Association Of Catholic Bloggers

My parish is Our Lady of the Angles in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. It's part of the Parishes on the Prairie Catholic Community — and that's a topic for another time. Aside from routine matters, we're not exactly at the center of diocesan activity. That's why I think our priest, Fr. Greg Paffel, getting this year's diocesan Humanae Vitae Award is a big deal. I'll be talking about that, briefly, "Humanae Vitae", and why I think human life matters. Cultural, Historical, and Personal Context "The True Voice of the Church...." My First Look at Catholic Thought Why Human Life Matters Obedience and Using my Brain Natural Law, Positive Law, and Paying Attention Seeing Human Beings as People Meanwhile, Across the Pacific Fr. Greg Paffel: The Journey Home Interview Valuing Human Life: All Human Life More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Humanae Vitae, On Human Life: cultural, historical, and personal context; natural law, positiv...

How the Grand Canyon was formed depends on who's talking. Scientists say it's what happened as a river cut through the Colorado Plateau. Since I think scientists are right about the Colorado River's role in making that mile-deep gulch, and think that both are part of God's creation, maybe an explanation is in order. To begin with, I'm a Christian and a Catholic, so I must believe that God made and makes everything. Which doesn't mean I see God as a supercharged Paul Bunyan. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, a jury said that Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. Folks have been reacting to that. But protestors haven't torched Minneapolis shops and services in the three days since then. Not as far as I know. Which is a relief, but not a surprise. For one thing, it's late April: still a bit too chilly for comfort during pyromaniac performance art's prime time. I'll be taking a quick look at headlines. Then I'll talk about life, law, justice and why I think murder is a bad idea. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I'd started writing about soliloquies in Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus...." That reminded me of film noir and the Gunpowder Plot. So today I'll be discussing Christopher Marlowe, but mostly his era: Elizabethan England. Along with European politics and whatever else comes to mind.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

On the whole, I prefer being alive. Particularly when I consider the alternative. I don't consistently enjoy the moment I'm in: whatever is "now." Relishing some of the "nows" I've experienced would have been reason for concern, and that's another topic. But life, being alive? That's good. Even when it's been bad. Remembering that life can feel good helped me talk myself out of my first suicidal impulse, decades back.... ...But that's not what I'm talking about today.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Instead of writing about Halloween, I'll share a seasonally-appropriate story and talk about science, death being human: Waiting on a Dead World Inspiration and Stellar Evolution Still Seeking a Solar System Analog Metaphors and the Lives of Stars Sirius, Procyon and Weighing Stars "Vastness" and Questions Embracing Truth Philosophers and Models Earth, Eons and New Puzzles Faith, Reason and Me Life, Death and Dante's Wood of the Suicides Neuroimaging and Pickled Brains, Altruists and Lab Rats Dante's Hell: Seventh Circle, Second Ring "Here Shall They Hang" — Wood of the Suicides and Clueless Critics Being Human: Body and Soul Avoiding Suicide: Help is Available Art and Being Able to Smell Roses "In the Image of God:" Creativity Included Science Fiction and Attitudes It's Alive! — Oh, ICK!! Kidnapping and Murder, Rules and Principles ...

A tsunami flooded the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant eight years ago. Fires, explosions and meltdowns followed. Folks living within 20 kilometers were told to leave the area. Radiation levels are dropping. A few folks are moving back. Clearing debris and removing radioactive fuel rods is taking more time than expected.... (More, at A Catholic Citizen in America )

I'm not sure how the 'defrocked Cardinal' story will play out in America's news. Assorted presidential campaigns will be building up steam, and there's no shortage of other newsworthy angst. Maybe the McCarrick case will be a nine day wonder, maybe not. Either way, I did a little checking, and shared what I found.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

While writing about Epiphany, I meandered past Gothic cathedrals, kings and chancellors, and some of what's happened over the last two millennia. The magi, too: the first of many from all nations who recognized and welcomed the good news our Lord brings. That's in the day's Gospel reading this year, Matthew 2:1 - 12 . (More at A Catholic Citizen in America )

I've read that spiritualism and spiritism started in the 18th or 19th centuries. Folks who take one or both seriously seem to think spiritism isn't spiritualism. How the 'isms' are different depends on who's talking. Some say spiritualism is a religion, while spiritism is a social movement. Or spiritism is a science and spiritualism isn't. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Today's tech and social norms aren't what they were in my youth. It's exciting. Or bewildering. Or unstable. Or dynamic. or any of a myriad other options. Change happens, even if I don't approve. What matters is making good choices. More about that later. These are the 'Good Old Days' I'll indulge in nostalgia. Occasionally. Parts of my past are nice places to visit. But I wouldn't like living there. Taking a stroll down memory lane lets me see the best times places, people and experiences. It's a 'best-of' selection. But I certainly don't yearn for the days before social media, smart appliances, and online search software. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

About 78 folks were on Amtrak Cascades passenger train 501 Monday morning. They'll be late. At best. I'll be looking at what happened, new and old technology. Also how I see change and progress.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Pharisees and Sadducees had important roles in the Land of Israel for about two centuries by the time our Lord talked about love. They agreed on quite a bit. Maybe more than they realized. But they didn't see assorted political, social, and philosophical points the same way. Pharisees didn't like Helenization, adopting at least some foreign ideas. Sadducees thought Helenization was a generally good idea. But Sadducees thought the written Torah was divine authority's only source. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Chasing Liberty , by Theresa Linden, is the first in a dystopian trilogy of books centered around a young woman. Liberty resides in futuristic Aldonia; a city where authentic freedom, familial love and objective truth have been squashed by government forces aimed at controlling the population. Without the freedom to grow up in a family with a mother and father, Liberty tries to make her own way in a society that allows little choice. As Liberty approaches adulthood, she is told by the government what her vocation will be: that of breeder. Apparently, she has exquisite genes and intelligence; so great, that the government decided that she would spend her fertile years giving birth to as many children as possible, via in vitro fertilization. She would never know if the children she carried were her own. In addition, she would be the nanny for groups of them for the first five years of their lives. Once the children reach the age of five, they relocate to another f...

How is it that we innately always seem to know right from wrong, even when we freely choose to move in the direction of wrong? For example, how is it that I innately know that it is wrong to take a life of another? I don’t need to refer to the Fifth Commandment; nor do I need to have a civil law on the books to know that taking the life of another human being is just flat out wrong. The answer lies in God’s Natural Law, a law that is infused into the hearts of every man at birth. Natural Law: What is it? Natural law is the participation of man in the plan of God. It is the objective order established by God that determines the requirements for people to thrive and reach fulfillment, enabling man to ‘discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie.’ 1   God is all good. He wants only what is best for each of us. He has a plan and calls us to participate in His plan. God, as our Creator, established what is acceptable versus unacceptable behavior; what is ...

My #3 daughter has some of my qualities, and attitudes. About four years back now, she vented frustration about writers, faith, and assumptions. She wasn't nearly as loud as I've often been during 'vents.' When folks learned she's a writer, they'd often say something like 'oh, good: we need more Catholic writers.' She'd say something like "I'm a writer who is Catholic, not a 'Catholic writer.'" I know what she means. She isn't writing another 'lives of the Saints,' or book of prayers. She's a Catholic who writes.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I'll be talking about Earth's climate, China's pollution problems, and icebergs: including one the size of Delaware. The big berg broke off from Antarctica this week. The recent G20 meeting was mostly about economics, not climate change; but that didn't deter the usual colorful protestors. I'm not complaining about folks at the fancy-dress street party in Hamburg. If nothing else, they added a touch of human interest to an otherwise-dry international business meeting.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

One my favorite bits from the Bible is in this morning's readings.... ...A "noise like a strong driving wind" in the sky had gotten their attention. Maybe they'd also seen the "tongues as of fire," too. Or maybe that was visible only to the disciples inside. Now that I think of it, a loud 'whooshing' sound in the sky and descending fire might easily have started a stampede. Anyway, folks outside were puzzled, since they had been hearing what the folks inside were saying. That's not the puzzling part. I gather that Jerusalem in those days didn't provide nearly as much acoustic privacy as we're accustomed to. The decidedly odd part was that each person "heard them speaking in his own language." Hence the roll call of nationalities.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Back in my 'good old days,' a half-century back, some claimed that science, technology, and a changing culture, made the 'outmoded morality' we'd been working with obsolete. Others apparently believed that moral decay was caused by newfangled gadgets like the telephone and television: and, of course, 'Satanic' rock music.... ...Folks who claimed that a changing world made 'conventional morality' obsolete were right: sort of. That may seem odd, coming from a Catholic who agrees with Fulton Sheen.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Here we go again. The headlines are accurate, as far as they go. " Pope Francis Extends Priests' Ability to Forgive Abortion " Elisabetta Povoledo, The New York Times (November 21, 2016) " Pope Francis extends Catholic priests' right to forgive abortion " Tim Hume, Cristiana Moisescu, Lindsay Isaac; CNN (November 21, 2016) I'm pretty sure we'll see a replay of last year's sound and fury over the Pope's 'changing stand on abortion,' expressed in a letter dated September 1, 2015. 1 The reality was nowhere near as horrific or hopeful as many folks apparently thought.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .