Association Of Catholic Bloggers

My father reminded me of this good advice when I was in my teens: "...whatever is true, ... whatever is lovely, ... think about these things." My response was something like '...because they won't last.' I wasn't happy about saying that at the time. Decades later, I still regret the statement. I can't, of course, undo what was done: and the time for telling my father "I'm sorry" has long since passed. In any case, I said "I'm sorry" too often, and that's almost another topic. That quote is from today's second reading, Philippians 4:6 - 9 . I'll get back to that. Today, thanks to very powerful antidepressants and a few other psychoactive prescriptions, I no longer have to fight the controls to make my brain work. I even have moments when I feel good about who I am and what I do. That's a nice change of pace.... Joy, Zest, and Mud As it is, I had an opportunity to reason my way out of suicide : and dev...

'Kids these days! Nobody takes responsibility! Back in my day, nobody tried blaming the other guy!' I've been hearing variations on that complaint for more than a half-century now. I started wondering if it was true in my teens. By now, I'm pretty sure that it's not: partly because now I remember the 'good old days:' and like I've said before, they weren't. One of 'Those Crazy Kids:' Five Decades Later I was one of "those kids" in the late '60s and early '70s. Some of us were lazy bums, and others were only too eager to blame our parents, the government, or anyone else, for our problems. But others were "irresponsible" only in the sense that we wouldn't accept the status quo. That attitude didn't appeal to folks who believed in buying stuff they didn't need, with money they didn't have, to impress people they didn't like. We thought we could reform the world: and certain that we ...

Quite a lot has happened, since Father James Statz came to the Our Lady of the Angels parish here in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Most of it's routine, like the annual cycle of the liturgical year, some hasn't. Today is the last time Father Statz celebrates Mass as our parish priest. I'm sorry to see him go, but very glad that he has been here. Remembering, Mostly 2003 Some of it hasn't been routine, like when the Christmas tree — over a dozen feet tall — fell over behind him. That was in 2003. I took that photo before the excitement. The choir director had told us that the last song would be "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" when the Christmas tree fell over. Over a dozen children on the near side of the altar, and probably a few other folks, said "eee!" The tree fell neatly on the altar's far side. Then we sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Nobody was hurt, much, although Father Statz got clipped as the tree went past him, and th...