Christmas Books

Every Christmas, relatives and friends gift me with books.

Some of the books are ones I've indicated in not always subtle ways that I want. This year, for example there was one particular book (involving Chesterton, I might add) that I really wanted. When a catalog from a well-known Catholic publisher arrived, I searched through it until I found the title, folded the catalog open to the right page, circled the book several times, and sang some Christmas carols with an earnest smile.

I got that book.

Other times people give me books based upon my particular interests. Chesterton, St. Francis of Assisi, poetry, and Dickens are among the interests addressed this year.

Some people knowing my quirky sense of humor give me books they think I will find amusing. This year, a relative who moved to Utah, a state that, to be honest, has never been of the slightest interest to me, although I do like Marie Osmond's version of a Dada poem, sent me a book about Utah curiosities. I've already discovered one story in it about a woman who uses cow pies - yes, those "pies" - to make clocks, and picture and mirror frames.

A keeper.

The books end up either next to my bed in the pile of books to be read, or outside the "reading room."

This year's additions:

In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton. Circles and Christmas Carols do work.

The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis by Paul Sabatier. Chesterton's biography is the essential one, in my opinion, but this modern examination of his life looks like it has much to offer.

Surpassing Pleasure by John Slater. A contemporary Cistercian poet: I can't wait to test those verbal waters.

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. I'd actually read many of these poems long ago and enjoyed them, so it's wonderful to have them before me again. Plus, it's nice to be reminded that Eliot didn't always write as if he had spiritual heartburn.

How to Do Everything (From the Man Who Should Know) by Red Green. Red Green is a Canadian comedian who is an acquired taste, and a taste that I acquired long ago.

The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford. A book that examines how Dickens helped to save Christmas from those who would downplay the celebration of it, and, in the process, apparently saved his own career. I've always loved Dickens and his Christmas tales, so this should be an intriguing read.

Utah Curiosities by Brandon Griggs. Cow pies. Need I say more?

Much reading to do.

Oh joy.

I've been remiss: Merry Christmas

Happy Feast of St. Stephen.

I realized today I had not posted here in about three months. Chesterton deserves better than that!

This Christmas I gave a copy of Chesterton's Irish impressions to an Irish friend. And then (after some not so subtle hinting on my part), on Christmas morning my dear bride presented me with a copy of In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G. K. Chesterton.

It's wonderful to find some of may favorite essays - "A Piece of Chalk," "What I Found in My Pocket," "On Lying in Bed," "Cheese," and more - all in one place. And there are many other essays I haven't read yet conveniently waiting for me.

I just have to finish Ron Hansen's Exiles, and then I dig into this treasure trove.

As for my Chesterton endeavors, I'll be sending in to Gilbert a batch of clerihews my students wrote, and scribbling a few more of my own. Plus, I've decided to give a more prominent role to the Chesterton-based character in that novel I've been writing forever.

Tally ho!

St Bernard on All Saints Days day

"Why should our praise and glorification, or even the celebration of this feast day mean anything to the saints? What do they care about earthly honors when their heavenly Father honors them by fulfilling the faithful promise of the Son? What does our commendation mean to them? The saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs. Clearly, if we venerate their memory, it serves us, not them. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning.

Calling the saints to mind inspires, or rather arouses in us, above all else, a longing to enjoy their company, so desirable in itself. We long to share in the citizenship of heaven, to dwell with the spirits of the blessed, to join the assembly of patriarchs, the ranks of the prophets, the council of apostles, the great host of martyrs, the noble company of confessors and the choir of virgins. In short, we long to be united in happiness with all the saints. But our dispositions change. The Church of all the first followers of Christ awaits us, but we do nothing about it. The saints want us to be with them, and we are indifferent. The souls of the just await us, and we ignore them.

Come, brothers, let us at length spur ourselves on. We must rise again with Christ, we must seek the world which is above and set our mind on the things of heaven. Let us long for those who are longing for us, hasten to those who are waiting for us, and ask those who look for our coming to intercede for us. We should not only want to be with the saints, we should also hope to possess their happiness. While we desire to be in their company, we must also earnestly seek to share in their glory. Do not imagine that there is anything harmful in such an ambition as this; there is no danger in setting our hearts on such glory.

When we commemorate the saints we are inflamed with another yearning: that Christ our life may also appear to us as he appeared to them and that we may one day share in his glory. Until then we see him, not as he is, but as he became for our sake. He is our head, crowned, not with glory, but with the thorns of our sins. As members of that head, crowned with thorns, we should be ashamed to live in luxury; his purple robes are a mockery rather than an honor. When Christ comes again, his death shall no longer be proclaimed, and we shall know that we also have died, and that our life is hidden with him. The glorious head of the Church will appear and his glorified members will shine in splendor with him, when he forms this lowly body anew into such glory as belongs to himself, its head.

Therefore, we should aim at attaining this glory with a wholehearted and prudent desire. That we may rightly hope and strive for such blessedness, we must above all seek the prayers of the saints. Thus, what is beyond our own powers to obtain will be granted through their intercession."

"Holiness is not about what you do but with how much love you do it."

Do not seek to be like the Saints - seek what they sought.

In case you were wondering if Catholics were Hard Core or not - wonder no more

And this is not the only one

good reminder for All Souls day and yes it is only the living that scare me.

After a year of research and preparation, the giant screen film JERUSALEM advanced into production with an unprecedented aerial shoot throughout Israel and the West Bank. Scheduled for worldwide release in 2013, the film will take audiences on a spectacular tour of the Holy Land and the city once believed to lie at the center of the world.

From Chesterton's The New Jerusalem:

"As I tried to explain this eccentric sentiment to myself, I was conscious of another which at once completed and contradicted it. It was not only like a memory of Rye, it was mixed with a memory of the Mount St. Michael, which stands among the sands of Normandy on the other side of the narrow seas. The first part of the sensation is that the traveller, as he walks the stony streets between the walls, feels that he is inside a fortress. But it is the paradox of such a place that, while he feels in a sense that he is in a prison, he also feels that he is on a precipice. The sense of being uplifted, and set on a high place, comes to him through the smallest cranny, or most accidental crack in rock or stone; it comes to him especially through those long narrow windows in the walls of the old fortifications; those slits in the stone through which the medieval archers used their bows and the medieval artists used their eyes, with even greater success. Those green glimpses of fields far below or of flats far away, which delight us and yet make us dizzy (by being both near and far) when seen through the windows of Memling, can often be seen from the walls of Jerusalem. Then I remembered that in the same strips of medieval landscape could be seen always, here and there, a steep hill crowned with a city of towers. And I knew I had the mystical and double pleasure of seeing such a hill and standing on it. A city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid; but it is more strange when the hill cannot anywhere be hid, even from the citizen in the city."

In contrast to this common perception of capitalism, Chesterton defines it as, "that economic condition in which there is a class of capitalists, roughly recognizable and relatively small, in whose possession so much of the capital is concentrated as to necessitate a very large majority of the citizens serving those capitalists for a wage."

"The present problem of capitalist concentration is not a question of law but of criminal law, not to mention criminal lunacy."

"Now what is the matter with the financial world is that it is a great deal too full of imagination, in the sense of fiction."

Roll Over Bethoveen

Happy 85th birthday Chuck

Steve Jobs was adopted. His life, passion, and vision inspired many. God our Father, Your power brings us to birth, Your providence guides our lives, and by Your command we return to dust

Rochester Chesterton Conference

The Rochester (NY) Chesterton Conference was, like the previous seven held here, a delight.

We enjoyed presentations by Dale Ahlquist, Dr. Tom Martin, Joseph Pearce, and Kevin O'Brien. Oh, and a visit by Hilaire Belloc!

Rochester Chesterton Conference

The Rochester (NY) Chesterton Conference is tomorrow at St. John Fisher College. The usual gang will be there - including me. I'll take some pictures, keep some notes, and maybe write a clerihew or two.

As a side note, I'm teaching a writing class at my high school. I just introduced the students to clerihews. They have to write some of their own for next week. I hope to submit some of theirs to Gilbert - or at least post some here.

Arcade Friday

Diamond Hollow II

As one reviewer wrote, here's the thing about this game: "...it tricks you into playing it because it has the word 'diamond' in the title. You think it's going to be pretty and nice and kind of glamorous and ladylike and sweet smelling, like a gardenia. But then it's just like any game. You're supposed to kill stuff and collect points but the primitive animation makes it hard to tell the difference between the diamonds and the bad guys so you get confused and die many times over. Then you just give up.

Also, the diamonds in this game are the color brown."

What fun.

Chesterton had alot to say about Margart Sanger and her club. He was one of the early voices to sing out against her type of progresive madness. “Progress,” G.K. Chesterton observed, “has discouraged anybody who had anything to say in favor of man, in his common relations to manhood and motherhood and the normal appetites of nature. Progress has been merely the persecution of the Common Man.”

He, of couse, was right. So why did hardly anyone listen. Sanger, long before Rules for Radicals was written, employed what Saul Alinsky wrote in the beginning of his book:

“What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be.” Here is an excellant article of how she do the voodo she do so well.

Speaking of progress:

Mrs. H. Clinton, accepting Planned Parenthood’s highest honor, the Margaret Sanger Award, said “I want to assure you that reproductive rights. . .will be a key to the foreign policy of this administration.” For our little Hillary the taking of innocent life gets the same priority as issues of war and peace.

Secretary Clinton also told her adoring audience, “I admire Margaret Sanger enormously, her courage, her tenacity, her vision,” and “Margaret Sanger’s work is not yet done.”

Oh yes her work is not yet done because the one she worked for is not done the father of lies, the great accuser, that talking snake.

On this the feast day of the Arch Angels let us call them back to battle. Especially Michael

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards could not have been happy on September 15 when she was served with a letter from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce announcing the opening of an official investigation and demanding financial and other documentation dating back 20 years in an effort to ascertain if the company is misusing federal funds and violating the law regarding the reporting of suspected sexual abuse and the aiding and abetting of sex traffickers.

My prayer now is that this is not just an other episode of political theatre.

This is a good beginning for 40 days of life.

JUST A HEADS UP

Father Barron's Catholicism TV series starts next week, (check your local PBS listings). I bought the book last week and although I am only a little way into it I would like to note two things:

The first is that Father Barron has so far quoted GK Chesterton and CS Lewis at least once per chapter.

The other is, if this TV series is only half as good as the book be prepared for bulging RCIA classes.

As Marc Barnes said, "The things we do should be fantastic. We’re not just anyone, we’re Catholics! What we do reflects our Church, and our Church is the only sane thing left in the world! Strive for excellence then, glorify God by using every drop of talent He’s given you, because I do believe that—now more than ever—our Church needs to reaffirm that we have brought the world the best literature, art, architecture, music and life it has. And that we still do."

doodlers of the world unite

I feel so much better now.

I am so glad the era of the "angry white chick" is over.

"What could it hurt?"

Brian Brown is the president and spokesman for National Organization for Marriage. NOM is working the front lines in the war on marriage. He is doing good work and I do not envy him. This video below shows you one of his skirmishes.

He lost this round not because he was wrong, (he was the only one in the room that was right), but he did not know how to state his point. He relied on common sense and obvious truths, stuff that was throw out decades ago.

“...the reason the government is involved in marriage is that taxpayers and society have a key interest in bringing together mothers and fathers to raise their children together”.

Brian, you need to articulate that interest.

“The government obligates third parties to respect and recognize your marriage, it does not merely enforce your private and personal agreements”.

Brian, why does it obligate any one to recognize that union?

Brian was out gunned and out maned. Some one needs to give him better sound bites. If I could think of any I would send them.

This just reminded me of the time before the roe v wade decision came down. No one thought it would happen the way it did - it just wrong and 'everyone' knew it. Surely the highest court in the land would see that, so no worries. Now 40 million babies later..........

I hope Brian succeeds I don't want anyone blogging 30 years from now saying. "How were we to know?!?".

The Ruth Institute is doing very good work as well.

"We do not need to get good laws to restrain bad people. We need to get good people to restrain us from bad laws." GKC

"Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable", GKC. When they agree on what activity is excusable it becomes law. When an activity becomes legal it then becomes normal and then it becomes moral. It does not matter if that activity is intrinsically evil or not the pattern is the same, (they sometimes switch out the words its moral for its a right). Judith Reisman and Mary Mcalister have done a great job in connecting the dots.

When a law is evil the mental gymnastics needed to keep convincing yourself its moral is something you need to do every day and leads to a society that borders on insanity.

The only entity that keeps us tipping completely over the edge is the Catholic Church. Or as GKC said "We do not really need a religion that is right where we are right. What we need is a religion that is right where we are wrong."

Chesterton on Orthodoxy

“There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy.” - GKC

Take Your Magic Elsewhere Holy Man

Remember Fr. Judge? There were prayers that day. Lots of them. But Bloomberg does not want that messing up his event to remember 9/11.

"No, Michael Bloomberg’s Super Colossal, Low-Salt 9/11 Memorial and Networking Event is a big-ticket item for the the ones who can be tapped, later, for their money or their influence — the most important sorts of people.

And of course, some of the families of the dead will be allowed in. One does need them for the pictures, after all.

First Responders and Clergyfolk are not very important to the powerful and the enlightened."

And as everyone knows those first responders don't dress very well.

"This is America, and to have a memorial service where there's no prayer, this appears to be insanity to me," said Mr. Washington, former dept mayor to Giuliani

Oh Joe What You Don't Know

"Biden’s remark was not only not a condemnation of China’s one-child policy, it wasn’t even a slight criticism. Worse than that, it seemed to be an endorsement. Note the line again: “Your policy has been one which I fully understand—I’m not second-guessing—of one child per family.” He next appeared to say that the policy, which he “fully understands” and is “not second-guessing,” is not financially/economically sustainable because too few young people will exist to pay the social services of elderly people. If that’s a criticism, it’s one based strictly in financial/economic terms, not moral terms. In fact, Biden thus seemed to express added understanding of the “severe” problem China faces."

As Pia de Solenni said, "Anyone who can say that he or she is ok with those forced experiences of loss, both of one’s child and family, needs some time off to think, regardless of their religious beliefs".

Holy gourd Batman! Let's get a fried pickle.

We are in the middle of Fair week here - the greatest county fair on the planet. It is a big deal around these parts and I enjoy it in a large way. Just to give you an idea of how big this is our county has a population of 53,000 humans by the end of the week 185,000 humans will pass through the gates of the fair. Many like me will register more than once on that count but hey....

The people are beautiful.

For those who love fried food this is where heaven meets earth. Truly I say onto ya-all that even cow pies deep fried would taste good at the fair.

My daughter won a Blue Ribbon at the dog show. That with an apple dumpling buried under a half pound of ice cream makes this a day for dancing.

Another voice in the wilderness.

San Diego, August 22, 2011: St. Gianna Physician’s Guild today launched an online petition (www.StopTheBirthControlMandate.com) requesting the Obama Administration and Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, toimmediately withdraw all references to contraception and contraception counseling from the “Guidelines for Women’s Preventive Services” under The Affordable

Care Act, and to provide a conscience clause to protect the religious freedom and beliefs of Catholics.

Not sure if this type of petition works. However, it would never work if we do not put forth our voice. The current occupant is moraly tone deaf. I have fought a lot of fights I did not 'win' and knew I would not when the fight began ("not sure how many of them it would take to kick my ass but I knew how many they were going to use.") but it would be worse for not fighting.

I have signed it and wish you to do the same.

Invisible infants

We know the moral costs of abortion but "they" think morality is so yesterday. So here are just some economic stats and its the 'economy stupid'.

"In 1973 there were 744,000 abortions of babies who would be 38 years old, if they were alive today. If about half had married and had an average of 2.1 children, another 390,000 babies would have been born.

On the assumption that people marry at age 24, About 10 million of those invisible infants would have married and would have had 10.8 million children of their own. Perhaps another 2 million babies would have been born out-of-wedlock.

Consequently, America is missing about 65.5 million people. That is more people than live in New York, Los Angeles, and an additional 127 of America’s largest cities.

The economic consequences of these missing people are staggering. Marco Ciavolino, a computer consultant, created the Invisible Infants website and the spreadsheet which estimates that these people would have earned $5.7 trillion, (assuming an average per capita income of $26,000 according to Census). They would have paid $1.4 trillion in taxes!

We live in a time of high unemployment. If all those children had been born, wouldn’t the economy be worse?

No. If those Invisible Infants had been born, they would have been a boon to the economy. This column noted recently that the 76 million Baby Boomers only had 49 million children. No wonder they have trouble selling their houses and downsizing! If 38 million couples had the usual 2.1 children they would have had 80 million children. There would be no housing slump."

See charts and Mike McManus' article here

It is a lie that more people equals more poverty, and strife. As you look at the world the places that have the most poverty, war and political instability are the countries with the lowest numbers in population.

File this under the 'no crap' column.

"In the United States, our battles over abortion, family life, same-sex marriage, and other sensitive issues have led to ferocious public smears and legal threats not only against Catholics, but also against Mormons, evangelicals, and other religious believers…the mass media tend to cover these disputed issues with a combination of ignorance, laziness, and bias against traditional Christian belief…We make a very serious mistake if we rely on media like the New York Times, Newsweek, CNN, or MSNBC for reliable news about religion. These news media simply don’t provide trustworthy information about religious faith …These are secular operations focused on making a profit…They have very little sympathy for the Catholic faith, and quite a lot of aggressive skepticism toward any religious community that claims to preach and teach God’s truth."

Archbishop Chaput

Read it all here

Patient: "Doctor. Doctor. It hurts when I do this."

Doctor: "Then don't do that."

Pope Ben has named a new doctor of the church, 16th century Spanish priest St. John of Avila. The title of ‘Doctor of the Church’ is bestowed upon a saint whose writings are deemed to be of universal importance to the Church. The Pope must also declare the individual to be of “eminent learning” and “great sanctity.” Other Doctors of the Church include St. Augustine, St. John Chryosostom, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Catherine of Siena and, our bestest little girl, Therese of Lisieux.

They also released a short list of those to be considered as doctors which include John Bosco and Louis-Marie de Montfort - two of my favorite Saints.

An historical clerihew

Titus Oates

liked wearing heavy overcoats.

When it simply got too hot

he alleged a papist plot.

Do Not Try This at Home

one for the good guys

One of the really great things about being a Christian is we know how the war ends. Sure, sure, we are going to lose a few battles and there will be the wounded and sometimes we feel that we lose every battle. So when we do win one we should share it like the widow who lost her coin ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’

Here is a good win - a coin almost lost.

“America,” Chesterton says, “ is the only nation in the world founded on a creed. The creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence, perhaps the only piece of practical politics that is theoretical politics and also great literature.”

Bishop of Toledo Bans Parishes from Raising Funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation

Dear Friends in Christ,

Few of us remain untouched by the scourge of breast cancer. Whether among our families, friends or neighbors, there are a great many women in our country who confront this disease every day with tremendous faith and courage.

Researchers, physicians and medical personnel, using their God-given intelligence and skill, work very hard not only to provide healing of those who are afflicted, but also to find a cure. We are all familiar with the mobilization of effort in our country on behalf of this worthy goal.

One of the most widely known initiatives is that of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Many people participate in efforts to raise funds for this cause, including some of our Catholic institutions and schools.

While we want to do everything possible to support the search for a cure, sadly the landscape of medical research today is sometimes marred by the erroneous belief that research is not bound by moral norms rooted in faith and reason, as reflected in the teaching of the Church. That teaching holds, for example, that it is not morally acceptable to destroy one human life, even in its embryonic stage, in order to save another human life.

For some time, moral questions have been raised from various quarters about the research funded by the Komen Foundation. The Bishops of Ohio have discussed this and have looked into the matter. As best we can determine, at present the Komen Foundation does not fund cancer research that employs embryonic stem cells. However, their policy does not exclude that possibility. They are open to embryonic stem cell research, and may very well fund such research in the future. They are also contributors to Planned Parenthood, which, though it may claim to provide needed medical services to poor women, is also the largest provider of abortions in our country.

In order to avoid even the possibility of cooperation in morally unacceptable activities, the other Bishops and I believe that it would be wise to find alternatives to Komen for Catholic fundraising efforts.

For that reason, I am directing that in the fight against breast cancer, fundraising carried out under Catholic auspices, including our schools, should be channeled to our locally known Mercy Cancer Centers instead of Komen.

Through Mercy, we can help local women who are without financial means to receive specialized care which includes treatment, detection and support in their fight against breast cancer. We can be assured that at Mercy, these women will receive a high level of compassionate care that respects their human dignity.

More information will be coming to you from Mercy regarding this opportunity. I thank you for your cooperation and support. Together let us pray for all cancer sufferers, especially those in the greatest physical, spiritual and emotional need.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Leonard P. Blair
Bishop of Toledo

Obama Clerihew

For his birthday Barack Obama

received a llama.

Alas, this camel-like pet

made him long for a cigarette.

A group of gay-rights activists has set up an online petition to encourage Sesame Street producers to make a social statement on the show. To wit, they want longtime roommates (and long-rumored gay couple) Bert and Ernie to get married. Predictably, supporters and opponents are lining up on either side of the issue, even though Sesame Workshop has stated that neither character is gay.

While the Bert and Ernie petition is interesting, it doesn't seem like a priority in terms of Sesame Street social issues. First things first - let's get Oscar off the streets and Cookie Monster into rehab.

Religion as Weapon

Just another example of how the MSM is woefully ignorant on religion - any religion.

When a Dem says he/she is a Christian the press says he/she is a good guy/gal. When a Repub says the same the press says he/she is a bad guy/gal.

From a post over at Public Vigil: The press has discovered that Protestants are not Catholic.

"When did being a mainstream Protestant even become an issue in American politics? When that Protestant actually takes her faith seriously and formulates her political campaign on Christian principles.

If Michele (Bachmann) were a faithful Catholic, then we would be warned about her allegiance to the Pope. That's always been standard procedure for the secular press. Now it seems like any Christian presidential candidate is going to come under attack from the secular press one way or the other."

"Amazing how humanists care nothing about religion unless they can use it to justify one of their "human rights" campaigns. Homosexuals suddenly wanting the blessing of the Church for their orgies comes to mind.
Suddenly, the secular humanists are the latest and greatest defenders of the papacy against the attacks of the Lutherans."

It's Official-Pregnancy is now a Disease

In the new Health and Human Services (HHS) guidelines for health insurance plans, HHS took the extraordinary step of putting the guidelines into effect immediately so that college students could have free contraceptives, sterilizations and abortifacients by the 2012-2013 school year.

“The Obama Administration apparently believes that ensuring contraceptives for students’ premarital exploits is reason enough to forego public comment before making these rules effective,” said Patrick J. Reilly, President of The Cardinal Newman Society. “That is social engineering at its worst.”

According to the proposed rule submitted to the Office of the Federal Register:

“The July 19, 2010 interim final rules indicated that HRSA expected to issue guidelines by August 1, 2011. After considering public comments raising the issue addressed in these amendments, however, the Departments determined that HRSA should be granted the discretion to address the commenter concerns at issue prior to issuing guidelines under section 2713(a)(4). Many college student policy years begin in August and an estimated 1.5 million young adults are estimated to be covered by such policies.5 Providing an opportunity for public comment as described above would mean that the guidelines could not be issued until after August of 2011. This delay would mean that many students could not benefit from the new prevention coverage without cost-sharing following from the issuance of the guidelines until the 2013-14 school year, as opposed to the 2012-13 school year. Similarly, 2008 data from the Department of Labor indicate that over 4 million Americans have ERISA group health plan coverage that starts in August or September; they too would experience over a year’s delay in the receipt of the new benefit if the public comment period delayed the issuance of the guidance for over a month. The Departments have determined that such a delay in implementation of the statutory requirement that women receive vital preventive services without cost-sharing would be contrary to the public interest because it could result in adverse health consequences that may not otherwise have occurred.”(emphasis added)

Yes pregnancy has to be prevented because it could result in adverse health consequences - you know, like a baby.

Mark Your Calendars

In a breakthrough agreement, public television executives in Chicago have committed to prime-time broadcasts and nationwide distribution of Fr. Robert Barron's new CATHOLICISM documentary series this fall.

A show broadcast on PBS that shows Catholics in a positive light, as something good?!? Whod a thunk it? This is major. Really when was the last time you saw Christianity let alone Catholicism shown, on public TV as anything but harmful or at best quaint.

As Father Barron said, "The Catholic story is being told, but being told by the wrong people in the wrong way. We need to tell our own story." And brothers and sisters he tells it well.

When I saw the trailer two words kept leaping in my head: "Holy Crap"

Show starts this fall check your local listings.

The current occupant has lost 'the appreciation of primary things and therefore all sense of proportion about the world'.

"If [my daughters] make a mistake I don't want them punished with a baby".

Senator Barack Obama

"Now a child is the very sign and sacrament of personal freedom. He is a fresh free will added to the wills of the world; he is something that his parents have freely chosen to produce and which they freely agree to protect. They can feel that any amusement he gives (which is often considerable) really comes from him and from them and from nobody else. He has been born without the intervention of any master or lord. He is a creation and a contribution; he is their own creative contribution to creation. He is also a much more beautiful, wonderful, amusing and astonishing thing than any of the stale stories or jingling jazz tunes turned out by the machines. When men no longer feel that he is so, they have lost the appreciation of primary things, and therefore all sense of proportion about the world. People who prefer the mechanical pleasures, to such a miracle, are jaded and enslaved. They are preferring the very dregs of life to the first fountains of life. They are preferring the last, crooked, indirect, borrowed, repeated and exhausted things of our dying Capitalist civilisation, to the reality which is the only rejuvenation of all civilisation. It is they who are hugging the chains of their old slavery; it is the child who is ready for the new world." GKC

One of the side effects of the Arab Spring

Breaking News on the Heat Wave

Windows Opened On Both Coasts In Effort To Create Transcontinental Cross-Breeze

WASHINGTON—In a move to combat record-high temperatures and facilitate some much-needed cross-country ventilation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Friday it had ordered the opening of two windows, one in San Francisco, CA and another in Virginia Beach, VA. “As we speak, a cool cross-breeze is sweeping eastward to bring relief throughout our stuffy 3.79 million square miles of interior,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, adding that those with air-conditioning should turn it off now to avoid wasting electricity. “While we’ve heard reports of more flies coming into the central states at night, we feel that’s a price worth paying to prevent people from having to sleep on top of the sheets.” As of press time, the transcontinental breeze had decreased considerably after the window in San Francisco was shut to keep out street noise. (Onion)

A Presidential Clerihew (in Gilbert)

I received the May/June issue of Gilbert Magazine in the mail today (yeah, I know: It's August 3rd), and to my surprise, one of my clerihews was in it.

President James Polk

would rarely crack a joke.

But his friends say he was quick

with a limerick.

Debt Cieling Absurdism

In the latest Distributionist review Kevin O’Brien outlines the problem with usury and our government debt.

"Somewhere Hilaire Belloc says that an economic system based on usury must always by its nature collapse.

In Economics for Helen Hilaire Belloc outlines in his admirably lucid manner the following principles of usury.

Belloc writes:

1. Usury is both wrong morally and bad for society because it is the claim for an increase of wealth which is not really present at all. It is trying to get something where there is nothing out of which that something can be paid.

2. This action must therefore progressively and increasingly soak up the wealth which men produce into the hands of those who lend money, until at last all the wealth is so soaked up and the process comes to an end.

3. That is what has happened in the case of the modern world, largely through unproductive expenditure on war, which expenditure has been met by borrowing money and promising interest upon it although the money was not producing any further wealth.

4. The modern world has therefore reached a limit in this process and the future of usurious investment is in doubt."

read whole article here

It's Punday

Yea I know "Coincidences are spiritual puns" but these are fun to tell at parties:

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head.’

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’

15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet writes inverse.

18. In a democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count
that votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you’d be in Seine .

21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, ‘I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.’

22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says ‘Dam!’

23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can’t have your kayak and heat it too.

24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, ‘I’ve lost my electron.’ The other says ‘Are you sure?’ The first replies, ‘Yes, I’m positive.’

25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Head in the Clouds

If you are looking for a cool dissertation paper for your masters work in theology do a study on clouds in the bible. From today’s mass reading:

Ex 40:16-21, 34-38

Then the cloud covered the meeting tent,

and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.

Moses could not enter the meeting tent,

because the cloud settled down upon it

and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.

Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling,

the children of Israel would set out on their journey.

But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward;

only when it lifted did they go forward.

In the daytime the cloud of the LORD was seen over the Dwelling;

whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud

by the whole house of Israel

in all the stages of their journey.

In both the old and new testaments clouds abound and are usually mentioned as God’s mode of transportation-His hover craft if you will or as the place where He best liked to play peek-a-boo when talking with humans.

As Chesterton said “There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.” so maybe that’s why God hung out in them.

for the rest of us there is The Cloud Appreciation Society. Wonder around on thier site it is all very pleasant.

On the left coast the people voted against same-sex marriage and now the legislator is trying to overturn that vote. On the right coast the legislator said yes to same-sex marriage and the people are working to put a measure on the 2015 ballot to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This is why we will ultimately lose. It is a bad definition it is heavy on the what but lacks the why. With the given definition what difference does it make to replace the nouns or the numbers. And by waiting until 2015 there will be 4 years of same-sex marriage - enough time to make it look safe and not enough time to see the damage.

What if they added to the ballot definition, ' for the procreation, protection and education of children'.

We are now full into the time Chesterton called a place where we can talk about anything but can't talk about everything an age of "efficiency" or "politics for politics sake." I have yet to hear one politian explain to the people the why of traditional marriage or the PHILOSPHY of marriage. Stop and think for a moment, today when we use the word marriage we always need to use the qualifier traditional. That means there can be an untraditional marriage and still be a marriage. Just note the fact that many writers are putting the word marriage within quotation marks these days.

"For the Christian dogmatists were trying to establish a reign of holiness, and trying to get defined, first of all, what was really holy. But our modern educationists are trying to bring about a religious liberty without attempting to settle what is religion or what is liberty. If the old priests forced a statement on mankind, at least they previously took some trouble to make it lucid. It has been left for the modern mobs of Anglicans and Nonconformists to persecute for a doctrine without even stating it..." GKC (Heretics)

It begins with, "What could it hurt?" and ends with, "How were we to know?"

"...Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, "Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good—" At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post, the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmediaeval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp-post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, to-day, to-morrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we might have discussed under the gas-lamp, we now must discuss in the dark." GKC (Heretics)

As Chuck Asay notes in his cartoon (above) same-sex “marriage” is a dead end. Same-sex “marriage” is not marriage; it is an exercise in frivolity. At best, a same-sex union can produce entertainment.

(and I have no idea why everything is underlined)

Happy Birthday, Hilaire Belloc

(Above: Shaw, Belloc, and Chesterton.)

Today is the birthday of Joseph Hilaire Pierre Belloc, born in 1870 to a French father and an English mother. He and GKC became such good friends and allies that they became known as the "Chesterbelloc."

As a young child he lived in France, but was sent to Cardinal John Henry's Newmany Oratory School in England, then studied at Balliol College, graduating in 1895 with a first class honors in history.

Belloc's first book, The Bad Child's Book of Beasts, was published in 1896, the same year he married Elodie Hogan. He wrote about a variety of topics which include French and British history, military strategy, satire, comic and serious verse, literary criticism, travel, and religious, political and social commentary. In 1902, Belloc wrote his most famous work, "Path to Rome", which described a one-man pilgrimage to the Holy City.

Belloc was also interested in politics and was elected to Parliament in 1906 and 1910. However, he left politics in order to start a new political review called Eye-Witness with G.K. and Cecil Chesteron. In the review the three of them attacked the English governmental system. Belloc, who revered Napoleon's efforts, worked to promote a unified Europe. He, along with GKC, also promoted Distributism

His life was filled with tragedy. Belloc's wife died in 1914 and his son Louis was killed in 1918 in World War I. His good friend Chesterton died in 1936. In 1941, Belloc's other son Peter died in World War II, and Belloc suffered a severe stroke in 1942 which ended his literary work. He died in 1953.

I leave with one of his sunny verses.

The Catholic Sun Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine There's always laughter and good red wine. At least I've always found it so. Benedicamus Domino!