Ranting Catholic Mom

What is Going On?

2012-02-13T20:25:00.000-06:00

When I was reverting to the Roman Catholic Faith, I read Spirit Daily, well, daily. But in light of the recent controversy over contraception coverage, I feel Michael Brown has lost his way. I've seen links to articles that suggest a reasonable compromise has been made. Even today, his article begins by suggesting that this contraception thing will all work out.

I'm deeply bothered by this. His website is important to me. I think the same of Simcha Fischer and those who jumped to donate to the Koman Foundation, only to be betrayed. I feel the same about Rush Limbaugh's audience, and how he pointed out that Catholic prelates and hierarchy have given support to politicians who betrayed them. Not once. Not twice. Repeatedly. As they say at the polling booths, frequently and often.

Phillip Lawler has explained the total slavery of, and then betrayal of, the Catholic Bishops and Cardinals in Boston by the political class. They sucked-up, hoped for help, accepted crumbs, denied their principles and basic tenants of the faith, and then gave in to people who were hell-bent to betray and destroy them. As Cardinal George said, "I will die in my bed. My successor will die in prison. His successor will die a martyr in the public square." Rush may not realize this as he criticizes our Cardinals and Bishops, who have clearly played into the hands of liberal politicians, but he is fueling the fire for those martyrs. The only way to avert this is to change the ways of the people in the pews.

We, as Catholics are in dire need of a cohesive front. But how do we get this? I belong to the Cathedral parish of my Archdiocese. This parish should lead the rest of the Archdiocese, but it doesn't. Not in a good way. Before the hoopla started this month, I wrote in August about the danger to Catholic institutions. We have several people in our parish who work for and run pro-life organizations like Nebraskan's for Ethical Research, but we heard nothing from the pulpit.

Last month, the Girl Scouts provided breakfast and sold cookies after Masses on Sunday. Is there really anyone left who doesn't know about the Planned Parenthood connection to the Girl Scouts? Have they really not heard about "Happy, Healthy, and Hot"? Even after a girl scout in our parish did a study of sexually transmitted diseases, and distributed questionnaires after Masses?

My parish has not read a letter from our Archbishop. Other parishes have. Why not? I do not know.

Why are priests so reluctant to talk about the sin of using birth control? I guess that is something only God can answer, probably some time during or after confession.

The real battle for our souls is taking place in our medicine cabinets. Are you contracepting? Are you encouraging your children to do so, actively or by turning a blind eye, to avoid 'scandal'? Isn't the worse scandal the loss of innocence and the condoning of sin? What is worth more than the immortal soul of your child?

Don't be duplicitous. What do you really believe?

Rosaries for Rick, Sacraments for Santorum

2012-02-09T11:04:00.003-06:00

Consider this a Super PAC. That's a Prayer Action Campaign! It is time for real action. That means it is time to pray. Would you, my dear readers, be willing to participate in a prayer campaign for Rick Santorum and other worthy candidates in this election year?

Here's what I'm asking:

Click your participation level in the poll on the left...
<---
AND/OR:
In the comment box below, let me know if you can commit to praying for our country, for good leadership, and an end to the attacks on our freedom of conscience. I believe that includes praying for Rick Santorum to be our next President. Let me know how you will pray, the Rosary, Adoration, a Mass, then add your name, or online handle, and how often you will pray.

Update: Given Obama's insensitive, and mind numbing disrespect for our freedom of conscience as evidenced by this non-accommodating accommodation on the HHS rulings, we need Rick more than ever. Remember this from August?

Thanks for your participation, Suzanne Carl

Tales from a Colorado Caucus

2012-02-08T12:28:00.001-06:00

My sister Meg lives in Colorado. She is probably the least likely of all of my siblings to go to a caucus or political meeting of any kind. I'll wave signs on street corners, wear a Rick Santorum vest to work, argue in the grocery check-out lane with total strangers... But Meg has to be pretty motivated to go to a caucus.

After praying about it, she decided this was a year when it really mattered. Her account of the caucus and what she heard is significant. It pairs well with the stunningly unenthusiastic reporting of the first candidate to sweep three contests in a single night.

Meg said there were 57 people at her caucus site. Most of them, about 45, were well over 65. The smallest group was in our 40-60 age group.

Among the speakers, two younger people spoke, both Mormons. One was a Ron Paul supporter, who Meg said seemed kind of nutty. One was a young man who cautioned those in attendance that Mitt Romney has a full wardrobe of skeletons in his closet. She said that, within the rather large Mormon community in Colorado, there is serious concern that Romney is being promoted because the Democrats know he can be easily taken down in the general election.

I know, one lone voice at a caucus is not a landslide. But it is significant. The older voters are more likely to be accustomed to receiving their news from the old guard liberal press and network television. They are also more likely to stick with a candidate they've known from other races. That is why Romney won her caucus.

Now the day after, the Omaha World Herald doesn't even mention any of these election results on the front page. Rick Santorum was denied a clear victory in Iowa because of miscounts and lost results. The reporting on his victories is tepid. He has won 4 states on a shoe-string budget, Romney won 3 with a leviathan machine of money and media supported structure, and Gingrich has 1 state with a fair bit of money and a mouth made for creating controversy. I know the delegate counts keep Romney in front, but it seems to me that it is time for voters to examine the bigger picture.

If Rick Santorum is doing so well with so little, why is that? He doesn't get media coverage like the others. He won Iowa while being relegated to stand in the half-light of a corner of the stage at debates where he had to raise his hand to be able to answer a question. As the field dwindles, he moves closer to the center, but notice how his picture in any coverage of the presidential field is almost always third or fourth. He can't pay to advertise like the others, so his message must be delivered in smaller forums, face to face. And yet, he won 3 states last night.

If more people knew more about Rick Santorum, he could win the nomination. Give him your time. Read about him. Storm the news outlets for some equal time.

I am as afraid of another candidate chosen for us by the media as I am of another Obama win. Remember how the media chose him for us?

What Kind of Protest? A Proposal for Catholics

2012-01-30T12:01:00.001-06:00

This whole Forced Contraception and Abortion issue has me thinking of Jonathon Swift. I love his essay, A Modest Proposal. Times like these call for a similar response. But I'm no Swift. I can mimic some of his style, but really, I think we should all rally and have some babies. It would be a perfect protest. Here's why:

I have been repeatedly told that Catholics contracept in marriage at a rate above 90%. This contribution to the Culture of Death has created problems for our country through unintended consequences. We do not have a large enough population to support retirees through Social Security, teachers' unions are creating false studies to prove that smaller class sizes are necessary, Catholic parishes and schools are closing across the country at an alarming rate, maternity wards in Catholic hospitals are quiet, parents divorce and create blended families with multiple spouses in order to fill the table at the holidays, and grandparents are playing more golf and bridge because they have nothing else to do.

The simple answer is to have more children. Now. I have heard that it is possible through purely natural means for a husband and wife to conceive a child every year of marriage if they choose to do so. It is even possible for some to conceive more than one child through natural means, or with the assistance of medication from a fertility specialist.

The benefits of having children from an economic perspective are easily discerned. Each child born into a family generates a tax credit for the family. It is likely that a large family of 6 or more would pay no taxes, thereby avoiding contributing to the government mandated payments for contraception and abortion. These children as they grow will be contributing to the social security fund at a rate that will make it unnecessary to alter the system. The maternity and pediatric wards at Catholic hospitals would once again be filled with customers in need of care, providing job opportunities to the unemployed.

Each child born into a family will need to be schooled in some way. By providing more children to the schools we save the teachers' unions and promote work opportunities for fathers and mothers. We also increase the income that could be received by those who produce everything from food to toys, and even video games. The necessary ipod apps to keep small children distracted during Mass would alone contribute millions to our economy.

These larger families could once again fill the pews and desks in our Catholic parishes and schools creating jobs, and making the closure of these institutions unnecessary. Because of their large tax savings for each child, these families would be capable of contributing to the cost of education for their children and the upkeep of the parishes.

Parents of large families would be far less likely to divorce. The father of a large family is the beneficiary of a regular sex life who has no need to look elsewhere for love and pleasure. The mother of a large family, if she has as her work the primary care of her children and household, has far fewer opportunities to look elsewhere for another man. There would also be the additional consequence of a fair division of labor in the care for the family, and the interdependance of finances.

As each family is large enough in itself, more families will be purchasing from farmers and grocers the expected items for a plentiful table at family gatherings. Farmers would once again be able to earn a respectable living. Fewer family farms would need to be sold.

Finally, grandparents who have been sent to retirement homes and golf courses, would once again find themselves occupied. The grandparents could share the wisdom of their experiences with their parenting children, provide a respite to those young parents for the purpose of additional procreation, and relish in the tender caresses of their small progeny.

Some may say that it is cruel to expect young married people to have more children. As our president has said, "No woman should be punished with a baby." As I have clearly laid out in the previous paragraphs, it is no punishment to have a baby. Quite the contrary. Each child is a gift from God that benefits our country, our economy, and the family in ways that far outnumber any other issues.

Lest people think that I intend to profit from this proposal, I like Jonathon Swift must say that I am past child-bearing age, and cannot therefore gain from my proposal. I would however be willing to babysit for those families who are willing to take some time to procreate.

Suzanne Carl for Rick Santorum for President - Fundly.com

2012-01-22T16:01:00.000-06:00

Suzanne Carl for Rick Santorum for President - Fundly.com On this Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, please consider contributing to the only candidate who has never waffled on life issues, personally or professionally. Thanks, Suzanne C. Carl AKA Ranting Catholic Mom

Preventative Care and the Slippery Slope

2012-01-21T17:31:00.000-06:00

When complaining about my swollen ankles and lack of sleep, my very wise younger sister reminded me that pregnancy is not a disease. There is nothing that could be more true. Giving life to children, even if you get pain drugs and have a c-section, and then feed the child with formula, is the most natural thing in the world. But the Department of Health and Human Services says women in the United States need to be provided contraception and abortion services as preventative care.

I've always assumed preventative care was designed to prevent an actual disease or infirmity, like watching what you eat so that you don't get diabetes or heart disease. Preventative care means getting tubes for your children's ears if they have a tendency to get ear infections, or a tonsillectomy when they get too many sore throats. Preventative care does not mean stopping the procreation of the human race.

If we are really concerned about prevention, how about preventing blood clots? Blood Clots can kill. Blood clots caused by birth control are a problem, and not just for women who smoke. Some people have a genetic propensity for clots, some of which have not been mapped by the Human Genome Project. Feeding these women hormones, willy-nilly, as either emergency abortion drugs or as contraception, (especially without testing women to find out if they have a tendency to clot) or even as regulatory care for those with irregular cycles, can cause serious health problem, and even death. I spent a lot of time in pain and in hospital because I took contraceptive hormones for menstrual irregularities, while not being sexually active. I know one personal story is not proof, but what are we trying to prevent?

So this is not about preventative health care. That much can be proven. It is about preventing birth.

Who is most likely to give birth these days? According to the most recent census data that I can find the women who give birth are black, Hispanic or Asian, under 29 years of age, with less than a college degree. They earn less than $35,000 a year. They are likely to be unemployed, or not in the labor force. (leshttp://www.census.gov/compendias)

When I see these statistics, it looks to me like the federal government is trying to tell stay-at-home moms that their situation is pathological. So, tell the undereducated mom that having children is the source of all her problems, and give her birth control to stop that problem.

We've done this in concert with the United Nations for years. We've told women all over the world that what they do at home is not valuable. They need to be paid for sewing shirts and making shoes and running friers and soda makers in order to receive a paycheck, and then their lives will have meaning. If you aren't making money, sweetie, you are too stupid to understand your own oppression.

I know people blame this on feminists. I do too. The best things I've ever done are care for my home and family. Really, do those feminists believe in choice, or only the choices they choose? The Obama administration seems to want to create separate bathrooms and drinking fountains for women and children who want a future.

Thank God for the USCCB and Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan. It really is about time that Catholic bishops understood the attacks on the basic family unit. I'm sorry they didn't get it when Catholics couldn't find jobs at corporations that didn't contribute to the culture of death. I'm sorry they didn't get it when we couldn't find an ob/gyn who wouldn't suggest birth control. I'm sorry they didn't get it when every prenatal test was designed to encourage abortion for any anomaly.

At least, at the moment, facing the Alamo, they seem to understand. I do want to ask, how could they not see this coming? How could they look out into the church on Sunday, seeing and hearing fewer children every year, and not understand that the people of the Body of Christ were under attack?

A few addressed the problem. Far more buried their heads in the sand.

This has been a slippery slope for a long time. Now we need to climb back up, regardless of the slime that will impede us.

It will start in the parishes with the very thin and fashionable mothers who send their children to school so that they can work, work-out, and turn the care of their children over to someone else. You know who I mean.

Are you going to be in this fight?

Hopeless and Hopeful

2012-01-19T12:27:00.000-06:00

As I saw the brief clip from ABC's interview with Newt Gingrich's ex-wife, I thought, "This is hopeless. How can this man be rising in the polls?" His fuzzy, to be kind, math about wins, losses and electability is really a PR ploy that we have seen many times before; say it often and loudly and people will believe it is true. Remember the one about Obama being a Constitutional Scholar? Or how about the one where Obama wanted an open dialogue with Catholics about freedom of conscience issues? And then there was the one about no federal funds to Planned Parenthood being used for abortion...

Integrity matters. Newt is not young enough to make this all sound like wild oats. He is the one who should drop out. If he's slimy enough to speak for family values while conducting a 6-year affair and calling his wife to ask for an open marriage while in bed with his soon-to-be third wife, why should we believe anything he says in public?!?!?!?!?

Rick Santorum has won Iowa. Romney, who Jonah Goldberg described as "Spock reading love poetry," won New Hampshire. Huntsman, Perry, Cain, Pawlenty, and McCotter are all gone. Paul remains the crazy coot in the room. Tonight CNN hosts another debate, with the last four standing.

I'm begging Rick Santorum to stick to his guns and fight for the presidency. I've given him all I can afford now, and will give more in the future, God willing. He is the only consistent man of integrity left in the race.

Romney can talk all he wants about losing to a Democratic legislature while he was governor of Massachusetts. The fact is, he is not powerful or persuasive enough to win against a liberal legislature. He's cold, pretty and weak. We cannot risk that in the presidency.

Come on people, put your money, prayers and votes behind the truly good man in the race. Vote for Rick Santorum!!!

What is the Value of a Life?

2012-01-17T21:57:00.000-06:00

Read Amelia's Story.

Why call it at 23%?

2012-01-10T19:45:00.000-06:00

So I'm watching the results in New Hampshire. How can they say Mitt has won when only now 25% is reporting? I hate the election coverage. Take no prisoners. Hold out for Santorum to be at least third. If he is, as the defacto winner in Iowa, he can still be voted for by those of us with later primaries and caucuses. AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH. Why do two states get so much power? Could it be a lazy media?

Rick Santorum Must Be Everything He Says He Is

2012-01-08T15:53:00.000-06:00

You know this kind of job existed. When I think about doing this kind of work, I think, yuck. But I guess it is important on some level.

Does this kind of scrutiny keep good people from running for office? Sure. I know I couldn't stand up to it, not that I'd be anyone's candidate anyway. Does it get rid of people who shouldn't run? Probably, but in the case of Obama, not always. Does this kind of thing fly in the face of the liberal mantra ? Only if you believe there is a real right to privacy.

That's the catch. If you believe there is a right to privacy, then it must apply to all actions not just the killing of children. If there is true privacy, no single person can be forced to expose his/her scandals, peccadilloes, addictions, habits, felonies... You name it. The government could not share that information either.

Think about a world where you can't find the school or employment records of a potential employee. Think about a world where you can't get a credit history for someone who wants a loan. Think about a world where insurance companies can't use actuarial tables because they can't collect data. All of these things are a result of a right to privacy. But of course none of these things have happened.

Why doesn't the right to privacy exist for anything except the killing of babies. Oh, that's not really true. It also exists for any woman who accuses a man of rape. That's called a rape shield law. (I'm exposing my anti-feminist side here.) So some things get to be secret, others do not.

After reading the above article, I was struck by the different reactions I would have to a productive day of work, that this man can clearly not have. I come home smiling, stories to tell. I do a happy dance. I celebrate.

Can someone who works to expose the blistering puss of an underbelly ever really be happy?

This is Why Santorum Could Win!

2012-01-07T14:37:00.001-06:00

Don't listen to Karl Rove or the Republican Machine: A Winning Message? | The Weekly Standard

What if Gabriel Santorum had Lived?

2012-01-07T13:17:00.002-06:00

If you have ever lost a loved one, especially a child, you know how much you wish you could hold them one more time. What if in holding young Gabriel, the Santorums had had this experience:

Mother's Love Revives Baby

I'm sure someone would still find a way to criticize the Santorums for being too determined.

Using the Catholic Name

2012-01-05T16:06:00.000-06:00

Like many of you, when I heard that the Archdiocese of Detroit told Michael Voris to stop using the word Catholic in his videos, I thought, "Really? A bishop goes after him? What about the Kennedys, Kerry, Biden, Pelosi, Sibelius..." And since I use Catholic in my blog name, could this happen to me? (Ever self-centered, don't you know.)

At my core I'm a Catholic. I'm a mom, wife, sister, daughter, teacher, friend, cook, writer... But coloring and lifting up all of that is my Catholic faith.

I have watched many episodes of the Vortex by Voris. His style can be a bit annoying, and his hair is rivaled only by Tedd Kopple and Donald Trump. But he is clearly a Catholic, and trying to do his best to share the orthodox faith as he understands it. He's more Catholic than some of the lay people who have served as parish ministers or even spiritual directors.

He's also very critical of pastors, bishops and clergy when they don't stand up against the powerful for the church. Coming into an election year of such great importance, we need our clergy to exercise free speech and protect our freedom of conscience. I was looking forward to Michael Voris being a voice for those who need it now. (I was also hoping he would buy a comb and get a haircut.)

If Iowa is any indication, a real Catholic, Rick Santorum, has a chance to be our president. If that happens, and I know it's a big if, people like Voris and I may have less to rant about. But why would a bishop go after Voris?

The answer has to be his criticism of the bishops. I have sometimes wanted to show a Vortex episode to my son, but it was too critical of the clergy for me to do so. I want him to respect our priests. But maybe, he's getting old enough that he could understand that some bishops and priests have really failed the faithful.

Phillip Lawler's The Faithful Departed showed us the dirty underbelly of a chancery that was far more interest in political favors than Catholic faith. If Santorum becomes president, I don't think he'll be listening to Jesuit dissidents like the Kennedys did. He'll probably rub some of the old guard bishops the wrong way. I hope he isn't told to go light on his faith. He hasn't done so yet. But would a bishop ever tell him to not use the name Catholic in referring to himself? No one has done that to a Kennedy, Pelosi, or Biden, but if a bishop tells Michael Voris he can't call his show Catholic, who knows?

Playing with Dead Babies

2012-01-03T13:45:00.002-06:00

On Christmas Eve, I stopped by our parish for a brief happy birthday to Jesus. As I prayed to the Blessed Mother, I thought of what a wonderful gift she has been given, to feel her new-born Son in her arms every Christmas. This is how she appears to visionaries on Christmas, holding her Son in her arms.

Nothing compares to the joy of holding a child in your arms for the first time. Smelling the downy head, feeling the little fingers curl around yours, kissing the soft cheek. This is as close to heaven as I can imagine on earth.

But if you are Rick and Karen Santorum, you know another side of this joy. You know, and I can only imagine, the pain of giving birth to a dying child. You rush through the pain of the aftermath of childbirth to give your child a chance to meet the other members of the family. You cradle the dying body, with all of the same sweetness of the joyous experience of birth, but you know it will not last.

You struggle through your tears to do what is right for your dying newborn and for the older children. They meet. They say hello. They caress the baby. They say good-bye.

This is the experience that Alan Colmes called crazy; “Get a load of some of the crazy things he’s said and done, like taking his two-hour-old baby when it died right after child birth home and played with it so that his other children would know that the child was real."-Alan Colmes, emphasis mine.

Rich Lowry tried to stop Alan Colmes from making a complete ass of himself, but Colmes was far more concerned about being interrupted than stopping himself from describing the most gut-wrenching moment of a parent's life as "play". Pundits and broadcasters have made big mistakes in referencing female basketball players, using the 'n' word, creating false documents... But to refer to a deeply painful loss of a child as 'play' should be enough reason for a person to live with duct tape permanently over his mouth.

Simply firing Colmes really isn't enough. His comments are consistent with a view of life that thinks of the very young and vulnerable as valueless, unless they are being torn apart as embryos for experimentation, or packed into jars in abortuaries like gruesome trophies. That's what serial killers do. They line up body parts in freezers and jars, and fondly recall how the victims screamed and fought while being killed.

That's how these two serial killers were indicted:
"WASHINGTON — Authorities say two out-of-state doctors who traveled to Maryland to perform late-term abortions have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder, an unusual use of a law that allows for murder charges in the death of a viable fetus. Dr. Steven Brigham, of Voorhees, N.J., was taken into custody Wednesday night and is being held in the Camden County jail, according to police in Elkton, Md. Authorities also arrested Dr. Nicola Riley in Salt Lake City and she is in jail in Utah. Each is awaiting an extradition hearing." -- By Associated Press, Published: December 30

You see, after killing these babies, they put the little bodies in jars and freezers and kept them. Why would they do that? Why does a serial killer keep evidence? I guess on some level I'm grateful that they do because now the evidence exists for their conviction. But the notion of keeping these trophies is beyond my comprehension.

This is not play. This is DEADLY serious. The doctors will hopefully go to jail. And Alan Colmes should lose his job. Duct tape on the mouth is recommended, but unenforceable.

Prayer Request

2011-12-26T15:20:00.005-06:00

Update from my sister:

Tomorrow night our 5 year old Sarah will have a sleep study done at Boystown West Hospital to discover what is causing her low oxygen saturation levels when she sleeps. (She was hospitalized over Christmas for respiratory distress. During her hospitalization, we discovered that she suffers from sleep apnea). This will be a very unpleasant experience. Pray that we are able to get at least 4 hours of uninterupted sleep and oxygen saturation levels above 85 so she will not have to go on supplemental oxygen which could mask the sources of her breathing obstruction. Please continue to keep Sarah in your prayers.

My sweet little 5-year-old niece spent Christmas eve and Christmas day, and night, in the hospital with breathing problems. It appears to have been a long standing problem, beyond the previously diagnosed asthma and allergies. She will be home, but will use oxygen when she sleeps. Please keep her in your prayers for healing, and her doctors for insight as they try to find the underlying cause.
Read more...

I am so thankful to my brother-in-law, her father, who never left her side. My sister took care to follow through with Christmas plans for their other 5 children.

If you knew her, you would weep at the sheer sweetness of this little girl. She regularly goes everywhere with a backpack full of her treasures. So full, it's twice her weight. And she carries it herself. She is much loved, my little sweetie-pie is. Pray for her if you can. I'm asking for the intercession of Saint Pio and Blessed John Paul, if you are so inclined.

Last Thoughts before First Primary (Probably) 12/15/2011

2011-12-15T15:38:00.002-06:00

I started out as a Thaddeus McCotter supporter, with the yard signs to prove it. When he dropped out, I never really got behind anyone, but didn't think the media-types were fair to Herman Cain, and I still don't believe his accusers. I believe he suspended his campaign knowing he could protect his family from the slander and resulting pain. Even so, Cain had a real issue with the foreign affairs learning curve.

So now what to do? Rick Santorum is now my first choice. "Foolish," you may say. He has been hanging in the 5% or less column so long, no sane person thinks he is viable.
Read more...

"Nonsense," say I. We haven't had a caucus or a primary yet. Santorum has been working the streets because he can't cut a break at any of the debates. (You may remember him as the one who receives fewer questions than Bachman, while hiding at the spot on stage closest to the stage manager's hook, half covered by a curtain, in the lowest possible stage light...) I know that, even though I'm fairly politically active, I never get a call from pollsters unless it's a half-robo-call asking for money. I'll bet most people in Iowa and New Hampshire feel the same way. I'll bet that if they voted for the true conservative with experience and gravitas, they'd vote Santorum.

We who follow the news have been told, and shown by the debates, that Santorum doesn't have a chance. I admit, I haven't contributed, or purchased a yard sign yet. After the McCotter fall, I'm afraid my getting behind someone is going to be like my years at Notre Dame and Nebraska as a football fan; as soon as I cheer him on, he'll hire Lou Holtz as a coach, and go down in flames.

If I knew how to spam every conservative in Iowa and New Hampshire, I think I would say the following:

If you are going to vote for Romney, Gingrich, Paul, Trump, Bachmann, or anyone else in this muddied field, you need to ask yourself why Rick Santorum isn't your first choice. He is as proficient in foreign policy as any of them, and less likely to make a gaff than most. He is fiscally conservative, more than most others in the field. He supports the First Amendment rights of freedom of conscience and speech, and frankly lives that life more honestly than many in the field. He's as excellent a speaker as any in the pack, without the frequent missteps of so many of his competitors.

In short, he is the conservative man of honor that we all know can defeat Obama, if we simply stop believing we need a conservative slick Willy, or another kind of news maker.

The editors at the National Review seem to want Romney. Foolish, I say. Romney will be slowly torn apart by the liberal media for every change of thought or belief. For every time he issued an executive order to allow faith-based exemption to organizations that couldn't, because of conscience, provide adoption service to homosexual couples, he will be compared to Obama's exemptions from health care laws for labor unions. For everytime the dems pull out the old 'available, safe and rare' song about abortion, Mitt will be shown to have changed his thinking on life issues.

The result will be a fractured conservative base, looking for a third party candidate.

We need a truly conservative candidate. No crazies from the past, no inconsistencies. The only specter in Santorum's past that could come back to haunt him is Arlan.

This surely is the lesser of any of the other evils.

I don't want to hold my nose when I vote for the Republican candidate. Vote Rick Santorum.

Hope and Joy

2011-12-12T22:06:00.000-06:00

As my students left the final exam today, I had the rare experience of hugging or shaking hands with each of them. This has been a rare class. I've had two this semester, but today was the end of the best of the two.

Here's how today went:

First, when I arrived an hour before the exam, I found several students sitting in the commons area of the building. I told them the room was open and they could come and study there if they liked. They did. They came, but other than the occasional question, shouted out and answered in chorus, they mostly talked among themselves. On a State University campus, most people make friends in their frats, sororities, and dorms. These people bonded in my speech class.

Second, as the class was filling, more students than seats, somehow the conversation came around to buffaloes. I mentioned Larry the Cucumber's Water Buffalo song, YouTube was engaged, and many sang along. With ten or more minutes to go before the final, the atmosphere became more like a party than a study session. We listened to "I Love my Lips" followed by Barbara Manatee. Imagine a 24 year old atheist hippie who was raised on the road hearing Veggie Tales for the first time!

Then it was time for the test. As each left, I shook hands or hugged them,then thanked them for their work. They thanked me too, but that was less important to me.

I have grown to love each of them, as a light for the future. Some of them advocated for a return to courtship rather than dating (because women like Balls, as in ballroom dancing.). Some of them advocated for sexual abstinence. Some advocated for support of the Occupy movement. Some for Romney. Some for Cain. Some for Tea Parties. Some for phantom time. Some for Darth Vader for president because he's a family man. Two advocated for using a shake-weight, and actually drew abs on one's belly!

Every young person I meet seems to understand that he or she has more to do in college than drink and play.

That gives me hope. They give me joy.

And so one last video for my students. They don't know my pen name. They may never see this. Consider it a prayer of gratitude:

Thank You Very Much!

I begin to hope for our future because these young men and women give me joy. I hope my readers can do the same.

Merry Christmas and a very happy and hopeful New Year!

Why I believe Herman Cain

2011-11-01T16:28:00.000-05:00

Have you ever worked in a restaurant? There's something about serving food and drinks that can bring out the concupiscence in otherwise modest people. I remember being told to dress a little sexy to increase my tips. I remember having a customer reach inside my apron top as I delivered his food. I remember my manager asking the customer if there had been a problem when I refused to return to the table.

Restaurant people can be really sleazy. Not all of them, but sometimes. Even, and maybe especially in high-end restaurants, trollops of all sorts, male and female will work the lounge. Some of them rise through the ranks and become members of the National Restaurant Association. If you are a woman at a convention run by the NRA, you may be tempted to dress like a sexy hostess. That would be your choice. If a normal man gives you a compliment, and you don't want him to, you may feel uncomfortable.

Then you have two choices: 1. Smile, say thank you, and forget about it, or 2. ruminate on it, feel offended, and lawyer-up.

A non-sexual gesture that made you feel uncomfortable may remind you of times when you were truly violated, but that is not the real offense. You were treated like a serving wench in your past, so radar may be a little touchy. And it may just be misguided.

Black men like Herman Cain have been treated in this country like they are always on the make. This was one of the more common accusations that could result in a lynching not too long back in our history. For as sleazy as the high-end restaurant business can be, the family restaurants tend to be far less so. So Herman Cain was associated with a pizza chain, not the places where vixens hunt. At least that was true until he was president of the NRA. But most people are not likely to lose core principles when they change jobs. Isn't that the reason we hoped for change that never came with our current president. (Not that I thought he would change, nor did I commit the mortal sin of voting for him.)

Today Herman Cain said he was aware of a severance package given to his accusers. He did not say he was aware of a settlement. I know several people who have received severance packages. A severance package is not an omission of guilt.

The accusers can't come forward unless someone is willing to release them from their non-disclosure statement. That would be the best thing that could happen for Herman Cain. I believe that would show their allegations to be completely false. After all, they would have to describe the non-sexual gestures that made them feel uncomfortable.

I'm tired of women on the media wearing low-cut dresses and too much make-up telling me that men should be able to make eye-contact when women are talking. If a woman wants to avoid feeling uncomfortable in the presence of a man, maybe she could just dress modestly. Or if she dresses to attract attention, she should accept the consequences. It takes two to tango. Don't attract attention if you don't want it.

Persecution Can Lead to Joy

2011-10-27T15:33:00.001-05:00

I'm feeling validated today. Several websites I follow are finally starting to post articles about the abuse of the First amendment and persecution of the Catholic and Christian faiths. They waited until the puss was oozing out of the sore to talk about it, but at least the USCCB via the leadership of Archbishop Dolan, and the bishops in Illinois are finally starting to fight back. Checkout Our Sunday Visitor for a brief review. Of course they speak of persecution as just starting. Talk about having a head in the sand.

Nobody likes to whine, and nobody wants to argue the slippery slope. But you see, thoughts become words, words become actions... When I think, "Hey, consenting adults can do what they want," what I'm saying is that actions don't have consequences. That is obviously a false statement.

If I say, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," I'm failing to see the imminent threat. This is why oppressors will claim that expressing our religious beliefs is hate speech. Bullying programs now focus on acceptance of GLBTG agenda. People have been bullied for a long time. Are you a bully if you tell a lesbian parent that painting her son's toenails pink is a bad thing to do? (www.foxnews.com)

How do we combat persecution? One, pray. Two, call it what it is. Three, be joyful in faith, and expect others believe as well. I've spoken before about the inherent discrimination that is encourage by the separatist thinking of diversity trainers and multicultural enthusiasts. Their primary goal seems to be to tell Catholics and Christians to shut up and take it. Even Catholic University is being sued by Muslim students who expect to be given a Christ-free place to pray. On a Catholic campus. With Catholic in the name of the school. If they wanted a Christ-free place to worship, perhaps they should not have chosen a Catholic school.

Since I teach at a state run university, I used to be silent and kind of apologetic about my beliefs. Now, in conversations with my students, I will make natural references to my life, and sometimes these include a reference to something religious. For example, when a student asked how my weekend was, I said, " There's this beautiful little girl named Molly who colored a picture for me during Mass on Sunday. Here, I have it in my purse."

This is not an in your face defense of religion. It is simply a statement that it is a part of my life, and gives me joy. My students know I'm a baby stalker. (That's what my son calls me.) I see a baby, and I am immediately on a mission to get that child to give me a smile. I have the same mission with the young adults I teach. I want them to smile. I want them to laugh. I don't want them sitting in my class trying to figure out what my agenda is. I want them to know I accept them, warts and all, and pray for their well-being.

I can do all of that with out checking my faith at the door. In fact, I do it better when I don't check my faith at the door. Pope Benedict XVI once said, "Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary." Sometimes when faced with a troubled student, or a difficult colleague, I may ask God, "What were you thinking?" But they are probably asking the same question about me.

I accept them, but I don't want to celebrate their warts. We are all fallen creatures, but legislating and protecting and glorifying sin only hurts the sinner. So I intend to be joyful in this time of persecution. I will love the sinner and hate the sin. God willing, and with God's help.

A Slow and Steady Apocalypse

2011-10-08T15:38:00.000-05:00

I have friends and relatives who think that the world is facing a minor chastisement by God. In the course of this minor chastisement, at least a third of the world's population will disappear. I know that many people would be bothered that 1/3 of the population dying would be considered a 'minor' chastisement. But for these believers, it is significantly fewer people than, say, were killed when Noah and his family were the only survivors.

The who, what, and where of such punishment is the subject of news stories and private blogs all over the place. So is the why. We will be punished for failing to follow God's word, for a lack of faith, for tinkering with life to preserve the breath of those who are ready to die, and killing those who are ready to breathe. We will be punished for our pettiness in dealing with others. We will be punished for thinking about our hatred of others, rather than our love of neighbor, and our need for mercy. We will be punished, and should be for all of the above, as well as our sins of omission. I see a man or woman walking down the street, carrying groceries, children, or simply struggling to walk, and I keep driving with my empty minivan, because, you know, they could hurt me. My lack of care for my fellow man is at the center for why I will be punished. I deserve it. I can take it.

It's the HOW of this that is my center of speculation. Sometimes I read blogs and articles that seem to reflect a notion that the coming chastisement, which I do not doubt is coming, will come in some big way. Comets will crash to earth. Earthquakes will devour rivers and mountains and whole populations. Storms will get wild and kill willy-nilly. Fire, floods, hail, plagues...

It seems to me more likely that God will try to show us, in his mercy, that our punishments will be consummate with our crimes. We didn't fall into sin over night. We will descend into our punishment with an equal pace. ---Disclaimer: I am no prophet. I am simply talking about what I believe, knowing God in His mercy will give us as much time as possible to turn ourselves toward Him.

My last post was about parish festivals and paranoia, but it was also about an expectation of vain self-centeredness. If you, like me, have always been a bit preoccupied with how white your teeth are, how tan you skin is, how perfect your hair color, how skillfully applied your make-up, then you know that the perfect punishment would be the slowly apparent inability to counteract the aging process. You may even find that the remedies you've used to preserve youth will accelerate your aging. Wouldn't that be a perfect punishment?

What if you have always allowed abortion to continue through omission? What if you never spoke up when you encountered a friend or colleague who was about to have an abortion? What if you were a politician who voted for abortion rights, while being 'personally pro-life'? Your slow, quiet, legislative support would be matched by what kind of punishment? Maybe you would simply find yourself sterile. Maybe you would have no grandchildren. Maybe you would be lied to about your culpability in the culture of death as you blithely assumed you were being saved by the prayers and counseling of a priest who wanted to use your influence, rather than save your immortal soul.

I think we are in the midst of a slow drip of chastisement. We didn't get here with 50,000,000 babies killed in a single nuclear attack. We got here with one woman at a time choosing to quietly go to a clinic and convince herself that the baby didn't really exist yet, and her finances were inadequate to raise the child anyway. It's been a slow drip of sin. It will be a slow drip of punishment.

We are seeing it now. Good faithful people are finding themselves infertile. Because they are strong, prayerful, and faithful believers, God steers them to adopt the children who would be otherwise killed. In this respect, God's mercy is both painful and healing.

Maybe that is what we can expect. God's mercy will be painful and healing. Kind of like when you get a bad burn, you will hurt for a while. It may even hurt to the point that you can't imagine being able to tolerate the pain much longer. In the end, you will survive the pain, live with the scars, and know that you shouldn't play with fire.

Paranoia and Parish Festivals

2011-10-02T12:10:00.000-05:00

I don't really get out much. I like routine, and small groups. Whenever I break out of my routine for any reason, I find myself feeling really paranoid. Somehow, leaving my home to be more social causes me to be hyper-aware of my appearance, what I say, what others say to me, what I read into the words I hear, what I think of them, what I think they think of me, who else they must have spoken to because of what they said...

It's a rat hole of self-centered paranoid thoughts.

This really makes no sense. Shouldn't being out among others help one to be more centered on others, rather than less? And yet we seem to live in a world where the self is magnified by contact with society. This is particularly true for women.

If I go to a grocery store or pharmacy, the products offered promise to make me look thinner, more youthful, less wrinkled, and with whiter teeth. These products will help me to have hair that is perfectly colored, properly coiffed, and never be out of place while still being enticingly soft to the touch. My skin will have the look of a perfect tan regardless of actual time in the sun. I will never have a blemish again. My breath will be minty fresh even if I eat nothing but garlic and onions, washed down with coffee.

But enough about my appearance. Let's talk about what the stores sell to help me do my work. The products and gadgets sold at these stores will help me to cook healthy meals for my family, display them as if I was a French Master Chef, and serve them in a home that despite all of the cooking is spotlessly clean, with little or no effort, and consistently smells like a fresh mountain spring.

But enough about my appearance and my home. Let's talk about my professional accomplishments, my kids, my wonderful husband...

So I spent spent more time socializing this weekend than I have in a long time. If you've read the preceding paragraphs, you know that it, in my mind, was all about me. What was I volunteering for, who was I helping, who did I talk to. I hate the self-centeredness that descends on me at these times.

This is in stark contrast to my usual experience of our parish after a Sunday Mass. At those times we get to chat on the steps outside with people we have known for years. The kids run around and play. We talk politics, religion, prayer, priests who give great homilies, life, loves, and I never seem to think about myself.

That is why I am staying home today from our parish festival. I'm too paranoid. It would become an occasion of sin.

Can't Stop the Rant

2011-09-24T12:06:00.000-05:00

If you don't want to share a dark moment, don't read this post.

My candidate of choice for president, Thaddeus McCotter, pulled out this week. And he endorsed ROMNEY. Blech. I put my yard sign away.

A student in my university class gave a great Christian witness in his first speech, and it was received well. Then for the second speech, a different student will be speaking on how to conjure demons. Blech. I'm packing my holy water and rosary.

My family is arguing over who will host a combined birthday party for my brother and my mother. I want to do it, but apparently the conventional wisdom is that I don't have enough furniture. Blech. We'll probably go out to eat.

Blech. Blech, Blech. That's about all I can manage.

Underlying all of this blech is deep feeling that we can no longer stop God from punishing us for our sins. I fast. I pray. I receive the sacraments. But even in saying that, I know that what I'm talking about is what I do, not what God does. I expect He's near the end of his patience.

How else could God react when we fund abortions with our tax dollars, force people of faith to pay for contraception and sterilizations, treat pregnancy as a disease, take asthma inhalers off the market to save the ozone layer, take companies to court for daring to build a factory that would hire people who don't pay bloated union bosses, raise the debt ceiling so we can borrow more money than has ever been made in the history of mankind (Does anyone remember the sin of usury anymore?), use math tricks to pretend unemployment isn't as bad as it really is, pay people to not work, and then wonder why they stop looking for jobs, ignore our local priests in favor of rock-star preachers and then wonder how they could betray us...

We are foolish people. May God forgive us all.

Labor Day Reflections

2011-09-02T16:09:00.000-05:00

I love to celebrate Labor Day. I like to pretend that it is a day when we recognize all mothers who have embraced the pain of labor in order to embrace the child who follows. The funny thing is most women really do forget the pain of labor and continue to give birth anyway. But Labor Day isn't really about the pain of childbirth. It is about the pain and rewards of hard work. And we all too often forget to value real labor.

I've always thought it was strange that Principals and Superintendents of schools and districts made more money than really good teachers. Principals rarely wipe noses, clean desks, write lessons, rewrite lessons when the first one didn't take, grade papers... Superintendents do these things even less than principals. They seem to exist to tell teachers what to do based on the golf course conversations they have with donors and tax payers. They get more pay and more perks for separating themselves from actual classrooms full of children. Not all principals are like that. But in the warehouse-day-care-centers that pass for public schools, they are. The only people more removed from actually teaching children are those who work for state and federal departments of education. And sometimes, parents.

The people who build houses, make things, provide services to those in need, are in much the same position as teachers. They do the hard work, but are perceived as having a lower status in our culture. Why? These are the foundation of our society. They do as was said in It's a Wonderful Life, "...most of the living, breathing, and dying in this town. Is it too much to ask that they do it in a decent home..."

Here's the thing. Jimmy Stewart's character was talking about people who wanted a loan that they would really pay off with the proceeds of the hard work they actually did. They didn't want to default on loans. They didn't want to get something for nothing. They found their identity in the work they did because that was what provided sustenance for their families. He wasn't saying people had a right to homes, food, television, etc., just because they were breathing. He was saying that people who work hard should be treated with respect because they contribute to the health of our world.

Why do we drug-test people who install cable t.v., but not our teachers? Why do we tell construction workers that they have to do a ridiculous number of things to meet OSHA regulations, but tell college professors they can teach any crazy philosophy to young adults? Why do people who work with their hands to make something concrete make less money than the people who teach courses at universities on environmental communications, or liberation theology, or women's studies, or literature by gay black authors who want a sex change after years of drug abuse who weigh 800 pounds or more.

Oh wait, the people who don't appreciate real labor, also don't approve of being overweight. I guess they expect people who do nothing to return groceries for cash in order to feed their addictions to drugs that make them slim. Then they won't be visually offensive.

Yes, I'm ranting. That is what I do. But I think It's a Wonderful Life is a better Labor Day movie than a Christmas movie. Maybe we should all watch it this weekend.

Children Behaving Badly: Traditional Ways to Act Up at Mass

2011-08-30T12:12:00.003-05:00

I'm not going to pile-on here about cell phone games and loud and/or garish toys at Mass. I know there are serious issues about what people think is acceptable in church. When I picked up the Red Bull can that I found under the pew in front of me at Mass, the amount of lipstick on the rim told me there had been a wedding the day before. I don't want to add to the list of misbehavior and sacrilege.

This is a celebration of youthful exuberance that is a time honored source of consternation to parents, and discrete smiles from those whose children are too old to do it anymore.

1. The first family I want to tell you about has 5 boys and one girl. The oldest can't be more than 7. None of the children have made their first communion. The parents make sure the girl wears a dress and the boys wear suits and ties. The parents of this swarming mass of youthful energy are calm, devout, and do not pander to the children with toys during Mass. Still, you can regularly witness one brother turning a bulletin into a telescope or megaphone so his brother can hear him whisper, "I'm watching you." I know I did this with my 11 siblings growing up.

2. A toddler has just learned to take her offering up to the priest by herself. The parents wait, beaming with pride for her return up the aisle. She comes walking solemnly back towards their pew. She smiles, and pauses. Then she makes a mad dash for the door, parents chasing her with chagrin.

3. Once again, children are walking up to make offerings to the priest at offertory. The family that is bringing up the gifts have told their children to dress-up for Mass. For their three-year-old daughter, this means accessories. She proudly walks ahead of her family with her pink sparkly dress, purple sparkly mary-janes, matching handbag, hat and sunglasses. She looks like a movie-star incognito. The parents smile sheepishly, but the congregation is in love.

4. A toddler is being held by a parent during the Eucharistic Prayer. The parent is kneeling, the toddler is balanced on the back of the pew in front of the kneeling parent. In the first scenario, the toddler, using all of the strength of high-pressure vise grips, holds the parent's face in her hands and starts kissing the parent's face. When the parent tries to stop the child, the child becomes boneless and flops into the pews in front. Crying ensues, but the congregation is torn between sympathy for the parent and child.

5. The contagious sibling poking-fest.

6. After getting caught by the parents as the one instigating the sibling poking-fest, the children engage in the ancient meditative chant of, "Mom, he's touching me." This chant is frequently performed as a round.

7. Contagious laughter of no discernible cause.

8. Contagious snorts, coughs and bathroom trips caused by laughter of no discernible cause.

9. Toddler and pre-school aged children have scoped out the soft-hearted-adults-for-whom-they-can-do-no-wrong. These children will make faces at said adults, talk to them about their plans for the day, show off new items of apparel, and generally be too cute to be denied.

10. A young girl or boy is making her/his first communion. The younger brothers and sisters spend the Mass trying to sit closest to this impressive family member. They crawl over each other, squishing themselves into a bare inch of space, just to be able to share the moment with their older sibling.

These behaviors were a problem when my son did them, or when I did them as a child. Now, I'm part of the loving congregation that finds God and the Joy of his many gifts made real to me by these simple pleasures. I hope you won't mind if I make a face and poke your child back.

Why Thaddeus McCotter is My Choice

2011-08-20T19:33:00.000-05:00

http://youtu.be/_bgmDNW2MTg http://youtu.be/_bgmDNW2MTg