Da Mihi Animas

Dedication the Basilica of St. John Lateran

2009-11-09T05:08:00.001-05:00

This last year's video from the Apostleship of Prayer on today's Feast.

Let's pray that Ida breaks up and goes away!

2009-11-08T21:41:00.001-05:00

Let's pray that Ida just breaks up and goes away doing no harm to anyone on the coast... Our Lady of Prompt Succor, pray for us!

Another Miracle by Fr. Seelos?

2009-11-08T19:01:00.000-05:00

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos the miracle worker of New Orleans may have come through with another healing. This story from WWL is pretty amazing. Here is the basics on his life from the Seelos Center:

Francis Xavier Seelos was born on January 11, 1819 in Fussen, Bavaria, Germany. He was baptized on the same day in the parish church of St. Mang. Having expressed a desire for the priesthood since childhood, he entered the diocesan seminary in 1842 after having completed his studies in philosophy. Soon after meeting the missionaries of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), founded for the evangelization of the most abandoned, he decided to enter the Congregation and to minister to the German speaking immigrants in the United States. He was accepted by the Congregation on November 22, 1842, and sailed the following year from Le Havre, France arriving in New York on April 20, 1843. On December 22, 1844, after having completed his novitiate and theological studies, Seelos was ordained a priest in the Redemptorist Church of St. James in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

After being ordained, he worked for nine years in the parish of St. Philomena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, first as assistant pastor with St. John Neumann, the superior of the Religious Community, and later as Superior himself and for the last three years as pastor. During this time, he was also the Redemptorist Novice Master. With Neumann he also dedicated himself to preaching missions. Regarding their relationship, Seelos said: “He has introduced me to the active life” and, “he has guided me as a spiritual director and confessor.”

His availability and innate kindness in understanding and responding to the needs of the faithful, quickly made him well known as an expert confessor and spiritual director, so much so that people came to him even from neighboring towns. Faithful to the Redemptorist charism, he practiced a simple lifestyle and a simple manner of expressing himself. The themes of his preaching, rich in biblical content, were always heard and understood even by everyone, regardless of education, culture, or background. A constant endeavor in this pastoral activity was instructing the little children in the faith. He not only favored this ministry, he held it as fundamental for the growth of the Christian community in the parish. In 1854, he was transferred from Pittsburgh, to Baltimore, then Cumberland in 1857, and to Annapolis (1862), all the while engaged in parish ministry and serving in the formation of future Redemptorists as Prefect of Students. Even in this post, he was true to his character remaining always the kind and happy pastor, prudently attentive to the needs of his students and conscientious of their doctrinal formation. Above all, he strove to instill in these future Redemptorist missionaries the enthusiasm, the spirit of sacrifice and apostolic zeal for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the people.

In 1860 he was proposed as a candidate for the office of Bishop of Pittsburgh. Having been excused from this responsibility by Pope Pius IX, from 1863 until 1866 he dedicated himself to the life of an itinerant missionary preaching in English and German in the states of Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

After a brief period of parish ministry in Detroit, Michigan, he was assigned in 1866 to the Redemptorist community in New Orleans, Louisiana. Here also, as pastor of the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption, he was known as a pastor who was joyously available to his faithful and singularly concerned for the poorest and the most abandoned. In God’s plan, however, his ministry in New Orleans was destined to be brief. In the month of September, exhausted from visiting and caring for the victims of yellow fever, he contracted the dreaded disease. After several weeks of patiently enduring his illness, he passed on to eternal life on October 4, 1867, at the age of 48 years and 9 months.

His Holiness Pope John Paul II, proclaimed Father Seelos Blessed in St. Peter's Square on April 9th of the Solemn Jubilee Year 2000. His Feast Day is October 5.

Dree Brees pumps up the Saints!

2009-11-08T11:39:00.001-05:00

Let's go Saints!

God bless our American Soldiers and their Families

2009-11-08T10:28:00.001-05:00

The Return from Iraq - For more of the funniest videos, click here
As we continue to pray for our troops after the terrible Fort Hood shootings let's continue to pray for their families as well. This little girl's face says it all! God bless our men and women in uniform! Hat tip to the Creative Minority Report on this one!

Widow's Mite from the Apostleship of Prayer

2009-11-08T07:57:00.002-05:00

Saint of the Day: Elizabeth of the Trinity

2009-11-08T05:07:00.001-05:00

The following comes from the Patron Saints Index:

Daughter of Captain Joseph Catez and Marie Catez. Her father died when the girl was seven, leaving her mother to raise Elizabeth and her sister Marguerite. Noted as a lively, popular girl, extremely stubborn, given to fits of rage, with great reverence for God, and an early attraction to a life of prayer and reflection. Gifted pianist. She visited the sick and taught catechism to children.

Much against her mother’s wishes, she entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Dijon, France on 2 August 1901. Though noted for great spiritual growth, she was also plagued with periods of powerful darkness, and her spiritual director expressed doubts over Elizabeth’s vocation. She completed her noviate, and took her final vows on 11 January 1903. She became a spiritual director for many, and left a legacy of letters and retreat guides. Her dying words: I am going to Light, to Love, to Life!

Saint of the day: Blessed John Duns Scotus

2009-11-08T00:06:00.000-05:00

The following comes from the Island of Freedom site:

John Duns Scotus, Scottish theologian and philosopher, was founder of a school of Scholasticism known as Scotism. Born in Duns, Duns Scotus entered the Franciscan order and studied at the universities of Oxford and Paris. He later lectured at both universities on the Sentences, the basic theological textbook by the Italian theologian Peter Lombard. In 1303 he was exiled from Paris for refusing to support Philip IV, king of France, in his quarrel with Pope Boniface VIII over the taxation of church property. After a brief exile Scotus returned to Paris, and he lectured there until 1307. Toward the end of that year he was sent to Cologne, where he lectured until his death on November 8, 1308, in Cologne. His most important writings are two sets of Commentaries on the Sentences and the treatises Quodlibetic Questions, Questions on Metaphysics, and On the First Principle. Scotus combined the Aristotelian theory of knowledge directed to the nature of physical objects as achievable by the abstractive power of the intellect with the Franciscan view of the soul as a substance in its own right with powers of intellection not confined to sensible reality. This subtle mingling of divergent tendencies and his skillful method of analysis, especially in his defense of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, earned him the title of Doctor Subtilis (Latin, "the Subtle Doctor").

In his system of philosophy Scotus closely analyzed the concepts of causality and possibility in an attempt to set up a rigorous proof for the existence of God, the primary and infinite being. He held, however, that in order to know the truth in all its fullness and to fulfill one's eternal destiny, a person must not only make use of the insights afforded by natural knowledge or philosophy but must also be taught by divine revelation. Revelation supplements and perfects natural knowledge, and, in consequence, no contradiction can exist between them. For Scotus, theology and philosophy were distinct and separate disciplines; they were, however, complementary, because theology uses philosophy as a tool. In his view, the primary concern of theology is God, considered from the standpoint of his own nature, whereas philosophy properly treats of God only insofar as he is the first cause of things. With regard to the nature of theology as a science, however, Scotus departed sharply from his Dominican forerunner, Thomas Aquinas. Whereas Aquinas defined theology as primarily a speculative discipline, Duns Scotus saw theology as primarily a practical science, concerned with theoretical issues only insofar as they are ordered toward the goal of saving souls through revelation. He argued that through faith a person may know with absolute certainty that the human soul is incorruptible and immortal; reason plausibly may argue the existence of such qualities of the soul, but it cannot strictly prove that they exist.

Like Aquinas, Scotus was a realist in philosophy, but he differed from Aquinas on certain basic issues. A major point of difference concerned their views of perception. Scotus held that a direct, intuitive grasp of particular things is obtained both through the intellect and the senses. Aquinas maintained that intellect did not directly know the singularity of material things but only the universal natures that are abstracted from sense perceptions. Scotus held that universals as such do not exist apart from the human mind, but that each separate or "singular" thing possesses a formally distinct nature that it shares in common with other things of the same kind. This fact, he taught, provides the objective basis of our knowledge of essential truths. Following the Franciscan tradition established by the Italian theologian St. Bonaventure, Scotus stressed human freedom and the primacy of human will and acts of love over the intellect. He avoided an arbitrary or voluntarist view of God's acts, although he pointed out that the actual existence of things depends on a free decision made by God, and he argued that moral obligations depend on God's will. That will, he taught, is absolutely free and not shaped or determined by particular motives. God commands an action not, as Aquinas asserts, because he sees it to be good; he makes it good by commanding it.

Scotus was one of the most profound and subtle of the medieval theologians and philosophers known as Schoolmen. For many centuries after his death his followers, called Scotists, engaged in controversy with the adherents of Aquinas, who were called Thomists. In the 20th century the influence of Scotist philosophy was still strong within the church. Duns Scotus was a staunch supporter of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which Pope Pius IX defined as a dogma of the Roman Catholic church in 1854.

My Own Personal Salvation

2009-11-07T11:12:00.001-05:00

Spanish Cloistered Nuns Surge in Vocations

2009-11-07T09:56:00.003-05:00

This is good news for the Church in Europe and for the Church around the world. The more sisters we have praying for us the better! Here is the story from the CNA:

A 43 year-old prioresses has revolutionized an old Poor Clares convent in Spain, turning it onto a magnet for dozens of young professional women.

Sister Veronica joined the Poor Clares Convent of the Ascension founded in 1604 in Lerma (Spain) at at time when it was going through a vocations crisis. It was January 22, 1984, and Marijose Berzosa - Sr. Veronica's name prior to entering the convent - decided, at age 18, to leave behind a career in medicine, friends, nightlife and baketball.

"Nobody understood me. There were bets that it would not last, but they did not feel the force of the hurricane that drew me in," says Sr. Veronica. "I was a classic teenager looking for a way out ... and I made a decision in just 15 days."

Sr. Veronica joined the convent which had not seen a new vocation in nearly 23 years.

Sr. Pureza de Maria Lubian, 70, now abbess of the convent in Burgos, was her formation director and remembers her Sr. Veronica as "a lovely girl.”

“Very noble and very good,” recalls Sr. Puerza de Maria. Sr. Vernoica “was 18 and had a future. She left everything. She followed the call of God. She had a rich personality. She was always a leader. And, spiritually, she had a great vocation.”

Sr. Puerza de Maria also notes that though Sr. Veronica faced many “struggles and difficulties,” she perservered and submitted to God's plan for her life.

The Spanish daily El Pais, one of the newspapers most sympathetic to the current Socialist government’s campaign against the Catholic Church in Spain, could not resist publishing an extensive report on Sr. Veronica. According to the newspaper, she “has become the biggest phenomenon in the Church since Teresa of Calcutta,” as “she has made the old convent of Lerma into an attractive recruiting banner for female vocations, with 135 professional women with a median age of 35 and 100 more on a waiting list.” The paper adds that Sr. Vernoica has also “opened a house in the town of La Aguilera, 24 miles from Lerma, at a huge monastery donated by her Franciscan brothers."

"It is an unexpected boom in vocations when the Jesuits have just 20 novices in all of Spain, the Franciscans, five, and the Vincentians, two. And it’s happening at a time when nuns are being imported from India, Kenya or Paraguay to prevent the closure of convents inhabited by elderly nuns, and when most of our priests are above the age of 60," the report indicated.

On weekends the convent welcomes hundreds of pilgrims: families, young members of ecclesial movements and church groups arrive in buses to attend the prayers, theatrical plays and talks on fully living the Christian life.

According to El Pais, the majority of the young sisters who have been attracted to the cloister "have been in relationships and had careers.” The women are strong in their knowledge of theology, and are “urban and educated.”

In addition, “None are immigrants. There are five sisters from the same family, eleven pairs of blood sisters and a few twins. Most are from the middle class. And they have college degrees. This community offers a complete roster of lawyers, economists, physicists and chemists, roadway engineers, industrial workers, agricultural workers and aeronautics engineers, architects, doctors, pharmacists, biologists and physical therapists, librarians, philologists, teachers and photographers.”

One of the sisters in the community interviewed by El Pais defines the cloister as "an house open to those who knock on our door. We want to share our faith, to make known what is happening to us. And if they see Jesus in us, go ahead. Spain is so pagan that we need to share our faith, not live it alone. It is time to act."

The growth of the cloister since the arrival of Sister Veronica has been explosive: in 1994, when she was appointed mistress of novices at the age of 28, nearly 30 sisters entered. In 2002 there were 72, in 2004, there were 92. In 2005, the number rose to 105. Late last September there were 134.

Originally in a 16th century convent built to accommodate 32, the sisters are being leased the monastery of La Aguliera by the Franciscan Friars of Lerma. It is located adjacent to the sanctuary and the tomb of St. Peter Regalado.

The monastery is quickly being renovated to provide a modern, functional and well-lit space, with energy obtained through solar panels.

The new monastery has 100 cells, each with bed, table and kneeler, while a parlor with a capacity of 400, a hospice, bathrooms for visitors, and a new chapel are currently being constructed.

Recently, Father Raniero Cantalamessa, Preacher of the Papal Household, preached to 140 Poor Clares in Lerma. The visit by the Italian Capuchin was broadcast by the RAI network (Italian Radio and Television) in prime time in Italy.

Cardinal Zen on Mary, Help of Christians in China

2009-11-07T05:00:00.002-05:00

Cardinal Zen - Mary Help of Christians from Mike Massey on Vimeo.

Here is another bit of the interview with Cardinal Zen from his recent visit with us!

Quito at night!

2009-11-06T18:44:00.002-05:00

I am back here in Quito for another Salesian Seminar on Don Bosco. Quito at night is amazing!

LSU Ready For Big SEC Showdown

2009-11-06T13:49:00.003-05:00

LSU coach Les Miles talks about Saturday's game against Alabama. LSU has won four in a row and seven of its past nine in Tuscaloosa. Since 1996, the home team is 4-9 in this series. All of the "experts" are taking the Tide, but that only makes victory sweeter! I am hoping I can get the game down here in Quito... I will have to work on that but, I will find a way! Let's Geaux Tigers!

George Washington and Catholics

2009-11-06T10:28:00.006-05:00

This is a great scene! If you haven't seen the John Adams film then you really need to. The following comes from The American Catholic Site:

America has been blessed by God in many ways but perhaps no blessing has been greater than His granting us George Washington to lead us in our struggle for independence and to be our first President. Catholics have perhaps more reason than other Americans to keep the memory of Washington alive in our hearts. In a time of strong prejudice against Catholics in many parts of the colonies he was free from religious bigotry as he demonstrated on November 5, 1775 when he banned the anti-Catholic Guy Fawkes celebrations.

“As the Commander in Chief has been apprized of a design form’d for the observance of that ridiculous and childish custom of burning the Effigy of the pope – He cannot help expressing his surprise that there should be Officers and Soldiers in this army so void of common sense, as not to see the impropriety of such a step at this Juncture; at a Time when we are solliciting, and have really obtain’d, the friendship and alliance of the people of Canada, whom we ought to consider as Brethren embarked in the same Cause. The defence of the general Liberty of America: At such a juncture, and in such Circumstances, to be insulting their Religion, is so monstrous, as not to be suffered or excused; indeed instead of offering the most remote insult, it is our duty to address public thanks to these our Brethren, as to them we are so much indebted for every late happy Success over the common Enemy in Canada.”

Order in Quarters, November 5, 1775

– George Washington

This stand against anti-Catholicism was not unusual for Washington. Throughout his life Washington had Catholic friends, including John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in the US. He would sometimes attend Mass, as he did during the Constitutional Convention when he led a delegation of the Convention to attend Mass in Philadelphia as he had attended Protestant churches in that town during the Covention. This sent a powerful signal that under the Constitution Catholics would be just as good Americans as Protestant Americans.

You can read more on this here.

Salesian Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez on His Vocation

2009-11-06T08:16:00.001-05:00

Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez is a wonderful Salesian and a good friend of our province. I had a retreat with him in Toronto before my ordination back in 2000 and actually got to take a ride with him to see Niagra Falls! Here is a Zenit interview of the Cardinal on his vocation:

"I am a Honduran Salesian born 66 years ago in Tegucigalpa," said Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, as he began to recount his vocation story.

And immediately the archbishop of Tegucigalpa mentions the event that changed his life decisively: "I entered the Salesian Congregation when I was 16 and there I made my journey as educator, as teacher, and was then ordained a priest in 1970.

"Subsequently my superiors sent me to study here in Rome. I studied moral theology and also clinical psychology between Rome and Innsbruck, Austria. Then I returned as prefect of studies for the Salesian Theological Institute of Guatemala and subsequently became rector of the minor seminary of philosophy in Guatemala.

"In 1978 I was appointed auxiliary bishop of Tegucigalpa and ordained on Dec. 8 of that year. Later I was [elected] secretary-general of the Latin American episcopal council (CELAM), and lived in Bogota for four years. Subsequently, I was appointed 16 years ago archbishop of Tegucigalpa and I was created cardinal by Servant of God Pope John Paul II in the consistory of the year 2001. Two years ago I was elected president of Caritas Internationalis."

These are, in sum, the great moments of his autobiography. But in this interview, the cardinal goes further, illustrating the reason for his vocation, as well as its most beautiful and most difficult moments.

ZENIT spoke with Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga for this week's installment of God's Men.

ZENIT: How did your call to follow the Lord happen? How did you decide to become a priest?

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: The call was the Lord's, through the father director of my school. I was enchanted with the Salesian life: I began at age six in primary school. I liked the environment very much and was an acolyte. In fact, on returning from Holy Mass in the school with the father director, who was later archbishop of Tegucigalpa, he said to me: "Wouldn't you like to be a priest?" And I answered immediately: "Yes."

From that moment I already felt I was in the seminary, but when I finished primary school, at age 12, I told my father that I was going to the Salesian minor seminary, as an aspirant, and he said: "You're not going anywhere, because you don't control yourself. You are very mischievous and they will return you to me the next day." And, in fact, many times afterward I thought: "He was right."

Then I forgot about my vocation and dedicated myself to aviation with my soul, life and heart. I learned English as a child precisely to be able to read books on aviation; I learned to fly when I was 14.

When I was about to finish high school, we had spiritual exercises. I remember that the preacher said to us: "If God calls you, don't be cowards." That resonated in my interior and I said: "God is calling me and I don't want to be a coward." That is why I joined as an aspirant, then I went to the novitiate: That was my journey.

ZENIT: You mentioned your passion for aviation, but many are also aware of your passion for music.

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: Yes, because as a child there was music in my home: My father loved music; my eldest sister and other siblings played the piano. So I was set to study piano since I was a child. On entering the congregation I was also assigned to be professor of music; they sent me to study in the conservatory and for many years I taught sacred music, Gregorian chant, which I love; I also put together orchestras and bands in the schools where I worked and thus learned to play several instruments.

ZENIT: Which ones?

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: The saxophone, the accordion, the organ, the piano, percussion instruments, the double bass, the clarinet. ... So life has been very lovely for me.

ZENIT: Was there an important person in your decision to follow God?

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: Yes, it was of course the father director of the school, as well as St. John Bosco. The year before I was ordained a priest, my mother revealed something to me that I didn't know: I was born prematurely and the doctor said I wouldn't survive. Then she decided to pray the rosary every day for my health, assuring that, if God called me, she would offer me to the Lord. I never knew this, and here you have the result.

ZENIT: What have been some of the happiest moments since you decided to say "yes" to the Lord?

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: Very many. Of course, when I made my first vows as a Salesian, I always dreamed of being a Salesian and that was an enormous joy for me. Then, of course, the happiest moment was my priestly ordination -- this is the greatest grace that God can give a person, after baptism. Subsequently, the episcopate rather frightened me and I didn't think it was my vocation, but I accepted because Don Bosco said that a wish of the Pope for a Salesian was a command and so I accepted in faith. And I think the Lord has granted me 31 years of joy as a bishop, much joy. When Pope John Paul II called me to be cardinal, it was a surprise. I never dreamed of that, because Honduras never had a cardinal, so I was delighted because of the joy it gave my people.

ZENIT: And what have been some of the most difficult moments?

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: Well, the Lord also says: "If anyone wishes to follow me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me." Among those moments was my father's death, when I had hardly begun my journey, in my second year of philosophy. At times I also had difficulties with my health, I suffered from asthma for several years; the Virgin cured me miraculously, when I was in the first year of theology.

As well, I had many difficulties because of the situation in Central America. As apostolic administrator bishop I was in a diocese on the border with Guatemala and El Salvador: We had refugees. It was the time of guerrillas and, of course, everything was very difficult. Another very sad moment was John Paul II's death.

ZENIT: Why?

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga: Because I loved him very much, he was practically my father, and he always showed great confidence and affection for me. Of course we saw him getting weaker, but I didn't think he'd die so soon. For me it was the same as when my father died, the same.

Pro-life video asks: "Are you smarter than a 2nd grader?"

2009-11-06T05:06:00.001-05:00

I found this at the Catholic Fire site.

A Spanish Nun reveals the truth about H1N1

2009-11-05T15:40:00.001-05:00

This is well worth looking at. Please watch this video! Thanks to Spirit Daily for this one:

Sr. Teresa Forcades is a nun at the monastery of Sant-Benet, in Monserra-Barcelona. She is a doctor physician specializing in internal medicine, PHD in public health at Barcelona’s university, specializing in the USA at the State University of New York. She gives verifiable scientific data and the disturbing irregularities related to this subject. This is relevant to all countries, all people.

The interview is in Spanish with clear subtitles in English.

BELL TOLLING for the Swine Flu (CAMPANAS por la gripe A) subtitled from ALISH on Vimeo.

Nancy Pelosi and the claims of conscience

2009-11-05T11:13:00.002-05:00

I think George Weigel does a great job on this. The following comes from the New Advent site:

On Sept. 28, a bipartisan group of 187 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak and Pennsylvania Republican Joe Pitts, sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter. The key paragraphs follow:

“Proposed health-reform legislation, H.R. 3200 … radically departs from the current federal government policy of not paying for elective abortion or subsidizing plans that cover abortion. None of the bills reported out of the three committees of jurisdiction have addressed our serious concerns about public funding for abortion. The version that was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, containing the Capps Amendment, actually explicitly authorizes the federal government (the Department of Health and Human Services) to directly fund elective abortions, with federal (public) funds drawn on a federal Treasury account. Widely circulated claims that these would be ‘private’ funds are misleading; they are contrary to law and the until-now universal understanding of what constitutes federal funds. The simple fact is that under the Capps language, the U.S. Treasury will be permitted to issue checks to abortion clinics to reimburse for abortion on demand for the first time in decades.

“The bill also explicitly provides for government subsidies to pay the premiums for private insurance policies that include elective abortion coverage. This, too, is a drastic break from longstanding federal policy. The Hyde Amendment has, for over 30 years, prevented programs funded by the annual Health and Human Services Appropriations bill from financing abortion. However, H.R. 3200 bypasses the annual appropriations bills and directly appropriates funding for both the public options and the affordability credits. This means the Hyde amendment will not apply to the public option or to the premium subsidy program created by H.R. 3200. In two memos … the Congressional Research Services has confirmed that these programs will not require any future appropriations. In addition, legislation of this magnitude should include permanent language to ensure that federal funds are not used to support abortion.”

The 187 members then requested the Speaker and the Rules Committee Chair to permit a clean vote, up or down, on the Stupak-Pitts amendment, which would bar all federal funding for abortion. As of late October, Pelosi, who has cut stalwart pro-life Democrats and Republicans out of the negotiations to determine the content of the health-care reform bill that the entire House is to consider, had persistently and obstinately refused that request.

This is an outrage in terms of the comity and collegiality of the House: the Speaker is using the considerable powers of her office to coerce the consciences of her fellow members. The outrage is compounded by the fact that Nancy Pelosi regularly describes herself as an “ardent” Catholic formed by the Church’s social justice traditions. An “ardent Catholic” won’t permit fellow Members of Congress from across the political and religious spectrum an open, clean, up-or-down vote on federal funding for abortion? Where is the social justice in this?

And where is the president who promised at Notre Dame to seek “common ground” on abortion? Has he called Speaker Pelosi to urge an open vote on the Stupak-Pitts amendment? Or do both Speaker Pelosi and President Obama fear that they would lose any such vote, further aggravating their base on the lifestyle left? Do Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama care more about the rage of pro-abortion activists than they do about the consciences of the Members of the House—and the conscience of the American people?

The period between Halloween and Christmas will likely tell the tale on health-care reform. The moment to act is now. It will be a dark day in the history of Catholicism in America if the Speaker of the House of Representatives, an “ardently” Catholic woman formed by 16 years of Catholic education, willfully blocks an open vote by the people’s duly elected representatives on federal funding of abortion. Write your member of Congress, urging him or her to support a rule allowing an open, clean, up-or-down vote on the Stupak-Pitts amendment. Write Speaker Pelosi, urging her to let her House colleagues vote their consciences on this grave matter.

6 Year Old Leaves Love Notes Behind for Her Family

2009-11-05T08:31:00.009-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This is the beautiful story of a little girl who wanted to share her love with her family in the best way she knew how. From MSNBC:

To say that “Notes Left Behind” is a book about a 6-year-old girl who died is accurate, but woefully inadequate. By filling her family’s house with hidden messages of love and hope, Elena Desserich continues to celebrate life long after she succumbed to pediatric brain cancer.

Elena wasn’t supposed to know she was dying, her parents, Keith and Brooke Desserich, told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Wednesday from their home in Ohio. When she was diagnosed with the disease just before her 6th birthday, doctors gave her 135 days to live. She made it 255 days.

Elena’s parents resolved to keep hope alive. But even as they told her the treatments she was getting would make her well, the little girl seemed to understand that her days were numbered.

And so, the girl who loved art and reading began to write notes on any paper she could find: Post-it notes, scrap paper, pink hearts her mom cut out for her, printer paper. The messages were addressed to her parents, her little sister, Gracie, her grandparents, even her great-aunt’s dog. Most carried simple variations on a theme: “I love you Mom Dad and Grace.” And most are decorated with her favorite symbol: a heart.

Elena, who often signed her name backward because she liked the way it looked, didn’t give the notes to their intended recipients. Instead, she hid them by the hundreds around the family’s house. When she died, her parents began finding them. Two years later, notes are still turning up in the oddest of places.

“We were finding them in our briefcases, we were finding them in our books, we were finding them in our dresser drawers, we started finding them in Christmas ornament bags,” Keith told Vieira.

TODAY

As her cancer progressed, Elena drew notes and messages to her family and hid them. Notes found so far fill three containers.

There were so many of them, in so many places, that it became clear Elena wasn’t inspired by whimsy, but had set out with a clear purpose. “It wasn’t just a random collection of notes. She was actually hiding these notes for us,” her father said.

“It was her way of letting us know that everything would be OK,” added Brooke. “You hope that it never ends.”

Did Elena know?
The parents still don’t know if Elena knew she was dying. They never talked of death while she was still with them.

“We do want to believe that she didn’t know. There’s a part of you that wants to know that that was never a reality to Elena,” Keith said. “But as we read more and more of these notes, obviously, it’s something that we have to consider. We tried very hard to conceal it, but we can tell through the notes there’s some understanding there.”

As Elena was writing her notes, her parents began keeping a journal about her battle. Their idea was to create a record and a portrait of a little girl for her sister, Gracie. Knowing that Gracie, to whom many of Elena’s notes are addressed, was too young to be able to remember a lot about Elena, they felt the journal would bring her to life as Gracie grew older.

“We wanted to try to pass on the memories of her sister to Gracie,” Keith said. “We wrote the journal with the entire idea of it just being for Gracie. At this point it’s become so much more ... It’s not a story about cancer. We’re also trying to pass on a story about love, about compassion, about really capturing the minutes of life rather than necessarily the milestones.”

TODAY

Elena’s parents and sister shared memories of her from their home on TODAY.

The Desseriches posted the journal online, then self-published excerpts in a book that included reproductions of many of Elena’s notes. After selling several thousand books in just a few weeks, HarperCollins bought the book and published it, with proceeds going to the charity the Desseriches founded in memory of their daughter, The Cure Starts Now.

A wise soul
“Elena was, frankly, a very wise soul. She was old for her years. She really taught us a lot,” Keith told Vieira. “You would go in and find that her books were lined up by color and also by size. She loved reading. She loved artwork. She frankly was a teacher not only to us, but hopefully to many more beyond that.

The Desseriches have not counted the notes, but said they fill three containers. Finding them, said Brooke, “felt like a little hug from her, like she was telling us that she was looking over us even though she wasn’t with us.”

The family hopes they’ll never stop finding notes. But in case that happens, both Keith and Brooke have notes that Elena sealed in envelopes that the parents say they’ll never open.

“That’s our one insurance policy, that we’ll have that one note from her,” Brooke told Vieira. “I know there’s something very special in that note — but there’s some sort of comfort that it will never come to an end.”

Ronald Reagan: A Time for Choosing

2009-11-05T05:16:00.002-05:00

This is an excerpt of the 30 minute speech supporting the Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater. Reagan speaks of big government, high taxation, and the "war on poverty." He addresses foreign policy issues including the risk of appeasement, "peace through strength," and the Vietnam War. The speech establishes Reagan as an important figure in the conservative wing of the Republican party.

To a significant degree, Ronald Reagan's election to the presidency stems from this speech, given on national television on behalf of, and sponsored by, Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. The speech remains amazingly fresh as a statement of modern American conservative philosophy four decades after it was delivered.

Catholic Governor-elect Robert McDonnell

2009-11-04T22:50:00.005-05:00

Deacon Greg always finds the great stories. Here is a post on the Catholic Governor-elect of Virginia:

The AP has this item about Virginia's new governor-elect -- only the second Catholic one in the commonwealth's history:
The new Republican governor-elect of Virginia brings to the office firmly conservative views that took root in the suburban, middle-class Irish Catholic home of his youth.

Robert Francis McDonnell, 55, was one of five children of a stay-at-home mom and a father he still describes as "a tough, Boston Irish-Catholic Air Force officer who wasn't afraid to use the belt."

McDonnell was hardly a rebel -- childhood chums recall him as a straight-arrow type. As a teen, he scored the only touchdown Bishop Ireton High School could muster against the undefeated 1971 T.C. Williams High football team immortalized in the movie "Remember the Titans."

McDonnell's Catholicism drew him to Notre Dame University on a ROTC scholarship. But it was back home where he met Maureen Gardner, a Washington Redskins cheerleader who became his wife and mother of their three daughters and twin sons.

After college, McDonnell was an Army officer in Europe, then worked as an executive for a major hospital supply firm, moving as far west as Kansas City before settling his family in Virginia Beach.

Eyeing a career in law and politics, McDonnell juggled Army reserve duties, a part-time newspaper advertising sales job, and raising a growing family with studying for a combined law and master's degree in public policy at CBN University. The school, now Regent University, was established by Christian Coalition founder and religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.

At age 34, he wrote a 93-page thesis for his graduate degree that called working women a detriment to society and argued that government was justified in discriminating against gays and unmarried "cohabitators" to shield traditional families.

Twenty years later, after a state legislative career spent advancing tough penalties for crimes and curbs on abortion, then a term as state attorney general, the thesis became the most potent issue against McDonnell in the race for governor. Still, he never trailed in polling behind Democratic state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, whom he narrowly defeated in the 2005 attorney general's race.

McDonnell, 55, dismissed the thesis as a long-ago academic exercise. He said raising three daughters, one of whom was an Army platoon leader in Iraq, had made him an admirer of career women.

Meantime, U.S. News & World Report has some more information on him, and Deacon Keith Fournier (from Virginia) has some thoughts about McDonnell's faith.

Song of Bernadette by Aaron Neville and Linda Rondstadt

2009-11-04T19:09:00.001-05:00

Pope recalls errors of 12th century scholar to warn against relativism

2009-11-04T11:52:00.004-05:00

The Holy Father is leading the charge to combat secularism and relativism in the modern world! He spoke about these topics at his latest general audience. The following comes from the CNA:

Speaking to almost 15,000 people in St. Peter's Square during the Wednesday General Audience, Pope Benedict XVI continued last week’s comparison of the monastic and scholastic theology in the twelfth century. In the area of theological discussion, the Holy Father cautioned against ethical relativism influencing the Faith.

Pope Benedict dedicated his catechesis to the twelfth-century debate between St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Abelard. He began by recalling, "to understand this confrontation between the two great masters, we must remember that theology is the search for a rational understanding, as far as possible, of the mysteries of the Christian faith."

For St. Bernard, Benedict XVI explained, "faith itself is endowed with inner certainty, strengthened by the testimony of the saints and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, and in case of doubt, by the exercise of the Magisterium of the Church."

The Pope added, “In his view, the critical examination of reason risks intellectualism, the relativization of truth, that could even lead to questioning one’s own faith.”

"For Bernard, theology has the sole purpose of promoting the intimate experience of God, to love the Lord more and more," he continued. "There are varying stages in this journey until the culmination is reached, when the soul of the believer is intoxicated by the summits of love."

Above all, the abbot of Clairvaux taught that theology "must be nourished by contemplative prayer," the Pope said.

Turning to Abelard, the Pontiff noted that “among other things introduced the term 'theology' as we understand it today, ... originally studied philosophy then applied the results achieved in this discipline to theology."

However, Abelard was a conflicted person. Pope Benedict explained that he had a "religious spirit but a restless personality, and his life was rich in dramatic events: he challenged his teachers and had a child by a cultured and intelligent woman, Eloise. ... He also suffered ecclesiastical condemnations, although he died in full communion with the Church to whose authority he submitted with a spirit of faith."

On the academic plain, the Holy Father said an “excessive use of philosophy rendered Abelard's Trinitarian doctrine dangerously fragile.” In the field of morals Abelard’s teaching was not without ambiguity as he insisted on considering the intention of the subject as the only source for describing the goodness or malice of moral acts, ignoring the objective moral significance and value of actions.

"This aspect", Benedict XVI went on, "is highly relevant for our own age, in which culture often seems marked by a growing tendency to ethical relativism.”

The Pope also underlined "some of Abelard’s insights, such as when he says that in non-Christian religious traditions there is already a preparation for the reception of Christ, the Word of God."

The Holy Father concluded by stressing that "the theological confrontation ended with a full reconciliation between the two, thanks to their mutual friend, Peter the Venerable. Abelard showed humility in recognizing his errors, Bernard great kindness. ”

Saint of the Day: Charles Borromeo

2009-11-04T05:17:00.001-05:00

The following comes from the Catholic online site:

Charles was the son of Count Gilbert Borromeo and Margaret Medici, sister of Pope Pius IV. He was born at the family castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, Italy on October 2. He received the clerical tonsure when he was twelve and was sent to the Benedictine abbey of SS. Gratian and Felinus at Arona for his education.

In 1559 his uncle was elected Pope Pius IV and the following year, named him his Secretary of State and created him a cardinal and administrator of the see of Milan. He served as Pius' legate on numerous diplomatic missions and in 1562, was instrumental in having Pius reconvene the Council of Trent, which had been suspended in 1552. Charles played a leading role in guiding and in fashioning the decrees of the third and last group of sessions. He refused the headship of the Borromeo family on the death of Count Frederick Borromeo, was ordained a priest in 1563, and was consecrated bishop of Milan the same year. Before being allowed to take possession of his see, he oversaw the catechism, missal, and breviary called for by the Council of Trent. When he finally did arrive at Trent (which had been without a resident bishop for eighty years) in 1556, he instituted radical reforms despite great opposition, with such effectiveness that it became a model see. He put into effect, measures to improve the morals and manners of the clergy and laity, raised the effectiveness of the diocesan operation, established seminaries for the education of the clergy, founded a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for the religious instruction of children and encouraged the Jesuits in his see. He increased the systems to the poor and the needy, was most generous in his help to the English college at Douai, and during his bishopric held eleven diocesan synods and six provincial councils. He founded a society of secular priests, Oblates of St. Ambrose (now Oblates of St. Charles) in 1578, and was active in preaching, resisting the inroads of protestantism, and bringing back lapsed Catholics to the Church. He encountered opposition from many sources in his efforts to reform people and institutions.

He died at Milan on the night of November 3-4, and was canonized in 1610. He was one of the towering figures of the Catholic Reformation, a patron of learning and the arts, and though he achieved a position of great power, he used it with humility, personal sanctity, and unselfishness to reform the Church, of the evils and abuses so prevalent among the clergy and the nobles of the times. His feast day is November 4th.

Dreaming of Colts vs. Saints on Feb. 7

2009-11-03T14:38:00.002-05:00

One can certainly dream and hope!