I'm baaaaack

From a wonderful three days with the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word in Birmingham, Alabama!

I can honestly say that this weekend was the most spiritually refreshing of my life. The atmosphere of prayer and devotion was indescribable, and the retreat master, Fr. Clancy, was fantastic!

I actually got there a day early, so I spent Friday helping the Sisters to prepare for the retreat. I got to put towels up on the racks and pillow cases on pillows with Sister Katie, the postulant, who was very sweet and patient with me while I figured out the slightly complex towel system ;) That afternoon, we both went down to help Sister Ave Maria glue hands into these beautiful statues of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. Sister Ave Maria is a wonderful, holy character; she has real personality! They managed to get me to play "Good Christian Men Rejoice" for the two of them on Sister Katie's violin. It was a pretty bad rendition, but they still applauded ;) I can not remember the last time I had so much fun.

The retreat itself was amazing. This particular retreat is frequented by ladies from a particular parish in Memphis, Tennessee; being good Southern folks they were very talkative, friendly, and fun! Fr. Clancy gave very profound, meaningful conferences, but he also had some funny stories to tell us. He also enrolled a whole bunch of people, including myself, in the Confraternity of Mount Carmel. So now I have a scapular!

Christ gave me many graces during my time at Casa Maria. Frankly, I loved it there. If all goes according to plan, I'll be able to graduate in November and start taking care of my college debts, which come to about $10,000. And I feel like I should visit at least one monastery, just to test whether I have a contemplative vocation.

I am sure that everything will work out, even if not in the way I currently expect! God is good.

And, by the way, I can't recommend the retreats at Casa Maria enough! If you are in the need for spiritual refreshment, I would see about heading down to Birmingham as soon as you can. You can find their current retreat schedule here. And, by the way, you can be sure that all of the retreat masters are solid and that you won't be hand-fed any nonsense. If you need a good injection of optimism about the future of the Church, spend one day at Casa Maria and you'll have just what you need :)

Blogging break

Until Sunday night/Monday morning, when I will get to tell you all about how my visit with the Sister Servants went!

Please pray for me!

I hope everyone enjoys Papa's encyclical and in every other way has a good rest of the week. :)

La Famille

Part of it, anyway!

My dad sent some Christmas pictures today.

From left to right: Opa, Oma, Betsy, me, and our little brother Arthur. Our little brother Andy didn't come, and neither did Mother; Dad was the one behind the camera.

Can you tell from the throw pillow and the pictures on the wall that Oma is from Austria and Opa is from Romania? Germanic much? ;)

Ha!

Ronald Reagan has always been my second favorite president (my favorite is Lincoln, of course). Neither Lincoln nor Reagan were perfect - far from it! And it's not like I would give them both straight As on everything. But they were both great leaders and great Americans, and America is better off for having had them at the helm, each at the historical period when he was needed most.

Reagan was also well-known for his great speeches and amusing comments - He was such a skilled speaker that history has given him the title "the Great Communicator." Of course, no one knows if his off-the-cuff remarks were truly off-the-cuff, or if the situation was more like that of Winston Churchill, of whom his son, Lord Randolph, said, "My father has spent the best years of his life writing his extemporaneous speeches."

From Human Events Online, here are what they believe to be Reagan's ten best quips:

10. "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
—Remarks at a business conference, Los Angeles, March 2, 1977

9. "You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans."
—The Observer, March 29, 1981

8. “Thomas Jefferson once said, "We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying."
—Circa 1988

7. "I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."
—Said often during his presidency, 1981-1989

6. "How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin."
—Remarks in Arlington, Virginia, September 25, 1987

5. "The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
—Remarks to the White House Conference on Small Business, August 15, 1986

4. “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.”
—Said often during his presidency, 1981-1989

3. "All great change in America begins at the dinner table."
—Farewell Address to the Nation, The White House, January 11, 1989

2. "I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born."
—The New York Times, September 22, 1980

1. "There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit."
— First Inaugural Address, January 21, 1981

Personally, I always enjoyed:

"Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."
"Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement."
"Some people spend their entire lives wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."

Ronald Wilson Reagan, R.I.P.

33 years ago today

It's my sister's unhappy anniversary. And mine, too. And everyone's.

Purusing the the "Women's Issues" section of everyone's favorite info/search site, About.com, I found some interesting statistics.

Good news:

*According to a USA Today, CNN Gallup Poll in May, 1999 - 16% of Americans believe abortion should be legal for any reason at any time during pregnancy and 55% of Americans believe abortion should be legal only to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest.

*According to a Gallup Poll in January, 2001 - People who considered themselves to be pro-life rose from 33% to 43% in the past 5 years, and people who considered themselves to be pro-choice declined from 56% to 48%.

Bad news (for some folks, I guess):

*54% of women having an abortion said they used some form of contraception during the month they became pregnant.

Sad news

*Approximately 1,370,000 abortions occur annually in the U.S.

- 25.5% of women deciding to have an abortion want to postpone childbearing.
- 10.8% of women feel a child will disrupt their education or career.
- 2.8% of women have an abortion due to a risk to maternal health

Two. Point. Eight. Percent. And, folks, that's not even lethal risk to maternal health.

Link: About.com, "Women's Issues."

Considering abortion? It's the one choice you can never undo. Please think about adoption. Your baby - and the people whose lives he (or she) will touch - will always be grateful to you.

Catholic Charities Adoption Services

Countdown to Sister Servants

I am catching a plane down to Birmingham on Thursday. I have a strange mix of both nervousness and excitement when I think about it! I can't wait to see Casa Maria and meet the Sisters. :)

Let's see... Today is Saturday, which makes it five days away. Gulp! ;) I am going to have heavy make-up work - two exams! - on Wednesday. I think I'll do all right, though. Please pray that my retreat helps me to discern the will of God and strengthens me to carry it through.

I am also excited because the first encyclical is coming out on Wednesday, too. From what I have gleaned from the press, it's about the intersection between erotic love and charity. "Whoa, the Pope is talking in-depth about sex!" is what I'm sure we'll be hearing from all the shocked press people. If they had been paying attention they would have caught on to John Paul II's very frank Love and Responsibility and Theology of the Body! I am sure Papa Benedict's letter will be just as wonderful and intellectually stimulating!

Happy B-day to the Swiss Guards

A Swiss Guard talks on the phone at the entrance 'Portone di Bronzo' of the Vatican City in this April 29, 2004 file photo. A Mass for the guards in the Sistine Chapel and a special blessing by Pope Benedict XVI, on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2006, will mark the day in 1506 that the Swiss mercenaries arrived in Rome and will start the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Pope's Swiss Guards. (AP Photo/Keystone, Monika Flueckiger)

Hmmmm

Sandro Magister reports on alleged resisitance to Papa Benedict:

ROMA, January 19, 2006 – The first words of Benedict XVI’s first encyclical letter, almost the motto of his papacy, are “Deus Caritas Est,” God is love.

But not everyone in the upper levels of the Church is full of love and solidarity for this new pope. Resistance to his guidance is tenacious and widespread, and in some places it is on the rise. And almost all the resistance shields itself behind the protection of anonymity.

The only open and avowed resistance is that of the Neocatechumenal Way, which has opposed a papal directive issued last December, which struck at one of the movement’s cornerstones...

...A second form of resistance to Benedict XVI manifests itself in the indiscreet comments on the conclave that elected him...

...Then there is also in the Vatican a third and more passive form of resistance to Benedict XVI. During the first months of his pontificate, the pope essentially concentrated upon the liturgical celebrations and upon the bare word: homilies, Angelus messages, catecheses, speeches, and now his encyclical. But in order for these words to be spread all over the world, they at least need to be translated and diffused in the main languages...Not even Benedict XVI could refrain from publicly manifesting his disappointment for the bad functioning of the system of translations. On Wednesday, January 18, in announcing to the faithful that his first encyclical would be published on the following January 25, he let slip the word “finally.” And he lamented the fact that “some time has passed before the text was ready and translated.”

Apart from the slowness, it emerges that Benedict XVI was not pleased with some of the translations of the encyclical, which he himself had to correct.

Article

That probably explains the two month delay between the original December 8 date and the new January 25 date. :::Looks mad:::

War of the Worlds

In 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies.

Ha! Pretty good! The Angry Alien cartoonists strike again. Keep in mind that this is a version of the 1953 War of the Worlds, and not last summer's Tom Curise-Dakota Fanning-Steven Spielberg remake. Personally, I liked the new one, although I know a lot of people didn't. I've never seen the 1953 movie, but the bunnies' version makes me laugh anyway!

Uh oh

I was just thinking to myself, "Self, it's been almost six weeks since you went to Confession! Usually your conscience has pointed out imperfections and other more serious failings by now! Perhaps you are getting a bit lax with the old examination of conscience? Or perhaps you are actually making wonderful progress!" Hmmm, I thought to myself. Ponder, ponder.

In the midst of this pondering, of course, today, I got a nice big fat (although not mortal) reason to stop in the church on Saturday. Maybe I'll blog a little about it tomorrow.

I feel so sad for Catholics who haven't been to Confession in years. If you are one, believe me, I understand that you are really suffering. I know it can be scary - when I went back after ages and ages, I was shaking in my boots!

But this fear isn't really rational. The priest won't yell at you. You are there to receive the mercy of a God who has not ceased to love you, even for all those years when you were angry with Him or just ignored Him. Confession is not a rite of humiliation (although to do it well does require some humility) and it is not meant to be painful (although recognizing that you have sinned is extremely uncomfortable). On the contrary, the Sacrament of Confession is one of the most beautiful experiences a human being can have on this earth.

The fierce, fire-and-brimstone American revivalist preacher, Jonathan Edwards, wrote a rather cruel but famous sermon hundreds of years ago called "Sinners in the hands of an angry God." As you can imagine, it was basically about how the sinners were going to get it, and get it good. The Sacrament of Confession, on the other hand, offers us the image of "Sinners in the hands of a merciful God."



Now that is a much more beautiful picture.

Happy MLK Day

The university is closed today, as I assume most places are. This means that

1.I had the opportunity to go to daily Mass (After which I recieved a hug from one of the little old ladies) and
2.I will only have my deadly dull Graphics class three times this week, instead of four!

I should say that my Graphics lab, which is on Wednesday, is not deadly dull at all. The instructor is a Chinese graduate student; in class last week, when he was calling roll and got to my name, he said, "Isn't this some kind of drink?" Ha, ha! As one might expect in Athens, his only interaction with any form of the name "Margaret" has been in the bars, where he orders Margaritas.

Indeed, I must say, no, it is not just a drink. It is a name of Greek origin, and it means "pearl." Sometimes in older (really old) literature you will find descriptions like "She wore a necklace of precious margarets"; it means, of course, that "she" is wearing a string of pearls.

"Margarita" is the Spanish form of the name. Somehow it got attached to the beveridge. "Marguerite" is the French form of the name, and "Daisy" is the English translation of the French form ("la marguerite" means "daisy" in French).

So, you see, in ancient Greece I am a pretty little gem, in France I am a cheeful little flower and in Spain and Latin America I am a rather strong drink. In America I am only me, but that's not so bad :)

"Mystery of Pope's night-time visits to his old haunts"

From the Telegraph:

By Hilary Clarke in Rome
(Filed: 14/01/2006)

The Vatican, citadel of secrets and intrigue, has thrown up another little mystery: what has the Pope been doing on a spate of night-time missions to his old cardinal lodgings?

Over the past few weeks, the German pontiff has been seen sneaking back to his old room outside the Vatican walls three times, La Stampa reported yesterday.

At about 9pm a plain, dark car carrying 78-year-old Pope Benedict and his private secretary, Don Georg Gaenswein, swirls out of a side door of Vatican city. It then doubles round in the back streets before arriving at 1 Piazza Citta Leonina, a hall of residence for senior Church figures and the Pope's home as a cardinal for almost 24 years.

A Vatican security guard is always waiting in front of the apartments in a pedestrian zone tucked behind St Peter's Square. The Pope gets out of the car disguised in the plain black priest's robes he wore when he was the Catholic Church's senior theologian.

Wearing a black hat and with his head down, he opens the wooden door himself, as he did for all those years, and tiptoes inside followed by Don Georg.

"Its is not a question of just dashing in for a few minutes to grab a bag or a book," La Stampa said. "He spends at least a couple of hours there."

Rest of the piece.

Hmmm. The article goes on to speculate that Papa is spending some time in his old quarters because he wants to "get away from it all." On his thread, Domenico Bettinelli hypothesizes that Papa is just visiting his cats, which felines he was not allowed to bring with him when he moved into the Vatican (claws on all those antiques! Eeek!).

Whatever it is, I'm sure the Holy Father has got a good reason. Now that it's out in the papers, however, I wonder if the Italians will be lining the streets at night, trying to get a private audience right in the middle of the road...

Come and see for yourself

As a native of New Jersey, I was amused to see that the much-maligned Garden State has picked a new advertising slogan to attract tourists. From the AP:

TRENTON, N.J. - If you were pulling for "New Jersey: You Got a Problem With That?" as the new state slogan, forget about it, buddy. The winning entry in the slogan contest was: "New Jersey: Come See For Yourself."

...The contest was launched after [New Jersey Governor] Codey rejected a marketing company's proposal, "We'll Win You Over." He said it reminded him too much of when he was single and asked girls out on a date.

His office and tourism officials chose the finalists from about 8,000 ideas, including "You Got a Problem With That?" and "Most of Our Elected Officials Have Not Been Indicted."

Full article. You can really tell that the AP reporter enjoyed writing the story. Most wire stories don't provide an opportunity for the reporter to address a group of readers as "buddy." ;)

I was born and spent the first seven years of my life in Ridgewood, which is in Bergen County in northern New Jersey. No jokes! I have heard them all. My personal selection for a good slogan would be "New Jersey, birthplace of Justice Antonin Scalia" (the Associate Justice was born in '36 in Trenton, NJ). That would definitely be an enticement to come visit. Then again, not everyone is as huge a Scalia-phile as I am :)

It's all in the detail

Jan van Eyck is tied with William Bouguereau as my all-time favorite painter. The 15th century artist is famous for his brilliant use of perspective. Here's an example you might recognize. It's The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin, currently housed in the Louvre:



That's Chancellor Rolin, who paid for the painting, adoring the child Jesus. What really makes the painting so enchanting for me, personally, is the detail in the background, in the courtyard outside the little room. Here's a close-up:



As you can see, Van Eyck has painted a peacock (far bottom left of the close-up), flowers and some scraggly shrubbery; a ship; and a bridge (with people on it!). If you like you can click on the first picture and see a larger image; then you'll note that he also depcits an entire city on both sides of the river, complete with a church on the left bank, its steeple rising above the shorter buildings.

Of course, one doesn't see such detail when just glancing at the painting; at first, one just notices that this is a portrait of the Chancellor, hands folded in prayer, adoring the infant Christ, who is seated on His Mother's lap. Only a careful viewing reveals the intricate little world in the background.

Another example, which most people who have ever taken an art history course are probably familiar with, is Van Eyck's Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, which is in the National Gallery at London:



If you check out the background detail in the middle of the painting, you can see where Van Eyck has painted the reflection of Signor and Signora Arnolfini in a mirror:



The use of perspective is, of course, genius. The rigorous attention to detail in some ways reminds me of the great cathedral-builders, who put just as much effort into crafting and decorating the very top of the insides of churches as they did the lower portions, even though no human being who entered the building would be able to see that high up or notice that the work had been done. So why did they bother? Their work was meant to glorify God, not simply please man.

Ahem. The Northern Renaissance produced this kind of art. The 20th century, on the other hand, produced... Dada.

::Screams in pain::

Pictures from the Web Gallery of Art.

Sick, sick

Yes, that's a condom in the Almighty's hand. Planned Parenthood of Connecticut is selling these "charming" keychains. There are some other real winners on offer, too, as you can see on their site.

Of course, Michelangelo's original masterpiece on the Sistine Chapel ceiling depicts God giving Adam life. Planned Parenthood Connecticut's "adaption" shows God handing Adam an artificial device that will prevent new life. Somehow I don't think the folks from PP quite get the irony.

Oh well, it's all right. We all know that God is so into that "meaningless sex" thing. Ya know.

I would laugh if it wasn't... So... Disgusting.

Hat tip: This has been making the rounds of St. Blog's, but I saw it first on the Drudge Report.

What is Heaven for a 20-year-old college girl?

Being enrolled in a class which discusses the hypostatic union, the text of De Civitate Dei, the foundation of Monte Cassino, and the important substantial difference between auctoritas and potestas.

Or, shall I say, that's Heaven for someone like me. My medieval history class is turning out to be super fun! Not least because the professor knows what she's talking about. Today we went over the development of the papacy, and I thought to myself, oh no, here it comes, "the Papacy is a medieval invention designed to oppress dissent/women/the poor/intellectuals" etc. etc.

But no! She just conveyed the honest truth, which is that the papacy was not always in its modern form. It developed slowly, from the time of early Christianity, when the Bishop of Rome enjoyed an informal but significant acknowledgement of his authority, to today, when doctrine about the Petrine supremacy has become more clear and focused.

I was impressed. The professor certainly knows her stuff better than my Non-Western History teacher last quarter, who memorably declared that after the period of iconoclasm, Eastern Orthodox Christianity no longer used icons. Aaaaack! As anyone who knew the tiniest bit about the subject could tell you, icons (in Greek, eikon) have the greatest importance and hold just about the highest place in Eastern Christianity - excepting for the Mass, (which they call the Divine Liturgy), of course.

This is a terrific class, so far. It could still jump the shark. But the assignments are tons of fun, for sure! Time to go read an excerpt from that prolific Monophysite-fighter, Gelasius I.

So now it's March

Or something like that! This week has been incredibly mild, and, well, wet. It's supposed to be even warmer later in the week. Strange.

Besides the unusual weather, my week has taken other unusual turns so far. On Sunday I went to a General Assignment meeting for The Post, which is the independent student-run newspaper. The GA editor passed my name to the campus editor and he called today to offer me a job covering the Student Senate on Wednesday nights. Alas, the Senate convenes at 7 pm, and that's when I have a Graphics lab. Flush. Oh well. It only paid $15 a week - not enough for me, that's for sure! There was also a "reader solicitation" published in the Columbus Dispatch recently, and I was thinking about sending something in for that. No money for published submissions, though.

In case you didn't know, my sister is home from her vocational retreat with the Nashville Dominicans. You can read all about her trip (and her decision regarding whether she's called there) here. All this makes me excited for my trip to Alabama to see the Sister Servants later this month :)

I went to my first daily Mass of the quarter today. It was wonderful to be back, and there was actually quite a crowd, including several other college students. I was surprised! I guess some people have made a New Year's resolution to come to daily Mass :) In order to go, I had to skip my 8 am class, which is all right, as it is absolutely useless. The prof just doesn't believe in teaching, apparently; he just believes in telling stories about his past and gossiping about the Scripps faculty and administration. No Mass tomorrow, though, because the priest is out of town on diocesan business. I'm only going to skip twice a week, promise! ;)

Off to save the planet!

In the temporal realm, of course, since Jesus has taken care of the eternal salvation thing...

It's Super Papa! And his blinding... glass podium-thingy! Wooosh!

Twelfth Night

I remember my mother telling me about her parents going to Twelfth Night parties. Twelfth Night, as in, the Twelfth Night of Christmas! You know, Shakespeare wrote a play about it?

Although retail stores and the mass media are quite insistent that Christmas ends on December 25th, it is most definitely not so! I am happy to say that my roommates and I kept our miniature Christmas tree up until this evening, although I have to admit that this is due mostly to laziness and less to a desire to observe the Twelve Days of Christmas ;)

The tradition of "the twelve days of Christmas" and the Twelfth Night celebrations are based on the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, as twelve days pass between Christmas morning and the Feast of the Epiphany, when Catholics mark the visit of the Three Kings (aka the Three Wise Men) at the manger of Jesus.

Mardi Gras is also rooted in the Catholic calendar. In fact, the Feast of the Epiphany marks the start of the Mardi Gras season down in New Orleans. They start "preparing" for Lent... Ahem... Early... Down there. Who knows if their... "Preparations" will be as boisterous as in non-hurricane years past... Of course it would be wonderful to see the city on its feet again, although one hopes it can be accomplished in a dignified and non-exploitive way.

It was also my first Mass at St. Paul's since Christmas break. The Christmas decorations were all still up, of course! There was a great deal of incense used today, which I imagine is because it was a major feast day. Sigh, I would like every Sunday to be an incense day. Also Eucharistic Prayer I. Also a very instructive homily on how we are all meant to bring our gifts to the service of Christ, in the same way that the Kings brought Him gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The lady who always accompanies her middle-aged son to Mass offered to give me a ride again, and made sure I knew that on "bad days" I had to say yes! Father said "Welcome back, Maggie" when we shook hands at the vestibule. And the music was 100 percent traditional Epiphany music - We Three Kings, What Child Is This etc. All in all, I feel back into the swing of things already. Hurray!

St. Mary's Church

1100 Charters Street, New Orleans, LA

Built in 1845 on a site that had previously housed an Ursuline convent, St. Mary's originally served as the Chapel of the Archbishops. This church has borne many names throughout its existence: Sainte Marie de l'Archevêque, Holy Trinity, St. Mary's Italian Church, Our Lady of Victory, and finally, St. Mary's, which name was bestowed on it by Archbishop Shulte in 1994.

See a History of St. Mary's.

And now, you know what time it is. It's eye candy time!

A view of the Sanctuary - what a beautiful high altar...



Close-up of the altar - they don't make 'em like this anymore!



View of the choir loft - these older churches had a lot of emphasis on detail, detail, detail - even on the ceiling! And look at the spiral staircase on the right!




More photographs from Neworleanschuches.com

Retiring?

His Excellency Anthony Pilla, Bishop of Cleveland (my diocese, at home!) has sent a letter to the Vatican asking to be allowed to retire. He refused to get into specifics about why, but he has had a lot of serious health problems in the past. He is two years younger than the usual retirement age of 75, but it's not unheard of for bishops to make an early exit. He is celebrating his 25th anniversary as Bishop of Cleveland on Friday; maybe he just wanted to hold on for the qaurter-century mark.

Bishop Pilla is far from my favorite bishop. Like many, he handled sexual abuse cases horribly, and he was generally pretty weak when it came to the liturgy (i.e. he is one of the bishops who have decided that we should not kneel when we return to the pews after receiving Holy Communion - which, of course, I cooperate with, for the sake of obedience). He also was ineffectual in the face of rank disobedience and heresy - for instance, FutureChurch, a particularly miserable organization, meets in his diocese on Church property!

Still, I always got the impression that the Bishop, personally, tried hard to be a pious man. I think he is very shy and introverted and just lacked the will to really stand up to people. Which is no excuse, of course, when one is at the head of a diocese.

I have't ever liked him or hardly any of his policies, but I still love him as my father in God - know what I mean? I have lived in the Cleveland area for about a dozen years, but I only heard him celebrate Mass twice, and I only met him once, when I shook his hand coming out of a sparsley attended Christmas morning Mass at the Cathedral. I really wanted to kiss his ring, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have liked that (sigh)! Up close, he looked like a very fatherly man.

May God bless him and keep him healthy in his retirement!

Here's the Free Republic thread, which details some of the worst problems in the diocese, and here's an excerpt from the AP:

CLEVELAND - The city's Roman Catholic bishop, who will celebrate 25 years in that post on Friday, has asked the Vatican to consider appointing his replacement.

Bishop Anthony Pilla declined to reveal the reasons for his retirement request, saying a letter he had written to the Vatican was private.

The date of his retirement is at the discretion of the Vatican, said Pilla, who is awaiting a response from Pope Benedict XVI and his staff.

"I have let the Holy See know that it would be good for the diocese," Pilla told The Plain Dealer for a story Thursday.

Article.

Back to class

Today was my third day of classes. Eh, I've got a doozy this quarter (as usual) but I have made a New Year's resolution not to complain so much about my life, which is quite good and even excellent when compared to most others.

My 8 o'clock class is Graphics in Communication and is taught by the notorious Hodges. Hodges gives out As the way the Gideons International gives out hotel Bibles; alas, this easy A is accompanied by just about zero useful instruction. That is the word on the street, anyway. I have, of course, only attended his class three times; the first two days were devoted to administrative issues and the third (today) was fairly rambling and incoherent; only near the end did he get into any information worth taking notes on.

The worst part is that Hodges tells really awful, not-really-funny jokes, CONSTANTLY. You know, the kind of joke which makes one say "... Ha... Ha" as an awkward silence wraps its slimy tentacles around the lecture hall. Hodges is quite large, and so he is always making fat jokes; he walks with a cane, and has made a couple cripple jokes. He also felt obliged to give us a psychiatric history today; he told us he suffers from clinical depression and ADD. Now of course, I am sympathetic, since my mother herself has been diagnosed as bipolar for well nigh a decade. But it is still not the sort of thing one expects to hear on the third day in a class of 60 students. Perhaps Hodges is just trying to help reduce the stigma of surrounding mental illness, which of course I would appreciate, since my family always felt that pretty strongly in our small little community.

I am thinking of skipping that class a couple times a week to go to Mass, however. People say that you learn everything you need in the lab, and that the actual class time is a terrible waste. So we'll see.

My second class is a history course on the medieval period. I know that I am a dork, but it is starting to seem like a really fun class. Of course there will be the usual blah-blah about the growth of the papacy, which is very complex and has historically been a potential stumbling-block for would-be converts; however, I already have at least a little bit of education on that from my informal Catholic catechesis, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep in the proper perspective. The professor is also of the non-scary variety. She reminds me of my mother when she's being "good!"

My third course is my quarterly Class From Hell, and it's the one I'm going to have to try not to complain about: Reporting Contemporary Issues. The other students in the class are very advanced and professional; I know that technically (credit-wise) I am a senior, but I think I am still at a junior-year maturity and confidence levels (it IS, after all, only my third year in college)! Maybe even at late-sophomore-year levels. That's what it seems like, anyway. So much writing, so much original reporting, group work, group reporting, argh, argh, argh! The syllabus is wicked on so many levels. I want my Magazine Journalism class back. That was last quarter's Class From Hell, and I ended up really enjoying myself. Sigh, sigh.

Okay. That is the last time I am allowed to complain about that class... Pinch...

My fourth and final class is another history course (History is my "specialization," which is a term the J school uses because we're too snotty to go and get "minors" ;) and it's the companion to last quarter's course on Non-Western History. While in the fall I studied Non-Western History before 1750, in the winter I will be studying the globe after 1750. I was terribly pleased to discover that the professor is not a painfully PC person; he recognizes that the course name is meant to emphasize the global scope of the course, and not meant to exclude the West entirely. Besides which, one can't tell the history of the world without telling the history of the West; any leftist well-versed in colonial imperialism and exploitation would have to admit that. The only trouble with this class is that it is late at night, from 7-9 pm. Hopefully he will not keep us for the entire two hours, every single night. If he does... Mega-MEGO time!

Awesome!

Look what the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word got to make for the reception after the Christmas Eve Mass at Casa Maria!





That's right! Cookies! Talk about right up my alley, eh? ;)

And check out these pictures from the celebration the Sister Servants had for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe:





FYI: Their "What's New at Casa Maria" page always has lots of good stuff to check out :)

Washington Blade Names Pope Benedict XVI Anti-Gay Person of the Year

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- As 2005 draws to a close, many media outlets will announce their selections for person of the year. In past years, the Washington Blade editors have selected a Story of the Year instead. This year, the Story of the Year was, in the Washington Blade's view, the extraordinary efforts of one individual to not only put a halt to the acceptance of gay people legally and within the mainstream culture, but to roll back such acceptance to an earlier, less tolerant and more discriminatory time.

Article.

What can I say? It's more of the same inability to differentiate between PERSONS (whom the Holy Father has never condemned; in fact, he has demanded that homosexuals be treated with dignity) and ACTS (which, duh, are fair game).

Anyway, congratulations, Papa. To echo a comment I read on the Free Republic thread, if the Catholic Church were juvenile enough, I am sure that the Washington Blade would be high up in the running for "Anti-Catholic Newspaper of the Year."

The reality is that there are few greater compliments than to spend one's existence in the cross-hairs of both right-wing organizations like the Ayn Rand Institute and liberal entities like gay newspapers, NARAL, or the Hemlock Society. I am sure that every Pope from now until the end of time will infuriate them all, and thus cover himself in glory. Viva il Papa!

Lightning in January

What strange weather we've been having! I've never heard of violent thunderstorms in January - I guess these would usually be nasty snowstorms, but it's not cold enough to freeze. I guess that's a good thing... The drive down to Athens was unpleasant enough, what with the rain skipping off the semi trucks and onto our windshield at a rather high rate. Slippery ice would have been much, much worse!

Except that I'm tired of the gray weather, in any case. So, rain or snow, I wish it would clear out, if only for just a couple days.

At our little gift exchange, I got Salt of the Earth, by then-Card. Ratzinger; Death Comes For the Archbishop, my all-time favorite book; and The Story of a Soul. It's really quite ridiculous that I've never read St. Therese's autobiography, especially given my interest in Carmel. So, progress made there.

I also got a pretty necklace and a pair of earrings, which I am wearing right now. Very pink, very lovely :)

On Tuesday it's back to school, back to books, back to teacher's dirty looks... Or however the rhyme goes! I really can't believe I was away for six weeks. Urgh. Very urgh.

And that is that

Well, today was my last full day of vacation - I have to head back to school tomorrow. I have been "on the ball" and have already gotten my Not-So-Secret Santa presents wrapped and everything, as well as A Little Something for the other girls. Oh, wouldn't you like to know what it is? I won't say, but don't get too excited... Keep in mind that it's me we're talking about ;)

Today was the Feast of the Circumcision (in modern times known as the Feast of Mary, Mother of God). The Mass was said by a retired priest, but before-hand, our youngish (late twenties) associate pastor, Fr. Ference, came up to my sister and I and had a little chat with us about the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist; he gave us each a little pamphlet about them. They are a Dominican order up in Michigan; they teach, although that's not their only apostolate. Of course I know a great deal about them; they are famous for getting lots of vocations and being very high energy; however, I know I'm almost positive I'm not called to them, since I don't think I'm meant for that kind of exclusively active apostolate. I prefer to have a more fixed, more frequent schedule of prayer, etc.

Mother has been lamenting to Father Ference about how she doesn't want to lose her daughters to convents so far away, where she can't visit so often. Of course, we always remind her that frequent visits are not allowed, anyway, especially when a postulant or novice is being formed.

But that was very nice of him to do. I was surprised that he recognized us; I guess he's seen me with Mother a great deal. In other news on the vocations front, I am planning on visiting the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word in Alabama for a retreat on the weekend of January 27; please pray that it helps in my discernment.

I can't believe the Christmas break is over! Much sobbing, rending of garments!

Confirmation Day

Not the one involving the Holy Spirit. The one involving unholy party-line partisan voting ;)

Judge, now Justice, Samuel Anthony Alito was confirmed by the US Senate today; he has been sworn in as the 110th Justice. Only one Republican, the ever-difficult Sen. Lincoln Chaffee, voted against him; four Democrats voted for him.

Both Justice Alito and Justice Roberts are rather young for Supreme Court justices; they are both in their early to mid-50s. You know that the law is an excellent choice of profession when it is pointed out that its best practitioners are considered "young" past middle age :)

I have a lot of optimism about the new Justice, although he still obviously has to prove his metttle. The trick will be to maintain - and if possible, improve - the number of conservatives on the high Court until a strong legal challenge to Roe v. Wade can work its way through the lower courts. Personally I think it would be effective for the test case to address the issue as a gross violation of civil rights. We shall see!