The Adventures of Marc Paveglio

Publishing Break

2007-08-15T09:27:00.000-04:00

Dear friends,

I moved into Mount St. Mary's yesterday, and it feels like home already. I am very excited to begin my studies and be formed by Our Blessed Lord to be his holy priest.

I will be taking a hiatus from publishing on my blog, but I will still have easy access to email and Facebook. I thank all of you who have stopped by to read my sporadic and sometimes bizarre jottings. Please pray for me and all of my brother seminarians!

Praised be Jesus Christ now and forever!

A taste of Young Disciples

2007-08-08T09:52:00.000-04:00

During our 10 days in Fargo the Young Disciples-to-be were trained in a variety of subjects including catechetics, divine revelation, methodology, scripture, sacraments, and so forth. My favorite lectures were given by Fr. Paul Duchschere, Fargo's vocation director. He gave a series of talks on the Blessed Trinity that changed my life! Absolutely fantastic. I was only able to record the last talk, which was on both the Holy Spirit and the Sacraments. Click here to listen (1:10 / 40 MB mp3)

[UPDATE: I actually found another recording of Fr. Paul's talk on Christ! Here is part two, on the Son of God, of the three-part series (1:07 / 38 MB mp3) ]

At a few points the volume seems to go down; this is because Fr. Paul was either listening to a question in the audience or writing on the white board.

Young Disciples 2007 - Fiat!

2007-08-07T16:39:00.000-04:00

Praised be Jesus Christ!

My summer as a Young Disciple has been my best summer ever by far. Why? Because the Lord has given himself to me as a gift, and he has given me as a gift to others and back unto himself. Self-gift, the requirement of love.

My team of five had a mission: to catechize the youth of North Dakota and Minnesota and proclaim the love of Christ to all we meet. We drove to eight different parishes in a rental van. Each week we put on a Bible camp for grades K - 6 during the day. Half of the summer we also put on a teen mission for the youth in grades 7 - 12 in the evenings.

Each week had its own trials. During the first week I remember feeling so overwhelmed. We had been at the church in Lidgerwood from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM with no breaks. I stayed up past midnight trying to plan lessons and prepare my testimony for teen night. My mind was filled with incoherent thoughts and blurred images of what I wanted to convey the next day. Frustrated, I turned out the lights and went to bed. I set my alarm for 5:30, thinking that would give me more time to plan with my head on straight. I woke up at 4:00 AM and felt like my heart and lungs were clenched inside someone's fist. My pulse was racing and I felt such anxiety like I had never known before. My mind raced, worrying about every little thing I was responsible for the next day. The evil one was definitely attacking me in spirit. He hurled lies at me: You can't do this; what were you thinking, leaving the comfort of home?; you are totally inadequate; there's no use in trying hard. Thanks be to God for the power of prayer. I resisted these temptations and gave them all to the Lord, and he rescued me from them. The rest of the week was anxiety-free and some of my lessons that received hardly any planning turned out to be my best.

Each week also had its own joys. On the indian reservation there was a boy in my class who seemed "too cool" for Bible camp. On day 1 he spoke little and appeared generally uninterested in the activities. It was hard to not stigmatize him in my mind as a "bad kid." But on day 2 he walked in with a bit more energy. During the first lesson he started raising his hand to answer questions, to the point where he wanted to answer every question, AND he was asking questions of his own! It was incredible to see his heart so receptive to Jesus. He wanted to know everything about the Holy Trinity, Jesus, and Mary. He asked questions during lesson, lunch, and recess. He even asked questions that I had never even considered. In the end he learned so much and had a whole lot of fun at camp. Praise the Lord!

In everything in life, but especially in mission work, we can do nothing unless we pray. And let me tell you, the Young Disciples teams PRAY. After I taught lessons in the classroom, Our Blessed Lord taught me beautiful lessons of his own in times of prayer. The most salient of the many things he showed me were humility, zeal, and poverty.

Humility. I am a small creature, and my life depends entirely on God's grace. To be humble is to imitate Christ's love for us, even to die on a cross for us. God teaches me humility over and over again. Specifically, he showed me that in many areas of my life where I think I am mature in humility, I actually am not. Sometimes the Lord used my team as his instrument; spending an entire summer with people you just met can cause friction. Thank God our team never had any major blowups, but the Lord humbled me by their holy example, by showing me (and my team) my weaknesses, and probing some wounds in my heart that have not fully healed yet. In a sense, He was saying, "I still have a lot of work to do on you, my son!"
Zeal. Paul writes to the Romans in the first chapter: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel." I read this one afternoon and 22 years after baptism something different clicked. There is never a day, a minute, a single moment, where the good news of Christ the Messiah can be put on hold. If I really believe what I am teaching these little children, then I must never be afraid to proclaim the love of Christ, the fullness of the Catholic Church, and the call to repentance - even at the expense of my material comforts and my reputation.
Poverty. I managed to read one book this summer, Blessed Are You Poor by Thomas Dubay. Simply amazing. He shows the radicality of Christ's call to follow him unreservedly by being poor. Being poor, in the sense of the Gospel, does not mean living in destitution and misery. Instead it means a constant renunciation of everything that is superfluous in life, and thus, an obstacle to sainthood. The book is packed with beautiful examples of saints - married, consecrated, and ordained - who lived joyful lives with close to nothing but the bare essentials. I want to live that kind of life, unrestrained by worldly things, continually giving of everything to those who have less, and trusting in the providence of God.

This summer I gave up everything to serve Christ and his Church. And it was a BLAST! Please pray for all the children we were with, their families, and their communities. I am confident in saying that we "competed well, we kept the faith, we finished the race."

And now, I give you über-fun pictures:

Back in Pennsylvania

2007-08-02T19:49:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful feeling - to know that I have proclaimed the love of Christ, taught the faith, spread the Gospel, and prayed with God's children for eight weeks, and that my team and I sprinted across the finish line. Praised be Jesus Christ! To God be the glory.

Commentary and pictures will be put up... eventually.

Pix Post!

2007-07-06T10:51:00.000-04:00

My first ever demolition derby! Lots of car smashing and petrol burning action.

Some of our kids from Williston hang out with the team while waiting for their parents.

Ellen with some of the little ones in Berthold. This was probably "blog tag" recess.

My third grade class in Berthold. Small in size, but big in faith!

The Nux Baa Ga pow wow, near Parshall. There are three affiliated tribes in the region: Mandan, Hidatsi (sp?), and Arikira (sp?)

I took this after climbing up a small butte. There isn't too much vegetation to grab on to, but the dirt is kind of cake-like, so you can make your own footholds.

Sunset in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The Badlands are amazing.

Bully good!

2007-07-06T00:22:00.000-04:00

Praised be Jesus Christ now and forever!

Dear friends,

The Young Disciples have been on vacation this week. I am staying in Fargo until Saturday, when I will ship out for three more weeks of evangelization and teaching in North Dakota and Minnesota. For the last three days I have been in Medora, North Dakota with six other Young Disciples. We visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park, got chased by a buffalo, climbed on top of buttes overlooking the Badlands, saw the Medora musical, and shot off fireworks for the 4th of July. I hope to post some pictures soon, but the computers available to me are sorely lacking. The land out west is absolutely beautiful! It is breathtaking.

I and my team are praying for all of you.

2 weeks down, 6 to go!

2007-06-07T22:40:00.000-04:00

My first two camp weeks in North Dakota are almost complete and it has been a BLAST! My team? Incredible. The kids? Wonderful. Living in host homes? So much fun.

Each day's schedule includes the following and more:

Praise and worship songs
PAL prayer time (Praise - Ask - Listen)
Skits
Classroom lessons
Recess and games
Rosary
Lunch and recess
Living Life Holy (Short talk or skit on how to follow Jesus in everyday ways)
Saint of the Day (skits that the kids act out)
Mass Preparation (could be church tour, checking out the Mass kit, or learning the responses)
The day always ends in the holy sacrifice of the Mass, which parents and family are invited to.

The children are absolutely beautiful, and they frequently astound me with their thoughts and prayers. Last week classes did an activity where they could write 10 things that they hoped for. There were lots of answers like 'I hope for a bagillion dollars,' or 'I hope I get a dog,' but one of the kindergartners, without any previous knowledge about the Ascension or the Second Coming wrote: "I hope that Jesus comes back someday and takes all of us back with him to heaven."

I get to experience this everyday, along with hundreds of smiles, knock-knock jokes, prayers to Jesus, high-fives, and questions about what God did for us and how he wants us to find him and love him. What a gift!

Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them. -Mark 10:14-16

Send us forth, O Lord

2007-05-22T23:08:00.000-04:00

Today we were divided into our individual teams that we will spend the rest of the summer with! I'm blessed to be with Nicholas, Diana, Ellen, and Megan as we head out next Monday for our first camp. We have been learning catechism, pedagogical methodology, recess games, songs, and skits since last Friday. Apparently our team will have a lot of the "large" camps with 40-60 kids. There is still a LOT to learn and a LOT to plan for our day camps and our teen missions, which happen in the evenings. I will primarily be working with 2nd and 3rd graders this summer. This is awesome since I taught 2nd grade CCD all last year.

My cell phone is still out of service; but I have been able to check my voice mail and make a few calls on my roommates phone. Email is still the best way to contact me: marcpaveglio[at]gmail.com.

Flying in from Minneapolis. Flat flat flat!

Tacitha and Matt play an accordion duet.

Why is everyone holding their pens? Because we're about to start our 90 minute test on faith and divine revelation!

Dave plays some tunes outside the Diocesan center.

Playing "blog tag" in the parking lot.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!

Where the soil is black and the people are friendly....

2007-05-18T23:21:00.000-04:00

Hey hey, friends!

I made it to Fargo, although I was a little late getting in. This land is definitely flat as a plank, but it is beautiful. The other team members are great people and are totally on fire for Christ; I feel like I haven't even left the Catholic community at Penn State - I still feel at home! My cell phone gets excellent reception but unfortunately it always displays "Roaming," in other words "$1.00 per minute."

The schedule is exhausting; we're at the diocesan center from 8 AM to 9 PM everyday, but it's a lot of fun and rumor has it that we will begin to slow down as we approach next week. No time to put pictures up for this post, but stay tuned.

Oh, and get THIS: When two cars pass each other on a country road, the drivers wave to each other. All the time. I love it!

3...2...1... Launch

2007-05-16T16:15:00.000-04:00

Last post before I leave!

I wish I was flying in a jet-liner beauty like this:

But my flight will probably be closer to this:

It's quite fitting that I'm taking off into the clouds on Ascension Thursday. Please continue to pray for me and all the Young Disciples. Check the blog before the end of the month; I hope to have something posted from the frontier!

Saint Patrick Cathedral, 1907-2007

2007-05-15T12:48:00.000-04:00

Last night the Diocese of Harrisburg celebrated the 100th anniversary of the dedication of St. Patrick Cathedral! Bishop Kevin Rhoades, Cardinal Justin Rigali, and Cardinal William Keeler (former Bishop of Harrisburg) were in attendance, as well as hundreds of the faithful. Over the past few years extensive renovations were done to the interior of the Cathedral, including new paintings of the four evangelists, restoration of pre-existing paintings of the saints and side chapels, the relocation of the tabernacle to the center of the sanctuary, new flooring, and many more architectural and artistic details around the entire church. The cathedral is absolutely beautiful, inside and out.

The Catholic Witness published a reflection from the Bishop regarding the occasion. Below is an excerpt:

We are truly blessed in the Diocese of Harrisburg to have such a beautiful cathedral church. This year, as we celebrate the centennial of the dedication of Saint Patrick Cathedral, I invite all to come on pilgrimage to our beautifully restored Cathedral, not only to visit and see its beauty, but to visit in a spirit of devotion to pray and worship the Lord in His house, a spiritual home for all the people of our diocese.

Enjoy the pictures! I'm still getting used to my new camera, so not all the shots came out as I would have liked. It also did not help that I did not have a tripod.

The Cathedral as seen from State Street. Exterior renovations were begun in 2002 under Bishop Dattilo. Standing outside the doors gives a great view of the Susquehanna River to the left and the State Capital to the right.

This sign says 'founded in 1826' because construction on the original St. Patrick Church started then.

Here's what you see when you walk in the front door.

One of the many ornate stained glass windows that surround the Cathedral. This window of the Last Supper is located directly above the apse. It is flanked by other windows of (if I am correct) the offering of Melchizedek and the breaking of the bread with the disciples from Emmaus.

Paintings of the fruits of the Holy Spirit surround the nave. Closer to the front of the church are paintings of the four cardinal virtues. There may be others as well that I did not see.

The tabernacle has been moved back to its original location, front and center! For our non-Catholic readers, this is where the sacrament of Christ's true body and blood is kept.

Bishop Rhoades blesses the faithful with the sign of the cross during the procession.

I even got shots of a few brother seminarians! Here are Mark Speitel (l) and Brian Wayne (r). Mount St. Mary's can't come fast enough!

For more cathedral info check out the diocesan web page at: www.hbgdiocese.org

Empty your pockets

2007-05-12T14:01:00.000-04:00

So I was over at the TSA web site finding what things I'm not allowed to take on the plane. Man, they don't leave anything out!

This must be a blow to ninjas everywhere. Note that you can check them with your luggage and it's no problem!

Newman Rap

2007-05-10T16:24:00.000-04:00

Many of you have already seen it on YouTube, or, if you were lucky enough, live in concert at FRPSC (Frizzell Room - Pasquerilla Spirtual Center, of course). Here it is again, and this time I've included the official™ lyrics! Kudos to Bridget who was my funkalicious free-stylin' friend in rap. Oh, and the lyrics about me were NOT in the script; Bridget put them in without my foreknowledge. Click for the original YouTube page.

Word... to our mother.

Now listen up all you Catholics
We sometimes rap to get our kicks
This misconception we’d like to fix
Because rap is approved by Pope Benedict

Newman club is here for your formation
Nathan Dadey is the leader of our Catholic nation
he’s fun
he’s cool
and he dresses so fine
He’s so wonderful I wish he was mine

Blake Hamilton is a different man
he’s vice-president and the guy with a plan
At first glance he might seem quite weird
But you really gotta love that laugh and that beard

Go on my computer and open webmail
There’s Newman News – it’s there without fail
I like to look at all the pretty colors
The best part of Lauren is how she loves others

Have you met Chris Iannuzzi?
When I see him he makes me woozy!
He’s at RecHall playing racquetball
He’s so good looking I wish he was tall!
On the court he thinks he’s all that
But he gets owned as a matter of fact.

Melanie always sings in the highest key
Sometimes it is too much for me
Jammin’ up there with Luke and Chris
This part of the meeting you cannot miss.

Joe Swearman always talking about philosophy
And theology of the body

[Dance break for Jesus]

Our religious ed chair is Ryan Heiser
He always tries to make us wiser
He belongs on the board like pepper with salt
But only because he won by default.

A small blond man walks in the room
He’s just as pure as from the womb
When he walks by all the girls say “Yo”
Who is this guy? It’s Marc Paveglio!

Katie’s the girl to meet and greet
Come to Newman diner and with her you’ll eat
Katie McHale is always socializing
but when she’s not, she’s apologizing

[Our Lady interlude]

Bill Buchko is a guy who everybody loves
along with Devon Field, with her hats and her gloves
The nicest guys in Newman might be the Lukes
Why does Alex Huyett always say “Gadzooks?”

Alanna and Jill are always having fun
Those two go together like seeds on a bun
They love Disney and P-Poz likes it’s their job
I go to their crib just to see SpongeBob

Then there’s Frank with a capital F
He’s not a student but he’s a heck of a chef
Are you guys out there feeling the funk?
I heard Dave Sao wants to be a monk

Kelly Bird’s always working hard for Thon
She won’t stop fighting till cancer’s gone
If the commons made too many tater tots
Donny Brenner makes sure that they will Waste Not

Who are those guys not makin' any noise?
It must be all those freshmen boys.
The freshmen girls, always seen together
from this year on, we're birds of a feather.

[1-2 shoutout] Everybody holla if you love Ashley Dolla!

Speaking of siblings and pairs with quirks
can you tell me truly that there are two Burkes
Megan McGrath loves latin, greek, and nuns
And Joe Chobot can’t get enough fireworks and guns

Did you know that Newman has a cat?
She meows and she purrs and does all that
Late at night she goes to swing dance
And likes to crack bad jokes about pants
She’s so special her rhyme’s at the end
If you don’t know yet- I’m talkin' bout Friend

We'd like to thank God and you for hearing us
We're rapping out without one cuss
Remember to always love one another
We'd like to send out this Word to Our Mother

News, opinion, and current events

2007-05-07T12:20:00.000-04:00

Here's a smattering of articles that I came across today:

The Case for Teaching the Bible / TIME

Citing a series of Supreme Court decisions culminating in 1963's Abington Township School District v. Schempp, which removed prayer and devotion from the classroom, the skeptics ask whether it is safe to bring back the source of all that sectarianism. But a new, post-Schempp coalition insists it is essential to do so. It argues that teaching the Bible in schools--as an object of study, not God's received word--is eminently constitutional. The Bible so pervades Western culture, it says, that it's hard to call anyone educated who hasn't at least given thought to its key passages.

Islam - Part Two / la nouvelle théologie

The media tells us true Islam is a religion of peace (and love). I beg to differ. Islam is an ideology of power. Politics is woven into the very fabric of Islam. In fact in classical Islam it is a virtue to kill an infidel. The Koran explicitly forbids friendships with Jews and Christians. The West is struggling against an ideology which has every intention in conquering it.

Turning the Tide Against Euthanasia / ZENIT

Most people who think that euthanasia and assisted suicide should be legal are not thinking the whole issue through. They are thinking about personal autonomy and choice. They think about what it would be like to suddenly become incapacitated, and consider such a life as undignified or worthless. Perhaps they consider severely disabled people as having no quality of life. Our dignity and quality of life don't come from what we can or cannot do. Dignity and quality of life are not matters of efficiency, proficiency and productivity. They come from a deeper place -- from who we are and how we relate to each other.

Children 'bad for planet' / The Sunday Times - news.com.au

The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child." In his latest comments, the academic says that when couples are planning a family they should be encouraged to think about the environmental consequences. "The decision to have children should be seen as a very big one and one that should take the environment into account," he added. Professor Guillebaud says that, as a general guideline, couples should produce no more than two offspring.

I would post more articles, but I'm feeling sick after the last one! I love children so much; who would dare tell a family to not create beautiful, new life in the name of love?

Proclaiming Christ at Penn State

2007-05-06T15:00:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago a dozen Catholic students and one priest gathered to discuss evangelization on campus. The meeting was organized by Joe Swearman, a newly elected board member for the Newman Catholic Student Association. The problem before us was: How do we bring students to Christ? How do we live and proclaim the Gospel?

At the previous Newman club meeting Joe had spoken about how the neophytes who entered the Church at the Easter vigil Mass were enormous blessings. Yet, is this truly satisfying? Do we not want every single person to enter the fullness of God's life through Christ's Church?

At Penn State there are thousands of students who are seeking love, truth, and fulfillment. Instead, they find deafening parties, they have sex with people they met five beers ago, and they have friendships built on convenience and utility. Some of these students, after recovering from their hangovers, blindly continue the cycle weekend after weekend, semester after semester. But others ask themselves, Why am I doing this? Is there nothing more to life? What is the meaning and the truth I am looking for?

God is the answer. He is the longing in every heart, and only Christ's love will fill the void.

I am not going to tackle the entirety of what was said at the evangelization meeting. If you are really interested, you can listen to the entire session which I recorded and uploaded here. But I did want to address a few points that came up during the discussion.

One student commented that her friends feel automatically judged when they are with her. They become uncomfortable when they go to a party together, and she chooses not to drink underage or engage in other immoral behaviors. How can she witness to them when they already feel so distant? Her friends are nervous. They know she sees their actions but will not participate in them. But far from being judged by their friend, it is their own hearts that are judging them. This unease, this anxiety, is really the Holy Spirit working in their conscience to show them that something is wrong. This feeling of guilt and sin is the first step to a conversion, a turning toward Christ. Without realizing our sinfulness, why would we look for a savior?

At Pentecost, the Jews listen to Peter proclaim Christ as the Son of God and they were "cut to the heart" (Acts 2:37). Then they ask what they should do next, and Peter says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (v. 38). Therefore we should not fear when our friends become uneasy in the sight of righteousness. We should never be afraid to live out the Gospel for fear that it will make people uncomfortable. Jesus made lots of people uncomfortable. Our duty as Christians is to love them and show them a better life, a truly satisfying answer for the hunger of their hearts, that which is nothing less than our creator and redeemer. Let us pray that all who feel this holy apprehension will not close their hearts, but will open them to the Lord.

Vocation statistics

2007-05-03T17:58:00.000-04:00

Zenit just posted an article which surveyed 60% of the U.S. seminarians who will be ordained to the priesthood this year (and if that isn't a good sample size, I don't know what is!) Here are the statistics. Let's see how I measure up!

-- Seven in 10 report their primary race as Caucasian, European American, or white.
I'm definitely European American

-- Of the 33% of ordinands born outside the United States, the largest numbers come from Vietnam, Mexico, Poland and the Philippines.
I'm not foreign-born, but dang - 33% is a lot!

-- Some 6% are converts to the Catholic faith.
I am not a convert.

-- More than six in 10 ordinands have a college degree from before entering the seminary.
I'll be graduating Penn State in a few weeks; this trend of entering after college will probably continue and grow stronger.

-- Half of responding ordinands attended a Catholic elementary school.
Nope. Public school kid all my life.

-- About two-thirds of the group had full-time jobs before going to the seminary.
Nope. Going straight into seminary after college.

-- The average age at which they began considering a vocation was 17.
That's about right. I had the first inklings the summer before I entered Penn State, when I was 18. Then during freshman year was when the Lord really presented me with my vocation.

Vocations update

2007-05-01T10:28:00.000-04:00

My mother reports that the quasi-official list of new seminarians for next year has topped off at THIRTEEN! That's the original 7 of us from the January review board, plus 6 from the April one. This will almost double the number of men who are studying for the priesthood in the Harrisburg diocese. The names are not published yet, but I presume that the diocese will put an official list online once we have all received our acceptance letters from our respective seminaries.

Also of note, the new diocesan web site has launched, which is a huge improvement over the old one.

A flower for you!

2007-04-23T17:01:00.000-04:00

I took this picture in 2004 (with my old Nikon 775!) and it is too gosh darn beautiful to not post today.

The Sound

2007-04-22T13:07:00.000-04:00

On some spring days
there is a sound in my chest
drawing and pulling
i can't drive it away.

Sometimes it comes
but then is blown away
by the flow of time

But sometimes it comes
and in spite of all that was revealed
i want it to stay.

Her look - more than stars
Her laugh - more than birdsongs
Lord, can I stay in this place?

Loving but not in love
desiring to live and give, but
only dying to self

How deep the sound goes
echoing without end
a sweet ringing in my soul

For this love I must wait
but
for now
until
the last day
I will find all of love, and her, in You

Congratulations!

2007-04-20T10:19:00.000-04:00

Three cheers for the engagement of my brother Chris and his now-fiancé Amanda! He proposed on the top of the Empire State building last Saturday. Wow! Check out more pictures over at Paveglio.com

Supreme Court upholds partial-birth abortion ban

2007-04-18T20:31:00.000-04:00

Today our hope in the culture of life is bolstered. This is a very small step, but it is progress towards an end to our American genocide.

From the AP News:
"For the first time since the court established a woman's right to an abortion in 1973, the justices upheld a nationwide ban on a specific abortion method, labeled partial-birth abortion by its opponents.

The 5-4 decision written by Justice Anthony Kennedy said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2003 does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion." There is no such thing in the Constitution.

What is partial-birth abortion? The abortionist breaks the woman's water and pulls the baby, usually in the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy, out of the vagina feet first. Almost the entire baby except for the head is delivered. Then the abortionist takes a scissor tool and pokes a hole in the back of the baby's skull. Then, the abortionist "removes the scissors and introduces a suction catheter into this hole and evacuates the skull contents," i.e. the brain is sucked out. Does it sound too horrific? Don't believe me? See for yourself medical diagrams and instructions written by an abortionist.

Partial-birth abortion is indeed a grotesque act. But so is every other abortion where a unique human person is killed. You might cringe at the thought of a baby, almost delivered fully, being so violently terminated. Yet, this is NO different than the baby who is ripped limb from limb in a Dilation and Extraction abortion at 15 weeks. It is NO different than the tiny human who is cut off from the womb by RU-486 at 8 weeks. Either way a child dies and a woman is scarred forever.

It appears that the court argued the case on the basis of the mother's health, rather than the humanity of the unborn child. Partial-birth abortion (PBA) is never medically necessary. If a woman's health is indeed in danger, the safest course of action is to deliver the baby pre-term, not murder it.

What did Obama say? Nothing about the baby. He is afraid of further restrictions on "the right to choose." First, no one should have the right to kill a child. Second, while I certainly DO hope that more restrictions are put in place, PBA accounts for only 4000 abortions per year out of 1.2 million - hardly an encroachment on the abortion industry. This just shows how much the radical pro-aborts spin reality.

How about Hillary? Nothing about the baby or the fact that PBA is not medically necessary. Only that women have the right to kill the children they conceive.

Thank you to everyone who has been fighting this battle. May the Lord bless America in spite of our great sin. Grant us the strength to keep defending life!

He is Risen!

2007-04-07T19:30:00.000-04:00

In but a few hours, Catholics all over the world will celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, and thousands of converts will make their entrance into the Church complete through baptism, confirmation, and reception of Holy Communion (Scott Hahn calls it the sacramental grand slam!) A good handful of people are entering the Church tonight at the Mass held on campus. Others will be initiated down the road at Our Lady of Victory. I will be attending the campus Mass, where Leah Mattei will be confirmed.

The Exultet

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

My dearest friends,
standing with me in this holy light,
join me in asking God for mercy,
that he may give his unworthy minister
grace to sing his Easter praises.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault,
O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:
"The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy."

The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father,
in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church's solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

Thinking about Sex and Marital Surrender

2007-03-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

Father Tad Pacholczyk writes for the National Catholic Bioethics Center. His column "Making Sense out of Bioethics" is always a great source of common sense and solid reasoning. In 2005 he spoke at Penn State about stem cell research. He eloquently explains why contraception is fundamentally opposed to the joyful experience of human sexuality in "Thinking about Sex and Marital Surrender."

Do Americans think enough about sex? Some would argue that it seems to be the only thing on people's minds in troubled times like these where so much attention is lavished on celebrity couplings, Viagra and breast augmentation. Yet there is an important difference between sex on the brain and sex as an object of thought, and we face a rather urgent cultural need to reflect more deeply on the inner order and significance of human sexual activity. The failure to think carefully about the deeper meaning of sex, I believe, stands at the root of several modern-day bioethical problems like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and contraception.

Sex has a delicate structure of its own. At the heart of the marital act, we can identify a kind of surrender. The inner language of sexuality involves a surrender of our self and our self-will. Prior to the marital act, one already sees how this self-surrender begins to come into play: does my spouse feel up to it tonight? If we become pregnant, will I support her in the morning sickness that may ensue? Am I willing to surrender my desire for intimacy now, if we agree that we ought to wait? Am I ready to surrender myself to the various demands that will come with raising children well and responsibly? Am I open to my spouse's concerns tonight, even more than my own? Even within the marital act itself, we discover this same aspect of self-surrender. St. Augustine referred to the intensity of sexual intimacy, noting that "when it reaches its climax, there is an almost total extinction of mental alertness; the intellectual senses, as it were, are overwhelmed." The point of climax, then, also involves a language of letting go of oneself, so that we enter a new and ecstatic space where we are no longer in command, where our own self-will no longer prevails.

This aspect of surrendering ourselves, looking to the other, and relinquishing control is a basic dynamism at the heart of human sexuality. Whenever a new human life is conceived at the center of this surrender, it suddenly appears as a "third", and a co-equal with its parents. The child seems to appear out of nothing, precisely when the parents find they can lay claim to nothing of their own, when their surrender has become complete. In their mutual surrender, the child can come as an equal, entering the world not as a product or a project, but as a gift awaiting discovery and unpacking. In their abandonment to each other, the husband and wife initially lack even the knowledge about whether they have become pregnant; they remain unsure for a while about whether the gift has come or not, and they wait in hope. Clearly, they are not in control of the whole process. In the depths of their one-flesh union, in their "union of self-annihilation," they discover this transcendent and mysterious possibility of engendering/receiving a "third." That "third" comes as an equal to the parents in part because the parents cannot selfishly lay claim to the new life as if it were an entitlement, possession or right. With the ultimate origin of that new life out of their control, they cannot subjugate it as "unequal" or "lesser" than themselves, because of the inherent equality of origins between themselves as human beings and their children as human beings. The engendering of new life, in an important sense, always stands just outside their full control. The inner structure of human sexuality thus includes this central and discernible meaning: that the root origin of new human life is meant to ultimately lie beyond our own direct determination, being instead the fruit of a collaborative surrender and union with our spouse and with God.

Once we begin to see this beautiful inner order of human sexuality, we can also begin to appreciate how both contraception and IVF manage to upset the apple cart of sexual relations in married life. When a married couple uses contraception, they say with their bodies that they do not, in fact, surrender to each other. They hold back a deep and critical aspect of themselves, namely, their own fruitfulness and fertility. They refuse to share that part of themselves with each other and with God. Because sex is about total surrender, contraception strikes at the heart of human sexuality by turning it into a partial and warped exchange, where one spouse may use the other to gain certain desired satisfactions. This can amount more to manipulation and domination, perhaps even a form of mutual masturbation, rather than loving surrender. The entire dimension of loss-of-self in mutual surrender, opening up a self-less space for the arrival of a "third," is stripped away by contraception. Any child who might happen to be conceived (in spite of contraceptive efforts) arrives not as a welcome "third" equal to the parents, but as an unequal, less-than-desired encumbrance. The "third" is perceived as a threat to my desires and plans. I must remain in command, in charge, rather than living in the fruitful mystery of total surrender in marriage. The appearance of this "third" who is outside my game plan may lead to the next step - abortion - reflecting a radical closure of the marriage to any kind of surrender or acceptance, and a firm rejection of any kind of equality between parent and child. So while there should be real surrender in this setting, with contraception there is instead a real form of domination over the origins of another. The apple cart goes topsy-turvy as contraception enters a marriage.

The situation is equally troubling with IVF. At the heart of IVF, we again encounter not only manipulation but also a new form of domination. Instead of the child appearing as an equal in the midst of true self-abandonment following sexual intimacy, the child is now highly unequal to the parent, a pawn to be played with in the endgame of satisfying parental wants. The child is radically unequal to his parents because he is manufactured in laboratory glassware, treated as a product, manhandled, prodded, possibly even frozen or discarded so as to assure that a desired outcome is forthcoming for those who dominate over him and his origins. Instead of surrender, the origin of human life is turned into a laboratory effort that is subject to our own direct determination and manipulation. The arrival of a "third" is not a gift that appears in the midst of our one-flesh surrender, but a scheme to be realized by making use of all our wiles and resources. Our own willfulness, rather than our mutual surrender, is the central dynamic in IVF, much as it is in contraception.

Benedict XVI in his first encyclical letter speaks of "That love between man and woman which is neither planned nor willed, but somehow imposes itself upon human beings…" This mysterious love is particularly reflected in the marital embrace of husband and wife, calling forth their mutual self-abandonment and total surrender, and throwing open a receptive space in their marriage to new life and new love.

Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, MA, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org

Seminary decisions

2007-03-24T09:20:00.000-04:00

Stephen asked if I had a desire to go to St. Vincent's seminary rather than the Mount. Although the people and the program at St. Vincent's are fantastic, I feel drawn toward the Mount for multiple reasons:

Obedience. Bishop Rhoades asked me to apply to the Mount; that's a good enough reason for me! He thought it would be the best fit, and he should know because he used to be the Rector. I have heard that, during the seminary review board, the applicant will sometimes be asked which seminary he prefers. I mentioned that I was familiar with both of them, but I was not explicitly asked to choose one over the other. Even if I had to, I would have chosen the Mount.
Location. Mount St. Mary's is just a few miles south of Gettysburg, meaning it's only minutes away from the diocese. And it takes less than an hour to drive to Harrisburg. This will make it much easier to be involved in events within the diocese. It will also be much easier to visit my family and friends (except for the Pittsburgh crew; sorry guys!)
Size. With 150 seminarians, the Mount is like the Penn State of seminaries. How can you not love that. Generally, the larger an institution is the more resources and opportunities it has. Now if only I could get JoePa and the team to come down... then I'd be set.

There are probably a few more reasons I could enumerate (the Grotto, the chapel, racquetball [can you believe St. Vincent's has zero courts?!]), but these are the main ones. After visiting both, I just feel more at home at the Mount. If I were sent to St. Vincent's I would still be ecstatic, because I know the Lord will send me where I need to go. Last weekend the sems there had absolutely no complaints. They were very eager to extol the formation program and the relaxed atmosphere.

Let us keep all the seminarians in our prayers!

Let's rangle up some cattle, yee-haw!

2007-03-21T18:00:00.000-04:00

Perhaps the title of this post is a bit farcical, or misleading at best. Still, I am indeed as excited as a cowboy with a new pair of boots because I am NORTH DAKOTA BOUND! I received word last week that I was accepted into Young Disciples, a group of teams that evangelize and catechize in the rural parishes of North Dakota. I will be in a group of 4, traveling to a new church each week to put on vacation bible school, retreats, and help with any other educational or spiritual needs. It's going to be a great experience to prepare for seminary, meet new friends, and teach kids about the the Lord's plan of salvation and love!

I'm wondering exactly how rural these places will be. It might be a large adjustment from Penn State. Let's take a look at the population of a few states.

Here is Massachusetts. Like most of coastal New England it has a high density. Look at all that red and tan! There's always someone closeby. Now let's look at Pennsylvania -

Pennsylvania is a little less red and a bit more green. We actually have the largest gross rural population of any state in the union. Still, the map is mostly tan, and you can obviously see the high density areas near Philly, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Erie. Now let's look at North Dakota.

Yep... nothing but lots and lots'a green! You can barely make out the tiny pinprick of red on the Eastern border. That's Fargo. And a few counties have less than 1 person per square mile! Hoo boy. But I welcome the change. I'm sure there will be plenty of beautiful scenery. And - wow I can't believe I just thought of this now - I'll get to see the stars! I've never lived any place that did not have horrendous light pollution.

I love the stars.

Weekend at St. Vincent's

2007-03-19T23:12:00.000-04:00

Despite the treachery of constant sleet falling on the turnpike, a few brave Penn Staters drove to the archabbey to experience the prayer and work of the monks of St. Vincent's Benedictine monastery.

It was only my third trip to the abbey, but I still remembered many of the monks by name. They are always so welcoming to their visitors; they are willing to discuss anything under the sun and they radiate Christ even in the little things they do, from serving dinner, to reading the scriptures, to telling a joke.

Praying as a monastic community is one of the most beautiful gifts the religious order has. The monks come together three times a day to pray the Divine Office. Morning and evening prayer is chanted slowly, meditatively. The words of the psalms are made real. They sink into the mind and heart like water soaks into cloth.

St. Vincent's is far from cloistered - they have a large congregation who the brothers minister to - and on Friday the basilica was packed for the stations of the cross. Praying together with everyone, and then prostrating ourselves before the Lord in Eucharistic adoration, I truly felt the joy of "being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing" (Phil 2:2).

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory!

Altar and apse of the basilica.

You cannot serve both God and mammon

2007-03-13T10:45:00.000-04:00

Over at Orion Magazine there is an interview with photographer Chris Jordan. His new series, Intolerable Beauty, shows the reality of American mass consumption through images like thousands of discarded cell phones and shiploads of glass bottles.

I am frequently surprised by how little negative feedback I get for my criticism of the American way of life. Maybe it is because we all know it is true: that we are living insane lives governed by materialism and greed. Or maybe the lack of resistance is a reflection of the depth of our denial. When I exhibit my work and talk about our rampant consumerism, no one ever seems to think I am talking about them.

Talking to Americans about consumerism is like talking to someone with an alcohol problem. Our culture is in deep denial about what we are doing to our planet, to the people of other nations, and the people of the future. And maybe the biggest tragedy of all is that we are in denial about how our consumer lifestyle is sapping our own spirits. We are slowly killing ourselves, and we all feel it. We know we are somehow getting screwed, that all this stuff isn't really satisfying, that we have lost something sacred that is related to the very core of our selves. But still we don’t act. Instead we get in our BMWs and drive to our skyscrapers and shuffle our papers for all of the best hours of the best days of the best years of our lives so we can afford our new kitchen remodel.

I just read Fahrenheit 451 last night. Jordan's words remind me of the parlors in the house that project sensational images onto all four walls, engrossing the viewer in three dimensional light and sound. Yet, for all the tantalization of the senses, the person watching becomes less human rather than more, seems to become a lump of clay that one could form and mold and prod without resistance. There is nothing sacred, nothing worth thinking about. Only constant motion and inane activity.

Captain Beatty, in Bradbury's novel, says in one of his last poetic soliloquies:

More sports for everyone, group spirit, fun, and you don't have to think, eh? Organize and organize and superorganize super-super sports. More cartoons in books. More pictures. The mind drinks less and less. Impatience. Highways full of crowds going somewhere, somewhere, somewhere, nowhere. The gasoline refugee. Towns turn into motels, people in nomadic surges from place to place, following the moon tides, living tonight in the room where you slept this noon and I the night before.

Spring Break

2007-03-12T10:40:00.000-04:00

I'm back in Palmyra for a few days, but nobody else is! Luckily Brad is here - we're going to get lunch today - but everyone else still has classes or must stay at school for student teaching. I won't be home long, however, because I'm traveling to St. Vincent's monastery on Friday. Dave Sao is going to meet me in Harrisburg, then we will carpool over. This will probably be the last chance I'll get to have some quiet prayer time with the monks in Latrobe. The last time I was there was last spring. It was so easy to find union with the Lord, especially in prayer before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. That trip definitely helped bolster my vocation to the priesthood. Praise God for that gift!

Vexing questions in new vaccine

2007-03-11T11:23:00.000-04:00

Joseph A. D'Agostino of the Population Research Institute writes about the new HPV vaccine:

The efforts to force all American girls to receive a new, unnecessary vaccine with unknown long-term side effects seem to have lost much of their momentum for now. Merck has dropped its campaign to convince states to mandate the vaccine for sixth-grade girls before they can enter school, and strong public resistance has appeared in many states. This curious episode in the history of American public health is likely to be repeated many times over the next decade or two as the health profession grapples with the ever-rising rates of sexually transmitted disease in this country.

Some states are still moving forward with mandatory plans, but generally with allowing parents to opt out of the vaccination program. Even Canada’s provinces have so far decided not to distribute the vaccine at government expense.

Forty-five years ago, only two sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) were known to have firm footholds in the American population, and they were largely confined to high-risk populations such as prostitutes and sailors. Today, there are at least 26.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of those and is very widespread among sexually active girls and women. Scientists think that the four strains (there are others) of HPV included in Merck’s vaccine cause 70% of cervical cancer cases and 90% of the genital warts in the United States. So what’s the problem with giving this vaccine to girls?

First, it implicitly normalizes the abnormal state of modern girls’ self-destructive sexual practices. It says that girls as young as 11 could be sleeping around and must receive this vaccine, called Gardasil, for protection. Rather than spend hundreds of millions on injecting everyone with this HPV vaccine, a better strategy would be to tackle the culture of promiscuity instead, especially since Gardasil will do nothing to combat all the other dangerous STDs girls and women can catch.

Second, like most medical treatments, Gardasil has side effects. National Vaccine Information Center analyst Vicky Debold, RN, Ph.D., says, “The most frequent serious health events after Gardasil shots are neurological symptoms. These young girls are experiencing severe headaches, dizziness, temporary loss of vision, slurred speech, fainting, involuntary contraction of limbs, muscle weakness, tingling and numbness in the hands and feet and joint pain. Some of the girls have lost consciousness during what appear to be seizures.” NVIC says that 82 adverse event reports have been filed between July 2006 and January 2007 for Gardasil, suggesting that serious side effects are rare but hardly unheard of.

Third, no one knows what long-term ill effects Gardasil could cause. It is simply too new, and untried in a large population.

The most curious thing about Gardasil was the attempt to force it on 11- and 12-year-old girls across the country. Why was something so new, so relatively untested, with unknown long-term effects so quickly adopted as mandatory by some such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R.)? Virginia’s Gov. Tim Kaine (D.) is also considering mandating it. Both states will allow for parents to opt their children out.

Obviously, there are the lobbyist connections and campaign cash drug companies have. But there is a more fundamental problem: The assumption that youth sexual promiscuity is here to stay and fierce measures must be taken to combat the resulting diseases, and caution cannot be afforded when a promising new treatment comes along. Would that such energy be directed at keeping pornography away from minors or high school students of opposite sexes away from each other when not chaperoned. These measures would combat all STDs at once and reduce teen pregnancy as well.

It might make sense for parents who believe their girls are at high risk of sexual activity to give their daughters the vaccine, and for girls and young women who intend to sleep around to take it (hopefully, at later ages than 12). Then ten or so years down the road, after the vaccine’s effects are better known, perhaps the health profession might encourage—-not mandate—-more widespread use of the vaccine.

But this cautious, common-sense course was not pursued. Instead, the top-down heavy hand came into play immediately. This attitude of our political class and medical establishment does not bode well for future efforts to combat the rising tide of sexual infections among American youth.

Spiritual Direction & Meditation by Thomas Merton

2007-03-04T12:46:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Spiritual Direction & Meditation by Thomas Merton. It's a small book of 108 pages, so it was a quick read. The first half is explicitly about what spiritual direction is and what it is not.
Merton explains its history, its purpose and meaning, who should receive it, and how to profit best from direction.

One interesting tidbit I found concerned our idea of interacting with our director. Merton says that although the director deals with the supernatural, he need not be some cryptic figure shrouded in mystery, only offering short words of mystical advice:

"The first thing that genuine spiritual direction requires in order to work properly is a normal, spontaneous human relationship. We must not suppose that it is somehow "not supernatural" to open ourselves easily to a director and converse with him in an atmosphere of pleasant and easy familiarity." (pg. 19)

The second half of the book focuses on meditation. I found it to be a very compressed version of Merton's Seeds of Contemplation. In a very straightforward way he outlines meditation in scripture, how meditation's ultimate goal is love and union with God, and how to focus one's mind and then let the Holy Spirit lift the spirit to the Lord. He also explains many fundamental concepts about how to meditate such as where, when, and with what attitude. Possibly the most important lesson I've learned from Merton's Seeds of Contemplation, and what is repeated here, is how to respond to our emotions of loneliness, anguish, or confusion when we pray and meditate.

Meditation "does not have to feel itself enkindled with raptures of ardent love. A good meditation may well be quite "dry" and "cold" and "dark."" (pg. 67)

When God does send us movements of joy and bliss in our hearts we should be thankful and enjoy the affections. But we should be careful not to meditate for the sake of achieving these "consolations of prayer." Our prayer may not always let us see God or experience him, "but it should always leave us more and more convinced that there is nothing else worth finding" (pg. 70).

As with Merton's other works, his writing is clear and decisive. Each paragraph is so simple to read yet so rich with meaning. I recommend this book to all who desire a more intimate interior life in God (that should be everyone!) or who are in spiritual direction or interested in starting. Five out of five stars.

Doug Kellogg; what's it mean?

2007-02-26T22:33:00.000-05:00

Those of you from Palmyra High School will remember the always-friendly Doug Kellogg, science teacher and marching band assistant director. I ran into him last Thursday at the McDonald's on route 22! I saw the most recent addition to his family, along with Mrs. Kellogg and their little girl. Apparently he is teaching in Ephrata now.

Funny thing is, if I never blew a tire on the turnpike, I never would have bumped into him.

Joining the Catholic Blogosphere

2007-02-25T22:36:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon the blog of another student from the Harrisburg Diocese. Stephen runs "For God, For Country and For Yale." It looks like he has been blogging for a while - there are some great posts about Catholicism at Yale, the faith in general, and football - something dear to every Penn Stater's heart!

Well don't just sit there, go check it out!

Be fruitful and multiply... in a celibate way!

2007-02-23T15:25:00.000-05:00

I just received word that seven - count them, seven - men have been accepted to the Harrisburg diocese to begin seminary next year! And the number could go up to eleven, depending on how many apply and are accepted at the spring seminary review board, held in April.

Now there's an adventure

2007-02-02T20:24:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I was walking down Pollock Road and I met up with my old chap Graham Spanier. He was like, "So Marc with a C, what are going to do this summer, before seminary?" And I was like, "Well, my very presidential buddy, I think I'd like to go to North Dakota." "Really?" "Yeah, really! Hey I'd love to tell you about it but I have to go sell my organs to pay my tuition this semester. I'll catch you later, Graham!"

Ok, so maybe I exaggerated a few parts of the story, but the North Dakota part is definitely true.

North Dakota?! you ask? Why would you go there?! Well, it turns out that the Diocese of Fargo has a wonderful little program called Young Disciples, in which small groups of Catholic young adults travel to various poor and rural parishes to put on vacation Bible schools, teen and adult retreats, and help out with the spiritual and educational needs of the church. They are all about daily Mass, orthodox teaching, the sacraments, and having fun! Here is the web site. If I am accepted I will be in North Dakota from May 17 to July 31. This works out perfectly with my summer schedule, giving me a fortnight of free time both before and after my time with Young Disciples. Neehaw!

In other news, I have begun to receive information and booklets from the Mount. It's such a beautiful place. But still, my heart will always be at Dear Old State. WE ARE!

Praise the Lord!

2007-01-21T15:53:00.000-05:00

Next fall I'll be attending Mount St. Mary's seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland! And if it is the Lord's will I will be ordained a Catholic priest in six years!

I drove to Harrisburg on Friday to have an interview with Bishop Rhoades and about ten priests, the last part of my application for the Harrisburg Diocese. It only lasted about 25 minutes, and I felt quite comfortable even while sitting at the end of a very long conference table. Then I spoke with the Bishop privately in his office for a few minutes about the Mount. I felt like I had been through a whirlwind after it was all said and done. I said goodbye and went downstairs to the chapel and thanked God for all his love and grace. He has blessed my life so much, especially in drawing me to him in the past three years.

I knew that while I prayed the board would be deliberating about where to send me. Father Ray had told me he would call my cell with the results. The Bishop seemed pretty decided about Mount St. Mary's, which was my preference, so I was fairly sure about their decision. I checked my cell when I left the chapel - 1 missed call, "Fr. Ray." No voicemail yet; Fr. Ray is leaving it right now! I thought. Never before had I wanted to see that dinky little message icon light up so bad. After it appeared I listened to the message - the Mount it is! I did a little dance in the lobby, complete with fist-pumping. I was almost afraid the board would see me as they left for the day. It's OK; I'm sure they understand.

Thank you everyone who was praying for me on Friday. You are also in my prayers!

New York Times misinformation

2007-01-04T16:18:00.000-05:00

From C-FAM's Friday Fax:

It has been revealed by Canadian-based LifeSiteNews.com that the New York Times published a grossly inaccurate story about abortion in El Salvador and that it was assisted in the incorrect story by a notorious pro-abortion group. Times freelancer Jack Hitt’s April 2006 story, “Pro-Life Nation”, reported on a woman serving a 30-year jail term for supposedly having an illegal abortion. To get the story, the Times relied on a translator from a UN-accredited non-governmental organization called Ipas that, among other things, sells portable abortion devices over the telephone.

The Times writer was trying to make a point about what happens when countries have pro-life laws; that women go to jail for having abortions. The problem with the story is that it is not true. The woman, Carmen Climaco, was not jailed for having an abortion, but for strangling to death her newborn infant. [emphasis added] Court papers revealing this were easily obtained by LifeSite who then complained to the Times. Two Times editors defended the piece as accurate.

You can't make this stuff up, folks...

2007-01-02T18:22:00.000-05:00

I think this really says something about our values when we spend hundreds of dollars on pet massages. Even more awful than the waste of money is the diabolical trend of pets (along with other material goods) taking the place children once had. Are not our sons and daughters the real treasure of life, worth our money, our time, and our love? This says it all: "I would spend $250 to get us both rubbed down ... so I can look over and smiling adoringly at my pet enjoying herself."

From the AP:

Austin ricochets around the Ritz-Carlton hotel room, bouncing from bed to chair and leaping high to lick the face of his personal masseuse. He's an energetic 4-year-old pug, so there is a lot of wriggling as his "privileged pup" pet massage begins. But soon his eyelids droop and his tiny muscles relax under the soothing touch of Darlene Davison, the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota's spa director.

"OK, sweetheart, OK. There you go," coos Davison, creator of the luxury hotel chain's latest indulgence — the $130 dog massage.

[...]

For another $220, the Ritz throws in gourmet dog biscuits, an in-room pet massage, a choice of nail buffing or nail polish, a souvenir photo, a brisk walk over Sarasota's scenic Ringling Bridge and a gourmet meal of organic stew and designer water served on a silver tray. Designer water? It's a DOG.

[...]

"The trend, in the last year especially, is people enjoying things they can do with their pet," said Charlotte Reed, the New York-based author of the upcoming book "Miss Fido Manners Complete Book of Dog Etiquette." Reed has four dogs, three cats and several birds.

"People take their dogs to baseball games," Reed said. "People are going to fashion shows with their pets. People are going to benefits and art shows with their pets. You all dress nicely, put on your big diamonds and put on your pet's boa, or tuxedo shirt if it's a boy." The next big thing: pet weddings. Sure, you laugh now...

[...]

"I would spend $250 to get us both rubbed down ... so I can look over and smiling adoringly at my pet enjoying herself," Reed said. "That would be fun for me."

The real question is, who is doing the enjoying of herself?

Wanted: Servant for the Kingdom

2006-12-29T14:15:00.000-05:00

I'm at home pondering how to serve the Lord this summer. I will essentially be free from May to August until I enter seminary in the fall. I want to be part of some sort of Catholic apostolate/mission/evangelization group, but I'm not sure where to look. Although East Coast is prefereable location is not really an issue; I'm even fine with going overseas as long as it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Remembering the good times

2006-12-27T20:16:00.000-05:00

This blast from the past moment brought to you by: Walker's Pure Butter Shortbread.

Sandwich Smashing

2006-12-27T11:10:00.000-05:00

So, I definitely found the most ridiculous Facebook group of all time: "i am a sandwich smasher, i will not hesitate to smash your sandwich."

This even beats out "I got a high five from Eric Menendez" and "Lebanon County UNITE". I award it the 2006 WTF award.

Review: Children of Men

2006-12-20T14:11:00.000-05:00

Trailer here.

On December 7 I was able to see an advance screening of Children of Men, starring Clive Owen (Sin City, The Bourne Identity), Julianne Moore (The Hours, Hannibal), and Michael Caine (Batman Begins, Secondhand Lions). I had discovered the movie in the summer and eagerly awaited its release on September 29. For whatever reason, the date was pushed back to December 8, and now finally it is opening on Christmas day.

The film is a rough adaptation of the novel by PD Jones. In 2027 the world is reeling from plagues, nuclear wars, and famine. Only England, which is now under martial law, "soldiers on" with some semblance of order. But a future full of strife and violence is not a shock to our imaginations. What else is new? Well, it just so happens that no one on the planet has been able to conceive a child for 18 years. Scientists are unable to explain the phenomenon or create a cure. As the population continues to die off with no hope of a solution, civilization descends into chaos.

Theo (Clive Owen), once an activist, now lives a bleak life of working, drinking, and making occasional visits to his elderly but young-at-heart friend Jasper (Michael Caine). Jasper's conversations with Theo explain the state of the world and introduce the central themes of the film. When Theo travels back to the city the movie's pace accelerates and hardly ever lets up. Masked men abduct Theo and take him to their boss, Julian (Julianne Moore), incidentally Theo's ex-wife. Still an activisit, she leads a government resistance group but needs Theo's help to smuggle Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), an illegal refugee, to the coast. Theo reluctantly accepts, but soon discovers that Kee hides a tremendous secret: she is pregnant.

Children of Men is essentially an action movie at its core (I felt like I was in the middle of Saving Private Ryan at some points), held together by philosophical bookends. The themes of life and death, hope in a hopeless world, freedom, and human dignity were presented forcefully yet tastefully, however the writers could have easily amplified them by sacrificing even a little action in exchange for more dialogue concerning these ideas. Also, I think more of the movie should have been spent on the internal conflict of the characters rather than their external struggles. For example, the past relationship between Theo and Julian was presented initially but was barely revisited outside of a few superficial comments. And what will a new baby mean for the world? Will it be a sign of hope or leverage for the powers that be? Still, I felt deeply connected to the characters and I was held in wide-eyed suspense throughout the film's many perilous scenes and plot twists.

The acting is superb on all counts and Clive Owen gives a spectacular performance. I will definitely see Children of Men again after its full release next week; I highly recommend it.

Four of out five stars.

Never again

2006-12-18T13:03:00.000-05:00

Very fascinating article written by a Somali woman who moved to Holland. This was printed in the Los Angeles Times. Excerpt:

In order for me to be admitted to the university I wanted to attend, I needed to pass three courses: a language course, a civics course and a history course. It was in the preparatory history course that I, for the first time, heard of the Holocaust. I was 24 years old at that time, and my half-sister was 21.

[...]

I saw pictures of masses of skeletons, even of kids. I heard horrifying accounts of some of the people who had survived the terror of Auschwitz and Sobibor. I told my half-sister all this and showed her the pictures in my history book. What she said was as awful as the information in my book.

With great conviction, my half-sister cried: "It's a lie! Jews have a way of blinding people. They were not killed, gassed or massacred. But I pray to Allah that one day all the Jews in the world will be destroyed."

She was not saying anything new. As a child growing up in Saudi Arabia, I remember my teachers, my mom and our neighbors telling us practically on a daily basis that Jews are evil, the sworn enemies of Muslims, and that their only goal was to destroy Islam. We were never informed about the Holocaust.

[...]

Western leaders today who say they are shocked by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's conference this week denying the Holocaust need to wake up to that reality. For the majority of Muslims in the world, the Holocaust is not a major historical event that they deny. We simply do not know it ever happened because we were never informed of it.

STOP EATING JUNK FOOD, but go ahead and have sex.

2006-12-16T16:59:00.000-05:00

From OpinionJournal:

Heather is not an unrepresentative case. The author meets patients who cannot sleep, who mutilate themselves, who exhibit every symptom of psychic distress. Often they don't even know why they feel the way they do. As these girls see it, they are acting like sensible, responsible adults: They practice "safe sex" and limit their partners to a mere two or three per year.

They are following the best advice that modern psychology can offer. They are enjoying their sexual freedom, experimenting, discovering themselves. They can't understand what might be wrong. And yet something is wrong.

The Imitation of Christ, Book 1 Chapter 18: On the examples of the Holy Fathers

2006-12-05T20:04:00.000-05:00

Oh what a strict and self-renouncing life the holy Fathers of the desert led! What long and grievous temptations did they bear! How often were they harassed by the enemy, what frequent and fervent prayers did they offer up to God, what rigorous abstinence did they practice!

What a valiant contest waged they to subdue their imperfections! What purity and straightforwardness of purpose kept they towards God! By day they labored, and much of the night they spent in prayer; though while they labored, they were far from leaving off mental prayer. They spent all their time profitably. Every hour seemed short to spend with God; and even their necessary bodily refreshment was forgotten in the great sweetness of contemplation. They renounced all riches, dignities, honors and kindred; they hardly took what was necessary for life. It grieved them to serve the body even in its necessity. Accordingly, they were poor in earthly things, but very rich in grace and virtues.

"Live in the tension" he says!

2006-12-04T01:12:00.000-05:00

Fr. Raymond LaVoie, Harrisburg's vocation director, came up to meet with me and Ryan on Saturday. We had a fun time at the Corner Room and I got a lot of my questions about seminary answered. There was some disappointing news: since the winter seminary review board (SRB) falls on the first day of my internship I'll have to wait until April to have my interview and find out which seminary I'm being sent to. Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! Everything is in God's time, though. And this will not affect my formation program at all, simply the date that "I know."

Don't forget da fries, yo

2006-11-25T16:42:00.000-05:00

This is definitely in my all-time top 5 YouTube favorites. I give you "Big Mac Rap"

Happy Thanksgiving...

2006-11-24T21:36:00.000-05:00

From the Paveglios and the Macleans!

Let the festivities begin!

2006-11-24T21:34:00.000-05:00

I am now home in Palmyra for Thanksgiving break. Penn State held classes on Monday and Tuesday but most of mine were canceled (Professor: So we have class on Tuesday, but I won't be here). I skipped my only remaining class for a good reason: Justin, aka J-Suga (long story) was in town! He graduated in May 2005. I was glad to hang out with him during his stop in State College. Before leaving for home, I also met with Michelle and a new friend, Dave, who also teaches CCD at Our Lady of Victory.

So, what have I been up to this semester?

Since I already mentioned CCD, let me tell you about that first. For those unfamiliar, CCD stands for the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. Essentially it is 'Sunday School,' but the full name yields a more complete understanding. Dave (not the same as mentioned above), Erin, and I teach a class of about 16 second-graders. It's a big year for them because in the spring they will receive their first Holy Communion and make their first confession. The kids are great; it's amazing to see all their unique personalities and temperaments come together.

Our hearts were warmed recently when one mother told us about what her son wrote about CCD in school. He was instructed to write down one way that he would change the world, so he wrote that it "would be summer all the time, and there would be CCD everyday." Wow. Here is a boy who we thought was uninterested in class, slouched in his seat, and gave us smart answers to our questions. He isn't disruptive, and he does smile and laugh with the other kids, but on the whole we thought we were boring him. What a gift to hear that he actually likes class - enough to want it everyday!

On the other end of the age spectrum is my Tuesday night Bible Study. I lead it in conjunction with Christina, aka Spongebob. Jeez, we have names for everybody! Anyhow, for about 10 weeks we have studied scripture and prayed with our brothers and sisters from Newman. It has been such a blessing to me, and I think it is bearing much fruit in the lives of others. It is funny how much I have changed in the last few years. Before, I would have spent hours planning minute details of the meeting and made myself so anxious about how things would go and how they went. Now, I conference with Christina for a few minutes about the upcoming session, maybe look up a few documents to help me understand the text, pray for grace, and then just let the Holy Spirit do his thing. It's a refreshing change of style, I must say! I think that I have just become more flexible in many areas of my life compared to even two years ago.

In a sense I could frame this conversion as a deeper submission to God's providence. I realize that I can't fill myself with strength/knowledge/wisdom and so forth. This is like trying to fit a truck through a doorway. Instead, God is showing me how to be more transparent, he is making me a doorway of grace that is invisible and even able to circumvent the limitations of the ordinary. With grace, the truck can fit through the doorway, and let me tell you, if God's driving it, then it's a big tanker filled to the brim with blessings! Haha, I think Fr. Fred put into my head the idea of Jesus driving a truck at SNAC once upon a time.

I suppose a better analogy is the classic example of the stained glass window. That is what our lives are. Until we really know God with eyes of faith we are lifeless, without illumination, without color and vibrance. So we try and paint over the beauty already present; the window that was once transparent now becomes opague, but is still without life. But with Christ, the radiant sun, our lives burst forth in magnificence. And as we let him come closer his rays melt the crumbling layers of paint we have splashed on, and he makes us "shine like lights in the world" (Phil 2:15).

Hallelujah!

The Suicide of the West

2006-11-19T01:02:00.000-05:00

I am going to post some updates over Thanksgiving break, but for now I wanted to reprint an article from the Population Research Institute. It is frightening but not to be discounted:

Suicide of the West?

by Joseph D'Agostino

It is said that civilizations die more often by suicide than by murder. Decades ago, James Burnham wrote Suicide of the West about the nature of liberalism which, with its refusal to value any substantive thing over any other, is the ideology of suicide. He wrote the book in the context of the struggle against Communism, a struggle which, contrary to what many believe, far from over. Today, the Christian-descended world again faces a massive struggle against a more ancient enemy, Islam. With overwhelming military, economic, and organizational might on its side, the West should win this war easily—yet the suicidal ideology of liberalism puts the contest in doubt. Yet Muslims are not the greatest threat to the West today.

Remove the threat of Islam, remove the threat of Marxism, even remove the threat posed by the process of cultural breakdown per se, and the West is still on a rapid course to suicide. It’s a very simple biological reality: Western people are not having enough children. All Western nations are currently headed for extinction. Societal suicide couldn’t be any simpler than that short of a country nuking itself.

Earlier this year, I traveled to the spiritual heart of the West, Rome, where I met separately with two Vatican prelates. Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo is President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, and Bishop Elio Sgreccia is President of the Pontifical Academy for Life. They spoke of the challenges facing Western societies that increasing refuse to reproduce, particularly in Europe, the continent that for centuries, and until recently in history, was the most vital source of spiritual and material uplift and innovation for the entire world.

“In the Western culture, we have been witnessing a society model of extreme liberalism rooted in moral relativism,” said Cardinal Lopez Trujillo, “refusing the traditional family model based on marriage between a man and a woman, and thus other types of unions have been put forward such as civil unions, de facto unions, and even unions of persons of the same sex. This has resulted in the exaltation of individualistic models with a profusion of rights but a refusal to assume the corresponding responsibilities.” Of course, those responsibilities used to include raising children, but that has become purely optional these days.

The result? “That the fertility rate of 1.47 babies per woman is low, according to the 2005 estimates for the European Union as a whole, is a well-known fact,” said the cardinal. A rate of about 2.1 in a stable society is considered necessary to keep that society’s population constant in the long-term.

No better proof of societal ennui could exist than the voluntary refusal of people to produce the next generation of Italians, Frenchmen, Englishmen, and etc. Some argue that birthrates in Europe will begin to rise again, but so far there is little evidence of that. Others say that immigrants will renew Europe’s populations—as if the majority Muslim and unassimilated masses that Europe has imported over the past 30 years will magically become acculturated. On the contrary, surveys consistently show that the children and grandchildren of immigrants hate their host countries even more than the original immigrants themselves.

As His Eminence emphasized, Western people have been accumulating more and more “rights” in their own minds while discarding more and more of their duties. These rights always work against new life. “Among the rights that have been diffused have been those of abortion and of reproductive health, bringing about a change in mentality,” he said. “Also, the creation of a welfare state in Europe has aggravated the problem by imposing high taxes and perverse incentives. Young people are faced with high taxes and a high rate of unemployment, which also contributes to delaying the time of marriage and in limiting the size of the family.”

So what is being done about this problem? People must have noticed, right? “Thus far, there are very few concrete examples of solutions,” he said. “However, to take an example, France is one of the very few European countries where the family has had a tendency over the past few years to be slightly more numerous than in other states of the same continent. It has been found that stimulating economic policies in favor of the family has had the most positive effect.” Of course, the fertility rate of France, despite having the largest Muslim community in Western Europe, is still below replacement level.

Traditional Catholic countries have now entered the vanguard of the demographic winter, with some of the lowest birthrates in the world. “Italy, Spain, Greece, have been late in taking the road of the family and sexual revolution that had begun long before in the countries of Northern Europe and in France,” said Bishop Sgreccia. “These were, until recently, countries of large families, with high birthrates, countries of emigration. Things have been changing very quickly in both of these countries [Italy and Spain], especially in Spain, leading to a kind of negative reaction from younger people, against the model of family which was predominant in their grandparents’ and parents’ times. Young women especially want to take their place at the university, in business, economics, law or medicine. For that reason, they want fewer children, and later. In both Spain and Italy, private economic preoccupations seem also to predominate, for the time being, against the desire for children.”

Cardinal Lopez Trujillo quoted Pope Benedict XVI as saying in May, “Vast areas of the world are entering the so-called ‘demographic winter,’ resulting in a more aged population; families thus appear seized by the fear of life, of paternity and maternity. Courage must be instilled into them, so that they may continue to achieve their noble mission to procreate in love.”

With rampant divorce, rapidly rising expenses, and a popular culture dedicated to the corruption of youth, no wonder young people today fear marriage and child-bearing—especially when they are indoctrinated into the belief that money and pleasure will provide them the most fulfillment. And the media, prompted by governmental agencies and international organizations, spread anti-life messages every day.

“Powerful multinational lobby groups and international organizations such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation” are partly responsible “for eroding family values and responsibilities,” said Cardinal Lopez Trujillo. “They attempt to introduce in some countries ‘sexual education’ in primary and high schools, often without the consent or at least the support of the parents, teaching the use of masturbation, contraception, ‘safe sex,’ and condoms. . . .”

Those who worry about Muslims, or Marxism, or too many immigrants are right to do so. Yet these same people, usually politically and even socially conservative, generally ignore the fundamental biological threat facing all Western nations, especially European ones. (In fact, Europe, broadly defined to include Eastern Europe and Russia, is already shrinking in population.) Without a return to family values, we can honestly say the suicide of the West is inevitable.

For the sake of His sorrowful passion

2006-11-04T16:24:00.000-05:00

The last five days have been the most difficult of my life. Not as difficult as some people have it, but everyone is given different burdens, and this has been mine. I praise the Lord, for he is gloriously triumphant. He has given me his love and his help, and though the last week has been dark I still trust in him and know that He is Lord of all. Even if things do not turn out right in the coming weeks, everything will work out in the end, and his forgiveness will conquer all.

I realize that is really vague, but it must be at this point.

Onto other things. I finally had Guinness last night with me first mate. I "drank" Guinness before in an Irish car bomb, but I never drank Guinness, pure and unadultered. It was tasty, not as bitter as I had predicted, and very rich and creamy. The next drink to sample? Heineken!

Thanks to Andy I got my hands on a copy of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's "The Spirit of the Liturgy." In the first chapter he shows how the exodus from Egypt had not only the goal of securing land for the Hebrews, but also of the revelation of worship, liturgy. Moses tells Pharaoh, "We must go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he will command us" (Ex 8:27). Ratzinger writes that amid all of Pharaoh's attempted negotiations and maneuverings "the only goal of the Exodus is shown to be worship, which... eludes the rules of the game of political compromise." The rest of the chapter blows my feeble mind. What a beautiful and grand thesis- that the Exodus goes so far beyond land and reaches into law, liturgy, and the ultimate horizon of human reason.

Time to get back to the books. Only 5 weeks of class left. How did that happen?

Hurray for updates

2006-10-23T23:13:00.000-04:00

It's pretty bad when your mother has to tell you how long it's been since you've updated your blog.

Well, here it is. This week isn't too busy for me but I have been ill since last Thursday. Usually I get over colds in 1 or 2 days. Not this one. It didn't help that I exchanged sleep hours for social hours during the weekend.

I had a really great weekend with friends. There was definitely some good senior bonding
between me, Friend, Megan, and Joe. This Friday we at 713 are holding a Halloween party (actual name is Hallowizzle, oh yea) which will hopefully facilitate plenty of inter-class Newmanite bonding. Now if I could only find a captain Barbarossa hat!

Recently I've been trying to brush up on the intellectual aspects of my pre-seminary formation. I am realizing more and more that my understanding of scripture is far from where it should be. I've decided to go through the Gospel of Mark, paragraph by paragraph, even sentence by sentence, and just jot down questions, comments, musings about what I read. I only read the first three paragraphs of Mark's gospel last night and I already have a page and a half of notes. Scripture is dense stuff! It is so beautiful how rich it is, and how it all speaks to the human heart. The entire Bible is a story of love and God's gift of salvation, the desire of every man and woman. Pope John Paul II said of scripture, "The more one pushes back the limits of the unknown, the more one enlarges the area to be explored."

Islam and Christianity

2006-10-04T13:00:00.000-04:00

From Zenit.org:

Q: At Regensburg, Benedict XVI highlighted the Christian understanding of God as Logos. How does the idea of God as Logos differ from an Islamic conception of God?

Father Schall: The Holy Father posed the fundamental question that lies behind all the discussion about war and terror. If God is Logos, it means that a norm of reason follows from what God is. Things are, because they have natures and are intended to be the way they are because God is what he is: He has his own inner order.

If God is not Logos but "Will," as most Muslim thinkers hold Allah to be, it means that, for them, Logos places a "limit" on Allah. He cannot do everything because he cannot do both evil and good. He cannot do contradictories.

Thus, if we want to "worship" Allah, it means we must be able to make what is evil good or what is good evil. That is, we can do whatever is said to be the "will" of Allah, even if it means doing violence as if it were "reasonable."

Otherwise, we would "limit" the "power" of Allah. This is what the Pope meant about making violence "reasonable." This different conception of the Godhead constitutes the essential difference between Christianity and Islam, both in their concept of worship and of science.

An up-and-coming generation

2006-09-24T21:44:00.000-04:00

A new generation of Newmanites was spawned this weekend at the annual Newman retreat. Each fall about twenty men and women travel to the Hartman Retreat Center in Milroy to create new friendships, strengthen old ones, and praise God. The retreat itself is barely longer than 24 hours but the memories last for years!

If you want to see pictures just check my facebook. I'll post this one of the whole group for now.

I'm going home tomorrow for my physical and bloodwork for the seminary application. While I'm home I'll get to see my folks and my brother, and hopefully take some of Mom's home cookin' back to State College. Mmmmm!

Good article from the Wall Street Journal about the Pope/Islam situation right now:

It is being widely said, mainly among his expectable Western critics, that the quotation from Manuel II Paleologus was a "mistake." Really? I'd say Benedict is right about where he hoped to be after Regensburg: The whole world saying that a serious conversation between the pope and Islam is necessary. My guess is Benedict would clear his calendar if the Muslim Arab leadership said it is ready to talk. And the talk won't be about who meant what in the 14th century. It will be about the here and now.

If you didn't know yet I am co-teaching second grade Sunday school (CCD) with two of my peers. Second grade is usually preparation for First Communion in the Catholic Church and I am SO excited to see our kids receive the Lord in this special sacrament come spring. The kids are all so beautiful. They each have their own unique personality. It's interesting how kids have such a different sense of humor than adults do. I tend to laugh hardest at really long and culminating ironic stories or bizarre commercials. Tonight we drew the "order of creation" on the chalkboard: rocks, plants, animals, and humans. Each level had a picture, and since I was the drawer I made a penguin for the animal phase, naturally. As the kids were copying the scene I quickly drew the penguin to be holding an umbrella and they cracked up. How simple and pure. Please pray for me, Dave, and Erin to be wise and holy teachers for them!

Holy Jesus let me die to myself and live for you!

With revilement and torture let us put the just one to the test
that we may have proof of his gentleness
and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him.
Wisdom 2:19-20

Say a prayer,

2006-09-19T23:03:00.000-04:00

Because tomorrow the first interview I have for my spring internship! Neehaw!

Bible study went really well tonight. Thanks to everyone who came. And if you aren't going on the Newman retreat, you should.

Ok I was going to post a little blog entry but today was way too long. The Cap'n is tired. GOodnight.

What did you expect

2006-09-13T09:23:00.000-04:00

Doesn't this always happen? I start out a semester thinking, "Ok, I'm going to be involved in a couple things this semester, but I'm going to have plenty of time to relax, join some new activities, work out more, not be stressed."

But like usual, I'm signed up for what seems like a million new responsibilities for the fall.
They should all be great experiences, though. Especially teaching 2nd grade Sunday school; woot! Besides the kids, planning lunches at the Cafe on Fridays are going to be great.

That hurt.

2006-09-10T22:01:00.000-04:00

Although Notre Dame kicked the snot out of us, our offense was not that bad; our defensive pass coverage was. But whatever. I'm trying to erase that game from memory. Maybe the physics department can give me one of those automatic-amnesia sticks from Men In Black.

Here's the quote of the weekend:
Alex (continually throughout the night, into 4th quarter): Have faith! We're going to win this; have faith!
Blake: Faith without touchdowns is dead!

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I'm really missing my Palmyra friends, but the good thing is that it has been so much fun reconnecting with PSU friends up here. I really need to hang out with many of them one on one, but there are so many! And it will be hard to meet with people this week because this is internship D-Day. All resumes and cover letters will be sent out in beautiful packaging, but first I have a million questions for Angela King and a lot of research to do inside the internship war room, aka 211 K South Henderson.

Love you guys!

Clockwise from me: Lauren 'K-Dawg' Keil, Rachael 'Ratchhhhhel' Phillips, David "Bledford T. Bledsoe" Tedford, Jen "Yen yen" Gratz, Walter "WAAAAAALTER" Knight, Carissa "CB" Rossetti.

Back at PSU

2006-08-30T22:39:00.000-04:00

Mary, mother of God, pray for us this year!

Club 713 is up and running, now with 25% more masculinity! No, it's not that Nathan stopped wearing stockings on his arms, it's just that we got a new roommate! His real name is Chris, but everyone calls him Otis. He knows Ryan from Murrysville and, after 36 hours, seems like a great guy.

There was even plenty of space for his stuff (yes, you were right Ryan), however the refrigerator is a different story. Apparently there was no community food sharing over the summer, but we really need to split milk, or bread, or eggs or something here, or else Tim will have to buy a second fridge.

Assorted updates from the past 3 days:

The first football game is in 72 hours
Crowbar was closed/bought out/put out of operation this summer. Admittedly, I never spent a single penny there, but I'm still upset
I'm leading a Bible study with my partner in crime (faith?), Christina
My seminary application is about 75% complete
My racquetball arm is rusty but it will be enough to quash El Iannuzzi
At some point this year, Father B is going down in racquetball
I really hate TV

My roommates made a welcome-back video for me that can be viewed below:

Senior year

2006-08-27T22:08:00.000-04:00

I'm giddy as a schoolboy because in 24 hours I will be a schoolboy again at Penn State! I should arrive sometime in the afternoon tomorrow. Neehaw!

Revolting

2006-08-19T21:33:00.000-04:00

If this doesn't epitomize the culture of death, I'm not sure what does. I don't have a weak stomach, but reading this makes me feel ill:

From LifeSite

This week, a popular BBC radio announcer told the public that she had entered into a “suicide pact” with friends should she be incapacitated by illness.

Jenni Murray, the presenter of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, a feminist and euthanasia advocate, said that she does not want to be “trapped” into caring for her mother who is ill with Parkinson’s disease.

Murray, a member of the Order of the British Empire and a patron of the Family Planning Association, is airing her views tonight on a BBC television program called “Don’t Get Me Started.” Publicity material for the show says that Murray “plans to end her own life when she becomes a burden to those around her.” She discusses methods, including smothering with a pillow or injecting with drugs, with two friends,

The network said: "Jenni is angry that, having fought so hard to become liberated and independent, women are now being trapped into caring for dependent parents."

Murray complains that the law against assisted suicide is supported by a “religious minority” who hold to an outdated moral view that human life is inherently valuable and that children have a legitimate obligation to care for elderly parents. [A commentator on another blog wondered about about that "outdated" idea that parents have an obligation to care for their newborns.]

The program highlights the growth, especially in Britain, of the idea of an “obligation to die.” Most leading thinkers in the bioethics field endorse euthanasia and assisted suicide and often argue that elderly and ill patients have the obligation to end their lives to relieve pressure on families and the health care system.

In 2004, Baroness Mary Warnock, Britain’s leader in bioethics, said unequivocally that the ill and elderly had an obligation to die as soon as possible so as not to burden relatives and the medical system. Baroness Warnock, called Britain's “Philosopher Queen”, said in an interview, “In other contexts sacrificing oneself for one's family would be considered good. I don't see what is so horrible about the motive of not wanting to be an increasing nuisance.”

She said, “I am not ashamed to say some lives are more worth living than others.”

Anyone remember who else held that idea? Leader of a fascist country in the WW2 era, I think?

Redmond, start your photocopiers

2006-08-07T23:31:00.000-04:00

Today Steve Jobs gave an awesome preview of the next Mac OS X, 10.5 Leopard. It blows away Vista, which is still trying to catch up with the last version of Mac OS X.

The video below shows some of the "new" and "innovative" features of Windows Vista. Hey, wait a second...

"But in high school..." "Forget high school."

2006-08-06T20:29:00.000-04:00

Another great article online over at Crisis Magazine: "Monasteries and Madrassas: Five Myths About Christianity, Islam, and the Middle Ages." Among the various myths debunked are two very popular ones that still persist in today's mentality - that women were oppressed by the Catholic Church in the medieval ages, and that Christendom was barbarous and unlearned when compared to Islam.

"Thanks to Danish cartoonists, we're all pretty familiar with Islamic attitudes about drawing or painting a likeness of Allah or his Prophet. The Prophet himself, however, actually forbade to his people any visual art that represented any form of fauna, from men to cattle, which puts rather a crimp on artistic freedom—freedom that was widely enjoyed in the Middle Ages, let alone the Renaissance."

Sometimes I feel really cheated by all the ideology and misconception that has subtley seeped into my education, both high school and university. Thanks be to God for the objective scholars who are correcting old myths and seeking the truth alone.

2006-08-03T11:43:00.000-04:00

"When one enters into dialogue, one does not know what point will be reached, because if dialogue is to convince the other to adhere to one's own faith, then it isn't dialogue, it is proselytism. Only God knows where dialogue will end, and it is he who knows how much time will be necessary."

-Bishop Sergio Eduardo Castriani

I find your lack of pants... disturbing, admiral.

2006-08-01T22:32:00.000-04:00

I finally finished The Religious Sense and wrote the last blog entry for it. It was only 145 pages but it took me about three months to digest. The good news is that, because I took so much time to summarize and comment on each chapter, I can readily explain all the main concepts and relate them to other topics. Thank you, God, for the brain. Now it's onto the next book in the series: At the Origin of the Christian Claim. It's only 100 pages, but school starts in a month so we're looking at finishing that by Christmas. Maybe.

Summer is drawing to a close... I still really need to hang out with my brother, call a few people I haven't talked to in forever (like you, Katie McHale!), and see if Andy Stroffolino is still alive down at the Joshua House.

More words and pictures to come soon, but I'm too tired right now. Hurray for another 100 degree day!

It all begins 9/2/2006

2006-07-23T21:35:00.000-04:00

HELL YES

Wake-up call

2006-07-23T20:53:00.001-04:00

Although I do dozens of check-ins at the hotel, some people are more memorable than others. Yesterday I checked-in a young woman who particularly caught my attention. She was very beautiful, early 30's, and had a hint of a latin accent. Her eyes were large and bright, and she was so excited to be in Hershey for the first time and soak it all in. She really wanted to live life to the fullest; sometimes you can just tell by a smile or a word.

As I was completing all the paperwork we chatted for a minute or two and joked about whether dark chocolate or milk chocolate was better. She left the lobby thanking me until the door closed. I was happy to chat with someone who was so full of energy, instead of the people who scowl at the floor until the room key is in their hand.

She checked-out this morning, still giddy as before. This time she wanted directions for a multitude of restaurants and tourist attractions, but each time I told her how to get somewhere she would walk out to her car and then come back to ask about something else. The third and final time I joked that, "You just can't seem to leave this place!"

When Kim came in to work I asked her how the previous night went. She said it went well, except for a domestic dispute that occurred right outside the main office. Apparently a man and a woman were screaming at each other in our parking lot, complete with threats and plenty of four-letter words. Kim had to go outside and ask them to calm down and take it elsewhere if the argument was that important. The man (husband, or boyfriend perhaps) peeled out of the parking lot in his truck, leaving the woman behind. Kim said she was a guest staying in the main building of the property, and that she was young, attractive, and intelligent.

"How old was she?" I asked.
"Maybe early 30's," Kim replied.
"Light brown hair down to here?"
"Yup."
"Spanish accent?"
"Yea, that's her."

That same vibrant, gentle woman who I checked-in ended up bawling to Kim for about 20 minutes about her relationship. I didn't even realize she was here with a man until I looked at her reservation; the whole time I thought the other person in the room was her child. Although she didn't say it directly, Kim could tell that the relationship was abusive, at least verbally. The woman has faith in God and is hoping things will get better, but that rationale often turns out to be more destructive than if the woman would make up her mind to get out of the relationship. How ironic, that as she was asking for directions I said, "You just can't seem to leave."

I am just shocked that this woman, who seemed so confident and well-off, could be in such a dangerous situation. It is a wake-up call that abusive relationships and family violence can happen to anyone, even the people who seem to have it all together.

Please pray for this couple, and all who struggle with the stress of war within their homes.

Vocations Crisis

2006-07-21T17:17:00.000-04:00

God is calling, but no one's home. Why are so many young people ignoring the Lord's will for them to become a priest, a monk, or a nun? From Zenit.org:

Lack of support seems to be one of the main reasons why young people do not answer the call to consecrated life.

On Tuesday, the Italian newspaper Avvenire published an article entitled "Young People and Vocations," based on a survey, conducted by the Italian institute Eurisko, of one thousand young people between 16 to 29 years of age.

The study showed that 10 youths out of 100 feel at some point a call to the priesthood or religious life (male and female), but the majority abandon the idea after a few months.

Among the reasons for so many failed vocations is that 71% of young people said they had no friends who had the desire to consecrate themselves to the Lord. [So for us who do feel called - talk it up! You don't have to keep it a secret]

Twenty-nine percent felt called after a personal experience, such as a visit to a monastery, a pilgrimage or a spiritual retreat. [It's so easy to listen to God when you're away from the world]

Avvenire lamented that the data reflected the fact that abandonment of the call was followed above all by "the abandonment suffered by young people."

Another reason for failed vocations is that young people feel they must give up too many things, for example, marriage, to which is added the fear of loneliness. [Young people always hear about what they give up... they need to hear what they are rewarded with. Following Christ is never loneliness.]

The Italian newspaper highlighted young people's need for someone to support them, as a recent study of the survey revealed that 70% of the young people interviewed could not mention a man or a woman who represented a point of intellectual reference.

Thus, the newspaper concluded, "There is a crisis of vocations also because there is a crisis of credible guides."

Let us keep praying fervently for young men and women to answer their special calling from the Lord!

PaulPos and Morelli whoopin'

2006-07-17T22:24:00.000-04:00

Date: September 9, 2006: D-Day
Location: Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana
Reason: WE ARE PENN STATE

Road trip to the Notre Dame game. Who's with me?

Arts Fest 2006

2006-07-17T21:29:00.000-04:00

I'm back from Arts Fest, and believe it or not I have absolutely zero pictures to show for it! This was one of those times where I felt it was better just to enjoy the experience instead of shoving the camera into everyone's faces.

I took Christina up Friday night. There was a lot of traffic on 322 so we got up to campus around 6:30 PM and chilled in the apartment for a while until Steve and I decided to hit up the Saloon. I had an epiphany after about 30 minutes inside the smoke-filled box: I really can't stand bars. By bars I mean establishments that allow bands to play loud enough to disintegrate my cerebral synapses and where I'm always getting an elbow or a hand hitting my body.

I went to two pubs with friends from home two weeks ago and we all had a great time. We could sit down, share some stories and some laughs, and even get hoppin' on the dance floor while retaining our hearing and our oxygen supply. I really tried to tolerate the noise at the Saloon and just chill, but when I can't hear my friend talking to me from 3 feet away, something's not kosher. I left after about 45 minutes and found a lot more fun where all the underage folks were. Ironic.

Back at the apartment, Jess and I totally owned Pictionary. Antacid? Scribble? Noah's Ark? All guessed within about 5 seconds... nice. I was pretty beat from work and driving on Friday night, so I crashed before midnight. After meeting with Fr. Boniface (thank God!) Saturday I ran into Courtney from Spinner's, Kerry Ann, Katie Stone, and Dave Sao. About 10 of us went to Applebee's for dinner, which was surprisingly not extremely crowded. Our waitress really took a liking to Blake. After a visit down to Rachael's apartment on 6 it was more craziness at our place.

Fr. B. had a beautiful homily at Mass on Sunday. He joked around a little more than usual; he had a few jokes that he milked for all they were worth. It was Eat'n Park for brunch afterwards. Pete, you were right, the Oreo creme pie IS amazing. I can't think of a dessert I've had that tops that one.

I had to leave early on Sunday because St. Paul's in Annville was having its first young adult event of the summer. I ended up being 30 minutes late because of traffic, but it all worked out all right. Props to Steve for calling me ahead on the road. He notified me of the massive backlog between Lewistown and Port Royal, so I took 45 East to Route 15. It was an extra 40 or 50 miles, but it was better than sitting still for 90 minutes. Plus, Route 45 is absolutely gorgeous, it was such a fun drive.

5 people came for the young adult night. I was the only one still in college. We had a fun chat over burgers and then a great discussion about love and sacrifice. Praise to the Lord! I can't wait to plan another event. If there is one thing our parishes need, it is an active, loving, evangelical Catholic culture. Don't just go to Mass and run to the parking lot... get involved and get to know people. Live your faith with your whole heart, don't just "get by." Encourage each other in love and prayer! Get together and read God's word; go out and share the Gospel!

Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of your faithful,
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Lord you send forth your word and they were created
and you shall renew the face of the earth.

We report, you decide

2006-07-17T11:14:00.000-04:00

Today's top story: Squirrels on campus. Cute, innocent litter reducers... or vicious, greedy, overfed ratbeasts? You decide!

Happy Birthday

2006-07-10T20:30:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday to Jen, whom we took out on the town last Friday! Everyone had a fantastic time! I have 80 pictures from the night posted.

To view the pictures you'll need to know some inside information about Palmyra High School:

To access the photos, use the username "birthday"
For the password, enter the last name of this Civil War re-enacting, AP-European lecturing, Palmyra high school teacher.

Click here to access the login page.

If you haven't gotten it yet, here's another clue: One of his famous quotes is that history boils down to three simple things, "war, sex, and horses."

Nothing else like it

2006-07-09T23:17:00.000-04:00

I will be in State College next weekend, from about Friday evening until Sunday late afternoon. If you want a ride let me know! It's time for ARTS FEST craziness.

Jen's 21st in Harrisburg was incredible. Pictures coming soon.

Quo Vadis Days 2006

2006-07-02T14:18:00.000-04:00

Amas me?

After the resurrection, Jesus asked Peter this question: Amas me? Do you love me? Jesus asked him three times, almost as if it were a response to Peter's triple denial of him after his arrest on the eve of the crucifixion. Jesus commands Peter to look over his flock and then prophesies his martyrdom. Christ finally tells Peter, "Follow me," the same exact words he said to call him from the fishing boat years before.

This question, "Amas Me?" was the theme for this year's Quo Vadis Days retreat. The retreat is held by the Diocese of Harrisburg for young men who are seeking to know Christ's will for their lives, and, in a special way, to ask if God is calling them to the priesthood. If we truly love Jesus, then we are willing to surrender ourselves into his loving embrace, through which we can endure all things, even ridicule, torture, and death. We often think that by giving our lives to Christ we are being slighted, that we are losing out on the zest and richness of life. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christ takes away nothing good from our lives; instead he gives us every blessing and gives us treasures beyond our greatest longings.

"There is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers, and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come" (Mark 10: 29-30).

Quo Vadis is latin for "Where are you going?" If we are going towards Christ we are walking the path of truth, holiness, and happiness. If we are walking away from him we are walking towards darkness and misery. Only through him can we obtain the wholeness we desire.

Although the retreat last for five days I was only able to go for the last two days. It was a beautiful drive to Mount St. Mary's College on Wednesday, and I arrived just as Mass was wrapping up. The first thing I realized was how many young men were on the retreat. The final count was a whopping 93 guys from the diocese! Praise God! Last year we had about 50, many of whom came again this year.

After Mass my friend Jorge, who just finished his first year of college seminary, showed me to my room. I went to pray before the Blessed Sacrament for a while, and then met with Fr. Jim Lease (not even a priest for a week yet - see last post) and ask him what it was like to be ordained. After he got to gush about that for a while I confessed my sins to him. I think I was one of his first five confessions ever. I have never seen a priest so excited to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation. It was beautiful, and Fr. Jim is definitely a good confessor. At lunch I met up with a few guys who I remembered from last year. The afternoon was mostly recreation time, so I played volleyball under the hot sun for a few hours and turned as pink as a salmon.

Fr. Rathan gave an excellent homily about the sin of pride and the freedom of love in the evening. I definitely needed to hear it since I have the weakness of stepping over others who perhaps aren't as gifted and fortunate instead of stooping to help and serve them. After dinner and a little more recreation time we prayed Night Prayer and made a candlelit procession to the Lourdes Grotto. At this point I was praying through Mary that the Lord would let me know his will for me on this retreat. Even though many good things had happened through the day I was still mulling over certain questions. What should I be doing? What is the purpose in all of this? Am I giving enough of myself to the other guys here?

My prayer was answered on Thursday. Bishop Kevin Rhoades was scheduled to come celebrate Mass with us around noontime, and before Morning Prayer I was asked if I would like to meet with him in the afternoon. I hesitated for a moment before responding. Of course I wanted to speak with Bishop Kevin; he is a busy man, and this would be a rare chance to speak with him one on one. But I still have a year left at Penn State; what was I going to say? I said yes, I would meet with him, and after a few minutes of anxiety I calmed down and remembered that the Bishop is a humble and loving man, and that I didn't need to "prepare" anything for him.

During the Bishop's Mass I felt so blessed to worship with my brothers around the table of the Lord. This was not empty ritual, this was an outpouring of our hearts, overflowing with love for the Holy Trinity! After Communion I saw the Lord at Calvary, and after he was taken down from the cross I could see in detail all the wounds he had received for my sake. I lightly pressed my thumb into a deep cut, still warm and filled with his precious blood. With sadness I knew that this was the result of all the world's hatred, and of my own evil as well, but with gratitude and awe I was aware of Christ's sublime love, that he took all the whipping, all the mockery, and all the ignominy of the Cross and, even still, kept on looking at us with eyes of love, lifted high from the earth, hanging from a tree, desiring nothing else but our redemption.

As it turned out, my meeting with Bishop Kevin was not one on one. Instead, about ten of us who were farther along in our discernment of the priesthood got to have a Q&A session with the Bishop in the rector's office (the same one he held for 9 years before being appointed Bishop). He answered questions about seminary life, the diocese, and his own personal vocation journey. The words of the Bishop were music to my ears. He has so much faith in Christ and the Church, and such high hopes for the new generation of priests — priests who are willing to give their lives to the Church in fidelity, without scorning her orthodoxy. He also told some comical stories about what it was like to be appointed Bishop by Pope John Paul II; apparently he was sworn to secrecy until the Vatican announced their decision, but the only topic of conversation at the alumni dinner that night was who would be the next Bishop of Harrisburg.

Before I packed my bags and left I had a great chat with Jorge, who I met in Harrisburg last summer. He just finished his first year of college seminary and I got to listen to his experiences in detail. I am really glad we could catch up since last year. Father LaVoie gave a powerful closing talk about staying close to Christ and growing in holiness. Holiness! Here is a word the world does not understand. It is rarely mentioned without a hint of mockery today. But to be holy as the Lord is holy — this is how we will know ourselves and find peace of soul. To let God transform us means undergoing purification,. Like gold tried by fire, we struggle and groan to seek His will over our own, yet in the end His will is what makes us beautiful, good, and whole. The Lord was definitely calling each one of us on Quo Vadis Days to be holy and to love him. I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit was working in the hearts of those young men, showing them how to be humble, and live for Christ, our life.

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside."
1 Corinthians 1: 18-19

The absolute stunning Immaculate Conception Chapel at Mt. St. Mary's (it's big enough to be a church by itself, though!)

You are a priest forever, a priest like Melchizedek of old...

2006-06-24T17:05:00.000-04:00

Last night I praised God with all the angels and saints at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Harrisburg, where the world received two new priests! Jim Lease and Joshua Brommer have been consecrated to the Lord in Holy Orders and pledged their obedience to Bishop Rhoades and his successors. This was the first ordination Mass I had been to; it was absolutely beautiful.

Jim Lease (at this point still a Deacon) greets some of his family before Mass

The procession begins: Cantate Deo Domino! (Jim is on left; Joshua on right)

A massive train of priests behind. Fr. Mitzel is the one smiling at the lower left. He was at St. Francis of Assisi, across from the Joshua House, last summer until he was transferred.

Bishop Kevin Rhoades

The resurrection of Christ in the apse of the cathedral. The stained glass windows are images of the offering of Melchizidek, the Last Supper, and the breaking of the bread with the disciples on their way to Emmaus.

The bishop sits in his chair and teaches the faithful about the sacrament of Holy Orders and the priesthood. Jim Lease and Joshua Brommer are seated in front of him.

Jim promises obedience to Bishop Rhoades and his successors. Afterward, the candidates prostrate themselves before the altar and the faithful pray for them, and for the intercession of the saints in heaven.

Bishop Kevin lays hands on Joshua. I couldn't snap a picture of the laying of hands on Jim.

As a sign of unity the other priests also lay hands on the new priests.

Fr. Jim Lease and Fr. Joshua Brommer receive the priestly vestments! The Mass continued with the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, Holy Communion, and some closing remarks from the Bishop. I didn't snap any good pictures of the closing of the Mass. You'll just have to imagine a jubilant congregation of hundreds singing the praises of God with their two new priests! Thanks be to God!

"One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic"

2006-06-19T23:28:00.000-04:00

Eucharistic Procession in Sao Paulo, Brazil (REUTERS/Caetano Barreira)

Reaching for Jesus in Haiti (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

The solemnity of Corpus Christi, or the Body of Christ, was celebrated within the Catholic Church last week. Along with the celebration of the Holy Mass, Eucharistic processions are common in many countries. I did a search for "Corpus Christi" in Yahoo News photos and was blown away. What a reminder of how united the Church is across countries and cultures. Rome, Germany, Haiti, Poland, Brazil, Spain... everywhere men and women, young and old, bow down in adoration of Christ, truly present before them!

My pastor was in Haiti for Corpus Christi. They celebrated it on Thursday down there; in America most bishops let the feast be celebrated on a Sunday, as in our parish. Fr. John was definitely filled with the Holy Spirit as he spoke about carrying Christ through the streets amid the great faith of the Haitians. Although they are so poor they offer all they have to give praise to God, like the poor widow who gave all she had to the treasury (Mk 12:41). The streets were covered with colorful banners, hung from every window, and children scattered flowers along the path where the Body of Christ would be brought. As Fr. John walked through the streets people held their hands up to Jesus, some holding pictures of sick friends or relatives. What faith! Many tried to touch the monstrance or just come close to the procession's path. "If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured" (Mt 9: 20).

This is so beautiful. I am reminded of the Eucharistic procession I was in during my time in Austria. Praise the Lord, for He is good!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved. (Eph 1)

Is that an insult or what?

2006-06-18T18:20:00.000-04:00

Blatantly stolen from Aaron's away message:

When I see people put too much cream cheese on their bagels, I'm like: "Man, I hope you get reincarnated as a bagel, so when someone puts too much topping on you you'll be sad that you were enjoyed for your superficial goodness, not your inner bagelness."

Life Update

2006-06-15T10:31:00.000-04:00

Besides being sick the last few days, this summer has been going well. I am working at Spinner's Inn of Hershey, a medium-sized, privately owned hotel. This is my fourth summer as a front desk clerk. It is a great job because everyone is on a first-name basis, even the owners. My coworkers are all pretty friendly and I get some interesting perks.

I've seen my old high school friends a half dozen times so far; they are always so loving and fun. I am so grateful to God that we have grown closer each summer, even though we are at different colleges. Heck, half of us barely in Palmyra for summer break anymore; last year I was in Harrisburg for all but 10 days, Dave is spending his second summer working in Williamsport (although he comes home on the weekends), and Ashley is perpetually at Camp Swatara. Something else that is beautiful is that we are hanging out with more old friends from high school who were 'friends,' but friends I never really hung out with. Recently I hung out with Jen, Rachael and her roommate from PSU, and Richie, Lauren Keil, Amanda Winter, Billy and Danielle. We went to the Jiggershop (yea, I was a first-timer) and it felt like we had been family forever! Good stuff.

Next Friday I am going to St. Patrick's in Harrisburg for Jim Lease's ordination. Joshua Brommer is also being ordained. Two new priests, amen! I met Jim last summer in Harrisburg. He was visiting during his summer break from studies in Rome. He is a PSU alum, and was actually roommates with Father Boniface... ::Collective eyebrow-raises:: I know! Ironically, Jim was originally the one who was enthralled by the Benedictines, while Fr. Boniface wasn't too impressed. Now they ended up switching places. : )

Speaking of priests, I am going to crack open this seminary application soon. I have an entire year to complete it and I'm just chomping at the bit, however I can't do everything too early or else things will 'expire' by the time the vocation office gets around to reviewing everything next July.

Please pray for my Mom... she will be going through chemotherapy soon. Thanks, friends!

2006-06-12T23:50:00.000-04:00

Lord, your love is so much. Let me never be led astray.

Charades Crusade

2006-06-10T13:55:00.000-04:00

Last night was filled with plenty of charades mayhem at Matt's place. Among some of the good ones were:

Teflon dandylion
Procupine in a blender
The Ferengi in the gorilla suit has to go (subsequently changed to 'the idiot in the gorilla suit has to leave,' due to time and brainpower constraints)
MC Hammer ate my baby
Red shift theory. Rachael says: Up shift! Down shift! Right shift! ......no shift. : ( LOL

More craziness tonight!

We tolerate, YOU decide!

2006-06-03T13:46:00.000-04:00

I just read an excellent article in the current issue of Crisis magazine (June issue not featured yet) about the fallacy of religious tolerance. The author brings up several reasons why religious tolerance doesn't really stand for anything.

For one thing, tolerance implies that the object of tolerance is bad, something to be avoided if possible. 'Oh, but tolerance is about respect and diversity!' In that case, would you say you tolerate your spouse? Perhaps you just tolerate your children? Religion is a societal good, although the philosophies of the Enlightenment still persuade many that belief in God, or religion, or worship is ignorant superstition.

Secondly, tolerance is marketed as something virtuous, although all the great philosophers of the classical era never listed it as such. Just because a man exerts effort in a task does not mean it is good or noble. Suppose you know of a child who is being neglected and abused by her parents. Logically, you could just be "tolerant" of their parenting style and ignore the situation. Tolerance leads to indifference, which concludes with hurt and violence. This is not a virtue.

What tolerance really comes down to is not if you tolerant or intolerant, but what you will tolerate and not tolerate. Voltaire claimed that the Roman persecutions of early Christians were to blame on Christians, since they were not "tolerant" of the prevailing culture and religion. Who decides what should be tolerated? Only the current ideologies and powers at be provide the basis for personal freedom. Tolerance becomes completely arbitrary over time.

The Church, in her wisdom and common sense, stands not for religious tolerance but for religious freedom and human rights. The word 'tolerance' is only used 5 times in the 800-page Catechism of the Catholic Church, not once referring to the current idea of religious tolerance. Love does not turn its back to suffering and falsehood; love strives to lead the beloved to truth and life.

Babies without sex

2006-05-30T11:06:00.000-04:00

While its formatting alone will disqualify it for any journalism awards, this article on The Sun relays profound realities of the current culture's views on sex and love. A couple used IVF to have twins, but realized at birth that their babies were of a different race. An asian man's sperm was accidentally used to inseminate the wife's eggs instead of her husband's sperm.

The twins were born in 2002, and now have begun asking questions about why they look different than their parents.

They sat the twins down and told them: “You know you were IVF babies. Well, when the doctor created you, he used a brown man’s sperm instead of Daddy’s. But we are so glad he did because we have got you two and you are so special.” Wringing her hands, Mrs A added: “A few days later my son asked, ‘Why did they use a brown man’s sperm?’ I just didn’t know what to say.”

When the doctor created you. Not when God created you. Not when we decided to have you. You were really created in a lab. There was a mistake in your conception. Whoops!

Thankfully, the article makes it apparent that the parents shower the twins with tremendous love, but this does not negate the fact that the twins were not conceived from a loving act of marriage, but by technology. Do children deserve to be conceive by intimate sexual union, as designed by God? Do infertile couples have the "right" to have children through any scientific means?

Another issue the article brings up is the sperm donor's legal rights.

The Asian man has applied to be legally declared the twins’ father, which would give him some parental rights.

He opposed their adoption and is seeking contact with the kids.

Mr and Mrs A have been ordered by a court to send him twice-yearly reports on the children including school reports, letters about their lives and photos.

Sex without love and babies without sex.

In 1995, John Paul II wrote about in-vitro fertilization in Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life):

The various techniques of artificial reproduction, which would seem to be at the service of life and which are frequently used with this intention, actually open the door to new threats against life... the number of embryos produced is often greater than that needed for implantation in the woman's womb, and these so-called "spare embryos" are then destroyed or used for research which, under the pretext of scientific or medical progress, in fact reduces human life to the level of simple "biological material" to be freely disposed of.

Mary, mother of Jesus, pray for us!

X3: The Last Stand

2006-05-28T13:36:00.000-04:00

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD. DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO SEE X-MEN 3 WITH VIRGIN EYES. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

If you do go see the movie, STAY IN THE THEATER UNTIL THE VERY END, until all the credits have finished. You will not be disappointed!

I saw X3: The Last Stand on Friday; I give it 2 out of 4 penguins. It was definitely not as good as the last two movies. It tried so hard in the beginning, but it seems like the producers ran out of screen time in the end. Several subplots started to emerge: Rogue's jealously of Iceman and Shadowcat, the past friendship of the Professor and Magneto, tension between Cyclops and Wolverine. But all of these were never fleshed out, and I felt slighted. There had to be time for the battle of course, but even that was only mediocre.

The beginning of the film also began to weave some interesting themes: the government stood for total control of mutants, and Magneto's band stood for absolute anarchy (or another kind of control - one where normal humans were the ones being controlled). Then there was Professor X, who took the middle ground of peaceful coexistence and justice. Even the Professor's wisdom was questionable once Wolverine discovered that he had been quietly modifying Jean Grey's subconscious so her powers would not spiral out of control. Is it right to control a person's abilities for the good (we could even say survival) of society? The question is posed but never really answered in a satisfactory way.

The worst part of the film? The one-liners.

"You should have stayed in school!"
"The best defense is a good offense, right?"

Enough is enough. And let's not forget how Wolverine's grand two-sentence monologue convinces the kids to fight against absurd odds.

Iceman: "But there's only six of us!"
[Dire music begins to play]
Wolverine: "Remember the Professor, kid. We're fighting for his dream [blah blah blah something to this effect]"
Iceman: "OK LET'S GO!"

It wasn't a horrible movie, but it wasn't very fulfilling. Anyway, if you do go see it, wait until the very end, until all the credits are finished. This was probably the best part of the movie!

The Miz

2006-05-26T10:58:00.000-04:00

So... is it just me or is every street in Palmyra lined with signs? I'm talking about every 3 feet there is a sign for something, and it's not just the high-traffic streets.

Street signs, no parking signs, 1 hour parking signs, student parking signs. My favorite is the DO NOT PARK YOUR TRAILER, RV, RECREATIONAL VEHICLE, BOAT, BUS, TRAILER, ATV, UNICYCLE, OR OTHER LARGE VEHICLE OR ELSE sign.

Soon there won't be any sidewalks left. Can we tone it down, Palmyra borough?

But does it have ginseng?

2006-05-22T13:32:00.000-04:00

For all the popularity of "all-natural" and "holistic" and "environmentally-friendly" mindsets we have going on today, I am surprised that pumping hormones into the female body is such a trend. Excerpted from the AP:

MENOPAUSE IS FAST BECOMING OPTIONAL

A college student and retail worker in Lisbon Falls, Maine, Sardinha uses Nuvaring, a vaginal contraceptive ring. After the hormones run out in three weeks, she replaces the ring right away instead of following instructions to leave the ring out for a week to allow bleeding. She says it has been great for her marriage, preventing monthly crankiness and improving her sex life.

"I would never go back," said Sardinha, who got the idea from her aunt, a nurse practitioner.

Using the pill or other contraceptives to block periods is becoming more popular, particularly among young women and those entering menopause, doctors say.

"I have a ton of young girls in college who are doing this," says Dr. Mindy Wiser-Estin, a gynecologist in Little Silver, N.J., who did it herself for years. "There's no reason you need a period."

Such medical jury-rigging soon will be unnecessary. Already, the Seasonale birth control pill limits periods to four a year. The first continuous-use birth control pill, Lybrel, likely will soon be on the U.S. market and drug companies are lining up other ways to limit or eliminate the period.

Menstruation has a purpose, right? It's related to pregnancy, I think. But no one has children anymore, ha! What was God thinking -- honestly!

Absurdity

2006-05-15T14:48:00.000-04:00

Not endorsing anything, except that you watch this ridiculously absurd video.

"That's what the internet is all about! People in funny hats, making things... that people like."

Take this, all of you, and eat it

2006-05-11T20:43:00.000-04:00

J.R.R. Tolkien said this:

"Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth."

By the way, this is my 100th post. How beautiful that it is about such a marvelous gift.

Da Vinci, SchmaVinci, can ya eat me?

2006-05-09T22:04:00.000-04:00

Tom Hanks is my favorite actor, but I am disappointed that he signed up to play a lead in The Da Vinci Code. The movie is coming out next week. I have friends back in State College who are planning a protest or two. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you know that The Da Vinci Code has some pretty darn anti-Christian and heretical premises that undermine the true faith (Jesus wasn't God, Jesus married Mary Magdalene, the Catholic Church has hidden the truth for 2000 years, the apostles and church fathers were sexist megalomaniacs, and so on).

The typical response I hear, even from Christians, is: "But Marc, it's only fiction!"

Well... Dan Brown doesn't think so.

Even though his book is a narrative, he professes that he has really done his history, meaning that the whole of Christianity is essentially a lie. His interviews make it clear:

"99 percent of it is true. All of the architecture, the art, the secret rituals, the history, all of that is true, the Gnostic gospels. All of that is -- all that is fiction, of course, is that there's a Harvard symbologist named Robert Langdon, and all of his action is fictionalized. But the background is all true."
CNN Interview, May 25, 2003

[Apparently Dan Brown's claims of accurate scholarship in art and architecture is also under fire from Christian and non-Christian academics. It seems like errors abound in every sector! Mark Shea said, "'The Da Vinci Code' actually makes you more stupid about art, history, theology and comparative religion."]

To write a story and admit that you made up all sorts of historical events for the sake of sensationalism, then so be it. Even if you're insulting the Lord and attacking the Church, at least you have some integrity. But to call this lie truth is just ludicrous.

I'm not going to give my dollars to this apostasy, but I'm not sure if protesting will bear the fruit that the demonstrators hope. It may just draw more people to accept this deception, without really educating them about the film's errors.

Brad sent me this great article by Father Jonathan Morris, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Rome with two years ago. He outlines the major fallacies in Brown's version of history, and evaluates how much protesting benefit the cause. Here's a snippet:

[Dan Brown claims that the] Gospels are part of a conspiracy theory by the apostles to create a male-dominated, patriarchal Church that would stamp out the "sacred feminine." Brown says Jesus’ true intentions were to leave the Church under the charge of Mary Magdalene, with whom he maintained a romantic relationship. In Brown’s pseudo-religious historical novel, the emperor Constantine seconds the Apostles’ selfish quest for power by outlawing competing gospels to avoid revealing the true story of who Jesus was and what he taught. None of this is true. Let me show you why.

If the Apostles’ intention in writing the Gospels was to produce propaganda pieces to wrest power away from women and take it for themselves, you would expect them to show themselves in the best possible light, reinforce the reader’s bias regarding male superiority, and belittle Mary Magdalene, or keep her out of the story altogether. In fact, the Gospels do just the opposite. They depict the Apostles as men slow to understand, unwilling to suffer, and incapable of loyalty. They do all this while presenting women as their noble antithesis.

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus, stand out for their moral courage as they accompany Christ to his crucifixion (the apostles had scattered). The Gospel of John highlights Jesus’ "irreverence" to social structures that looked down on public contact with women. The Gospels refer to women as disciples who share in Jesus’ mission. And just in case there were doubts, the writers point out that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene before any of the apostles.

Lots more good stuff in the article (FOX News).

Here are some other interesting reads:

Cracking The Da Vinci Code (very methodical analysis of the book's claims.) "There's no evidence for a Priory of Sion until the 1950s; to find it, you go to the little town of St. Julien. Under French law every new club or association must register itself with the authorities, and that's why there's a dossier here showing that a Priory of Sion filed the proper forms in 1956."

Dismantling The Da Vinci Code (by Sandra Miesel, co-author of The Da Vinci Hoax) "By manipulating his audience through the conventions of romance-writing, Brown invites readers to identify with his smart, glamorous characters who've seen through the impostures of the clerics who hide the 'truth'; about Jesus and his wife. Blasphemy is delivered in a soft voice with a knowing chuckle: '[E]very faith in the world is based on fabrication.'"

Quick interview with Mark Shea "It's written with the express intention of destroying faith in Jesus Christ and replacing it with neo-pagan goddess worship. The problem is the average reader does not know 'The Da Vinci Code' actually makes you more stupid about art, history, theology and comparative religion."

Wildfire

2006-05-07T15:56:00.000-04:00

Great news! It looks like I will be able to apply for the seminary earlier than expected, possibly even before school starts in the fall!

There was a parish involvement fair after Mass last night. About 30 different minstries were represented like the Knights of Columbus, youth group, Legion of Mary, and so forth. I talked to a few people as I wandered through the tables. It seems like the big news about my post-graduation plans has spread like wildfire through St. Paul's: After meeting Fran (who actually goes to St. Joan of Arc), she said to her little boy, "This is Marc and he's going to be a priest!"

Thankfully most parishioners, Fran included, realize that leaving seminary is a very real possibility. Many men enter but leave and are married or take up other work for Christ's kingdom. The Church also discerns with the seminarians, and helps determine whether their callings are true. No man by himself can claim a right to ordained a priest.

That being said, I do feel that God is leading me to the priesthood. He has shown me and told me many things in his power and love. Please keep praying for me to put all my trust in Him, my shepherd and my life! I also ask your prayers for a few other current seminarians I know: Jorge Cervantes, Dustin Barna, Luis Reyes, Dimitri Mokpidi, Bruno Sielaff, and Tim Quigley. Also pray for Joshua Brommer, Pang Tcheou, and Jim Lease, who will be ordained to the priesthood in June. Praise God!

The cross of Christ gives life to the human race

2006-05-05T19:20:00.000-04:00

Oh beautiful life of grace!

From a sermon by St. Ephrem, deacon:

Death slew him by means of the body which he had assumed, but that same body proved to be the weapon with which he conquered death. Concealed beneath the cloak of his manhood, his godhead engaged death in combat; but in slaying our Lord, death itself was slain. It was able to kill natural human life, but was itself killed by the life that is above the nature of man.

Death could not devour our Lord unless he possessed a body, neither could hell swallow him up unless he bore our flesh; and so he came in search of a chariot in which to ride to the underworld. This chariot was the body which he received from the Virgin; in it he invaded death’s fortress, broke open its strong-room and scattered all its treasure.

Hello, Senior year

2006-05-05T17:55:00.000-04:00

After a grueling finals week (note: sarcasm), I have arrived back in my hometown of Palmyra. It hasn't changed much, except for the mountain that sprouted up in the High School front lawn. There is a lot of construction going on; I think the dirt pile is competing with Everest for the crown.

The drove home was beautiful and fun. I sang aloud to the radio at the top of my lungs while every window was open. The Appalachian hills were bursting with yellow and green. Sometimes you forget the beauty of your own state. Cheers to you, Pennsylvania!

I was driving in the left lane as I neared home on 81 North. I have no remorse driving in the left lane, as long as I'm not blocking a mile of traffic behind me. Usually I'm pretty aware of cars that want to get around me, however I was too slow yesterday and some dude started to pass me on the right. Just as I chided myself for not being courteous, the car slows to match my speed. Uh oh, he's pissed that I didn't move for him, I thought. I tapped my brakes so he could go by but he dropped back again and starting yelling out his window! This guy was a real jerk; so I didn't move over for you once, big deal? No need to chew me out.

I think I remember learning from a cheesy driver's ed video that you shouldn't make eye contact a road-rage driver, so I pretended like I didn't hear him and hit the brakes hard. He continued on his way, but as I looked at his car I thought, hey that looks familiar... nah it couldn't be. The chances are one in a billion. The car, a red Saturn, was the same kind that my high school buddy Brad Martin drives. Then, my cell phone rang. Incoming call: Brad Martin! Ha! God, you are just too funny sometimes. Brad did actually yell "Hey buddy, get off the road!" to me in jest.

Dinner time! More to come later.

Final countdown

2006-04-27T19:45:00.000-04:00

It's a great time of year to be an HDFS major. The weekend and finals week is already chock full of events. If you can join in on the fun come to any of these:

Lunch with Scott and some other peeps Friday around 1. I can't make it but perhaps you can.
GRACENOTES final concert - Friday, 8 PM, Albright Bethune Church, corner of Beaver and Burrowes.
Saturday Night Alive in Christ (SNAC) 8 PM Saturday in Eisenhower chapel. Come to praise God and worship the Lord in Eucharistic adoration
Catholic Campus Ministry picnic - Sunday 2-6 PM at Sunset Park (just find McKee street and walk north) Can you say FRISBEE?!
BIANNUAL end-of-semester Pizza Hut buffet, South Atherton Street. Come Wednesday or Thursday. I'll be going on Wednesday around 12:30 PM. Rumor has it Scotty will be taking people on Thursday.

God or the Girl Finale

2006-04-23T23:06:00.000-04:00

The finale of God of the Girl aired tonight. The results:

Mike: Took a teaching job. Still together with his girlfriend. Seems happy and confident.

Joe: After a no-money-just-a-backpack pilgrimmage to Niagra falls (but it was only 2 days long; come on!), tells his family at a barbeque that he is "never considering the priesthood again." Yikes! Whoa, if you feel called to marriage good for you but you don't need to throw it away like a broken bottle. He is still looking for a relationship with a woman. Seems like he needed more time to just live life?

Dan: Decides to cool off from intense discerning, finish college, and just keep doing the Lord's work at school. Sounds good to me! His relationship with Amy (?) is still warm and loving.

Steve: At last, someone's going to seminary! You knew there had to be at least one. After being a campus minister and taking a trip to Guatemala he announces to his parish that he feels called to the priesthood. He applies to the diocese of Arlington and seems like he has his heart and his head in the right place. Go Steve!

Let us pray for Steve and all the other men in their continuing discernment. Remember: discernment isn't over until you make your final vows to your bride or your bishop!

Through him, with him, in him

2006-04-22T17:43:00.000-04:00

Do not, then, regard the eucharistic elements as ordinary bread and wine: they are in fact the body and blood of the Lord, as he himself declared. Whatever your senses may tell you, be strong in faith. You have been taught and you are firmly convinced that what looks and tastes like bread and wine is not bread and wine but the body and the blood of Christ.

-St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Jerusalem Catecheses #22, 4th century

Kapitel Zwei

2006-04-21T23:11:00.000-04:00

Believe it or not, I finally cranked out another condensed summary of The Religious Sense today. Chapter 2: Reasonableness. I'm almost done with Chapter 3; I should be able to post this summary perhaps this weekend, instead of after another 11-day stretch. :-P

In other news, if you haven't experienced the greatness of The Pita Pit you need to do so before you leave for the summer. Mmmm.... pitas down into my tummy.

Prayer request

2006-04-20T22:45:00.000-04:00

Dear friends, I have a very important prayer request. My mother is scheduled to undergo a surgical operation on Monday, April 24. There is a fairly small, but malignant, tumor in her breast. She has a very high probability of successful treatment. After the tumor is removed she will go through radiation treatments. Please keep her in your prayers for her healing and hope.

I know you're reading this, Mom... I love you!

Dear Old State

2006-04-19T21:36:00.000-04:00

This was the away message yesterday of my good friend Tommy O:

So my whole life I've wanted to meet Joe Paterno face-to-face. Then today as I'm running by myself down McKee Street, there he is: the 79 year old legend (coke bottled glasses and hiked up pant legs) walking home, from practice most likely. And as I go to open my mouth I think, what can I possibly say to the man who has won more football games than nearly any coach at any level in history, to the man who has donated millions of dollars to build one of the biggest libraries in the world for me to use, to the man who has made State College, PA: "Happy Valley," to the man who I owe all of my autumn Saturday afternoon childhood (make that life) memories, to the man who has defied the term "too old." I just nodded my head and ran by... God bless you JoePa, God bless Penn State.

God or the Girl

2006-04-17T10:09:00.000-04:00

Me and Joe Fromerie got back to the house in time last night to see the second episode of God or the Girl, a quasi-documentary/reality show about four young men discerning the priesthood [in real life].

It does a good job at being respectful, and the four guys seem really genuine on camera. It's ironic, however, that when Mike goes on a retreat to make a decision about a teaching job versus the seminary he has to have cameras on him in his room and when he is praying. My favorite person is Joe's brother. At World Youth Day Cologne he tries to get Joe to meet girls. Back in the U.S. after little success, Joe says he is done with European women. His brother counters, "World Youth Day was like a breadbasket - you could pick girls from any country! And it's ok because they're all Catholic." LOL

Another guy is Dan His priest who comes up with the idea that Dan should carry a homemade cross for 20 miles. The huge cross ends up being 80 pounds! I'm all for asceticism, but I thought this was kind of loony. As Joe Fromerie put it, "It's harder to do continual small sacrifices than a massive one every now and then."

After 7 miles, Dan's priest suggests that "in obedience" he let his friends help him with the cross: "You had the pull the obedience card on me!"

Haha, I love it.

2006-04-15T11:01:00.000-04:00

He has destroyed the barricades of hell,

overthrown the sovereignty of the devil.
This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death.

He took bread in his sacred hands

2006-04-13T23:26:00.000-04:00

Tonight's Holy Thursday Mass was absolutely beautiful! All the catechumens and candidates had their feet washed by Fr. Matthew. He was so humble and loving. I never realized how humiliating it was for Jesus to wash his apostles' feet. Here were his twelve closest friends. They had been with him day after day for the past three years. They were with him when he taught in the temple, when he cured the crippled, when crowds of thousands flocked to him. Jesus was the messiah, the Christ of God. And here he was, God, bending over the muddy, stinking feet of twelve of his sinful creatures, offering to wash them clean.

"If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet."

If our love and our maker serves us this way, how much more should we be willing to serve our brothers and sisters? Can you imagine what the world would be like if the powerful would stoop down to love the little ones? World leaders, CEOs, scientists, the rich, artists, presidents, religious leaders, celebrities?

I was also elated to see all the campus priests concelebrate a special Mass. The gift of the priesthood is so rich. These men give all they have to the Lord, and it is all for our benefit. Through their hands we have the Eucharist, in which Christ is always available to us in humanity and divinity. His love just pours out onto us from this sacrament. It is truly the source of all our love and energy as Christians. Praise God in the highest for this mystery! Praise him with the resounding hymns of angels! Praise him for boundless love and grace, Lord and God!

Psychobabble is more like it

2006-04-12T21:00:00.000-04:00

The topic of class in HDFS 414 today was "psychotherapy and spirituality," a lecture I have been looking forward to all year. Discussing spirituality is essentially a taboo for many therapists and counselors. Rather than get into the thick of it, most choose to skirt around the spirituality and transcendent beliefs of their clients. What about clients who claim their spirituality and religious rituals as a core part of their being? Are their needs relegated to a forbidden dungeon, unreachable by any outsider? A textbook from a previous class mentioned that in helping professions and human services there is an increasing awareness of the need to address spiritual issues. What an epiphany, what a marvelous revelation; people actually have spiritual concerns?

Although I was anticipating a positive experience in class I was preparing myself to defend the faith and expose any errors. My professor, Sherry Corneal, is a very vibrant and kind woman. She tries to be objective in discussions and is always open to student comments, even if they are made in complete disagreement. Sherry started off by talking about religion and spirituality. Although they are different, she said, they are not mutually exclusive. For a 2-minute talking point it was fair enough, however the definition of religion and spirituality could be a class in itself.

Anyhow, things really started to get off track when Sherry gave us the mountain example (according to "scholars," of course). Atop the mountain was "the unknowable," be it God, higher powers, or whatever. Climbing up the mountain were all sorts of paths. Some were windy roads, others paths were more straight, and some branched off into smaller veins. All of them reached the same place - the unknowable. Each path represented a different religion (or lack of religion), and each path led to the same ending. Can you say, heresy? The unsaid implication, however, is that this concept is a religion all in itself. In fact, it implies that it speaks for other religions, when those same religions would disagree that all roads lead to home.

I decided to raise my hand after this silliness. The dialog went something like this:

Marc: I can't subscribe to this kind of idea, because religions do exist that are harmful and are destructive, for one thing.

Sherry: That's a very interesting point. Did everyone hear that?

Marc: I go to a priest for spiritual direction, and he says that, through the ages, the #1 characteristic of a spiritual advisor should be theological knowledge, or precision.

Sherry: Ok, so you're saying that there needs to be some sort of...?

Marc: Some knowledge about what is really going on - objective truth. It's important to know what and who God is.

Sherry: And how do you know that?

Marc: I believe that it has been revealed through the Israelites and Christianity.

[Sherry's response perhaps sums up the post-modern view of religion. I love and respect Sherry, but no other phrase could have made my blood boil as much as this one:]

Sherry: And that works for you.

Works for me? Good gravy, I don't believe what I do just because it has convenience and has utility! Heaven forbid someone actually stake a claim on the truth. Can we get past this notion of subjectivism, please? I find it ironic that in the beginning of class Sherry was ready to dive into spirituality - something that is usually taboo in the field, but now, once we get down to the real differences of opinion, she says she has to be careful or else the discussion could get very heated!

Here are some comments by others in the class:

"Religion is a product of man"
"Religion is a social institution"
"I don't think you need a priest or a pastor to tell you what to do."

45 minutes is much too short for a discussion about all of this. It's just sad that people are brought up in such a secular and relativist culture.

I proclaim Christ crucified!

He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!
-Phillipians 2: 7-11

Newman Semi 2006

2006-04-11T22:11:00.000-04:00

Thank you, Jillian, for a wonderful time at this year's Newman Semi! I've posted a slew of pictures on Paveglio.com.