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...

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 .

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 .

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 )

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 .

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 .

(From Rembrandt, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) (Jesus and the Adulteress, Rembrandt .) I figure you know what happens in John 8:1 - 11 . The scribes and Pharisees haul one of two folks who were committing adultery to the temple, tell Jesus what she'd done, and remind our Lord that it's a capital crime under their law.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Too many folks die, waiting for a compatible donor organ. We can't coax a patient's body into growing a new heart or kidney: yet. But we can build made-to-order bladders, and scientists have grown a new thymus: inside a mouse. It's a first step.... ...If starfish and some mice can regenerate complete missing parts: why can't we? Right now, we don't know. Not for sure. It probably has something to do with our immune system, and the way our bodies deal with injury.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .