Saturday, August 09, 2003

BLOGS OF THE DAY

I use the Giant list o’ blogs to check out the Catholic blogs and don’t think I have seen them all. I try to limit the blogs I read on a frequent basis since there are so many, each different, and all good. Since I am afraid I am missing some good stuff I thought I would check out all the Catholic blogs around and then give quick summaries. I only checked out blogs that were recently updated, some blogs I am more familiar with and some I visited for the first time. I will start with the trinity of popular Catholic blogs:


1) Blog: A Catholic Blog for Lovers -- Gerard Serafin

Self –Description: “A celebration of beauty, truth, and goodness, and, of course, love...and perhaps a little nastiness”

Features: Lovely pictures, beautiful prayers, Today in Church history, major list of Catholic blogs used for these reviews

Quick Summary: One of the major Catholic blogs, always positive, uplifting, the kinder-gentler blog




2) Blog: Catholic and Enjoying It - Mark Shea

Self-Description: “So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!

Features: News, rants, humor, lots of commenting

Quick Summary: One of the major Catholic blogs, a must see for Catholics, blunt, honest, direct, funny


3) Blog: Open Book- Amy Welborn

Self-Description: None

Features: News, lots of commenting, common sense, wisdom,

Quick Summary: One of the major Catholic blogs, good source for Catholic news delivered with humor and insight, balanced and thoughtful posts and comment discussions




Friday, August 08, 2003

And speaking of bigots-Christopher Hitchens was mentioned at Et Cetera today:

Victor Lams figures there must be a reason why Hitchens is so bitter about Bob Hope being beloved. I found this biographical article that gives a few reasons for Hitchen's bitterness. I knew Hitchen's mother committed suicide but I did not know she left his father for a defrocked priest. Interesting. With his writing skill and intelligence I hope he becomes yet another amazing conversion story.
Mel must act to stem rise of anti-Semitism

Yes that is the headline of an editorial in today's Daily News! Apparently Mel Gibson is the one responsible for the rise of anti-semitism which I stupidly had thought was occurring in areas with rising numbers of Muslims. If this movie is released, this writer believes it will cause beatings, riots, etc... Mr. Mad Max/Lethal Weapon/Braveheart is going to set Christian-Jewish relations back 2000 years don't you know.

"Trouble is, Gibson belongs to and finances a splinter group of revisionist Catholics who reject Vatican II and still insist those wicked Jews were behind Christ's passion."

This is slander of a group of traditionalists who to my knowledge have NEVER said any such thing. This writer is blind to the fact that it is not Christians that are targeting Jews today-it is Muslims. This writer seems typical of the type that are bashing Mel's film, vitriolic, out of touch, and slanderous. I have been alive for 33 years and have never once seen any evidence of massive, violent activity of Christians against Jews. I doubt that a movie will cause this to suddenly appear. (I have seen many examples of violence of Muslims against Christians, Hindus and Jews.) This article is a perfect example of the Anti-Christian garbage that I have seen in many newspapers and magazines. The more I read about this movie-the more I want to buy 100 tickets just to piss off the bigots.

Wednesday, August 06, 2003

Split Widens Over Gay Priest's Confirmation as Bishop

What I can't figure out about Gene Robinson and his supporters is how they can say that ordaining an openly gay bishop will help the Episcopal Church grow:

"Robinson said he values diversity within Anglicanism and hopes his critics will, too. He and other liberals contend that the church will grow by becoming more inclusive."

Has anyone been paying attention to the facts of the past 40 years in the Episcopal Church???? Something like a drop in membership from 3.5 million to 2.3 million since 1970?? The growth of any Christian group is with the real, the orthodox, the evangelical, the "old fashioned".


Of course, no article in this anti-Catholic rag would be complete without either outright bigotry or anti-Catholic nonsense:

"Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, where authority flows down from the Vatican, Anglicanism is a loose association of 38 national provinces that are largely autonomous."

This statement is nothing compared to the usual bigotry from this writer, just a generalized statement of a more complex thing-but most of the time the bigotry is blatant.
Long Island woman claims she was fired for having a baby

"But if her mother's ex-boss had his way, the playful toddler might never have been born, according to a federal lawsuit that alleges Jennifer James, 24, was fired from a Long Island brewery because she refused to have an abortion."

Monday, August 04, 2003

Bill O'Reilly had more on Mel Gibson's Passion tonight-it was the subject of the "Talking Points" memo that opened the show. Michael Medved and Cal Thomas were on but I was not able to see the whole segment since I was going to the gym. I rejoined the gym recently and hope to be in some decent shape when I go on my cruise. The ship is Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas and it is huge. It features a rock climbing wall, ice skating rink and mini golf course, so there will be plenty to do on or off the ship.