Today we have a conversation with Holly Pierlot on "Motherhood as a Vocation".

Holly Pierlot is a popular speaker at marriage and catechetics programs and home schooling conferences. She lives on Prince Edward Island, Canada, with her husband, Phillip and her five children.

She is the author of the popular book, A Mother's Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul, a pattern for living that combines the spiritual wisdom of the monastery with the practical wisdom of motherhood. She speaks with us today about the spiritual practices that transform the common tasks of motherhood into exercises for sanctification.

• John 15:9-17.
• What is a "Rule".
• How a rule can be followed by the Laity.
• About the genesis of the book, A Mother's Rule of Life.
• How sometimes Mothers can question their vocation.
• Isn't the call of Motherhood to lay down your life for another?
• The Mother's Rule is based the proper order of observance the Five "P's":
  1. Prayer
  2. Person
  3. Partner
  4. Parent
  5. Provider
• The Church has always taught the dignity of the vocation of Motherhood - The Blessed Mother elevated the role of motherhood; the Incarnation has elevated the role of motherhood.
• How to implement the Mother's Rule.
• The Mother's Rule is lot more than a scheduling tool.
• Disorder is far more burdensome than keeping a disciplined Rule.
• The Mother's Rule has to be implemented a little at a time.
• The Mother's Rule simply synthizeses many Catholic concepts that have been promoted by various means and at varoius times. It does not "re-invent the wheel".
• The Mothers Rule is not a movement, and it is not charism. People can find out how to live a Rule simply by being Christian and loving God.
• Writing the book was a call for Holly.
• The Mother's Rule should manages the household without managing the Husband.
• How home schooling relates to the Mother's Rule.
• What is the Mother's Sabbath?
• Holly's Current Favorite Spiritual Book, Theology of the Body Explained: A Commentary on John Paul II's "Gospel of the Body"

Australia seems to generally be more disciplined than the US about Catholic stuff:

CATHOLIC politicians who vote in favour of abortion should not identify themselves as Catholics or go to Communion, according to Cardinal George Pell.

Cardinal Pell, the country's most senior Catholic, stopped short of endorsing some American bishops who said during the 2004 presidential election campaign that pro-abortion politicians should be refused the Eucharist.

Click Here to see the article in it's natural habitat

I think I will ask Dr. Paddy Jim Baggot, to comment on this. Stay Posted.

A British study suggests the Roman Catholic Church-approved "rhythm method" may kill more embryos than other methods of contraception.

...

It's believed the method works by preventing conception from occurring. But Professor Luc Bovens of the London School of Economics says it may owe much of its success to the fact that embryos conceived on the fringes of the fertile period are less viable than those conceived toward the middle.

Click Here to see the article in its natural habitat.

It's hard to imagine contemporary society without Oedipus complexes, defence mechanisms, Freudian slips, and the psychiatrist's couch. But Dutch psychologist Gerard van den Aardweg is not cracking the champagne on Sigmund Freud's 150th birthday.

...

Alfred Kinsey was the father of the sexual revolution, but Freud was its grandfather. Freud opened the discussion of sexual matters in public and treated the subject as a mere question of mental health. He let the genie out of the bottle. If morality was merely a matter of traffic rules and sexuality was dissociated from a higher order of values within the person, sexual naturalness was soon equated with freedom from so-called repression. So Freud prepared Kinsey, another man with dangerous psychological theories.

Click Here to see the article in its natural habitat.

This weeks Catholic Carnival is up at Musings from a Catholic Bookstore

(The Catholic Carnival, for those who are not familiar with it, is a collection of the best blog posts from Catholic-centric blogs.)

Click Here to see the blog in it's natural habitat

Brown is clearly a good sport who knows perfectly well what he’s up to, and he can’t resist tipping his hand to let us in on the joke. So hats off to an author who’s not ashamed of coming across as a "pop schlockmeister looking for a quick buck" and, as we now know, finding it with a vengeance… literally.

Click here to see the article in its natural habitat.

The clinic will not perform abortions. Instead, lotions, essential oils and decorative carrying cases for pills and condoms will beckon shoppers inside, where they can also get oral contraceptives, pregnancy tests and screening for HIV, chlamydia and gonorrhea — all in about 20 minutes. If customers are interested, the clinic may add massages and other spa services later, spokeswoman Marta Coursey said.

The convenience factor, combined with profitable body products, could make it work, said Bruce Kelley, a senior consultant with Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a benefits consulting firm. He said fast clinics in pharmacies and supermarkets are catching on and will keep multiplying.

Click here to see this in its natural habitat.

I wonder what Cardinal Arnize would think about mass at my parish?

2 May 2006

The Most Reverend William Skylstad Bishop of Spokane President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Prot. n. 499/06/L

Your Excellency,

With reference to the conversation between yourself, the Vice President and General Secretary of the Conference of Bishops of which you are President, together with me and other Superiors and Officials when you kindly visited our Congregation on 27 April 2006, I wish to recall the following:

The Instruction Liturgiam authenticam is the latest document of the Holy See which guides translations from the original-language liturgical texts into the various modern languages in the Latin Church. Both this Congregation and the Bishops’ Conferences are bound to follow its directives. This Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is therefore not competent to grant the recognitio for translations that do not conform to the directives of Liturgiam authenticam. If, however, there are difficulties regarding the translation of a particular part of a text, then this Congregation is always open to dialogue in view of some mutually agreeable solution, still keeping in mind, however, that Liturgiam authenticam remains the guiding norm.

The attention of your Bishops’ Conference was also recalled to the fact that Liturgiam authenticam was issued at the directive of the Holy Father at the time, Pope John Paul II, to guide new translations as well as the revision of all translations done in the last forty years, to bring them into greater fidelity to the original-language official liturgical texts. For this reason it is not acceptable to maintain that people have become accustomed to a certain translation for the past thirty or forty years, and therefore that it is pastorally advisable to make no changes. Where there are good and strong reasons for a change, as has been determined by this Dicastery in regard to the entire translation of the Missale Romanum as well as other important texts, then the revised text should make the needed changes. The attitudes of Bishops and Priests will certainly influence the acceptance of the texts by the lay faithful as well.

Requesting Your Excellency to share these reflections with the Bishops of your Conference I assure you of the continued collaboration of this Congregation and express my religious esteem,

Devotedly yours in Christ,

+Francis Card. Arinze

Prefect, Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

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When cases arise that Catholic universities seem to stray from church teaching, many Catholics ask, "Why isn't the bishop shutting them down?" In reality, most diocesan bishops do not have any jurisdiction over universities or schools in their diocese.

Many are run by religious orders, like Notre Dame, which is run by the Holy Cross Fathers, so they answer ultimately to their orders who answer to the Holy See. But the bishops can always publicly protest the institution's actions, which many have done.

Click Here to see the article in it's natural habitat

Here are some quotes from some Da Vinci code reviews.

"You know a movie's a dud when even its self-flagellating albino killer monk isn't any fun. "

"A jumbled, joyless affair that neither entertains nor enlightens."

"As for the film's entertainment virtues, forget it. This is one of the most talky and pretentious major films in memory."

"Retarded, ridiculous and crushingly dull."

"The movie is woefully plotted and just flat-out, eye-crossingly dull."

"...overblown so-so suspense flick..."

"Part conspiracy thriller, part religious epic, part family melodrama, but not satisfying on any level, this vastly disappointing film will frustrate viewers who know the book and will bore those who don't due to the rambling and confusing storytelling."

"A jumble of historical myth, religious symbology and international thriller-action makes for an unwieldy, bloated melodrama."

"... it's not very good -- long (2hr.32min.) and mostly inert."

"Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman struggle mightily to cram as much as possible of Dan Brown's labyrinthine thriller into a 2-hour-28-minute running time, resulting in a movie both overstuffed and underwhelming."

Click Here to see the reviews in their natural habitat

This article describes how Opus Dei is handling the Da Vinci Code furor.

But Opus Dei has stayed positive, patient and polite. The word �attack� is never used. Sony�s intentions are never presumed. There is no ping-pong counterresponse to the corporation�s statements. There is barely indignation, let alone anger, in the letters and statements; no calls for boycotts or protests or threats to sue. There is none of the arrogance and defensiveness typical of religious groups deploring offensive books or films.

Contrast this approach with the speech given in Rome last week by Msgr. Angelo Amato, the number two at the Vatican�s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He called on Catholics to boycott the film and organize protests. If �such lies and errors had been directed at the Koran or the Holocaust, they would have justly provoked a world uprising,� Amato said. �Instead, if they are directed against the Church and Christians, they remain unpunished.�

You hear this sentiment often on the lips of Christians: of course, if we were Muslims they would never dare� Not only does this cheer on violence, but it fails to recognize that the anger of the indignant victim quickly moves sympathy away from the victim�as the popular abhorrence of the Muslim protests showed.

This is what Mora has grasped. �Sony is King Kong,� he says. �I want to be cast as the blonde girl. If I�m the policeman who fires on King Kong, then sympathy will shift from the blonde girl to the beast.�

The brilliance of Opus Dei�s strategy is that it realizes the bind that Christians in the contemporary West are in. Muslims and Jews deserve respect for their beliefs because they are minorities, while Christians are seen�in spite of all the facts to the contrary�as a hegemonic body which it is therefore legitimate to denigrate. The presupposition of The Da Vinci Code is that the Church is powerful, secretive, misogynistic and violent, acting through history like a big, bad corporation. Ironically, this prejudice has been bolstered by secularization: the less contact people have with churches and Christians, the more inclined they are to believe damaging nonsense about them.

Click Here to see the article in its natural habitat.

This week's Catholic Carnival is up at A Penitent Blogger.

Click Here to see the blog in its natural habitat.

Another reason to think the Tony Blair will convert (ref. our earliar post here):

May. 15 (CWNews.com) - Cherie Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, told the London Times that the couple raised their children as Catholics in part so they would not become "simply part of the establishment."

Because she was raised as a Catholic herself, Cherie Blair told the Times magazine, she knew that being aligned with a religious minority "meant you were not part of the establishment." Since her children today "are having a pretty privileged life," she observed, she is grateful that they will have the same challenges.

The prime minister's wife said that she was attracted to Tony Blair because of their shared interest in spiritual matters. British reporters have shared rumors that the prime minister, who regularly attends Mass with his wife and children, may become a Catholic after resigning his current office.

Helen Hull Hitchcock is the editor of the Adoremus Bulletin (1995-present), a monthly publication of Adoremus - Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy, of which she is a co-founder and member of the executive committee.

She is also founding director of Women for Faith & Family and editor of Voices.

She has published many articles and essays in a wide range of Catholic journals. She is a contributing editor to the ecumenical journal, Touchstone, and was a columnist for the National Catholic Register and Crisis magazine, and staff artist for the New Oxford Review).

She is the author/editor of The Politics of Prayer: Feminist language and the worship of God, (Ignatius Press 1992), a collection of essays on issues involved in translation. She has contributed essays to several books, including Spiritual Journeys, a book of "conversion stories" (Daughters of St. Paul). She also edited the Women for Faith & Family Sourcebooks for Lent/Easter and Advent/Christmas.

Mrs. Hitchcock serves on the Board of Directors of Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). She has served on the boards of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Women Affirming Life, the Ecumenical Commission on Women in Society, and other advisory boards.

She has appeared frequently on radio and television programs, including: Catholic Answers Live, Nightline, Larry King Live, MacNeill Lehrer Report, Donahue, and Mother Angelica Live.

She lectures widely in the US and abroad, representing Catholic teaching on issues affecting Catholic women, families, and Catholic faith and worship.

Mrs Hitchcock discusses:

• John 10:22-30.
• The Adoremus Bulletin.
• What is Sacred Liturgy.
• The Missal and the Lectionary.
• The Liturgy is our Worship of God, and the Missal is our instruction for worship.
• Vatican II initiated a massive amount of changes.
• Pope John Paul II called for a renewal of Liturgy about 20 years ago.
• The Mass is the primary way to participate in Liturgy. And our participation is not only with our own parish, and not only with the world's Catholics, but with all believers past, present and future.
• How to participate in the Mass.
• In 1903 St. Pious X initiated a liturgical movement to encourage greater participation in the Mass.
• One of the chief aims of Vatican II was to get Catholics to participate more fully in the Mass.
• Unity of the Mass was not transmitted properly as a result of misinterpretation of the Second Vatican Council's intentions.
• Advice on handling disparities between your specific Bishop's instructions and the Missal's.
• The difference between a Liturgist and a Theologian.
• The Social Dimension of the Liturgy. (How active participation in the Mass informs all our other activities.)
• Ways to improve the quality of our interaction in the Liturgy.
• The importance of a "Holy Hour" in helping us prepare for Mass.
• The Principle of Ecclesia Supplet.
• How the American Catholic Church is one of the Strongest and most faithful in the whole world. (Yes, you read that correctly!)
• How the Bible forms the foundation for our Liturgy.

Father Fessio is the reason I keep posting on the China bishop situation. During our interview, he identified China as the wildcard nation in the fight to keep Western Civilization alive. (The Muslim influence in Europe is very significant, and Muslims are not "western" in their ways. The US is closing in on a post-post Christian worldview.)

China installed a controversial new Catholic bishop on Sunday in a ceremony reflecting the split between the Vatican and the Chinese state-run church that divides villagers in a heavily Catholic corner of the country.

Zhan Silu presided over a Mass marking his appointment as bishop of Mindong Diocese in eastern China's Fujian province.

The cathedral in the small city of Ningde was crowded to overflowing with a mix of urban residents and farmers in frayed clothes, welcoming his formal elevation after years as second-string to an infirm bishop who died last year.

But like two other Chinese bishops appointed in past weeks, Bishop Zhan lacks the blessing of Pope Benedict, who sharply criticised China for the moves.

Priests in both the state-approved church and the "underground" church around Ningde told Reuters they were upset by Bishop Zhan's elevation, warning it may stoke tensions between Beijing and the Vatican, and between the two sides of China's divided church.

"We've been under heavy pressure to attend," said a local priest in the state-recognised church, who nonetheless believed the Vatican should choose bishops. He asked his name not be used.

China has some 10 million Catholics, but they are split between an "underground" church loyal to the Holy See alone, and a state-approved church, whose members respect the Pope but lack formal ties to the Vatican.

Bishop Zhan told Reuters that the underground church had boycotted the Mass, despite his invitation for representatives to attend.

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Here are (2) more entries in the Pro-Abortion Blog, abortionclinicdays.

So is this what pro-abortions believers are thinking, or is what they want people to think they're thinking?

The other amazing thing is that she said, "I am the last in my crowd to have an abortion. Now it is 100%." Many of you will see this as a sign of depravity among college students. But the remarkable thing is that all those friends had been open about their experience and were willing to share their experience to help out a friend. She felt taken care of, connected, and what I can only describe as NORMAL. This is amazing for how rare it is. But the truth is that abortion, like having a baby, losing a parent, having sex for the first time, getting married, etc. is a rite of passage. Not everyone will do all of those things, but it is one of the milestones in life that people go through so why not talk about it openly? We are all in agreement that it is better to prevent a pregnancy, but when that fails, having some honest friends is a really good thing.

Click Here to see the article in it's natural habitat

the other day i talked to a woman who was determined to have an abortion that very day. our state has a mandatory delay built in so she had already waited a certain number of hours, had to hear a speech read to her by a doctor, but she was in a big hurry to just get it over with. those words "just get it over with" always make me a little cautious with patients because sometimes it means that they have thought it over very carefully before arriving at the clinic and talked to the people who they think can help them make a wise decision. but sometimes it just means that they don't want to think about it, just do it. it is part of my responsibility as a counselor to determine which it is for any woman i happen to be talking to so that women do not end up regretting their choice. in this woman's case, i was very reluctant to be the one to sign off on her because i felt that she was moving too quickly.

Click Here to see the article in it's natural habitat

Perhaps the biggest problem with the Da Vinci Code is that it may act as a catalyst for all those "Catholics" who, by dint of improper formation like to denegate the Church.

I think the following article is a great example:

"Don't see the movie or else, Ernesto," I imagined the nuns admonishing me at the old All Saints-Cathedral Catholic School on South Sixth Avenue Downtown.

I can hear the voice of a priest at St. Augustine Cathedral warning me, "If you see the movie, Ernesto, you will be violating our guidelines."

Being the good Catholic I am, I plan to see the movie.

The first church rule I clearly remember ignoring was "don't drink the Mass wine."

I don't how old I was, but I was an altar boy at the cathedral when I took my maiden sip of altar wine from the bottle.

Whose fault is this? Is it the school's for employing a teacher for the parish's children that doesn't even know church teaching or the teacher for not taking a more aggressive role in understanding her own faith? Or perhaps both the school and the teacher for not ensuring the contract was better understood?

This teacher and her husband have decided to leave the church over this. No matter whose fault this is, it is tragic.

The couple were not prepared for what came next. When Kelly, a teacher at two Catholic schools in Wisconsin, told her bosses she had gotten pregnant through in vitro, they handed her a pink slip.

...

"I did not know what the Catholic doctrine stated against in vitro fertilization. Yes, I signed a contract, but the contract was vague in my opinion. I didn't know what I was doing as far as in vitro goes that went against doctrine. My understanding was it was the Ten Commandments."

...

Romenesko appealed to the school board, but it would not reinstate her. Now a state agency is looking into the case. Meanwhile, the Romeneskos have stopped practicing Catholicism.

Attention kids: Don't read this entry because it is about an adult issue.

Adults Only: Young college men are suffering from Erectile Dysfunction (Impotence) in record numbers. It seems that the college environment with its surplus of "sex, drugs, and alcohol" is bad for people. This may not be new information, but the manifestation of it may be.

Combine performance anxiety with binge drinking and the abuse of drugs on campus and it's no wonder that problems are showing up at college clinics in numbers that give the lie to the adage that impotence is reserved for the old (Bob Dole) or crazy (Jack Nicholson in "Carnal Knowledge"). The younger models who now appear in commercials for Viagra and its pharmaceutical clones reveal that the drug makers know (hope?) what the rest of us don't: Some members of the Game Boy generation are losing their game.

Click here to open the web page with the complete text of the article.

Several Catholic colleges and universities have invited pro-abortion commencement speakers and have been accused of violating guidelines set forth by the nation's Catholic bishops. The Catholic Church policies call on universities not giving a platform to pro-abortion politicians.

Click Here to Open the Web Page with the Complete Text of the Article

Yeah, I know this isn't (explicitly) about the Universal Call to Holiness, but this insightful article about the looming was in Iraq entitled "The Noise Before the Storm" is something that everybody should read.

Today, safety and security are sought in gated communities and sturdier gas-guzzling SUVs. The former contribute to social divisiveness and the latter to the need for secure oil supplies, which contributes to US military involvement in the Middle East. Worried about attacks from “rogue states� the US administration has been pushing for a ballistic missile defence system. This again will involve huge costs and divert funds from social assistance, environmental initiatives, and other peace enhancing activities.

This is a short "mini-cast" to promote some of the things that we never seem to find time to talk about before our regular interviews:

• We have changed our schedule to semi-monthly postings on the 15th and the 30th of every month (vs. posting on the 10th, 20th, and 30th). (Some of our listeners are asking for more time between programs so that they can keep up easier!)
• We talk a little bit about our website features. (Item by item)
• "Overlooked" podcasts such as Paddy Jim Baggot and Father John Waiss.
• Some Itunes reviews (and please don't forget to leave yours!)
• and finally a word about donations.

Under normal circumstances, bishops are named by the pope and run dioceses where the number of priests, nuns and baptized faithful is recorded and reported annually to the Vatican.

But things have not been normal in China for more than 50 years.

Some of the bishops are approved by the pope, some are approved by the government, but increasingly most are approved by both.

As for statistics, the estimated number of Catholics in China runs from about 8 million to as many as 16 million.

While the Vatican pays homage to Chinese Catholics who risk their freedom and even their lives to remain in full communion with the pope and universal church, it has allowed some compromises to ensure the ongoing survival of Catholicism in the country.

Until the mid-1980s, the only Catholic bishops in China recognized as legitimate by the Vatican were those chosen and ordained secretly by other bishops in the underground Catholic community, said Belgian Missionhurst Father Jeroom Heyndrickx, one of the most authoritative experts on Catholicism in China.

Click Here to Open the Web Page with the Complete Text of the Article

Truly the Lord cannot be outdone in generosity. I experienced this in preparing today's Catholic Blog carnival. As the posts came in, I was edified by the devotion to Our Lady expressed by the writers. I hope this Carnival is a helpful addition to your May devotion to Our Lady.

Cardinal George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, told an audience of Catholic business leaders in Florida he believed it was vital to read the Koran, "because the challenge of Islam will be with us for the remainder of our lives."

...

"In my own reading of the Koran, I began to note down invocations to violence," he said. "There are so many of them, however, that I abandoned this exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages."

"Considered strictly on its own terms, Islam is not a tolerant religion, and its capacity for far-reaching renovation is severely limited," Pell said. He added, however, that the human factor could also play a mitigating or exacerbating role, and he compared the situations in Indonesia and Pakistan.

But with about 15 of the diocese's 214 parishes sharing priests - a number expected to grow as more priests retire or die - the diocese is planning to lift some of the more earthly burdens from overtaxed clergy.

The Pittsburgh Diocese has become the first in the state to commit to hiring bishop-appointed deacons or members of the laity to direct parishes and supervise many day-to-day activities.

Two theology professors at Boston College don't think Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice deserves an honorary degree from the Catholic institution.

Rice's role in the Iraq war and foreign policy make her morally unfit for the honor, say professors Kenneth R. Himes, chair of the theology department, and David Hollenbach, according to an article Wednesday in the Boston Globe.

The two academics sent a letter, titled "Condoleezza Rice Does Not Deserve a Boston College Honorary Degree," to the entire faculty by e-mail on Tuesday.

The professors wrote that they strongly disagree with the university's decision to invite Rice to the May 22 commencement ceremony and asked their colleagues to sign on. About 100 faculty members had done so by Wednesday.

"On the levels of both moral principle and practical moral judgment, Secretary Rice's approach to international affairs is in fundamental conflict with Boston College's commitment to the values of the Catholic and Jesuit traditions and is inconsistent with the humanistic values that inspire the university's work," the letter said. It also noted that Pope John Paul II and the United States Catholic bishops opposed the Iraq war.

Rice earned a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1975 and later served on its board of trustees. In 1995, she gave the Notre Dame commencement address and received an honorary degree.

She also attended Notre Dame's graduation in 2001, when her boss, President Bush, gave the commencement address and received an honorary degree.

If the American Bishops had been handling the molestation issues properly, issues like this would never even exist. Don't waste your time trying to figure who is doing the right thing here. We are in a part of the flow chart where there are no more "good" decisions to help us.

Vermont's Catholic church wants a judge to step down from a clergy sex abuse case.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington said Judge Ben Joseph's decision to remove a gag order involving church paperwork in a recently settled case make it difficult for the church to have a fair trial.

David Cleary, the church's attorney, said lifting the gag order has led to widespread media coverage.

Brother Consolmagno argued that the Christian God was a supernatural one, a belief that had led the clergy in the past to become involved in science to seek natural reasons for phenomena such as thunder and lightning, which had been previously attributed to vengeful gods. "Knowledge is dangerous, but so is ignorance. That's why science and religion need to talk to each other," he said.

The Vatican said yesterday that two bishops ordained by China's government-controlled Catholic Church this week faced excommunication and warned that their elevation endangered a lengthy dialogue designed to restore Vatican relations with China and to regularize Catholic worship in the country.

It appears that the Chinese government is responding to Pope Benedict XVI's recent efforts to support Catholics in that country by ordaining a few of their own priests.

The Holy Father learned the news with deep displeasure, since an action which is so important as an episcopal consecration is for the life of the Church, was performed in both cases without respect for the requirements of communion with the Pope.

We are facing, therefore, a grave wound to the unity of the Church, for which, as is known, there are foreseen severe canonical penalties (cf. canon 1382 of the Code of Canon Law).

...

We are, therefore, witnessing a grave violation of religious liberty, even though an attempt was made under false pretexts to present the two episcopal ordinations as necessary acts to provide pastors for vacant diocese.

The Holy See follows with attention the tormented journey of the Catholic Church in China and, quite aware of certain distinctive dimensions of such a journey, was thinking and hoping that similar deplorable episodes would have belongs by now to the past.

Click Here to Open the Web Page with the Complete Text of the Article

As father of a of a bunch of kids, I do admit to getting frustrated when priest indulge themselves with a 25 minute homily or a 85 minute mass. I mean, is it reasonable to expect a bunch of kids to sit still for that long?

This priest (in his blog) tries addresses this issue, albeit tangentially , in the following:

But let me say this to anyone who is distracted: If you’re distracted at Mass, it’s not the baby’s fault— it’s not the parent’s fault. It’s your fault!

We do our best; yes, it’s considerate to turn our phones to silent; but we can’t turn off babies!

But, if you want Mass without these things? Don’t come! Only when this church is empty of people will that happen!

So, instead, here’s some practical advice. You’re at Mass, and there’s a noise; Don’t look: don’t think about it; just go right back to praying. I guarantee you’ll forget about it.

Deep inside the Vatican, a white-haired nun dressed in a brown habit opens the door to a room full of computers. The whirring machines hold some of the mysteries of the Holy See, including photographs of the Vatican Secret Archives and of ancient illustrated manuscripts. No, this isn't a movie trailer for The Da Vinci Code. Our guide is Sister Judith Zoebelein, the editorial director of the Internet Office of the Holy See. She's showing off a small but potent Vatican data center, which bristles with servers and other high-tech gear.

The subtitle for this article is "The nun who launched the Vatican's Web site is at work on a MySpace for Catholics ", which implies that it could be retreat from the secular world. But what good will Catholics do in their own 'space'?

This is the problem: we are always retreating to our own worlds instead of interacting with the world at large. However, The article does say:

Collaboration is key, and that should differentiate the site from others in its genre. "People will be able to find each other and work together online, and then go back and use what they have learned or done in their own communities," says Sister Judith.

This will be interesting to follow.

Check out a list of the best blog entries of the week over at Living Catholicism in the Catholic Carnival.

(The Catholic Carnival, for those who are not familiar with it, is a collection of the best blog posts from Catholic-centric blogs.)

(BTW, Our interview with Scott Hahn is mentioned!)

Dr. Scott Hahn discusses what appears to be a simple admonition, but upon further examination, it is an extremely important and largely untaught concept - keeping the Lord's Day Holy.

An exceptionally popular speaker and teacher, Dr. Hahn has delivered numerous talks nationally and internationally on a wide variety of topics related to Scripture and the Catholic faith. Over 500 of these talks have been produced on audio and videotapes by St. Joseph Communications.

He is currently a Professor of Theology and Scripture at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he has taught since 1990, and is the founder and director of the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology. In 2005, he was appointed as the inaugural Chair of Biblical Theology and Liturgical Proclamation at St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Hahn Speaks on:

• John 20:11-18
• What it is that makes Sundays (The Lord's Day) so special.
• That having a "Lord's Day" is a reflection of our filial affiliation.
• There is a spiritual message encoded in the Sabbath.
• The Lord's day represents that we are entering into God's Family.
• The Old Covenant Sabbath occurs after our labors (the last day of the week); the New Covenant Sabbath occurs before our labors (the first day of the week).
• When we celebrate the Lord's Day, we enter into the work of God.
• Sunday's are great day to practice both the Spiritual Works of Mercy and the Corporal Works of Mercy, as well as engage in our own natural rest (e.g. a nap).
• The distinction between "servile works" (not appropriate on Sundays) and "works of necessity" (OK for Sundays).
• Dr. Hahn references Paragraph 2168 and following from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He calls it a "brilliant, practical and understandable passage".
• The Eucharist is a critical element of keeping the Lords Day holy.
• Going to Mass is like going to Heaven in that the angels and saints surround us and Christ is present (in the Holy Eucharist).
• The propriety of the Saturday night Vigil Mass.
• How one should prepare for Mass.
• Dr. Hahn's early experience with keeping the Lord's Day.
• Why Sunday? Why not Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc...
• Keeping our Sundays Holy should be one of our highest priorities.
• Why there is a dearth of resources about how to keep The Lord's Day.
• DIES DOMINI, "On Keeping the Lord's Day Holy" is a fabulous papal writing on this subject. We should all read it.
• The Lords Day is difficult to practice in our society; popular culture stands against the proper practice of the Lords Day

A short list of some of Scott Hahn's Books:

• Letter and Spirit : From Written Text to Living Word in the Liturgy
• The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth
• Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism
• First Comes Love: Finding Your Family in the Church and the Trinity
• Hail, Holy Queen
• Swear to God : The Promise and Power of the Sacraments
• Lord, Have Mercy: The Healing Power of Confession
• A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God's Covenant Love in Scripture
• Understanding "Our Father": Biblical Reflections on the Lord's Prayer
• Catholic for a Reason: Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God
• Why Stay Catholic?
• Scripture Matters: Essays on Reading the Bible from the Heart of the Church
• Amazon.com Search for "Scott Hahn" books