The Discernment Dilemma

Lately

2007-01-16T13:01:00.000-05:00

Jonathan Lee has gone off to college, so some room remodeling was done. For a few years I shared a room with the third eldest brother and while it never presented too many problems, more space would not have gone (and is not going) over badly. I moved into a room which I share with the eldest brother. So I don't have a room to myself, but the room I'm in now is at least fifty percent larger (if not more) than the room I was in before. I'm getting used to it now but I don't think that will take long, especially since I'm right by a certain toy I bought for myself. It's funny, I actually decided to put this item there just a couple of days before I had any idea that I'd be moving into that room in a few days.

As recently as three or four months ago, I had little life. To put it bluntly, that is why I could post as much as I did. But since then, stuff has begun to take off. As I noted before, I have my learners permit now. So that's something to consider and practice at.

I've had this job now for six months (I can scarcely believe that) and, with all humility, I've gotten to be good and reliable at it. In the manager's eyes, I'm worthy to get a lot more hours which, now, I'm doing.

And now I have SAT's to think about. Not only are they something to think about, but they are what is weighing heaviest on my mind. I tell people I love the job I'm at but I don't want to be at home a day past eighteen years. So I'm really worried about doing a good job and developing a good strategy with which to go at it.

This isn't something to think anxiously about, but I just thought I'd mention that I now have guns! BB guns. The first one I got for Christmas was good except that it had a load of trouble cocking only one round at a time. It would jam, I'd cock it again and it would take another round, so then it would have two rounds in it and wouldn't fire...it was a mess. So I went out and got two more guns which are more accurate and have none of the problems. Very fun.

There is my status report. Again, I hope to post at least a few times a week.

From the Dead

2007-01-11T11:11:00.000-05:00

Gooood Lawd it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I don't know what happened aside from blogging being thoroughly pushed to the side when things like work and school and driving came around (yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have my learners permit). Still, I'm going to try and get at least a few posts a week in.

In the meantime, check out some of the beautifully designed and structured parishes popping up in my home diocese of Arlington.

"Oh no, you're not rapping your way outta this one!"

2006-12-02T09:57:00.000-05:00

Ariz. Cop Had Black Men Rap Away Ticket

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - City leaders have apologized after a program on Tempe's cable channel showed a white police officer telling two black men they could get out of a littering ticket by performing a rap.

Good Lord...

2006-12-02T09:50:00.000-05:00

Snake king Ali Khan dies from cobra bite

TAIPING: Malaysia’s snake king Ali Khan Samsudin, 48, died as he had lived – handling the reptiles that he loved.

His eldest son Amjad Khan, 21, said his father had been performing at a show in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday when he was bitten by a King Cobra.

Ali Khan, who regularly performs with his beloved snakes for charity and for a living, died at 1am yesterday at Kuala Lumpur Hospital where he had been recuperating.

Amjad Khan related that when his father contacted him on Tuesday to tell him he had been bitten, the family had not been too worried.

“He had been bitten by snakes many times before, including three times by King Cobras. The first King Cobra bit him in Taiping when he was 21.

“So we didn’t think anything would happen. I was just relaks saja (calm),” said Amjad Khan at their flat in Kampung Boyan here yesterday.

A Test of Consistency

2006-11-23T22:58:00.000-05:00

Jailed For Religious Abuse

A man who spat at a Muslim woman and verbally abused her has been jailed for 15 months.

Charles Adams, 23, targeted his victim as she travelled by train with her children from an event in Hyde Park commemorating the July 7 terror attacks on London.

Middlesex Crown Court heard he had been watching an Arsenal match at Highbury with his elder brother and dad and had been drinking.

Adams told mother-of four Michelle Idrees, who is white Islam convert, that she had "sold out" her culture and her children would grow up to be "suicide bombers".

Judge Mr Justice Calvert-Smith told him: "When to your surprise, instead of cowering meekly at your abuse, she answered back you increased the venom of your abuse.

"This culminated in what was a disgusting form of common assault by spitting in her face."

The altercation on the Thameslink train in London began when Adams walked past Ms Idrees - who was wearing traditional Muslim dress - and chanted: "Terrorists, bombers. Terrorists, bombers."

Prosecutor Aisha Khan said the pair began to argue and Ms Idrees suffered foul-mouthed abuse.

Adams, a window cleaner, then turned to her four-year-old son and said "That's the next suicide bomber" before spitting at her face. His dad joined in the verbal abuse.

Ms Idrees, 28, who was also with her nephew, two friends and their two children, pulled the train's emergency cord and the men were arrested.
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I don't approve of these men's behavoir, but let's go over to England and yell at a priest that he's a pedophile or at a devout couple with going to or fro a church that they've sold out to the Catholicism and that they've totally abandoned their ability to think, and see if we're saddled with these punishments? Any takers? Didn't think so. If there were any punishments handed out, you can take it to the bank that "religion" would not be on the ticket.

T'was called 'The Golden Age of the Priesthood'

2006-11-23T01:44:00.000-05:00

Holy lord! I think they'll need a few more bishops in there to ordain all of those ordinadi!

Openness and Tolerance

2006-11-22T21:10:00.000-05:00

School bans pro-life T-shirts, fliers
Officials fear other students will object, consider message religious

A Virginia high school barred a Christian student from distributing materials and wearing a T-shirt that declared opposition to abortion, prompting a legal response.

Andrew Raker, a student at Millbrook High School in Winchester, Va., participated in a national pro-life event Oct. 24 called the "Day of Silent Solidarity" in which he distributed postcard-sized fliers with information about abortion, the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund said.

The next day, school officials pulled Raker from class and told him he could no longer distribute the materials because other students might object or consider them to be religious in nature.

C-c-c-CAVE!

2006-11-22T21:05:00.000-05:00

Transvestite killings on the rise in Guatemala

BENTONVILLE, Arkansas, November 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Retail giant Wal-Mart announced Tuesday afternoon that the company will no longer use corporate money to “support or oppose highly controversial issues” such as homosexual activism. Wal-Mart had outraged pro-family groups for its financial support to homosexual activists, and for the recent promotion for sale of a graphic sex-ed manual promoting teen lesbianism, recalled shortly after a LifeSiteNews.com exposé.

Very Interesting

2006-11-20T23:46:00.000-05:00

Pro multis means "for many," Vatican rules

Vatican, Nov. 18 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has ruled that the phrase pro multis should be rendered as "for many" in all new translations of the Eucharistic Prayer, CWN has learned.

Although "for many" is the literal translation of the Latin phrase, the translations currently in use render the phrase as "for all." Equivalent translations (für alle; por todos; per tutti) are in use in several other languages.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, has written to the heads of world's episcopal conferences, informing them of the Vatican decision. For the countries where a change in translation will be required, the cardinal's letter directs the bishops to prepare for the introduction of a new translation of the phrase in approved liturgical texts "in the next one or two years."

Putting things into Perspective

2006-11-18T00:06:00.000-05:00

Fr. Jim has a very good post up. Essentially, a lady was talking to him about her husband who was publicly humiliated for some minor point of grievance. The lady's husband, apparently quite a devout man, has quit going to Church. Fr. Jim hit the nail on the head right here:

"Why do we worship God? Why do we hear Mass? Why do we continue as Catholics, rather than become Jews, or Baptists, or Muslims, or whatever? In Whom do we put our faith? I think those are questions that all of us should seriously ask ourselves periodically. There are probably a number of ways that we could phrase our response, but one answer that is certainly 100% wrong is that we have faith in Father So-and-so, and that we believe in God because Father says so, and that we are in the Church because Father is so wonderful. Or Sister, or the bishop, or His Holiness, or our dear sainted German grandmother. God alone is perfect: everyone else is bound to fall short. And when the one we've placed on the pedestal falls, our faith (if it depends on another human person) is likely to fall, too. God knows, if I gave up my religion every time some stupid priest offended me, I'd have become a pagan a long time ago."

I'm no fan of public humiliation, but even the most embarrassing incident has to be put into perspective. God wants and deserves your presence at Mass. Ideally, you're surrounded by friends and family who are all come to do the same thing: worship God. Quite a few people can share stories of little churches out in the country where every one knows everyone else; where you're practically disallowed from not being knit into the proverbial fabric of the parish's life.

However, often times it's not that way and you're surrounded by people who are just other people to you, and quite often there are people there who you wish weren't. In this gentleman's case, it's the danged priest celebrating the Mass up on the altar and a few dozen folks nervously looking over at you for a variety of reasons.

It sucks, but so does life. Look beyond the very real but oh so temporary discomforts of embarrassment and forward to the love of and for the glory of God. "Blessed are you when people hate you, and revile you, and utter every kind of evil against you for my name's sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven." (Lk 6:22-23)

With all possible compassion towards this man, but is quitting going to Mass putting you (and I use the term collectively) and the wound you are nursing before God or after him. Aren't you deciding that your own embarrassment is more important than worshipping God and renewing the covenant of Christ's blood through the sacrament of the Eucharist?

I'm not an eighty year old man who is very wise and who can lend an entirely new meaning to someone's struggles with a one-liner, but God knows that this is a hard thing to do. But so long as you believe in the mediation of Christ and His Body of believers who establish their own mediatorship in Christ, you are never alone. There isn't a saint, I believe, who can't relate to what this gentlemen must feel. I also believe, however, that there isn't a saint who can't help. It's all in the prayer. Prayer will never solve all your problems, but it will help you to accept and to deal with them. In a world like this, we can use all the help there is, can't we?

Fr. Jim also noted somethin which I, having lived there, can certainly vouch for, and this is that there are about a bazillion other parishes within throwing distance in the Arlington Diocese. It only makes skipping out on Mass more illogical. But I'm going to pose another question, and this is one that I find myself trying to deal with so much that I'm sick of thnking about it. This is, what if you're pushed up against the wall with no other choice really. Translating this hypothesis to this situation, what if there weren't so many other parishes to go to? Would you (again, collectively speaking) be able to suck it up and go despite everything? In parts of the world, and this has been the case for two-thousand years, you're simply not afforded that comfort. So what would you do? That's a question I think everyone should ask themselves.

If you're like me, the honest result is probably not what it should be. Again, prayer prayer prayer. The Mother of God followed along and stood there while her Son died in a manner that was not only reserved for the lowest sort of criminals, but which was also publicly humiliating. I think she would understand our plight if we went to her asking for greater will and resolution and integrity. Go to Mary, I say, like the servants at the wedding feast did when they ran into trouble with a lack of wine. She will never fail to lead us to her divine Son, in Whom is found the source of all consolation.

Naught as queer as Folk

2006-11-13T23:52:00.000-05:00

Distraught Man Uses Terrorist Tactics to Stop Girlfriend’s Abortion

MOSCOW, Russia, November 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A young man dressed in military gear attacked a Moscow abortion clinic in an attempt to stop his girlfriend from undergoing an abortion, Interfax reported Nov. 8.

Identified as ‘Alexander’, the student from the Ulyanovsk region burst into the hospital clinic wearing camouflage gear from his army service and carrying what appeared to be a grenade and a pistol.

According to reports, the man took a nurse hostage and ordered her to take him to the operating room, arriving just before the doctors began the abortion.

Begging his girlfriend not to have the abortion, he threatened the doctors, ordering them to release the girl.

The man was restrained by guards and taken to a local police station. His grenade was discovered to be a plaster cast, while the pistol was an air gun.

In his defense the man said he had not intended to do anything wrong, but that he loved Tatiana, the girl, and wanted to marry her and raise a child. He was released without charges.

The couple married. Their child will be born next spring.
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This is an odd story, and the man's tactics were certainly awry, but it does have a happy ending.

Why the World, by and large, Sucks

2006-11-09T14:09:00.000-05:00

Losses on Ballot Measures Jolt Religious

From the country's heartland, voters sent messages that altered America's culture wars and dismayed the religious right - defending abortion rights in South Dakota, endorsing stem cell research in Missouri, and, in a national first, rejecting a same-sex marriage ban in Arizona.

Conservative leaders were jolted by the setbacks and looked for an explanation Wednesday. Gay-rights and abortion-rights activists celebrated.

The verdict on abortion rights was particularly clear. Oregon and California voters defeated measures that would have required parents to be notified before a girl under 18 could get an abortion, and South Dakotans - by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent - rejected a new state law that would have banned all abortions except to save a pregnant woman's life.

The Fruitcake Lady

2006-11-09T00:11:00.000-05:00

Marie Rudisill, a.k.a. "the fruitcake lady", was a correspondent on the Jay Leno show for five plus years. She was, in my opinion, the funniest by far. She came on to make fruitcakes a few times and they decided to, since she was old and wise looking, turn her into an advice lady. "Ask the Furitcake Lady" was Jay's funniest card to play.

Anyway, she recently died. But look at the commemorative page on Jay Leno's web-site and have a look at her videos. Hilarious!

Politics

2006-11-08T22:42:00.000-05:00

California and Oregon give a shout out to all child molesters interested in covering up getting their thirteen year old mistress pregnant. We all know the argument in favor of abortion (or "choice"), but I simply can't understand what kind of a hellish reasoning there could be behind this.

And amendment two passed in Missouri. Says this article:

According to the Missouri Secretary of State's office, of the 2-million-plus votes cast, 50.7 percent voted yes, while 49.3 percent voted no.

In comparison to Virginia's senate race, that's a blowout. By the way, why are people writing articles about Webb's win as if it were a done deal? Barrinunforeseenrseen concession, it'll be a few days yet...at least..

All Hallows Meme

2006-11-07T13:49:00.000-05:00

Nobody tagged me, but I want to do it, so what the hell.

If you were invited to a Halloween/ All Saints Day Costume Party, which saint would you dress up as and why? (The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, is not an option.)

St. Thomas More

Which saint or other person would accompany you to the party?

St. John Fisher?

What famous quote would help others identify you?

"I die the king's good servant, but God's first."

Describe your costume.

Wealthy, sixteenth century Tudor England. Jonathan Lee played Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk in a play so it wouldn't be too hard to mock up a costume.

Which movie or film best depicts the life of this saint?

A Man for All Seasons

What is your favorite book written about this saint or that he or she has written?

I haven't read it, but I want to, and that was Thomas More's son-in-law biography of the saint.

I'm not surprised

2006-11-07T13:47:00.000-05:00

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in Iran

Hospital data indicate that women top the list in suicide. Suicide among the young is setting off additional alarm bells.

Tehran (AsiaNews) – Suicide, especially among women, is the second leading cause of death in Iran. Everyday, Tehran’s Loqman Hospital admits scores of would-be suicides. However, officials in this and other hospitals tend to downplay the incidence of suicides in Iran, partly due to government pressure, partly due to the experts’ view that such news would cause even a further spike in suicide rates. In fact the head of Iran’s Forensic Medicine Organisation is quoted by the Sedaye Edalat daily as saying that “suicide data should not be publicised.” Still some successful suicide attempts are reported every day in the national press.

Unreal

2006-11-07T13:45:00.000-05:00

Monty Python and the Holy Grail's killer bunny has met its match.

I like Abp. Burke

2006-11-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

Homosexual Predators Removed from Priesthood by Vatican at Archbishop’s Request

ST. LOUIS, November 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Archbishop of St. Louis, Missouri has announced that four priests, previously suspended upon credible accusations of sexual abuse, have been permanently removed from the ranks of the priesthood. The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has dismissed the men at the request of Archbishop Raymond Burke.

A word from the Pope

2006-11-07T13:35:00.000-05:00

Pope says Catholics can't choose which teachings to follow or ignore

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Catholics, whether laypeople or priests, cannot choose which teachings of the church are important to follow and which can be ignored, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"The basic duty of the bishop -- pastor and teacher of the faith -- is to invite the faithful to accept fully the teaching of the church," said the pope in a Nov. 7 address to the bishops of Switzerland.

The bishops were in Rome for meetings with Vatican officials and the pope as a delayed conclusion to their February 2005 "ad limina" visits. Those visits, which bishops make every five years, were interrupted by the illness and death of Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict said he knows that it is a "painful experience" for the bishops to see practicing Catholics and "sometimes even priests" question some of the doctrines and disciplines taught by the church.

"Some have assumed a right to choose, in matters of faith, those teachings that, according to them, should be accepted and those that can be refused," he said.

Life and Death

2006-11-07T12:26:00.000-05:00

Gosh, posting has been so slow recently. Well, now I have something to post about.

I went up to what I call "God's country", northern Virginia, to attend a wedding of the daughter of some long time friends of ours. The wedding was at All Saints in Manassas, my old parish.

The family was a very big one, and I exaggerate not when I tell you I learned of new siblings of the bride's I didn't know existed. I had also forgotten how pretty all of the daughters were.

Since it was a family tightly knit with the private schools up their, I had expected to see a few people from my old school and specifically my old class only seven years older. Unfortunately, I didn't see anyone.

Curiosity got the best of me, and I had a look at the altar server schedule. I was surprised to see that the ranks of altar servers was still predominantly male. In fact, I only saw one girl's name.

The only people I really knew there were my God-parents who I had seen in a much shorter time since they came down for my confirmation in April. I learned that they're twenty year old daughter is about to get married at the very end of December.

The wedding was only an exchange of vows and not a nuptial Mass. I would've had the nuptial Mass, but oh well. What with the wedding and the fact that Jonathan Lee had been visiting Christendom College in Front Royal (about forty-five minutes away, though thirty the way he drives it), I was reminded oh what a friend of mine and current Christendom student told me which is that quite a few Christendom people want their nuptial Masses to be Tridentine, and that Bishop Loverde is apparently quite generous in dealing out permission slips, if you will.

After the wedding and before the reception, I saw a priest come out of the rectory with the flowing tails of a cassock and a hip sash blowing in the breeze. I, being a nerd, recognized him as one just ordained this past summer. Fr. Gregory Thompson I think his name was.

At the reception, there was the typical music three times as loud as it needed to be. One of the songs played was the one that goes on about "love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage". Yeah..one is fitted with constricting binds and made to pull the loud! Just kidding.

At All Saints, up against the wall and to the right of the altar, there were two huge scroll like things titled "In Memoriam" and had the names of the parish's dead of the last year. Jonathan Lee spotted a name that was all too familiar. The name was that of my lifelong friend's mother who I saw and talked to quite a bit since I lived next door to them for almost ten years. I thought to myself that it could have been someone else but it would have indeed been a coincidence if someone with the same name from the same home parish had died. Since it was my friends birthday on that day anyway, I called up and amidst wishing a happy birthday and catching up on a few other things, I heard that it was indeed his mother listed and that she died about a year ago from some sort of heart condition that stumped the doctors. Very sad...she was younger than my mom.

Which reminds me, it was quite fitting and made a pleasant contrast that my return to All Saints should be to attend a wedding since the last time I was there was a few years back attending the funeral of a little girl.

Response to Kerry

2006-11-03T00:50:00.000-05:00

Haha! This is very funny.

MO Stem Cell Ads

2006-10-30T21:41:00.000-05:00

It's very easy to say that of course Michael J. Fox should run ads supporting stem-cell research since he is afflicted with a disease that, supposedly, could be cured by the offspring of stem-cell research. The way I see it is that it's sly manipulation by its clear attempts to appeal to pity. "The poor guy...I need to vote yes on amendment two". I do feel sorry for him and anyone suffering from Parkinsons, but I'll be damned if I'm going to vote to expand embryonic stem-cell research for you.

Now on the other side. The ad retorting Michael J. Fox was, for the most part very good. (Did you notice four of the five people were Catholic and two of them were baseball players?) However Jim Caviezel should not have been in that ad. It's just too damn easy now to say "oh the Republicans are just trying to say that you hate Jesus if you vote 'yay'." But it was beyond imprudent to actually have him quoting an Aramaic line from the Passion of the Christ. They had him quoting the line from the Garden of Gethsemane where he rebukes Judas for betraying the son of man with a kiss. Very tacky, and a huge lapse in judgment.

Edit: Check this out.

That's a tall Building

2006-10-30T21:03:00.000-05:00

World's tallest tower rising in Dubai

Slated to become the world's tallest skyscraper and symbol of a city given to grandiose projects, "Burj Dubai," or Dubai Tower, is rising in parallel with the profits of its promoter, Emaar Properties.

With two stories added every week, Burj Dubai is taking shape as the centerpiece of a 20-billion-dollar venture featuring the construction of a new district, "Downtown Burj Dubai," that will house 30,000 apartments and the world's largest shopping mall.

When it sucks to be right

2006-10-20T00:43:00.000-04:00

I can't say I didn't foresee this. Just a couple of thoughts though.

I don't want to see anything about "Willie Randolph this" or "Willie Randolph that". Willie was incredible this year. I can only remember two or three games where he should've pulled a guy sooner or left a guy in longer. He really is what the Mets need. It will be good to have him back next year.

Even before this Championship Series was old, I was thinking that, regardless of the outcome, next year will be exciting for the Mets. Come May, we'll have Pedro Martinez back, and we could have had Orlando Hernandez back as early as a couple of week from now.

On that note, I think I was right about the Mets hurting from their loss. What downed the Mets? It was injuries. Pedro went down and now is out until the summer, and then Orlando Hernandez falters before the start of the first game of the division series, for crying out loud. That's murderous. And then Floyd goes down at the beginning of the series....no, the Mets problem this year was the injury factor.

John Maine and Oliver Perez did much better than I and many other people expected, but you're not going to win the World Series on a staff of Glavine, Trachsel, Maine, and Perez. You will, however, on a pitching rotation of Martinez, Hernandez, Glavine, Trachsel, and a John Maine, Oliver Perez, or (who knows?) Mike Pelfrey in the fifth spot.

Another thing I was saying to myself before the Championship Series ended was that I doubted the National League would win the World Series. Detroit's pitching rotation is a force to be reckoned with, and I was doubtful that the Mets, hitting a poorly as they were when I noted it in my last post, would be able to pull four games from under them.

I want it to be quite a long time before I hear the name "Yadier" again, and for crying out loud, Ron Belliard, close your damned mouth! Why the hell do think anyone at home wants to see your tongue?! Seriously! The guy gets a base hit, the camera looks over at him, and we're treated to a short film of a grown man drooling!

I don't now how long it's been since the Cardinals won the World Series, but I'm fairly sure it's been longer for the Tigers. They've sat through so many humiliating years of losing absurd numbers of games. I'm a Mets fan...I know what that's like. For now, I'm pulling for the Tigers. As for me on a more personal level, I'll have to wait a little longer.

Back from the Dead

2006-10-18T15:15:00.000-04:00

Sorry for that absence to those of you who, for some reason, wanted to read my blog.

I got caught up watching the playoffs. When the Mets won the NLDS two Saturday's ago, it came as something nice just as something really crappy was starting. I had come down with Pneumonia which I had never had before. Well I've given it a try and all I can say is that I don't want to have it again.

Anyway, some comment on the NLCS. First of all, it was a good season but the Mets have lost. After both Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez got hurt we were talking about how we had been winning a lot of the year even in Pedro's absence and won the entire first half without El duque. Well, yeah, because we scored a lot of runs. Now that we're in the playoffs and actually running up against, you know, pitching, our offense has taken a nosedive and that's why were down right now.

Especially in light of that fact, we're not going to come back and win two games against Chris Carpenter and Jeff Suppan. Fine season, but pack it up.

Lastly, I want it to be a long time before I hear the name "Yadier" again.