Jackson Vocations has Facebook

I don't do Facebook or as people call it "FB" or even "toxic stock get it away..get it awaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!".

Fr. Matthew Simmons just informed me that we do have a Facebook page for our Vocations to the Priesthood.

And he linked SFC. So I'm linking them.

Like them, friend them or poke them or whatever you do. Just be gentle.

I did not remember the Ember

Lucy, Crucy, Lenty, Penty..

Dorito Taco: I didn't want to like you, but I do.

It's not a really big tradition in the Church these days nor is it at all required, but in my quest to "Do Catholic Right", I've tried to pay attention to the Ember Days by fasting and prayer.

I totally missed it yesterday.

I went to Taco Bell and got 2 big ol' Dorito tacos then ate a brownie and I think I ate something else fatty and then went to the movies and ate popcorn. Then I remembered it being an Ember Day. I felt sad and I think I ate something else.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:
Ember days (corruption from Lat. Quatuor Tempora, four times) are the days at the beginning of the seasons ordered by the Church as days of fast and abstinence. They were definitely arranged and prescribed for the entire Church by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after 13 December (S. Lucia),(Lucy) after Ash Wednesday, (Lenty) after Whitsunday (Penty), and after 14 September (Exaltation of the Cross)(Crucy). The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy.
 ....
At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting [pagan Roman]religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their deities: in June for a bountiful harvest, in September for a rich vintage, and in December for the seeding; hence their feriae sementivae, feriae messis, and feri vindimiales.  When the fourth season was added cannot be ascertained, but Gelasius (492-496) speaks of all four. [The] pope also permitted the conferring of priesthood and deaconship on the Saturdays of ember week--these were formerly given only at Easter.

Lex Luthor: Bald and Badass

Our bishop currently has a line where he says that when it comes to vocations, "God ain't picky" and then jokes about the priests he is surrounded with. Sort of playing up on some of the less attractive features of the presbyterate: old age, height, weight, hair loss. He usually aims the "baldy" joke at me. Kinda like, "Priesthood is so simple, a bald person can do it". And everyone with hair laughs, 'cause that's funny. Being bald and all. No hair..haha..funny hairless boy.

Bald people also can be evil geniuses that threaten Superman. Just saying.

The Ember Days by associating the harvest with ordination perhaps counters that remark by signifying priests and deacons must be carefully and prudently picked just as much as they are sown with diligence and patience. I don't know if God is picky or not, but the Church should be.

Deacon Juan Chavajay to be ordained a priest June 9

The tradition of ordinations during this time of year is still retained but most likely not conscientiously. The ordination of a priest is more associated with the end of his seminary education and, in our diocese, the placement of priests in parishes that happen in June and in January.
This year in the Diocese of Jackson, we have one ordination to the priesthood. Deacon Juan Chavajay will be ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Latino on June 9th.

So I missed yesterday. But I'll catch it tomorrow and Saturday and will offer prayers for soon-to-be Fr. Chavajay. If you think to, please join in!

Remember the Ember.
And pray for vocations to the priesthood. The harvest of seminarians is not plenty and our priests are few.

Sunday Mass is so important, a DRE defends it

This story caught my eye last night:

Participants in Florida’s American Legion Auxiliary Girls State--which describes itself as “a nonpartisan program that teaches young women responsible citizenship and love for God and Country”--are not permitted to attend Sunday Mass, according to an American Legion Auxiliary official.
As a result, one of the 300 Florida girls invited to participate in the program is declining to attend.
The American Legion Auxiliary sets aside one hour during the weeklong program for a non-denominational worship service. When the mother of Margeaux Graham, one of the invited participants, asked whether she could drive her daughter to Mass, she was rebuffed by an American Legion Auxiliary official.
“The girls are not allowed to leave our program for any reason," said Robin Briere, secretary-treasurer of the state’s American Legion Auxiliary. 
http://www.dailycommercial.com/News/LakeCounty/052212catholic



This girl made a tough choice and decided in favor of practicing her faith rightly instead of going with the flow.

A few things:
1. Had she chosen to participate in the Girls State program and Mass was not permitted, there would be no real "sin" there for her. She's a minor and although Sunday Mass is obligatory, she's not able to get to Mass. The obligation is not incumbent upon her. The Code of Canon Law explains that there are physical impossibilities:sickness, and absence of a priest to say Mass for them; moral impossibilities, when it would be very difficult to attend Mass, say because of the absolute necessity of fulfilling other grave duties; and the practice of charity, when Mass is sacrificed to remain at the bedside of the sick or give urgent assistance to someone in great need. (canons 1246-48, commentary from Fr. John Hardon).

2. In the USA "worship services" are seen as an acceptable conglomeration of prayer that all people, mostly Protestant Christians, can find welcome. This is a pet peeve of mine here in Oxford when sorority and fraternities are told to go to different "houses of worship" on select Sundays and Catholics just follow along missing Mass to go to the Baptist, Presbyterian or Methodist church. Mass is not "going to church" or "fellowshipping". It is a sacred rite centered around the Eucharist. No one else does this.

3. I hate events on Sunday for kids. Parents most likely ditch Mass for the event. Soccer. Baseball camp. Track and Field. Orientations. Shopping at Wal-Mart.

And finally, on this day in the year of our Lord 2012, I proclaim:

4. A DRE GOT IT RIGHT!
“Missing Mass is not an option," the director of religious education at Graham’s parish said in a newspaper interview. “If you're Catholic, you're obliged to gather with your fellow Catholics on Sundays to celebrate Mass and it's not something that we can choose not to participate in, if you're an active Catholic," Smart said. "Good for Margeaux for not being afraid to stand up for her faith.
St. Mary of the Lakes Catholic Church in Eustis, Florida is her parish. That's the Diocese of Orlando.

Jackie Smart, DRE, I salute you!

We Am the Law

Feelin' lucky, punk?
Register a name or back away from the
keyboard.

Brad and I have very few rules. The ones we have are reasonable and are listed on the sidebar under "Just So Ya Know". Not too bad, eh?

Well, I made the executive decision and Brad agreed that we now require people to at least have some identity when they post. We have way too many Anonymouses/Anonymi/Anonymeeces to keep up with.

So, be a big boy or girl and post with an identity. I don't care if it's a bunch of numbers or some Tolkien character's name but get a name. So we know who to respond to.

If worthy of a response.

That is all. Resume the day-wasting.

                                                

Not following suit

Bishop Blaire of Stockton

The count is up to 44 Dioceses joining the lawsuit against the Health and Human Services Department for the mandate that religious entities carry insurance for contraception, sterility treatments and abortifacients. The lawsuit seeks to protect religious liberty and the freedom of conscience.

The Diocese of Jackson has joined in the suit.

A priest of the Diocese was a bit perplexed as to what the gain in the suit was for us. I personally was a bit surprised as the administration of the diocese follows the Federal and State grant heavy, Catholic Charities and tends to be more favorable to the initiatives of the left. So, I wondered what we were up to as well.

It seems there are more asking the same question.


Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton (Ca) proposes another measure of engaging the Obama administration. He was profiled in a current edition of America Magazine online:

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is not a party to the lawsuits. Several were filed initially by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and the most recent suits have been brought on behalf of 44, so far, Catholic dioceses, universities and other entities in 12 different federal jurisdictions in coordination with pro bono attorneys from the law firm of Jones Day.
Bishops Blaire acknowledged that “there is a concern among some bishops that there ought to have been more of a wider consultation” regarding overall strategy on the religious liberty question. “And I say that with some hesitation,” he added, “because the California bishops very strongly support whatever action has to be taken to promote religious liberty.
“The question is what is our focus as bishops and that we have opportunity to clarify our focus and that we are all in agreement on focus.” He said some bishops appear to be speaking exclusively on the mandate itself “that it is imposed … as a violation of [individual] conscience."
He said there are other bishops who see the crucial question as the religious liberty of the church itself and its freedom “to exercise her mission through her institutions.” He added, “I think that it’s important that there be a broader discussion of these issues [at the June U.S. bishops meeting in Atlanta]” so that U.S. bishops can clarify their message “and not allow it to be co-opted.”

The article also includes some suspicion of partisan politics:

Bishop Blaire believes discussions with the Obama administration toward a resolution of the dispute could be fruitful even as alternative remedies are explored. He worried that some groups “very far to the right” are trying to use the conflict as “an anti-Obama campaign.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops

More interesting are the comments to the article:
1.The suit is pre-mature. The government is still accepting comments on the regulations.
2.The Obama administration demonstrated it's interest in reaching some accommodation.
3.The hierarchy should use diplomacy and negotiate rather than pontificate.
4.The abortion issue is the best thing that ever happened to the  Republican party and  the only gain has been to swing Catholic votes into the Republican column and help defeat the Democrats on social justice issues like the minimum wage which the Republicans consistently vote against raising although it is not near a living wage.
5.For a Church that took about nine years and a lot of  acrimony and wrangling to change a few word in the mass and then come up with 'consubstantial' for little girls in their white communion dresses to recite, leaves little room for optimism. Posted By Ernest C. Raskauskas,Sr. | Wednesday, May 23, 2012 12:31:39 PM

Since I am not (nor have plans to ever be) a subscriber to America Magazine Online, I can't get into a semi-troll war with Mr. Raskauskas. I will try to make a few points to his points:
1. The suit may be premature but I am not so sure if "accepting comments" is what will change the mandate. Unless Joe Biden comes out on Sunday and says, "Hey, I'm comfortable with Catholics being exempt from giving out birth control and abortion-inducing drugs", I don't see "comments" as helpful.
2. Dubious. Or at least it was cloudy. When Notre Dame who <3 Obama much comes out with a lawsuit, I think there's no accomodating.
3. The hierarchy negotiates all the time. The USCCB's opus, Faithful Citizenship is a masterwork of  negotiation and is summed up as the bishops teling the faithful ," Eh,welp, whaddyagonnado?"
4. Abortion is also a social justice issue. It's a shame that the Dems use abortion as a platform or orthodox Catholic voters would go over in a heartbeat. Did I mention Faithful Citizenship?
5. Ohhh...wow. You went there? And it didn't take 9 years. It took almost 40. So...yeah.

I hate election years.

Gaylo makes Superman bad

In the last post, I featured President Obama with his rainbow halo (gaylo) from the now famous Newsweek cover.
Although many Obama opponents (Obonents) have another thing to hate on the president about since he's now the "First Gay President" with a gaylo, it seems that there's something else they can be mad about.

The Gaylo is a villian.

That's right. The Gaylo once made another great symbol of truth, justice and the American way evil.

Superman once wore the gaylo and it forced him to mess up priceless collections in the Metropolis museum. Like that bust of what appears to be Ronald Reagan!

Thanks to the folks at ComicsAlliance.com, this nefarious act is now brought to light.

BEHOLD!

President Obama, please, don't turn things to glass with your super-vision. Use it only for good!

Gay-loes

President Obama is neither gay nor a saint. Sorry Andrew Sullivan. And sorry almost every priest in the Diocese.

The cover to last week's Newsweek proclaimed President Obama to be the "first gay president" according to the journalist, Andrew Sullivan. Sullivan, a dubious conservative, gay-activist and a Catholic, gushed that Obama "is one of us" and cited Obama's growing up black as a source of his empathy for the LGBT people of the United States.
What was most interesting about the cover was the use of a halo. Presidents aren't necessarily holy. And they are far from being saints. But somehow, the proclamation of being "for" gay marriages, the photoshopper at Newsweek threw a halo on the president. A rainbow halo.

Sanctifying gays in art has been somewhat of a theme. I can see why there is a connection.
1. Gays have been persecuted for their sexual orientation. Saints have been persecuted for their Faith.
2. Gays are only abiding by their natural inclinations. Saints are good with nature. Like St. Francis.
3. Gays get killed. Saints get killed.
4. Gays love their mothers and the elderly. The elderly and mothers love their saints. Who else lights those votives?

Wikipedia tells me that today is Harvey Milk Day. Here's an icon of the gay activist that is produced by Building Bridges. Milk was Jewish but professed non-belief:

And here are icons of Harvey Milk and George Moscone (mayor of San Francisco assassinated with Milk) being elevated by priest(ess)s in an Episcopal Church:

Even traditional saints have become gay icons:

Sergius and Bacchus

St. Sebastian

Joan of Arc

And, 5. Gays inspire others to think deeper about their relationship to others and to avoid prejudices. As do saints. But both Gays and saints also are met with vocal and popular support but it is very difficult to get true believers willing to make real sacrifices for the professed beliefs (see cover of Newsweek above).
In other words, lots of people love a St. Pat's parade but how many know St. Pat?

And where Gays and saints may part ways is that saints sacrifice their lives for the Church which means sometimes not knowing romance, erotic love or personal fulfillment even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts.

Just be careful who you deem a saint and who you deem a sinner.

Dioceses of Jackson and Biloxi file suit against federal government

Hopping on the bandwagon of Catholic legal news making headlines today, we can report here on SFC that both of Mississippi's Catholic dioceses have joined over 40 other plaintiffs (at the time of this post) in filing suit against the federal government over the Obama administration's health care mandate. The suit was filed this morning in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi in Gulfport.

The dioceses are two of a growing number of plaintiffs (including the Archdioceses of New York and Washington, D.C. and the University of Notre Dame among others), who have now filed suit in federal court over the Obama administration's recent healthcare mandate which requires that even religious institutions must provide health insurance coverage that includes full coverage for artificial birth control, the "morning after pill,"and sterilization.

As we've said here on this site before, this issue is one of fundamental religious liberty, NOT of politics. Stay tuned... this could be a very interesting summer.


UPDATE: For those of you legally inclined, here is a pdf copy of the suit that was filed this morning in Gulfport. Happy reading!

FURTHER UPDATE: The Diocese of Jackson's official statement available here.

Calendar Challenged

Apparently, we’re all dead. Or maybe we’ve entered an alternate reality and aren’t even aware of it. Something, though, must be different. I mean, surely.

You see, it was exactly one year ago today that the world was supposed to end – or, more accurately that Christ was supposed to rapture his faithful, leaving behind the non-believers. The actual end of the world was then going to follow in October of 2011. But I digress.

Anyway, this bold prediction originated with Harold Camping (pictured at right) and his followers. Camping, a retired engineer, hosted a radio program and authored number books that had a small dose of biblical numerology and a large dose of crazy. So, unsurprisingly (but thankfully), his influence remained quite small, but he generated a lot of headlines when he and his fellow-doomsdayers rented out billboards and newspaper ads throughout the country warning us all that the world was about to end.

The fateful day approached, and passed, with nary a whimper from the heavens. Camping tucked tail and decided to do “more study” on the matter to try and find out what could have possibly gone wrong. He has since faded back into obscurity.

Camping was not the first to predict Christ’s return. Some other failed doomsday prophets have included:

William Miller, a Baptist preacher, who predicted that Christ would return to earth sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. When it didn’t happen, he claimed to have misread Scripture, and revised his prediction to October 22, 1844. When our Lord didn’t show again, Miller found himself in the unenviable position of being the sole person responsible for an event in history known as the Great Disappointment.

Hal Lindsey was a steamboat captain-turned-self-proclaimed Scripture expert (yes, seriously). In 1970, he penned a book called The Late Great Planet Earth, an overnight best-seller, which outlined a chain of events that, according to Lindsey, would culminate in the events outlined in the Book of Revelation actually coming to pass in the 1980s. The ‘80s were a lot of things, but none of them could have inspired the author of Revelation. Except maybe those hairstyles – they were pretty frightening. At any rate, though lots of Lindsey devotees thought that 1988 would usher in Christ’s return, they were left, instead, with the anticlimactic Bush vs. Dukakis presidential race and the Oliver North trial. And those sucked almost as much as the end of the world.

Charles Taze Russell probably takes the cake among failed end-times prophets. This guy not only managed to botch both of his end-of-the-world predictions (he thought that the years 1874 and 1914 were shoe-ins for Christ’s return), he insulted every other religion and founded a brand-spanking new religion whose adherents continued his tradition of incorrect last-day predictions. They got it wrong in 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941 and 1975. That’s got to be some sort of record. Oh, and the best part about his followers? They’re the Jehovah’s Witnesses: a group of people who find it necessary to wake you up on early on Saturday mornings and, in light of their group’s laughable record of end-times predictions) are apparently resigned to bring about the world’s end through timber depletion, printing waaay more copies of their flyers, magazines and books (with super creepy illustrations like the one below) than could possibly be necessary.

The little-used Armageddon background at the
Sears Portrait Studio. Courtesy of a Jehovah's
Witnesses publication from the 1990s.

It’s times like these (no pun intended) that I’m super glad for the Catholic Church. Sure, even Catholicism has had it’s rogue, self-proclaimed end-time prophet here or there. And many mystics and saints throughout the Church’s history have been given private revelations about the things to come (the key word here being “private”). But the official teaching of the Church on Christ’s return remains the same and, (shockingly!) echoes Scripture: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Mt 24:36). Or, to put it in the words of the Catechism: “The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1040).

Thankfully, it’s not up to me, or you, or your crazy Uncle Larry who took an online Bible study course, to figure these things out. Christ founded a Church for a reason. And we can rest assured that he guides her still.

Hammer Time

On this day, in 1972, Laszlo Toth, a Hungarian scientist took a  hammer to Michelangelo's Pieta and did some major damage to the image of Mary in St. Peter's Basilica. Before he was stopped, he'd knocked off her arm and nose. He was apprehended while proclaiming, "I am Jesus Christ, risen from the dead!"

If that's not weird enough, there's video!

Toth was never charged as a criminal but treated for mental illness. After a duration in a mental hospital, he was released and deported to Australia. Some speculation is being made on his whereabouts to this day.

Laszlo Toth aka Jesus

Let's do some speculating of our own. Smashing up an icon of the faith in the 70's? Claiming to speak for the Risen Christ? Moving to Australia? I think he's currently enjoying life as either a bishop or liturgical consultant.

Pieta circa 2000 AD. Toth was too soon...

Black is the new Black

The military knows how to do uniforms. Sigh...that used to be us.

Recently, I was told that a priest was chastised by his bishop for wearing a cassock. The cassock is one step up from the black suit and collar I wear. The priest's intent was to show his priestly identity and his commitment to the bishop. The bishop corrected him and insisted that even seminarians move away from the use of black and white and wear more colorful shirts. The bishop was concerned that there would be a negative sign in the cassock that would make it clear the priest was different from the laity therefore he'd be less able to feel the compassion a priest needs to feel and make people sad and eventually bring about the zombie apocalypse.

In the 60's, even the future pope didn't wear clerics on duty. Until he became a cardinal and told priests to wear clerics on duty.

Although there is some move to restore cassocks in seminaries, the seminarians who attend some seminarians, such as the seminary our Bishop mandates, New Orleans' Notre Dame, are required to wear black and white.* Of course, the bishop has the final say of what the priest or seminarian can and cannot wear. Usually, as with most decisions of the post-Vatican II bishops and priests, the rule is "do what you want until I am given reason to stop you".

I went through seminary wearing jeans and a ZZ Top t-shirt. When I was serving as a seminarian-in-residence in Canton's Sacred Heart parish, I was advised by my seminary, Mundelein, to wear "distinctive clothing". I decided to wear a white button down and black pants. Distinct like a waiter in a Chinese restaurant.

As a priest, I wear my black clerical shirt ("clerics") every day. Well, not the same one every day. The same one almost every day but not THAT one. Anyway. I wear my black clerical shirt, black pants and shoes every day for several reasons.

1. The Bishop told me to. When I worked at the Chancery as Youth and Vocation Director(s), I showed up in the 90's clerical garb of polo shirt, jeans and sneakers. The Administrative Director told me that men in the Chancery were to wear ties and dress slacks (haha, slacks) but that doesn't fit my clerical state. A month later a communication came to all priests from the Vicar General explaining in DETAIL what priests must wear and when. I went ahead and followed instructions.

Priestly casual wear. Seriously. They sell this.

2. It establishes priestly identity. In 2002, when the scandal of bishops covering up pedophile priests priest pedophile scandal broke out, the Vicar General of the Diocese nervously told me that I was not to wear clerics to the Chancery because "people would attack" me. I didn't see the problem. I actually thought at that time, it was more important to establish that I was a priest and happy about it. Plus, I wasn't a criminal, so what did I have to hide?

3. It establishes pastoral identity. In Oxford, rarely am I seen in anything other than clerical garb. I felt that at this time in Oxford's Catholic history, a solid identification with a pastor and a church was important. To build a Church, you need evidence of a Catholic community. A pastor is a strong symbol. It is counter-intuitive, perhaps, as our Diocese is diminishing the role of pastor and elevating lay leadership. However, I am confident that the priest as pastor is important. It was and is for Oxford. So everywhere I go in Oxford, I go as the pastor of The Catholic Church of Oxford.

The late Heath Ledger in "The Order". Hollywood priests dress cooler than real priests.

 4. It really feels like my promises. The promises of celibacy, prayer and obedience are sort of woven in the poly-cotton blend.
Celibacy, the non-married state, is made present in the dark, somber color that means that I am willing to die..alone...for the good of the Faith. Like a super-hero costume, it means that I won't bring another person into my crusade against EVIL lest they be harmed. I won't say much more because it will totally spoil the Spider-man movie.

Prayer is evidenced because I am seen as walking wishing well. And that's cool. People stop me from time to time and ask for my prayers when they see that distinctive black shirt and white plastic tab (I do have a collar too but I wear that for FANCY days). I am also slow to rant or act uncharitably, say when someone is texting and driving, when I am in the blacks. I don't want someone to say, "That priest just flipped me off!" Or at least not in Oxford because I am the only priest. In Jackson, I can blame the priests there. Who will flip you off for driving poorly. Or having a Republican sticker on your bumper.

John Paul II dressed so natty, he became a paper doll.

Obedience is also symbolized by the collar (tab). It's just that. A collar. Like a dog collar. I am a voluntary servant of the Bishop. I have given my life to him with nothing in return. Even though a bishop may discourage the wearing of clerics and the use of the term "father", it only serves him to encourage it. Or better, it serves the Church. The eternal Church that is.

Eternal like the wearing of a black clerical shirt. To quote Fr. Scott Thomas, "All you do is Febreze it and you're good for another day."

*I believe I was ill advised on this one. I'll keep the article as is but after some searching, there isn't a thing about the COLOR of the seminarians' clothing at Notre Dame. Good advertisement for Dockers, though.

Steuby's example: Catholic to the core

Scott Hahn meets Pope Benedict after a
papal audience at St. Peter's last April.

Yesterday, it was announced that Dr. Scott Hahn was appointed to an endowed chair of theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Most of our readers are doubtlessly most familiar with Dr. Hahn as a successful Catholic writer. His books (close to 40 of them, by my count) are mostly geared to a popular audience and he has also found success on the speaker circuit for parish missions and conferences. He has also hosted and co-hosted numerous shows on EWTN. In short, he has taken his journey into the Church very seriously and, through diligence and a talent for words, utilized that journey to jumpstart a vocation of energetic evangelization, helping, through his articles, books and lectures, to make the depths of Catholic theology easier to understand and attractive to a wider audience.

Dr. Hahn is certainly not the first to become something of a celebrity (at least among practicing Catholics in the U.S.) due, in large part, to his ability to write well about what some consider a very personal matter: his religious conversion. As an adult convert myself (though I contend that, as I was raised as a practicing Christian, "conversion" is certainly a less-than-accurate term but, as a matter of convenience, it’s the term I’ll use), Dr. Hahn was the author of many of the books that I read on my journey towards the Church. But he was one of many such authors. In fact, the 1990s produced a veritable cottage industry of Catholic "convert-authors" who wrote, from many backgrounds, about their conversions to the Church. Scott Hahn likely tops the list, as far as being a well-known name in this regard, but there were many others as well. Most, like Dr. Hahn, are still very active as authors and on the speakers’ circuit and they are all to credit for shining a bright light of clarity on the process of becoming Catholic.

Campus of the Franciscan University of Steubenville

Since 1990, Dr. Hahn has been a faculty member at Franciscan University of Steubenville, a university which has undergone its own conversion, of sorts, in the past 40 or so years. Founded in 1946 as the College of Steubenville, the institution suffered the same crisis of identity and purpose that many Catholic schools have faced since the 1960s and 1970s. In the case of Steubenville, however, the school met the challenges head on. 

Dr. Hahn's new appointment is called the "Father Michael Scanlon Chair of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization," and it is aptly named for the former president of Steubenville who almost single-handedly engineered a remarkable turnaround for the school. In 1974, Fr. Michael Scanlon, TOR, became president of the college. Under his leadership, Steubenville undertook an ambitious course of action that included improving scholarship and academic credentials as well as fully embracing the school's Catholic foundation. 

And guess what… it worked.

Enrollment began to increase as the school created a noticeably fresh and energetic Catholic culture on-campus. Professors and students alike knew, without any ambiguities, that the school was fully Catholic and loyal to the Magisterium. Recognition began to pour in and it came not only from interested students and parents looking for an authentically Catholic educational experience, but also from the normal, widely recognized college ratings guides.

Today, Steuby is still widely recognized as providing a great liberal arts education and doing so not just “in the Catholic tradition” (the cryptic self-description used by many colleges and universities that were founded as Catholic institutions but have since jettisoned any other than empty nods to their Catholic pasts), but as a fully and unapologetic Catholic university. Even here, among the (relatively) small population of Catholics at the University of Mississippi and in Oxford, I have known a handful of students and parishioners who have attended the Steuby. And, without an exception, they’re not only knowledgeable but also excited about their Catholic faith.

If only more Catholic colleges and universities in the U.S. would follow in the steps of Steubenville and more clearly embrace their Catholic identities! Nobody likes a fence sitter and this is no truer than in the realm of faith. All Catholic institutions are called to be bold witnesses of Catholic faith, loving all and ministering to their faculty, staff and students and always “speaking the truth in love” (Eph 4:15). For, to quote Pope Benedict, in a recent address to American bishops on this very topic, “the essential task of authentic education at every level is not simply that of passing on knowledge, essential as this is, but also of shaping hearts.”

Openly Gay < Closedly Gay

Bishop Amos of Davenport

Continuing the growing list of things graduations should and should not be-
A compromise has been reached between the Diocese of Davenport and a gay student about to graduate from one of its Catholic schools in Clinton.

The gay advocacy organization that provided Prince of Peace Catholic School senior Keaton Fuller with a $40,000 scholarship has prepared a script to be read at a May 20 graduation ceremony with the blessing of Bishop Martin Amos.
...
Bishop Amos went on to say in a statement that “principles of mutual respect and careful listening exhibited by all parties allowed a solution to emerge. We have many things we agree upon, and have also agreed to accept the fact that we also have some things we disagree about. But that shouldn’t prevent all of us from celebrating Keaton Fuller’s success.”
 http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120511/NEWS/120511020/?odyssey=nav

So, the kid gets a scholarship named for Matthew Shepard that provides for his further education. The website for the Eychaner Foundation that provides the scholarship lists the conditions of application.
The student must:
be a graduating Iowa high school senior: which is easy enough to do. No really, graduating from a Catholic school isn't that hard. Done.

have a GPA of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale: which is not that hard to do in most Catholic schools. U jus hav 2 b abul 2 b urself.

have an ACT score of 22 or better: Ok, that's kind of impressive.

be openly Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender: which morally isn't a problem. "Open" means that you are able to accept your orientation. There is no problem with being "openly" any of those things in the Catholic faith.

prove demonstrable LGBT activism and community service: this one can be problematic in some sense. If you are actively promoting gay marriage which is against Church teaching, then it does oppose the mission of the Catholic Church (and, in a dream world, Catholic schools and education). However, it should include being active in the anti-bullying efforts or providing some Catholic guidance to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students who want to be faithful to the teachings of the Church. "Courage" is an organization developed for that purpose. So, this stipulation cannot be seen as sinister.

have high moral and ethical standards and conduct: Ok, this would compliment the one above. Understandably, morals and ethics are fluid terms but in the Catholic Church, there are certain things that we believe to be right and those that are wrong. I would hope that Keaton Fuller, the graduate in the middle of this situation, is such a person that makes his Church and society proud.

The madder you get about gays, the more Shakespeare I get.

I've read a bit of the commentary on this story and I'm a bit squicked out by some of the posts and outrage concerning this young man. I am sure any "compromise" the Diocese made is not as harmful to the faithful as some of the terms and comments being made by supposedly adult Catholics.

I am not sure if it is possible, but Catholic schools should be more choosy about who and what offers scholarships and who or what scholarships can be awarded to Catholic students. It's hard to basically tell someone that they can't get free money for school but there is also a more subtle way of doing it. List it in the program. It will be read because when the speaker is yammering on, everyone either is texting or reading the program.

Or better.. KILL GRADUATIONS! End them. Send the diploma by text: "U hav graduated. Sum1 gave u money for college. WOOT. Tweet this to ur grandparents to get a gift. LOLZ".

Post-Council confusion: it's an age-old tradition

One item in the Catholic news as of late involves discussions between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).

Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the SSPX

Here's a quick look at what's going on: The SSPX is a smallish breakaway group which has, since 1988, been in a position of strained communion with the Church. The founder of the SSPX, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founded the group in 1970 within the Church (the SSPX was originally founded as an official Church-sanctioned institute) to organize opposition to many of the changes in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council. In 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four SSPX priests as bishops, without the permission of the Holy See - an act which is viewed by canon law as "schismatic." From that point on, the society has had strained relations with the Church and, for all intents and purposes, has been in many ways separate from the Church.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI, in a very generous gesture, lifted the automatic excommunication that was incurred by the four living bishops in the SSPX (Lefebvre died in 1991 - his excommunication was also posthumously lifted by Pope Benedict). Soon after this, the pope re-established communications with the society to work out their differences with the Holy See and he has made no secret his desire that the SSPX be "regularized" within the Church and that the society's members return to full communion with the Church. But to be regularized, the society has to agree to certain doctrinal principles. At this point, we are waiting to hear the outcome of talks that the society's leaders have had with members of the Holy See.

Unity is good and holy and, as is evident from Scripture, Christ's will. So we should all pray that unity be restored so that we can welcome the members of the society back into full communion with the Church and with the Holy See.

The Council at the core 

Most of the disagreements that the SSPX has had with the Church over the past few decades has revolved around the documents of the Second Vatican Council and how those documents are to be properly interpreted and implemented. As we've mentioned before on this blog, this year (2012) marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Second Vatican Council, which was held, in successive sessions, between 1962 and 1965. It was started and completed before many of us were even born so it seems like "water under the bridge" and, at times, we assume that all is completely settled about Vatican II.

Second Vatican Council in session

But while it has been five decades since Pope Bl. John XXIII officially opened Vatican II, it goes without saying that the impact of this, the twenty-first ecumenical (i.e. "worldwide"), council of the Church's bishops is still unsettled.

Anyone who's been paying even the minimal amount of attention to the Catholic Church over the past few decades realizes that there has been a current of change within the Church. Some of the changes in the Church since Vatican II have been very positive and others - let's be honest here - have been, shall we say, less positive than originally intended (the key word here is intent).

A quick glance over the past fifty years would lend strong credence to the argument that in the areas where the Council's decisions were implemented hastily and (seemingly) haphazardly, confusion and disillusionment resulted. Yet where the decisions of the Council were implemented more purposefully, with a keen eye towards an organic connection to the Church's Tradition, the results have been more clear-cut and positive. I'll let you decide which of the Council's decisions were implemented more hastily and which more measured.

So while it seems clear that the fathers of the Second Vatican Council intended to enact change in some aspects of the Church (which can be very good), change for the sake of change was not their intent. The Church is, after all, in many ways, a living organism and living beings grow and change over time. But in order for change to be healthy for the organism and for it to positively affect the being's continued growth and vitality the change must have two qualities: 1) it must be slow and measured and 2) it must be organic.

This, you see, is why we still - fifty years on - live in an age where the Second Vatican Council is in many ways unsettled. The documents produced by this council (sixteen in number) are still - fifty years later - being digested, as it were, by the Church at-large. They're still being studied, considered and implemented in a myriad of ways. This slow absorption is, my friends, very healthy for the Church and can only lead her to the most level-headed and positive decisions.

Ecumenical councils take decades, nay, centuries to bear fruit in the ways Christ intends within the Church universal. And this is the very reason why we've had so few councils throughout the millennia: because the words and documents of any given Church council have been studied, considered and implemented for many, many years after the end of the council. Let's take a quick look at some of the more memorable of the Church's past ecumenical councils, and just how long it took for teachings of these councils to be completely digested by the Church:

First Council of Nicaea (325)

First Council of Nicaea, 325

This was the very first ecumenical council. There were local and regional councils before this, but in 325 the Roman Emperor Constantine called all of the world's roughly 1,800 bishops to meet together at his villa southeast of Constantinople. For various reasons, only about 300 bishops were able to attend. The council was called to address two main issues which were threatening the unity of the Church: 1) the date on which Easter should be celebrated each year and 2) the teachings of an Alexandrian priest named Arius, who taught that Jesus was less than fully divine.

Despite the decision of the council Fathers that Arius' teachings on Christ were not of the Apostolic faith, Arianism persisted for quite a while after the Council - as in for centuries. Even after the Council's decision, many bishops and priest in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire continued to promote Arianism. It wasn't until 56 years later, after a second ecumenical council, that the majority of bishops within the Empire fully embraced the teachings of Nicaea. But, in the mean time, Arian missionaries had begun work among the Germanic tribes outside the Empire and some of the tribes became thoroughly Arian. And as these tribes moved into the western provinces of the Roman Empire in the succeeding centuries, they brought their Arian beliefs with them. Arianism was not definitively stamped out in Christian Europe until the 8th century - over four hundred years after the close of Nicaea Council I.


First Council of Constantinople (381)

First Council of Constantinople, 381

By the time the Emperor Theodosius I took the throne of the Roman Empire in 380, nearly the entire Church in the eastern provinces was Arian. In 381, he called the bishops of the Church to a second ecumenical council at the new imperial capital of Constantinople, to resolve (finally, it was hoped) the Arian dispute and to definitively define the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian belief. This council produced a new version of the now-famed Nicene Creed. In the original version of the Creed, adopted at the First Council of Nicaea, it ended after the words: "...And in the Holy Spirit." This Council further defined the role of the Holy Spirit, by adding the words, after the mention of the Holy Spirit: "...the Lord and giver of life who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets," and all the remaining words of what we now know as the Nicene Creed as well.

But aside from the important theological definitions it produced, the Council of Constantinople also produced a number of other "canons," or rulings dealing with Church discipline. For this reason, the canons of the First Council of Constantinople remained under discussion and dispute for centuries after the Council's close. In fact, this Council's declarations regarding the primacy of the See of Rome is still a major bone of contention between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches - over 1,600 years after the conclusion of the Council.

Council of Ephesus (431)

Ruins of the ancient Church of St. Mary in Ephesus - site of
the proceedings of the Council of Ephesus in 431.

In the year 431, a man named Nestorius was the Patriarch (i.e. bishop) of Constantinople. At his request, the Emperor Theodosius II called this, the third ecumenical council of the Churchm, to clarify the Church's stance on Nestorius' teachings on the nature of Christ: specifically, Nestorius' teaching that the divine and human natures of Christ were not united, but separate. He took umbrage with the traditional title of Mary as being Theotokos or "Mother of God." "Mary is rightly called the Mother of Christ," said Nestorius, "not the Mother of God." Even though Nestorius himself requested the council be called, in hopes that his position would be vindicated, the roughly 250 bishops who attended and comprised the Council Fathers disagreed with Nestorius. The Fathers actually repudiated his teaching as heresy and not in line with the Apostolic faith. "Mary," they said, "is rightly called the Mother of God,"for the divine and human natures of Christ are distinct but intimately united and inseparable.

Unfortunately, the eventual outcome of this Council was not complete unity within the Church, but, instead, the first widespread schism in Church history. In fact, when many of the churches which adhered to Nestorius' teachings broke away from the Catholic Church in the decades after the Council of Ephesus, they created a rift which, over 1,500 years later, has still not healed. Today, the Assyrian Church of the East (the heir of the Apostolic churches in ancient Persia and Mesopotamia) still remains separated from the Catholic Church.



Post-council confusion is nothing new

The years after any of the other of the Church's ecumenical councils have been no less tumultuous than these examples. History proves that, as ecumenical councils are rare in the Church's history, their settled impact is not at all immediate. In fact, there is always a period of uncertainty and restlessness that lasts for decades - or longer. But inevitably, the ancient tradition of the Church is the great settling factor serving as a kind of anchor for any new developments of thought from any given council: helping to keep each council firmly and organically moored to the Church's ancient and Apostolic roots.

So, if nothing else, I hope that these three examples richly illustrate the fact that the Church's councils do not effect their lasting impression on the Church in short order. While fifty years back may sound like a lifetime away from 2012, in the timeline of the Church's history nearly 2,000 year history, this golden jubilee marks nothing more than a date that is in very close proximity to the event itself. It will be many, many more decades (perhaps centuries) - long after we have all joined the ranks of the eternal - before the true impact of Vatican II will be known with any certitude. I hate to break it to you, but all of us are going to live our allotted time upon this earth in an age that will almost certainly be viewed as one which was in upheaval. Not unlike those who lived in the years immediately after any of the other of the Church's ecumenical councils, we will only know a Catholicism in a particular state of flux, a time of "settling" after the relative upheavals of a council.

But it won't always be this way. Tradition will win out - it always does. The dust will eventually settle and necessary steps will be taken to ensure that the beautiful and inspiring documents of this latest council find themselves implemented in a way that is harmonious to the Church's ancient patrimony. God-willing, this time will come sooner, rather than later.

Please pray for our pope, who is already being lauded as "the pope of Christian unity." Please pray for the leaders and members of the SSPX and all our separated brothers and sisters - especially those who sadly see Vatican II as a stumbling block to unity at this time.

"The ghetto mentality that pervaded the Church 50 years ago" or Graduation Speakers Redux

A Diocesan priest and regular reader of SFC after reading about Graduation Speakers, alerted me to the commencement address of St. Joseph Seminary in Covington, La this past weekend. The speaker was Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock. Here it is in full without my comments:

Bishop Taylor meets with Pope Benedict XVI

St. Joseph Seminary in Covington, Louisiana--Commencement Address 2012 Over the course of the last few months we bishops of the United States had what was for many of us our first Ad Limina visit to Rome. The best part of our trip was our audience with the Holy Father, which highlighted for me what a grace the upcoming Year of Faith can be for us. This Year of Faith begins on October 11, 2012--the 50th Anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, in which Pope Benedict himself participated as a theological advisor to Cardinal Josef Frings of Cologne.

A fresh reading of the documents of Vatican II will help us see that through this Council the Holy Spirit has laid a solid foundation for the New Evangelization to which we are called to open our hearts today. The reason I have chosen to speak about this today is that through this Year of Faith, the Lord is giving you graduates, and indeed all of you seminarians, special spiritual resources to draw on to enable you to open your hearts to an ever deeper, ever more personal commitment to the Lord!
This Year of Faith has three basic goals: 1) to open our hearts to get to know Jesus better, 2) to open our minds to understand and embrace Jesus' teachings more fully, and 3) then to engage our wills to address today's issues in the light of the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Can you imagine what a different world we would be--indeed, what a different Church we would be--if all of us (all Catholics and especially all priests and seminarians!) had a deep, continually nourished, life-giving relationship with Jesus, embraced his teachings fully and then drew on our faith to address contemporary problems? Goal #1: To get to know Jesus better: You know as well as I do that the only way to get to know Jesus as a friend and source of strength (and not just know about him but to know him on the inside) is by spending time with him and consciously sharing our life with him--like with any other friend, only more so--surely you have already experienced that here at St. Joseph's! We do this by spending time with Jesus in prayer--especially in our daily Holy Hour, ideally in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, in which we make the space and take the time to encounter him in the intimacy of our own heart.

This quiet prayer of listening is essential because it enables us to open our hearts to hear what Jesus wants to say to us on his side of the conversation. I want to encourage you to continue to be faithful to your daily Holy Hour and your daily Mass, even during your Summer break--after all, there is no vacation from a vocation! Goal #2: To embrace Jesus' teachings more fully in the light of the Second Vatican Council: Even though you have not yet begun Theology, I am sure you must already have some familiarity with Vatican II's four great constitutions on the Liturgy, on Sacred Scripture, on the Church itself, and on our engagement with the World, but have you also prayed those documents in addition to studying them? I have invited the priests and seminarians of the Diocese of Little Rock to consider substituting a continuous reading of the documents of Vatican II for the Second Reading of the Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours during this Year of Faith. Prayer is what enables the knowledge we have acquired in our brain to travel that longest 18" from our head to our heart, and thereby moving from abstract thought to concrete action, which is necessary for the teaching of Jesus to make a real difference in our life and in the life of others.

I was in Junior High when Mass began to be celebrated in English. I had been an altar boy in Latin since 4th Grade, so I remember vividly the before, during and after of Vatican II. It's really hard for young people today to have any concept of the ghetto mentality that pervaded the Church 50 years ago. I remember well what it was like to be discouraged from reading the Bible out of fear of misinterpreting it and to be forbidden to attend practically anything except funerals in a non-Catholic Church out of fear of contagion. This was not exactly official Church teaching even in those days, but it was the practical reality in many parts of the United States as well as in many other countries. The Council Fathers realized that this is not what Jesus taught and that the time for "circling the wagons" out of fear of the outside world had come to an end. Few of those who today seem so gripped with nostalgia for the time before Vatican II have any actual lived experience of what those days were really like.

So as you pray these documents: 1) I invite you to consider what a blessing it is to be able to participate fully in the Mass, which was not the case prior to Vatican II. In the past much of the laity prayed rosary privately during Mass and very few went to Communion on any given Sunday. In those days it was very much the priest's Mass and only the priest and altar boys had liturgical roles--or indeed could even hear, in Latin, much of what was going on--because a lot of it was whispered. That was the reason for the bells: to alert people that the priest had reached the Consecration and so they should interrupt their rosaries and now direct their attention to the altar. So first, I invite you to consider what a blessing it is to be able to participate fully in the Mass!

 2) I invite you to consider--as you pray these documents--what a blessing it is to be able to study the Scriptures ourselves, now provided with the tools of Catholic biblical scholarship--especially we who live in the Bible Belt. This is something that we now just take for granted. The still-thriving Little Rock Scripture Study was the first program of its kind for the laity, and it was born in Little Rock after the Council to implement Dei Verbum, Vatican II's Constitution on Divine Revelation.

3) I invite you--as you pray these documents--to marvel at the great insight the Holy Spirit gave the Council Fathers in inspiring them to use the inclusive, dynamic image of the People of God to express the common ground we share with other believers. Vatican II enabled us to recognize that as pilgrims on a journey, we should support our fellow non-Catholic believers in our common effort to know and do God's will as best we understand it. This ecumenical approach was the diametrical opposite of what we had been doing up until then!

4) And--as you pray these documents--I invite you to consider the great blessing of the Council's encouragement for us to foster a positive relationship between the Church and all of society--thankful for all of the blessings of human progress in many fields, despite all of the attendant problems and challenges, and specifically Vatican II's insights regarding how to draw on our faith to address contemporary issues. Sure, there are funny stories--and even horror stories--about aberrations and missteps in the implementation of the reforms of the Council... people who acted on what they perceived to be the "spirit of the Council" rather than on what the Council documents really said, but these were the exception and serve only to cloud the picture.

So that's the second goal of the coming Year of Faith. To really hear what Jesus wants to say to us today, we need to study these documents and pray them--much like we pray the Bible in addition to studying it. This will help us to open our hearts to embrace Jesus' teachings with love and live his teachings with the spirit he intends, which is far more than just understanding his teaching intellectually.

Goal #3: To draw on our faith to address today's issues. A major focus of Vatican II--especially in Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World--was to apply Jesus' teachings to contemporary life and you are being prepared to serve the Lord as priests in a United States that is far more secular today than it was 50 years ago. So every four years the USCCB produces a very balanced document titled Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship 1) to clarify why the Church teaches about issues affecting public policy, 2) to remind us of the responsibility of the laity to participate in political life, and 3) to indicate the role of the Church in helping Catholics address political and social questions.

And we do this by helping people develop well-formed consciences. We teach people the virtue of prudence, we remind people that we can never support intrinsically evil acts, and we help people make moral choices that promote the common good. Currently the common good is most threatened in three areas of public policy that will be key issues in the upcoming elections: 1) The Right to Life and the Dignity of the Human Person, 2) Religious Liberty, and 3) Marriage and Family Life. St Joseph Seminary has given you a solid foundation from which to understand what is at stake in each of these areas of controversy--about which there should be no controversy for any Catholic and certainly not any graduate of this seminary! The bottom line is that a consistent ethic of life is central to the teaching of Jesus, and his teaching should guide all that we do in every area of life, public and private.

 Every year at the Chrism Mass when priests renew their priestly promises, the Gospel reading gives us Luke's version of Jesus' mission statement (so to speak). Jesus says: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord." This Year of Faith is to be a "year acceptable to the Lord!" And since every priest is to be an Alter Christus, intimately conformed to Christ by virtue of our ordination, Jesus' entire mission statement should be the mission statement especially of all of you whom God is calling to become priests.

So let us thank the Lord for his desire to enter into a deeper, more personal relationship with us! Let us thank him for his great gift of Vatican II, which helps us to understand his teachings better. And let us ask him to show us--and especially you graduates--how best to give witness to him now in the concrete realities of today's world.

https://www.facebook.com/bishopanthonybtaylor

Matthias: Who names their kid that?

Today is the Feast of St. Matthias (on our Catholic calendar, anyway). Matthias is the saint who, by lot, was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot as an apostle. Some accounts call him the saint of "luck" because he was "lucky" to be chosen as an apostle. Accounts also tell of his beheading due to his apostolic standing. Some luck!

Unlike some of the other apostolic names: Peter, James, John, Andrew, for instance, there aren't many folks I know named Matthias. Except in Germany. Two come to mind.

One is legendary guitarist of the Scorpions, Matthias Jabs. Try, just try, to imitate the shredding of "Rock You Like A Hurricane". You can't. Because you're not Matthias Jabs. Here he is from the youtubes:


The other Matthias is, honest-ta-goodness, the professional Arm Wrestler, Matthias Schlitte. I saw this guy on one of those cheesy syndicated shows, one of those "XTREEEEEME" shows. Check out his freakin' forearm. The boy has gone full Popeye:

Here he is in "action":
 

 So in sum, Matthias can be the patron saint of German geeks who can possibly kick your ass.

That Seventies Church

Our parish celebrates it's 70th year of existence today.

Brad has already given a very good history of the parish. Shooting a few decades into the future, the heady 70's arrived and as with most of the western world, a cultural change came to St. John's.

Reflecting on our 70th, here are some shots of St. John's from the 1970's:

Fr. David O'Connor in a swank jacket sits with a couple of groovy kids circa. 1974.
In the seventies, people looked at paper and smiled a lot.

St. John's redesigned by Fr. O'Connor
If you squint you can see the crucifix and the risen Jesus on the wall.
TRIPPY!

Looks like a rockin' Jesus song fest in the rectory. 
Before that was considered creepy.

Chic little vino party in the parish hall. Wait...what the...?

The...tabernacle...lamp...is providing ambience...for the mod squad. And
it's like signaling the real presence of...maybe..Columbo on the television. Ugh!

Ok, that's enough. Let's zoom up to the present day.

Hey, Tabernacle Lamp. We noticed you sitting there with a fern stuck in you. We noticed.

And we took you home. You're home, baby. And if you're asking about the tabernacle in the picture above. Oh, that's so 2010.

It's home too. Right now. Right in the middle.






Happy Birthday, St. John the Evangelist Oxford! Here's to many more!

No Wiccan't

"Woman, knoweth that witches aint' ish but hoes and tricks. Verily"

Witches are being shunned...again.
From the Daily Mississippian (online):
Theater junior Lavada Johnston volunteered to speak at World Religion Day on the Ole Miss campus when her religion professor, Caleb Simmons, asked for interested students. Her religion of choice: Wicca.
“I’m a witch,” she said. “That’s the best way I can describe it. I’m kind of a witchy tree-hugger. I don’t worship Satan or ride on brooms. I like cats alive.”
But when Johnston showed up for the event, she was told she couldn’t speak to the middle school students about Wicca.
....
Following up, he sent an email to the student panel, Mary Thurlkill, the religion professor coordinating the event with Oxford Middle School, and Ellen Douglas, an OMS teacher.
...
When she was asked not to speak, Johnston said neither Thurkill nor Douglas were rude but the situation as a whole still felt rude to her.

See? All normal. A plastic bin, flowers, coffee and a blood-letting dagger.

“They said that even though it was announced that I would be speaking, they still felt uncomfortable with me speaking about my religion,” she said. “It’s my religion. I’m just conversing about my religion, I’m not trying to convert anyone.”

Well, Oxford, we almost made it a whole school year without witch discrimination.

So, my wishlist for Education lengthens:
1. No Graduation Speakers.
2. No School proms/dances.
3. No religious diversity days.
4. Teechers shud be teh smart.