Saturday, September 25, 2004

Gen X Long Islanders might want to check out the Faith on Tap session on Monday night. It is held at The Wantagh Inn starting at 7 PM. The topic will be "21st Century Women - Exploring the Prospects of Christian Feminism". Here is the poster for Monday night -




Thursday, September 23, 2004

Sometimes I check out the SiteMeter to see who is linking to my site or what searches bring people to my blog. I found two articles from searches-

Someone searched for "catholic+church+in+saudi+arabia" and it helped me find this article on muslim persecution of Catholics.

Someone searched for "school scandals chaminade" and I found this National Review article from 2002 that mentions 3 of the priests and brothers that educated me!
"The Passion of the Christ," Jewish Pain, and Christian Responsibility:
A Response to Mel Gibson's Film


This thing just drives me crazy:

"Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ,” has now been released in DVD and video format for private use. This occasions deep concern among us...."

Why would there be concern when the movie became one of the most successful movies of all time? Suddenly there will be riots??

"we also acknowledge that many who see the film are honestly unaware of its anti-Jewish elements."

The writers of that sentence must be honestly unaware of the arrogance and condescension they have towards us stupid moviergoers.

" We do not mean to attack Mr. Gibson personally or to call into question any viewer’s faith. "

Which would set these people apart from many who previously attacked the movie.

"Passion plays have had a painful and violent impact on Jewish communities from medieval times into our own. "

I get the first part of this sentence, but when have Passion plays had an impact in our own times?? Have people been killed by anyone coming out of a Passion play lately??

"we must express our continuing concern about the effects of this film"..."Simply noting that antisemitic violence has not occurred gives us minimal comfort"

Well at least they admit antisemitic violence that many predicted did not happen. So why are they so concerned?? Are Christians blowing themselves up in order to kill Jewish people? Are Christians hijacking airplanes to kill people who support Israel? Are Christians listening to clerics denounce Jews from the pulpits? Are Christians teaching children that Jews are apes and monkeys? Are Christians making the news almost daily for killing those of other faiths? Are Christians taking children hostage and then killing them in order to create a Christian state?

Honestly it just gets tiresome to see such "concern" about what might happen to Christians who watch this movie when there is REAL antisemitism in the world. I can't stand it anymore - perhaps I need to go on retreat and do some T’ai Chi Chih or get some polarity therapy. Anyway the Catholic League responds to this garbage here.

From a reader (yes I have one!):

Holistic Fair

"At Our Lady of Grace Center in Manhasset on September 29, almost a hundred people treated their bodies, minds and souls to a Holistic Spirituality and Wellness Fair which featured almost 20 workshops led by professionals of massage, T’ai Chi Chih, reflexology, polarity therapy, nutritional counseling, yoga, and Pilates, among others."

"Although the center has been a retreat house since 1980, it wasn’t until five years ago that the Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary decided to give it a more holistic flavor. “We realized that we have bodies as well as spirits,” said Sister Mary Dawson, a staff member at the center. “This is the adventure of the times: we are whole persons.”