31 January, 2013
30 January, 2013
28 January, 2013
27 January, 2013
Why do Canadians talk so much about the weather? - Canada - CBC News
Gee... I wonder why? Could it be that when you live someplace where temperatures vary between -40c to +30c... between sun, rain, freezing rain and snow... sometimes all in the same day... it becomes a topic of conversation? (smile)
Why do Canadians talk so much about the weather? - Canada - CBC News
Why do Canadians talk so much about the weather? - Canada - CBC News
26 January, 2013
Colorado Bishops To Review Catholic Hospital's Defense In Wrongful Death Suit | TPM LiveWire
THANK GOD! Again though you've got to wonder. Did no one in the months (years?) of preparation for the defense against this lawsuit tell the Bishops that this was going to be the strategy that was going to be deployed? If the hospital is a 'Catholic' institution in reality and not just in name, surely they were obliged to keep the local ordinary informed in such a case. If a Catholic institution cannot see the danger of arguing in court that a fetus is not a person, then the affected bishops have a major problem to solve. Those Colorado bishops are going to have to review the administration of the Catholic institutions under their authority. The current practice is CLEARLY deficient!!
But thank God indeed that the Bishops are responding appropriately now that this issue has become public. Better late than never.
Colorado Bishops To Review Catholic Hospital's Defense In Wrongful Death Suit | TPM LiveWire
But thank God indeed that the Bishops are responding appropriately now that this issue has become public. Better late than never.
Colorado Bishops To Review Catholic Hospital's Defense In Wrongful Death Suit | TPM LiveWire
25 January, 2013
24 January, 2013
A primer on Catholic Social Teaching
Fr. Michael Smith has sent me the link below to an excellent article that summarizes our Catholic social teaching. Thanks Mike for the great material!
Click here to read article
Click here to read article
I'd Like to Visit Cardinal Mahony in Prison | Bad Catholic's Bingo Hall
People understand that there are perverts in every field and profession. It's because of these predators that every kid today is 'street proofed' by parents and schools. It is a horror that they can be found among the priests of the Church - for we are called to be 'holy' individuals - but people understand that some wolves made their way into this clerical troop just as they have made their way into every other metier.
HOWEVER...
What cannot be understood is why the Bishops (who are to be chosen from among the 'best of the best' among the clergy) would fail to properly respond when predators are found among their priests. They were not 'perverts' or 'predators' themselves. They were not operating with the clouded conscience and criminal hearts of those who first inflicted such harm. They possessed (or so the faithful thought) the clarity of grace and intellect to recognize the evil that was revealed. They knew that their first moral responsibilities were to the issues of justice... to ensure that no one else could be harmed so heinously by removing predators and turning them over to the proper authorities... to ensure that immediate, effective, and sufficient support was given to guarantee that victims were healed and received recompense for their sufferings... to ensure the safety of the flock from ravenous wolves. But they didn't do any of this
Instead, they chose the path of becoming enablers rather than act as a proper pastor to his flock. They have shielded predator priests from the police rather than working to bring the antiseptic light of a criminal investigation to make certain that all the victims were accounted for and that predators were removed from their servants, the priests of their diocese. Their fecklessness in rooting out this blight from their diocese has been proven in numerous other criminal and civil trials since these scandals began across the globe. +Mahoney is just the latest in a long sorry line of bishops who failed in protecting their flocks. His failures in these scandals hardly comes as a surprise, even if we find them shocking.
Why did Bishops act this way? The answer is simple and sad. They did so because they deluded themselves with the same logic that was wielded against justice in biblical times. They believed that more harm would come to the faithful if these scandals became public... and so they utilized some sort of mental calculus which led them to believe that, 'for the greater good' of the Church justice was to be denied innocent victims. They were wrong. In the eyes of man and God, they failed to their role as leaders and shepherds. They failed to in the most fundamental obligation of all Christians: they failed to love the least among us, the child victims of these horrific crimes.
To prove it, I would challenge them to answer this question: Even given that the reputation of the Church would have been sullied if they had immediately turned over all such cases to the authorities, do they honestly believe that the damage would have been worse than what the Church faces today?
Had they acted properly, at least their moral authority as pastors and shepherds would have been preserved. They would have been demonstrated to have acted justly as clerics and citizens and been able to use their moral suasion to aid and soothe those whose faith in the Church would have been disturbed. They would still possess a voice of leadership that would have been listened to because they would have acted properly.
+Mahoney's failings were hardly unique. This is the greatest tragedy that has brought the Church into such disrepute. We will not recover until the Bishops step forward and actually act in a manner accorded to their office, demonstrating to the faithful that they have changed their ways. Hopefully those men chosen to be their replacements have heeded the lessons of this tragedy and will more faithfully imitate the Good Shepherds (the Apostles) whom they represent as bishops.
I'd Like to Visit Cardinal Mahony in Prison | Bad Catholic's Bingo Hall
23 January, 2013
Vatican Radio - Audience: Going against the grain like Abraham
Click on link below to read entire article:
Vatican Radio - Audience: Going against the grain like Abraham
‘The God Delusion’
Rationalist, a friend and frequent participant in these threads sent along a link to a NYT op-ed column by noted and acclaimed scientist and writer Richard Dawkins summarizing his reasons behind the convictions that God does not exist. Since this blog is dedicated to engendering conversations about such issues, it seemed appropriate to post the link here. Click below to read Dawkin's piece.
‘The God Delusion’ - New York Times
‘The God Delusion’ - New York Times
On the Necessity of Theological Courage in the Public Square | First Things
On the subject of religious controversy, 2013 started off with a bang, not a whimper. Hobby Lobby, the craft chain owned by a Christian couple, chose to defy the odious HHS mandate pioneered by the administration of President Barack Obama. This edict seeks to bring religious groups to heel by requiring all employers to cover contraception and abortifacients in their health-care plans. For its defiance, Hobby Lobby faces atmospheric fines of $1.3 million dollars per day.Click on link below to read entire article.
What could motivate such response from this company, traditionally associated less with political battles than knick-knacks and sewing kits? David and Barbara Green, the owners of Hobby Lobby, remain committed to upholding their evangelical beliefs—including pro-life convictions—no matter the cost or threat inflicted upon them. This is a remarkable example, and a heroic one. The Greens are demonstrating the theological courage necessary to participate in a public square that continues to show increased hostility toward orthodox expressions of faith.
Though this challenge is new, this virtue is not. In the grand Christian ethical tradition, prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude or ‘courage’ have formed what are called the cardinal virtues, from the Latin meaning ‘the hinge of the door.’ According to our guides, all other virtues “hinge” upon practicing these virtues as necessary for experiencing the moral life.
On the Necessity of Theological Courage in the Public Square | First Things
22 January, 2013
Politicians, catfish, and 'post turtles'.
Up to today, the best politician joke went like this:
"What's the difference between (insert politician's name) and a catfish? One is a wide mouthed scum sucking bottom feeder... and the other is a politician.
This one tops it:
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"What's the difference between (insert politician's name) and a catfish? One is a wide mouthed scum sucking bottom feeder... and the other is a politician.
This one tops it:
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old farmer, whose hand was caught in the squeeze gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Politicians and their role as our leaders.The old rancher said, "Well, you know, most Politicians are 'Post Turtles'.''Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him, what a 'post turtle' was.The old rancher said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle."The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain."You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb arse put him up there to begin with."Best explanation I've heard yet.
Free 3D Marine Aquarium Screensaver
Watch dolphins, sharks & orcas on your desktop! Check it out atwww.inbox.com/marineaquarium
21 January, 2013
Intellectual pitfalls - By Alice von Hildebrand
Click on the link below to read the entire article.Genesis informs us that when God completed creation, He saw that “it was very good.” Surprisingly enough, these luminous words can easily be misread or misinterpreted.God is clearly telling us that every single being to which He has freely granted “to be” is not only benefiting from the nobility of existence, but moreover that all these beings not only “are” but moreover have qualities and perfections which, according to a huge scale, reflect God’s infinite beauty. A star-studded key awakens in us a feeling of awe, but the most modest insect hidden in the grass, also speaks of God’s glory. There is no such a thing as “naked” being. Pure being is an abstraction.Let me repeat: All existing beings have qualities and perfections the scale of which is immense – from the awesome greatness and beauty of a star-studded sky to the modest perfection of a gnat. All of them reflect the greatness and glory of God: “Heaven and earth are filled with His Glory.”
Intellectual pitfalls - By Alice von Hildebrand
20 January, 2013
Biblical Basics About Mother Mary – A Homily for the Second Sunday of the Year | Archdiocese of Washington
Here's an article by Msgr. Charles Pope that deals with what the bible teaches us about the Blessed Virgin. Given the previous post about Medjugorje (which hit a nerve with some readers if comments and emails are any indication), it seemed appropriate to post.
Mary is the mother of Christ and the mother of the Church. She is close to heart of all Catholics. Understanding her proper role in salvation can lead anyone closer to Jesus. Thankfully we possess the magisterial authority of the Church to help us understand it without slipping into inappropriate beliefs. Soon the Church will pronounce on Medjugorje and then (hopefully) the controversies surrounding this alleged apparition will be settled... one way or the other.
Biblical Basics About Mother Mary – A Homily for the Second Sunday of the Year | Archdiocese of Washington
Mary is the mother of Christ and the mother of the Church. She is close to heart of all Catholics. Understanding her proper role in salvation can lead anyone closer to Jesus. Thankfully we possess the magisterial authority of the Church to help us understand it without slipping into inappropriate beliefs. Soon the Church will pronounce on Medjugorje and then (hopefully) the controversies surrounding this alleged apparition will be settled... one way or the other.
Biblical Basics About Mother Mary – A Homily for the Second Sunday of the Year | Archdiocese of Washington
19 January, 2013
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
I have
often heard people wonder why God doesn't send us as many miracles nowadays as
he used to, to show us his omnipotence.
But he
does. We just don't pay attention.
Every
year the Church beatifies and canonizes new saints - and each one of those requires
full-fledged miracles. Every year promising young men and women enter
seminaries and consecrate their lives to God - isn't each one a miracle, a
double miracle in this day and age?
Wasn't
Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta a miracle?
A humble, work-wearied nun from Albania becoming the most widely
recognized woman on the planet? But I think the most obvious miracle of all,
the most convincing and constant evidence of his omnipotence is Creation.
The world
of nature is familiar to us, but our technological advances have tended to
dampen our wonder and awe at its beauty and magnificence in many.
Pope John
Paul II used to love referring to Creation as the first book of God's
self-revelation.
Francis
Collins, the director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, the
scientist who led the team that cracked the human genome code, is one of the
few high-profile scientists who haven't lost this sense of wonder at God's
creation.
But it's
not just scientists who find the glory of God's omnipotence in Creation.
Blessed
Lucy Kim Nursia, one of the Korean martyrs, gives a powerful testimony to this
attitude.
She was
imprisoned for being a Christian when she was 22 years old.
During
her interrogation the authorities tried to mock and intimidate her by asking
her if she had ever seen God. She answered: "Can a country man who has
never seen the king believe that there is a king? When I see all the creatures
on earth, I know that there is a Creator."
We are
surrounded by evidence of God's omnipotence.
This all-powerful God, who changes water into wine, wine into the blood
of Christ, and sinners into saints - this is our God, who has put his
omnipotence at our service.
How can
we unleash this omnipotence in our own lives?
We need to do what Mary did.
God has
revealed this omnipotence for a reason: to convince us to bring our problems
and our needs to him. He can take care
of them.
This
doesn't mean being lazy. I am sure Mary
had scoured the kitchen looking for some extra wine before she asked for the
miracle. But she did ask.
Mary knew
where to go when the crisis struck. She went to Jesus.
Jesus
came onto the earth in order to make his love touch our everyday lives. But it's up to us to let him in, to come to
him.
How often
do we speak with him during the week?
When
we're coming home from work or school, do we spare a moment to thank him for
the day's blessings, to talk to him about our problems?
Before
meals, a little prayer of thanksgiving, a small moment of silence to turn to the
heart to God?
This
week, let's let Jesus be the companion and Savior he came to be. Let's give him some room to let his
omnipotence take action in our lives.
Take a
break from the cell phone and the iPod and the Internet.
Turn the
radio off for a minute or two and tune in to Christ.
Find a
way to remind yourself that he is walking by your side.
Don't let
a day go by without at least a few minutes of heartfelt conversation with him.
Start
today, start right now, during this Mass, during this Holy Communion. Make it different. Don't just go through the motions. Not today.
Not this week. Not ever again.
Mars: Photos show massive, ancient river-like structure | News | National Post
 |
| A dried up Martian river bed? Apparently... yes! |
Mars: Photos show massive, ancient river-like structure | News | National Post
Pope finally launches crackdown on world's largest illicit Catholic shrine and suspends 'dubious' priest | Mail Online
Pope finally launches crackdown on world's largest illicit Catholic shrine and suspends 'dubious' priest | Mail Online
18 January, 2013
17 January, 2013
16 January, 2013
NRA launches scathing new ad as Obama plans sweeping gun controls | World | News | National Post
What a despicable ad!!! THANK GOD I live in Canada!!
NRA launches scathing new ad as Obama plans sweeping gun controls | World | News | National Post
NRA launches scathing new ad as Obama plans sweeping gun controls | World | News | National Post
6 Reasons Why Men Can Speak on Abortion
I found this to be an interesting article. In practice, women are far more powerful than men, possessing the power to decide whether the life growing within her is a 'baby' to be cherished or a 'fetus' to be killed. Seemingly, a simple decision on her part determines whether or not that nascent human life is a person or an inconvenience.
This leads me to ask: Should any person have the power and authority to determine whether or not a human life simply by labeling it wanted or not?
Somehow, this doesn't appear to be either logical, consistent, or just... at least when viewed either from the father or baby's perspective. What do you think? Can language and terminology be used to justify the termination of an innocent life?
6 Reasons Why Men Can Speak on Abortion
This leads me to ask: Should any person have the power and authority to determine whether or not a human life simply by labeling it wanted or not?
Somehow, this doesn't appear to be either logical, consistent, or just... at least when viewed either from the father or baby's perspective. What do you think? Can language and terminology be used to justify the termination of an innocent life?
6 Reasons Why Men Can Speak on Abortion
Let’s Talk About Just War | Public Discourse
... then again, we have the issue of killing in war. Here's an article that uses similar language games to those that govern the current abortion debate, except instead of talking about killing babies, language is used to sanitize 'war' as 'just'.
Language is a powerful tool indeed!!
Let’s Talk About Just War | Public Discourse
Language is a powerful tool indeed!!
Let’s Talk About Just War | Public Discourse
15 January, 2013
14 January, 2013
13 January, 2013
12 January, 2013
Wait! Sin Has Consequences? - Indeed it does!! All sin is social no matter what many today believe.
1) Sin affects me. It coarsens me. Wounds me. It keeps me from loving as I ought to... as I want to.
2) I am a social being. No man is an island. Everything we do has an effect on those around us.
3) Therefore to the degree that it affects me, my sin necessarily affects other people.
Now, multiply that effect for every person that sins and it becomes easy to see how violence and hatred spring into existence among people who claim to be oriented towards loving each other. But this is not entirely inevitable.
Just as individual acts of sin pollute and contaminate individuals and cultures, so too can acts of grace and human kindness contribute towards the betterment of society as a whole. Put another way: just as we were capable to create the mess we are in, so too is it within our power to clean it up.
Wait! Sin Has Consequences? | The American Catholic
NCRegister | Thou Shall Not Think
I was told, when I first arrived in Canada, that Canadians are not particularly decisive, that they would be reluctant to bet on which way the elevator was moving even if they had two choices.
It is a country, so I was informed, of "the bland leading the bland." And no less than media guru Marshall McLuhan declared that "the Canadian beaver is an apt symbol of our dammed-up creativity."
Click on link below to read entire article:The recent row concerning whether or not Canadians should think about when life begins leads me to think that the biblical version of the aforementioned epigram is more pertinent: "the blind leading the blind."There is merit, apparently, in not being able to see, for what one might see could be fearful and troubling.
NCRegister | Thou Shall Not Think
11 January, 2013
Books to deepen your spiritual life
2013 is here – we are two weeks into January and already the good feelings from Christmas gatherings and the start of our New Year resolutions are wearing off. When you start to capitulate on your resolves here are a few excellent books to get you back on track:Click on link below to read rest of article.
Books
10 January, 2013
09 January, 2013
08 January, 2013
06 January, 2013
The 2012 nominees for the Darwin Award
An unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to break a former girl friend's windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the gun discharged, blowing a hole in his gut.
Nominee No. 2: [Kalamazoo Gazette]:
James Burns, 34, (a mechanic) of Alamo, MI, was killed in March as he was trying to repair what police describe as a "farm-type truck." Burns got a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hung underneath so that he could ascertain the source of a troubling noise. Burns' clothes caught on something, however, and the other man found Burns "wrapped in the drive shaft."
Nominee No. 3: [Hickory Daily Record]:
Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death in December in Newton, NC. Awakening to the sound of a ringing telephone beside his bed, he reached for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith & Wesson 38 Special, which discharged when he drew it to his ear.
Nominee No. 4: [UPI, Toronto ]:
Police said a lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a downtown Toronto skyscraper crashed through a pane with his shoulder and plunged 24 floors to his death. A police spokesman said Garry Hoy, 39, fell into the courtyard of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower early Friday evening as he was explaining the strength of the buildings windows to visiting law students. Hoy previously has conducted demonstrations of window strength according to police reports. Peter Lawson, managing partner of the firm Holden Day Wilson, told the Toronto Sun newspaper that Hoy was "one of the best and brightest" members of the 200-man association. A person has to wonder what the dimmer members of this law firm are like.
Nominee No. 5: [The News of the Weird]:
Michael Anderson Godwin made News of the Weird posthumously. He had spent several years awaiting South Carolina's electric chair on a murder conviction before having his sentence reduced to life in prison. While sitting on a metal toilet in his cell attempting to fix his small TV set, he bit into a wire and was electrocuted.
Nominee No. 6: [The Indianapolis Star]:
A cigarette lighter may have triggered a fatal explosion in Dunkirk, IN. A Jay County man, using a cigarette lighter to check the barrel of a muzzleloader, was killed Monday night when the weapon discharged in his face, sheriff's investigators said. Gregory David Pryor, 19, died in his parents' rural Dunkirk home at about 11:30 PM. Investigators said Pryor was cleaning a 54-caliber muzzle-loader that had not been firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when the gunpowder ignited.
Nominee No. 7: [Reuters, Mississauga, Ontario ]:
A man cleaning a bird feeder on the balcony of his condominium apartment in this Toronto suburb slipped and fell 23 stories to his death. "Stefan Macko, 55, was standing on a wheelchair when the accident occurred," said Inspector Darcy Honer of the Peel Regional Police. "It appears that the chair moved, and he went over the balcony," Honer said.
Finally, THE WINNER!!!: [Arkansas Democrat Gazette]:
Two local men were injured when their pickup truck left the road and struck a tree near Cotton Patch on State Highway 38 early Monday. Woodruff County deputy Dovey Snyder reported the accident shortly after midnight Monday. Thurston Poole, 33, of Des Arc, and Billy Ray Wallis, 38, of Little Rock , were returning to Des Arc after a frog-catching trip. On an overcast Sunday night, Poole 's pickup truck headlights malfunctioned.
The two men concluded that the headlight fuse on the older-model truck had burned out. As a replacement fuse was not available, Wallis noticed that the .22 caliber bullets from his pistol fit perfectly into the fuse box next to the steering-wheel column. Upon inserting the bullet the headlights again began to operate properly, and the two men proceeded on eastbound toward the White River Bridge .
After traveling approximately 20 miles, and just before crossing the river, the bullet apparently overheated, discharged and struck Poole in the testicles. The vehicle swerved sharply right, exited the pavement, and struck a tree. Poole suffered only minor cuts and abrasions from the accident but will require extensive surgery to repair the damage to his testicles, which will never operate as intended.
Wallis sustained a broken clavicle and was treated and released. "Thank God we weren't on that bridge when Thurston shot his balls off or we might be dead," stated Wallis
"I've been a trooper for 10 years in this part of the world, but this is a first for me. I can't believe that those two would admit how this accident happened," said Snyder.
Upon being notified of the wreck, Lavinia (Poole's wife) asked how many frogs the boys had caught and did anyone get them from the truck? Though Poole and Wallis did not die as a result of their misadventure as normally required by Darwin Award Official Rules, it can be argued that Poole did in fact effectively remove himself from the gene pool.
You can't escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
~ Lincoln
NHL and NHLPA reach deal on collective bargaining agreement
How appropriate that on the weekend Catholics celebrate the Feast of Epiphany, the NHL and their players finally saw the light and have come to an agreement to end the hockey lock-out. Of course the Toronto Maple Leafs fans are somewhat uneasy as this is the first time in many, many years where their team is playing in January, still holding on to a hope of making the play-offs!!!
NHL and NHLPA reach deal on collective bargaining agreement
NHL and NHLPA reach deal on collective bargaining agreement
05 January, 2013
Talk Like C.S. Lewis: Using plain talk to explain the faith. Something you'd think everyone would understand but believe me... some don't!
The advice C.S. Lewis offers on how to communicate the Gospel to the man on the street in light of the difficulties in communication is invaluable. Our modern age has more channels for communication than ever before, but that means the scope for misunderstanding and confusion increases also. Furthermore, given human nature, if a statement can be misunderstood in a negative way, you can bet someone somewhere will do so.
It can be difficult to communicate even simple things with clarity, but to communicate the Catholic faith is a complex task — not only because of the vast nature of the faith, but also because of people’s assumptions about the world, religion and Catholicism.
The difficulties and the complexities, however, only make it more necessary to tackle the job at hand. Our society needs effective evangelization now more than ever.
NCRegister | Talk Like C.S. Lewis
04 January, 2013
03 January, 2013
02 January, 2013
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