I recently found out I was admitted to the School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University. Yes, that university. My father actually went there for his undergraduate program, as did his brother and sister and one of my cousins. So I am reversing the order a bit. It is the only accredited program in Ohio, however, so that makes it better.
I was not worried at all about getting into the school, but I have yet to find out about the assistantship I applied for. It is extremely iffy about whether I will bother with the graduate degree if I don't get that position, which would cover my tuition entirely. I am quite allergic to debt, for a number of really good reasons. I would love being a librarian, but it is not a dream that if not realized would produce emotional death. After all, my primary vocation is either to marriage or the religious life.
Please pray for me!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
No comment ;)
Powers: cognition aided by divine illumination
Weaknesses: inability to do anything that will earn the divine grace necessary to make up for original sin
Notes: These toys come with with a 224-page minicomic, Concussions of Saint Augustine, explaining the character's origin and describing some of his amazing adventures!
See more Philosophy Action Heroes here.
From Evangelical Catholicism, via The Shrine of the Holy Whapping.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Earthquake!
Today there was an earthquake, 3.6 on the scale, according to early reports. We actually made the front page of Drudge!
It sounded like a big bang, with perhaps half a second of vibrations. I thought one of my brothers had jumped off the couch - they treat most of our furniture like a jungle gym. But no, they were entirely innocent. My friend Shannon called me to ask if we felt it too, and that's when we figured out it must have been the earth moving.
These tremors occur every once in a while under Cleveland. They never do much damage at all, but they give everybody some more cud to chew on.
It sounded like a big bang, with perhaps half a second of vibrations. I thought one of my brothers had jumped off the couch - they treat most of our furniture like a jungle gym. But no, they were entirely innocent. My friend Shannon called me to ask if we felt it too, and that's when we figured out it must have been the earth moving.
These tremors occur every once in a while under Cleveland. They never do much damage at all, but they give everybody some more cud to chew on.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Musing, musing
I am still discerning my vocation (I am the world's slowest discerner). Nevertheless, I am like most girls in that I like to make lists of names I would give my "future children." When I was younger I used to be sort of obsessed with this, but my passion for baby names has been replaced by a passion for all things Catholic, thank goodness. I still sometimes make lists, though. Here are a few names I've come up with recently:
Girls:
1. Mary Margaret Rose
Mary is the name of the Blessed Virgin, of course, and is also a family name, although my great-great-grandmother was always nicknamed Molly. This one name I wouldn't want to use a nickname for, because it's just so beautiful! Margaret is my name and the name of my great-grandmother. Rose is just pretty, and it's also a title of the Virgin.
2. Caroline Patricia Jean
Caroline is a nice feminine version of Karol, after Pope John Paul II. Patricia is my mother's name, and Jean is my grandmother's name. I like Caro - Italian for "dear," by the way - as a nickname.
3. Alice Elizabeth Anastasia
There is a St. Alice (not well-known) who was "put on the books" by St. Pius X; she was a leper whose chief consolation was the Holy Eucharist. Elizabeth is my sister's name and another great-grandmother's name, besides being the name of the Blessed Mother's cousin. St. Anastasia was martyred during the persecutions of Diocletian. Her name is mentioned in the Roman Canon and her feast day is celebrated on Christmas Day. Her name means "resurrection."
4. Eleanor Virginia Anne
When I was young, I loved reading about Eleanor of Aquitaine, who, after all, went on one of the Crusades :) Her first husband, Louis VII of France, gave refuge to St. Thomas Becket when her second husband, Henry II, chased the good archbishop out of England. Virginia is in honor of the Blessed Virgin, of course. Anne is a family name, my mother's middle name and my great-great aunt's name (She was actually Mary Anne, after her mother, but they called her Maime).
Boys:
1. John Arthur Alcuin
John is in honor of the Beloved Disciple. Arthur is my kid brother's name, and Bl. Alcuin of York was extremely influential both in the court of Charlemagne and in the Church; he did a tremendous amount with the liturgy, for example, and he is also in some way responsible for our use of capital letters (before the invention of carolingian miniscule, europeans wrote everything without much punctuation at all which makes it much much much messier and harder to read as you can see especially since printing methods tendedtomakewordsruntogether). Ah, the things you learn in a college capstone class!
2. Anthony Charles Theodore
Anthony is my other brother's name and the name of our family's patron, St. Anthony of Padua. Charles is my grandfather's name and my great-grandfather's name, and Theodore is my father's middle name. (He goes by "Ted" because "Werner" really screamed "son of immigrants!" when he was young. Actually, his parents even spelled Theodore in the Germanic way, as Theodor, without an e. Everybody gets it wrong. They even misspelled it as Theodore on my parents' wedding invitations. )
3. Linus Patrick Pius
St. Linus was the second pope, coming right after St. Peter himself. Patrick is, of course, the patron saint of Ireland. How could I with my Irish blood fail to include him? Pius is the name of St. Pius V, who beat back the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto, codified the liturgy, reformed the breviary, declared Queen Elizabeth I of England a heretic, and was the first pope to wear white (he just never took off his Dominican habit, even after his election). St. Pius X was a great fighter of the modernist heresy, which, alas, was not mortally wounded by his efforts. Also, Pius is the Latin form of Pio, which of course is the name of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, the great Italian mystic and stigmatic who died in the 1970s.
4. Damian Henry Benedict
Damian is the name of our associate pastor here. He is a wonderful, young, orthdox priest, and he has sent 6 young men to the seminary in the 4 years he has been here, with another 4 boys planning to enter next fall. Henry is my great-grandfather's name, and Benedict is the pope!
Girls:
1. Mary Margaret Rose
Mary is the name of the Blessed Virgin, of course, and is also a family name, although my great-great-grandmother was always nicknamed Molly. This one name I wouldn't want to use a nickname for, because it's just so beautiful! Margaret is my name and the name of my great-grandmother. Rose is just pretty, and it's also a title of the Virgin.
2. Caroline Patricia Jean
Caroline is a nice feminine version of Karol, after Pope John Paul II. Patricia is my mother's name, and Jean is my grandmother's name. I like Caro - Italian for "dear," by the way - as a nickname.
3. Alice Elizabeth Anastasia
There is a St. Alice (not well-known) who was "put on the books" by St. Pius X; she was a leper whose chief consolation was the Holy Eucharist. Elizabeth is my sister's name and another great-grandmother's name, besides being the name of the Blessed Mother's cousin. St. Anastasia was martyred during the persecutions of Diocletian. Her name is mentioned in the Roman Canon and her feast day is celebrated on Christmas Day. Her name means "resurrection."
4. Eleanor Virginia Anne
When I was young, I loved reading about Eleanor of Aquitaine, who, after all, went on one of the Crusades :) Her first husband, Louis VII of France, gave refuge to St. Thomas Becket when her second husband, Henry II, chased the good archbishop out of England. Virginia is in honor of the Blessed Virgin, of course. Anne is a family name, my mother's middle name and my great-great aunt's name (She was actually Mary Anne, after her mother, but they called her Maime).
Boys:
1. John Arthur Alcuin
John is in honor of the Beloved Disciple. Arthur is my kid brother's name, and Bl. Alcuin of York was extremely influential both in the court of Charlemagne and in the Church; he did a tremendous amount with the liturgy, for example, and he is also in some way responsible for our use of capital letters (before the invention of carolingian miniscule, europeans wrote everything without much punctuation at all which makes it much much much messier and harder to read as you can see especially since printing methods tendedtomakewordsruntogether). Ah, the things you learn in a college capstone class!
2. Anthony Charles Theodore
Anthony is my other brother's name and the name of our family's patron, St. Anthony of Padua. Charles is my grandfather's name and my great-grandfather's name, and Theodore is my father's middle name. (He goes by "Ted" because "Werner" really screamed "son of immigrants!" when he was young. Actually, his parents even spelled Theodore in the Germanic way, as Theodor, without an e. Everybody gets it wrong. They even misspelled it as Theodore on my parents' wedding invitations. )
3. Linus Patrick Pius
St. Linus was the second pope, coming right after St. Peter himself. Patrick is, of course, the patron saint of Ireland. How could I with my Irish blood fail to include him? Pius is the name of St. Pius V, who beat back the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto, codified the liturgy, reformed the breviary, declared Queen Elizabeth I of England a heretic, and was the first pope to wear white (he just never took off his Dominican habit, even after his election). St. Pius X was a great fighter of the modernist heresy, which, alas, was not mortally wounded by his efforts. Also, Pius is the Latin form of Pio, which of course is the name of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, the great Italian mystic and stigmatic who died in the 1970s.
4. Damian Henry Benedict
Damian is the name of our associate pastor here. He is a wonderful, young, orthdox priest, and he has sent 6 young men to the seminary in the 4 years he has been here, with another 4 boys planning to enter next fall. Henry is my great-grandfather's name, and Benedict is the pope!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Why I no longer call myself a Republican
I am a conservative and I probably always will be a conservative. But for the last couple years or so I have become increasingly wary of labeling myself a Republican.
Mostly this is because the Republican party is no longer what it was. There is nothing conservative at all about a lot of Republican positions.
The classic example, of course, is the debate over torture. There are a lot of Republicans who think that we live in Jack Bauer's America, with year after year of ticking nuclear, biological and chemical bombs which will go off if we don't "do what needs to be done." "What needs to be done" usually includes vicious techniques like water-boarding, which I believe the Vice President referred to as "giving them a dunking" or something similar. Never mind that experienced interrogators say that you almost never get good intelligence through coercion, since the victim will say whatever he thinks you want to hear in order to make the pain stop.
Never mind, too, that people in the military find the entire concept abhorrent. The American military tradition is all about honor, virtue, chivalry. Torture - or, excuse me, "intense interrogation" - is not consistent with that worldview. My brother would certainly never obey an order to torture a "detainee." Unlike our terrorist enemies, he's not a moral monster. He is a United States Marine.
And the kicker is that torture is not conservative at all. Conservativism focuses on the dignity of the individual in relation to the common good. It is liberalism that demands that the inherent worth of the individual be sacrificed on the altar of the faceless collective. Hence, it's all right to torture this suspect or that suspect, since his dignity is expendable in order to serve the needs of the Republic.
Other recent incidents have underlined for me the fact that the Republican party is entering a wilderness period. Ann Coulter's little episode at the CPAC recently is a good example. She is more or less a right-wing Al Franken; I think Franken is an embarrassment to the Left, and Miss Coulter is an embarrassment to the Right. She is funny (sometimes), but she has no point. Her harsh rhetoric gets pretty old. Publicity stunts like the CPAC incident help her sell a lot of books and get her booked on TV shows, but they do zilch for the conservative movement (or for the Republican party, really). I am not the only conservative to find her (and her knee-jerk defenders) obnoxious.
Sean Hannity is another annoying example of this type. He shouts down guests on his program and generally asks a lot of "so have you stopped beating your wife yet?" questions. I actually like Alan Colmes better, in spite of the fact that I agree with Mr. Colmes about zero percent of the time.
I wish folks would put down the WorldNetDaily and pick up Russell Kirk, the father of 20th century conservativism. The jackets on his books don't feature an airbrushed portrait of himself, but the contents are actually intellectually salient. You can't have it all.
For a good comparison of Kirk and the "Big Mac-ization" of contemporary Republicanism (with somewhat of a positive spin), see this article on the phenomenon.
(Note: I was surprised to find out that Kirk converted to Catholicism late in life. I believe I read that for the most of his life he was agnostic or unaligned. This is just proof for my file that the Catholic Church is the natural home of conservatives ;)
Mostly this is because the Republican party is no longer what it was. There is nothing conservative at all about a lot of Republican positions.
The classic example, of course, is the debate over torture. There are a lot of Republicans who think that we live in Jack Bauer's America, with year after year of ticking nuclear, biological and chemical bombs which will go off if we don't "do what needs to be done." "What needs to be done" usually includes vicious techniques like water-boarding, which I believe the Vice President referred to as "giving them a dunking" or something similar. Never mind that experienced interrogators say that you almost never get good intelligence through coercion, since the victim will say whatever he thinks you want to hear in order to make the pain stop.
Never mind, too, that people in the military find the entire concept abhorrent. The American military tradition is all about honor, virtue, chivalry. Torture - or, excuse me, "intense interrogation" - is not consistent with that worldview. My brother would certainly never obey an order to torture a "detainee." Unlike our terrorist enemies, he's not a moral monster. He is a United States Marine.
And the kicker is that torture is not conservative at all. Conservativism focuses on the dignity of the individual in relation to the common good. It is liberalism that demands that the inherent worth of the individual be sacrificed on the altar of the faceless collective. Hence, it's all right to torture this suspect or that suspect, since his dignity is expendable in order to serve the needs of the Republic.
Other recent incidents have underlined for me the fact that the Republican party is entering a wilderness period. Ann Coulter's little episode at the CPAC recently is a good example. She is more or less a right-wing Al Franken; I think Franken is an embarrassment to the Left, and Miss Coulter is an embarrassment to the Right. She is funny (sometimes), but she has no point. Her harsh rhetoric gets pretty old. Publicity stunts like the CPAC incident help her sell a lot of books and get her booked on TV shows, but they do zilch for the conservative movement (or for the Republican party, really). I am not the only conservative to find her (and her knee-jerk defenders) obnoxious.
Sean Hannity is another annoying example of this type. He shouts down guests on his program and generally asks a lot of "so have you stopped beating your wife yet?" questions. I actually like Alan Colmes better, in spite of the fact that I agree with Mr. Colmes about zero percent of the time.
I wish folks would put down the WorldNetDaily and pick up Russell Kirk, the father of 20th century conservativism. The jackets on his books don't feature an airbrushed portrait of himself, but the contents are actually intellectually salient. You can't have it all.
For a good comparison of Kirk and the "Big Mac-ization" of contemporary Republicanism (with somewhat of a positive spin), see this article on the phenomenon.
(Note: I was surprised to find out that Kirk converted to Catholicism late in life. I believe I read that for the most of his life he was agnostic or unaligned. This is just proof for my file that the Catholic Church is the natural home of conservatives ;)
Friday, March 02, 2007
A few statistics
There are two Catholic Churches in Communist China - one "Catholic" Church is state run and doesn't have ties with the pope; the other, true Catholic Church is in union with Rome and is routinely persecuted.
On his wonderful What Does the Prayer Really Say? blog, Fr. Z posted some statistics about the situation in the last great Communist super power:
Please pray for the persecuted Church!
On his wonderful What Does the Prayer Really Say? blog, Fr. Z posted some statistics about the situation in the last great Communist super power:
Some figures from ChinaI was gladdened by the fact that the clandestine Church has many more seminarians than the Patriotic Church does. The pattern in history is that persecution breeds sanctity.
Catholics: 12,000,000
Dioceses: 138
Adult baptisms in 2004: 150,000
THE OFFICIAL CHURCH
Bishops: 67
Priests: 1,870
Seminaries: 14
Seminarians: 580
Sisters: 3,500
Novitiates: 40
Novices: 800
THE CLANDESTINE CHURCH
Bishops: 44
Priests: 1,100
Seminaries: 10
Seminarians: 800
Sisters: 1,700
Novitiates: 20
Novices: 800
Bishops in prison or missing: 17
Priests in prison: 20
Sources: Holy Spirit Study Center of Hong Kong, Asia News.
Please pray for the persecuted Church!
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