Hello everyone!

I posted a few weeks ago to ask for prayer as I had a grad school entrance interview that day. I just learned that I was accepted. Thank you very much for your prayers.

http://lather2002.livejournal.com/2332764.html?thread=3987548

This happens throughout the media, education, everywhere. Liberals set the rules of the discussion by choosing deceitful framing. While some of us know to look for it, the uninitiated won't unless we consistently point it out. I thought this article damn well put, at least as a starting point for awareness. It's something I think non-Liberals need to keep in mind at all times.

The War of Words — Why We’re Losing
"He who defines the rules controls the game. And we’re letting them define the rules.
Jobs. Health care. Economic justice. Working families. Income redistribution. Fairness.
Words mean things. Very specific things. We on the Right tend to forget that. By following the lead from the Left, we abdicate our arguments without even knowing it. By using their terms, and in so doing, tacitly allowing their outrageous assertions to stand unchallenged, we surrender ground – one step, one phrase, one election at a time."

( Read more... )

1 ... I would like your recommendations of books about Marian apparitions, and the messages the Holy Mother has given to humans in those visions. I want to get a sense of what she herself has said, not just what people say about her.

2 ... I'm confused about the daytime hours in the Liturgy of the Hours. I have the 4-volume set in English. There is a set of 3 psalms proper to each day (4-week cycle), followed by instructions that "at the other hours, the complementary psalmody is used". The complementary psalmody has 3 psalms each for midmorning, midday, and midafternoon, same every day. Then in the seasonal section, there is a verse and reading corresponding to each of the 3 hours, midmorning, midday, and midafternoon.

So there are 4 sets of psalms (1 variable & 3 complementary), but only 3 sets of verse + reading. I thought maybe the proper psalmody is for Prime, with the other 3 being for Terce, Sext, and None, but then how does Prime end? Can anyone shed any light?

Thanks!

Tags: liturgy of the hours, marian apparitions

A few days late, but a video I found online today giving a brief explanation of the Immaculate Conception:

Let's see if this works:

A White House Power Grab that Congress and America Doesn’t See

“MedPAC Reform of 2009” bills S .B. 1110 and H.R. 2718 are waiting in the wings if reform fails.

by SusanAnne Hiller To achieve the goal of a universal, single-payer health system, the White House must secure the power it needs by amending the Social Security Act to transfer pivotal controls from Congress to the executive branch. This transfer of power would ultimately give the President and the majority party, in this case the radical left Obama White House and Pelosi-Reid led progressive Democrats, the authority to frame and manipulate new policy, coverage options, and reimbursements, ultimately reshaping the future US health care system into a something unrecognizable in this country.

The deliberate setup for the White House power grab is built into the each of the health care bills and, if they fail, little-known twin bills called “MedPAC Reform of 2009” are waiting in the wings. The bills, S.B. 1110 and H.R. 2718, craftily amend the Social Security Act and transfer the Medicare guideline and rule setting processes, from the legislative branch to the executive branch. These bills offer cover to one another in case one doesn’t pass the House or Senate, respectively. Remember, Democrats need to gain executive branch authority by amending the Social Security Act over Medicare regulations and physician fee schedules to transform the health care system in a single-payer, socialized system.

( Read more... )

Hi all,
I am working on the website for my wedding and I am including a page that explains some of the features of the Mass, and also gives some etiquette pointers, so that those who are not Catholic and are attending will know what to expect.

There should be a pretty sizable contingent of non-Catholic guests as most of my family is not Catholic and the part that is Catholic is mostly estranged to me because of a conflict over a will (money was left to my mother instead of to someone who thought they deserved it more, and this person forbade their entire part of the family from associating with my parents and me and my brother... it makes me embarrassed that that's the Catholic part of my family... my parents are not Catholic).

It's going to be a Latin ordinary form Mass, so that means that even some of the Catholic guests may not know what's going on. We are going to have a program with the entire text and translation.

Here are the things I have thought of, that need to be mentioned:
1. proper attire--the phrasing I used is that dress should be "formal" and "not distracting"
2. no applause--Yeah I know that lots of priests and bishops and whatever allow or even encourage applause during Mass, but it's an abuse and it's a pet peeve of mine.
3. respectful silence in the sanctuary, keep cell phones silent
4. we are going to encourage women to cover their hair, mention that chapel veils will be available, but also make it clear that it isn't a requirement
5. mention where the bathroom is in the church :) not etiquette, but helpful!
6. explaining that non-Catholics cannot receive Holy Communion. I was planning on just quoting that passage from the USCCB on reception of Holy Communion

Can anyone think of other things I should mention? How much should I explain about things like kneeling, genuflecting, and holy water?

Tags: etiquette, weddings

Anyone else a fan of Susan Boyle? She's a devout Christian and I find her to be an inspiration. TV Guide Network's airing a special on her this Sunday that I'm really looking forward to... anyone else tuning in?

I Dreamed A Dream: The Susan Boyle Story
http://www.tvguide.com/special/susan-boyle/

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"Teabaggers"

Isn't it just typical of the left to find a creative, peaceful way to protest and smack a disgusting label on it?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=teabagger

Most Tea Party participants are people who never thought to protest or get political before? Many of them have jobs yet see this as so important that they take vacation time to participate in this amazing opportunity to use their Constitutional right to peacefully protest in an organized way with fellow Americans. Why?

This isn't the first administration to steer us toward Socialism and government dependency, but this is the first time where they have seen a government as out of control as this one is. Over the years as we have become more and more dependent on government fixing things for us, making more laws, bailing us out when we screw up, the warning signs were there. We were moving in a direction that was un-American. We were losing our freedom from one year to the next, from one administration to the next, and people took little notice.

Who can fault Obama and his cronies for simply saying, "Why pussy foot around? Let's just do it. Americans want big government to be their sugar daddy. Give them what they want!"

The thing is, when a path toward government dependency, and a downward spiraling economy happens slowly people manage to ignore it, or deny it is happening, but when it happens at lightning speed it wakes people up. This is what has happened to the silent majority. They are waking up, when the liberals would rather have them sleeping.

The liberal counter argument is to use the most juvenile of tactics, name calling. The best counter argument they have toward our peaceful protest is to call us disgusting names, to "kill the messenger". This says much more about them than it does us.

Tea Party people are just like who they emulate, the early Americans in their fight for freedom. I am proud to call them my fellow Americans.

From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser
( Read more... )

My name is Rob. I'm a 51 year old man living in Boston, Mass. (U.S.A.). I am not a Catholic. I was raised in the Methodist Church, and during my college years in the late '70's I sought and received confirmation in the Episcopal Church.

( Read more... )( Read more... )

Thought I'd share this promo video for Fr. Robert Barron's documentary series on Catholicism. It's pretty attention grabbing.

I've been discerning a possible vocation to religious life for a few months now. I've contacted a couple of different communities and recently worked up the courage to go on a "Nun Run" sponsored by my diocese. I met several communities and several sisters who are wonderful faith-filled people. The odd thing though is as the "Run" progressed I became more restless and agitated (which I hope I managed to hide successfully) and by of the end of the night when I drove back home I was overwhelmed with feelings of disappointment.

Since that "Run" I've felt less of a clearer sense of my vocation to religious life, which confuses me as I had such a fight within myself to go forward in my discernment (I did not think religious life was for me at all) and when I finally started discerning seriously it feels as though the "call" to religious life is suddenly gone, making me confused and a bit irritated with God.

On a much shallower note, one of the things that bothered me on the "Run" was the sisters lack of wearing habits. I know this is really irrelevant but somehow it kept nagging me as well.

"Black Republicans"

From 1854, when the Republican Party was founded, Democrats labeled it adherents "black" Republicans to identify them as proponents of black equality. During the 1860 elections Southern Democrats used the term derisively to press their belief that Abraham Lincoln's victory would incite slave rebellions in the South and lead to widespread miscegenation. The image the term conveyed became more hated in the South during Reconstruction as Radical Republicans forced legislation repugnant to Southerners and installed Northern Republicans or Unionists in the governments of the former Confederate states.
Source: "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War"

So, Democrats were name calling at Republicans just like they do today, but wait! They were mocking Republicans for their anti-slavery views!?! That can't be!!!

If you listen to Harry Reid...

Harry Reid Stands by Slavery Comparison for Health-care Opponents

By Peter J. Smith

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is not a likely candidate to write a sequel to the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People," especially when it comes to winning over the opposition to health-care reform. In one broad sweep, the Democratic Leader on Monday tarred all opponents of health-care reform with the same brush as Americans who once opposed ending slavery or extending civil rights to women and Blacks, and he has refused to back down from his analogy.

Instead, the Nevada Democrat on Tuesday castigated Republicans for "distorting" his comments, made Monday on the Senate floor, reported The Hill.

"At pivotal points in American history, the tactics of distortion and delay have certainly been present," Reid said. "They've certainly been used to stop progress. That's what we're talking about here. That's what's happening here. It's very clear. ( Read more... )

On this day in 1968 the world lost perhaps the greatest Catholic author of the 20^th century, a spiritual guide who will go down among the great contemplative writers in Catholic history. Thomas Merton died this day, 41 years ago, and 27 years to the day after his entrance into the Trappist monastery, the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemane. Like millions of others, my own life has been profoundly impacted by Thomas Merton. He is still supremely influential in opening the paths of contemplation to those who have a loving desire for God, who seek God through pray and through silence. He was profoundly important in helping everyday Catholics recognize that contemplation is not simply a call for monastics and cloistered religious, but rather is a vocation for all mankind.

It is interesting, today happens to be a day on the Roman calendar where no feast day occurs. And the feasts of saints are typically celebrated on the anniversary of their death. I'm just saying, the anniversary of Thomas Merton's death happens to occur on a date where there are no other feasts…

In honor of this anniversary I am going to include here a section from his great autobiography, Seven Storey Mountain. The following passage recounts his first ever visit to Gethsemane, where he would eventually come back and stay for good. Here is Thomas Merton's first encounter with the Trappists, in his own words:

( Under the cut )

Tags: beauty, contemplation, liturgy, silence, thomas merton

minnesotatoast hosted a lovely Gingerbread party this last weekend. geometrician and I made a home together. Then, because we're dorks and we both play Kingdom of Loathing too much, we made a Spooky Mushroom to guard our campground. Geo even made a Bitchin' Car, but it wasn't made of meat, it was made of sweeter things.

Current Location: Perkk's KoL Confectionary
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Lehks – I am the Very Model of a KoL Adventurer

With all the shopping, errends and people to visit it is easy to forget the reason for this season. It is with joy that we anticipate the coming of our savior. A child born in a manager who is the great mystery of human redemption.

I would like to share this touching song to help remind us of a loving and (hopefully) forgiving God.

Tags: a horse of a different color
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: See above

Could you guys please pray for me? I am very much on edge right now. It is Finals week at my college, so I'm very tense about certain classes. My math class is the big issue. I am not currently failing, but that could very well change by tomorrow.

Please pray that I would be able to pass my math final tomorrow with at least a C or above. If I don't, I fail the class. I really don't want to have to fail it, it's my first year at college and I was just bombarded with work and laziness sort of creeped in, so it's my own fault if I do fail, but please pray that I won't fail!

Also, please pray that I would be able to get over myself in prayer and let God take control of my thoughts and actions, and that I would be able to get closer to Him and farther from my past and present sins.

Thank you all so much! God bless you!

Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Happy X-mas (War is Over)-John Lennon

Waiting. It is not an attractive word. It seems boring.

What if you were waiting for something that would change your life?


Blessed Advent to you all. :)

Tags: advent, video
Current Mood: mellow

I have a large number of CDs (almost 200) that I want to get rid of, and get some cash back for them. I've tried Craigslist with no response, as well as I've looked at the websites online, but I think the cost of me shipping the CDs to them would be pretty significant. Does anyone know of anywhere in town that will purchase CDs, or anyone that might have another suggestion? Thanks.

Could you all keep a boy from my parish in your prayers? He was involved in a snowboarding accident over the weekend. One of my friends from church posted this on FB:
He was snowboarding on Sunday, hitting ice, slamming into a tree. He is critically ill, with numerous medical issues. He and his family, including his parents and a younger brother, need lots and lots of prayers and candles lit for them.

Apparently he's still in a coma but not getting any worse, but it's devastating all the same. He's a talented artist. one of his images is being used on the promo poster for the Winter Spanish Market here.

Thanks everyone.

Tags: prayer requests

I know this is horrible relative BUT... what's the "best" Catholic message board on the net?

By "best," I mean things like decently trafficked (not so few people there's a post a day, not so many it's impossible to read), knowledgable posters, reigned-in drama (because we all know it never just doesn't exist), good technical set-up, etc.

I mostly mean forum-type bulletin boards with lots of conversation.

As if it wasnt bad enough that the city of SF is trying to "fine" the diocese 14 million dollars for changing the name of the holding company that owns the properties in the city... now we have this
http://www.bishoploriblog.org/
in case i copied the wrong bits, basically? the church is being held responsible for the supposed actions of a lawn maintenance man...... who also did lawn maintenance for the church.

so because he cut grass for the church, among many other clients, the church is somehow responsible for anything he did.....
oh yes, and the "victim" later recalled (after the lawsuit about the lawn guy) being abused by a priest in the parish.... that he never attended....

oh, and can he be cross examined? no, he died. the suit is being brought forward by his estate.

Ok guys. Here is the deal. I am 31 years old, never married, no kids,Catholic from birth, spent 7 years or so in high school/college doing the standard "Organized Religion is Silly!" bit, and then came back to the ONE TRUE CHURCH and even spent 2 years in the diocesan seminary after that, which I suppose was really an attempt to try to figure myself out more than anything else.

I have been out of the seminary for over three years now, have watched the day-to-day "practice" of my faith sort of slowly be reduced, although the actual "dogmas I believe" haven't changed: I am settled on what I believe about the world, and I am intellectually convinced that the Roman Catholic Church has the monopoly on objective truth and that's really not going to change. I direct the music at Mass every Sunday (so I attend), and I do my best to keep up on what's going on in the Church, at least on the internet, but the overwhelming majority of the real meaningful friends I spend my time with are all atheists and agnostics and I consider myself I pretty active member of their social crowd, although not in agreement about their worldviews. As I have sometimes said to new people I meet, my orthodoxy is pretty unquestionable, even if some of the ways I spend my time don't seem compatible with it.

And for the first time since I've left the seminary, I find myself rather unexpectedly dating a pretty orthodox, practicing Catholic woman who I really like and who is compelling me to do a little more with my faith. Who knew? All of a sudden, all the "let's really get involved with the Catholic Church" stuff is on the top of my head again and I'm suddenly finding myself attending bible studies and "Soup-with-sister"s, and praying before meals in a restaurant and going to the local adroration chapel at weird hours, all these things I used to do but haven't in a long time, stuff that's neither unfamiliar or unwelcome, and I feel like I'm sort of falling back into the Catholic Church for the second time....

The point, the question, is, there seems to be two ways you can go if you want to participate, want to join a community of active practicing Catholics: you can either be a right wing, "let's hold graphic photos of aborted fetuses along a public street" person, or you can be a communist who wants to get martyred in El Salvador. Either way, you're kind of a pain in everyone's ass and no one really wants to talk to you, and I don't really feel drawn to either extreme. I guess there's a third option, the "parent of children at the parish elementary school who volunteers at the fish fry," but having no kids of my own, that's sort of non-applicable. So what do I do? I'm too old for the "young adult" stuff, I guess, and I'm too young for the "people who clean the pews on monday mornings" crowd, too, and nonetheless, I am all of a sudden really feeling a pull to be "part of the community of the Catholic Church" and I just have no idea what that means anymore.

Anyone got any thoughts for me?

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this community and I suppose looking for a little guidance. I was raised Protestant (United Church of Canada) and have been very active in my church since childhood. In my early 20s I taught Sunday School and was involved in youth ministry. My faith is definitely important to me.

I am marrying a Catholic in June (yay!) and we are having a Catholic ceremony. Before I even met him (over 6 years ago), I attended mass on occasion with a couple of Catholic friends and I really loved it. I now go occasionally with him and his family, and we attend Christmas Eve mass together, etc. Truthfully, I do not feel much of a difference between my Protestant beliefs/experiences and Catholicism. My belief is that we are all Christians, and in both churches I feel that I am with the same God, I am with followers of Jesus, I am content and comfortable in both situations.

My future husband and I intend to raise our children Catholic, and I'm perfectly fine with that. We just finished our marriage prep program and it has got me thinking a lot about converting. We hope to have children quite soon and for some reason, I am bothered by the idea that my whole family will be confirmed Catholics and I'll be the odd person out. Even if I attend mass with everyone (which I would), and do all of the ordinary things...I can never fully participate and I envision a lingering feeling of always being an outsider. This bugs me.

I know this is a decision only I can come to, but I guess I just wanted to talk to someone about it. I don't feel like the conversion itself will do much to me spiritually; I already feel like my beliefs and my faith are strong. My conversion would really be more of a technicality and convenience for me, which I'm sure people would say are the wrong reasons to convert. However, it feels right to me that our family be all of the same faith - wouldn't it just make life easier?

Did any of you marry a Catholic and convert from your Protestant denomination? Do you think this issue is important, or should I let things be and go to mass and "be Catholic" without technically going through the conversion process?

How long is Mass usually on a Holy Day of Obligation that falls on a weekday? Is it closer to half an hour like a normal weekday mass, more like a Sunday Mass at an hour, or somewhere in between? I ask because the only time I can make Mass for the Immaculate Conception is an hour before my work shift starts and I figured it would be nice to know if I need to let my supervisor know I'll be late/skedaddle as soon as I possibly can (which is lame, and I probably won't do it because I'm stubborn). Thanks, friends!

PS This is the really early Mass where the people who skedaddle anyway usually attend because that's the only way they can so I don't know if that will make any difference...

Current Mood: jittery

I'm Alex, I'm 21. I have lived most of my life as a Lutheran(aside from short periods where I struggled with my faith). During one of the times in my life when I was questioning God...I had two best friends who were both Catholic. I never really thought about it, as I didn't know much about catholocism...but one day I realized that these two girls loved their relgion. I've never seen someone love their particular relgion as much as they did. I started asking them questions about it, and the more i listened..the more it all made sense to me. I checked out books on catholocism and researched the religion and realized this is what i believe. It makes me have faith, and strong faith at that. I just graduated school and moved back home and I want to become confirmed catholic. I'm just wondering maybe...what I should do. I'm alone in this, my family goes to another church, and none of my friends really go to church where I live. And also- what do you love about being Catholic?

Thanks in Advance.

Anyone remember this post that I made a while ago? If not, don't fret! Here's a short synopsis: marriage is awesome and people who say otherwise are silly and unorthodox in view of infallible Catholic doctrine. I'm still having the same ridiculous argument with the same person mentioned in the above entry. You'd figure I would have learned by now. Anyway, in my searching I found some baller scripture etc. to fuel the argument and thought I'd pop in here with it specifically because firepower was curious as to why indeed Catholicism endows marriage with a true sense of dignity and just because I hope it will be of benefit to some of you as it was to me. The main bit of Scripture that I found was awesome was 1 Timothy 4, as below (cited in the full because it's a relatively short chapter):

( but under the cut just in case... )

I also offer (hopefully) for your enjoyment the texts of Dignitas Connubii (The Dignity of Marriage) and Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope). I must shamefully admit that I have read neither of them in completion, but there's some relevant stuff in there, I'm sure of it.

Also, as always please feel free to correct me of any potential heresies/excessive sillinesses of my own or near confrontations therewith. <3 Kat

Current Location: magical Jesus chair
Current Mood: amused