Man who murders Nun confesses and converts to Chrisitanity

I ran across this story and couldn't stop from posting it. A man in India murdered a nun about 15 years ago and upon being visited by her biological sister (who is also a nun), he asked for forgiveness and began his conversion to Christianity. Remember to pray for all those in India, that the religious violence will stop.

In other news, I'm about to board a plane to Chicago and hope to be visiting that Cathedral in a couple hours.

Our Bishop Makes a Great Move

I saw over on A Catholic View that our Bishop, Bishop Brandt of the Diocese of Greensburg has made a great move. He denied an order of religious sisters access to recruit through diocesan support and publications because of their blatant denial of Church teaching, specifically about abortion. He's been a great Bishop during the times I have personally met him, and seems to be doing a great job shepherding the flock. Say a little prayer for him, all Bishops, priests, and religious if you have a second.

Medjugorje

Seen those billboards around your neighborhood with the Blessed Virgin on them, a link to www.mej.com, and the quote "This is my time"? Being curious about this, and knowing it had something to do with the unauthenticated and non Church-approved apparitions at Medjugorje, I checked out the web site. Looks like they are trying to push people to personally investigate the apparitions and also running tours to the area. I know little about this personally, and I expect I will be waiting till the Church makes an official declaration on it before I make up my mind, but does anyone else know more about this group specifically? It is interesting that they are putting up billboards all over the country. Is it legitimate belief or a money-making scheme? Could the billboards bring people closer to Christ, the sacraments and the Church or could they be misleading and cause people to shy away? Interesting, to say the least.

Redefining

Sometimes people ask about the Church's rather strong view on the protection of life including people who are in a so-called "vegetative" state. It is interesting that, at least in this one case, scientists have found that a person thought to be in this state can listen and communicate even though they are not functioning. Hopefully this will lead others to start thinking about the sanctity of all life.

"Safe Sex"

Recently I have found a lot of news articles "beating a dead horse." For a simple example, let's take the Stimulus program our government has implemented several times in the last few years under both Presidents Bush and Obama. We poured money into our banking system and to pave roads, and guess what, the economy still stinks. So, the news and the government has decided, we "might need another stimulus package". Sounds like insanity (doing the same thing over and over again with the same results).

Likewise, I read a recent article about an increase in teenage pregnancies. Of course, we in the United States have been increasing "Sex education" and birth control (handing out condoms or making "the pill" more accessible to teenage girls), not to mention abortion. The solution? Hand out more birth control and teach more "sex education", even to younger ages.

I've also had conversations with Catholics and Orthodox recently about their problems in marriage, how immoral tactics such as these (and others) are the correct way to proceed in their marriage to keep it from failing.

Then, I stumbled upon an article on Catholic Online that sums up a lot of my opinion. Come on people, let's move towards more modesty and purity, less immorality to solve our problems in society. It's a function of our society moving more and more towards self-indulgence and satisfaction and another time where people are failing to remember the ideas of self-sacrifice and the value of suffering.

Update on Mass. Senate Race

Well, as most of you know by now, Brown won! Let's pray for him that he make wise decisions when in office, especially regarding the most innocent of human beings, the unborn. Let's also pray that we get real health care reform that helps the most defenseless people (the unborn, children, the elderly and the poor) and doesn't tear down life.

Finally, pray for him on issues where he might not agree with the Church, whatever those might be.

Massachusetts

Tonight at around 8 o clock the polls close in Massachussetts. If you read this before then, say a quick prayer about the election. One of the candidates has already proven herself to be an anti-Catholic bigot with her remarks about how Catholics shouldn't be doctors or nurses in emergency rooms, not to mention being all around obnoxious in general with her attitude towards this election. This could also be a big impact on whether abortion funding gets cut out of the health care bill. We'll see!

Spirit of Ecumencism

In the spirit of ecumenicism, as we draw advent to a close, read this great story about a Protestant minister and member of Congress willing to stand up for moral values. It strengthens my feeling that all Christians need more than ever to unify under Christ.

Continuing the Absurd

Recently, my wife was taking photographs for a journal of a child who lives down the street from us. She was still pregnant at the time, and the girl asked her how many children she would like to have. Jokingly, she said "oh, about seven or eight". Her mother jumped into the conversation to say "Don't you care about the world's population?"

This attitude has been developing for some time in our world. The fight against the unborn is following the same trend, as contraception and abortion are not being seen as a way to control climate change and make the world "a better place". We have probably all heard of the monstrous abuses conducted in China in the name of population control, but as Catholic online reports, it seems to be spreading. It's time for us as Catholics to stand up to this kind of nonsense.

Sometimes Catholics will say that they don't need to hear about abortion because it isn't applicable to their lives, so it should be kept out of homilies. They ignore the fact that all of us, even if we aren't having abortions personally, have a responsibility to use our money, time, writing,prayer, and other resources to fight against abortion, contraception, and population control.

News of the Bizarre

Catholic Online reports that Barbara Boxer (obviously as nutty if not more so than Nancy Pelosi, but at least not Catholic) has compared abortion to Viagra. Well, Barbara, I will gladly give up my insurance discount for Viagra if you will give up insurance paying for abortion. I promise.

A Victory for Catholics!

Well, I don't want to exaggerate the extent of how we were involved, but all three major TV news sources (CNN, FOX, and MSNBC) reported that the Catholic Church was a heavy hand in negotiating with the House of Representatives including speaker Nancy Pelosi on the Health Care bill. It ended up that thanks to their efforts (again according to the news, we had a major impact) and to Democrats who were moral enough to stand up against abortion funding in the health care bill, we passed an amendment to limit funding to very specific cases (rape, incest, life of mother). Although I still can't support a bill that allows any abortions at all, at least the Church was active enough to bring this issue to the forefront and win a minor victory. Continue to pray for a total end to abortion and give thanks to the Lord for his mercy endures forever.

Two Thoughts

First, the Lutheran (Evangelical) Church has decided to follow in the footsteps of the Anglican mother Church in allowing openly gay priests within their midsts (although I'm not even sure if the Anglican's have ever definitively allowed that or not). I'm praying for the more "orthodox" Lutherans (oxymoron?) that they might think about coming home to Rome. The Catholic Church is once again looking more and more like one of the only people holding out in a new cultural war (see birth control).

Secondly, in today's gospel, we see those following Christ reject him because they could not understand his teaching on the Eucharist (John 6). They reject him and leave because these teachings are hard. I was thinking about this in terms of Protestants who can't accept that they must eat of his body and blood.....Father Andrew as usual stole thoughts out of my mind for his homily. Remember Peter's great words:

6:68

Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life;

6:69

and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

The all new improved mass

As have been seen on a multitude of blogs across the United States, the conference of Bishops has released the examples of what will be changed for both the assembly and celebrant in the Roman Missal - including the responses. I, for one, am a big fan. The wording goes back to the more traditional, theological wording that was used in the 1960s (in fact, my friend brought over a missal from the 60s today and we were looking at how similar the language was.) It also removes some of the more "inclusive" language that muddies the distinction between priests and laity and some of the wordage that focuses on the people rather than the object of our worship, Christ. Bravo to the Bishops for a step in the right direction.

Visitation of Sisters Religious

A lot of people are beginning to talk about the upcoming "investigation" of the Vatican into female religious orders. Obviously, the Church is ready to step in and reign in some of the sisters that happen to be out in "left field" - especially considering how low womens' religious vocations are. Over at nunblog, a nun wrote a very nice post that i think is worth a read if you are interested in the issue from a sister's perspective.

Positive Story about Population Growth

This is one of the few stories I've seen in the media lately to be mostly positive about population growth and to have good news for some of the wealthier countries!

Notice that the increasing population is to have "largely GOOD implications" for these countries.

God in our hands.....

As a prologue to this post, I might want to mention (or refresh this blog's memory, if I talked about this before) about my journey from taking Christ's body in my hand to receiving Him on the tongue. When I finished RCIA, the norm (at this specific parish) was to teach candidates and catechumens to receive the Lord in their hands and then to consume the host from there. I never had a problem with this (still don't have a problem with it because I am not a Bishop and must rely on their decisions) but soon I developed a problem that was either a deeper issue in my conscience or God trying to tell me something. Everytime I received the host, I felt like I had crumbs or residue left on my hand...it was so bad that I was tempted to lick my hand every time, and I just felt wrong about it. Thus, I started recieving on the tongue, and I must say that it does allow me to approach Christ with a lot more reverence than previously, even if it is just because my mind isn't focused on holding Christ, potentially dropping his Body and Blood, etc.

Well, I've enjoyed reading about the debates about how the Eucharist should be received, and I must say that I come down on the side of taking it on the tongue, and perhaps even kneeling. Altar servers used to hold plates under the chin to make sure none of the precious Body was lost as well. I think this at least reminds us of the importance of the Eucharist and what we are doing.

I bring all of this up because a fellow convert from the Church of Christ recently blogged about another unintended consequence of receiving in the hand. Check out his post.

St. Paul's Bones

Interestingly, the Pope has announced two cool discoveries about St. Paul over the last few days, and this one is especially neat on the Feast Day of Sts. Peter and Paul. Scientific testing has indicated that the relics we venerate as St. Paul's really seem to be his.

The Gay Marriage Thing

As we know, most Protestants don't recognize the Sacraments (at least not as being Sacraments). However, the Church holds that Protestants have two legitimate sacraments - baptism and marriage. They are missing out on the other five. It struck me as I was thinking about gay marriage and the outcry that fundamentalists and other groups have put up in opposition that these groups are actually defending the sacrament as instituted by God. When you listen to their discussion of the issue, they are VERY close to understanding the sacramental nature of marriage - that God instituted it as something between man and woman, I just don't think they have come to an appreciation the access we get to God's grace through that sacrament. Anyway, here's hoping that maybe some dialogue could open up about this issue.

Mother Teresa

So I was listening to an episode of the SaintCast and they were talking about Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. It was mentioned how much the main stream media and other individuals want to try so hard to prove that she had lost her Catholic faith or that she was an agnostic of sorts. Many times they try to refer to her writings about spiritual struggle that were recently published (and they obviously have not read any of the book at all, just running on their own suppositions). I wondered why they feel the need to do this, and then I realized it.

Mother Teresa is someone who proves God exists in a way. She shows us as well as anyone the true nature of Christianity and what it means to love our neighbor. Grappling with the fact that such immense good comes from our Faith means that we have to grapple with the idea that that is how God really wants us to live. You never hear anything about Catholics who do negative things "losing their Faith" or not being good Christians, but the one woman in recent years we can look at and say she absolutely and beyond a shadow of a doubt had a true Faith needs to be attacked, because it would be scary to admit the Love of God.

Even I, when I was Protestant had to try to demonize Mother Teresa in some way. I couldn't grasp the fact that such a wonderful and pure person could be Catholic. It didn't make sense how she would be going to hell after such a life. I'm just thankful that God has given me the graces to come to a better understanding of Faith and Christianity now.

Watch Out

Watch out! I believe we Catholics are getting ready for some of the political fights of our life over the next few years. If you have not seen what has been going on in Connecticut, basically the politicians sought laws that would undermine the structure of the Catholic Church. These efforts failed after the Church fought back vehemently by protesting and writing to legislatures telling them they could not set up how the Church makes decisions and is run. Now, the state bureacracy is trying to penalize them for mobilizing the masses to stop that legislation. Read this story. We should remember that Catholics have always been oppressed in this country, from the denial of freedom of religion in the early colonies to voting laws that oppressed us to today's viewpoint that everyone has free speech except us. Just look at how the media tries to pounce on every negative thing that happens within the Church and avoids as much positive talk as possible. We should strengthen ourselves as Catholics for the upcoming fight over things ranging from abortion to freedom of our religion. And, don't expect too much from other Christians as this type of discrimination continues.

In a somewhat unrelated development in Connecticut, I must applaud the Church there for standing up for life by asking the Governor to reconsider vetoing the end of the death penalty there.

Luckily, the Catholic Church has been attacked over and over for the last 2000 years and this is one of the weakest attacks. We persevere througout the ages and will continue to be strong over the years. The Holy Spirit and God will help us overcome it all.