Association Of Catholic Bloggers

  Whenever I see a map of planes in the sky, it makes me shudder.   They always look like a mess of puzzle pieces.   I know they know what they’re doing, but those maps leave the impression that the planes are piled on top of each other, ready to crash into each other at any moment. Life can seem like that sometimes. When I was younger, I visited the home of a family with several teenage children.   They had a calendar on their refrigerator that was bursting at the seams; it could not contain their daily schedules.   Like those planes, their kids had to be run everywhere and it looked nearly impossible for the parents to keep up. It’s funny how seemingly insignificant moments like that can leave a big impression.   Reflecting on that family’s lifestyle helped develop my evolving perspective about family life. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but I think that it is unhealthy when the schedules of one’s children causes stress for the parents.   I think it is a pare

Mars is and will be in the news this month. The UAE Hope spacecraft settled into orbit around Mars Tuesday, February 9. Then, a day later, China's Tianwen-1 arrived.... ...The UAE's successful orbiter is historically significant. And China's Tianwen-1 may collect useful data. But I'll be focusing on the NASA mission. And Mars.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

This will be my 31st daily 'journal' entry. I hadn't been planning on a daily posting schedule. But Sauk Centre's weather gave me something to write about three days in a row.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

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Assorted versions of this quote popped up in my social media feed recently. Usually as a picture of St. Thomas Aquinas with a text overlay. "He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust." (attr. Thomas Aquinas; via Master_Bruno_1084 on Reddit) Those four sentences may be a translation of something St. Thomas Aquinas wrote. Or maybe they're a summary of what he wrote in "Summa Theologica," First Part of the Second Part, questions 46 through 48 and Second Part of the Second Part, question 158. 1 And maybe what Yogi Berra said applies in this case.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

      La fe católica nunca se ha pronunciado a favor de algún sistema económico específico, pero siempre ha marcado los excesos y vicios que tanto el comunismo como el capitalismo y otros han tenido. Siempre ha señalado los ejes necesarios para un desarrollo material más humano en la doctrina social de la Iglesia, entre los más importantes: la centralidad del ser humano. Tratando de hacer llegar este mensaje a los empresarios del mundo, el Papa Francisco lanzó un reto en la reunión del FORO MUNDIAL FORTUNE-TIME en el 2016 para trabajar en la posibilidad de que el capitalismo pueda ofrecer resolución a muchos de los problemas sociales actuales:   “Nuestro gran desafío es el de responder a los niveles globales de injusticia promoviendo un sentido de responsabilidad local, es más, personal, de manera que nadie quede excluido de la participación social. Por lo tanto, la pregunta que debemos plantearnos es cuál es la mejor manera de animarnos los unos a los otros y motivar a nuestras

Yesterday's headlines oozed acrimony, animosity and anger. So do today's. It could be worse. I could have been reading about a replay of Oxford's St. Scholastica Day riot. I'll get back to that.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Today's Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time. It's also Saint Apollonia's feast day.... ...St. Apollonia isn't on my diocesan or national liturgical calendar. Not that I've seen, at any rate. That's not, or shouldn't be, a big surprise. The Catholic Church is literally catholic, καθολικός, katholikos, universal. Some things we do, like reading the Bible, are universal. Some aspects of our worship are regional or local. 1 ( September 30, 2018 ) I figure devotion to St. Apollonia hasn't been part of my place and time's life. Which is okay. Today's reading — right! That's what got me started. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

  Christ Pantocrator (Christ in Majesty) Monreale Cathedral, Palermo, Sicily [Web Gallery of Art] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 1:40-45 ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India) A leper came to Jesus, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”   Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him,  “I will; be clean.”   And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.  A nd Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once,   and said to him,  “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”   But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him fr

(Babies under glass at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific-Exposition, Seattle, Washington. (1909)) Martin A. Couney was not your typical Progressive Era American doctor. For one thing, Couney may not have been an officially-approved doctor. He said that he'd studied under Dr Pierre-Constant Budin. Maybe he had. But he hadn't. Couney revised his origin story rather often. That, changing his name at least once, and at-best-sparse documentation makes sorting out his history challenging.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I haven't been much of a blogger the past few years, so I haven't contributed to this site in quite some time.  I recently deleted my Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts, however; and lo and behold , suddenly I find that I have so much more time to spend on my first love, writing full-length blog posts!  Getting off social media has been so good for my mental and spiritual well-being, and for reminding me how much more satisfying writing is for me than endlessly scrolling through social media posts.  My husband and I are blessed to be busy and involved with our ever-expanding family (our 17th grandchild was born in October), and that's another reason I haven't been posting at my blog as often as I used to.  Sadly, though, we have also lost several precious grandchildren to miscarriage in the past two years.  Not too long ago, I shared this post about our most recent loss over at String of Pearls. Please keep our oldest son, his sweet wife, and their five children