if you can do something and not commit a sin? Every time we do this, we are really asking ourselves if we can sin and have it not count.

But it counts every time.

OK... Maybe that's too harsh a headline. But I doubt it. Read what he says about Catholic pols and the Eucharist.

This is what is wrong with the hierarchy in my opinion. They are not willing to be martyrs. Martyrs are witnesses to the faith. That's the origin of the word. The whole idea that we should appoint a committee to study the situation before deciding what to do boggles the mind.

Happy Easter everyone...

Went to the Vigil Mass last night. We had a huge group (for us) coming into the Church at our parish. We had 5 baptized adults, 6 un-baptized and 5 children. I feel a special affinity for this Mass since I am also a convert. Love the "extras"... the incense... the extra prayers... the blessing of the fire and the candles... I also love the fact that we have more readings. I got to read the Exodus reading, the epistle and the petitions. I love that Exodus reading. So dramatic when read right. Lots of fun to do!

I hope that all of you also had a wonderful Easter.

Also wanted to point out that the Pope repeated a call for an agreement to be arranged amongst all Christians to celebrate Easter on the same date. This year the Orthodox Churches and the Western Church (plus Protestants) all celebrated Easter on the same date. The Orthodox still use the Julian calendar to set their liturgical calendar, while the West uses the newer Gregorian calendar. I would love to see that happen. The more ties we can rebuild to the East the sooner we can become a unified Church again.

One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic...

The NY Times reports that John F. Kerry has received communion at the Paulist Center where he and his wife regularly attend. It's described as a New Age church and also in other ways that hardly make it sound Catholic in communion with Rome. Anyway I knew this was coming and it doesn't surprise me. Though it certainly does sadden me.

For all the railing I may do against people like Kerry, or more appropriately their actions and their reasoning, I truly believe the man puts his soul at risk. We specifically teach that one must be free of mortal sin to receive communion. At the same time, the Church pretty much has said in one way or another that being active supporters of abortion of abortion and certain other non-negotiables is wrong. His own bishop has said that pro-abort pols "should not dare to receive communion."

Though he wasn't named specifically in that statement, Kerry and Ted Kennedy certainly had to be in mind when it was made. They would have to know this, especially since Kerry has stated that his faith is between him and God and the bishop should stay out of it. What does that say about the formation of this man's faith, or anyone that also holds those views?

As a Catholic we are bound to believe what the Church deems absolute that we believe, the doctrine and dogma of the Church. We are also obliged to follow the disciplines that the Church declares to be mandatory. At Kerry's age, he should know this. I am in the Church now 2 years, and I know it. This sets a horrible example for all Catholics if he is not rebuked by the bishops. And I believe the priest in question should also be rebuked.

The next thing of course is to make this the start. If we stop with rebuking Kerry, the Church again looks like hypocrites once again. Of course that's also true if no one says "boo" to Kerry.

Do what is right, and deal with the earthly consequences. We are all held accountable for what we do. But we are also held accountable for what we fail to do.

My wife emailed these to me a couple of days ago. She's a good sport. Of course she'd have to be... She's married to me. :) She even admits that several of these are dead on true. God love her!

The Guys' Rules

At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down

Finally, the guys' side of the story. (I must admit, it's pretty good.)

We always hear "the rules" from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules! Please note... these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints ! do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant it the other way.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1 . Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine...Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks. (actually, for me and my buddies, this would be history, politics and religion... so sue me... we're a bunch of geeks)

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round is a shape.

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; but did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

OK... Ladies, don't throw anything. Remember, my wife sent this.

Hey...

Put that down...

Cut it out!

Owwww!!

Seems as though a Cardinal in the Church would like to have a ruling council... Supposedly this council would be to help run the Church. He comes off as though this was something that was stipulated by Vatican II. This supposedly would be made up of Cardinals and possibly the presidents of the national bishops conferences.

Don't know about you, but the last thing I think I want is the watering down of the Pope's authority over the Church. This is not a democracy in form or function. The keys to the Kingdom were given directly to Peter, not all 12 apostles. I believe that one of the reasons for this is because you need one visible head to the Church. Another is that the 12 apostles also included the betrayer, Judas. Do you give authority over the Church to a Judas?

I don't know much about the Cardinal in question, but this sure sounds like the ploy of theological liberals in the Church to wrest control away from the theologically conservative to me.

Obviously, today is Good Friday... At once the most sorrowful and most joyous of days in the history of man.

Today we abstain from meat and fast. That means no meat but fish or seafood and 2 small meals that add up to no more than the 3rd. Of course we are free to do more as our penitential act.

Good Friday has more meaning to me than ever before since seeing the Passion of the Christ. There are not words sufficient to explain the impact of that movie in my opinion. The images from the movie are paramount in my mind when I think about the events of Good Friday.

The most important thing to remember today is that God loves us so much that He chose to save us from ourselves. He did this by becoming man and replacing the ineffective animal sacrifices with the only possible effective sacrifice for our sins.

Himself.

Man brought sin into the world. Therefore, man must atone for sins. But only God could atone fully, for our sins are too great to atone ourselves. Therefore only the fully human and fully divine Jesus Christ could pay the price in full for us.

That is love.

Interesting article over on Newsmax.com about how Reagan may have been saved by angels during a bout of pneumonia and after being shot... Mentions specifically female "nurses" who helped him, though he was never able to find them later.

So maybe the Blessed Mother helped take care of Renaldus Magnus during his time of need?

Article on Yahoo...

Seems as though Kerry really doesn't care that the Pope has urged all pro-abort pols to abstain from the Eucharist until/unless they return to Church teaching.

How can anyone not realize that this is a non-negotiable item? If materially participating in an abortion gets you an automatic excommunication, don't you think that enabling that abortion by voting for and supporting pro-abortion candidates, laws and groups at the very least means you should abstain from the Eucharist?

Was listening to EWTN a couple of days ago and the priest was talking about the Real Presence and several other topics. He made the point that the tabernacle is the heart of every parish in the world.

Why?

Because it contains the Real Presence of Christ, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Now, let me ask you some questions...

1. How much reverence does your parish seem to have concerning the Eucharist?

2. Does your parish promote adoration of the Eucharist?

3. Where is the tabernacle located in your parish?

4. Is it still in the center of the Sanctuary?

5. Has it been moved to a side chapel or even the back room?

At my local parish the tabernacle is on the right side of the church, but the free-standing baptismal font is in front of it so that no more than half of the people in the pews can see it at Mass. That's better than no tabernacle in the main part I guess.

But I have been in many parishes where you cannot even find the tabernacle, despite the directive that it be plainly visible or located somewhere easily accessible and findable and suited for public adoration. Even our Cathedral has no tabernacle in the Sanctuary! No wonder they stand throughout the consecration there (granted, it's the norm for the US, but it still seems wrong to me).

My point here is that if you take the heart of a body, don't you kill it? Can anything live without a heart?

No.

And that includes the Catholic Church. Reverence for the Eucharist is down almost everywhere in the US if the overwhelming annecdotal evidence is to be believed. I believe it's because we have allowed them to take the tabernacle containing our Lord away from the Sanctuary and out of the main Church.

Without the heart, the body dies.

Whose body?

The Mystical Body of Christ. That's who.

Though the Mystical Body cannot truly die since the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church, it can certainly whither and shrivel in places.

We must begin re-promoting the proper respect and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament. It's a scandal that things have gotten out of hand as it is.

Sorry, but I can't resist it! Tigers start the year out with 4 straight wins! Already won more games in 2004 than in all of April of 2003. So for at least 8 straight games, this team is at .500 or above. :)

Go Tigers!

OK. You'll learn soon enough that I am a Detroit sports fanatic. If you don't like it, well, I'll say a Hail Mary for you so that you may come to understand. :)

Seriously, I have to toot the horn for my Tigers. Lost 119 games last year and set an American League record. Not the kind of record you like to have your name under. This year we have an almost completely different lineup and these boys can hit the ball!

3-0 baby!

OK, if you're a Yankees fan (may God forgive you), that may not seem like a big deal, but as a Tiger fan it is HUGE!

Last year, it took 10 games to get the first win, 19 to get the second and 28 to get the third. We haven't opened like this in 20 years. Literally. So pardon my enthusiasm as I get excited over it.

Secondly, the Red Wings opened their pursuit of the Stanley Cup last night with a 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators. My wife is KY bred through and through, but you would think she was from Canada the way she has taken to hockey. The Wings are her passion that's for sure. Has a thing for that play-off beard that the players grow too. Gotta love her. :)

Later!

Since the slogan here is Positive Catholic Attitude, I thought a top 10 list would be a good idea... Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

2. Receiving absolution for my sins in the confessional.

3. The Rosary

4. The Divine Mercy Chaplet

5. 2000 years (OK, nearly 2000) of unbroken Apostolic Succession.

6. EWTN

7. Franciscan University at Steubenville

8. John Paul II

9. Our Blessed Mother

10. Being in the One, True Church that Christ founded.

Just read the first part of a column by Phil Brennan over at NewsMax.com. Phil is a great writer and recently has really been standing up for the Faith. Here is a piece of the article...

In St. Louis on a campaign stop Killer Kerry backed away from a confrontation with St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke who had banned the Massachusetts senator from receiving Holy Communion when present in his archdiocese. A defiant Kerry told Time magazine that during a planned trip to St. Louis "I certainly intend to take Communion and continue to go to Mass as a Catholic."

Oh Yeah? Instead of carrying out his threat, when he got there he went to a Black Baptist church and launched an attack on George Bush, thus running away from a confrontation with Archbishop Burke.

Man, you just have to love how Kerry is a "faithful" Catholic. The Pope has said Catholic pols must be pro-life. Boston's new Bishop, O'Malley, has said pro-abort pols must not receive communion. Archbishop Burke, who is one of my heroes, has specifically singeled out pro-abort Catholics and told them not to show up in the communion line.

To most "faithful" Catholics, that's a pretty good sign that someone who is pro-abort is out of step with the Church.

Not Kerry. Nope. Not only does he continually defy the teachings of the Church, he publically makes known his intention to defy the hierarchy. Then he cowardly backs out and goes to a Baptist church instead.

Not judging the man here, just his actions... does all this and to make matters worse he misses his Sunday obligation to go to Mass. Surely the man knows it's an obligation?

This is why, in my opinion, we have the problems in the Church that we do. We have pro-abort Catholics that have been given a pass by the Bishops. Too few have taken the stand that Archbishop Burke has taken. Ever since John Kennedy declared that he would not allow his faith to influence his actions as President, Catholic pols have been given the nod to ignore Church teachings.

If Church teaching said abortion was OK, would Kerry then have to be pro-life? After all, we can't let our religious views influence public policy can we?

Why can't these people see everyone's faith or lack of it influences their policy views? An agnostic, pagan, humanist all act on their beliefs. Why can't Catholics and conservative Christians?

OK... Let's get this bad boy off officially. Still some work to be done, but no sense waiting till all the i's are crossed and t's are dotted...

(That's a joke, son. I keep pitchin' `em son and you keep missin' `em - Apologies to Foghorn Leghorn)

CatholicManiacs... Sounds like a bunch of them weirdo, religious nuts, doesn't it? Well I guess that's as good a description as any for what goes on around here.

Like the description says, we're gonna talk about a lot of stuff that riles polite people up.

Good.

I make no apologies for my beliefs and passions. I'll apologize when I am factually wrong or mistakenly judge others for instance. But I stand firm on my beliefs and my love of God and the Church Christ founded here on earth.