OK so this is like the best day ever just because of this. Here's a paragraph from the cover letter to the 2005 Compliance Report by Patricia Ewers, the head of the National Review Board. The letter precedes the results of the annual audit.

In the following Report, each Article is discussed individually, and it is clear to the Board that since 2002, the Church has made significant strides toward the implementation of the structures and policies of the Charter nationwide. In just three years, dioceses/eparchies have worked extremely hard to address the issue of clergy sexual abuse. This conclusion is strongly supported by the audit results. Itdisheartens the Board, however, that the bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, and the of the Eparchy of Newton for Melkite Catholics in Newton, Massachusetts, have refused to participate in the audit process, and the Board calls for strong fraternal correction in these refusals. Though their governance authority is fully understood by the Board, nonetheless, these refusals against all of the efforts of the Church to be open and transparent in addressing child protection and reaching out to victims to help with their healing. (emphasis added)

Bishop Bruskewitz (who is now my personal hero) has decided to strike back in a statement just released this afternoon. The only place I can find the statement is on the Catholic World News website. Here it is:

Some woman named Patricia O'Donnell Ewers, who is the Chair of something called "A National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People", has said that her Board "calls for strong fraternal correction of the Diocese of Lincoln." The Diocese of Lincoln has nothing to be corrected for, since the Diocese of Lincoln is and has always been in full compliance with all laws of the Catholic Church and with all civil laws. Furthermore, Ewers and her Board have no authority in the Catholic Church and the Diocese of Lincoln does not recognize them as having any significance.

It is well known that some of the members of Ewers' Board are ardent advocates of partial birth abortion, other abortions, human cloning, and other moral errors. It is understandable then how such persons could dislike the Diocese of Lincoln, which upholds the moral teaching of the Catholic Church.

The words attributed to Ewers seem to confirm the suspicion that the members of her Board are unfamiliar with Catholic teachings, Catholic ecclesiology, and even the basic rudiments of the Catholic Catechism. Rather than concerning themselves with the Diocese of Lincoln about which they appear completely ignorant, Ewers and her colleagues would occupy themselves in a better way by learning something about the Catholic religion and the traditions and doctrines and laws of the Catholic Church.

The Diocese of Lincoln does not see any reason for the existence of Ewers and her organization.

By the way, not seeing this on any blogs yet. Could I be one of the first to post this?? Oh, that's right... I'm the only one sitting around on a Friday night!

So I wonder if this situation will get any uglier??

Sorry I haven't been posting again, but it's been rather busy. Yesterday was a social evening afterschool... I don't take too many of those. Tonight I had to go back to school for a parent meeting about an abstinence program the kids will be participating in over the next two weeks. Only six parents out of 82 showed up, but I think it was still worthwhile.

I began reading Peggy Noonan's book about Pope John Paul II as a preparation for the first anniversary of his death on Sunday. Today marks the one-year anniversary of his last public appearance. I'm beginning a novena, asking him to intercede for my students, on Saturday so that it will coincide with the anniversary and end on World Youth Day (Palm Sunday).

I will catch up on some posting tomorrow hopefully so come back then!

Symphony night. Sorry about the lack of posting today.

For those who heard about my bad day with the kids in school yesterday: Discipline used. Problem solved.

Now I'm off to slave over Beethoven's Fifth and the Mass in C!!

A short article on Catholic Exchange by Russell Shaw begins like this:

No sooner had Pope John Paul II passed away last April 2 than some good souls began urging that he be immediately declared — by acclamation, as it were — "John Paul the Great" or even "Saint John Paul." It was an understandable, even touching, reaction to the death of a much loved man. It also was thoroughly wrongheaded.

America Magazine's editorial misses an obvious point (once again). Drew Christiansen, SJ writes about various attempts in our country today to organize politically left Catholics to balance the monopoly the religious right exercises. Admittedly, I get very frustrated with the religious right myself sometimes, but I think their hearts are in the right place even if they often forget their charity. I also think the hearts of the left are often in the "right" place (pun intended).

He's excited about organizing the pro-life, pro-poor, pro-immigrant Catholic left. Hello? The pro-life Catholic left? Don't make me laugh. Ha. Ha. I'll admit that the religious right can often come off as being more concerned about the unborn than the born, but the Catholic left is hardly pro-life, unless one doesn't include the possibility of being a pro-choice Catholic at all (which many are inclined to do).

He rightly observes that the Catholic left is less inclined to admit of any connection between religion and politics (my response: unless, of course, the religion is secularism... ba-zing...). His conclusion, however, is fairly noble:

What can we expect, then, of this sort of Catholic participation in these efforts to organize the religious left? First, we can expect a more deliberative movement, where the pro-life, pro-poor, pro-immigrant agenda is thoughtfully hammered out and allegiances won for a common program. Second, to maintain such allegiances, candidates and their staffs will be expected to show greater discipline than in past years. Finally, we can hope for a moderate politics, averse to demonization, that will be inclusive but not fragmented, and attractive to the wide middle of the American polity.

As someone who regularly straddles the fence (I've always believed the truth to be in the middle), I can't stand either political party and would love the party that Christiansen describes. Perhaps this hiatus from formation affords me the opportunity to make my political debut! Don't hold your breath...

The English version of the Compendium gets released on Friday. Of course, I've already ordered my copy. I've been reading some of it online in French and it looks like it's awesome. What a great catechetical tool, prepared in large part by Cardinal Ratzinger. The 598 questions and answers will serve us all well. Apparently I'm not the only one getting my hands on it. From the USCCB Media Relations Office:

With more than 40,000 pre-publication sales, and the number steadily climbing, the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church appears well on the way to becoming a major publishing success.

The Compendium is a 200-page synthesis of the 1992 Catechism. Available March 31, it is being published in the United States (in English and Spanish) exclusively by USCCB Publishing, the publishing office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A publishing rule of thumb is that pre-publication sales amount to one-third of the first year sales, according to Patrick Markey, Associate Director for Marketing, Sales, and Inventory. At that pace, the Compendium is expected to sell between 120,000 and 200,000 copies in its first year, he said.

I have no problem with altar girls. In 1994 when the Church decided to give bishops the option of allowing them, I was in charge of the servers at the parish. I went on to do that for 8 more years and we always had girls and boys. I suppose the number of boys dropped off a bit at first, but then it rebounded and we always had more boys.

Both served faithfully at the altar. Both showed up when they were assigned. Very few problems.

It seems that now there are fewer girls and more boys again (hard to believe 12 years have gone by!). Perhaps psychology has something to do with the numbers: we always want to do the things we can't do, and now girls serving at the altar is old news where I come from. I've seen some very faithful girls blossom in their faith as they served at the altar. An opportunity they perhaps may not have had without the ability to serve.

There's a downside though. People use it as an opportunity for dissent. They think that the Church relaxed just one more rule that will eventually lead to ordination for females. They thought there was something inherently unfair about restricting serving to boys, as though Catholics have a right to serve at the altar (sorta like they have a right to ordination... not).

Yesterday's Washington Post has a very telling article on the whole Arlington affair

"The way we look at it in our community," said parishioner Marguerite Greig, "is that we're all called to serve at God's table."

Ian Moar, father of Christine Kline, 15, who unsuccessfully petitioned Loverde years ago to allow altar girls, said his family is happy that the diocese no longer promotes "what we consider a sexist policy."

From a woman who is 26 years old who got up there and served:

"I'm very proud to be part of today," Barbieri, 26, said at the end of Mass as she shook hands with fellow congregants at the door. "We had kind of pulled back as far as equality in the church, and now we're taking a step in the right direction."

The picture with the article is interesting. It features a priest holding up a basket and a goblet of Jesus with the server right on the side of the altar. As a supporter of altar girls, I don't see that picture as progress.

Just because the Church relaxes a small rule, doesn't mean it's meant to chip away at sacramental doctrine:

I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.

Thanks to Bill:

Virtual Tour of Cardinal O'Malley's titular church

Nice place!

In the first half of his editorial in the diocesan paper this week, Father Landry connects the red worn by cardinals (and its symbolism) with the red worn by all of us on our Confirmation day:

The true dignity of the office of Cardinal in the Church rests with the man’s commitment courageously to suffer and even to die for the good and growth of the Christian faith. A cardinal is invested with the color of the martyrs so that, like the martyrs, he may inspire all of the Christian faithful likewise to be willing to give the supreme witness that Jesus Christ is worth living for and worth dying for.

Each consistory, therefore, calls not merely a specific number of men to Rome to be dressed in scarlet regalia, but calls the whole church to remember the time when they, robed in crimson, were sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and sent out on the mission to work for the increase of the Christian faith, the peace and tranquility of the people of God and the freedom and spread of the Church.

Such a short editorial but it certainly made me think.

OK I'm not endorsing this blog called Lispers in the Woggia (an obvious parody of Rocco's blog), but this post really made me laugh.

There's nothing I like more than some good old-fashioned Catholic satire. There's a new member of Saint Blog's Parish out there called Ironic Catholic. There's a three-part post on Oprah's interview with Saint Augustine (following her much-watched interview berating James Frey).

This post is about Catholic churches decked out in purple, which is obviously a political statement:

As midterm congressional elections begin to heat up, a midwestern Catholic diocese was accused of wielding undue political influence on its parishioners through decking the Church in purple, the traditional color of repentance during Lent.

Proving that the practice of naming certain states red (Republican) and blue (Democratic) has hit the mainstream, political strategists from both sides of the aisle decried the use of moderate "purple" during the Lenten season.

This CNS story about Cardinal O'Malley quotes Msgr. Avila:

"The media didn't realize he had a sense of humor," said Msgr. Steve Avila, who served as secretary to Cardinal O'Malley when he was bishop of Fall River, Mass.

"There's a person behind an office, a special person with great compassion, who's very gentle, and a very, very good listener," Msgr. Avila told Catholic News Service March 23.

Msgr. Avila said Cardinal O'Malley's style was to deal directly with the crisis in "a decisive and clear manner and then move on" to other pressing issues.

He did not just clean up the mess left behind by sex abuse scandals in Fall River, Mass., but expanded social programs, set up an AIDS ministry and spearheaded projects to provide affordable housing for low-income people, the monsignor said.

Unfortunately, the cardinal's broader vision of social justice "gets squashed" by so much focus on the controversial decisions being made to keep the Archdiocese of Boston away from the brink of bankruptcy, said Msgr. Avila, a pastor at St. John Neumann in East Freetown, Mass.

Cardinal O'Malley was assigned Santa Maria della Vittoria as his titular church. Usually the Archbishops of Boston have been given Santa Susanna upon their elevation, but since the former archbishop is still around, O'Malley had to get a different one.



One of Bernini's best and most well-known works, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa of Teresa of Avila, is at this church and the sculpture is considered one of the best baroque sculptures in Rome.

Our good friend at Catholic Hierarchy has a page on Santa Maria della Vittoria, which also lists the previous cardinals to whom it was assigned as the titular church. Cardinal Caprio who died last October was the last titular cardinal.

A short history and description of the place can be found here.

Photo lifted from here, which is all in Italian.

Sorry about the lack of posting these last few days. It's difficult at this point to give proper attention to different projects and jobs I've undertaken. Not to mention, I've had very little material to post. The Catholic world has been overtaken by all things consistorial (does that word even exist?) that I've just been sitting back and taking it all in.



Of course, I was up before 4 yesterday morning so that I could watch the consistory live on EWTN. The coverage wasn't too bad. I just wish the commentators would shut up every so often so we can hear the music or whatever else is going on. They spoke right on through the Alma Redemptoris Mater, for example.

"My" cardinal looked wonderful. I've been following Paulson's blog and just about every other Boston news outlet for days, reading and watching anything I could get my hands on. The thing that has made me the most happy is that Cardinal Sean has been himself all week. He's allowed his wry humor to permeate his public comments. He could easily be a media darling if he wanted to be.

At the consistory, he wore black shoes and red socks. This led him to lift up the hem of his cassock at a later news conference to show off the socks and announce that no one could ever question his sports affiliation (red sox)!! That's certainly the cardinal I know.

It seems our friend is letting the press see who he really is. From Paulson's blog today:

Archbishop O'Malley said today that about 60 members of his family -- that's six-zero -- are coming to Rome for the Friday consistory at which he will be made a cardinal.

"They're beginning to arrive in droves," he said. "I don't know whether Rome is ready for this."

O'Malley said his relatives are coming from South Florida, Cleveland, Denver, and a variety of other locales.

"I said at my installation that all the O'Malleys came, except the ones we weren't talking to," he said. "But I think even the ones we're not talking to are coming to this."

And this one:

The cardinal-designate this morning led the Boston press corps on a walking tour of the Ponte Sant'Angelo (the Bridge of Angels), which he said was one of his favorite spots in Rome (in part, he confessed, because "it is a footbridge, so you can walk here without worrying you're going to get run over by a motorscooter.") The lovely span, over an unappealingly greenish Tiber River, is more than 2,100 years old, sits just beneath the imposing Castel Sant'Angelo, and features a series of statues of angels symbolizing moments of Jesus's passion.

The walk was more than a bit stagy. Archbishop O'Malley gamely allowed television crews to place five (!) battery packs for wireless microphones in the deep pockets of his brown habit and to hide their cords under his long brown hood. The archbishop then joked that he was so weighted down with audio equipment that, "if I fall into the river, I'll sink to the bottom," and, as he submitted to a final wiring by a late arrival, mused, "I just hope I don't get struck by lightning."

And what has the cardinal-designate been up to in the Eternal City?

In addition to getting his new vestments, O’Malley said he has spent his time since arriving here Sunday praying, attending meetings, and entertaining relatives.

“My O’Malley clan is beginning to arrive, piece by piece,’’ he said. “I took my nephews and their wives to Piazza Navona for ice cream."

Lastly, what should we call him?

Archbishop O’Malley, the first Capuchin Franciscan friar to become a cardinal in nearly 50 years, has made it clear that it will be a stretch for him to accept some of the trappings of his new office, such as the honorific, “Your Eminence,” to which he will be entitled after Friday. Asked how people should address him once he is a cardinal, he said yesterday, “Cardinal Sean. Bishop Sean. Father Sean. Brother Sean. Whatever.’’

“It takes some getting used to,’’ he said of the prelature nomenclature. “When I went to the West Indies, the two hardest things to get used to were driving on the left and being called, ‘Your Lordship’.’’

This is the Bishop Sean I knew in Fall River!

As consistory week rolls along to much ado, here is definitely the quote of the week from the mouth of my favorite Cardinal-designate. It appears in Michael Paulson's blog (religion reporter for the Globe reporting from Rome):

Archbishop O'Malley paid a visit to Gammarelli's yesterday. That, of course, is the tailor which for years designed vestments for popes, until Benedict XVI decided to shop around.

But Boston's cardinal-designate, most comfortable in the brown hooded habit and sandals of his Capuchin Franciscan religious order, went in on Monday to get fitted for the red choir robes he'll need to wear to the consistory Friday. He says he'll wear red vestments only "for top-drawer occasions,'' but the consistory, and the Mass of the rings on Saturday, certainly qualify.

How did he feel trying on the garments?

"I said that I could always wear it if I was called to be on a hunting expedition with the vice-president,'' he joked. "It's very red.''

Indeed.

Curt Jester posted this parody of the iPod. I'm relatively sure it's funny, though some of it may be in bad taste.

Note: the fourth song on the list of rock standards made me laugh out loud.

Happy Saint Joseph's Day!

Well I should be at Mass right now, but I overslept an hour so I'll be looking for a Mass after school today!

It was such a crazy weekend driving from Taunton to Fall River to Providence and various combinations therein. However, yesterday was a very special day. Fr. Fraga's 50th anniversary was a great celebration. It was a very lengthy two hours, but it was an important milestone for him and for our diocese. There's nothing like listening to a man who has embraced his priestly vocation for 50 years. I think that if he had a choice, he'd serve for 50 more years!

Tonight is the Symphony concert. We played well at rehearsal last night, although I had a rough night personally. Hopefully all will go well tonight. We're beginning the program with Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and concluding with Gershwin's Piano Concerto, which is a pretty fun thing to play. On Tuesday we already begin rehearsals for the last concert of the season, so I'll be all violined out by Wednesday.

Here's hoping the kids aren't off the wall today. I have yard duty today (morning, lunch, and afternoon) and I have a ton of work, so pray for me.

By the way, in reading about the very possible miracle of a French nun that could lead to JPII's beatification, I got to thinking: everyone is amazed because this woman had Parkinson's and so did our late Holy Father. Could it be that I should pray to him for my students? He loved youth... maybe he can help mine. I was thinking I could pray the novena leading up to World Youth Day (this year celebrated on Palm Sunday, April 9), which would make the anniversary of his death fall within the novena. Seems like a good idea (they could use a miracle!).

Have a good day, friends!

I've found two interesting columns that present an important perspective on the Boston Catholic Charities adoption agency issue. The first is in today's Globe by a BU professor:

As a longtime equity official, I agree that fair treatment of individuals is important, but all of us -- including gays and lesbians -- benefit from a healthy civil society in which there are many alternative social agencies and schools that carry out their mission on the basis of a clearly articulated understanding of what leads to human flourishing. Individuals in a free society deserve the opportunity to choose among service-providers on the basis of a match with their own convictions.

The public policy issue is not whether Catholic Charities is correct about the harmfulness of same-sex parenting; it is whether an agency with by all accounts a highly successful record of adoption placement is to be prevented by over-regulation from exercising its best judgment about which families are suitable. We have to hope that reason will prevail and that alternative viewpoints will be respected. How ironical it would be, in the name of tolerance, to suppress a respected service to the public [full column].

The other is from syndicated columnist, Kathleen Parker:

But hypothetical, worst-case scenarios distort the real story, which isn't about either gays' qualifications to parent or gay rights. Nor, especially, should this case serve as a convenient soapbox for opportunistic politicians to bloviate about their open-minded virtue against those "bigoted" bishops.

Ethics guru Sen. Ted Kennedy, for example, has condemned Catholic Charities for its gay-adoption ban, as has the Human Rights Campaign, which issued a news release titled, "Boston Catholic Charities Puts Ugly Political Agenda Before Child Welfare."

One could more accurately charge that gay activists in this case have put their own political agenda before child welfare. After all, what public interest is being served in crushing Catholic Charities? Whom does it serve that Catholic Charities abandon its role as matriarch of adoption agencies in Massachusetts? Certainly not the children [full column].

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Yesterday was insane. After school, I had to meet with a woman from the diocese, which was the last step in the official interview process for my job. It went well and now it's done. Then, the boys basketball team from school had a game. They lost so their season is now over.

After that, I ran home for a quick bite before I led Stations for some of the kids at church. 18 showed up and it was awesome. Then we had a dance which was utterly boring, but the kids had fun so I guess it was worth it.

Today I had dress rehearsal for the Symphony concert on Monday night, then my usual Saturday vigil job in Taunton. So I decided I deserved Taco Bell for dinner and I popped "The Net 2.0" in and watched that. It actually wasn't too bad... at very least I was entertained.

The Lord's Day is shaping up to be rather busy. I have my usual Sunday morning job, then lunch with some former students, then a 50th anniversary of priesthood in Taunton (I'll be violining), and finally, the second dress rehearsal for the Symphony. So don't expect much posting tomorrow!

In the midst of all this, I'm trying desperately to mark report cards! Thankfully by mid-week it'll cool down (or so I think it will anyway). Good Saint Anne, pray for us!

Papa has another trip planned:

Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecido, Brazil, has confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI will travel to his archdiocese in May 2007 for the opening of the 5th general conference of the Latin American bishops conference (CELAM) at the Marian shrine there.

Pope Benedict chose the location, the archbishop said, as an important "point of reference" for the Church in Brazil. Each year more than 8 million people make pilgrimages to the shrine. [story]

For those following the Boston Catholic Charities story:

Governor Mitt Romney filed legislation yesterday that would allow religious groups to refuse to provide adoption services if doing so violates the tenets of their faith, including a belief that children should not be placed with gay couples.

Citing a decision by Catholic Charities of Boston to end its adoption services rather than comply with state laws requiring that gays and lesbians be considered as prospective parents, Romney filed a ''Protecting Religious Freedom" bill that would exempt religious groups from laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

''It is a matter beyond dispute, and a prerequisite to the preservation of liberty, that government not dictate to religious institutions the moral principles by which they are to carry out their charitable and divine mission," Romney wrote lawmakers in a letter accompanying the bill. [story]

I have to say that I agree with the Archbishop's decision, though it's a difficult one in many ways. We just have to stick to our principles, but it's truly unfortunate when it destroys a vital outlet for social justice.

Could he already be working on #2?? [story]

Sources close the Holy See have indicated that Pope Benedict XVI is preparing his first social encyclical, which may be entitled “Labor Domini,” or, “The Work of the Lord.”

According to the report, which has not yet been officially confirmed by the Holy See, the encyclical would present a Christian vision of human work and address the importance of work for society. Likewise, it would explore the necessity and duty of the human person to work in some capacity.

Before retiring for the evening on what has been a ridiculously long day (for those of you that know me, I had to go to the mall tonight, it was so bad), here's something that cheered me up. This may be a tad uncharitable, but what the heck.

Fr. McBrien is being accused by the Cardinal Newman Society of plagiarism. The Curt Jester wrote a top ten list of documents Fr. McBrien will never be accused of plagiarizing.

10. Actual documents from Vatican II
9. Academic Mandatum
8. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
7. Catholic Answers: Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics
6. General Instruction of the Roman Missal
5. Ex Corde Ecclesiae
4. Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons
3. Redemptionis Sacramentum
2. Humanae Vitae
1. Ordinatio Sacerdotalis

Read the whole post here.

America has an article this week on the Apostolic Visitation of seminaries, which many of us have experienced this year. If you want the whole article, I can email it to you. It's very optimistic, yet truthful about the limitations.

Although I am optimistic that the visitation will largely affirm U.S. priestly formation and offer some useful recommendations, there are limitations—both in procedure and content—that may inhibit its full effectiveness. Procedurally, three problems stand out. First, there is the ongoing insistence on secrecy. Not only was no list of the visitors made public; the IL itself was kept secret until someone leaked it. In the U.S. context especially, one would have thought that the serious criticism of excessive secrecy aimed at church authorities in the midst of the sexual abuse crisis would have led to greater transparency in the apostolic visitation, but it did not.

A second procedural problem is the lack of an “exit interview” at the conclusion of the visitation. Seminary personnel, and even bishops or religious ordinaries, are left in the dark about the impressions made on the visitors. In United States, where most seminaries are used to being scrutinized by accreditation agencies (whether secular or theological), at least an oral interview outlining major impressions has become de rigueur. Withholding such a judgment for what may be a period of many months or, more likely, years (if the last visitation is any indication) is a disservice. Ostensibly, the reason for this procedure is so that officials of the Holy See alone can make the final judgment about the adequacy of any seminary or formation program. (The congregation eventually allowed a preliminary report to be reviewed for factual accuracy, but only by the ordinary of the diocese or religious community; no evaluative judgments can be questioned.)

Third, the lack of extensive lay participation in the visitation seems odd, given the recent experience of the U.S. church in the abuse crisis, where excessive clericalism has been blamed for the lack of oversight and transparency. Actually, the congregation did make a concession in the case of this visitation, by agreeing to have some laity serve as “consultors” in the process. But they are not allowed to participate in interviews or be official apostolic visitors. Rather, their role is to peruse seminary documentation, visit the library and so on. Perhaps this concession will lead to further lay participation in the future, but in a U.S. context, this limited role seems overly restrictive.

Our good friend Bishop Rhoades is refusing to grant the dispensation for Catholics to be able to eat meat on St. Patrick's Day [story]. The reason why this is so interesting to me is because Saint Patrick is the patron of his diocese. It seems to me he actually has a reason to grant it, not like some other dioceses.

I'm indifferent when it comes to the indult. I'm Irish, yet corned beef and cabbage hardly strikes me as a culinary delight. Those who know me well will also know I won't be caught drinking any green beer on Friday either.

The way I see it is this: the Church asks very little of us these days. At least we're all united each Friday of Lent in abstaining from meat. For many, this is hardly a sacrifice at all (fish & chips Friday!). When the Fates conspire and Saint Patrick's Day falls on a Friday during Lent, why not just have the corned beef on Saturday? Why must it absolutely be on March 17? When my birthday falls during the week, I hardly go out and get drunk when I have to get up early the next morning... I just celebrate it over the weekend. This doesn't make me feel any different. I just think it's responsible living.

These people talk about the stubbornness of the Church over what they see as an unnecessary burden. But aren't they being just as stubborn, if not worse when they can just eat it the next day? At least the Church sees a benefit to the abstinence laws. Not to mention that many of the people who scream at the Church for not granting the indult have separated themselves by not participating in the Sunday Eucharist each week anyway. If you're not going to attend Mass on Sunday, you might as well just eat meat on Friday!

Again, I'm not against the dispensation, but in many ways I just feel it's unnecessary. I do like that the bishops are sensitive to the lives of ordinary lay Catholics though (nice change from business as usual).

I also wonder what Saint Patrick thinks about his name being used to promote a disregard for the penitential practices of the Church and a glamorization of wild, drunken revelry. Maybe better to rename it: Irish Pride Day.

Rocco over at Whispers is keeping a count of dioceses in the U.S. granting the indult here. My bishop granted the dispensation with the stipulation that another act of penance be carried out instead. I'm sure those heading to the Corky Row on Friday night will be on their knees praying their rosaries before the night begins, of course.

Well, it was time to get this thing started again (on no less a day than the Ides of March!). Once again I have my own little corner of the internet to use! Thanks to Ben for helping with the domain name.

This is just a place to post interesting things I see online or come across in my travels. I'm currently running through thousands of pages of liturgy resources in my room (picture the mess) so that I can add them eventually also.

Those who know me well know that I live my life by the liturgical calendar and that every project I undertake has some possibility of serving the Church. This is no different. I hope you enjoy this blog and all the other things I'd like to post on this site. Please check in daily and tell your friends about it.

I have no clue what this will evolve into, but I ask the intercession of Good Saint Anne, our great patronness and protector, that it may serve the Church and help myself and others become closer to God.