Can Catholic schools endure?

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The Rev. Kevin McDonough recalls that in the 1960s, four other Roman Catholic schools could be seen from the second floor of St. Agnes High in St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood.

In those days, the chief of staff for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said, some parishes paid nuns $50 a year to teach. Today, only two of those five St. Paul Catholic schools remain.

In 1965, nearby St. Thomas Academy abandoned its St. Paul campus in search of more space and a new identity in Mendota Heights. The move coincided with the growing number of families of European heritage flocking to the suburbs.

This month, St. Agnes nearly shut its doors until two anonymous donors contributed $2.6 million and the school raised $750,000 more at the last minute. Meanwhile, St. Thomas Academy alumni continue donating millions to the thriving all-boys school, and enrollment remains at capacity.

Urban and suburban Catholic schools in Minnesota and across the country are in similar circumstances as they figure out how to stay afloat. And while suburban Catholic schools tend to do better financially, both face the same pressures of fundraising, paying the salaries of lay staff, upgrading technology and adjusting to diverse student demographics.
[...Snip]
...There are 7,498 elementary and secondary Catholic schools in the United States. As parents have more choices with charter, magnet and private schools, only 36 Catholic schools opened and 212 consolidated or closed.

These schools once could rely on nuns and priests, who voluntarily worked for little pay, but now the schools primarily employ lay staff.

The NCEA also reports that in the past decade, the number of students enrolled in Catholic schools in the Midwest dropped 10 percent, from about 251,000 to 230,194. Suburban Catholic schools, however, showed steady enrollment when compared to urban ones.
[...Snip]
...Most Catholic schools must make tuition affordable to attract families.

St. Thomas awarded slightly more than $1.5 million in financial aid last year to about 685 boys who attended the school, said Headmaster Tom Mich.

The increasing number of minority children - especially Hispanic immigrants and those coming from strong Roman Catholic backgrounds - is one reason financial aid is important, Ristau said.

Catholic schools remain committed to urban and rural communities, added Father Kevin McDonough, the archdiocese chief operating officer who also leads St. Peter Claver School in St. Paul.

A majority of students attending St. Peter Claver are of color and non-Catholic, McDonough said, and about 80 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

According to McDonough, the parish's income from weekend services totals $350,000 a year, but running the school is a nearly $1 million endeavor.

Church members and donors from around the St. Paul area help pay the costs, McDonough said, because they value Catholic education. . . . Read it all in the Pioneer Press HERE.

Here's a Needed Morale Booster

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New York: atheist donates $22 million to Catholic schools

A retired Wall Street financier who describes himself as an atheist, has given more than $22 million to the archdiocese of New York, because he said: "without the Roman Catholic church there would be no Western civilisation".

Thousands of needy New York City school children will now benefit from the highly regarded education offered in Catholic inner city schools thanks to the recording-breaking gift.

There are currently 8,000 places available to any student who wishes to attend a Catholic inner-city school. Mr Wilson's gift will enable 3,000 children to fill those seats this coming September. [...Snip] © Independent Catholic News 2007

Sioux Falls to Ordain Eight Deacons, Four Priests

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This week, Bishop Paul Swain will preside at the first ordinations since becoming bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls last fall.

Today, eight men will be ordained deacons of the church, and on Friday, four will be ordained priests.

Both liturgies will begin at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph Cathedral and are open to the public.

Today's ordinations include Dr. Ed Anderson and Kevin Doyle, who will be transitional deacons, meaning they are on track to become priests next year.

Both are second-career vocations - Anderson is a doctor, and Doyle is an accountant.

The other six will be permanent deacons, meaning they are not to become priests but rather will serve the local church immediately.

All are married and they come from around eastern South Dakota: John Devlin, Sioux Falls; Tom Bates, Sisseton; Jim Hayes, Mitchell; Steve McLaughlin Sr., Fort Thompson; Joseph Twidwell Jr., Dakota Dunes; and Micheal Wambach, Ipswich.

Those to be ordained priests on Friday are the Rev. Shane Stevens and the Rev. David Garza, both of Sioux Falls; the Rev. Thomas Anderson, Pierre, and the Rev. Kevin Zilverberg, Harrold.

Each completed his studies at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Argus Leader

Neverborn drops off a Gideon Bible to the Joint's Newest Resident

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Protestant English Adventurers Settled in Jamestown VA 400 years ago; Catholics were there before them!

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Four hundred years ago this month, English adventurers settled the colony of Jamestown, the first permanent colony in what is now the state of Virginia. The history of Catholicism in Virginia predates Jamestown.

The first Catholic presence in Virignia was the 1526 expedition of Spanish settlers led by Lucas Vasques de Ayllón and accompanied by Dominican friars including Antonio de Montesinos. The enterprise was quickly abandoned and the settlers returned to their point of origin, Santo Domingo.

More than forty years later, Father Juan Segura, with seven other Jesuit missionaries, set out to evangelize the Algonquin Indians in coastal Virginia. They were all killed by the Algonquin in 1571, not far from the future site of Jamestown.

Segura and his companions left little noticeable mark on the land where they spilled their blood. The British colonists claimed the territory of the four rivers (James, York, Potomac, and Rappahannock) for the King of England, and with the Crown’s sovereignty came the Crown’s religion, Anglicanism. Given its proximity to Maryland and its relative tolerance in the early colonial period, Virginia provided haven for Catholics fleeing the former colony when Protestants took control and enacted anti-Catholic measures. The first known permanent Catholic family—Giles Brent and his sisters Margaret and Mary—moved there in 1650 and 1651, respectively, after a bitter contest with Maryland and English authorities over the property rights of their family estate in Maryland. They settled in the Northern Neck and recruited migrants from England to fill their vast property holdings.

After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Virginia, too, became hostile to Catholic residents, and the community remained small and private. Priestly activity was prohibited and the Anglican establishment enforced. In the eighteenth century, Catholics in Virginia depended on the ministrations of a few itinerant priests (including John Carroll) traveling from Maryland. [....Snip] For more on the Catholic history of Virginia, and other places, see CatholicHistory.net

One Special Alternative to Abortion

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Teen dances with Dad at special prom

It looked as if Oriette Olund were going to graduate from high school without ever attending prom, just as her father did decades earlier as a shy teenager.

Then the 19-year-old was invited to the Central High School prom — by her father, Bob Olund.

The nontraditional prom couple was first in the grand march, and they danced almost every dance, the father bent to accommodate his daughter in her wheelchair.

“She means the world to me,” said Bob Olund, who owns True Value Hardware in Two Harbors. “She’s my only child, and I love her dearly.”

Oriette Olund was born three months premature weighing only 1 pound, 14 ounces. She was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and doctors weren’t sure she would survive.

She was so tiny, Bob Olund could hold her in the palm of his hand.

“It was very scary,” Bob Olund recalled. “We thought we were going to lose her a couple of times.”

As she grew up, doctors said Oriette Olund might never smile. On Saturday night, her father gave her reason to smile.

“I heard prom was coming and nobody had asked her,” Bob Olund said, “so I figured it’d be pretty special if I asked her — so I asked, and she accepted.”

Forty years ago, Bob Olund didn’t have the courage to ask a girl to prom.

“It was worth waiting 40 years,” he said.

Saturday was a big day in the Olund household. Late in the afternoon, Bob and Oriette headed to Central, where a room was set aside for Oriette’s mother, Susan Olund, and several aunts to help get the prom date primped, curled, dressed and dusted with glitter.

“I love my daughter more than words can say,” Bob Olund said, “and I’m just happy that she’s able to go to the prom and enjoy it like every other kid. She’s going to be the prettiest girl there.”

Grand march was at 5 p.m. in the Central auditorium, and Oriette’s mother, three aunts and an uncle watched as Oriette, sparkling in beaded blue chiffon, was escorted through the lighted arch by her father.

Later came dinner for two at the Pickwick and the formal dance at the Greysolon Plaza ballroom.

As they danced into the night, other girls took notice of Oriette’s special date.

“I just think that’s really nice that someone would go out of their way to bring their date to the prom and make them feel special and wanted,” said Central student Danielle Yung. “This is one of the moments of high school.”

“I can’t even talk about it without crying really,” said Lauren Hellen. “I just think it’s the sweetest thing that he took his daughter there and I saw them dancing together.”

Before the dance Oriette surprised her father with a special gift, a framed poem that expressed a daughter’s love in words that Oriette isn’t able to say out loud.

But after the evening, she had no trouble forming the words: “I love you, Dad.”

Her date responded: “I love you Oriette; you’re a beautiful girl.” Duluth News Tribune

Stork Cam May 22

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22 May 4:09 a.m. (Ray) Pa, preening away, standing, as usual. Dawn coming. Ma is awake, preening a bit but remaining on the eggs. I don’t know when Pa sleeps. Maybe he sleeps during the daytime. But I have never seen him down for more than a few minutes (unless he has egg duty). Pa, standing on the edge of the nest, almost fell off. It took some wing flapping to regain his balance. I suppose if he really fell, he might not be able to get airborne quickly and actually might hurt himself.

He (just 4:25) took off towards the southeast, like yesterday. Ma’s looking around a bit, nibbling at branches and grass nearby, but she remains on the eggs.

5:35 a.m. (Jack) Just checked to see what was up at the nest. Nothing! Mom's evidently asleep, first I've seen that bit of normal behavior, daddy's off somewhere. At 11:35PM in PA I guess it's 5:35AM in Poland, so daddy must be one of those "early birds" out to get a worm, frog, fish, etc.

Mom is really out of it, usually up and cleaning the house and preening [but
nothing like her vain hubby]. No baby yet. Maybe by 7AM my time

11:35 a.m. (Ray) Mom on nesting duties just stood up. Four eggs. Boy you have to learn patience when you attend a nest watch. Ma is up and down all morning. Maybe the eggs are becoming less “comfortable” as they grow larger.

Heavy construction day in the stork neighborhood. Equipment (backhoe or grader?) with a backup beeper has been working hard all morning.

12:30 p.m. (Ray) Chattering greetings indicate Pa’s back; but I can’t get an image, just sound right now.

3:20 p.m. (Jack) Just got connected, ca. 6 tries since ca. 7AM, zooming this AM at 9:20AM - PA time.
Mom [I guess] just sitting on their children to be, facing the camera, lovely shot.
Off to buy milk now [me] back in ca. 20minutes.
Other than the zooming in on where the great excitement is expected, no news

4:24 p.m. (Ray) still can’t get an image. But I get sound. 4:42: rebooted and got my picture back. When we have this vertical closeup, doesn’t it look like there are two eggs that might have been “kicked out of the nest” in the lower right?
Although I have heard that “five” is the maximum for a brook. But maybe there might be an extra one now and then.

4:11 p.m. (Marissa) Hey I got back on! It almost looks like two eggs or rocks in front of her

4:19 p.m. (Jack) I see what you're talking about, maybe? But, I thought their eggs were white and bigger. The "balls" seem to be grey and smaller.
If there was something wrong with an un-hatched egg, i.e. "still birth" the parents would get rid of it, like throw it out?

5:53 p.m. (Jack) It just occurred to me that eggs NEVER grow, it's what's in them that changes from white or relatively clear and yellow goo to a belly-buttonless being. I used the magnifying glass to see those round things we both saw and the one on the right was clearly where a bunch of sticks seemed to overlap, i.e. not a solid round thing, the one on the left however was just what it seemed, a ball like thing.

7:30 p.m. (Debbie) The camera at the Ustron~ nest just zoomed in really close. Momma had just stood up. I think this camera is manned and "they" wanted a
closer look at the eggs. Then the camera tilted up to the trees and
homes across the way! Then it re-adjusted itself to the "target."

It looks to me like these storks have not been turning their eggs over
but just moving them around and this could be a problem. Eggs need to
be turned while incubating. [Ray: I've been wondering if there is a power line tower near the nest where they can mount a camera and a boom microphone?

That's and interesting, and disconcerting, observation about "turning over
the eggs." All I have ever seen is a bit of nudging or maybe placing one on
top of the other three for a bit before having them all on the "floor" so
sitting can resume.

Are you an expert in "egg incubation?"]

8:23 p.m. (Marissa) the changing of the guards and boy whoever is on the nest now is really panting….haven't seen that. [Ray: I saw something like that earlier this morning; as if Ma was going to lay another egg or something]

10:00 p.m. (Debbie) I think one of the adults left the nest and the other is standing.
Looks like the eggs are gone! If I am right, this is not good.

10:17 p.m. (Debbie) I take back that alert! Sorry if anyone panicked. Dad made a better
door than a window. Mom is there and sitting; presumably on the eggs.

11:59 p.m. (Ray) I was occupied with car repairs, and visiting some friends for much of the day today and just returned home. The night view is very “foggy” and not nearly as bright as earlier “infra-red” or “night vision” images.

Truth: New Book Shows That Pope Pius XII Was Not Silent!

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The black legend about Pope Pius XII is so widespread that many consider it to be more true than the actual historical facts, says papal biographer Andrea Tornielli.

Tornielli's latest book, "Pio XII, Un Uomo Sul Trono di Pietro" (Pius XII: A Man on the Throne of Peter)," hit the bookshelves in Italy today. Tornielli is a noted Vatican journalist with the Milan-based newspaper Il Giornale.

Speaking with ZENIT, Tornielli denounced "the arbitrary diminishment of the figure of Pius XII."

That Pope has been "crushed under criticisms about the Holocaust and his 'silence,'" Tornielli said.

The 661-page book is a biography of the Roman-born Pope, and is based on never before seen documentation from the private archives of the Pacelli family, and eyewitness accounts recorded in the acts of his beatification cause.

Contrary to the Pius XII presented by his opponents as the "Pope of silence," a different Pius XII emerges from the pages of Tornielli's book.

"One of the major sources of my work," Tornielli explained, "was the letters Pacelli wrote to his family, in particular to his brother Francesco. While he was the nuncio in Germany, Pacelli collaborated with Pope Pius XI to create the Lateran Pacts.

"From these never before seen papers we can see Pius XII's concern about the birth of Nazism and about its strong anti-Christian nationalism."

"But other aspects also emerge -- much more personal ones -- like his desire not to become a cardinal so he could dedicate himself fully to pastoral ministry," he continued. "Here we see that Pacelli, as nuncio, cardinal and then Pope, was always a priest at heart, a true priest."

"The campaign against Pius XII was started in the Soviet Union and was then sustained in Catholic environments," Tornielli concluded. "Slowly the truth is emerging about the accusations of silence." Zenit

"Jesus of Nazareth"- Ratzinger; Times of London review

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Yet there is a dogged impressiveness about the Pope’s exposition of scene after scene from the Gospel, a reading that finds it more logical to worship the Christ of Faith in the Gospels than to invent the vestiges of some Jewish prophet who had his words distorted by some later theological genius. Jesus was the genius. That is Ratzinger’s message, and the luminous intelligence of the exegesis will prompt many to respond with an Alleluia. Wordy as the old German can be, this reader at least felt that he had repeatedly identified what was haunting, indeed frightening about the Gospels. No amount of reasonable liberal “explanation” can evade the voice that comes through them – calling the reader not to a set of propositions, nor to a theory, but to a Person, who is at one with God. Times of London

The "Modern Catholic" wants to follow his conscience; Pope Benedict has some thoughts about that.

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Your basic modern dissident is pretty enamored of freedom of thought and speech and, as I can testify from my own experience, uses "conscience" to monitor what is read and heard and compare it with existing knowledge and beliefs for "acceptibility." Not surprisingly Pope Benedict has some thoughts on that.

[....Snip] Due to their size and subject matter, neither of the books under review would likely have been published had the papal conclave chosen a different pope. In the case of On Conscience (Ignatius, $14.95, 82 pages), that would have been a great shame. The small volume collects two talks the CDF head delivered to American bishops at the National Catholic Bioethics center in 1984 and 1991.

In both speeches, he tried to address an error that he perceived in how we think about conscience. The existing model, he argued, was to view conscience as "the bulwark of freedom in contrast to the encroachments of authority on existence." One's government/church/boy scout group may order you to behave one way, but if your conscience tells you to do differently, it is considered more noble to follow your conscience. "Ich kann nicht anders."

Cardinal Ratzinger told the bishops about a faculty discussion from when he was a university professor in Germany. The dispute was over "the justifying power of the erroneous conscience." One professor created a reductio ad absurdum using Nazi true believers. If we should follow our conscience above all else, he said, then we "should seek them in heaven, since they carried out all their atrocities with fanatic conviction and complete certainty of conscience."

The example seemed straightforward enough for most of the profs, but the absurdity was lost on one or two observers. In fact, one colleague piped up "with utmost assurance that, of course, this was indeed the case." Hitler went to heaven.

"Since that conversation," Cardinal Ratzinger explained, "I knew with complete certainty that . . . a concept of conscience that leads to such results must be false. Firm, subjective conviction and the lack of doubts and scruples that follow from it do not justify man."

He went looking for a different conception of conscience -- one that didn't pit "morality of conscience" against "morality of authority." Finally, he decided that conscience has to work like language, from both within and without.
One has the innate ability to speak, but it has to be learned by observation, imitation and interaction with others. So it is with conscience: If one thinks of it as only an interior, almost occult, guide to life, he is likely to go badly wrong.
As part of his first lecture, Cardinal Ratzinger made use of the insight of psychologist Albert Gorres that "the capacity to recognize guilt, belongs essentially to the spiritual make-up of man. This feeling of guilt disturbs the false calm of conscience and could be called conscience's complaint against my self-satisfied existence."

That is, if you feel bad about something, maybe it's because you did something bad.

Chalk it up to sheer contrariness if you like, but this reviewer found it refreshing to read a future pope expounding on the benefits of guilt. [....Snip] Washington Times

Me too!

Stork Cam Log May 21

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May 21 00:10 a.m. (Ray) Midnight. Pa is standing preening himself a bit and then all of a sudden goes over and starts picking at Ma. Preening and picking a few bugs, I would guess. All of a sudden Ma stands up, looks down at the four eggs (still) stirs them a bit, then plunks right down on them again.

http://www.storchennest.de/en/index_779.html This is a brief log of storks at a site in Germany south of Berlin in 2006. Not for the sensitive or those who tend to fall in love with “baby animals.”

4:06 a.m. (Ray) Pa’s still standing up and preening. Dawn coming.

4:30 a.m. (Ray) Pa messed around preening for a while and then, almost stepping on Ma in the process, turned around and then took off, without so much as a chattering “C U L8R”, took off in a southeasterly direction. First time I have seen that route taken. Ma looked up, and then snuggled back down.

Interesting Facts

Why don't storks fly over the sea?

It is generally known that on their way to wintering sites storks fly over Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Why don’t they take a shortcut and fly over the Mediterranean, straight to the Nile? Even small birds, like flycatchers and garden warblers, do not fly round the sea, but cover great distances flying over water for several hours.

Stork’s wings are built in a way, which allows them to take advantage of the streams of upward moving air. They are long and, compared to other birds, very wide – similar to these of vultures, condors, pelicans and the closest relatives of storks. Large wings of a stork “catch” the up going streams of air. Storks travel like gliders, taking advantage of the air movement. However, the resistance caused by such large wings makes it impossible to flap them (Try to flap a glide!) Gliding with wings spread wide means "flying for free", while every flap of a wing costs a lot of energy.

Before noon, especially on sunny days, the surface of the earth warms up. Warm earth causes the air to warm up and warm air moves upwards. If a stork finds such a stream of hot air, it can travel for hours without a single flap of wings.

It is easy to find warm air over the desert territories of Asia Minor and the Middle East. So, even if the journey is longer, it is energy saving. Meanwhile, there are mainly horizontal winds over the seas, so storks traveling over water would be forced to flap their wings a lot. They are not adjusted too such a way of flying. This is why storks fly over the land – it takes longer but is energy-saving and save.

10:17 a.m. (Ray) Really tight color shot of ? nesting. Good indication that something has happened. Nope! I had no sooner typed that than ? stood up, showing four eggs. A bit of shuffling the eggs around and back in “the position.”

1:25 p.m. (Ray) Still four eggs. With the tight camera shot I can’t tell who’s who today, but there was just a beautiful switch of duties. The greeting chatter alerts me when somebody returns. I quickly activated the picture. All I could see was the four eggs and two sets of stork legs. After a few seconds, one stepped away from the eggs and the other stepped up to them. It couldn’t have taken more than fifteen seconds.

3:45 p.m. (Ray) There’s a dark mark on one of the eggs. Could it be the start of a hole? I think it’s Ma, and she’s been up and down all morning. Off to my volunteer gig.

4:00 p.m. (Jack) They moved the camera or Zoomed [probably] in!
Most exciting considering the anticipation. Aside; I think it must be hot laying in the sun like that, stork's mouth is cracked open all the time.

10:30 p.m. (Jack) Both our Polish feathered friends are now in the nest, it's dark there and I can't tell which is which anyway. Doubt any babies born yet ??

Blogging is becoming Narcissistic; Adoro has tagged me with another Self Referential Meme

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Here are the rules according to whomever likes to make up rules: • Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. • People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. • At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. • Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Eight things about me that you really don't need to know

1. What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?

When I started, in March of 2006, I had several ideas as to what I wanted to do with a blog, but the strongest perhaps was to create a forum for the Catholic Church in Minnesota and surrounding area where people could seek and share information to assist them in their individual spiritual journeys. To this end, Stella Borealis has been most effective in the blog roll list of Catholic blogs, organizations and events. Almost all of them listed in the sidebar are based in our area.

Finding the websites was easy compared to finding links to events, particularly educational events. That takes a tremendous amount of time surfing those most active sites and the parishes and dioceses for scheduled events. That has been very weak in terms of its completeness and effectiveness. But I still try.

I find that I don't do as much "personal posting" as do some on their blogs, but you will find that if they push the right buttons, you will find me commenting on many of the most popular of our local blogs. I have an opinion on almost everything.

2. Are you a spiritual person?

I love that question. And I love the answer most often given on singles websites when people are asked to describe themselves. The answer most often given seems to be "Spiritual, but not religious." I really wonder what that means. My answer would be "Spiritual AND Religious, but not nearly as much as I should be."

3. If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you want to have with you?

A computer with a cable modem, a Blogger account and electric power. (Is that four)?

4. What’s your favorite childhood memory?

Birthday parties. I was the oldest of five children and we always made a big deal out of birthday's, even my Dad's which occurred on the day after Christmas. As hard is it is for a child to buy a present for a parent, can you imagine how hard it would be having to buy two for your Dad (or Mom)? And Dad, a mailman, invariably in the style of Tiny Tim, at every such event would proclaim "I wonder what the poor people are eating tonight?"

5. Are these your first (tagging) memes?

Not by a long shot. I'm going to start posting as "Anonymous."

6. Eight random facts about me

a. I won a city-wide Catechism Contest sponsored by the Knights of Columbus in Duluth when I was about 12. To me it seemed like everybody got tougher questions from the back of the Baltimore Catechism than I did. But I happened to know who the First Martyr was, something nobody had studied; but St Stephen's feast day is my Dad's birthday!

b. I went to the U of MN on an Evans Scholarship sponsored by the Western Golf Association for having been a caddie. The scholarship is fairly easy to get and far and away the easiest to keep, a C average, and it paid room and tuition and you live with a lot of great guys (and now, gals, I guess). It is still given out at country clubs that belong to the Western Golf Association. There aren't that many caddies these days, so have your kids check it out.

c. The Prairie Home Companion's Garrison Keillor was my first boss in my first "adult job", as a busboy during lunch in the cafeteria in the basement of Coffman Union at the U of MN. Garrison was a radio nut, even back then, volunteering for WMMR, the dormitory radio station. I would have liked to do that, but didn't bother to talk to him to see if there would have been an opportunity for me there.

d. The U.S. Army trained me to be a Farsi/Persian linguist and about two-thirds of the way through the course in the hardship base of Monterey, CA, they decided to retrain me as a radio intelligence analyst. Then they sent me to Germany where I learned to ski and how to drink beer. If we declare war on Iran, I suppose they could still call me up.

e. During my "vacation" from Catholicism between 1960 and 1981, I never thought that the Church was wrong, but only that it didn't seem to have all the answers for me. Two famous theologians whose seminars I attended were Hans Kung (at St Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Mpls about 1975) and Dominican fruitcake, er priest, Matthew Fox, at UST maybe about 1980. Fox has long ceased to be an active priest.

f. I was employed on the U.S. Senate campaign of Mpls Representative and early pro-choice hero, Donald Fraser, in 1978. We got beaten badly in that year's Minnesota Massacre. I was a very timid pro-lifer in those days.

g. I did a lot of dabbling in New Age activities before and after my reversion. In 1981 I participated in the controversial "est Training" founded by Werner Erhard. Two weekends, 18-20 hours each day, verbally glued to one's chair. I did it because they were a big customer of the company for which I worked and it seemed "interesting" and the company paid the $400 fee. I didn't get out of "est" what others got. I got my faith back. Within a month I had attended a retreat at the Basilica of St Mary and went to confession for the first time in 21 years. While I was back, it probably took another ten or fifteen years to become what might be described as "possibly orthodox" in my practices. I don't regret a minute of those two weekends.

h. I've been collecting books for thirty or more years. Much of my collection involves Minnesota history, and the history of labor, socialism and radical movements in the Upper Midwest. Some of my better books I have already sold.


I don't think that I know eight people who might want to participate in this "meme." Rather than embarrass them publicly, I'll send a copy of this post to them and ask them if they want to play.

"Saint Bombing" at Oregon State U!

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This university [Oregon State] has a strong liberal presence. You might remember that The Insurgent student newspaper at the U of O (in Eugene, 40 minutes away) printed pornographic drawing of Jesus Christ about a year ago. This was lauded by some here at OSU. The university has a very strong gay presence (with pride week, featuring "lube olympics" and other vile events). Despite the secularism and liberalism, the Catholic students here are pretty cool.

Well, some friends of mine got the idea to "Saint bomb" campus. Using chalk, hundreds of Catholic Saint names were written all over campus last week. This was done during perhaps the busiest week of spring term. Many events took place this week on the Quad. The Genocide Awareness Project came to the quad, drawing a large number of people. The "Snow in the Quad" (put on by the Protestant apparel designer CIVIL) came to set up the next day. The Relay for Life event happened at night on the quad, which meant hundreds of students were walking by Saint names nonstop all night long. We also used chalk to advertise Mass times. Lots of exposure for the Church!

Here are two videos documenting this event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yaAM5IpLqU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amsW6p13ofE

The Newman Center had a booth set up inside the Memorial Union building with a "Find your Saint" computer set up. Some non-Catholics came by to find their Saints. Other Catholics who haven't been to Church for a while saw their confirmation Saint name on the ground. Other Catholics got a lot of joy to see the names and to see Christ's presence in a tangible form on campus. And some others were annoyed at the audacity of these students.

We are trying to get more exposure to this project, so if you'd like to link to this video, please do! We'd like to see others get this idea, and maybe do it at their campus, to remind wayward Catholics of their roots and to show a strong presence of Faith! The response we've gotten from people around the community has been amazing, and the priests loved it!

One more thing to note... we got permission from the Memorial Union (the student union on campus) as well as the Church before doing this. Tip O' The Hat to Amy at Open Book

Well, kids, there are a lot of sidewalks at the U of MN and a lot of other secular and dissident colleges around here. Ask for "Railroad Chalk" when you contact your office supply store! It comes in yellow and white only. 1.5" thick and much cheaper than artists' chalk.

Can't get Stork Nest Photos; can anybody help?

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Normally I can use my "Screen Shot" utility to capture images on my computer monitor. But I can't make that hapen with the images I get off of the "Stork Cam" in Poland. Anybody have any ideas?

Stork Cam Log May 17-20

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Smithsonian Institution on Storks

Wikipedia on Storks

17 May 6:15 a.m. (Ray) (Tower view, b&w) Momma stood up. Still four eggs there. Deb from Polish Genius must have been talking about another nest. Momma “stirred” the four eggs a bit with her beak, and then sat back down. No rain today, very windy though.

1:30 p.m. (Ray) (Low view, color) Momma resting on nest. Nice day

2:40 p.m. (Ray) Papa’s back, to the sound of the “chattering.” Cleaning himself up again. Maybe he has a job in a garbage dump. Of course, maybe he’s got a girl friend and maybe he just comes home to clean up.

2:50 p.m. – (Ray) Papa’s gone again. Unless, of course, he’s doing nest duty now. I’ll have to figure out a quick way of identifying between the two of them.

8:39 p.m. (Jack) They* are both asleep.

18 May 12:01 a.m. (Ray) Papa is up, preening, and nibbling and even preened the sound asleep Momma for a bit. Quite dark (but they are illuminated somehow) and no rain.

2:00 p.m. (Debbie) I mentioned to my husband how the image goes to B&W sometimes and he thinks that's the server (?) doing it to save bandwidth because there are so many people watching the storks. I don't know.

2:45 p.m. (Debbie) The storks take turns sitting on the eggs. Maybe you've missed the changing of the guard. If you watch closely, and maybe for a few minutes, when one flies into the nest he/she eventually sits on the eggs while the other parent lies off for food. Mom and Dad both sit on the eggs, not just Mom.

5:10 p.m. (Ray) Shadows seem to indicate that the camera is aimed towards the north.

6:35 p.m. (Ray) Mom (?) stood up and nudged the four eggs still in nest; then soon after, a change to a really tight closeup shot shot of “Mom’s” head

7:52 p.m. (Ray) Another closeup of Mom. I bet that the “experts” are expecting the hatch to happen imminently so they have repositioned the camera or put a new lens on it. That’s probably why there was the “black time” this morning when they made the lens change.

9:49 p.m. (Ray) Both home, Mom abed, Pa standing on one leg again, on the alert for something or another. I don’t think I have ever seen both of them sitting down at the same time.

May 19, approx. 1:30 a.m., Debbie Greenlee wrote:

DIFFERENT NEST
As of yesterday two of the 5 eggs had hatched in this nest located in Przygodzice, near Ostro~w Wielkopolski, a little farther north than where the other camera is located (Katowice) : http://www.bociany.ec.pl/
This camera is more like the web cams we're used to. The picture updates every few seconds and there's no sound. However, at about 11:00 p.m. stork time the parents changed positions and I didn't see any eggs or babies. It could just be that the camera is using infrared- or is it?

May 19 5:45 a.m. (Ray) Mom? in nest, kinda sitting up; Pa out foraging or “straying.” Nice day.

7:10 a.m. (Ray) Mom? still lying in nest; nipping at nest, eating a bit from bugs around her? Then she stood up and started using her beak to turn over the soil around the “still” four eggs. Eating a bit and shuffling the eggs a bit for a couple of minutes. I wonder if they eat “twigs” as roughage to help digest the frogs, snakes, etc. that apparently is their normal diet?

8:27 a.m. (Ray) I think Dad, who has more black on the tail feathers, is now perching on the eggs.

12:20 p.m. (Ray) I could see four eggs still when Mom? stood up to take a dump. Sunny Day. Hear the sound of someone hammering in the background. Not now, but on other occasions, it sounds like construction equipment is operating nearby.

When you can see the tower in the background, note that this nest is fairly high up on some large, but not very high, hill. You can see a wide valley/plain in the background.

If it is “Ustron”, I see on a link on the main page that it is in Silesia!

Ustroń is a health resort town in southern Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been in Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is also the home of the Museum of Metallurgy. The Równica and Czantoria mountains are nearby and hikable from the city center.

http://www.ustron.pl/

Stork University!, Poland: http://www.bociany.edu.pl/ (That’s it!)

Four Polish and a whole slug of German, Austrian & ? Stork Cams: http://www.bocianyonline.pl/kamery.html

Chyby http://www.bociany.kalinski.pl/ This is the one with the chat ability, but the image still doesn’t work.

Tarnowskie Gory

This is also a good one; no chat, though.

Northwest a bit of Katowice!

Przygodcize

12:55 p.m. (Ray) Can hear people talking, laughing, clapping!!!!! Probably a Stork Watching Group???

May 19 , 2007 (Debbie)

The stork parents in Przygodice now have 3 babies.

If you go to this page: http://www.bociany.edu.pl/ and click on the words under the film (look for TV) it brings up a
separate page with the same stork "movie". Near the bottom right corner are 3 little symbols. Click on the one in the middle (it's an arrow pointing to the top right of the screen). The film will enlarge but be fuzzy. To get rid of the big picture hit ESCAPE on your keyboard.

May 19, 2007 5:35 p.m stork time (Debbie)

Lots of sirens! Must be a big accident or fire. I think Ustron~ in old woj. Bielsko-Bial~a in southern Poland is a good sized town because little villages don't have that kind of emergency "equipment." It's also a gmina which means it would be a little larger than most villages anyway.

(Ray) I think I saw someplace that its population is 15,000 or so. Big Metallurgy museum nearby. Must be a mining area.

Stork not phased by the noise. Pretty windy again. I hope some eggs hatch. If you listen carefully you can tell it's a Saturday because of the laughter of children. I also heard several gun shots? If they had screen doors in Poland I'd say it could have been someone slamming a screen door really hard. Tomorrow morning (in Poland) you will here church bells.

Here is a link to a map which shows the location of Ustron~ :

Ustron Stork Nest 80 km (50 miles) south more or less from Katowice

Maybe 100 km (66 miles) sw from Krakow, probably 80km from Wadowice.

On the Czech border (12 km) and Slovak border 80 km or so.

once you get in real close. Here are the coordinates: N = 49°43'10'' = 49,71944° = 205801 m

E = 18°49'07,8'' = 18,81884° = 486946 m

6:10 p.m stork time. Dad came home and there was quite a discussion between mom and dad! Still only four eggs. Mom (?) flew off. I agree with you Ray. I think dad has more black feathers than mom.

6:35 p.m. (Jack) Sitting down, facing East cleaning up the house.

9:00 p.m. (Ray) Ma & Pa exchange sitting duties; getting dark (I just got back after 7 hours of things to do; I was not sleeping, Jack!)

9:10 p.m. (Ray) How come Pa loves to stand on one leg while he preens and readies himself for his extra-marital excursions?

May 20 1:00 a.m. (Jack) Changing of the guard observed, one or the other is now over the eggs they seem to be very fond of.

3:23 a.m. (Ray) Yeah, they seem to be aware that something is going to happen soon. This is getting exciting.
How do you suppose they sleep standing up? On one leg often? A few hours ago I noticed that they were both sitting down, very romantic-like. It’s getting near dawn.

3:50 a.m. (Ray) The Old Man is up preening still. Dawn is seen in the background. Let this be the Day!

4:45 a.m. (Ray) Screen switched to closeup in color

4:55 a.m. (Ray) Still four eggs! Mom stood up to stir them around a bit. Maybe it’s like “plumping up a pillow when you are trying to sleep.” I suppose trying to sleep on top of four eggs, not wanting to break them, and I suppose they move a bit, having living chicks inside ever and ever getting close to hatching, is somewhat uncomfortable. Whatever, she’s back down now. To bed for me.

1:00 p.m. (Ray) Still four eggs; another beautiful day. Lots of noise in the background, like construction equipment; but I can’t believe that they would work on Sunday! Ah HAAAAA. It’s not construction equipment, it’s a guy down below the nest pushing a hand power mower; I guess that’s OK on Sundays. I wonder if they had those under the “Commies?” I missed the Mass Bells; I may have to remember to be up at 11:00 or so on Sunday morning.

Pa’s back. Little chattering of “hellos.” Ma stands up, and 30 seconds later, Pa plunks himself down for the afternoon nesting duties.

Ma does a little “grooming” (Do you suppose she has a boyfriend?), running a beak through her feathers, stands on the edge of the nest, and then without even so much as a “See you later” chattering of bills, off she heads towards the north. That must be the location of “water.” Then a minute or so later, at 1:15 p.m., Pa chatters, “Hey, where’d she go?” Then a bit of dog barking as if someone walked by with their dog on a leash and the nest’s protector warned him off. I saw a big white dog one day running lose beneath the nest.

Hey, here’s a great German site to watch while we’re waiting for the hatch in Poland.

http://www.storchennest.de/en/index_index.php If you can read German, this link has a live “chat” link so you can eavesdrop on the questions and observations of other viewers. You probably can register and comment yourself, too.

http://www.storchennest.de/en/index_live-video.html

German Stork Log (in English): http://www.storchennest.de/en/aktuelles/index_aktuelles.html They haven’t been keeping it up since early May. But there are some very interesting comments if you want to learn more about storks.

4:45 p.m. (Ray) pa? Stands up and shuffles the four eggs around a bit, maybe verifying that there still are four live embryos in them. If one had died, we might see that egg removed from the nest. Just guessing here

Pro-Life: 50 feet up

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I've been kind of pre-occupied this past week by the discovery of a new stork nest. Not an awful lot of storks around Minneapolis (although we are again blessed with Bald Eagles, Great Blue Herons and White Egrets, among others).

But the last couple of years some of my genealogy pals have tipped me to European Stork Cams, aimed at stork nests in remote, and not so remote locations, at a time of year when the eggs are about to hatch. This year I have been "Stork Watching a nest near a small town called Ustron in southern Poland near the Czech Republic border, a bit southwest of Wadowice, where Pope John Paul II was born (After all, this is a Catholic blog, so I'd better drop the occasional Catholic reference into my posts or my St Blog's pals will complain to the pastor).

"Our" nest has two storks (they mate annually) who are caring for four eggs that haven't hatched yet, but it should be any day now. There is a camera and sound on the nest 24/7 with color in the day and infra-red or some kind of "night-vision" at night. The storks take turns tending the nest while the other goes off in search of bugs, worms, fish, frogs, snakes, etc. I'm not sure how they handle feeding the newly hatched "storklets." But we can all do research on this.

I'm keeping a stork cam log that I distribute to some friends. If you want, play along and let me know what you see and at what time you see it (Poland is 6 hours ahead of Eastern U.S. Time, and 7 hours ahead of Minneapolis. So it is 4:17 p.m. on May 20 in Ustron as I type this.

If you want to watch, go to: http://bocian.polska.pl/transmisja2.htm

The site is in Polish, but below the photo of the two storks, click on the words "transmisia na zywo." Make sure your sound is on. Of course you will need to have a Windows or Mac program that can handle this. Most of us do and you probably will be probably be prompted to download one if you don't have it already.

In my next post, I'll give you some links and some updates as to what we have seen the past few days to get a feel for what is happening.

Are You a "Fraidy Cat" Catholic? Chrism Cathy of Alex Has a Message For You!

.Cathy of Alex, newly chrism'd and confirmed at the Easter Vigil, who blogs at Recovering Dissident Catholic, is out evangelizing again and this time she's picking on us cowering Catholics. Be prepared to be ashamed when you read her post HERE.

Archbishop Nienstedt Responds to the Tabloids

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Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

I realized this week that I have not communicated with you since the announcement of my appointment as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis by our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.

In a very real way, I have been stunned by this nomination. I try not to listen to rumors, but inevitably I had heard that other fine and capable bishops were being considered for this office. I silently wished them well. My present diocese, I thought, was enough for me.

As you know, the local newspapers have assumed a "tabloid-like sensational" posture to my nomination, seeking to discredit me in your minds before we even meet. Personally, I find this very inhospitable and not at all in keeping with the classic Minnesota attitude of "fair play."

I ask you to keep an open mind at least until we meet, which I hope will be soon.

I plan to begin making the rounds to our parishes, our Catholic schools and religious education programs as soon as the summer ends.

You know, I have always considered the church a family. We may disagree about one thing or another, but we must, in the end, reconcile our wills to the mind of Christ as it comes to us through his body, the church.

A year from now, I am to be the father of this great archdiocesan family of some 837,000 members. Just the thought of such a responsibility is enough to keep me awake at night!

But throughout my priesthood, I have been given other challenging to impossible assignments. In each one, I have worked as hard as I could and been as faithful as I knew how. And you know what? God has always made up for that which I lacked!

If I have not told you before, I am honored to think that one day I will be your archbishop, following in the footsteps of our wonderful, dedicated Archbishop Flynn and all his great predecessors. My vocation as your future archbishop is to love you with the love of Jesus and to speak to you constantly of his great and merciful love. I promise to do so with all the strength of my mind, heart and will.

Please pray for me during this transition. I find it very difficult to leave the people of the Diocese of New Ulm, who have been family to me. Yet, I have confidence in the Lord Jesus to lead me forward and in his Holy Mother to see that I do what her son truly desires.

God bless you! The Catholic Spirit

Ascension Thursunday

Mitchell here.

It's Ascension Thursday. At least in some parts of the country; in others (as here in Minnesota) the Ascension is observed this coming Sunday. This whole Ascension Thursunday idea brings to mind Franksgiving, the pathetically hilarious period in American history when the actual date of Thanksgiving varied depending on whether you lived under a Republican or Democratic government.

But, more seriously, this can't help but confuse the faithful, and diminish the overall impact and meaning of the Ascension. Michael Lawrence over at the New Liturgical Movement summarizes it thustly:

Why then should we dare to move the date that the Ascension is celebrated, as though it were some kind of civic holiday? There are good intentions involved--the bishops, many opine, want to make more people aware of the feast, and that's fine in itself--but moving this feast treats, to a degree, the economy of salvation the same as the economy of man. We schedule the Ascension like the bankers on Wall Street schedule their office hours. One priest once told me that holydays were for a "different culture" than the one we have now. This is a copout. It is our job not to cave in to culture, but to help transform it, and to help fellow Christians transcend it in its current manifestation. Moreover, I suspect that in playing with the liturgical calendar like this, we confuse many good Catholics--far more than the ones we may reinvigorate with this change. Some even begin to think of the whole holyday setup as a mockery, and this is sad indeed. I fail to see the advantage in all of this. How can we ask people to put their faith first, and then start cutting corners?

Good point. Anyone care to disagree?

Rep. Betty McCollum joins 17 Catholic House of Representatives Democrats in Opposing Pope's Excommunication Comments

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Catholic Members of Congress Express Concern

Over Church Sanctions

Washington, D.C. – Catholic members of the U.S. House of Representative, including Representatives Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), Joe Baca (CA-43), Tim Bishop (NY-1), Joe Courtney (CT-2), Anna Eshoo (CA-14), Maurice Hinchey, (NY-22), Patrick Kennedy (RI-1), James Langevin (RI-2), John Larson (CT-1), Carolyn McCarthy (NY-4), Betty McCollum (MN-4), Jim Moran (VA-8), Bill Pascrell (NJ-8), Tim Ryan (OH-17), Linda Sanchez (CA-39), José Serrano (NY -16), Hilda Solis (CA-32), and Mike Thompson (CA-1) issued the following statement in response to Pope Benedict’s warning that Catholic elected officials risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion for their pro-choice views. The majority of these Members also supported the Statement of Principles issued on February 28, 2006, that expresses the signers’ commitment to the dignity of life and their belief that government has moral purpose.

“We are concerned with the Pope's statement warning Catholic elected officials that they risk excommunication and would not receive communion for their pro-choice views.

“Advancing respect for life and for the dignity of every human being is, as our church has taught us, our own life’s mission. As we said in our Statement of Principles, ‘We envision a world in which every child belongs to a loving family and agree with the Catholic Church about the value of human life and the undesirability of abortion – we do not celebrate its practice. Each of us is committed to reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and creating an environment with policies that encourage pregnancies to be carried to term.’ That is precisely what some of us are doing with our initiative ‘The Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act’ – which includes policies that promote alternatives to abortion, such as adoption, improve access to children’s healthcare and child care, as well as encourage paternal and maternal responsibility.

“The fact is that religious sanction in the political arena directly conflicts with our fundamental beliefs about the role and responsibility of democratic representatives in a pluralistic America – it also clashes with freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution. Such notions offend the very nature of the American experiment and do a great disservice to the centuries of good work the church has done.”

U.S. House of Representatives Press Release

It is interesting that none of the news agencies that published this press release listed the names of the Representatives. I had to go to Rosa DeLauro's web page to find the news release.

American College of Pediatricians Calls for End to Embryonic Stem Cell Research

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(LifeSiteNews.com) - The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) has called for an end to embryonic stem cell research and recommends the exclusive support of already proven effective adult stem cell research. "Not only does embryonic research require taking the life of human embryos, it also prolongs needless suffering by delaying the development of more promising adult stem cell treatments and cures," stated Michelle Cretella, MD, Fellow of the American College of Pediatricians.

Research using non-embryo sources of stem cells, including amniotic fluid, umbilical cord blood, placenta and adult blood, fat and various organs, have yielded impressive results, the organization suggests.

"Adult stem cells are now routinely used in certain forms of cancer therapy. Over the last decade, these cells have been used to successfully treat spinal cord injuries, heart failure, Parkinson's disease, diabetes and dozens of other conditions in human trials."

The group noted further that "This has not been the case with any embryonic stem cell trial. Instead, there have been catastrophic results with these cells producing the wrong tissue, forming tumors and triggering immune rejection."

Concluding the ACP said, "Every dollar spent on the failed and unnecessary process of embryonic stem cell research steals resources away from the established utility and potential of adult stem cell research. This is fiscally irresponsible and medically unconscionable."

Are You Talking About Me?

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I`ve been tagged for the About Me Meme by Sanctus Belle who blogs beautifully at Our Lady's Tears and here goes. I'll get back at her later.

1. Male or Female: Male

2. Married or Single or Religious: Single

3. Dream vacation: A Personally guided tour by the directors of all the Vatican Museums of their facilities, concentrating on the best, and the "secret" exhibits.

4. Birthplace: Duluth, Minnesota, Zenith City of the Unsalted Sea (Lake Superior)

5. Area I live in currently: Minneapolis, Minnesota, Erstwhile Flour Milling Capital of the World. Regularly, I wonder at how much power could have come from the puny St Anthony Falls in Minneapolis. The real marvel must have been the inventions and innovations of the engineers and builders. But I suspect so much power could only have come from positioning the mills in a line along the banks of the river and re-using water. The invention of the electric motor was what sounded the death knell for "The Mill City."

6. Someone you wish you could meet: Leonardo da Vinci. But I'm not sure what I would have to contribute to the conversation.

7. Biggest "pet-peeve": Have you got an hour or two? Let's start with "priests who experiment" with the celebration of Holy Mass.

8. Favorite Religious devotion: The Chaplet of Divine Mercy

9. Favorite Saint: St Faustina Kowalska, the Apostle of Divine Mercy

10. Favorite sport that you play: Golf (not so much any more)

11. Favorite food: Any "hot dish"; the things you can't find on restaurant menus that Mom loved to cook.

12. Tridentine or Novus Ordo: A good Novus Ordo (with the corrected English translations desired by Pope Benedict) with Latin Gregorian Chant would suit me just fine. I'd even sing along.

13. Would you (or are you) home schooling or public school: Twelve years of a fine Catholic education received from the Sisters of St Benedict. It wasn't their fault that I dropped out for a while. But I dropped out because of spiritual laziness, not because I thought the Church was wrong. I knew I was wrong. But like all young people, I felt I was "immortal." Fortunately, I was somewhat right about that.

14. How many kids do you have: None

15. Ever been in an auto accident: Three. Two of them my fault in the early 70s when I had been drinking heavily. I thank God regularly that no one was harmed, including me. There were plenty of others times that I used to drive while impaired by alcohol and fortunately did not have an accident. I am grateful to god for that also. The third time I was stopped properly at a traffic light and someone hit me trying to make a left turn and drove right into me.

16. Ever seen a Pope in person: No. My Mom and Sister went up to Winnipeg when he visited there and I never thought to go with them. When they told of their trip, I had the impression that they never got close to him, but I just found a year or two ago that he drove within fifty feet of them or so in the Pope Mobile. I really regret not going now.

17. Languages that you know fluently: I can read German passably and was trained to be a Farsi (Persian) linguist in the Army but never used it so most of that is gone. And I can still remember the Tantum Ergo and O Salutaris Hostia hymns from all the Benedictions I attended when in grade school. Of course, I never did know what the words meant.

18. Last movie you saw in theatres: Into Great Silence, the four hour movie about life in a French Carthusian monastery which was such a popular hit in Europe but which seems to have sunk into a deep abyss in this country.

19. Favorite Blog: Is it possible to plead the "Fifth Amendment" on this question? I have some very good blogging pals who would be aghast to find out that I can't start each day without reading Doonesbury. They all think that I have them at the top of my "must read" list.

20. Your thoughts on Barney, the Easter bunny, and Santa Claus: I must admit that I have logged an hour or so of "Barney time", being both fascinated and yet repelled. Something evil within us must find him attractive. I pretty much gave up on the Easter Bunny at a young age after I ate an entire chocolate bunny in one sitting and got quite sick. Santa is a wonderful custom. It makes one wonder, though, about families whose kids get to age ten or twelve or so and still "believe." In what other ways are those families unique?

I will tag Georgette of Hyderabad, occasional blogger these days, Terry-of-the-many-blogs and Adoro of the incomparable Adoro-Te-Devote blog with the About Me Meme!

You don't think you're called to be a Priest? These men didn't either.

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The USCCB has published a list of comments from Seminarians who will be ordained this year relating to their vocation. Have you been putting off your vocation? Read these and the rest of them Here.

…didn't go to Catholic school and was never an altar boy.

...love to watch the Food Network

…was a practicing physician (radiologist) before entering the seminary.

…enjoy riding roller coasters and visiting theme parks… I also love to create things, such as models and sculptures, as well as designing and renovating spaces in homes, libraries, etc.

…was terrified of public speaking during my high school days.

…taught history dressed up as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison for my job as an historical interpreter at the American Village in Montevallo, Alabama.

…have completed 9 marathons in the last 6 years. I love to play golf and follow the Boston Red Sox. While in the seminary I have continued to play (men's leagues) and coach hockey (high school).

…am a reservist in the United States Navy Chaplain Corps.

..am graduate of the Juilliard School and performed with many symphony orchestras in the New York area. I played the Double Bass for the Long Island Philharmonic for 13 years before entering the seminary

…enjoy extreme skating, once installed & maintained a supercomputer at a large university.

…originally went to college with the hopes of becoming the following before entering seminary: a veterinarian, then a bio-chemical research scientist, then a theology professor.

...was named a vice-president at an advertising agency just as I finally realized that my true vocation was to the priesthood…Once I stopped resisting God's will for me and began to trust, I found peace. I have never been happier.

…graduated from a cooking school as a gastronome. I worked as a dietician, then a food warehouse manager, and finally a chef in a huge resort clinic-spa in the most famous resort town in Poland, Krynica-Zdroj(Springs-Spa).

…was married and have three grownup children and they are very supportive of my call to the priesthood.

…tried out for the Texas A&M football team and earned a B.S. in Meteorology from Texas A&M.

…am a cancer survivor.

…was an art director for a sportswear company…

…love dancing and am good at it.

…am the first seminarian to study for the Diocese of Fairbanks who is from the diocese.

…lived in Egypt and travled extensively when working in oil field exploration and earned the job title Engineer with no formal engineering studies.

...have 9 brothers and sisters and 41 nephews and nieces

...had 2 car accidents within a year, totaled the vehicles both times and walked away unscathed

...restored an 1860 log cabin and use it for a retreat cottage for myself and others

…was a very successful businessman prior to coming to the seminary.

…hated going to Catholic school as a kid and almost left the Church in college.

…used to own a hot-air balloon company.

…have a pilot’s license and enjoy flying single engine planes.

…spent 16 years in the Air Force…I had a serious motorcycle accident requiring head surgery in the first week of 1st Theology and was back in class one week later.

…worked for a thoroughbred trade publication as managing editor of an investor newsletter that analyzed the racing and auction performance of stallions' offspring.

…graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School…served as Editor-in-Chief of the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy…been an Op-Ed contributor to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, as well as to Commonweal Magazine, America Magazine, and Salon.com, among other publications.

…was not sure if I was going to remain Catholic when I first entered college seminary…after Theology 101, Introduction to the Catechism, spending time in Adoration, and a homily on John 6, I then KNEW that the Catholic Church was the true Church and that I could never leave Her.

…am a lifer in that I have been in the Seminary system since HS.

…was born at home, delivered by my father. I was premature and almost did not survive, and the doctors did not expect me to survive…I was baptised in the hospital.

…was an olympic hopeful in the sport of Curling

…am a pilot, a professional baseball umpire, and I love computers

…am the only Catholic in my entire family, over six generations, still today.

…spent 10 years as a mascot for the annual Pig Bowl, wearing a Pig costume.

…in high school, declared myself an agnostic and abondoned the Catholic faith altogether…After experiencing a reawakening of my Catholic faith at the age of twenty eight, especially through the forgivness of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of Penance and His Real Presence in the Eucharist, I began to hear anew God's calling to the priesthood.

…was a diocesan seminarian from Vietnam. After the fall of Saigon, my seminary was closed, I tried to escape Vietnam to continue my vocation. But I was caught and put in labor camp for six months. Tip O' the Hat to the Curt Jester!.

Sioux Falls' Bishop Swain: There is probably no word so overused in our culture as love.

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Sioux Falls' Bishop Paul Swain asked Mount Marty College graduates Friday to avoid the allure of the "surface and casual" love so prevalent in today's society.

"There is probably no word so overused in our culture as love," the Sioux Falls Diocese bishop said during the college's baccalaureate at the Bishop Marty Memorial Chapel.

The love marketed through the Internet and elsewhere "sees love as casual relationships that come and easily go," Swain said. "This sad, selfish and surface love is a threat to families, to the stability of society and to the peace we all seek."

Instead, he encouraged students to cultivate the love shown by Jesus in the gospels.

"'Love one another as I love you,' He asks us. It is a love that celebrates the Gospel of Life from conception to natural death, and the Gospel of Justice for all the years in between," Swain said. "It is a love that cares for the salvation of souls, ours and others -- a love that recognizes that there is more at stake in this world."

Swain added that, according to Pope Benedict XVI, there are two forces in today's culture that lead people away from living up to the values exemplified in the gospels.

"The first is agnosticism, which (Pope Benedict) says reduces human intelligence to merely a practical mechanism that stifles the religious sense that is engraved in our nature," he said. "It separates reason from faith, body from soul, self from others."

The other force, according to Swain, is relativism.

"It emphasizes, 'If it feels good to me, I should do it,'" he said. "It defines freedom as the license to do whatever we want, rather than the liberty to do what we ought to do, what is the right thing to do.

"In both agnosticism and relativism, others are treated as things to be used and discarded, or obstacles to be removed, rather than fellow children of God," Swain added.

It is with these thoughts in mind that Swain asked the new graduates to enter the School of Life -- and do what they are called to do.

"It is only when we discover what God wants us to do with our lives, that we feel that sense of peace that we all seek," he said. "Look forward with great anticipation and hope, open yourself to God's will for you. Do so grateful for the Catholic heritage you have received that tells you, whatever challenges come your way, that God loves you, each one of you. And pass that lesson on." Yankton Press & Dakotan

First Year Anniversary of So Many Devotions...So Little Time

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Yesterday Jayne of So Many Devotions . . . So Little Time celebrated her first Anniversary. Stop by and thank her for her wonderful contributions to the Parish! She has a theme of magnificent prayers going now.

Sociology 2433: Family and Society - A Free University Course For You!

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Sister Edith O.S.B., a Professor of Sociology at the College of St Scholastica in Duluth and of Blogology in St Blog's Parish at Monastic Musings, is sharing some ideas her students learned this semester. I don't think she will be giving credit to go through these papers, but many may take home some value.

#1 Cohabitation and the Chance of a Successful Marriage

#2 Children's Well-Being Has Gotten Worse in the Last 40 Years

#3 Compared to the 1950s, the Percent Who Are Happy Is Less

#4 Who Says "I Love You" First?

#5 Child Abuse is Class Related

#6 Race and Self-Image

#7 Welfare Began as a Widows Program

#8 Grandparenting is Different than Parenting

All the News That's Fit to Report (from Father "Z")

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Thank goodness we have Father "Z", WDTPRS, somewhat idle in Rome with the "Boss" out of town this week, parse our news feeds so we can determine just what is important.

In a Brazilian stadium the Holy Father met with thousands of young people chanting "Yes to Life! No to abortion!" while they were waiting for his arrival.

The New York Times covered the event on page A10.

On A1 you find, however, a riveting story on roadside debris in California.

On A25 there is a story about Rudi Giuliani’s abortion position, with nary a mention of the dust up over the Holy Father’s comments concerning Catholic pro-abortion politicians. Hmmmm…

In the meantime, in the Op-Ed section there is a piece entitled "Sowing the Substance of Life".

While this title applies nicely to what the Pope is doing in Brazil, it actually concerns a supernova 240 million lightyears from Earth – nearly as far as the editors of the NYT are from what counts.