BLOGS OF THE DAY

10) Blog: From the Anchor Hold - Karen Marie Knapp

Self-Description: “at Fr. Groppi's Bridge, Milwaukee. Living simple, single, and submitted, in a real city, in a real world”

Features: selections of spiritual readings, prayers

Quick Summary: very spiritual and positive blog, good counter-balance to the more political blogs

11) Blog: man with black hat - David Alexander

Self-Description: none

Features: Zydeco, dancing, personal stories

Quick Summary: fun personal anecdotes, good commentary, lots of song and dance


12) Blog: Nihil Obstat - ?

Self-Description: “Don't ask for the facts unless you want the truth.”

Features: all the errors of St. Blogs

Quick Summary: hilarieus and brilient corections, I go here for laughs, the writer writes good and makes me lgh.

'Tribute in Light' To Mark 9/11 Anniversary

BLOGS OF THE DAY

7) Blog: The Blog from the Core - Lane Core

Self-Description: “Needless Commentary from Small-Town America”

Features: politics, both ecclesial and secular

Quick Summary: nice blog, especially interesting in pointing out hypocrisy on the left



8) Blog: Heart, Mind, and Strength - Gregory Popcak,Zoe Romanowsky, Kevin Miller & others

Self-Description: “Faith-filled Answers for Life's Toughtest Questions. An Internet ministry of the Pastoral Solutions Institute”

Features: Group blog, family issues, contemporary issues

Quick Summary: Fun and serious, lots of posts by many people


9) Blog: The Mighty Barrister

Self-Description: “Daily Catholic Commentary Online - Shaken, Not Stirred”

Features: Common sense, logic

Quick Summary: commentary on current stuff, quality posts

I went to St. Christopher’s parish today just for a change. The Church is beautiful and traditional- a crucifix is at the center above the tabernacle, there are altar rails (with padding!), and artwork is in the sanctuary. Statues of Mary and Joseph are on either side of the sanctuary, and the high altar is covered by a baldacchino! The Mass itself was pretty good, there were only a couple of annoying things: the Psalm was changed to take out “Him” in reference to God which just sounded silly, before Mass a woman asked everyone to introduce themselves to someone around them, and the priest began Mass by saying “Good morning, thank you for the air conditioning”. Other than that it was fine. I was struck by how the traditional architecture and the size of the Church made the priest and deacon seem to be only a part of the picture rather than the center of everything. In my Church and many others the priest is at the center and there is no artwork or anything to focus on during the Mass so your attention is drawn to the priest. I don’t understand how priests today feel they can start the Mass by making small comments about the weather, etc.. This really takes away from the ritual. It was brought home tonight when I watched Inside the Actor’s Studio with guest Martin Sheen. The whole hour was interesting and filled with references to Catholicism. I know, I know some readers are thinking ‘commie, pinko, liberal wacko Sheen, but he came across as intelligent, serious and proudly Catholic, and not flaky as I thought he might. The show started right off with reference to Sheen’s Spanish and Irish heritage and Catholicism. He talked about serving Mass and his favorite prayer at the beginning of Mass: “Introibo ad altare Dei. Ad deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.” James Lipton continued with “Judica me Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta..”, --two old altar boys spitting out the latin with smiles on their faces and a reverent tone. I have always loved that prayer at the beginning of the traditional Latin Mass! Now that is the way to start a Mass! Sheen was a graduate of Chaminade High School, the one in Dayton, Ohio not the one I attended. He spoke of taking the name Sheen from Fulton Sheen and later returning to the faith. Influenced by Day, Berrigan, and “liberation theology”, Sheen is definitely a liberal Catholic but a serious and devout one. The audience at least got to hear a positive and intelligent reference to Catholicism throughout the show. I also learned that Sheen played a Catholic soldier in The Execution of Private Slovik , the first one shot for desertion since the Civil War.

I grew to like James Lipton over many months of watching this show. He is a good interviewer and even his silly questions (what sound do you like? what is your favorite curse word?) make for some interesting responses. At first he can seem a bit over the top egotistical or whatever but he really seems to be passionate about the "craft" of acting and it makes the show and its guests more interesting.

BLOGS OF THE DAY

4) Blog: Gospel Minefield - Kathy the Carmelite

Self-Description: “Apologetics, Catechesis, and Triage”

Features: Observations by a happy Carmelite, lots of those quiz things

Quick Summary: Nice site of personal observations, balanced and humorous




5) Blog: Quenta Nârwenion – Donna Marie Lewis

Self-Description: “From the life of Nârwen. Catholic. Secular Oratorian. Rat Fan. And oh, yes, Tolkien Nut.”

Features: Info on saints, Newman, Tolkien

Quick Summary: Good stuff on Newman and oratory


6) Blog: The New Gasparian - Jeffrey Keyes C.PP.S.

Self-description: “This is dedicated to the Life and mission of St. Gaspar del Bufalo, and the Spirituality of the Precious Blood. Our on-going mission is to share the good news of a spirituality of hope and communion.”

Features: Thoughts of a priest, readings of St. Gaspar

Quick Summary: nice collections of readings and reflections, thoughtful commentary

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

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.

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."

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.

Layers of Hell Dante never saw:

Layer for those who introduced Kumbaya into Masses
Layer for those who produced the Anna Nicole Show
Layer for those who use the words “proactive” and “concretize”
Layer for those who insist on using drums at Mass
Layer for those who say “I love the snow” when its coming down hard
Layer for those who use their cell phone while driving

I finally had a cable modem hooked up and it is working well. I can surf the internet with ease and don't miss aol at all. I downloaded a firewall and a pop-up blocker which are both handy. The pop-up blocker is particularly helpful. It works so well that I have to disable it everytime I want to bring up comments on a blog. So now the only time I ever get those annoying pop-up ads is when I am reading blogs. And for the record, no I don't want my penis enlarged nor do I care to speak to Sexy Suzie.

Here is another press release from the Catholic League regarding my Bishop

Another one that corrects some things

A Third!!

And Here is Bishop Murphy explaining his time in Boston

This is how a real Catholic lay organization does things:

"Voice of the Faithful wants Bishop Murphy to resign. In response, the Catholic League has begun a petition drive in support of him. On July 29, Donohue sent a letter to all the pastors in the Diocese of Rockville Centre requesting that they ask parishioners to sign the petition. But today Bishop Murphy sent a letter asking the pastors to stay out of it. "

“The Catholic League is deeply appreciative of the kind words that Bishop Murphy has written about our support for him. Regarding our petition drive involving the parishes, his instincts are right on target: this is a dispute between lay Catholics that should not involve the parishes. Indeed, to do so would unnecessarily politicize matters. That is why we are now faxing and mailing a letter to every pastor requesting he accede to Bishop Murphy’s request. ‘I fully understand his reservations,’ I said, ‘and respectfully second his call to keep the parishes out of this conflict.’ "

Bishop Murphy continues to impress me. The Catholic League is awesome and is alive today mostly thanks to the Long Island Chapter. This local chapter kept the League afloat when the group almost disbanded due to lack of members, money and influence. They ended up finding Bill Donohue and the rest is ......you know. Go HERE to get a printable petition.

Speaking of # 92 above:

Our diocese has a television network, called Telecare, which I have never seen. They broadcast EWTN on it overnight but have cut back the time EWTN is on, in favor of shows such as a health show by local weatherman Frank Field. Really. I read on the internet that their antenna, located on the grounds of Kellenberg High School can be seen in The Godfather, parts of which were filmed here on Long Island. The famous machine gunning death scene of Sonny Corleone was filmed at the former Mitchel Field, an old airport. I watched the scene making sure to look for it, and sure enough, there is Telecare’s antenna in the background just as Sonny is driving around toward the toll booth and his bloody death.

For the Locals:

98 Signs that You Are a Long Islander


1.) You know someone who went to Chaminade.
48.) You live in the shadow of the greatest city in the world, but you never go there.
60.) You've never been to Times Square on New Year's Eve.
76.) You went to an elementary school that promoted dodge ball as the number 1 game among children 7-13.
91.) When you hear Billy Joel's "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" you try to figure out what places on Long Island he's talking about.
92.) You know that parts of the Godfather were filmed on LI.

I had my first experience with a "current theology" homily this past Sunday! I went to another parish to meet several people from a group to help plan the next season of meetings. The Church was big and beautiful in a 100 year old parish. The priest spoke of the miracle of the loaves and fishes and started by saying how some people "today" would say that Jesus did not actually multiply the loaves and fishes, he simply had a young boy come forward and convinced him to give him some fish and bread. This example caused people to whip out their bread and fish and start sharing. I was expecting the priest to get to the part where he debunks this but he never did. He went on to explain the miracle was one of "breaking the hard hearts of people" by sharing. He then said the miracle of the Eucharist is one of sharing also. This lead me to think he was dismissing the Real Presence but maybe I was reading too much into it. I was boiling at this point realizing this priest was preaching this garbage and wondered what the other people from the Faith on Tap group were thinking. After the Mass I kept quiet about it and we all went to a local diner for brunch. The wife of the group leader said, before we begin can I ask what you all thought of the homily? I blurted out “It was blasphemy, absolute garbage”. She was thankful because that was her reaction. (I don’t know if this qualifies as blasphemy but I was hungry and angry). We agreed that, at least for those who listened to the homily, people could conclude that if Jesus did not perform this miracle, then maybe he did not perform others as well. One person jokingly suggested maybe Lazarus was just a heavy sleeper after all. I argued that the homily said to me:
---Jesus did not really perform this miracle, it is all about sharing. The Eucharist is not really a miracle, it too is about sharing. Therefore, I don’t need to go to a Catholic Church next Sunday because I could just go to any protestant church since most of them share better.

Modern theories like this start with people trying to debunk things in the Bible that conflict with a rational, materialistic viewpoint. Most people learned about sharing in the first grade or earlier, I don’t think homilies like this will inspire anyone above first grade. Why can’t a priest make good points about sharing and breaking cold hearts without trying to deny Jesus’ miracles?

"Here we are in Bahrain, the real land of brotherly love....Everyone here looks like Danny Thomas. And that's just the women....No show of public affection is allowed. In Bahrain, that's called the law. Back home it's called marriage...Women here can't show any skin. I ordered a chicken breast and it was wearing a bra.....This is the kind of country where they cut off your hand for stealing. I don't even want to think about what they cut off if you steal someone's wife."

Bob Hope Don't Shoot, It's Only Me

The Voice of the Faithful, a group of rather ignorant sounding older people, have a local Long Island chapter. This group claims to be upset with the years of child molesting and cover-ups that went on in this diocese. Most of this went on under then Bishop McGann, a very liberal bishop who cracked down as hard as he could on orthodox priests, but allowed dissenting, perverted priests to do as they pleased. He would invite a priest every year to speak to all the priests of the diocese at their annual retreat. One year he invited Richard McBrien, a “priest” who does not believe in the Church’s teachings. Now, since the vast majority of the child molestation went on under McGann, you would think that the VOF would want to move as far from McGann’s tactics as possible right? Wrong. They have invited, yes McBrien, to come speak to the group. I emailed both the co-leaders of the VOF to find out why they would want to follow the lead of the Bishop responsible for such outrages. I did not get a response at all. I guess VOF does not believe in changing the way this diocese was run for over 20 years, nor do they believe in discussing their choices. I wonder what this group does believe in?