NBC's David Bloom Dies in Iraq







Evidently from a pulmonary embolism. Sad, sad news.



From MSNBC:



Bloom had been co-anchor of the weekend editions of “Today” since March 2000. In his nearly 20-year career, Bloom covered many top stories for NBC News, most recently reporting from Israel on the escalating violence in the Middle East and from the U.S. on home front security and the recovery efforts at Ground Zero in the immediate aftermath of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.



In his most recent assignment — traveling with the 2nd Battalion, 315 Mechanized Unit of U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division in its push toward Baghdad — Bloom scored what many believe to be a first: broadcasting live reports as the American armored column he was traveling with fought its way north through the Iraqi desert.

What I like About Living Here



We did not change our clocks this morning. We never do and now until October we are in Central Time in my mind the best time.



What I Don't Like About Living Here



After a week with several days in the high 70's tonight the forecast calls for 2-4 inches of snow. It is also cold enough out this morning that the water in the birdbath is frozen.

Why I Don't Like Chinese Food!







I must provide the caption to the photo that comes from Yahoo.news:



A kitchen worker hits a water rat on the head to stun it before it is killed for a meal in a restaurent in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.





After Three Days in the High 70's...Snow Here This Morning



Nothing major, just some flurries mixed with sleet but a reminder that summer is a long way off yet.

Happy Birthday to Joseph!







Two years ago today I sat next to Amy as she gave birth to a wonderful little man who continues to delight and fascinate everyday!

Holy War Declared Against U.S.!







From Yahoo.News:



Supreme Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin speaks at a news conference in Moscow in this March 19, 2003, file picture. Russian Muslims have declared a jihad, or holy war, against the United States, Russia's top mufti said Thursday April 3, 2003, according to the Interfax news agency. Supreme Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin wouldn't say what specific actions the fight would take, but said the first results would be visible within two or three days.



I guess that means we will see something today or tomorrow?



I can't help but be struck by the Supreme Mufti's resemblance to Robin Williams and his cleric attire to be something right out of a Danny Kaye movie.



Fiction Anyone?



Lani Palmer is compiling a small booklet, containing lists and descriptions of Catholic fiction for adults and young adults. Please contact Lani at lani_palmer@yahoo.com.au if you have a novel you would like included in the booklet (either listed or reviewed).

The New Ruler of Babylon?



I made my monthly visit to Sam's Club last night and as usual purveyed what books they are currently offering.



I used to think you had it made when you found one of your books in stock at a Borders or Barnes and Nobles but alas that glory has passed. Now I long for the day when Sam's Club will carry my books.



Anyway it is very instructive (in that it is a good barometer of what American's are buying) to see what they are carrying. On this visit I spyed Queen Noor's book, Rudy's latest book, all the usual diet books and a stash of books by an author I have never heard of about Biblical prophecies of "Babylon" and the end of the world. Nothing new about this last idea but obviously the Sam's marketers realize that this is currently a "hot topic."



It is then that the irony struck. For years people have referred to various parts of the U.S. as "Babylon"--New York and Hollywood come to mind. Right now the United States the most powerful nation in the world occupies the real Babylon. What will the fundamentalist Christians make of this? For years it has been easy to project anti-Christ status on Saddam Hussein but what now after he is gone?



Stay tuned...



Meanwhile-What are the Russians up to?

War, What is it Good for? Singer Dies



The song was famous during the Vietnam War and it received some airplay yesterday to note the singer's passing. Those of you who remember the song remember the answer to the question---"absolutely nothing!"



From Yahoo! News:



Edwin Starr, the soul singer who produced No. 1 Motown hits such as "War," died of an apparent heart attack Wednesday, his manager said. He was 61.

I've Been Nailed by Mark Shea!



Sean Gallagher sent out an email informing us of his little town in Indiana's attempt to protest the French by changing the name of there yearly art festival from "Tray Chic" to something less Frankish. Mark Shea responded with:



Oh brother. What's next? Declare war on Des Moines, Baton Rouge, Pend Oreille for their dangerously unpatriotic names? I enjoy loathing the French as much as the next guy, but I enjoy loathing faux patriotic political gasbags even more. It's as American as apple pie.



Oddly, some of the victims of the French Revolution were executed for failing to change their names (they were deemed guilty of the crime of having the same name as other people the Committee for Public Safety deemed enemies of the Revolution).



By the way, I think that explains Mike Dubruiel's manifest guilt, don't you? If he was a genuine 100% American he'd have done something about that French-sounding name wouldn't he? Huh? Wouldn't he?



Don't even try to defend yourself, you cunning Gallic swine! In *my* country, you're guilty until proven Anglo-Saxon, bub.



I would only add that I'm also Polish on my mother's side --which might explain a lot too, including my fidelity to the man pictured below:

Join the Pope in Praying for Peace!



"Let us pray to Mary, with both grief and trust, to intercede for peace in Iraq and in all the world's conflicts."

Prayer of Pope John Paul II

And Diocese will turn against Diocese



A first...

FromBoston Globe Online:



Calif. diocese sues Boston Archdiocese



The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, Calif., sued the Archdiocese of Boston yesterday, alleging that Boston officials hid the history of sexual molestation by former priest Paul Shanley when he moved to California.

New Rosary Book!



Rosary 101 Inspirational Stories of the Rosary





5 Key Reasons to Get This Book!



1.) True, Inspirational Stories will show you just how powerful the Rosary is.



2. Beautiful Meditations for the Complete Mysteries

Joyful,Luminous,Sorrowful and Glorious.



3. Simple, Easy Directions to Teach You How to Pray the Rosary, if you have never prayed it before.



4.) Simple, easy directions to teach you how to make your own rosary!



5.) A well researched History of the Rosary, Written by Fr. Richard Gribble,CSC, Author of "The History of the Rosary"

From Pravda (of all places)!



Pravda.RU Vatican Discovery Proves to be Apostle Peter’s Burial Ground



An important archaeological discovery was made in the Vatican when a site for construction of car parking was being cleared. Archaeologists discovered an ancient necropolis of the times of St. Apostle Peter, the same that is mentioned in the Gospel. Now this version is studied by historians; if it proves true, this in its turn will confirm another hypothesis suggested by historian Magrherita Guarducci. She supposes that an entombment of St. Apostle Peter was found under the altar that is situated under the St.Peter’s basilica dome.

A Tale of Two Wars



Two wars are being fought in the Middle East right now. Ostensibly the coalition forces are winning the ground and air war against the Iraqis but are losing the "image" war that in the long run may be more important. One has only to look to Israel and the continued terrorist attacks suffered by that nation to understand what I mean.



It was widely reported after 9/11 that one of prime goals of Bin Laden was to drag the United States government into attacking the Arab world and unleashing the mother of all battles (for Bin Laden this would lead to the destruction of the "infidels," i.e. "us"). The attack on Afghanistan failed to have any real repurcussions in the Arab world because it was understood to be an attack on the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks on the United States. Unfortunately the attack on Iraq is not as clear and the battle for public opinion (outside of the United States) is being lost. Now reports of Iraqis living in exile, people who fled Iraq to escape the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein are loading up in buses in Jordan to return to Iraq to fight for their country which they see as under attack from an invading force. To accomplish this conversion is no small task and may be an indication that we unwittingly have stepped into the mouse trap set by Bin Laden on 9/11.



I have little doubt that the United States will win the war and have control of the Iraqi government soon, but I also have little doubt that we have already loss the war of opinion. It seems that almost no one outside of Americans sees us as a "liberator." Take this quote from CNN.World:



Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says the U.S.-led war on Iraq would produce "one hundred new bin Ladens," driving more Muslims to anti-Western militancy.



"When it is over, if it is over, this war will have horrible consequences," Mubarak told Egyptian soldiers in the city of Suez on Monday.



"Instead of having one (Osama) bin Laden, we will have 100 bin Ladens," he said.







Disatisfied Catholics in NH Set-up Website



Calling for bishop's resignation. I think this site has been up for a day so far and has about 112 names so far.



See it at NH Catholics for Moral Leadership







Captured Kenyans Prayer Answered Quickly in Iraq



From BBC NEWS:



"I remember seeing a man with his finger on the pin of a grenade as they argued about whether they would kill us or not.



"David and I are both Christians and this morning I said 'We must pray together for a miracle.'



"So we prayed and 30 minutes later the door swung open and there were two British soldiers standing there.



"God must have given them the power to save us. It really was a miracle that they came."

The Weapon of "MASS" Instruction!



If you are Catholic, contemplating becoming Catholic, or just interested in what Catholics do every Sunday this is the book to explain it all to you in an easy to understand format! Is the Mass Biblical? Does it date back to the time of Christ? What do all those strange words like "hosanna" and even "amen" mean? Plus tips on:



How to "get" more out of the Mass!



How to hear a great homily at every Mass!



How to really receive Christ at Mass!





In short this is the book that will destroy any ignorance you might have when it comes to the Mass!



Image of Virgin Owned by Iraqi Woman in Detroit



Found at Visions of Jesus Christ.com:







The mother told me, that when she saw the oil-drenched icon, she felt a message in her heart - that it had to do with peace with Iraq. (the oil has kept coming up until a number of months ago, when it became just a trickle, and now has stopped...!) The lady grew up an orphan, and Jesus and His Mother became her constant companions in prayer, talking to Them as though they were physically present in the rooms with her. At the time of the miraculous flowing of oil, America was already at odds with Iraq, and she hesitated to even use the word Iraq to tell me where she was from, and said instead that she was from "Babylonia". I feel the oil was a sign of Mercy from God regarding our dealings with Iraq, but now the time of Mercy has "run out"...

Murder in Michigan Church



Neither the victim nor the murderer were members of the church.



From Guardian Unlimited:



The priest at St. Paul's Albanian Church was preparing to distribute the sacrament when the attacker stood up, yelled, ``Yes, I am here'' and shot the victim in the back of the head and several more times after that, said witness Luigi Gjokaj, 42. He then fired into the air and yelled, ``I done what I was supposed to do.''



Some of the approximately 1,000 churchgoers fled after the shots, most running for the doors while a few leapt through windows, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. The suspect was wrestled to the ground by nearby worshippers, one of whom was injured as he sought to subdue him.



Update (4/1/03):



From The Detroit News:



St. Paul's Rev. Anton Kqira said Monday he had spent the last 24 hours talking to police, parishioners and relatives of the men involved who called from as far away as Europe to offer apologies for what happened Sunday.



"We can't have any services until (Cardinal Adam) Maida or someone blesses the church," said Kqira. "Blood has been spilled inside it."



Kqira had finished his sermon when witnesses said Pepaj shouted "I am here behind you" at the surprised Isufaj. Eight shots rang out in the pews, and enraged parishioners disarmed Pepaj and pummeled him to the floor. At least seven of 1,400 worshippers suffered minor injuries diving through plate glass windows to escape.



"We were fortunate no one else was injured," said Kqira.



The church opened its Rochester Hills doors in September after more than 20 years at Twelve Mile Road in Warren, where it had similar problems with serious gunplay.

Pope Speaks About Eucharist Encyclical

Pope Speaks About Eucharist Encyclical



From Zenit News:



I wished to dedicate, precisely to the subject of the Eucharist, the encyclical that, God willing, next Holy Thursday, I will sign during the Mass of the Lord's Supper. I will hand it symbolically to the priests instead of the Letter that I usually address to them and, through them, to all the People of God on that occasion.



From this moment I entrust to Mary this important document, which is centered on the intrinsic value and importance for the Church of the sacrament that Jesus left us as a living memorial of his death and resurrection.



We also turn to Mary, to pray for the victims of the conflicts that are taking place. With afflicted and trusting insistence, we invoke her intercession for peace in Iraq and in every region of the world.

Pope Continues to Call for Peace



From Ananova:



Saying that God's love reaches every person, John Paul said that "human beings, aware of such a great love, cannot not open themselves up to an attitude of fraternal welcome" toward others.



Praying to the Virgin Mary for the victims of conflict, he said: "Let's invoke with grief-stricken and confident insistence her intercession for peace in Iraq and in every other region of the world."

The Unpleasant Life of an American Soldier in Iraq



Lest we glorify the life of a soldier too much, Ron Martz paints a stark picture of what its like in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:



[this] was not nearly as dramatic or dangerous as the situation in which Sgt. 1st Class Brett Waterhouse, 37, of Gainesville, Fla., found himself that morning.



Waterhouse was using one of the fighting positions around the intersection as a toilet when a man approached and began screaming at him in Arabic. Waterhouse tried, with his limited Arabic, to tell the man to go away, but the intruder continued to scream and throw rocks.



Waterhouse was hastily completing his business when the man launched one final, sizable rock that was going straight for his head. Waterhouse fended off the rock with one hand, cutting a finger.



"That could have killed me if it had hit me in the head," Waterhouse groused.



When the man continued to approach, Waterhouse and several other soldiers pulled their weapons and shot the man.

Pope Says War Must Not Become "Religious Catastrophe"



From UK News Yahoo:



"Let us not permit a human tragedy to become a religious catastrophe," he said on Saturday.



The Pope is against the war in Iraq and led the Vatican in a diplomatic campaign to try to avert it.



The Iraq conflict has put the Vatican on a collision course with Washington because the Pope has refused to bless the conflict as a "just war".



The Vatican is very concerned that the war could lead to worsening situations for Christians living in predominantly Muslim countries, such as Iraq and Indonesia.

Supporters Hopeful of Sheen's Canonization



I plan on supporting his cause in all that I do.



From Pantagraph.com - News:



Catholic investigators are looking into reported miracles attributed to Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, and supporters hope those will lead to Sheen's canonization within a few years.



The El Paso-based Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation is receiving hundreds of letters attesting to the famous television evangelist's virtues and even crediting him with miraculous intervention in people's lives.



The Diocese of Peoria, where Sheen was ordained, opened the case for Sheen's sainthood last fall, and investigators need to prove two miracles before the pope will canonize the El Paso native.

Suicide Bomber Kills Five US Soldiers at Checkpoint



Sad, sad news. Everytime deaths are announced I think of my fellow coworkers who have sons serving in Iraq. This war has brought the tragedy of 9/11 to the heartland. We may not have been in New York, Washington, or Pennsylvania on September 11th but now the tragedies of that day are being felt personally by the rest of us throughout the country.



From the Washington Post:



Capt. Andrew Wallace said slain Army soldiers were part of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, manning a checkpoint on a highway north of Najaf. A taxi stopped near the checkpoint, the driver waved for help, and the car exploded as five soldiers approached, Wallace told Associated Press Television News.



At U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar, officers confirmed the incident, but said they had no details.

Is the Pope a Pacifist?



A good reflection on the Pope and the Vatican's position on the Iraq war and war in general.



From William McGurn in the Wall Street Journal:



In short, what we have lost here is a tremendous teaching opportunity. And if the Vatican's problem is, as Archbishop Martino suggests and the pope's own words at times imply, not simply Iraq but a larger discomfort with just war in a modern world, it raises even more questions. Namely, how President Bush can be held in breach of moral criteria that (a) are in the process of being radically revised and (b) really can't be met anyhow.



In another remark on Vatican Radio made on the eve of war, Archbishop Martino characterized the American response to Iraq as replying with "bombs to a people that has been asking for bread for the last 12 years." The Vatican role, by contrast, would be to play the "the Good Samaritan who kneels to tend the wounds of an injured, weak nation."



Which begs a question: If the biblical Good Samaritan had arrived on the scene a little earlier and stumbled on the robbers instead of their victim, what would have been his obligation?



Given the current situation it is really more a case of the latter. In this case if the fallen towers of the World Trade Center and the innocents who died there are in fact the "man fallen by robbers."



At this point in the war wouldn't it be a great idea to ignore Baghdag as a target and set up the rest of the country as an American run regime where food, clothing and a better life are a part of the lives of the inhabitants. Wouldn't this lead to the fall of Baghdag?

Flying Pacifist Arrested for Violating Italian Airspace



From Reuters:



An Austrian man flying a motorized paraglider trailing a peace banner swooped into St Peter's Square on Friday to protest against the U.S-led war in Iraq.



He may have expected officials at the Vatican, where Pope John Paul has led a vigorous anti-war campaign, to greet him with open arms, but instead he was met by police.



The flying pacifist and a group of supporters waiting to help him with the landing were taken to the Vatican police station for questioning, a police spokesman said.



"A total of eight people were taken in, six Austrians and two Germans," he said.



Police accused the group of holding a demonstration without permission and said the paraglider, who took off from a park west of Rome's city center, could be charged with violating Italy's airspace.

Saddam Once Received the Key to the City of Detroit



Plus donated almost half a million to a Chaldean Catholic Rite church there....



From Excite News:



Saddam Hussein donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Detroit church and received a key to the city more than two decades ago, soon after he became president of Iraq.



The events contrast sharply with the attack Saddam's regime is now facing from a U.S.-led coalition, reflecting his changed relationship with the United States since Washington helped Saddam covertly in his 1980-88 war with Iran.



Saddam's bond with Detroit started in 1979, when the Rev. Jacob Yasso of Chaldean Sacred Heart congratulated Saddam on his presidency. In return, Yasso said, his church received $250,000.



"He was very kind person, very generous, very cooperative with the West. Lately, what's happened, I don't know," Yasso, 70, said Wednesday. "Money and power changed the person."



If you read on you'll discover that the group visited Hussein in Iraq and was given another $200,000 during their visit.

Front Pages of the World's Newspapers



Here is a very interesting sight that I stumbed upon today. You can view the front pages of papers from around the world (including a wide range of cities in the United States). Interesting to see what images various papers put on their front pages. Some emphasize the suffering of the Iraqi people because of the war, some the suffering because of Saddam Hussein, some the trouble of the troops, some the heroic effort of the troops even carrying their fellow soldiers on their backs.



Check it out yourself atthe Newseum

A Very Sad Image and a Frightening One



Nancy Nall has two pictures posted on her web page today. One of a small girl, a casualty of the war in Bashra another of a Pakistani wearing a head band with a message to kill people of a particular semitic tribe. A picture is worth a thousand words and both of these speak volumes.

A Great Teaching on Christian Prayer



The section below is from yesterday's Office of Readings and is one of the most intriguing explanations of the difference in prayer both before Christ and after His appearance on this earth.. One of the tensions that Christians live with is the quandary of how to interpret the Old Testament in light of the new. What the early church father Tertullian does here is to point us in a manner that is consistent with what Christ has revealed to us as the will of God.



Enjoy!





From Universalis-the Online Liturgy of the Hours:



In the past prayer was able to bring down punishment, rout armies, withhold the blessing of rain. Now, however, the prayer of the just turns aside the whole anger of God, keeps vigil for its enemies, pleads for persecutors. Is it any wonder that it can call down water from heaven when it could obtain fire from heaven as well? Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God. But Christ has willed that it should work no evil, and has given it all power over good.



Its only art is to call back the souls of the dead from the very journey into death, to give strength to the weak, to heal the sick, to exorcise the possessed, to open prison cells, to free the innocent from their chains. Prayer cleanses from sin, drives away temptations, stamps out persecutions, comforts the fainthearted, gives new strength to the courageous, brings travellers safely home, calms the waves, confounds robbers, feeds the poor, overrules the rich, lifts up the fallen, supports those who are falling, sustains those who stand firm.



All the angels pray. Every creature prays. Cattle and wild beasts pray and bend the knee. As they come from their barns and caves they look out to heaven and call out, lifting up their spirit in their own fashion. The birds too rise and lift themselves up to heaven: they open out their wings, instead of hands, in the form of a cross, and give voice to what seems to be a prayer. What more need be said on the duty of prayer? Even the Lord himself prayed. To him be honour and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Sad News



Infant Son Of Bucs' Jurevicius Dies - from Tampa Bay Online:



The infant son of Tampa Bay receiver Joe Jurevicius has died nearly 10 weeks after being born prematurely during the Buccaneers' run to the Super Bowl.



Michael William Jurevicius, born on Jan. 14, died Monday night at St. Louis Children's Hospital.



Most sports fans will remember the dramatic catch that Jerevicius made in the conference championship game in Philadelphia and the tie-in with his worry about his prematurely born son. Very sad ending to what at the time seemed hopeful.

Not Good News



From Crosswalk.com:



Syrian President Bashar Assad is calling on Arab states to defend Iraq while Syria's top religious authority has called for suicide attacks against U.S. and British troops fighting to topple the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.



Assad, an outspoken opponent of the allied war against Iraq, said he hopes the Americans will fail, according to an interview published in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir on Thursday.



Assad called on the Arab states to invoke the joint Arab defense treaty, which calls on them to defend any Arab country that is being invaded, according to a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Tony Blair's Plane Hit by Lightning



From Salon.com:



The plane carrying British Prime Minister Tony Blair to a meeting with President Bush was struck by lightning as it approached the United States on Wednesday, a reporter on board said. No injuries or damage were reported.



Britain's Press Association news agency said Blair's chartered British Airways Boeing 777 was struck by a lightning bolt as it approached Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland at about 10,000 feet. It landed 20 minutes later, at 5:05 p.m.

Pope Pleads for Faithful to Pray the Rosary for Peace



I'm doing it, are you? Like Archbishop O'Brien the military ordianariate said the best way to support the troops is to pray for peace.



John Paul II will also make a pilgrimage to marian shrine to pray for peace.



From Zenit News:



John Paul II plans to go on pilgrimage this year to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, near Naples, Italy, to pray for world peace.



Before bidding farewell to the thousands of pilgrims who attended today's general audience, the Pope said that he, and all believers, are living "with our heart oppressed by the news coming from Iraq which is in war, without forgetting the other conflicts that rage on earth."



"How important it is that during this Year of the Rosary we persevere in praying the rosary to implore peace!" he added. "I ask that you continue to do so, especially in Marian shrines."



He added: "To Mary, Queen of the Rosary, I now entrust my intention to go to her shrine in Pompeii next Oct. 7 on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. May Mary's maternal intercession obtain justice and peace for the entire world."

The Allah Factor



I told Amy the other evening that the sandstorm would be seen by the Iraqi's and indeed much of the Moslem world as a sign from God that he was fighting for them. Indeed that is now being reported as the story below shows.



Nothing surprising about this, it is an expression of faith that nothing happens that God does not allow or ordain. In fact in the end when the coalition forces take over the country that too will be seen as an act of God.



How many Christians in the west still have this type of faith? Do we see the hand of God in the events of our life or do we blame them on "bad luck" "poor planning" or our enemies? How we see the world and God's place in it forms our view of how we should act within it.



From Washingtonpost.com:



To Mohammed, the relentless sandstorm was foreboding, a portent of divine will.



"The storm is from God," he said, looking out his trembling window. "Until the aggression started, never in my life did I see a storm like this. We all believe in God, we all have faith in God. And God is setting obstacles against the Americans."

Amen!



From theBruderhof Communities:



I have great respect for every person who has recently attended a vigil, protest march, or peace rally. I myself have participated in dozens over the last four decades. But I am also concerned about the tensions, the divisiveness, and even open violence that is sometimes a part of these gatherings.



Yes, war is wrong; yes, killing is wrong. I will never waver from that. At the crucifixion of Jesus, after one of his disciples struck off the ear of a soldier, Jesus told him to put away his weapon, saying, “He that takes the sword shall perish by the sword.” Jesus was clearly no advocate of armed force. But neither did he condemn those who used it—even against him. On the contrary, he prayed for them, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”



How timely Christ’s words are for us who claim to follow him! He spoke them as a sinless man. What about us, who contribute to war in so many ways, every day of our lives—with our greed and materialism, our backbiting and gossip, our unfaithfulness and family feuds, our arrogance, our general selfishness and our disregard for others? How do we stand before God, we who stand on the sidelines and condemn those who have planned this war, and those who are now fighting it?



The war in Iraq calls each of us who oppose it to make a choice. We can criticize the White House and the Pentagon. We can antagonize those we disagree with. We can rub salt into the wounds of families who have lost loved ones (or who fear losing them). We can look on soldiers and sailors and airmen as evil-doers.



Or we can show them love, as we have never shown love before. We can listen to those who are angry with us. We can encourage those who are hurt or bitter. We can take time for the children around us. Many of them will go to bed tonight with the images of a war that is thousands of miles away, but still scares and confuses them. And we can support the troops on both sides of the battle by praying for their safe return, and for a speedy end to hostilities.

Happy New Year!



To you traditionalists!



This used to be new year's day. Makes sense since today's feast celebrates the conception of Christ and Christians believe that life begins at conception. So up until 1753 this was it.



This is from Catholic Nexus:



Roman Church historian Dionysius Exiguus, in calculating his history of the Christian Church, took this day as the supposed date of the Annunciation. March 25th afterward became the first day of the calendar year, until the Gregorian Calendar Reform of 1753 changed the day to January 1st.

Where Soldiers Pretend to Be Civilians and Civilians Pretend to Be Soldiers



Civilians are surrendering claiming to be soldiers so they can be fed as POW's.



From Reuters:



Who wants to be an Iraqi prisoner of war?



Plenty of people in southern Iraq it seems, as it is about the only way to get a square meal in this swathe of territory now controlled by U.S. and British forces.



With over 3,000 prisoners of war held in an enclosure on the outskirts of Umm Qasr, civilians in the battle-scarred port town are trying to "surrender" as a means of getting food and water.

"I am a deserter and I am trying to surrender," one Iraqi told Reuters on Monday at the gates of an ever-growing transit camp for genuine POWs.



But with no uniform or army identity tags or papers, the sentries guarding the facility turned him away.

Pope Lauds Peace Movement



From online.ie :



The anti-war movement around the world shows that a "large part of humanity" has rejected war as a means of solving conflicts between nations, Pope John Paul said today.



The Pope, a staunch opponent of the US-led war in Iraq, sent the message to Roman Catholic military chaplains attending a Vatican-organised course on humanitarian law.



He said the course was being held "at a difficult moment in history, when the world once again is listening to the din of arms" and that thoughts about the victims, the destruction and the suffering produce "deep worry and pain".



By now, he said, "it should be clear" that except for self-defence against an aggressor, a "large part of humanity" has repudiated war as an instrument of resolving conflicts between nations.



He cited the "vast contemporary movement in favour of peace" around the world and said he took "comfort and hope" from the efforts for peace by various religions.

Renovation of Detroit's Cathedral



I have been in this church before it was renovated and it had to be one of the darkest church's I've ever been in and coldest. There are pictures at the bottom of the page linked below and I would say that the architect has tried to bring some light into the building. Overall it looks nice.



I don't care much for the Blessed Sacrament chapel (it looks like the chairs are facing away from the tabernacle but maybe that is for the choir stall effect?).



I definitely do not understand why the pipes for the organ have been thrust up in front of the windows--this has to be some attempt by musicians to exert their superiority in the post Vatican II church. But other than that the Baptismal font seems nice (Easter Candle is too small for the size of the church).



Check it out at The Official Web Site for the Archdiocese of Detroit

Are U.S. Catholics, "more Catholic than the Pope"?



I include a snipet of this article reflecting the British Catholic view of Catholics in the U.S. I encourage you to go to the link and read the entire very well thought out piece that does a great job explaining Catholics in the U.S. Whether you are conservative or liberal there is a truth to grapple with here in the way we evangelize and catechize in this country.



From The Tablet



American Catholicism is ethnic, not dogmatic. The descendants of Irish and Italian and Polish immigrants, long bereft of the old country’s language, maintain their ancestors’ religious identification, which does for them what Catholic nationalism did for Ireland and Poland in the days of British and Soviet rule. It makes a people where there would otherwise not be a people. Yet in this land of voluntarist and intensely subjective Protestants, Catholics who are, in the sense of ethnic identity, “more Catholic than the Pope”, still share the radical Protestant “fundamental belief” that, to quote Pelosi, “God gave us all a free will and we are accountable for that”. Each believer stands alone with his God, and no Pope intervenes on that solitude.



And here is another facet of the paradox of America’s martial Catholicism. Bush is, like Clinton and Gore and Carter, and almost half of their compatriots, an evangelical Protestant. The Bush family being what it is, young George W. was naturally an altar boy in the Episcopalian Church, America’s only socially distinguished faith; he married into Methodism, as his brother, the governor of Florida, married into Hispanic Catholicism; but George W. was nonetheless brought to evangelical conversion in 1985, by Billy Graham himself. Bush’s evangelical faith is overt in his speeches; yet he seems perfectly congenial to America’s “more Catholic than the Pope” Catholics.

Bush returns thecompliment. He has successfully courted the traditionally Democratic Catholic vote, winning half of it in 2000; he has twice carefully visited the papal court; he sincerely abhors teenage sex and abortion; he visibly defers to the Catholic faith. Over the Iraq crisis,



Bush has paid Rome the compliment of strenuous contradiction. The President received Cardinal Laghi and argued with him, and the administration launched a remarkable theological offensive against the Vatican – with the 1994 winner of the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, Michael Novak, carrying the debate to the enemy’s Roman citadel. By contrast, Bush has simply ignored all the Protestant Churches, including his own, which have denounced the war.



For America’s right-wing Protestants are in the same dilemma as America’s Catholics. And they too find it a non-dilemma. They are not ecclesial Christians: their faith is a private matter, founded on vivid and therapeutic experience of God. Their greatest religious loyalty beyond themselves is not to any denomination, but to what they conceive to be the Christian and democratic cause; and of that cause Bush, not Karol Wojtyla, is both sultan and caliph.

Let's Hope He's Wrong



From Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage



Retired U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey, commander of the 24th Infantry Division 12 years ago, said the U.S.-led force faced "a very dicey two to three day battle" as it pushes north toward the Iraqi capital.



"We ought to be able to do it (take Baghdad)," he told the Newsnight Program on Britain's BBC Television late on Monday.



"In the process if they (the Iraqis) actually fight, and that's one of the assumptions, clearly it's going to be brutal, dangerous work and we could take, bluntly, a couple to 3,000 casualties," said McCaffrey who became one of the most senior ranking members of the U.S. military following the 1991 war.



"So if they (the Americans and British) are unwilling to face up to that, we may have a difficult time of it taking down Baghdad and Tikrit up to the north west."

Captured Chemical Plant Turns Out Not to Be



From datek/Dow Jones Newswires - Story:



U.S. officials said Monday that no chemical weapons were found at a suspected site at Najaf in central Iraq, U.S. television networks reported.



NBC News reported from the Pentagon that no chemicals at all were found at the site. CNN, also reporting from the Pentagon, said officials now believe the plant there was abandoned long ago by the Iraqis.

Peace Protests?



The Diocese Report has a good collection of photos of peace protests from around the world that show the protestors to be anything but peaceful.

Fictitious Celebrities



Note to Michael Moore the fictitious president is Martin Sheen.



Leave it to an event in Hollywood for someone to lecture the country about fiction. Art imitates life. Sometimes those making the art forget that and get it back-wards--they think that they are the reality and that what is going on in the world is fiction. Sort of an eastern view of the world gone awry where everything that exists is an illusion.



But reality is different and in the real world Michael Moore is not a celebrity. In fact the average person waking up this morning and reading the newspapers account of Moore's comments last night at the Academy Awards won't even have a clue as to who the hell he is. In fact in most cases the actors who people do recognize are only known by the roles they play not their real selves. Like I said this is the world of fiction.



I am for peace but I am not for the spokespeople who carry the torch for peace in this country. Most of them make peace sound like one more partisan take on reality. I was against Clinton bombing medieval villages and I'm against Bush bombing the same. Unlike most I will not join a peace rally, but I will get down on my knees and pray both for those who have been sent to fight against the Iraqi's and for the innocents who stand in harm's way. I firmly believe that if people really believed in God and poured out their desire for peace in the world in prayer with the same passion that we hurdle hatred around that the world would be changed--miraculously.



But most of us are caught up in our own fiction of voicing peace but expressing it with anger and hatred in our hearts for each other. As Barry McQuire sang many years ago in "Eve of Destruction," "don't believe in war, ah what's that gun your toting?" The real fiction is that those who yell the loudest for peace are usually those who are most at war with their fellow human beings.

Florida Gets Creamed by Michigan State



But thanks to Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel there is plenty to laugh about. Here is a snipet but go to the column for an example of great writing and it is even better if you are familiar with all the local Tampa references that he ties into it.



OrlandoSentinel.com: Sports Columnists Mike Bianchi:



Donovan actually said after the embarrassing loss that his Gators "overachieved" this season. That's a little like the captain of the Titanic sitting in the lifeboat afterward and saying, "Yeah, but what about that seafood buffet?"



The Gators may have overachieved during the regular season, but they have flamed out in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season. The Gators are Pavarotti in the dress rehearsal, but they turn into Carrot Top when the lights go on. If Donovan keeps this up, we may have to start calling him Coach February.



Where was the fight in his team? Where was the grit? Florida was so concerned about being down by 10 points to the Spartans at halftime that they came out and reeled off four points in the first 11 minutes of the second half. Four lousy points.

War Updates



Amy provided me with this one that does seem to be timely and complete: The Agonist--by Sean Paul Kelley

Interesting Tale of About the Pope



Peter Vere relates an incident that he heard while attending a prolife conference in Canada some years ago that relates to the Pope and gives him a good reason to feel confident in trusting the Holy Father's view of things.



From the Envoy Magazine Blog:



One of the speakers worked in the Vatican, and he told us the following story of an incident he witnessed between the Holy Father and a bishop from East Germany. Basically, the bishop snuck through the iron curtain on a semi-regular basis to update the Holy Father on what was going on back in East Germany while still under communist rule. As the Holy Father listened to this bishop's report, his fingers were making their way through the mysteries of the Rosary.



As soon as the East German bishop finished his report, the Holy Father paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, then informed the bishop he was being named the new bishop of a see in West Germany.



"But Your Holiness," the bishop protested, "I could never take this appointment. I have spent my entire priesthood strengthening the faith of my flock in the face of communist persecution, encouraging them to persevere despite the dangerous conditions. To accept this transfer now would only bring more discouragement, as my people would feel that I abandonned them."



"Do not worry," the Holy Father replied, "it is all coming down."



"What is?" the bishop asked.



"All of it," Pope John Paul II answered.



"How do you know? Who told you?"



The Holy Father paused for a second, lifted his Rosary toward the sky, the said: "She told me."



Less than six months later, the Berlin wall fell.

First Casualty of War--Truth



Surveying the major news networks one is struck with how inaccurate and varied the news can be reported during a war. Add to that an international news channel (thanks to satelite television) and you really get the picture. What is even more distressful though is that most of the news networks seem to have scripted around the clock guest experts and often these "experts" just get in the way of real news being reported. One network reports that Donald Rumsfeld has said something, the other says that the military has denied such a claim and the international news network presents the Iraqi news coference that refers to reports by the "Zionist Rumsfield."



All in all it is a reminder that the first casualty of war is the truth. One recalls the initial news reports of the Oklahoma City bombing as the work of Arab terrorists, and the initial planes crashing into the World Trade Centers as some problem with air traffic control in New York. The current glut of news coverage is filled with misreports and untruths. In the end who will remember what really has happened?

British Paper Reports Saddam is Still Alive



From the UK Telegraph:



A British official said: "Saddam Hussein was badly injured. He was so badly injured he needed a blood transfusion. Unfortunately, he was not critically injured. We think he is still alive. We also think his son Uday was killed or badly injured."

First Incident of Fragging in Iraqi War



FRAG: common term for any grenade



FRAGGING: assassination of an officer by his own troops, usually by means of a grenade



Talk to any Vietnam vet and they'll tell you that this happened more than a few times in Vietnam. Arming people even soldiers is not child's play. If a soldier gets fed up with the command of his unit and he has a weapon the temptation of murdering an officer under the cover of war may be too much for some individuals.

Vatican Proposes Intense Praying of Rosary for Peace



From Zenit.org:



The L'Osservatore Romano newspaper highlighted an invitation for believers worldwide to pray the Rosary in the next 24 hours for peace in Iraq.



Today's daily edition of the Vatican newspaper stated that the beginning of military operations in Iraq is "the time to intensify prayer to the Queen of Peace so that she will intercede before her Son, the Prince of Peace."



The proposal comes on the day that Iraqi Catholics and Christians are preparing to consecrate their country to the Blessed Virgin, "Queen of Peace," in St. Joseph's Cathedral, Baghdad.

Witnesses Saw Saddam Being Wheeled Away After Attack



From ABCNEWS.com : U.S. Officials: Saddam Seen on Gurney:



U.S. intelligence sources say Saddam Hussein was seen being wheeled out of a Baghdad residential complex on a stretcher Wednesday night (U.S. time) after the complex was struck in "decapitation attacks" by the United States.



Eyewitnesses saw the Iraqi leader being taken from the complex on a "gurney, with an oxygen mask over his face," the officials told ABCNEWS.

Sources say there was clearly a U.S. observer nearby, watching the complex.



Intelligence sources also said there has been a significant lack of communications between Saddam and his military structure since the airstrike.



They are optimistic that Saddam received injuries in the attack, though they are cautious about the extent of possible injuries.