Posts
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Benedict Asks for Forgiveness for Catholics Who have not Shared Their Faith
From the National Catholic Register, 8/31/2011
Pope Benedict XVI has asked forgiveness on behalf of generations of “cradle Catholics” who have failed to transmit the faith to others.
“We who have known God since we were young must ask forgiveness,” said Pope Benedict to a gathering of his former students at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, on Aug. 28.
The Pope said an apology is due because “we bring people so little of the light of his face, because from us comes so little certainty that he exists, that he is there, and that he is the Great One that everyone is waiting for.”
Read the article.
Pope Benedict XVI has asked forgiveness on behalf of generations of “cradle Catholics” who have failed to transmit the faith to others.
“We who have known God since we were young must ask forgiveness,” said Pope Benedict to a gathering of his former students at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, on Aug. 28.
The Pope said an apology is due because “we bring people so little of the light of his face, because from us comes so little certainty that he exists, that he is there, and that he is the Great One that everyone is waiting for.”
Read the article.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Stress and God
Recently, I did a little bit of reading about stress management. I’ve been feeling an extraordinary amount of stress lately due to work, I won’t get into the details, but it deals with the workload and my boss. I read that stress comes to all of us in varying degrees, it could be so bad that it affects our health, our family or work relations. But some stress is also good. If we didn’t have stress, we would never get that income tax done. The writer was suggesting different ways to deal with stress, and in our secular society I was not surprised that nothing was said about God in dealing with stress.
For a Catholic and as a Secular Franciscan, I know that the best way to deal with stress is through prayer. God will always answer our prayers, but in his own time - we expect immediate answers but as we know, God’s time is not our time, so we need be a little bit patient.
We Catholics have so many ways with our faith to deal with stress. Finding some quiet time to relate to Jesus is a stress reducer in itself. Putting it in the hands of God is a stress reducer. So is meditation, listening to Gregorian chant or some other Catholic/Christian music, the Jesus prayer, studying the Bible.
We also have a fantastic stress reducer — Confession. Why carry that guilt around, that load on our shoulders? When it is so easy to ask for forgiveness.
As Franciscans, we embrace a couple of tools that will help us manage stress. The first is simplicity. The more complex our life is, the greater the stress. Another tool is our efforts to be not materialistic. The more we have, the more we have to worry about. We are also Gospel people. Leading our life according to the Gospel, we learn about Jesus and we learn the wisdom as to how to lead our lives. For example: If there is bitterness or anger toward another, we know that we should not go to bed without addressing it. Carrying grudges and not forgetting, takes a lot of energy and adds to our stress. We are reminded that God feeds the birds of the air, that he clothes the flowers of the field, and as we are so much more valuable God most assuredly will take care of us.
We know that God helps those who help themselves. If you are feeling stress from work or interpersonal relations, or finances or whatever, ask yourself what is the one most important thing I can do to address this issue. Once you address it and act upon it. You’re on your way to reducing that stress.
St. Thomas More - Moral Integrity
I ran across a posting by the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference on Thomas More. In these times of political corruption and a lack of integrity in a secular society we need to look at men like Thomas and pray for statesmen who exhibit and live as examples of moral integrity, that objective truths do exist.
The article starts:
Today we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Apostolic Letter (Motu Proprio) of Pope John Paul II proclaiming Saint Thomas More as the patron of statesmen, politicians and lawyers. Together with the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we call to mind the significance of this great saint of the 16th Century for us today.
St. Thomas More lived—and gave his life—for truth. He provides a powerful example that not only shows that objective truth exists, but that we have the God-given ability to discern it. He stands as an example showing all statesmen, politicians and lawyers—and indeed all of us—that we have an obligation to find and to serve the truth and to work to protect the lives and fundamental dignity of all human beings.
In 1929, the great Catholic writer, G.K. Chesterton, wrote that: “Thomas More is more important at this moment than at any moment since his death, even perhaps the great moment of his dying. But he is not quite so important as he will be in about a hundred years’ time.”....
On October 31, 2000, Pope John Paul II issued an Apostolic Letter in which he proclaimed Saint Thomas More to be the patron of statesmen, politicians and lawyers. In that letter, the Pope proclaimed:
“The life and martyrdom of Saint Thomas More have been the source of a message which spans the centuries and which speaks to people everywhere of the inalienable dignity of the human conscience, which, as the Second Vatican Council reminds us, is ‘the most intimate centre and sanctuary of a person, in which he or she is alone with God, whose voice echoes within them.’ (Gaudium et Spes, 16).
Whenever men or women heed the call of truth, their conscience then guides their actions reliably towards good. Precisely because of the witness which he bore, even at the price of his life, to the primacy of truth over power, Saint Thomas More is venerated as an imperishable example of moral integrity.”
See the entire posting here.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Homosexual Adoption and Catholic Charities
From Illinois Family Institute:
Higgins Responds to Anti-Christian Op/Ed in the Daily Herald
Friday, August 26, 2011
By David E. Smith, IFI Executive Director - Illinois Family Institute
Responding to a letter-to-the-editor I sent in earlier this month in which I accuse the state of Illinois of being guilty of religious discrimination in shutting down Catholic Charities' vital and laudable foster care and adoption work, the editors of The Daily Herald opined:
When we wrote in this space that it was time for Illinois to have civil unions, we quoted Gov. Pat Quinn, who said we "need to encourage tolerance in this state." And that's just what the legislature did when it passed the law allowing for civil unions and what Quinn did when he signed it. However, with that law (effective on June 1) came another issue. Again, we side with Quinn.
Catholic Charities in five Illinois dioceses, including those covering DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties in the Daily Herald circulation area, are suing the state so the agencies would not have to accept civil union and unmarried couples as foster parents. At issue is the state money used by Catholic Charities to run their programs for about 2,000 children. Illinois now requires that foster and adoptive care agencies treat same-sex couples in civil unions the same as married couples if they want to use state dollars.
"If an organization ... decides they don't want to voluntarily participate with the state, they have that choice and we honor that choice," Quinn said last month, as quoted by the Capitol Fax Blog. "We have other entities that are involved in foster care that are willing to assume that duty."
And therein lies the crux of the debate: Faith-based agencies like Catholic Charities are not forced to accept state money and therefore are not forced to change long-held beliefs. This is not a freedom of religion issue.
We believe, however, that there are many same-sex couples who would make excellent foster or adoptive parents if given the chance. Loving families and good parenting skills are not limited to straight couples or single people.
And yet that is exactly what opponents of the civil union law believe and espouse. David E. Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute in Carol Stream, said as much in a letter to the editor on this page on Monday.
" ... In upholding traditional religious teachings, and in the best interests of children, (Catholic Charities) will not place foster children in nonmarried or homosexual homes," Smith wrote. A person's sexual orientation on its own should not be a disqualifier. That's a form of discrimination the state won't and shouldn't accept.
We hope the Illinois judicial system affirms the state's point in this matter. All they need to do is look to Rockford to see that there are alternatives. About 300 foster-care cases once handled by the Rockford Diocese were transferred to the Youth Services Bureau of Illinois Valley when the diocese shut its program down. In 2007, when the Chicago Archdiocese halted its foster-care services because of insurance issues, the state also was able to transfer cases to other agencies.
"We will explore every option to prevent disruption to these children," said Ken Marlowe, spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services. "Discrimination has no place in child welfare."
IFI's Laurie Higgins submitted a response to their editorial, which the Daily Herald declined to publish.
Here is Laurie's fantastic response:
The Daily Herald reveals a profound lack of understanding when it argues that homosexual couples should be allowed to adopt children because in the Daily Herald's view "Loving families and good parenting skills are not limited to straight couples or single people."
If those are the only criteria necessary for parental fitness, then the Daily Herald must support adoption by polyamorists or incestuous couples, for surely there are polyamorists and brother-sister couples who are capable of "loving and parenting" children.
Historically, however, criteria for adoptive fitness have included not merely the capacity of those adopting to love and parent children. Criteria for adoptive fitness included an evaluation of the moral nature of the relationship between adopting parents. Types of relationships considered inherently morally flawed would be excluded from adoptive consideration.
Of course, in a wiser, less relativistic culture, this criterion did not need to be explicitly articulated. It would go without saying that society would not place children in environments defined by inherently morally flawed relationships -- like polygamous, incestuous, or homosexual relationships -- regardless of the ability of the partners to love, parent, and provide for children.
Despite specious arguments to the contrary, subjective homosexual attraction and volitional homosexual acts do not constitute a condition analogous to race, and disapproval of homosexuality is not analogous to racism. Making judgments about the morality of homosexuality is no more unethically discriminatory than is making judgments about the morality of polyamory or adult consensual incest. Once society jettisons an evaluation of the inherent morality of the relationships between (or among) adopting parents, there is no rational reason to prohibit polyamorists or incestuous couples from adopting.
Religious -- and non-religious -- adoption agencies do have the right and should have the freedom to make distinctions about what types of relationships constitute moral relationships. The government is overstepping its bounds when it attempts to impose the subjective moral assumptions of homosexual activists and their ideological allies on all child welfare organizations.
Higgins Responds to Anti-Christian Op/Ed in the Daily Herald
Friday, August 26, 2011
By David E. Smith, IFI Executive Director - Illinois Family Institute
Responding to a letter-to-the-editor I sent in earlier this month in which I accuse the state of Illinois of being guilty of religious discrimination in shutting down Catholic Charities' vital and laudable foster care and adoption work, the editors of The Daily Herald opined:
When we wrote in this space that it was time for Illinois to have civil unions, we quoted Gov. Pat Quinn, who said we "need to encourage tolerance in this state." And that's just what the legislature did when it passed the law allowing for civil unions and what Quinn did when he signed it. However, with that law (effective on June 1) came another issue. Again, we side with Quinn.
Catholic Charities in five Illinois dioceses, including those covering DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties in the Daily Herald circulation area, are suing the state so the agencies would not have to accept civil union and unmarried couples as foster parents. At issue is the state money used by Catholic Charities to run their programs for about 2,000 children. Illinois now requires that foster and adoptive care agencies treat same-sex couples in civil unions the same as married couples if they want to use state dollars.
"If an organization ... decides they don't want to voluntarily participate with the state, they have that choice and we honor that choice," Quinn said last month, as quoted by the Capitol Fax Blog. "We have other entities that are involved in foster care that are willing to assume that duty."
And therein lies the crux of the debate: Faith-based agencies like Catholic Charities are not forced to accept state money and therefore are not forced to change long-held beliefs. This is not a freedom of religion issue.
We believe, however, that there are many same-sex couples who would make excellent foster or adoptive parents if given the chance. Loving families and good parenting skills are not limited to straight couples or single people.
And yet that is exactly what opponents of the civil union law believe and espouse. David E. Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute in Carol Stream, said as much in a letter to the editor on this page on Monday.
" ... In upholding traditional religious teachings, and in the best interests of children, (Catholic Charities) will not place foster children in nonmarried or homosexual homes," Smith wrote. A person's sexual orientation on its own should not be a disqualifier. That's a form of discrimination the state won't and shouldn't accept.
We hope the Illinois judicial system affirms the state's point in this matter. All they need to do is look to Rockford to see that there are alternatives. About 300 foster-care cases once handled by the Rockford Diocese were transferred to the Youth Services Bureau of Illinois Valley when the diocese shut its program down. In 2007, when the Chicago Archdiocese halted its foster-care services because of insurance issues, the state also was able to transfer cases to other agencies.
"We will explore every option to prevent disruption to these children," said Ken Marlowe, spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services. "Discrimination has no place in child welfare."
IFI's Laurie Higgins submitted a response to their editorial, which the Daily Herald declined to publish.
Here is Laurie's fantastic response:
The Daily Herald reveals a profound lack of understanding when it argues that homosexual couples should be allowed to adopt children because in the Daily Herald's view "Loving families and good parenting skills are not limited to straight couples or single people."
If those are the only criteria necessary for parental fitness, then the Daily Herald must support adoption by polyamorists or incestuous couples, for surely there are polyamorists and brother-sister couples who are capable of "loving and parenting" children.
Historically, however, criteria for adoptive fitness have included not merely the capacity of those adopting to love and parent children. Criteria for adoptive fitness included an evaluation of the moral nature of the relationship between adopting parents. Types of relationships considered inherently morally flawed would be excluded from adoptive consideration.
Of course, in a wiser, less relativistic culture, this criterion did not need to be explicitly articulated. It would go without saying that society would not place children in environments defined by inherently morally flawed relationships -- like polygamous, incestuous, or homosexual relationships -- regardless of the ability of the partners to love, parent, and provide for children.
Despite specious arguments to the contrary, subjective homosexual attraction and volitional homosexual acts do not constitute a condition analogous to race, and disapproval of homosexuality is not analogous to racism. Making judgments about the morality of homosexuality is no more unethically discriminatory than is making judgments about the morality of polyamory or adult consensual incest. Once society jettisons an evaluation of the inherent morality of the relationships between (or among) adopting parents, there is no rational reason to prohibit polyamorists or incestuous couples from adopting.
Religious -- and non-religious -- adoption agencies do have the right and should have the freedom to make distinctions about what types of relationships constitute moral relationships. The government is overstepping its bounds when it attempts to impose the subjective moral assumptions of homosexual activists and their ideological allies on all child welfare organizations.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
THE RECESSION IS HITTING REALLY HARD!
THE RECESSION IS HITTING REALLY HARD!
The recession has hit everybody really hard...
My neighbour got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
CEO's are now playing miniature golf.
Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
A stripper was killed when her audience showered her with rolls of pennies while she danced.
I saw a Mormon with only one wife.
If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.
McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.
Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.
My cousin had an exorcism but couldn't afford to pay for it, and they re-possessed her!
A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.
A picture is now only worth 200 words.
When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.
The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.
And, finally....
I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security,
retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call centre in Pakistan, and when
I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.
The recession has hit everybody really hard...
My neighbour got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
CEO's are now playing miniature golf.
Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
A stripper was killed when her audience showered her with rolls of pennies while she danced.
I saw a Mormon with only one wife.
If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.
McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.
Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.
My cousin had an exorcism but couldn't afford to pay for it, and they re-possessed her!
A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.
A picture is now only worth 200 words.
When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.
The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.
And, finally....
I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security,
retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call centre in Pakistan, and when
I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Crappy People
Crappy People
I often consider what I can do to make myself a better man, a better Catholic, a better citizen; but once again I’ve been reminded that there are a lot of crappy people out there. After doing some Saturday morning shopping I decided to treat myself to a Chinese buffet lunch. I couldn’t help but observe a “gentleman” come in after me. He loaded a plate with one of the selections, and I mean loaded, he could not have put another spoonful of food on the plate without it rolling off. He proceeded to take a few bites and then left his table and filled another plate with a different selection. This second plate was loaded as much is the first. After eating a little more he pushed the first plate aside. An attendant came and took the first plate away and obviously it was destined for the trash. He then proceeded to fill up third plate with a third selection, again loaded. I would have given him the benefit of the doubt considering perhaps he might not have liked it, but why take so much in the first place if you weren’t familiar with that food? I think rather he was of their to simply waste food.
What a waste. It bothers me if I don’t finish a loaf of bread, or a bottle of milk in time, and I find that I need to throw it away. Yet this person had no qualms about wasting all this food. If I was younger, I would have approached him and admonished him, but in this world who knows how he would’ve reacted; people are shot for less.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Some of My Favorite Quotes
I am only one,
but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
Edward Everett Hale
A true professional is excited about his work, promotes his field, seeks responsibility, maintains integrity, strives for competence and displays initiative, creativity and mature judgment.
Unknown
"Seek first to understand" involves a very deep shift in paradigm. We typically seek first to be understood. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. They're either speaking or preparing to speak. They're filtering everything through their own paradigms, reading their autobiography into other people's lives. If they have a problem with someone — a son, a daughter, a spouse, and an himemployee — their attitude is, "That person just doesn't understand."
from "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"
“Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength”
St. Francis de Sales quotes (French Roman Catholic bishop of Geneva, active in the struggle against Calvinism, 1567-1622)
but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
Edward Everett Hale
A true professional is excited about his work, promotes his field, seeks responsibility, maintains integrity, strives for competence and displays initiative, creativity and mature judgment.
Unknown
"Seek first to understand" involves a very deep shift in paradigm. We typically seek first to be understood. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. They're either speaking or preparing to speak. They're filtering everything through their own paradigms, reading their autobiography into other people's lives. If they have a problem with someone — a son, a daughter, a spouse, and an himemployee — their attitude is, "That person just doesn't understand."
from "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"
“Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength”
St. Francis de Sales quotes (French Roman Catholic bishop of Geneva, active in the struggle against Calvinism, 1567-1622)
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