At 100 Bob Hope is Dead



His wife, a devout Catholic and big fan of Father Benedict Groeschel. I wonder if Bob Hope every converted? Anyone know?



From

ABCNEWS.com : Bob Hope Dies at Age 100

Looking for Something to Strectch Your Christian Thinking?



I've become a huge fan of the late Orthodox Theologian Alexander Schmemann. His works continue to amaze me and enliven my faith. I found a web site devoted to him for all those out there who would like to know more about him:



Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann Web Site



Let me also recommend three books written by him. Remember he is was an Orthodox priest, so there will some things that are different for Catholics--but this is solid stuff:





The Eucharist Sacrament of the Kingdom:...



A great book on the Mass and everything pertaining to it.







If you only buy one, buy this one! It'll give you a whole new outlook on what it means to be a follower of Christ!





Celebration of Faith: I Believe. . ....



A shorter work that goes through the Creed among other beliefs.



Here is a sample of his writing from the web site above:



Just as the Church of the Old Covenant, the old Israel, existed as a passage to the New Covenant, was instituted in order to prepare the ways of the Lord, the Church as institution exists in order to reveal — in "this world" — the "world to come," the Kingdom of God, fulfilled and manifested in Christ. She is the passage of the "old" into the "new" — yet what is being redeemed, renewed and transfigured through her is not the "Church," but the old life itself, the old Adam and the whole of creation. And she is this "passage" precisely because as institution she is "bone of the bones and flesh of the flesh" of this world, because she stands for the whole creation, truly represents it, assumes all of its life and offers it — in Christ — to God. She is indeed instituted for the world and not as a separate "religious" institution existing for the specifically religious needs of men. She represents — "makes present" — the whole of mankind, because mankind and creation were called from the very beginning to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit and the receptacle of Divine life. The Church is thus the restoration by God and the acceptance by man of the original and eternal destiny of creation itself. She is the presence of the Divine Act, which restores and the obedience of men who accept this act. Yet it is only when she performs and fulfills this "passage," when, in other terms, she transcends herself as "institution" and "society" and becomes indeed the new life of the new creation, that she is the Body of Christ. As institution the Church is in this world the sacrament of the Body of Christ, of the Kingdom of God and the world to come.



We recover thus the eschatological dimension of the Church. The body of Christ is not and can never be of this world. "This world" condemned Christ, the bearer of new life, to death and by doing this it has condemned itself to death. The new life, which shone forth from the grave, is the life of the "new eon," of the age, which in terms of this world is still "to come." The descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, by inaugurating a new eon, announced the end of this world, for as no one can partake of the "new life" without dying in the baptismal death, no one can have Christ as his life unless he has died and is constantly dying to this world: "for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). But then nothing which is of this world — no institution, no society, no church — can be identified with the new eon, the new being. The most perfect Christian community — be it completely separated from the evils of the world — as a community is still of this world, living its life, depending on it. It is only by passing into the new eon, by an anticipation — in faith, hope and love — ofthe world to come, that a community can partake of the Body of Christ, and indeed manifest itself as the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ can never be "part" of this world, for Christ has ascended into heaven and his Kingdom is Heaven...

Pay Attention Today at Mass to the First Reading and the Gospel



First the First Reading from

Bible Gateway : 2KGS 4:42-44;:



"A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain. 'Give it to the people to eat,' Elisha said.

'How can I set this before a hundred men?' his servant asked.

But Elisha answered, 'Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the LORD says: 'They will eat and have some left over.' ' Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD . "



Then the Gospel from John 6:1-15:



Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little”. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down”. Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost”. So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!”



Notice the response of the crowd to Jesus' miracle? "This indeed is the prophet who is come into the world!" They immediately see that Jesus is like Elisha the Prophet (what we heard in the first reading) but at the end of this section of John's Gospel, Jesus will show that he is greater than Elisha for he will give Himself as Bread (of course many will and do find this too much to believe and leave him).



Monitor the sermon you hear today and see if the preacher brings out the obvious connection.

Mystery of How the Pyramids were Built, Solved?



From the Canadians, of course, News - Ottawa - canada.com network:



"'Modern man's concept of how ancient man moved rock is balderdash,' he said, standing outside his Onondaga Crescent house in Nepean, surrounded by logs, rocks and rope. 'I've reduced moving rocks to the pyramid to a mom-and-pop operation.'



In order to move large rocks intelligently, he said, you have to use the weight of the rock. Friction must be eliminated and momentum, once it starts, has to be maintained.



Mr. Raina believes that the rectangular rocks were moved from the quarry to the site of the pyramid by fastening wooden planks to the four sides of the slabs (almost like the bottom of a rocking chair) and then pulling it along with a rope so it rolls.



He uses the wooden casing filled with concrete on his driveway to demonstrate."



"I've had a seven-year-old girl pull 535 pounds herself," he said.

New Dominican Habit?



Strange how they felt the need to be attired in something other than "lay" clothes for their trial. Even stranger is that they chose to dress like Iranian Moslem women, now if those Iranian women would follow the nuns lead and try to destroy their potential nuclear arsenal, we'd all have something to cheer about. Who knows, perhaps thats what the good sisters are hoping to inspire.







From Yahoo! News - Top Stories Photos - AP

Nuns Receive Prison Sentence



I'm all for non-violent protest and I'm all for peace and against war. But I agree with this sentence, mainly because these good sisters were not non-violent in their protest and because the time they serve will give them a chance to live in community for awhile.



From MSNBC-Nuns sentenced for antiwar protest:



"As for vandalizing the silo, Hudson said: “When someone holds a gun to your head or someone else’s head, do you not have a right and a duty to enter that arena and stop that crime?”



Many of those outside court waved antiwar banners, including one that read: “No Blood for Oil.”



The Roman Catholic nuns are longtime antiwar activists. Platte and Gilbert lived in a Baltimore activist community founded by the late peace activist Philip Berrigan. Hudson lived in a similar community in Poulsbo, Wash.



After their arrest, the women chose to stay in jail, refusing the government’s offer to release them on their own recognizance."

Wow! Quoted in a Homily



Thanks to Father Schaefer!



From A Collection of Father Schaefer's homilies:



" I was reading the current issue of Our Sunday Visitor. Michael Dubruiel wrote a column on the first reading in today's Mass. God seems to be speaking to us in this story of Jonah.



God told the prophet Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and tell them that God is greatly offended with their wickedness and immoral life. God told Jonah that in 40 days God will destroy their city if they don't repent.



Jonah didn't really want to warn the people "

Below are Links to Online Bookstores Carrying Our New Rosary Book

Shop the Catholic Company for Catholic gifts, books, bibles, rosaries, artwork and church supplies.

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PRAYING THE ROSARY

Today is the Feast of St. James



From Universalis: Today:



"He was the brother of St John and, like him, a fisherman. He was one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration and one of those who slept through most of the Agony in the Garden. He was the first of the apostles to be martyred, being beheaded by King Herod Agrippa I to please the Jewish opponents of Christianity. He was buried in Jerusalem, and nothing more is known about him until the ninth century.



At this time we learn of a tradition that the relics of St James were brought to Spain some time after his martyrdom, (perhaps early, perhaps as late as 830), and his shrine at Compostela in Galicia grew in importance until it became the greatest pilgrimage centre in western Europe. In every country there are churches of St James and known, well-trodden pilgrim routes. In Paris, the Tour St Jacques marks the start of the route and the Rue St Jacques points straight towards Compostela. In England, pilgrim routes lead from all parts of the country to the major ports that were used on the pilgrimage. This network of routes is a vital witness to the fact that the Middle Ages were not the static stay-at-home time that we often think them to be: everyone must have known someone, or known someone who knew someone, who had made the pilgrimage. The scallop-shell, the emblem of St James, has become the emblem of pilgrims generally.



In 1987 the pilgrimage routes to Compostela have been designated by the Council of Europe as historical cultural routes of international importance; and the Confraternity of St James is working to restore and upgrade the refuges on a route which is still in active pilgrim use today."

A Journalist Reports What He Saw



in viewing the bodies of Saddam's sons. From washingtonpost.com: Reuters Sees Touched Up Bodies of Saddam Sons:



"Uday still wore his beard. A hole in the top of his skull was left untouched. U.S. officials said they had no evidence to support suggestions that he had shot himself to avoid capture.



A faint smell of disinfectant hung in the air.



Journalists were shown a metal orthopedic plate that officials said they had removed from Uday's left leg and were told that its serial number matched that of a disc that was inserted in his limb after a failed 1996 assassination attempt.



U.S. officials have declined to reveal how they have had access to the former ruling family's medical records.



They said both men had died from multiple gunshot wounds and blast injuries in the northern city of Mosul. Two other people also died. Those bodies were not shown. U.S. officials say one of them was probably Qusay's teenage son, Mustapha.



DNA tests were also being carried out but because previous samples of Uday and Qusay's DNA were not available, U.S. officials said this test would not conclusively identify the bodies. Washington says it has Saddam's DNA.



The officials said the bodies would be refrigerated to slow decomposition but their fate thereafter remains unknown. Muslim tradition demands that they be buried as soon as possible.



A spokesman for the U.S.-led administration said no one had so far come forward to claim the bodies of the fugitives for burial. He said: 'If any of their family members want to come forward, we'd be delighted to speak to them.' "

Forger of So-Called James Ossurary Arrested



From TheStar.com - Dealer accused of forging 'James Ossuary':



"Police have arrested an Israeli antiquities dealer suspected of creating two forgeries that shook the religious and archeological world, including a burial box purported to be that of Jesus's brother James.



Oded Golan also is suspected in connection with a shoebox-sized tablet inscribed with forged instructions for caring for the Jewish Temple.



Golan appeared in a Jerusalem court today, one day after police arrested him at his home in Tel Aviv on suspicion of forging and dealing in fake antiquities.



In court, police unveiled forgery equipment they said was found in Golan's home, including stencils, stones and partially completed forgeries. The dealer was being detained by police.



Golan last year told a French collector about the two disputed artifacts, which raised questions from the start. After exhaustive studies, the Israel Antiquities Authority declared last month that they were forgeries.



The burial box, or ossuary, bore the inscription, 'James, the brother of Jesus,' leading to speculation that it referred to the brother of Jesus of Nazareth."

A New Bishop Sheen Site



A visitor to my Fulton Sheen site wrote to tell me that he has a site up that includes audio:



Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

Prayers Requested from a Reader of this Blog



My sister, Mary, had her toe removed a year ago due to diabetes. It has never healed. The doctor is going to do another surgery in two weeks to try and help. A bone is laying the wrong way. If it doesn't work she will have to have her foot removed. I am asking for prayers that the surgery is successful and that she is healed from diabetes. If it isn't God's will then I ask God to give her the strength to accept her cross. Maybe God will cure her before the surgery. Miracles do happen.

Thanks

Barb

Mel Gibson's Upcoming "Passion" Movie



As most no doubt already know, Mel Gibson's "The Passion" an account of the death of Jesus is based on the "Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ" by a woman who will be beatified this Fall by Pope John Paul II. The book is online and I offer both the link and an excerpt below:





DOLOROUS PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST:



"This scene was rendered the more frightful to me by the sight of demons, who were invisible to others, and I saw large bodies of evil spirits under the forms of toads, serpents, sharp-clawed dragons, and venomous insects, urging these wicked men to still greater cruelty, and perfectly darkening the air. They crept into the mouths and into the hearts of the assistants, sat upon their shoulders, filled their minds with wicked images, and incited them to revile and insult our Lord with still greater brutality. Weeping angels, however, stood around Jesus, and the sight of their tears consoled me not a little, and they were accompanied by little angels of glory, whose heads alone I saw. There were likewise angels of pity and angels of consolation among them; the latter frequently approached the Blessed Virgin and the rest of the pious persons who were assembled there, and whispered words of comfort which enabled them to bear up with firmness.

The executioners soon pulled off our Lord’s cloak, the belt to which the ropes were fastened, and his own belt, when they found it was impossible to drag the woollen garment which his Mother had woven for him over his head, on account of the crown of thorns; they tore off this most painful crown, thus reopening every wound, and seizing the garment, tore it mercilessly over his bleeding and wounded head. Our dear Lord and Saviour then stood before his cruel enemies, stripped of all save the short scapular which was on his shoulders, and the linen which girded his loins. His scapular was of wool; the wool had stuck to the wounds, and indescribable was the agony of pain he suffered when they pulled it roughly off. He shook like the aspen as he stood before them, for he was so weakened from suffering and loss of blood that he could not support himself for more than a few moments; he was covered with open wounds, and his shoulders and back were torn to the bone by the dreadful scourging he had endured. He was about to fall when the executioners, fearing that he might die, and thus deprive them of the barbarous pleasure of crucifying him, led him to a large stone and placed him roughly down upon it, but no sooner was he seated than they aggravated his sufferings by putting the crown of thorns again upon his head. They then offered him some vinegar and gall, from which, however, he turned away in silence. The executioners did not allow him to rest long, but bade him rise and place himself on the cross that they might nail him to it. Then seizing his right arm they dragged it to the hole prepared for the nail, and having tied it tightly down with a cord, one of them knelt upon his sacred chest, a second held his hand flat,and a third taking a long thick nail, pressed it on the open palm of that adorable hand, which had ever been open to bestow blessings and favours on the ungrateful Jews, and with a great iron hammer drove it through the flesh, and far into the wood of the cross. Our Lord uttered one deep but suppressed groan, and his blood gushed forth andsprinkled the arms of the archers. I counted the blows of the hammer, but my extreme grief made me forget their number. The nails were very large, the heads about the size of a crown piece, and the thickness that of a man’s thumb, while the points came through at the back of the cross. The Blessed Virgin stood motionless; from time to time you might distinguish her plaintive moans; she appeared as if almost fainting from grief, and Magdalen was quite beside herself. When the executioners had nailed the right hand of our Lord, they perceived that his left hand did not reach the hole they had bored to receive the nail, therefore they tied ropes to his left arm, and having steadied their feet against the cross, pulled the left hand violently until it reached the place prepared for it. This dreadful process caused our Lord indescribable agony, his breast heaved, and his legs were quite contracted. They again knelt upon him, tied down his arms, and drove the second nail into his left hand; his blood flowed afresh, and his feeble groans were once more heard between the blows of the hammer, but nothing could move the hard-hearted executioners to the slightest pity. The arms of Jesus, thus unnaturally stretched out, no longer covered the arms of the cross, which were sloped; there was a wide space between them and his armpits. Each additional torture and insult inflicted on our Lord caused a fresh pang in the heart of his Blessed Mother; she became white as a corpse, but as the Pharisees endeavoured to increase her pain by insulting words and gestures, the disciples led her to a group of pious women who were standing a little farther off."

Back Home Again in Indiana



We returned around 9:30 last night from a busy week on the road, where we visited relatives, the grave of Martin Luther King Jr., the CNN center, Centenial park, the Bronson Speedway, the Holy Greek Orthodox Monastery of Panagia Vlahernon, the Shrine of Mary Queen of the Universe, City Lights at Universal, Old Town, Disney's Wide World of Sports, Tropicana Field, Treasure Island, and a few other sites that I'm sure I'm forgetting about. We ate at Sonny's Real Pit Barbeque, Carrabas, Sweet Tomatoes, Bahama Breeze, Sloppy Joes, and the various hotels we stayed in. I spoke with a campus minister at UF, a noted female Catholic evangelist, a professor of Theology at St. Leo's University, several Catholic publishers, a Jewish convert to Christianity, a woman claiming to receive messages from Our Lady (Jesus too but she seems less impressed with him), Tammy Faye Baker, and Kathy Lee Gifford. We sat in a lot of traffic. I had forgotten how bad it is to drive from point A to point B in Florida with tons of tourists on the road and other challenged drivers.

A "Collapsed Catholic"???



From the Catholic League a note of a new designation for Catholics who have left the faith in the rear view mirror:



“In a wide-ranging piece Bill Keller wrote for the New York Times on May 4, 2002, he said, ‘I am what a friend calls a ‘collapsed Catholic’—well beyond lapsed….’ He did not say who his friend was but let me guess. Anna Quindlen? Maureen Dowd? In any event, in this same column Keller offered the following insights:







· “Karol Wojtyla [Pope John Paul II] has shaped a hierarchy that is intolerant of dissent, unaccountable to its members, secretive in the extreme and willfully clueless about how people live.” Sounds like the newsroom commenting on Keller’s predecessor, Howell Raines.



· “Like the Communist Party circa Leonid Brezhnev, the Vatican exists first and foremost to preserve its power.” Now consider how Susan E. Tifft, co-author of a book on the Times, commented on the way the Sulzberger family (who own the paper) reacted to the Jayson Blair mess: “Even when it’s difficult, the family will do whatever they have to protect this jewel, their newspaper.”



· “He [the pope] has trained bishops that the path of advancement is obsequious obedience to himself.” Which is perhaps preferable to obsequious obedience to affirmative action.



· “This is, after all, the church that gave us the Crusades and the Inquisition.” This is, after all, the same newspaper that lied about the Communist slaughter of the Ukrainians in the 1930s, ran a grand total of 9 editorials criticizing the Nazis in 1941, 1942 and 1943, and labeled Fidel Castro “an agrarian reformer.”







“Thus are Catholics acquainted with Bill Keller. It is worth remembering that during the Jayson Blair scandal, publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said it was wrong to ‘demonize’ the top brass at the Times. We look to Keller to do likewise to the Catholic Church, ‘collapsed Catholic’ or no.”

Continued Observations



Met and shook hands with Kathy Lee Gifford who told me, "Nice to meet you brother."



Saw Kirk Cameron who looks about twenty, although I'm sure that he is close to forty. Mel Gibson is rumoured to be in the building promoting his forthcoming movie Passion.



Talked with visionary Rita Ring, more on that at a future date.

Varia-Report from the Road



Visited the Orthodox monastery, very much a work in process. Two monks in rural Florida. Very hospitable, offered us a Greek treat and water upon our arrival. Showed us to the bookstore where they had a wide array of books in Greek and English. One monk offered when we told him we were Catholic and not Orthodox, "You're people too." He then proceeded to give me what he perceived to be the difference between the Orthodox and Catholics--namely that they, the Orthodox, were more Orthodox. Later when the other monk arrived on the scene he was more reserved and stood off to the side, leading Amy to term that as "good monk, bad monk" of course, since the one that was very talkative may in fact have been the "bad monk" since monk aren't supposed to be talking non-stop.



Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures of Amy looking very middle Eastern--wrapped in cloth from head covering to toes. The talkative monk helped dress the women--which seemed to me to defeat the purpose of them dressing.



The monks rise at 12 midnight and pray the Jesus prayer along with whatever else their elder has prescribed for them to do. They also pray together at 5 a.m and again in the evening. Interesting stop along the road.



Now in Orlando, it is the daily grind of the CBA convention. The mega Christian trade show. Free books, Tammy Faye (Baker) Resner, John Hagee and the Hal Lindsey are encountered at every turn. On past visits I've found myself questioning the sincerity of faith present here. This time I find myself amused by some of the participants. I have seen Hal Lindsey in a wheel chair traveling the floor, then encountered him listening to Reggae while sipping a tropical drink awaiting the vacancy of the a table at a local hot spot.



It is all very interesting. Lindsey famous for his "The Late Great Planet Earth" one of the first in a line of books that predicted the end of the world, seems to be enjoying himself right up to the bitter end. I don't blame him, but I wonder if the Epicurean philosophy of "Eat, Drink and be Merry for tomorrow we die" is the same as "Watch, for the Son of Man comes when you least expect it," and the parable of the master returning while the servants are having a great time figuring he ain't coming anytime soon.



The high here yesterday was in the 80's, how's that for all you non-Florida people imagining this is the hottest place on the planet (the feel-like temp, something uniquely Floridian was 101 though).

Hopefully a Visit Here Today



An Orthodox monastery in rural North Florida:



By the toils and labor of our spiritual father, Elder Ephraim, and with the blessing of our Bishop Alexios of Atlanta (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America), the monastery has been operating since March of 1999. Before our arrival and founding of the monastery here in Florida, we were living our monastic life in the Monastery of St. Anthony the Great in Phoenix, Arizona and before then in the monastery of Philotheou on the Holy Mount Athos , Greece.



Since our arrival in Florida, our life has been an intense sacrifice and struggle without pause. Firstly, we fought against much opposition to acquire zoning approval from the county authorities. After a much publicized ordeal and a seven hour defense before the county commissioners, by the grace of God and under the shelter of our Panagia's protection, permission was granted for the monastery to remain and to plan for future building projects. We fought for and permission was granted to begin a cemetery where our reposed Orthodox may be buried and commemorated in accordance with our most sacred Orthodox tradition.



Realizing the natural beauty of the property, we then commenced cleaning up the sorely neglected property; cutting down dead trees, removing old, rotted fences and clearing the overgrown brush. This project we have been working on for over a year and the property has finally acquired a well-kept park-like appearance. In the meantime we have remodeled a garage, which we are now using as a guest/coffee room. These are the exterior projects that we have been working on over the last two years.



Most importantly, however, we have been fulfilling our duties as monasteries; i.e. the daily liturgies and vesper services, memorial services, and especially the Sacraments of Holy Confession and Holy Unction. In a time when our Orthodox Christian Faith is besieged by much modernism and heresy, we are standing strong in the face of adversary and are presenting to you the faithful the pure and uncompromised truth of our Holy Orthodox Faith, the Faith and Tradition of the Apostles.

Revisiting the Past



Spent last night at the Bronson Speedway on my way to Orlando for the Christian Booksellers Association trade show. A lot has changed since in the over twenty-five years since I once worked as a flagman at this track, but in many ways little has changed. It still takes forever for them to get through a simple 50 lap race.



Let me dispell a persistent rumour about Florida. It isn't any hotter here than it is everywhere else at this time of the year. In fact, last night it was in the low 80's and very comfortable--this in mid-July.



ASA driver Mike Cope is now the owner and operator of the Bronson Speedway.



Besides being a flagman at the track in 1976-1977, I also helped build the front wall, grandstands and even dug pole holes for some of the surrounding fences. All are still standing! Amazing!

Mission Idea (for Advent)-Come Let Us Go and See This Thing the Lord has Made Known to us!



I'm possibly giving a mission in December, in Chicago. So thinking already of a way of putting it together.

Book Idea-The Commands of Jesus



I regularly drive Amy nuts with the latest book idea that I have, but I really am going to write this one. In fact I heard one Christian author talking about writing a chapter a day--very doable if you set your mind to it. The idea came to me while passing a large Christian Church this morning which named itself after "The Way" (the first name of Christians) although they do not call themselves "the Way" but another term that is a little more hip and means the same thing. Which in many ways is the crux of the problem that spurred the idea.



If we take Christ seriously, shouldn't we take His commands too?



What are some of the commands of Jesus? 1)Not to judge (hey, I know I'm doing that right now and I repent), 2) Forgive, 3)Follow Jesus, 4) Take up your cross, 5)Take this all of you and eat, 6) Take this all of you and drink, 7) Do this in memory of me, 8) It must not be that way with you, 9) Put away the sword, 10) Love one another as I have loved you.



There are more but even these ten give us much to ponder, don't they?

Mimicry Will Get You Everywhere



Another reason to imitate Christ, because in the end that is really what matters. If your a waitress, here is some beneficial news.



From Nature magazine:



Waitresses who copy their customers' behaviour get substantially bigger tips than those who don't, Dutch psychologists have discovered1.



"Mimicry creates bonds between people - it induces a sense of 'we-ness'," says Rick van Baaren of the University of Nijmegen. "You know that what you're doing is ok, and you become more generous."



Van Baaren's team studied staff in an American-style restaurant in southern Holland. In half of the tests, they primed a waitress to repeat customers' orders back to them. In the other half, she said something else positive, such as "Coming right up!"



When copycatting, the waitresses' average tip almost doubled, to nearly 3 guilders (US$1.20). Service charge is included in Dutch restaurant bills, tips are a small additional gift.



The experiment is the first to show that mimicry has concrete benefits, van Baaren claims, although many understand its benefits implicitly. " A good salesperson knows from experience that people like to hear and see themselves," he says. Business training manuals often advise mirroring the customer.

A Jewish Woman and the Pope



Dr. Lena Allen Shore's books Building Bridges: Pope John Paul II and the Horizon of Life is now available.



I worked on this book with Dr. Allen Shore for a number of years but in the end we did not publish it, but I highly recommend it. Dr. Shore has had a personal relationship with the Pope (they both grew up in Poland at roughly the same time), for the past twenty years and regularly communicates with him.



She is a fascinating woman who lives now in Philadelphia. She and her parents survived the Shoah by pretending to be Catholic. Now the Pope regularly advises her to "be herself." A reference I think to the many years, the formative years of her life where to be herself would have meant certian death in a concentration camp.



Two fascinating people brought together in the twilight of their lives to "build a bridge."

Catholic Reform



It is interesting everytime a new group arises claiming to be the new reform movement that is going to change the church. Almost all of the modern examples of this like "Call to Action" or "Voice of the Faithful" all emphasize an idealogy where the real reason for being Catholic is way down on the list of what they feel is important. For the most part all of these groups end up being a reason to meet once a year in some large metropolitan area to showcase their speakers who rail against the way the church is versus the way it should be--they are all what I would call "church" people and they tend to screech like the "church" lady that Dana Carvey used to portray on Saturday Night Live.



Contrast this with the groups that have worked reform in the history of the Church, let me take St. Francis for an example. Did Francis' begin by taking on a political slogan? No, he began by praying before a crucifix. He began with a look into the Gospels and a re-encounter with Christ. Christ was his focus and through the eyes of Christ he saw the church that Christ founded falling into ruin and felt the command to rebuild it--begining with the crumbling church that he was praying in. Here is true reform--not focused on the structures of the Church but rather on Christ and following Him. In this view of reform the Church is seen transfigured, her humanity veiled, the battle won.



A St. Francis could meet a horrible priest and fall to his knees kissing his hands and lauding the loftiness of the vocation that the man was so poorly living. More than one such priest was brought to his knees by such an encounter. Francis stands as the true model of reform and it has absolutely nothing to do with what the pastor, bishop or pope is doing but everything to do with how am I following Christ. Of course the Church is indispensible from this discipleship because Christ founded the Church and gave it the power to teach in His name.



The problems that we face in North America as Catholics is like that of the Church of Ephesus to whom Christ said in the Book of Revelation, "You have lost the love that you had at first. Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first."



What would the reforms of Vatican II be like if we could recapture our first love?

Tomb of Zachariah Found



With an interesting twist...



From the Star-News Online:



The discovery was a stroke of luck: the light of the setting sun hit an ancient tomb at just the right angle and revealed hints of a worn inscription, unnoticed for centuries, commemorating the father of John the Baptist.



"This is the tomb of Zachariah, martyr, very pious priest, father of John," the inscription of 47 Greek letters reads.



Was John the Baptist's father a martyr? Evidently the early church linked the Zachariah mentioned in the writings of Josephus (or indeed they knew of the actual case) with that of John's father:



The Gospel of Luke describes him as an elderly man from the priestly caste of Abijah who, while burning incense in the Temple one day, was told by an angel that his wife Elizabeth, also advanced in years, would bear a son, who was later to become John the Baptist.



Jewish historian Josephus writes that a priest named Zachariah was slain by Zealots in the Temple and thrown into the Kidron Valley below - which would explain the "martyr" reference in the Greek text.



The inscription suggests that local Christians believed Zachariah was buried at the site of the tomb. But because hundreds of years had passed from his death to the inscription, and with no other corroboration, Zias and other scholars say they'll never know for sure.

Sad News--Separated Conjoined Twins Die



From The Globe and Mail:



Neurosurgeons separated 29-year-old Iranian twins born joined at the head after two days of delicate surgery, but both sisters died Tuesday shortly after their parting.



The hospital announced Ladan Bijani's death, then, a few hours later, a nurse involved in the surgery said Ladan's sister, Lelah, had died.

Myth of ADHD?



Interesting piece on Attention Defecit Disorder, that begins like this:



In 1851, a Louisiana physician and American Medical Association member, Samuel A. Cartwright, published a paper in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal in which he described a new medical disorder he had recently identified. He called it drapetomania, from drapeto, meaning to flee, and mania, an obsession. He used this term to refer to a condition that he felt was prevalent in runaway slaves. Dr. Cartwright felt that with “proper medical advice, strictly followed, this troublesome practice that many Negroes have of running away can be almost entirely prevented.”1



If Dr. Cartwright would submit his paper today, even to the most unrespectable medical journal, it would merely raise a laugh, or Dr. Cartwright himself would be considered disordered. But in 1851, slavery was still acceptable and therefore his invented disorder was not frowned upon.



A great opening!

Ontario and Merton



Amy has blogged about our recent trip to Canada over the weekend. My own experience focused upon the diversity but at the same time the unity. Where here we still seem to be segregated into our subgroups--there it seemed a rather remarkable merging of peoples, as I commented to Amy once during the weekend that this truly seemed to be the "melting pot" that we in the United States often pride ourselves in being.



As I sat listening to music (some of which wasn't all that impressive but truly unique) and watching people, I had an experience similar to that of a trip we made to the zoo when a peacock strutting around shaking with color tried to entice the female into some embrace of unity. The colors and cultures seem to shake about me and invite me to become one with them--this seemed to reach an apex at an early morning Mass when the words from the Eucharistic Prayer seemed to leap out at me "Fill us with his Spirit through our sharing in this meal. May he take away all that divides us. May his Spirit keep us always in communion... Father, make your church throughout the world a sign of unity and instrument of your peace."



It was sort of a Merton experience similar to one he had while waiting at the corner of Fourth and Walnut in Louisville and later wrote:



"In Louisville, on the comer of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I was theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. I have the immense joy of being human, a member of the race in which God himself became incarnate. The sorrows and stupidities of the human condition can no longer overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. If only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun."



Anyway, we have much to learn about Communion and all of the attempts to build community have only thwarted what God wills.

New Evidence Suggests:

Forget Everything You Learned in that Scripture Class on Matthew you Took in High School, College, Grad School or Wherever



Matthew written early, by an eyewitness (the Apostle) and the virgin birth really did mean "virgin" not maiden.



From a story in the Kansas City Star:





In an essay written for the book Passover and Easter: Origin and History to Modern Times, Israel J. Yuval of Jerusalem's Hebrew University reported a find in the Talmud that appears to show Matthew could have been written earlier than some scholars contend.



Yuval wrote that a leading rabbinical scholar of the time was "considered to have authored a sophisticated parody of the Gospel according to Matthew."



The parody, written by a rabbi known as Gamaliel, is believed by some well-respected liberal Christian scholars to have been written about A.D. 73 or earlier.



The fact the parody exists and the date when it was believed to be written "would undercut badly (biblical critics') claims of a late date of A.D. 85-90 or later," said Bob Newman, professor of New Testament at Biblical Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania.



"That is very significant and very important," said Tim Skinner, associate professor of Bible and theology at Luther Rise Seminary in Georgia, because that validates the legitimacy of Matthew's Gospel...it confirms the truthfulness of the biblical account in Matthew and confirms the truth of what Jesus did."



Blomberg said a close study of the parody's wording indicates it was based on an existing text. If that text was Matthew, the Gospel existed much earlier than some scholars believe.



Similarly the earlier the Gospel was written, the more likely eyewitnesses to Jesus' life would still be alive.



"(Which) would mean that Matthew's Gospel would be seen by other eyewitnesses who could check and authenticate it," Blomberg said.

Co-Adujutor of Orlando Speaks



From the Lakeland Ledger (a paper that once was delivered daily at my doorstep):



In his remarks, Wenski said he learned of the appointment last week from the papal nuncio, or representative, while at a conference in Texas.



"My own feelings about the task ahead of me are relieved by having as a mentor Bishop Dorsey," he said. "I remember the words of Jesus to Peter, `Put out into the deep,' and I trust in Jesus, who in spite of my unworthiness has chosen me for this task."



Wenski said his primary mission would be "to save souls for Christ."



"We will not be saved by a formula or some new program. We and the promise he gives -- `I am with you always,' " he said, quoting Jesus. "This is a great grace but a daunting challenge. It is a contradiction for us to settle for a life of mediocrity."



Wenski is a native of West Palm Beach. He was ordained a priest in 1976 and has served his entire career in the Archdiocese of Miami. He has bachelor's and master's degrees from St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach and a master's degree in sociology from Fordham University in New York.



Please note several things about Bishop Wenski: First, his point of reference is Jesus and the Scriptures, Secondly, he knew about his apointment for over a week (contrast that with the story below).

New Bishop of Palm Beach's Tale



From the Palm Beach Post:



In contrast to O'Malley's beard, brown friar's robe and sandals, Barbarito stood before his new staff in traditional clerical black and admitted he'd known about his new posting only "since about 5 after 9 yesterday morning." He said he'd barely had time to look at the plane ticket and find his seat for the trip south.



He was visiting his 83-year-old widowed mother, Anna Marie, in Brooklyn on Monday when he heard a radio report that O'Malley was being sent to Boston. He said he laughed because he'd heard two weeks ago that Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh was the choice, and besides, he knew O'Malley had been in Palm Beach only a short time.



"About a half-hour after that," he said, "I received a phone call from the apostolic nuncio telling me that I was coming to Palm Beach... I had a spaghetti dinner set with (his mother) for last night, and I had to tell her that I couldn't make it -- but I would get back to her for that dinner."





This is really unusual. Makes me wonder if there was another plan that was changed at the last minute?

Will the Mainline Media Report This?



Pro-Abortion Group Finds Majority of Women are Pro-Life



From the Washington Times:



The balance between pro-choice women and women who say abortion should be outlawed or severely restricted is shifting toward the pro-life side, bumping that group into the majority in the debate over reproductive rights, according to a new national poll.

Fifty-one percent of women surveyed by the Center for the Advancement of Women said the government should prohibit abortion or limit it to extreme cases, such as rape, incest, or life-threatening complications.

The findings, with a 3 percent margin of error for the 1,000 women surveyed, tips the scale from the last sampling in 2001, when 45 percent of women sided against making abortion readily available or imposing only mild restrictions. Only 30 percent support making it generally available, down from 34 percent in 2001, the survey found.

The New York-based center that sponsored the survey is a nonpartisan advocacy group for pro-choice women's rights. The center's president, Faye Wattleton, headed the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for 14 years.

Footnote to Today's Top Story



Also the Pope "appointed Thomas Wenski bishop coadjutor of Orlando, the Vatican said," from Bloomberg.com.



This is the real shocker of the day. Why does Orlando need a coadjutor? Is Bishop Dorsey sick?



Wenski is a good man, a man's man really. He is the son of immigrant Polish parents who grew up in Lake Worth, Florida. Very devout and aggresive. He has been the voice of the Haitian people in South Florida for over 2 1/2 decades. He'll be missed by them down there.

Boston to Get Capuchin Friar as Bishop



It is all over the wires this morning that Bishop O'Malley (of Palm Beach since last September, Fall River before that, and St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands before that) is going to be named the successor of Cardinal Law tomorrow. He is a very close friend of the Cardinal's and I would guess that has more to do with the appointment than his ability to clean up messes.



From CNN:



The Vatican will name Sean Patrick O'Malley, the bishop of Palm Beach, Florida, to replace Bernard Law as the head of the Boston Archdiocese, according to a news report.



The Vatican is expected to make its announcement this week, according to John Allen, the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, an independent weekly newspaper.



Law resigned as archbishop of the troubled Boston Archdiocese in December after the archdiocese was shaken by allegations that priests sexually abused children and that the alleged molestations were covered up.

Feast of SS. Peter and Paul



In honor of the feast we'll attend St. Peter's Church this morning. Here is a selection from today's Office of Readings from St. Augustine:



Before his passion the Lord Jesus, as you know, chose those disciples of his whom he called apostles. Among these it was only Peter who almost everywhere was given the privilege of representing the whole Church. It was in the person of the whole Church, which he alone represented, that he was privileged to hear, To you will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven. After all, it is not just one man that received these keys, but the Church in its unity. So this is the reason for Peter’s acknowledged pre-eminence, that he stood for the Church’s universality and unity, when he was told, To you I am entrusting, what has in fact been entrusted to all. To show you that it is the Church which has received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, listen to what the Lord says in another place to all his apostles: Receive the Holy Spirit; and immediately afterwards, Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven them; whose sins you retain, they will be retained.

Quite rightly, too, did the Lord after his resurrection entrust his sheep to Peter to be fed. It is not, you see, that he alone among the disciples was fit to feed the Lord’s sheep; but when Christ speaks to one man, unity is being commended to us. And he first speaks to Peter, because Peter is the first among the apostles. Do not be sad, Apostle. Answer once, answer again, answer a third time. Let confession conquer three times with love, because self-assurance was conquered three times by fear. What you had bound three times must be loosed three times. Loose through love what you had bound through fear. And for all that, the Lord once, and again, and a third time, entrusted his sheep to Peter.

There is one day for the passion of two apostles. But these two also were as one; although they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, Paul followed. We are celebrating a feast day, consecrated for us by the blood of the apostles. Let us love their faith, their lives, their labours, their sufferings, their confession of faith, their preaching.

The anti-Christ



Interest in the anti-Christ is something that seems to never wane. It is often a clever tool of certian groups of Christians, a way of casting an evil eye toward a rival group (sometimes even other Christians), if you will. I recall a woman, very devout, telling me that she had figured out who the anti-Christ was--I think she believed that the source was a Divine revelation that she had received--anyway after some rather convoluted reasoning she announced that Saddam Hussein was the Antichrist and he was the 666 referred to in the Book of Revelation. This was in the early 1990's during the Gulf War. My problem with it at the time and even today as I write this is thta it suited her political beliefs as much as it did her religious beliefs. At the same time people like Ossama Bin Laden held Hussein to be something of a demon who was secularizing the Moslem world. So such demonizing of people often finds strange bedfellows.



In this country the topic of continues to hold the public's interest. The "Left Behind" series continues to be a bestseller that rivals anything the secular presses can release. Televangelists continue to predict that the antichrist is in our midst and that the end it near. Now Bishops of the Midwest have released a pastoral where they warn that such publications might themselves be the "false prophets" that Jesus warned His followers to both be on the lookout for and not to fall prey to when they appeared.



I have often thought that whoever and whatever we conceive of as the antichrist can be a temptation away from the Gospel for us. We can demonize someone or some institution so that we do not have to apply the Gospel message to them. Again the Lord told us that judgment is not ours, it is His and His warning to "watch" carries with it the notion that we are ever to be vigilant for His coming under the many guises that He chooses to visit us in.



Here is some of the Catholic Bishop's of Illinois Statement:



When Jesus told us to be alert and ready for his return, he also warned there would be false prophets. One of the most attractively marketed recent false "prophets" has been the Left Behind series, published by Tyndale House Press in Wheaton, Illinois. Since 1995, the series by Mr. Tim LaHaye and Mr. Jerry B. Jenkins has been a tool for active promotion of a fundamentalist theology of the end times in conflict with Catholic teachings. More than that, the series has been a vehicle for anti-Catholic sentiments by the way Catholics are characterized and treated in the plot line.



Promoted nationally in grocery checkout aisles, discount outlets and bookstores, over the Internet and even through book sale fundraisers in Catholic schools, these novels are now in the tenth installment of the adult series and the twenty-fourth volume of the children's version. There are also two videos, (produced by Cloud Ten Productions) a board game, and other marketed items. These materials, about fictionalized end-times, popularize a common fundamentalist belief in a time of tribulation after the "rapture" (when the "good people" are secretly taken up overnight to Heaven) and before the Second Coming of Christ. This belief is not supported in Scripture.



Responding to similar fundamentalist agendas back in 1937, Pius XI, in "Divini Redemptoris" said any such speculations about a period when a remnant of the Church progresses towards its own ultimate victory might of themselves be a sign of the Antichrist:



The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism ...



The Catechism of the Catholic Church continues:



The kingdom will be fulfilled then, not by a historic triumph of the church through a progressive ascendancy, but only in God's victory over the final unleashing of evil ... (676-677)



The scenario in Left Behind, of a "tribulation force" of born-again former sinners who attempt personally to derail the progress of the Anti-Christ, is broadly classifiable as pre-millenarianism. The pseudo-historical backdrop for the story ties apocalyptic scripture to specific events in history, an error known as pre-millennial dispensationalism. In later books in the series, the new Pope is depicted as instrumental in establishing a relativistic world religion encouraged by the AntiChrist and operated from New Babylon (formerly Rome). The Left Behind series is anti-Catholic in content and form, consistent with Mr. LaHaye's other writings, in which he associates the Church with "Babylonian mysticism."



Tyndale House, and by association Cloud Ten Productions, have made clear in their marketing that they feel divinely inspired to promote their theological agenda among the most vulnerable. A recent promotional mailer, created by the Christian Film and Television Commission for their second Left Behind video, claims: "God is using the "Left Behind" films, as He has used the books, to reach out and touch the lives of people who won't go to church, but in their hearts are looking for the answers to life's questions." If there are any doubts that the aim of the Left Behind series is as much to promote a fundamentalist agenda as to make money, these marketing techniques should put them to rest.

The Iraqi Information Minister Resurfaces on Abu Dhabi TV



He looks a lot older now...







From We Love the Iraqi Information Minister.com:



"The information I received from the governorates was more precise and comprehensive than the information I got from the Baghdad area. I was sincere in everything I said, even just before the fall of Baghdad international airport."



"The information was correct, but the interpretations were not," he said. "I did my duty up to the last minute."

Michael Rose Responds to Inside the Vatican



From The Diocese Report:



Dear Inside the Vatican,



Your June-July 2003 issue included a letter to the editor entitled "Enraged" and signed "Michael Rose." Unfortunately, many people--including some at Inside the Vatican--have mistaken me for the author of this letter, which is anti-Papal in content and woefully intemperate in tone. The letter does not express my views in the least; nor is the letter written in a manner even remotely consistent with my style. To be sure, I am not the author of the letter.



I have written four books (Goodbye Good Men, Priest, Ugly As Sin, and The Renovation Manipulation) as well as hundreds of articles dealing with a variety of topics of interest to Catholics all over the world. I am a contributing editor of the New Oxford Review and a news correspondent for The Catholic World Report. I do not need to write a letter to the editor of Inside the Vatican in order to express my views. It seems the only time I write letters to Catholic periodicals is to correct false or misleading information about myself or my work.



Michael S. Rose

Cincinnati OH

Spirituality and Today's Mass Reading



From the First Reading at Mass Today:



The LORD's messenger found her by a spring in the wilderness,

the spring on the road to Shur, and he asked,

"Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from

and where are you going?"

She answered, "I am running away from my mistress, Sarai."

But the LORD's messenger told her:

"Go back to your mistress and submit to her abusive treatment.I will make your descendants so numerous," added the LORD's messenger,

"that they will be too many to count.



I have put the passage that struck me in bold. Interestingly other translations do not translate this passage in the same way. The RSV translates it as "Return to your mistress and submit to her." But back to the text as it exists in the Lectionary, Hagar who flees the harsh treatment of Sarah is told to go back and to submit to it. When I attended Mass the priest ignored the reading commenting rather accurately that it would be hard to offer a pious homily on the first reading, I would differ with him on that point.



The reading and the verse in particular point to a certain way of approaching life. Do we flee the reality we are placed in (this is obviously the "way" many approach life in our culture) or do we face the good and the bad? What is more is to look at how we view the world around us and in particular the part of the world where we are placed, is it a curse or a blessing?



Hagar's return to Sarah is accompanied by a promise of blessing. The Christian's taking up the cross with Jesus carries with it a promised blessing.



I recall many years ago hearing Father Benedict Groeschel, at that time a Capuchin, preach on the mental health of some of the saints. His diagnosis is that many of them suffered from neurotic states but through their devotion to God while not relieved of their condition it was sanctified. Grace building on nature.



Every day we all suffer at the hands of our "Sarah's" who abuse us out of jealousy and envy. The small mindedness that backs such abuse is easy to understand but difficult to deal with when directed at yourself. We all are tempted to flea but God tells us to stay and what is more to see a blessing in it all.



The next time you read the life of a saint, take off your pious sunglasses and try to imagine what it must have been like to live in a community with such a person. Would you have experienced them as a gift or a burden? It is clear from the testimonies of many who have enjoyed the blessing that it hardly seemed like a blessing to them at the time.



In the case of facing our abusers we have to understand that if they can be helped we can lead them in that direction. Perhaps that is why God wants us to go back so that they may face their own activity even as we face up to it.



The severity of life is often ignored both by those who make it harsh for others and for those whe enjoy it's cruel deserts.

A Note from the Publisher of Sophia Publishing



Dear Friends:



Just a brief note to forestall possible scandal.



The magazine Inside the Vatican just published a harsh letter

attacking the Pope, and it was signed by Michael Rose.



Our author, Michael S. Rose, did not write that unfortunate

letter and does not know who did. Nor does he hold the views

expressed in the letter.



Michael has contacted Inside the Vatican about this, and I told

him that I would let my contacts know that he did not write it,

lest he be misjudged for intemperate words that are the product

of another's pen.



John



I'm surprised that Inside the Vatican would have published the letter in the first place if it is critical of the pope and without checking with Michael Rose to see if he wrote it.

Back from a whirlwind trip. First to Kentucky where we (Amy, Joseph and I) saw my parents, my two nieces, one nephew and my youngest sister and her husband. Then after a day there we drove to Tennessee where we saw Amy's Father and wife Hilary, and Amy's oldest son Christopher. The trip back was made longer because of snow, ice and salt-less roads in Ohio. Fortunately the roads in Indiana were well salted so the trip went a little quicker once there.

Need a Rosary Book?



A comment from one of Amy's posts:



That little book you guys did on the rosary is great.

Prayer of Bob Russel of Louisville's Southeastern Christian Church



Heavenly Father,



We come before You today to ask Your Forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ''Woe to those who call evil good,'' but that's exactly what we have done. We have lost our Spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that; we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism; We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism; We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle; We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery; We have neglected the needy and called it self preservation; We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare; We have killed our unborn and called it choice; We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable; We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem; We have abused power and called it political savvy; We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition; We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression; We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of this state and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state of Kansas. Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your Will.



I ask in in the name of your Son, The Living Savior, Jesus Christ



This came to me via email and I had to check it out to tell if the story told were true. To read the story and the email check out TruthorFiction.com.

Heartbeat Heard on Image of Guadalupe?



From The Catholic Advocate:



Doctor Margaret Pasakas placed her stethoscope on the heart of the copy of the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Joseph Hospital in Reading, Pennsylvania. To her utter astonishment she heard a human heartbeat and knelt down in tearful veneration. More than 200 people have felt the heartbeat of an unborn child in the Image. Dan Lynch, Guardian of the Image says, “It is a sign that life begins at conception and is not a 'choice' for the mother because God, the Author of Life, has already chosen the child for life.”

Archbishop Dolan Reflects on One Year in Milwaukee



Milwaukee Channel News:



Dolan is a man with true passion for the priesthood and the Roman Catholic Church and a man with a great sense of humor, Elliott said.



"Is it everything you thought it would be? Milwaukee?" Elliott asked.



"It's a little cooler than I thought," Dolan said.



"Yeah we're working on that -- the temperature," Elliott said.



"No, listen, you can have cool and the winters were a lot easier. It is everything I thought from a good point of view," Dolan said. "The sense of vitality, the community spirit, the sense of promise, and I'm not saying there aren't some problems and some challenges, you bet there are."



Given what he said in response to the interviewer, I don't think he was talking about the weather.

Liturgy



Over the weekend I had an experience that reminded me of something a priest had told me over twenty years ago. At the time I was a student of St. Meinrad College and the priest visiting told me to take a look around, "What you see here today, you'll see in a parish twenty years from now."



Yesterday while attending mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Louisville, KY that prophetic utterance came to pass. In a church that obviously had been remodeled with the "St. Meinrad experience" in mind, I stood and sat at Mass as though I had been transported back to my college experience of twenty years ago. Before I become a little critical of the experience let me first say that the pastor Father John Judie presided and preached in a manner that one would wish all priests would. His homily was well thought out, delivered in an inspiring manner and based on Abraham Joshua Heschel's last words. It was very, very good!



The things that were not so good were the additions and deletions that had nothing to do with Father Judie (although I'm sure they probably originate with him but he didn't participate in them). First there was an introductory rite that wasn't penitential (the penitential rite still happened but it wasn't first--it came after all the glad handing that represents the worst in "liturgical" acretions that have crept into the liturgy since Vatican II). A commentator welcomed us to this celebration, asked if there were any guests. A few hands went up, not mine of course because I don't consider myself a guest at any Catholic Church but a member! "Where you from?" "Why are you here?" etc. Applause. Next it was turn and greet your neighbor (something that of course you'll have to do again when it occurs liturgically. Then an announcement that if you have to go to the bathroom during the liturgy, you'll have to travel to another building. Then a prayer for the success of the parish's strategic planning that sounded a little strange in that it urged the pray-er to be open to change and whatever might happen, etc. Finally after all of this (about 10 minutes worth) we were told tod to rise and greet our celebrant.



From there Mass went on as usual. The so called "sexist" parts of the liturgy were changed to be less offensive to some, but more offensive to others (namely me). We stood throughout the Eucharistic prayer because there were no kneelers. The music didn't match (nothing new or unusual about that), Amy commented later that she feels that the inclusion of "songs" at liturgy is faulty because songs by there very nature are a show unto themselves and disrupt the flow of the liturgy which is one big song if sung right. Communion was under both species and Jesus was given to us under the appearance of "real" bread.



Like I said earlier, all of this I had experienced twenty years earlier in the college chapel at St. Meinrad, Indiana--now here I was twenty years later experiencing it in a parish. But there is more to the story than just this trip down memory lane.



On Saturday I was at St. Meinrad and while Amy did research on an upcoming book I was doing a little research of my own with Joseph at my side revisiting all of the spots where I had prayed as a college student some twenty years earlier.



First that chapel. It is in ruins right now. It is being renovated and from the casual walk through it is being built into something very beautiful for God. Elegant stone work is being laid on the floor of the once carpeted space. Wood carvings lie waiting their placement on the walls. Light fixtures shine brightly after having the tarnish removed from their brass holdings. It is clear that what is taking place is more than a renovation, in reality it is a restoration not of the chapel that I prayed in twenty years ago, but the chapel that had existed some twenty years before that in the 1960's.



Next a visit to the Monastic church which has already been renovated beautifully and I was surprised to find that there have been new additions since my last visit--kneelers have been placed in front of the chairs where the lay visitors sit. Also I noticed a crucifix has been placed near the altar.



Next we traveled to a spot dear to me--a shrine of Mary that I personally restored while a student at the college. When I first arrived there in 1980 I found the shrine suffering neglect. Trees and brush had grown in front of the shrine and it appeared that no one cared. I speer headed a group of students who cleared out the brush, cleaned up the cobwebs and bees nests, and arranged for one of the priests to offer Mass at the shrine as a sort of "rededication" of the shrine. From that day forward we arranged for a candle to burn at the shrine. Often I would walk outside at night and see the light of that candle burning from afar in the woods and feel that my prayers were being heard even when I wasn't conscously offering them. So I traveled with my son out to the shrine that has been well cared for every since by the monks of St. Meinrad. Two candles were burning as we approaced. Joseph prayed a Hail Mary with me (repeating the phrases that I uttered) and then pointed out what he could recognize--Mary, snake, apple. After are prayerful visit I began heading around the lake until a very large snake slithering into the water changed my mind.



From here we went to the cemetary and I pointed out to Joseph the holy priests now awaiting their eternal reward who had helped me to grow stronger in my faith. We said short prayers at their graves--his a simple Father, Son, Spirit--Amen, was more elegant than mine.



A short drive away from the seminary brought us to a shrine of St. Joseph that the Archabbot has had renovated and cleaned up. He credits his devotion to St. Joseph for having favorably dealt with many of the problems of the monastery. This particular shrine has Joseph standing with Jesus in a tall wooden carving that looks across the valley toward the monastery. Jesus holds a carving of with the Roman numeral four upon it--symbolic of the fourth commandment "Honor your father and mother." Engraved into the stone that enshrines the statues are the words, "Saint Joseph" on one side and "Our Protector" on the other. Joseph enjoyed this visit to his namesakes shrine.



Another short drive took us to the Shrine of Our Lady of Monte Cassino, for a beautiful respite from the sun in this shady hill top shrine. Inside we lit candles and again offered simple prayers. I had told Joseph that this was the "baby" church because of how small it is. Inside of course there is a statue of Mary holding the baby Jesus and upon the ceiling there are paintings of Mary holding the baby Jesus. Along the walls are images illustrating the Litany of Loretto written in Latin. I had Joseph point out what he saw and then told him what it was. One that caught his fancy was the illustration for "Tower of Ivory" that showed a tower built with ivory and three elephants in front of it pointing out of course where ivory comes from and the sacrifice that would be required to build one.



Outside of the shrine is an old water pump and Joseph enjoyed pumping water by hand out of the ground. I found myself lost in thought about this simple act and wondered if one of the key problems of modern life is how out of touch we are with where everything "comes" from and if in our advanced society we haven't lost touch with the very origins of our daily existence. Pumping water out of the ground has been replaced by a device that reads movement in front of a water faucet and turns water on. Somehow on the shady hillside watching Joseph pump water it was easier to connect with the ultimate origin of our being--God.



So all of this wandering through my past and seeing how it has changed over the years left me with one conclusion. If what I witnessed as I walked the grounds of St. Meinrad is a vision of the church in twenty years it was a good vision. Things are improving, they make take awhile to work there way into parish life but they will and in the meantime we can all begin clearing the brush away and lighting a candle to lighten up our corner of the church.