Association Of Catholic Bloggers

When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you." That seems like a very strange Gospel reading, considering how many people will be asking us, with great concern: "Did you know you have a smudge on your forehead!?" If you are a sport fan like our second son you will be seeing Tony Reali host of the ESPN show: Around the Horn, wearing his ashes very proudly!  So, what about this Gospel?  Does God call us to wear Ashes proudly to be a Evangelist; because we know we will be asked about that all day.  Or do we wipe our forehead and let our Lenten actions evangelize for us? For me I love seeing Catholic Celebrities proudly being out and Catholi

The blog Anglican Mainstream has a link to Dr. Hansen's blog page where she presents her professional opinions regarding same-sex marriage and homosexual parenting. I have placed the whole of the article on my other blog, Watching, thinking & praying. I am presuming that Dr. Hansen will not mind my doing this. it seems to me that these insights are of great importance. Dr. Trayce L. Hansen is a licensed psychologist with a clinical and forensic practice. She received her Ph.D. from the California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego, in 1997. Dr. Hansen’s professional experience is varied and includes work in multiple clinical as well as forensic settings. She is particularly interested in issues related to marriage, parenting, male / female differences, and homosexuality. Dr. Hansen has extensively reviewed the research literature in these areas and occasionally writes commentaries based on her findings that have been published worldwide. She has been heard on local a

Anthony Horton, 43 didn't make a lot of money, drive a fancy car, own an amazingly huge home with a beach cottage in the next state.  He didn't have a loving wife and family and he didn't have a desire to achieve greatness in terms believable only to those having more than he.  Anthony was a simple and kind man with a heart, a mind, and a soul.......and something to share.  Too bad he perished in a subway fire on Sunday. Mr. Horton lived in the subway tunnels of NYC where he found his solace and peace.  He had a reputation of being a gentle kind man, a prolific artist, and loved music.  He shared his story with a lady who eventually helped him write a book, "Pitch Black."  In it he shared what he learned living in the tunnels, where he found his creativity and some rules of thumb that we can all take a lesson from, including: Always carry a light. Anything you need can be found in the garbage. Always have more than one spot. And, always have a way out that i

Nancy Bilyeau's debut novel The Crown takes readers on an odyssey through the England of Henry VIII during the bloody period of the dissolution of the monasteries as seen from the point of view of a young Dominican novice. There are many aspects of this extraordinary novel that contemporary Catholics will find that they can relate to, namely the confusion in the Church and the compromises of many of her members to political persecution and social expediency, as well as the heroic stand taken by those with the courage to speak truth to power. In Tudor England, speaking truth to power, or even silently trying to follow one's conscience, often meant dying a hideous death. Young Joanna Stafford finds that in those intense times there is no such thing as spiritual mediocrity; either she must take the high road or face perdition. Joanna is not one to settle for less than heroism anyway, having entered a strict Dominican monastery where she looked forward to an auste

Fiftysomething: Shrove Tuesday : Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness According to the multitude of Thy mercies do away mine offences. Wash...

heart speaks unto heart: LARGE FAMILIES ARE WITNESSES OF FAITH, AND A SOURC... : Vatican City, 15 February 2012 (VIS) - "In today's social environment, families with many children are witnesses of faith, courage and optimism....

Driving along in town to pick up our daughter in the new Catholic high school I got to thinking about Ash Wednesday and what it means to be repentant.  The ancients would put on sack cloths, roll around in ashes and walk through town to prove that they are a sorry sinner.  Since doing that in modern times would cause more serious result, what can I do this year that would be different and more in keeping with my personal relationship with God.  I surprised myself one afternoon while driving home with carpool students in the car. I always ask them 2 questions after they're settled in and we are on the road home, "What was the best thing that happened and what was the worse thing that happened to you today."  I give them the choice of which question they want first, but they have to have an answer for both.  One day I asked the kids what they were doing for Lent?  They all said what they were giving up, candy, chocolate, soda, etc, then I said, "OK that's your phy

This is my first posting for 7 Quick Takes Friday ; this is a meme that shares those 7 things that were most important, interesting, or faith-filled for the week past.  I am kinda of excited by it is the opportunity to share with other moms/bloggers about our lives and I thought it might be something ACWB's would enjoy and a new way to share our faith with others. 1.  Spent this week without my hubby, he was away in Europe on a business trip.  :(  Find much strength and good will :)  But the week got very long in the tooth as the girls and I missed him by day 5 :( 2.  Had a great week getting to spend time with the kiddies. :) 3.  Shared more laughs than drama with our twinnie 16 year old girls :) 4.  Listened to their funny, inspiring, thought provoking stories about life at a Catholic High School and learned that our girls are so wise, caring and loving :0  Related some of my own, I was in an all girl Catholic High School in my beloved Washington DC 5. Was there when o

Lately I’ve been stumbling across articles in the mainstream media about NFP, written by Catholic laywomen, who are taking a stab at the mysterious reason that so many women ignore this Church teaching choose instead to contracept.   One popular idea seems to be that it’s because NFP just isn’t “hip” enough.  They seem to think that if the Church just did a better job “marketing” NFP and upgrading the books and methods to make them more attractive, women would be falling all over themselves to sign up for NFP classes, while tossing their birth control pills out by the handfuls.  They go on to say that maybe if the NFP teachers looked a little cooler, with a few less children, women would be more attracted to the idea too… and can’t we make the methods less scientific?  That shouldn’t be hard, right?  It should be easy! Each time I read an article like this I was left with a feeling that something was a bit off in the understanding… Read the entire post here !

 Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel Mark 2:1-12 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) When Jesus returned to Capernaum, word went round that he was back; and so many people collected that there was no room left, even in front of the door. He was preaching the word to them when some people came bringing him a paralytic carried by four men, but as the crowds made it impossible to get the man to him, they stripped the roof over the place where Jesus was; and when they had made an opening, they lowered the stretcher on which the paralytic lay. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, 'My child, your sins are forgiven.' Now some scribes were sitting there, and they thought to themselves, 'How can this man talk like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God?' Jesus, inwardly aware that this was what they were thinking, said to them, 'Why do

I recently read a magnificent novel, The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau, which deals  with the fate of some English  Dominican nuns during Henry VIII's "reform." I was delighted and honored when Nancy agreed to be interviewed. I will be reviewing the book as well in a future post. To quote from the book description: An aristocratic young nun must find a legendary crown in order to save her father—and preserve the Catholic faith from Cromwell’s ruthless terror. The year is 1537. . .   EMV : Nancy, welcome! Congratulations on your magnificent novel, The Crown , which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was especially impressed by the research that went into making it one of the most authentic novels of the Tudor era that I have ever read.  You bring to life the beauty and peace of the cloister even as it is about to be destroyed. Can you tell us a little about how you began your journey into the past, and where you found the best sources on such a turbulent, controversial e

I wonder if people still carve hearts in trees on St. Valentine's Day?  Or at any other time, for that matter:  names of loved ones etched inside a heart, linked together by a + . Names not just scribbled on a piece of paper, but put onto a more permanent object; something expected to last.  "I will love you forever," the hearts declare. "I shall carve your name inside this heart, for I never intend to let you go." "What will we do," asks St. Francis de Sales , "when, in eternal glory, we see the most adorable heart of Jesus through the holy wound in His side.. a heart in which, written in characters of fire, all of us will be inscribed?  Ah!  We will then say to the Savior, 'is it possible that You have loved me so much that You have even written my name in Your heart?'" "See, I have carved your name on the palms of My hands," says the Lord to us. (Isaiah 49:16). He never intends to let us go.

We have four children so we have been through all the spiritual-emotional issues that come with a variety of children.  One thing that we, as mother/parents, do not consider is the spiritual development of our children. A twitter conversation between Meredith Gould and I  @MeredithGould  RT @USCatholic: Why aren't Gen X and Y in church? Ask them... bit.ly/yphT3l and my response: @MeredithGould as for why Gen X and Y aren't in church, they need being feed emotionally, have a priest that does that they will be there One of the books I studied during my formation for Spiritual Direction: 1994 - 1998, was Professor James W. Fowler, a developmental psychologist at Candler School of Theology, was the book Stages of Faith.  In it he describes children's spiritual development from birth to mid-life: Stage 0 – "Primal or Undifferentiated" faith (birth to 2 years), is characterized by an early learning of the safety of their environment (i.e. warm, safe and secure

Fiftysomething: Ecclesiastical treasures saved : Press release from the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales Ecclesiastical Treasures Saved The Archbishop of Southwark, the Most

Shrine of St Valentine , Church of the Order of Carmel (OCarm), Dublin  I have been 'crusading' for some years now to put the 'SAINT' back into SAINT Valentine's Day. Below is what I posted a year ago.  St Valentine's Day is a big thing here in the Philippines, though usually called 'Valentine's Day'. For some it is an excuse fo fornication and adultery, for others a day to be grateful for friends. It is also a day for getting more money from consumers. You can find something of the true story of St Valentine, a priest who was martyred for his defence of the sacrament of matrimony,in  Misyon , the online magazine I edit for the Columbans in the Philippines. You can find it  here . Below is the Opening Prayer from the Mass of St Valentine. You can find all the prayers and readings for his feast on the  website of the Carmelite Friars  (OCarm) in Ireland. Though the feast of St Valentine is no longer on its General Calendar – 14 February is no

I posted this piece at The Feminine Gift.

Yesterday I was a time traveler, myself and 30 or more others stood or sat freezing on a cold Cardiff day and for a span we were in pre-reformation Wales. As our presiding Priest said in his homily, this building is normally a shadow of a church, without its congregation and the services of a Priest it isnt a church, but today we join with the generations of people for whom this church was a part of the story their lives and a memorial to their souls, For an hour it was a church again. The service was organised by the Cardiff University Chaplincy, and has becom an annual event for the Saturday after St Teilos day (9th Feb) The figure of St Teilo astride his faithfull white deer can be seen to the left of the altar in the picture below.  A small group were singing Byrds Mass for three voices, in Latin in the chancel of  St Teilo's Church which is as near as modern archaeological skill can make it a church rebuilt and decorated to what it was before The Kings Great Matter.

When you think of how God calls us to be the first teachers of our children, what can a father teach his daughter if he decides to act like a teenager himself? There is a much talked about viral video of a disgruntled father shooting his daughters laptop, the message he records for his daughter is entitled: Facebook Parenting for the Troubled Teen. Right there you can imagine that there is more to this story, and its not a good a story. The father is clearly sick and tired of his daughter and her actions. It can be surmised from the very scant evidence that he is not too pleased with his daughters friends. All of this is something that parents deal with on a daily, week, sometimes hourly basis. There is no house, no parent, no family...read the whole post  here

Readings  (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel Mark 1:40-45 (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: 'If you want to' he said 'you can cure me.' Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. 'Of course I want to!' he said. 'Be cured!' And the leprosy left him at once and he was cured. Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered him, 'Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.' The man went away, but then started talking about it freely and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived. Even so, people from all around would come to him. An Soiscéal Marcas 1:40-45 (G

The young man was showing his friend something on his cell phone. "What are you looking at?" I asked him. "It's my brother. A picture of my brother learning to walk," he told me, looking up with a big smile.   Read more here....

Talking with my sister-in-law, a maternity ward nurse, the other day about the new Health and Human Services mandate (HHS), I was curious about how things are going since she works at a Catholic hospital.  She told me her hospital is totally orthodox and perform no procedures that would hurt/prevent/end life at all.  There is a place across the street patients go to have their tubes tied after delivering their decidedly last child, but no pills, procedures are done in the hospital.  I was happy to hear that and she also said the doctors she works for would not want to be part of the other industry.  She knows fellow nurses that went over to the state hospital looking for more money and opportunities and came back saying that "they couldn't do what was required of them there."  There, they do all procedures, no questions asked.  They told her that women (her words "rich bitches") would come in there for abortions because the baby was the wrong sex! I can't

Church debate: Who'd be a bishop? - UK Politics - UK - The Independent the post I wanted to post, has been lost due to computer problems so as an interesting look at our Anglican bretherens problems I recomend the above article!