Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Nine Day Novena to the Immaculate Conception

Day one.

O God, who by the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
did prepare a worthy dwelling place for Your Son,
we beseech You that, as by the foreseen death of this, Your Son, You did preserve Her from all stain,
so too You would permit us, purified through Her intercession, to come unto You.
Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, world without end.

Amen.

Day One

O most Holy Virgin, who was pleasing to the Lord and became His mother, immaculate in body and spirit, in faith and in love, look kindly on me as I implore your powerful intercession. O most Holy Mother, who by your blessed Immaculate Conception, from the first moment of your conception did crush the head of the enemy, receive our prayers as we implore you to present at the throne of God the favor we now request...
(State your intention here...)
O Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Mother of Christ, you had influence with your Divine Son while upon this earth; you have the same influence now in heaven. Pray for us and obtain for us from him the granting of my petition if it be the Divine Will.
Amen.



Read more: http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/novena/immaculate.htm#ixzz1fF0BVX4j

Holding Hands During the Our Father

The gesture of reaching out laterally to hold hands during the Our Father never gelled with me.

Do you do that when you go for a haircut or pedicure?

The waiting room of a doctor's office?

You're only in Church for an hour and the moment comes to pray to the Father, why in Sam Hill do people distract that intimacy with the people sitting beside us?

Bishop Roger Foys has capitalized on the new translation to issued a decree of the proper gestures during the Liturgy.

Amen.

The priest holds his hands out. There is no gesture prescribed for lay people. Don't flap your arms like the wings of a bird. Don't do a cartwheel. Don't hold hands. You just pray. That's all.

Latest Polls have Newt ahead of Mittens AND Obama!

It's an honest, no-nonsense, fair, patriotic talking year.

I'm telling ya, socialism has the cooties in this year's race!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Catholic Digest Goes Catholic

Great news.

Could America Magazine be next?

What a Day in Politics!

First, the cartwheel-worthy news:Barney Frank is Retiring!


He saw the writing on the Wall. He came within ten points of losing the last election and since that time there has been a redistricting which put more conservatives in his precincts.

Then there was Sam Brownback and Twittergate.

Really? We are at the point where a little snotnosed kid without manners can gain 10,000 followers for being rude and mean? It was overreaction to ask for an apology. But once it did happen and the girl 'refused' to apologize, we have a much different problem as a culture. Kids will be kids at that age but your duty as a parent is to teach the child manners, grace, how to be a decent human being. I am appalled that they let their daughter become a celebrity bitch. How will that serve her in life? How does it serve your community, country?

The plot thickens for Cain:Woman alleges she had a 13 year affair with him.

Says she has 61 texts/emails at odd hours.

Is that it? Not very compelling, but neither is the statement from Cain's lawyer:

a statement provided to CBS News from Cain attorney Lin Wood did not go so far as to deny an affair. Wood's statement said White's accusations of a consensual affair between two adults was not a legitimate news story.

"This is not an accusation of harassment in the workplace - this is not an accusation of an assault - which are subject matters of legitimate inquiry to a political candidate," Wood said in the statement. "He has no obligation to discuss these types of accusations publicly with the media and he will not do so even if his principled position is viewed unfavorably by members of the media."


The Dems hit Romney as Two Men Trapped in One Body

How fun is that?

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Mark Shea and OWS

This is kinda scary.

When you lay down with the dogs, you get up with fleas.

Anyone peppersprayed at the New Translation?

All quiet on the Massachusetts front!

A reader pointed out this fun article from week's Pilot written by Fr. Jonathan Gasper.

It's an excellent article but I particularly liked this fun quip:

Many of us are excited about this weekend and finally having the opportunity to pray with the Roman Missal. Some perhaps are less excited. One anonymous writer recently compared the implementation of this missal to the anxiety provoked by a looming root canal! No one looks forward to a root canal -- but anyone who understands oral hygiene would agree that root canals are always good in the end. The medical procedure goes right to the root of the tooth, treating infection and preventing tooth decay and loss. A root canal, while uncomfortable, is absolutely necessary and good in the end.


..and absolutely loved his ending.

New words will shape us and form us, just as they have in the past. There's the old saying that goes like this: "What we pray is what we believe." The new words of the Mass aren't really that new, they're not foreign to us. They are what we believe. My deepest hope and prayer is that these words will begin to sound familiar with time. We'll need to reflect on them and in some cases learn the meaning of a few of them. But that's not a bad thing. If it means getting to the root of our faith and discovering again what it is that we believe, and what it is that gives us life, then it's not a bad thing at all.


What a magnificent summary the fruit of the subtle changes in the new translation will bring.

Two thought-provoking pieces from our eloquent Fr. Rutler: Riots, Coups and Abdication.

Le Pays Rél, a paper in the same vein as Au Pilori, took up its case against the nuns at Namur: who “listen tenderly to their pupils, duly trained, singing the praise of murderers and expressing the hope that the dear heroes of the R.A.F. will burn and devastate our country.”
Sounds like the OWS crackpots doesn't it?

The second piece:

FROM THE PASTOR
November 27, 2011
by Fr. George W. Rutler

Our Lord is astonishingly patient with our culture, given that He has made the world so wonderful and yet those who live in it can be so banal in what satisfies them. The season of Advent explores life's wonders, but it is widely ignored by people rushing to celebrate a Christmas they do not comprehend. If culture is satisfied with banality, those who would know deep joy must be counter-cultural.

In many places there will be no meditating on the four Advent mysteries: Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. But these are the very things that save us from the insufferable boredom of life lived only on the surface of reality.

A good patron saint for counter-culturalism would be Pope St. Leo I. Although he lived in the fifth century, he is just what we need today, and Pope Benedict XVI often strikes me as his double. Pope Leo lived in a culture of political and moral decay. He confronted powerful barbarians threatening what remained of classical civilization. Attila the Hun and Gaiseric the Vandal were not the sorts you'd want to meet in a dark alley, and yet this pope faced them down in 452 and 455 and saved Rome. He was no less strong against various Christian heretics whose pessimism about life had created a “culture of death,” denied that Mary was the mother of her own true God, thought that Christ could not be truly human and divine, and assumed that they were morally fine without God's help. Today we do not call them Manicheans, Nestorians, Monophysites and Pelagians, but they are alive in the schools and on television.

On the First Sunday of Advent, the new translation of the Creed renews the ancient formula for Christ as “consubstantial with the Father.” When this was defined at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the assembled bishops declared: “Peter has spoken through the mouth of Leo.” The Successor of Peter as center of the Church's unity knew that this inspiration was more important for civilization than defeating Vandals and Huns.

On this Sunday we also say in the General Confession an accurate translation of the Latin: “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault,” striking the breast in an outward sign that our souls and bodies have fallen short of the God-given dignity that a superficial world tries daily to take away. In a sermon on how to prepare for Christmas, counter-cultural Leo preached:

“And hence we warn you, beloved, in fatherly affection, to make this winter fast fruitful to yourselves by bounteous alms, rejoicing that by you the Lord feeds and clothes His poor, to whom assuredly He could have given the possessions which He has bestowed on you, had He not in His unspeakable mercy wished to justify them for their patient labor, and you for your works of love.”


The changes to the Mass are coming just in the nick of time. I love them.

New Hampshire's Union Leader Endorses Newt

Go Newt. It's your birthday!

I am beginning to see him as more than the anti-Romney. He has the patriotism, experience, courage we need. There's no perfect candidate in this race. But Newt is better than good in most of the areas we need at this time. I'm delighted he is catching on and doing a cartwheel that in light of this endorsement, Romney has faded a little more.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

The Elephant in the GOP

Romney faces trust deficit with voters.

Ya think?

Great Reflection on Vainglory

Vainglory is contagion that's spreading faster than swine flu hysteria!

This article is worthy of a full read but here are my favorite citations:


According to Aquinas, vainglory is a capital vice, meaning that it is a weakness that gives birth to many other vices. When our hearts are set on gaining the praise of men, we are likely to develop several other faults along the way.

Second, it is sinful to seek glory from people whose judgment is not sound...

For example, a parish catechist might pour her heart into her ministry partly because she loves the praise she receives from the pastor and her fellow parishioners for her good work.Similarly, Catholic parents might arrive at Mass early and train their kids to behave well during the liturgy, not just for the good of their children’s spiritual development, but also because they like the attention they receive (“What a beautiful Catholic family!”). To the extent that we do good deeds in order to draw attention to ourselves and not to God, to that extent we suffer from vainglory...

the hypocrite is more worried about giving the impression that he does good deeds than actually doing good deeds for their own sake...

The vain person also is more likely to fall into divisive actions in his attempt to show he is not inferior to others. Aquinas lists four such vices that breed divisiveness in one’s intellect, will, speech, and deeds. First is the intellectual vice of obstinacy: “by which a man is too much attached to his own opinion,” such that he is unwilling to accept another opinion that might be better. Second is a vice related to the will called discord, which is an unwillingness to give up one’s own will and concur with others. The third vice is related to speech and is called contention, whereby a man likes to be argumentative, or as Aquinas says, “quarrels noisily with another.” Fourth is disobedience: by which “a man refuses to carry out the command of his superiors.”[1] Each of these smaller vices flows from the capital vice of vainglory. They support a man’s vain drive to have others think that he is superior to others.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Fr. Mike Taylor and the Donnybrook over Altar Servers

Some poor slob trying to utilize the power of the Sanctuary to nurture vocations is being terrorized by the media.



He argued that the training could lead to more boys becoming Catholic priests, bolstering dwindling numbers in the clergy. Training for girls was halted.


Fr. Taylor doesn't argue it at all. Christ is the person who started this "argument". All Fr. Taylor is trying to do is take full advantage of the gifts and fruit of altar serving foolishly wasted on soothing the egos of women in the pews with low self esteem and a chip on their shoulder.

Frankly, it's a bit like tying up a delivery room with men who feel like God cheated them because they can't get pregnant and deliver children but want to go through the motions. There might be hospitals foolish enough to let them, but we all know what delivery rooms are used for, and men will never get a crumb of the real fruit.

When weighing the balance of the mystical power, mentoring and fruit that feeds priestly vocation against the hostility ignorance breeds in women, most priests will simply buckle. Even the ones who know they are tempering vocations and would be inclined to do it, don't have the back up from the buffoon bishop in charge of the See. But the reality is, canonically, short of removing a priest who decides to do it, there is little the bishop can do.

I wonder if groups of orthodox women got together and started the initiative in a parish, educated other women on the mystical power and fruit of reserving altar serving to boys, encouraging the pastor to take full advantage of it, could we help spread Fr. Taylor's fire?

We'd have to choose the priests carefully, get the support of a few wealthy people in the parish and choke off the Chancery with threats over their precious money, put up with the cad priests like Garrity and Unni who will grab the opportunity to characterize themselves as doing Christ and His Church a favor by discarding the mystical fruit for the adoration the daffy women will give them, etc., but I bet we could.

BTW - here's how Catholics are voting in the poll:


Should girls be allowed to be Altar servers:

Yes: 32%
No: 66%




Got to love that!


Cast your vote. Circulate it to your friends and encourage others to do so.

Black Friday

For some reason, the commercialization of Christmas is really getting to me this year. Santa Claus was at the mall before Halloween. Christmas movies have been on Lifetime for weeks. People have been camped out at Best Buy for days for "Black Friday". They spent Thanksgiving in a parking lot, without their family, friends. Some stores even competed with giving thanks with our families by opening on Thanksgiving day. Nine thousand people were standing in line at Macy's in Herald Square.

"I came here for the deals,"


Really?

Ever heard of TJ Maxx?

Check this out. There was pandemonium near the Xboxes and some kook sprayed the other kooks with pepper spray so she could grab merchandise while the others were choking and clawing at their eyes.

"It was absolutely crazy," he said.

Another customer said screams erupted after about a hundred people waiting in line to snag Xbox gaming consoles and Wii video games got into a shoving match.

Alejandra Seminario, 24, said she was waiting in line to grab some toys at the store around 9:55 p.m. when people the next aisle over started shouting and ripping at the plastic wrap encasing gaming consoles, which was supposed to be opened at 10 p.m.

"People started screaming, pulling and pushing each other, and then the whole area filled up with pepper spray," the Selmar resident said. "I guess what triggered it was people started pulling the plastic off the pallets and then shoving and bombarding the display of games. It started with people pushing and screaming because they were getting shoved onto the boxes."


This is how merchants and screwballs are approaching the celebration of Advent when Christians prepare for the Baby Jesus, the price of our soul's salvation, to be born to a Virgin.

I feel like boycotting buying anything at all. I want to just debride the infection foisted upon our sacred celebration.

This is a great post - Five simple ways to return to celebrating Christmas. I used to do the "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake when the children were little. I don't know how I lost the tradition but I'm adding that one back in.

“Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb.”

A prayerful and blessed Advent to one and all.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

As God is my witness...I thought turkeys could fly!

Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving to all of you!

As God is my witness...I thought turkeys could fly!

p.s. I have the parade on. Excuse me...is it me, or are the acts men in drag?

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

USCCB ready to fight for religous liberty?

Leaner, meaner USCCB?

I keep reminding myself how lucky we are that Our Lord answered our prayers to derail the election of Kicanas. We really dodged a bullet on that one. That guy is a full fledged card carrying member of the radical demoralization of souls.

I am grateful for the opportunities Bishop Dolan has taken to make changes, or speak out in the public square. I don't want to appear to be an ingrate, but it is fair to say, there's lotsa room for improvement.

First of all, the fact that they didn't get their panties in a twist until a flow of money was shut off does not go unnoticed.
Furthermore, I am much more concerned about the liberty to teach the Catholic religion in our own schools and parishes. This is the greatest threat to evangelization.

The Bishops are the parties of the first part selling off our conscience protections all over the country.
Every Catholic hospital has a price on it.

The USCCB isn't building anything. It is the natural order of things. The more you take away money from the Bishops, the better they get at the role of salvation. Cut off the oxygen to the beast.

He also appears to be giddy about the rope a dope meeting with Obama.

We can all relax. Obama is going to look into the problem with religious liberty under his administration.

Come on. Obama is the one driving the agenda. He put all the people in place.

Give us a break.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Anyone but Romney.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Is Jake Plummer a Bigot?

This is a fine howdy' a do:

A day after former Broncos QB Jake Plummer said in a radio interview that he wished the man currently taking the snaps in Denver, Tim Tebow, would curb his references to Jesus Christ and his faith, Tebow responded.
Macabre.

What an intolerant jerk.

I'll tell you something, with all the filth and trash going on around us, it would scare the daylights out of me if what was getting under my skin was a young man's happiness, gratitude and expression of love for Jesus Christ.

I'll bet Plummer feels like scratching the eyeballs out of laughing children. When old ladies cross the street, he must have to restrain himself from putting the pedal to the medal.

May God abundantly bless Tim Tebow.





Sunday, November 20, 2011

Occupy Moonbats Seizing Homes


Crap, this is getting insane.

Who'da believed in America that thugs could take stampede the private property of others to seize it while the police are castrated?

Might be time to upgrade the FID card from mace to weapons.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Occupy Movement Starting to Overthrow Police Power

Is it possible for a judge to issue an order restraining the police from enforcing the law? Of course it isn't. But some crackpot judge in Boston has done exactly that.

The problem with Judge McIntyre's ruling is it sets a broad precedent for other, and perhaps less politically desirable, occupations of public space. What's to stop a commune of neo-Nazis from occupying the Boston Common? Or more blandly, a group of five campers in the Public Garden who argue that their encampment constitutes environmental art and should be considered protected speech?

The most bizarre part of the ruling was McIntyre's order to have Occupy Boston and the city enter "mediation.
"

Boston is low-hanging fruit for the anarchists. They going to try LA next.

The "Day of Disruption" is heightening the emotions of the village idiots in the unions.

They are in hand-to-hand combat in NY.

This could get ugly.

If you following the history of what happened in El Savador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, etc., where the Chavez has meddled to overthrow the political structure, the anarchy of overthrowing police power indicates things may be accelerating at a much quicker pace. Of course, American police are too savvy to bait with the same kind of tactics they use in Latin America. Offering them overtime is enough to get them to ride the train to anarchy.

What the Democrats are doing to our country makes me sick.

If the GOP was smart, they could hijack the thing. Scrounge up several thousand young unemployed republicans to stop shaving and bathing and bus them down to the white house.
Come up with a couple of chants...

"Fee Fie Fo Fum, Barack Obama is a bum","One, two, three four, Barack isn't spending anymore".

What a mess.



Take a Walk on the Wildside in Bathrooms and Locker Rooms in Massachusetts

A bill was railroaded through the House that pretty much makes public bathrooms in,Massachusetts unusable for women and children. The ugly details below from MFI.

Here's a little secret most men don't know, because most women don't talk about such things out loud: Women are so private about what a bathroom is used for, they take pains not to subject anyone else to the noise and odor. Even other women.

This modesty is actually innate and manifests itself at a very young age. I was with a 7 year old daughter of a friend a few months back who asked me to take her to the ladies room. When we got there, she didn't want to go in. She told me she was afraid the people in the offices nearby would hear her going. I explained to her that all ladies feel that way and there is a secret we share...we turn on the faucet to drown the noise! She went in as happy as a lark.

In public rest rooms where there are more than one stall, it is possible there will be a man sitting right beside you. Moreover, when boys are lined up at urinals, Chaz Bono may be standing beside them. Potentially, children playing sports in schools will be forced to undress in front of a boy wearing a dress. It borders legalize and forced child pornography.



How vulgar it is all becoming.

In the end, the promiscuity made public bathrooms unsafe places decades ago. I avoid them like a petri dish loaded with hepatitis.

Here's the details from MFIs press release.




Boston – House leaders today rammed through a measure relative to “transgender” protections that left rank and file members with little information; just a heavy hand from leadership to pass the measure – forcing it through with little debate — before the imminent House recess.

The final version strikes a provision which would open public bathrooms and locker rooms to any person of either gender, but the process and the language on the rest ofhe measure was anything but open and transparent. Throughout the day, lawmakers were not given up to date versions of the measure to review, but expected to “fall in line” with leadership on a final, favorable vote.

“It’s a victory for the safety, privacy and modesty of woman and children who expect to be safe and secure in public bathrooms in the Commonwealth,” said Kris Mineau, president Massachusetts Family Institute. “But it leaves too many issues unanswered in terms of burdensome and costly regulations to businesses and how workplace provisions will actually manifest in our public K-12 schools, as well as private businesses losing their rights and autonomy—and being unfairly subject to frivolous lawsuits,” Mineau added.

“Beacon Hill heard loud and clear from citizens across Massachusetts – they want their bathrooms and locker rooms to remain safe spaces for women and children – and that shows the power of grassroots activism and the outrage of an electorate who doesn’t want Beacon Hill putting their safety and privacy at risk,” Mineau said.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Mark Shea's "Parable"

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't get through Mark's latest bitter screed.

Is he seriously implying this mauling is like a parable from scripture?

There are plenty of reasons not to trust a politician, not to like his background.
One might go as far as to say there is a duty to warn the sheep about a wolf. But Mark seems to have lost his way from the matrix of who, when, where and how that preserves Catholic convictions about redemption.

If a politician has a long history of saying whatever is politically expedient, of saying one thing but legislating another agenda, if there are reasons to suspect he is a manwhore without respect for the dignity of women, a narcissist, an empty suit, then by all means, knock out an opinion.

But if you look at a person's history and there is a traceable trajectory that leads to conversion to Catholicism and the Sacraments,a stable relationship for some time that goes along with the story, a history of honorably serving your country, a patriot, what kind of a bleephole would scour perez hilton to dig up 20 year old stories to imply the path to the sacraments and redemption is cheap to Catholics?

There is a duty to protect and preserve the theology of redemption. We want converts to know that we believe, with full conviction of the heart. We are are supposed to be living witnesses to the forgiveness of sins.

Mark's "parable" does a terrible disservice to Christ's Church.

I didn't think anything could trump Mark's mischaracterization of people who fall from grace as a 'frauds'. It was a reckless disregard for the soul of a priest who served the Church faithfully to malign him as a reprobate. We want our brothers and sisters to get up, dust themselves off, untangle themselves from the sin with vigilant use of the sacraments.

It is supposed to be a loving environment, where we believe in the dignity and good of every person who is traversing towards Bethlehem, Gethsemene, Golgotha, Transfiguration or Resurrection. We don't send the message that we are waiting for them to prove they are frauds so we can toss them into the trash.

Even if you have no good reason for your dislike of a candidate, fine. But you don't use your bully pulpit to scandalize redemption and the sacraments of the Catholic Church.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Cardinal O'Malley named to head pro-life committee

Nothing passive-aggressive about this, is there?

At the most critical time in the political history of the United States, the USCCB yesterday positioned their most talented gum it up man to cripple the prolife movement.


"OMalley will be charged with the task of heading up all pro-life educational and legislative efforts they undertake including pushing for legislation to end and limit taxpayer funding of abortions, ensuring that Obamacare does not fund abortion, ensuring that Obamacare does not fund abortions, and promoting the conscience rights of pro-life and Catholic groups and medical workers to not have to be involved in doing, referring for or paying for abortions. "

LOL.

All the proabortion lobbyists he has appointed here in Boston have a front row seat to sabotage national efforts.

When the proabrtion Romney illicitly forced Catholic hospitals to give out abortifacients, he complied.

He, himself, contracted abortionists to provide abortions and gives them a free ride from Catholic hospitals. Catholics who pointed out his collusion in the murders forced Catholics to abandon their conscience protections, and was actually inconsistent with Church teaching, were treated to a character assasination on his blog as liars and people who do a disservice to the Church. He claimed subcontracting abortionists and driving babies to their executioners was consistent with Church teaching.

He was proven wrong, of course, but this is exactly the kind of discretion the USCCB needs.

My favorite part is when he mentions the spectacle of the Kennedy funeral was staged by him so he could talk to Obama. I guess he never heard the good news...they have invented the telephone.

Give us a break. Really. What do we have to look forward to? An episcopal prom for Barney Frank to discuss the sacrament of marriage?

Will somebody please drop a dime to this potato head and explain that a victory doesn't come in listening unless the party comprehends and takes the steps necessary to protect the unborn from being massacred?

Patron of the Universal Church, intercede for us.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Fr. John Unni's Welcome to the New Roman Missal - "It's Looming Like a Root Canal"


Fr. John Unni has quite a peculiar little introduction in his bulletin about the changes to the Liturgy.

If you scroll down to the last page of his bulletin, you'll find a piece written by Fr. NoNoMen. (That name must must cause chaos at St. Cecelia's rectory, eh?)

First Sunday
of Advent is looming like
a date with a root canal...
the new missal
is intended to steer us
back toward a more traditional liturgy. Those who
welcome such a move
look forward, as one commentator put it, to “a
new sense of dignity and
decorum,” promoted through “reforms such as
an altar orientation toward the East, kneeling
for Communion, and better and more dignified
vestments and furnishings.”


I must be missing something because Fr. Nonomen is approaching getting rid of the puppets and clown noses with more dignity and kneeling towards the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity like his annual colonoscopy.
As a priest who does not welcome these changes, I’m under pressure...
I am wondering, for instance, how to reconcile a parish staff grumpy about the changes with a largely unsuspecting parish populace. Or what to do when attempting to explain this Trojan horse of a translation and the pointed agenda it may be hosting. In short, how does one make a sale when it’s tough to believe in the product?
So, how to proceed? Do I and other likeminded priests simply refuse to comply?...
We certainly need to present these changes in context, encouraging such likely and important questions as “What next?”—that is, encouraging everyone to consider and discuss the long-term effects the changes might have on the church. We also must provide a new “word board” for the people in our parishes—a discourse that supplies the language necessary to articulate any number of personal responses, from individual noncompliance to letter-writing to informed acceptance. Most of all, as that amazing woman reminded me... we cannot forget to laugh;


Wow. I didn't realize the Trojan horse of an agenda...+I am not worthy to receive You but only say the Word and my soul shall be healed+...would have the Fathers Nonomen in such a tizzy, did you?

ginger pumpkin soup - best evah!



2 cans pumpkin puree (libby's 100% pure)
meat of two pears
3 cans chicken broth
1/3 cup reduced-fat peanut butter
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup onion sliced onion
2 tablespoons ginger
1/2 tablespoon pumpkin spice

Saute onion and garlic in the tablespoon of butter. Remove when browned.
Combine pumpkin purree, chicken broth into a 6 quart saucepan
Puree together the meat of pears, peanut butter, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, the cooked onions and garlic with 1 cup of the above ingredients.
Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

It's tough to get a weightwatchers points-plus value when plugging into the calculator. It comes up as a 1. (I'd count 1/1/3 cup as 3 points to be on the safe side, as similar vegetable soups in the community-recipe area run about that.

Nutritional value for a cup:

Calories75
Total Fat1.5g
Saturated Fat--
Cholesterol0.5mg
Sodium523mg
Total Carbohydrate--
Dietary Fiber2.00g
Sugars--
Protein4.0g
Calcium--


My own variation of a recipe from here: Ginger-Pumpkin Soup Recipe - Country Living




Adoremus in Aeternum

What a treat.

We will adore for eternity the most holy Sacrament.
Praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise Him all ye peoples.
Because his mercy is confirmed upon us:
and the truth of the Lord remains forever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
We will adore for eternity the most holy Sacrament.
Praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise Him all ye peoples."

Pomegranates

So, I cruised the produce department with a creative eye for making smoothies for my two commuting college students. Raspberries, pineapples, apples and bananas are staples around here, I figured the art of persuasion would trying something a little different.

Pomegranates were on sale, 2 for $5.00, so I picked one up.

I'm so glad I didn't buy two.

What an experience.

I might have to paint the kitchen.

What is up with that?

Gingrich on Sovereignty and the Law

I only tuned into the debate for a few minutes but was lucky enough to catch Gingrich taking a sniveling Pelley to the woodshed about the Law. What a shining moment.

Sign me up.

It never dawned on me before, but I think Bish is right in the comments below that the Obama's class warfare occupy riots is the DNC get-ready for what they think will be a Romney nomination. There isn't a dime's worth of difference between Romney and Obama - except Romney fiscal agenda is taking care of the rich. The only people in the GOP who are behind him - are the rich. Even if Romney's affect was not weird and he was a prolifer and a conservative - which he most emphatically is not - his nomination is going to result in an increase in the class warfare riots. Fugghetabout Romney. He is a loser.

We've got to face the facts. What we are left with, is Gingrich. Judging from his performances, I think he is a candidate I could actually even get enthusiastic about. Apparently, I am not alone as he is rising in the polls.

The man of the moment appeared utterly at ease as he signed autographs and posed for pictures with people on the Furman campus amid football tailgaters on a beautiful fall weekend. He jokingly explained that he has no need to attack Romney. So many in the party aren’t with Romney at this point, he said, that all he needs to do is get most of them, not try to take people away from the former governor.


This is absolutely spectacular:



I am in kiddies!


Occupy Wall Street/Obama's Class Warfare Riots



Does anyone really give a flying fig about the encampments of Obama's freeloaders?

Drunks and druggies, murder, public sex, crime, peeing and pooping in the streets, defacing our flag, inciting malice for our country, destroying small businesses.

Did I dream this, or did they actually dig up Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young? Are they all that's left of the druggies from those three days at Woodstock? The Age of Aquarius is back. They've all been waiting 40 years for this.

I don't see how this bunch of animals are helping the democrats political game though, do you? This works when there's a republican in office but it doesn't gin up warm feelings about the Obama Administration.

People who studied and work for a living are really not in the mood for people rioting for more handouts.

Maybe they democrats don't see it gaining momentum for them either. It looks like the unions have given the go-ahead to start arresting these thugs.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Dan Avila Update and an SOS to the Vatican

As everyone following the story knows by now, Dan Avila 'resigned' over his column in the Pilot. After his resignation, I held off a bit because I wanted to know whether the 'resignation' was a polite way to cover up his termination or whether he truly resigned of his own free will. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that whether he was driven out or he fled, Cardinal O'Malley has created a hostile work environment for the advancement of Church teaching and the dynamic of this hostile influence reaches to the USCCB.

Dan's commentary lacked some clarity and syntax on original sin and temptation, but theologically, it was sound. Sexual temptation is the devil's most effective tool. We are not engaged in a war of words. Our goal, above all else, is to deliver from temptation. To lead to the sanctifying grace that produces virtue and chastity.

The reality of the situation is, the media is inciting malice and hostility towards Christendom. Given this, how we craft our message that the Catholic Church is the custodian of the temporal and spiritual tools that lead us to chastity when confronted with temptation, has to be worded carefully.

Perhaps a clarification should have been issued. Dan Avila has been faithfully serving Christ's Church for over 30 years. The fact the Cardinal elected to pursue firing the man or made the environment so toxic he had to flee, while keeping prelates on the payroll with a history of shacking up with their lovers, is actionable. We must take action. It is our baptismal duty to take action.

I was speaking with a colleague the other day and mentioned that Cardinal O'Malley is, sadly, too weak to manage the presbyteral mafia. His reply was: "I don't know that he's weak. He is the one that put them all in there".

We do not know the reasons but the evidence is crystal clear: Cardinal O'Malley is the arbiter of silencing Catholic teaching and is leading souls into temptation. He is the architect of the plan. He has hired the workers and he is executing that plan. It's a tough pill to swallow for all of us.

Our colleagues at Boston Catholic Insider have taken the time to put together another communication campaign to the Vatican.

It is simple and takes a few moments of your time.

Please take those moments now and send off the faxes.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The Floozy Watch

To recap, as it turns out, Sharon Bailek doesn't want a job after all. She gets terminated from every job and seems to have made a living out of avoiding working for a living and paying her bills while living it up in frau-frau style. She has filed for personal bankruptcy twice.

She's borrowed money from boyfriends and tried to screw them out of it by accusing them of harassment when they asked for it back. She's screwed the IRS, the Illinois Department of Revenue, numerous credit card companies and landords.

According to witnesses, she was flirting with and hugging Cain at an event a month ago and current boyfriend and father never heard of the allegations until right before the press conference.

She also had a tough time convincing a lover that he was the father of her child. How white trash can you get when a man she was sleeping with doubted he was the only one?

As if this isn't creepy enough, she lives in the same building as David Axelrod, whose fingerprints appear to be all over this thing.

The other dame, Ms. Kraushaar also appears to have an interesting accusation history.

She made a big stink about some poor intemperate man who circulated a joke and took another employer to the cleaners when she felt entitled to work from home. Oddly enough, along with tens of thousands of dollars, her settlement included a year-long fellowship at the Kennedy School of Government. Krausharr's former supervisor called the suit frivolous and said she had a lousy work ethic. She said she was speaking out because of doubts about her credibility.

The Obama moonbats are like the archdiocese. Overtime you think you have a handle on the corruption, you realize it is much worse than you thought.

Monday, November 7, 2011

The Cain Mutiny

I have a confession.

When madame #4 came forward with with Gloria Ambulance Chaswer and a swoopdiedoo hairdoo covering one eye (a little long in the tooth for that, lady!) to tell her story about being unemployed and staying at the Capitol Hilton and the dinner date that went awry, I had a desperado moment. I thought to myself: Even if he is a pig, he's still better than Romney!

Ugh. I am starting to get an icky feeling. Four women is a lot of women. Why would you get into the race when you know there's a trail of women with whom you were sexually inappropriate?

You've got to love the hypocrisy of the dems. Bill Clinton? Ted Kennedy, who left one of his objects of desire at the bottom of the Atlantic - that's all good. It's Cain that should be run out of town.

BTW - Is the Capitol Hilton where unemployed women stay? I hate to sound like a prude - but would you hook up on an overnight to meet a married man for dinner to talk about a job?

You call the guy at work don't you? Wouldn't you meet him at his office? Starbucks?

Why would there be a rendezvous in a hotel that required an overnight stay?

Wouldn't that be your first clue the guy might have something else on his mind?

Not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.

Gingrich is starting to look like the best one in the bunch.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

An Extra Hour!

I love this day. I wake up early to try to get an extra hour out of every day for weeks.

I had a butternut squash soup made before 8am this morning! I did a few variations on this recipe (I pureed the onions, garlic and squash before I simmered, used dry ginger, added two fresh pureed pears, substituted vegetable broth for chicken) but it came out delicious.

With two commuting college students living at home, I'm trying to adjust how to feed them healthy and nutritious food on the go. I've been cooking a few soups every week - pumpkin, onion, chili made with turkey breast, cream of broccoli - fresh fruit, cheese, nuts - and a things they can put together in a few minutes. They've been eating out on the run - spending way too much money and eating crap. I have not been very successful. I finally broke down and bought a microwave to see if that helps.

I'm also trying muffins for the morning. Muffins are not exactly on the healthy foods list but I console myself with the excuse that it's better than the nothing they are eating in the morning now - their blood sugar and ergo brain is running on empty.

If anyone has worked out a solution, fill us in!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Boogieman Alert in Comments Section

Here's the reason comment moderation is on:

Carol, This is the way I am going to act. If you mention comments that I have had deleted...then I will simply keep re-posting over and over....If you want me to cease posting, then you had better not make comments about a post where I cannot answer...I can do this 100 times if you like. And I will..


Knock yourself out dude. When you're done with that, run outside and grab yourself a lawn chair and watch for flying pigs. If you see them, run back inside and turn on the computer because that's when one of your comments loaded with misrepresentations and errors will get posted here.

God Bless you and have a nice day. By the way, I have your IP address (Comcast Cable (98.217.240.232) Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States) and my advice to you is to stop the stalking and harassment. My blog does not entitle you by law to force others to read your misconceptions, conspiracies and bigotry about Catholics. The folks at the chancery love poppycock. Send it there.

My youngest was in a car hit by a drunk driver. She's ok, just a little banged up and shaken. all is well, thanks be to God - but I am DEFINITELY NOT in the mood to put up with bullying from kooks.

(That's three car accidents in a week in this family. Time to be a little more proactive as the old boy is definitely up to no good!)

Enjoy this stupendous day with an extra hour of sleep everyone!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

The Elephant Under Cardinal O'Malley's Big Top




Have you seen the latest?

I didn't see the original article. While I'm not fond of the way Avila structured his thoughts in the citations I saw, I'd like to know exactly what Terry Donilon's threats of retaliation are based upon.

What exactly is behind his claim it's 'not the teaching of the Church' that sexual temptation and sin come from the devil?

I'll get to Donilon's threats in a minute, but let's try something out relative to the teachings of the Church on temptation and sin:

In the piece, titled “Some fundamental questions on attraction to another's wife or husband,” Avila wrote that “disruptive imbalances in nature that thwart encoded processes point to supernatural actors who, unlike God, do not have the good of persons at heart.”

He continued, “Whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of attraction to the spouse of another, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God.”


I don't see anything that contradicts Church teaching there.

Let's give it another whirl:

In the piece, titled “Some fundamental questions on attraction to masturbation,” Avila wrote that “disruptive imbalances in nature that thwart encoded processes point to supernatural actors who, unlike God, do not have the good of persons at heart.”

He continued, “Whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of attraction to sex with ourselves, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God.”


That works too.

The theology is absolutely Church teaching.

Is Donilon saying the Church doesn't teach attractions to sin are from the devil?

That's how it comes across to me.

Do you think the buffoons from the Obama administration in control of the Boston Chancery would have redacted the article and threatened to retaliate if Avila wrote about attraction to heterosexual adultery, premarital sex or masturbation?

Yes, we are all made in the likeness of God but there's one big motherass difference: God was not born with original sin. There was no disorder in His Nature. Because there was no disorder, He was not attracted to any kind of sin.

Unlike the rest of us.

The rest of us were born with original sin and we are therefore disordered, attracted to sin and the temptations to think about them and act upon them come from... the devil.

All of us. Why would you exclude people attracted to same sex from this paragon?

There's something passive-aggressive going on with their reckless disregard for the salvation of gay Catholics. It comes across to me like they are deliberately withholding Church teaching and salvation from them. It's almost as if they consider them the proverbial swine in front of whom they will not cast their precious pearls.
It is exasperating to any Catholic of good will who cares about the salvation of every soul.

Christ said if you have lust in your heart, you've already committed adultery. Ergo, the thoughts and attractions to sin are (venial) sins, even if you don't act on it. Sins are the work of the tempter who is evil.

What am I missing here?

Duly noted is that Donilon would not specify exactly what he thought contradicts Church teaching. He must know that whatever his claims are, they wouldn't stand up to scrutiny by the Holy See.

And this was an absolute corker:
It posted an apology from Avila saying the column didn't represent the position of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose stated purpose is to 'promote the greater good which the Church offers humankind,' and wasn't authorized for publication.



The "USCCB" exists to promote the greater good which the Church offers mankind.

Gives you the goosebumps all over, doesn't it?

At least they had the decency not to describe themselves as promoters of Catholic teaching. What a lovely description of a body of wolves who maul and devour truth.

I think this was my favorite sentence:

“As we absorbed what was in the paper, we said, ‘Whoa, that’s a problem,’ ” Donilon said of the reaction of archdiocesan officials. “That’s not the position of the church or the archdiocese.”


You read that right. There they all are up in the Chancery, reading the paper and reacting to positions that are not consistent with Church teaching. There are conferences about it with the "USCCB" who are beside themselves that a theological error has been published.

This is as good as a Kadashian wedding!


Fr. John Unni can schedule a Sacred Liturgy to culminate celebration of public simulation of sodomy on parade floats and you can't get anyone in the Chancery (let alone the Episcopal Embassy in D.C.) to bat an eyelash. You have to storm the Holy See.

Where are the 'retractions' from the National Catholic Reporter? America Magazine? The hundreds of thousands of whacked out articles in Catholic newspapers all across the country for the last 40 years?

BTW, don't miss the compelling evidence that Cardinal O'Malley and his administration is hostile, threatening, intimidating and retaliatory to those who promote Church teaching:


“It was a problem, and we would have dealt with it if Dan had resisted” writing an apology, Donilon said.


I'll refrain from the long list, but has anyone seen an apology from Unni? Cuenin? Bryan Hehir?

How about the heresies and public conduct of Monsignor Paul Garrity whose relationship with a married woman leaves a scandalous impression he is, at the very least, hijacking intimacy that belongs to her husband?

Dan Avila is not a priest, nor is he even a lay person employed by the Archdiocese. What is it exactly Donilon thinks his options were "if Dan had resisted"?

Assuming Terrance Donilon doesn't mean they would send people out to rough him up, Boston priests and Catholics who have experienced the thugs Cardinal O'Malley hired as he goes on his appointed rounds to the circus, pot luck dinners and frau-frau events 24/7 - we can crack that code:

1. Rake him over the coals in a public character assassination.
2. Hire private investigators to stalk you and find something they can use to
threaten your livelihood and paycheck.

Since Dan worked for the Church, all it took was a couple of phone calls to threaten his income.

Dan Avila worked here in Boston for many years. He is personally loyal to the teachings of Christ's Church and has many accomplishments. But when it became clear Cardinal O'Malley was adverse to Catholic teaching and we had a huge problem on our hands, the most charitable thing I can say is, Dan is a good man but would never be a nominee for Profiles in Courage. When the wolf comes to consume the flock, there is no resistance and he does not swim alone in the rivers of inertia and compromise to the devil.

They really had a winning streak going for an awful lot of years with these tactics. They could even cover up rapes with it.

It is a pity their winning streak has been interrupted by those of us who will tell them to stick their threats where the sun don't shine.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Carry On

Our friend Caroline from BellOftheWanderer has been journaling a remarkable and moving story about recovery, mercy, faith and love.

Caroline is an amazingly sweet, kind Catholic woman. I'm blown away by what she's been through - and the fruit of grace that came out of her experience.

I can't seem to add .com's to the blogroll but she is a gem. Put her on your list of favorites.

Herman Cain has had a rather exciting week, eh?

I know the candidates I don't like in the 2012 race for POTUS but I'm not invested in any particular candidate, including Cain. But I have to tell you, as I watched the asinine media blitz about the 'smoking' commercial, the twisting of everything he says - I thought to myself "Heh. Even the democrats aren't this weird. Where have I seen this before?"

All of a sudden, it hit me: The Romneybots.


Look, the ad was high-school quality and a bit strange, but only thing I got out of it was he must not have a team of professionals put together yet.

He definitely isn't politically seasoned. It's early...and I hate to say it...but it's not like there's another horse in the race. Perry is starting to look like an empty suit. Romney is a train-wreck. I like Newt and I'll get behind him if his campaign gets a lift, but I'm not sure he can pull it off. They will crucify Michelle. I don't trust Santorum. Paul is a screwball.

We're going to have to lower the bar on something and as far as I'm concerned, the seasoning and polish are not substantive. I'm tired of the phonies who are coached in the back room by pros.

As far as the abortion-related question with his grandaughter, I think that was a family-related and personal question - not a political question. I've heard his views on pro-life and I am satisfied with them. There's nothing to be gained by saying there are no exceptions to abortion, unless that's exactly the way he feels. The phoney pros dance around that question. Even prolifers who are cowards dance around that question. He's convicted.

The 'sexual harassment' thing could be something or could be nothing. I don't mean to undermine sexual harassment because it can be devastating if true. But until I hear more, it's a big yawn for me. I've seen too many men in the professional world have a bunch of nothing blown up by a woman with a chip on her shoulder.

The more this thing plays out, I'd say I agree with MaryAnn Kreitzer. It isn't persuading me away from him, if anything, he's starting to look a little better.