Sister Elizabeth!

The website of the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word has been updated with recent pictures of the community, some of which include my sister, Sister Elizabeth!

On a visit (My sis is the one at the top left)



In work apron



Making cookies



For more pictures look here! I'll mention again that the Sisters run wonderful retreats throughout the year. Check the dates out here.

Out with a... bang?

I got my last set of grades from Ohio University today. One A- and three As. That brings my cumulative to 3.81 and guarantees me that neat magna cum laude citation. That's "with high honor" - better than cum laude "with honor" but not as good as summa cum laude, "with highest honor," which is what my parents wanted me to get. But oh well, Latin honors = maybe a nice graduation present? Mom, Dad? ;)

Auuugh

One thing most people know about Catholicism is that we've got that little concept of papal infallibility in our catechism. This doctrine, which was formally defined at the First Vatican Council but which was basically SOP before that, essentially declares that the pope can not teach error with regard to faith and morals.

When the Holy Father says that abortion is objectively wicked, for instance, it's a truth for all time: Two hundred years from now, there's not going to be a pope who says, "Wow, we were wrong about that whole infanticide thing. Whoops. Go ahead and use your right to choose, ladies." Similarly, when Pius XII declared ex cathedra (from the chair of St. Peter, thus exercising his Petrine charism) that Mary was assumed bodily into Heaven, he was establishing another truth for all time: No pope of the future is going to say he was wrong. In these areas of faith and morals, the Holy Spirit protects the pope from error.

What infallibility does not mean is that the pope's private opinions are unquestionable. Pope Benedict XVI loves Mozart; but every good Catholic is perfectly free to loathe Mozart and insist that Britney Spears is the summit of musical expression. Said Catholic would have to be rather thick in the head, but even so. Similarly, it's well known that Pope Benedict takes St. Augustine as his theological master; he wrote in his memoirs that he found the scholastic theology of St. Thomas Aquinas too ready-made and calculated, notwithstanding his great respect for Thomas and his thought. Nevertheless, there are many, many Catholic thinkers who consider Aquinas superior to Augustine.

These fine disctinctions are somewhat difficult for non-Catholics to grasp and almost impossible for my collegues in the media to wrap their heads around. Thus, we get articles like this:

Pope questions his infallibility

By Malcolm Moore in Rome

The Pope has shocked theologians and opened a chink in the theory of papal infallibility by saying that people should feel free to disagree with what he has written in his latest book, a meditation on Jesus Christ...

... In the foreword, he states that the book is "absolutely not" a work of Catholic doctrine, but rather the "expression of my personal research". He adds: "Consequently, everyone is free to contradict me. I only ask the readers that they read with sympathy, without which there will be no comprehension."

No Pope has ever opened up his work and opinions to criticism before. Nor has any Pope tried to separate his personal and public personas, according to Professor Giuseppe Alberigo, a professor of the history of the Catholic Church at Bologna University.

"I really believe this is the first time this has ever happened," he said. "It is an extraordinarily important gesture. What it means is that the Pope is not totally infallible...

Full article.

Really? Not TOTALLY infallible? Police! Firemen! I am experiencing a terrible bout of cognitive dissonance! Help!

Soooo, apparently the bar for doctorates in Italy isn't quite that high... ;) Seriously, though, the "opening a chink in the theory of papal infallibility" line is what gets me. The headline - "Pope questions his infallibility" - is not Mr. Moore's fault. It's most likely the copy editor's. But the stuff in the body of the piece is on his turf. He needs to either go back to J school or go back to a good basic catechism class.

Hat tip to the American Papist.

The Japanese kids hate it, the Indian kids love it

"It," in case you're wondering, is life.

I read this story and I thought to myself: "What!? Does this mean filling your life with empty, ephemeral physical pleasures is not the way to find true happiness? Does it mean that one's goal in life should be more than just having as much fun as possible and acquiring as many cool toys as possible? Who would have thunk it?" Check out the words I've bolded at the end of the excerpt.

Young people in developed countries unhappy, survey says

By Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) - Young people in developing nations are at least twice as likely to feel happy about their lives than their richer counterparts, a survey says.

Indians are the happiest overall and Japanese the most miserable...

...In developing countries a majority in the same age group expected their lives to be more enjoyable in the future, led by China with 84 percent.

"The happier young people of the developing world are also the most religious," the survey said. (Emphasis added)

Hmmmm. Full article.

So...

I'm sitting here in the library typing up my exit memo for Southeast Ohio magazine (the winter issue is in the can and will be going to press soon) and I realized: This is my last college assignment. It could be my last school assignment, ever, if I don't get a graduate assistantship at KSU. Did that ever turn on the tears! I am going to miss being a student so much.

The truth is that I hate, hate, HATE change. When I first arrived in Athens three years and three months ago, I loathed the place. I didn't know anybody, or the city; I had to come out of my shell ever-so-slightly; I was a "baby" revert Catholic who hadn't been Confirmed and who hadn't been to Confession in years; I had to make sure to perform exceptionally well academically, if I wanted to have any prayer of getting into the Scripps School. A few years later, I've made great friends, I love Athens, and I'm even sort of getting a kick out of my journalism and academic work. I do adjust to things well. But at the beginning of every new change, I get that kicked-in-the-gut, I-just-want-to-crawl-back-in-bed feeling. That is what I've got, now. Pray for me, please :)

I do have non-angsty, non-emo news to share, ha ha. Last weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Fan into Flame retreat with some of my friends from Catholic Student Outreach. It was essentially a Catholic charismatic retreat, complete with praise & worship music, "expressive" prayer, and people being baptized in the Holy Spirit and praying in tongues, etc. I enjoyed myself very much, not to mention that I think it was very beneficial for me, spiritually. It was wonderful to see so many young people so in love with the Faith.

I have to say that the charismatic culture is definitely Not My Style. I am very much a traditionalist - bring on the Latin, the chant, the incense and contemplative prayer, please! But I now have greater respect for the charismatic movement within the Catholic Church. The majority seem very orthodox, and many are considering religious vocations. I already had my "conversion experience" years ago, and it happened in a much more conventional, traditional way; nevertheless, I can see how someone who has never had that... for lack of a better term, "born again" experience in their lives could really latch on to the charismatic movement (there is always the danger, of course, of one's religious life becoming entirely emotion-based, but
many of the people I have spoken to seem aware of such possible pitfalls). It's not for me, but if it helps other Catholics grow in their faith, then more power to them.

On Wednesday night I attended The Post's winter quarter All Staff meeting, and I received a number of awards: Best Columnist, Most Improved Copy Editor, etc. Then the editors (who know I am graduating) gave me a mock-up of a front page of the paper. The headline was "Spirituality Columnist Leaves On Top." The "news stories" were all little notes from people on staff congratulating me and telling me I did a good job. It was the sweetest thing ever. As my Copy Chief, Jeff Smith said, "This is turning into a love fest for Maggie Kostendt." I am wondering to myself if they gave me all of those awards just because they knew I was leaving and they wished to make a big show, or because I really deserved them. My roommate Jenn says it was probably a combination of both ;)

Anyway, I really appreciated it. If I ever win the lotto, I will make sure to earmark some of the cash for the betterment of The Post's news operation (not that they'll need it for a while, what with them getting a fancy new high-tech newsroom in the brand-new student center. Incidentally, the Editor in Chief announced that the members of the staff are getting raises for next quarter - I would leave just before the money train arrives.).

All of this was the "news" I mentioned in the blog post below - I finally caught a minute to write!

Oh,and my finals went all right, but I am freaking out a bit over whether I am going to keep my GPA above 3.8 - I really don't want to have to update my resume. Ora pro me St. Jude.

Happy Name Day to Me!

Today is the feast of my patroness, everybody's favorite Queen, St. Margaret of Scotland. We celebrated St. Gertrude at daily Mass (it's her day, too) but oh well!

Margaret was an English princess. She and her mother sailed to Scotland to escape from the king who had conquered their land. King Malcolm of Scotland welcomed them and fell in love with the beautiful princess. Margaret and Malcolm were married before too long.

As Queen, Margaret changed her husband and the country for the better. Malcolm was good, but he and his court were very rough. When he saw how wise his beloved wife was, he listened to her good advice. She softened his temper and led him to practice great virtue. She made the court beautiful and civilized. Soon all the princes had better manners, and the ladies copied her purity and devotion. The king and queen gave wonderful example to everyone by the way they prayed together and fed crowds of poor people with their own hands. They seemed to have only one desire: to make everyone happy and good.

Margaret was a blessing for all the people of Scotland. Before she came, there was great ignorance and many bad habits among them. Margaret worked hard to obtain good teachers, to correct the evil practices, and to have new churches built. She loved to make these churches beautiful for God's glory, and she embroidered the priest's vestments herself.

God sent this holy Queen six sons and two daughters. She loved them dearly and raised them well. The youngest boy became St. David. But Margaret had sorrows, too. In her last illness, she learned that both her husband and her son, Edward, had been killed in battle. Yet she prayed: "I thank You, Almighty God, for sending me so great a sorrow to purify me from my sins."

From Catholic Online.

I have lots of news

But no time to write! I will later. But for now, enjoy. This is me and my roommate Jenn marching in OU's homecoming parade - our other roomie, Maureen, was waiting for us on the route and took the picture!

And below is Maureen, me, and Jenn at the homecoming football game. We went for the band.

And that's a wrap

For a whole bunch of things. My last column for The Post ran this week - sniff, sniff. I also had my last night of copy-editing, because there's no paper tomorrow, it being the day that the University observes Veteran's Day.

The Last Copy-Editing Night was actually Election Day. I was in the newsroom from 8 on Tuesday night until 6:30 on Wednesday morning because the Athens County Board of Elections had "technological difficulties." We were rushing around trying to think up headlines and edit the copy before the deadline, which was 6:00 (we were a bit late getting it to the press. And we still didn't have all the numbers yet!).

It was very unpleasant to have to read and re-read and think up headlines for all the stories about the Democrats winning this, that and the other. But what a copy-editor does is check copy. If I was just sitting at home I could just switch the TV off and do other things, but no, I had to stay in the newsroom for 10+ hours contemplating the disaster. And the complete sweep made headlines impossible to write - how many ways can you say, "Ohio Flips Blue"?

And most of the "issues" that I voted for - against the smoking ban (I don't smoke, but I have loved ones who do), against the minimum wage increase (my father owns a small business) - all went the wrong way. The only one I "won" on was the gambling issue, which thankfully failed.

I still mostly had a good time. Election Night is always a special night for newspapers, whether it takes place in Athens, Ohio or New York or Bangladesh. The editors all ordered pizza for us - yum, yum. And we had a couple of the famous One Minute Dance Parties in the newsroom, led by the Assistant Managing Editor, Burns, which helped out during periods of stress. Burns' mother actually works (I should say worked) for Republican Betty Montgomery, so I was extra special sad about that one.

And I have to say that there's nothing like walking home through empty city streets as the sun comes up :)

Emerging from the cocoon...

Of warm, fuzzy student-hood.

Well, it's not really that pleasant, but I'm starting to get the... hard swallow... melancholies about bidding adieu to my fair Athens. *Sniffle.* I have really loved my time here. The Appalachian foothills are beautiful this time of year, what with all the leaves changing; the beauty certainly conceals the fact that for miles and miles in every direction there isn't... much... of anything... besides... trees. But really I haven't minded life in the middle of nowhere. I'm not a "city girl" at all; I certainly don't pine for the night life!

Here's a link to my latest column - a bit of a dud. And I can tell because when it's a good column, I get e-mails from my readers. Thus far, nada!

Also, it seems the copy staff messed up a bit on it. See if you can tell where; look for the sentence that doesn't really make sense. I missed it, too, the first time I read it after publication... ;)