The Lady in the Pew

Too late for Phil Gramm, but it could be that we ARE a whining nation

2008-07-18T18:18:00.000-07:00

According to consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow, Gramm was on to something.

"I think the way consumers feel about things is very emotional," Yarrow told "Good Morning America" today. "Those emotions are trumping reality, creating a snowball, which makes the economy worse. It's not as bad as consumers feel like it is."

* * * * *

"We've had great prosperity for the last few years," Yarrow said. "We had very cheap gas. We've had a lot of increase in our home values. We've had it really pretty good as the stock market increases. Emotion is always caused by this mismatch between what we perceive and reality. It's really emotion, the psychology, that's contributing to our economy right now in a negative way."

* * * * *
In an interview with the Washington Times this week, Gramm agreed.

"We've never been more dominant; we've never had more natural advantages than we have today. ... Misery sells newspapers," he said. "Thank God the economy is not as bad as you read in the newspaper every day."

* * * * *

Personally, I — as one who has, as my good friend points out to me, "difficulties" paying her debts — see much more sense in the above comments than I do in the...well, whining. One reason I have "difficulties" paying my bills is simple: the work isn't rolling in as it was several years ago and I haven't been running out to get it.

Evidently the McCain camp doesn't see it this way. Or perhaps Mr. Gramm is just one hell of a stand up guy. In any case:

"It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country," Gramm said. "That kind of distraction hurts not only Senator McCain's ability to present concrete programs to deal with the country's problems, it hurts the country. To end this distraction and get on with the real debate, I hereby step down as co-chair of the McCain campaign and join the growing number of rank-and-file McCain supporters."

Sources: Good Morning America and AP

Words from Tony Snow, 1955-2008

2008-07-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

"I don't know why I have cancer," Tony wrote in Christianity Today last year, "and I don't much care." He continued, "We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face to face.

"Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main and faith to live — no matter how their days may be numbered."

May he enjoy everlasting life.

Mass senate officially declares homosexual folks...stupid

2008-07-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

The Massachusetts Senate today passed a bill that would repeal a 1913 state law that prevents gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying [sic] in Massachusetts.

***

"There are very few laws on the books that I can say that I'm ashamed that they're on the books," said State Senator Mark Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat. He said he opposed the law because of the "immorality of discrimination."

Mark, you oppose the law because you're a politician. Cut the !@#.

"This is a very simple law, contrived in shame, and it exists in shame and we ought to wipe it off the books," he said.

Funny you should say that. I feel the same way about the Massachusetts Ridiculous Supreme Court decision called "Goodridge vs. the Department of Public Health."

"The 1913 law is a shadow, a terrible shadow. It represents a segregationist past that is best put to rest and put to rest quickly," said Senator Harriette Chandler, a Worcester Democrat.

Hey, Harriette, babe...you -- or your predecessors -- shoulda thought of that earlier. But then, you guys really didn't care about that "shadow" (your word, not mine) before, did you?

(The law in question originated when Massachusetts tried to prevent interracial couples from crossing into their lily-white state to marry. So much for The Commonwealth's Much Vaunted History of Tolerance.)

Okay, Mark, Harriette, et al: quick question:

How come it took you guys — and by "you guys" I mean the much hailed (erroneously, if anybody has ever, for example, lived in Boston already knows) Liberal Folks for Equal Rights for People of Color almost a century to repeal the law???

Don't know? I didn't think so.

Another question:

Since most states still don't recognize same-sex "marriage," what good will this move do? For the folks you're trying to "help," I mean. Because once they go back home, chances are their "marriage" won't really be worth bleep. Don't care? I didn't think so.

So what's the point?

"Well, Kelly...it's all that wedding cake income, for crying out loud!"

Ah, yes! I'd forgotten, forgive me. And double shame on me, since the story appeared just today (July 15) in today's City Section of The Boston Globe.

A few hilarious, except they're so sad, snippets...on the "boomlet":

A study conducted for the state's Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development predicts that an economic boomlet in hotel bookings, banquets, and wedding cakes would result from repealing a 1913 state law that prevents gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying in Massachusetts.

Morality, personal liberty, and constitutional law have been the usual battlegrounds in the fight over gay marriage. Now Governor Deval Patrick's administration is injecting something a bit more pedestrian to the debate: economic development.

Way to fight for "equality," Deval...you capitalist devil, you!

Consider these numbers: An estimated 32,200 same-sex couples from elsewhere would travel to the state to get married over the next three years. That would pump $111 million into the economy and yield another $5 million in marriage license fees and sales and occupancy taxes.

Hey, that's the way to show How Much We Care about our homosexual friends. Tax 'em! It's a Massachusetts tradition, after all...make 'em feel like "family."

And, incidentally, rob California of those wealthy New Yorkers!

The study [performed -- surprise! -- by a group which studies stuff like this] considered a host of factors, including the percentage (roughly half) of the 22,000 same-sex Massachusetts couples counted by the US Census Bureau who have married here already, the typical expenditures for tourists visiting the state for two days and one night, and the likelihood that most same-sex New Yorkers wishing to marry - given that Governor David Paterson in May directed all state agencies there to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states - would travel to Massachusetts, not California, for their vows.

California, watch out...Deval's cooking up something to rob you guys blind.

"If that bill comes to me, I will sign it and sign it proudly," Patrick said yesterday.

Unconfirmed are rumors that the governor is licking his chops as he perfects his recipe for "Deval's Same-Sex Wedding Cake."

Personalized Crossword Puzzles by Kelly

2008-07-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Let an experienced crossword puzzle constructor (published in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Simon & Schuster Puzzle books and other publications) add zip to your company newsletters and other collateral pieces.

Personalized crossword puzzles also make unique gifts, especially for puzzle enthusiasts.

What’s more, they won’t break your budget!

For details, email me, or call 617-442-4321 and ask for Kelly.

(And thank you for abiding this self-promotion!)

Eulana Englaro condemned to death by starvation.

2008-07-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Please pray for her father and for the court of Milan.

And next: Who REALLY wrote the Ave Maria: More at 11

2008-07-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

File this story under "Stupid Stuff." I mean, it's a prayer, for Heaven's sake. Who gives a bleep who wrote it? Nobody seems to pay attention to the main point: to Whom the prayer is addressed.

Dear Michaelle Jean Governor General of Canada: Goodbye!!!

2008-07-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read Canadian born and bread George Peate's open letter to that country's General Governor over the Order of Canada presented Henry Morgentaler (whose claim to fame is facilitating mass abortions), then I wish you would.

(And not incidentally, former New Brunswick lieutenant-governor returned his Order of Canada yesterday in protest to the Morgentaler award. H/T to the Christian Conservative.)

By the way...I truly ache for pro-life folks like George who are ashamed, or at least feel ashamed right now, of their country. After about 40 million legal child murders in my own homeland, I can understand this sense of bewilderment, and yes, shame.

But I hope they come to realize that it's not their country they should feel ashamed of. Rather, it's the liberal, "me first, morality last" mentality they need to fight. Every day, every hour, every second, while praying for the souls of those people who would sell theirs to the devil if the ink was good enough. But I think they know that already.

May God bless Canada.

"Confessions of an Ex-Feminist" has a couple of good tips to get 'em back

2008-07-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

Dr. Lorraine Murray, Ph.D, accounts her trip from Catholicism to radical feminism, and back again in this Zenit interview.

Two great hints on lovingly shepherding:

I believe it is crucial for priests, who have received extensive education in theology, to take active roles in parish RCIA programs. Converts to the faith should become well-schooled in the teachings of orthodox Catholicism, so they will really understand the beliefs they are embracing.

I also would love to see more priests leading occasional “refresher” courses open to all parishioners, because many people in the pews are eager to defend their faith but lack the tools to do so. Lay Catholics need to have a copy of “The Catechism of the Catholic Church” handy and to consult it often.

Get it? The key word is PRIESTS. I'm sorry to have to say this, but I'm very weary of lay people in charge of RCIA "programs." I'm especially weary of lay people not owning — much less eager for access to — the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

This does not make me a bad person.

This, however, makes me an alert person, to some degree, at least.

Am I saying "Lay People are Bad People?"

Not in the least. I'm a Lay Person myself.

Okay, bad example.

What I mean is, many, many, MANY Lay People are Good People. The Gospel, the Word of God, tells us that we all have the obligation to spread the Good News.

One thing, though?

Too many Lay People get it screwed up.

Actually, so do too many priests, but that's a different blog. Why? Because, just to name one reason, priests are gifted by the Holy Spirit in more ways than we are. Priests know better. If a priest screws up, it's a good chance it's deliberate. If a Lay Person errs, it might be an honest mistake — or a dishonest lie, I don't know.

I do know that I used to work with an RCIA program in my parish, where, among other novelties, folks were "encouraged" to criticize the Words of Christ.

Example: Matthew 19:9

I remember distinctly a woman opining that she "disagreed with this Gospel." I looked toward the Lay Man in Charge (actually, he was a seminarian) for, surely, his correction of the lady's "opinion" but in vain. Alas, time was up, class was over.

Yeah, yeah, I know, this is just one example.

I've got more, and so, I've no doubt, have you.

I am bloody sick and tired of hearing that "lay people must take the place of priests."

BULL !@#$%^&*())))_*&&^%$#$##!!!!!!!!

It simply cannot be done.

In today's Gospel (Matthew 10:1-7) we learn that Jesus called the first apostles. While all of them weren't the greatest, all of them were chosen. Chosen! As are, as the fathers comment, their successors.

Ask the Father for good priests, for Heaven's sake.

Another thing I'm tired of? In the Mass Intercessions? The way the prayers are carefully worded (because, of course, we're not really praying to God, oh no, we're massaging each other) when it comes to praying for vocations to absolutely not omit the vocations of Marriage, The Single Life, and all that crap.

Huh? Come on, people!

Of course you know as well as I do that I'm not dissing the vocations of Marriage and The Single Life. But that's not why these intercessions are made.

They're made because we'd rather avoid antagonizing The Lay People than publicly admit to Our Father that what we really need down here is PRIESTS!!! You know, the male kind! The ones who answer Christ's call!

Please. Pray for more good men to hear the call of Christ to the priesthood. Thank you.

Wikileaks methodology on Texas Catholic hospitals looks "reasonable" say biostatisticians

2008-07-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, the data is anything but "reasonable" if one is involved in a Catholic hospital.

See Our Sunday Visitor for the story. (Also? Pray.)

What would Henry VIII think?

2008-07-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - The Church of England's governing body confirmed on Monday it will ordain women bishops but also approved measures to accommodate traditionalist opponents.

* * * *

After six hours of debate over the direction to be taken by the 450-year-old church, the solution hammered out by the synod was a typical Anglican compromise that sought to avoid a mass walkout by opponents of women bishops.

I pray they will walk out and come back to the 2,000+ year old Church.

Source: The New York Times (Reuters)

Dr. Henry Morgentaler and his "health and humanitarian work in Canada"

2008-07-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

In an article in Canada's Calgary Herald published today, July 4, Susana Martinuk writes:

Dr. (I use this term loosely) Morgentaler made abortion 'legal' through a challenge to the Supreme Court. The Court struck down the law against abortion in 1988. Twenty years later, Canada still has no law against abortion at any time during gestation, but we do have an international reputation for having the most liberal abortion policies in the developed world. Apparently, this is something to be celebrated.

He made abortion available. His great healthcare legacy is a chain of private abortion clinics where doctors can make great wads of cash outside of the medical/ethical oversight of hospital committees and other doctors.

Finally, he is credited with making abortion safe. He said this week that his efforts made abortion "one of the safest surgical procedures" and women are no longer killed, injured or left infertile.

She then goes on to succinctly debunk the "good doctor's" accolades.

Worth the read.

Not incidentally, you can do something about this.

For Canadians wishing to have the Order of Canada rescinded from Henry Morgentaler, click here.

For non-Canadians wishing to participate in a similar petition, click here.

A baby is led to death by "Catholic" hands...and hey, we're sorry for the "mix-up" and "embarrassment"

2008-07-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

Here's the first part of the story, blogged here.

Here's the...aftermath.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Catholic leaders in Richmond are apologizing after a mix up enabled a 16-year-old illegal immigrant in a Catholic charity's care to get an abortion with help from charity staffers.

What "mix-up," you ask?

Good question.

First, let it be know that Bishop DiLorenzo has apologized.

"I express my profound apology for the loss of life of one of the most vulnerable among us," DiLorenzo wrote.

And continues:

"And I apologize for the profound embarrassment this has caused the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, and Catholics throughout the United States."

Embarrassment?

Try this test.

Substitute the words "sexual abuse" for the words "loss of life" in the Bishop's apology and how do you think his words would be accepted? (You don't have to change a thing in the second paragraph...the result would be the same.)

And this gets much, much worse.

The bishop had advance knowledge of the January procedure, but he said he was told by the charity's executive director, Joanne Nattrass, that there was nothing they could do to intervene.

Nattrass issued a statement saying she learned Jan. 17 that the girl was scheduled to have an abortion the next morning.

The information was relayed to the bishop, who Nattrass said replied that "I forbid this to happen." But Nattrass said she and other authorities were led to believe they could not stop it.

Could somebody explain this to me?

Could somebody explain this to folks, say, belonging to Operation Rescue, for example, who have stopped many an abortion?

Could somebody explain to me why Nattrass and DiLorenzo couldn't have presented themselves at the charity offices that night to forbid the action?

Could somebody explain to me why Nattrass and DiLorenzo DIDN'T SIMPLY CALL THE BLEEPING COPS???? (What happened is bleeping illegal in Virginia.)

This killing (and no, I don't mean "mix-up") is far more horrendous (and no, I don't mean "embarrassing") then any story of clergy sexual abuse I've ever heard. And I live in Boston and have heard plenty.

Two children in Virginia were horrifically abused, with the cooperation of Catholic Church leadership. One is a living, albeit wounded, 16-year-old immigrant girl. One is a dead baby.

Outcry, anybody? Shall I expect the so-called "survivors' supporters" to raise the roof?

I'm not holding my breath.

Source: AP

Source: The Catholic Virginian, Bishop's Addresses Loss of Life

Source: The Catholic Virginian, Catholic Charities Director Responds to Media Inquiries

Casual Sunday Cancelled!

2008-06-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

Trust the Curt Jester to inject a bit of humor into a 'way too sad situation.

God bless you, Archbishop Burke!

2008-06-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

Please remember in your prayers the people of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. They are losing a remarkable, Catholic leader. May the Holy Spirit give them an equally holy and strong shepherd.

How the ignorace of journalist Sally Quinn made a Slate journalist a better Catholic

2008-06-27T18:34:00.001-07:00

The whole article is good, but the last paragraph is a 10 strike.

General Peter Pace, Medal of Freedom, and the 110,2345th reason for my admiration of George Bush

2008-06-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

How not to judge, from Saint Augustine

2008-06-23T18:18:00.001-07:00

I know I've blogged this before, but it bears repeating. It has to do with Jesus' words in today's Gospel:

Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?

Saint Augustine has some practical advice on how to avoid judging others. It's based on the premise that "a thief thinks that everyone else is a thief."

"Try to acquire those virtues which you think your brothers lack," says Augustine in Enarrationes In Psalmos, "and you will longer see their defects, because you will not have them yourselves."

Very cool.

"Let God Be Your Dread": new blog

2008-06-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

I was struck by the way the words of Jesus in today's Gospel—"Fear no one"—fit this new blog that blasts apart the notion of "conspiracy theories," along with examining the dangers of obsession and paranoia. See it here.

Okay, "Peter Canisius"...here's your plug on St. Joan of Arc parish. Again.

2008-06-21T18:24:00.000-07:00

Like many Catholic bloggers, I'm sure, I received a letter from "secret agent Peter Canisius" (google the saint for more info on this guy's namesake).

I tend to give Mister Canisius a relatively wide berth, but this does bear notice. I checked it out and it's legit. Here's the email in full and unedited:

~~~~~~~~

For more information contact:
Father James Cassidy Phone: 612.823.8205
Father James Debruycker - ,jdebruycker471@mac.com,jdebruycker@stjoan.com

DON'T MISS the MINNESOTA ARCHDIOCESE GAY PRIDE FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES HEADED UP BY JULIE MADDEN.
As announced in the Saint Joan of Arc bulletin last week:

Pride Week at SJA: Please join us on Wednesday, June 25 at 7 pm in the church for a prayer service to celebrate and give thanks for the gifts of our Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered community. Celebrate with us in prayer and song – we'll be joined by guest musician and SJA favorite Ann Reed. This service is part of Pride week in the Twin Cities. FFI on the week's events contact Julie Madden at the Parish Center.

See a more extensive list of MN Catholic GLBT Archdiocese Activities at:
http://www.stjoan.com/glfr.htm

Check out the parish calender for the Voice of the Faithful meeting on June 26:
http://www.stjoan.com/calfr.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update:

The Curt Jester publishes a letter from the communications director of the Archdiocese here.

At this writing (June 24, 9:17 PM Eastern Time) the offensive links remain.

Virginia charity probed for helping teen get abortion...and the kicker?

2008-06-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

The charity is called "Commonwealth Catholic Charities."

This story is so ugly it's tough to comment.

You tell me.

Here's the recently released AP story.

Here's the PR released by "Commonwealth Catholic Charities" on the "unfortunate event" released yesterday.

Just to prepare you, here's the opening graphs of the CCC fluff:

In January 2008, a minor in foster care in Richmond, procured an abortion while receiving support services from Commonwealth Catholic Charities (CCC).

An investigation of this unfortunate event revealed that some members of CCC staff assisted the minor in preparations leading up to the abortion, and that one member of staff signed the consent form necessary for the minor to have the abortion. The minor was taken to and from the abortion facility by a person associated with CCC.

Neither agency nor diocesan funds were used to pay for the procedure. A subsequent investigation also revealed that about two months prior to the abortion the minor had been assisted by CCC staff with implantation of a contraceptive device.

The irony of the AP story has got to be this paragraph:

"...the conference [that would be the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, no less] acknowledged some responsibility for the incident and said it has revised agreements with the more than 1,700 Catholic Charities offices nationwide to explicitly bar services that contradict Catholic teachings. Catholics are strongly opposed to abortion, and it isn't clear why the organization assisted the teen."

Uh...how is the world to know that "Catholics are strongly opposed to abortion" when stuff like this happens?

Stuff like—incredibly—this:

Members, and perhaps leaders, of the Roman Catholic Church evidently not content with breaking Church law have taken it upon themselves to break civil law. On abortion, no less.

Now this is a Scandal with a capital S.

"Don't worry, Mommy, Jesus loves me just as I am": Mentally disabled give Eucharistic Lesson

2008-06-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

The Eucharist teaches the lesson that "Jesus loves me just as I am," said the founder of an organization that ministers to mentally handicapped people.

QUEBEC CITY, June 20, 2008 — Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche Community, spoke Monday to the 49th International Eucharistic Congress, under way through Sunday in Quebec.

Vanier told the story of a mentally handicapped boy from Paris on the day he received his First Communion: "After Mass, which was a family celebration, the boy's uncle, who was his godfather, said to the child's mother: 'What a beautiful liturgy! How sad it is that he didn't understand anything.'

"The child heard these words and, with tears in his eyes, said to his mother: 'Don't worry, Mommy, Jesus loves me just as I am.'"

Vanier affirmed: "This child had a wisdom that his uncle was yet to attain: The Eucharist is God's gift par excellence."

More here, from Zenit.

Obama on fathers and...conception

2008-06-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

Addressing a packed congregation at one of the city's largest black churches, Senator Barack Obama on Sunday invoked his own absent father to deliver a sharp message to African-American men, saying, "We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception."

Jeff Miller nails the inconsistency in the last sentence.

What, you mean somebody becomes a father at conception? Can you be a father of a tissue mass or a product of conception from his point of view? He does seem to be rather inconsistent since if the responsibility of a father starts at conception then everything he has said in the past or the way he voted is totally at odds with this.

For more, see Jeff's post here.

Very cool Father's Day commercial from Dairy Queen

2008-06-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

H/T to Tim Lockwood!

Incidentally, I think it's a great idea to give something to priests on Father's Day. Saint Francis Chapel offers a Father's Day Mass Novena, and it's a privilege to enroll my parish priests in the prayers.

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy britanica.com.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty...

Tim Russert, R.I.P

2008-06-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

Tim Russert died suddenly today at the age of 58. I'm going to miss him. I'm going to miss the man I consider to be one of—if not the—last true gentleman in the main stream media.

Diane at Te Deum laudamus! tells us that the Russert family had just returned from Rome, where they celebrated the recent graduation of Mr. Russert's son, Luke, from B.C.

Requiescat in pace, Tim Russert.