Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Bishops: I know you were busy with the Papal visit and all but Communion is...serious

Following Bob Novak's Washington Post column expressing dismay at politico Rudy Giuliani receiving the Blessed Sacrament at the Papal Mass in New York, New York's Cardinal Archbishop Egan expressed similar dismay, explaining that he and Giuliani had reached and "understanding...that he was not to receive the Eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion."

"I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the Eucharist during the papal visit here in New York, and I will be seeking a meeting with him to insist that he abide by our understanding."

I support and pray that the Cardinal Archbishop will be able to shepherd the Catholic ex-mayor into understanding the gravity inherent in receiving the Blessed Sacrament while not in communion with Catholic teaching, which includes — which somehow the Cardinal did not seem to address — irregular matrimonial status.

But there are further personalities involved here, aren't there?

Also receiving the Sacrament during the papal visit were Senators Kennedy, Kerry, and Dodd, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Novak gave Washington's Archbishop Wuerl some heat for this, since the reception occurred during the Mass in Washington. Fine. But I don't think the total responsibility belongs on Egan or Wuerl.

Have you ever heard a sermon regarding the proper disposition for receiving Holy Communion?

I haven't. (Wait...once I did. It was when Cardinal Law was still in Boston and at Sunday Mass he castigated Hillary and Bill Clinton from receiving, I believe it was, in Africa. But that was about non-Catholics and Communion, not about Catholics.)

Again. It's the job of all clergy — actually, all of us, but certainly the clergy! — to get us to Heaven.

This is not done, in my opinion, by ignoring people who bring down condemnation upon themselves by receiving the Blessed Sacrament while not properly disposed!

Can I get an amen here? For heaven's sake — literally — the pulpit folk have got to start preaching on this stuff! I know many people, Catholics included, who have no idea regarding the gravity of the Blessed Sacrament...even that little caveat in most missallettes doesn't go very far.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

You go, Saint Anthony!

Hey!

I'm blogging from my own computer!

And, against all odds, ALL my data has been recovered!

It took days, but it got done...THANK you, Saint Anthony!

(sigh)

Friend Alden, meaning no disrespect to the Saint, insists that I give some credit to the Disk Warrior doo-dad. Done.

(But you and I know that SAINT ANTHONY RULES!) ;-)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

No, Scott D. Pomfret...this "loony tunes Catholic whackjob" didn't rat you out

Remember this post?

Turns out the blogger got in a snit because (at first) he didn't get a ticket to the Mass celebrated by the Holy Father last Sunday...and blames me.

April 7

Loony tunes Catholic whackjob blogger-snitch picks up on my blog. She prays for me (and apparently rats me out to the Archdiocese).

Now which four items in this post are true?

1.) I may be "loony toons"
2.) I'm definitely Catholic
3.) I may be a "whackjob"
4.) I did and still pray for the guy

And the lies?

1.) That "snitch" thing. Trust me on this one Scott: had I "snitched" on you I would've let you know it.
2.) I did not "rat you out" to the Archdiocese of Boston. Hard as it is to believe, I'm not really tight with the PTB there, you follow me?

What I wrote was and remains my point...that Scott's motivations for wanting to attend the Papal Mass apparently weren't the best.

But Scott old buddy? To wah-wah-wah about the difficulty in getting your Admit One Pass after blogging about what you might or might not do at the Mass is pretty lame. And to blame others for your, uh, inconvenience is lamer still.

Hope you enjoyed yourself.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Catholics in the "real world": stupid quote o' the week goes to Forbes!

Today's Boston Globe included in its "VoxOp" (a feature that gives us snippets from blogs and web sites on various issues) the following quote from one Jon O'Brien from Forbes.com:

"Clearly, the great majority of US Catholics are thinking, believing, and acting in a different way than the hierarchy. That does not make us bad Catholics, we do take our faith seriously, but we also live in the real world."

Huh?

Could somebody send a memo to Mr. O'Brien explaining the not-too-subtle fact that, if one is a Catholic, then the "real world" is the one promised to us by Jesus Christ, founder of said Church, which, not incidentally, is an apostolic Church, which means that the hierarchy consists of successors to the Apostles whom, by the way, were hand picked by none other than Jesus Christ?

What, exactly, does Mr. O'Brien believe is the "real world?" And how the bleep does he (and his compatriots, noting that he uses the plural pronoun) figure that by "thinking, believing, and acting" in opposition (never mind "differently" — that's a soft word for "in opposition") to the hierarchy makes him and them "serious" Catholics?

They can't be serious!

Incidentally, the Globe, uh, forgot to credit pundit O'Brien with his, uh, full credentials, which Forbes.com thoughtfully provides:

Jon O'Brien is "President of Catholics for Choice."

Monday, April 21, 2008

Kelly plays Katchup...and miracles!

Hey folks!

It's been a while and I've got some really good excu -- er, reasons for my absence, but first:

Praise God!!!

You can read Michael Paulson's whole story about five abuse victims of the Boston Archdiocese meeting with the Holy Father starting here.

But the absolute best part is toward the end of the three page story:

[Abuse victim Olan] Horne asked [Father John] Connolly to hear his confession. It was the first time, Horne said, that he had been to confession in 30 years.

Can you imagine the partying going on in Heaven???

Now about me...

I'm not using my computer on accounta my hard drive crashed. Now that wouldn't be so bad except that it chose to crash at the precise time my automatic back-up maker was in use. Result? All my data -- all of it -- may be gone. We're using some sort of doo-dad called "Disk Warrior" (you Mac geeks might be familiar with it) to retrieve the stuff, but so far, nada.

Which explains why the Catholic Crossword Puzzle folks got zilch this weekend, among other things.

If the data is irretrievable (although why it should be is puzzling...I did ask for Saint Anthony's help, after all) I might ask you folks to email me, so I can get your addresses. Like I said, as of now, everything is lost. But we'll wait a bit on that.

In other news, my broken foot is still broken. Two more weeks in a cast and then some therapy is in the offing. Those of you blessed enough to receive Communion daily, please be grateful! (I know you are, actually.)

Anyway, that's the story. I plan to access this computer as often as I can...and to try not to pester Saint Anthony too much.

Thanks for reading!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Pope should discuss abuse prevention through PROGRAMS? Come on.

Disappointing quote from Cardinal O'Malley today in the Globe:

O'Malley said he would like to hear the pope "express sorrow and regret to those who have suffered and to their families," and also to hear the pope discuss the church's efforts to prevent further abuse through programs.

Programs.

How about a little something about holiness? About reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, for the liturgy, for the Church, for all of our brothers in Christ?

Here's the thing.

If we, all of us, simply follow the dictates of Christ, both scripturally and those handed down via Tradition through the Holy Catholic Church, we don't need any bleeping programs!

What we need is to listen to the Holy Father when he tells us to be holy. As Jesus tells us.

Programs. Sheesh.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

I'm no doctor, but men can't get pregnant

Jeff Jacoby's column on the oohs and aahs of the lady-who-thinks-she's-a-guy Tracy LaGondino's pregnancy is worth the read.

But particularly so is this parenthetical comment:

(Why, come to think of it, do the people who insist gender is fluid and subjective so often argue the opposite when it comes to race?)

Why indeed? There's no logic in this insistence. There may be a "feel good thing goin' on thing" to it...but no logic.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

And the odd headline of the week belongs to...

"Gift gags?"

I thought the Archdiocese of Washington was "anti-gag"...I mean, they pushed like heck to have that bobble-head Metro ad (which I thought was actually very good, except for the costuming of the doll) pulled.

Well, we all make mistakes. :-)

Monday, April 07, 2008

Not probably the best reason to go to a Papal Mass

What saddens me most about this poor guy is his self-description (other than that of a writer):

Scott D. Pomfret is the author of Since My Last Confession, a Gay Catholic Memoir, and a lector and eucharistic minister at the gay-friendly Saint Anthony Shrine, Boston MA.

Really sad. Don't email him. Pray for him. And pray for Saint Anthony's Shrine. And for the Franciscan friars who believe they run it.

Thank you.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Bishop Fulton Sheen...

...not only cracks me up but makes me glad to actually have a television set in my temporary "quarters."

Actually, I owe a great big Deo Gratias to EWTN. Now that's something worth watching!

Oh, well, I know I'm no doubt preaching to the choir but to tell you the truth I've never been all that big on any TV in recent years (no doubt an explanation for my tears on the aforementioned "Leave it to Beaver" episode.

But being pretty much stuck in a room where there alternative is reading or trying not to notice that (a) nature is calling again or (b) the skin inside your cast itches, the tube (and many thanks to my buddy Alden for bringing it down for me) suddenly doesn't look all that awful.

Yesterday, I watched a Bible study course on Exodus — particularly on the plagues of Egypt. Fascinating stuff! Today — after receiving the Blessed Sacrament from said good friend Alden — I was able to watch a number of Masses and Holy Hours. One Mass was great...it included, during Communion, an audio Act of Desire!

God is good.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Getting "the weepies" sheesh.

Okay, something's definitely wrong here.

Granted, I've got a broken foot.

Sure, I'm pretty much stuck in a makeshift room on the ground level (with permission to hobble out when nature calls and no permission to sneak a peak at email, etc. but I try to do it once a day anyway).

But there is simply no excuse for what I allowed to happen today:

I broke into sobs at a Leave It To Beaver episode!

Good grief.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Pray for us, Papa!

Photo courtesy pbs.org

Remembering Servant of God John Paul II on the third anniversary of his departure from this world.