Posts belonging to Category The Catholic Church

Please remember all those Marching for Life in Washington today.  It wasn’t that many years ago that all the Builders would venture down to DC from Princeton to march and pray for an end to abortion.

I confess that as a busy mother I am often willfully ignorant about the horror of abortion and the frequency of this crime in our nation.  I often joke that I make my own pro-life statement every other January, giving birth to another baby!

I am always reminded of the horror of abortion at this time of year, and never more poignantly so than yesterday, when I had to explain the evil of abortion to my oldest two children.  My body temperature began to rise with rage as I looked at their innocent faces, slowly losing that innocence as their own mother explained that doctors and mommies and daddies choose to kill innocent babies.  I nodded in agreement as Gianna vehemently argued that people should give their babies up for adoption if they don’t want them.  “Why do they have to kill them”, she asked?  My only response was that the world can be a very evil and cruel place, and people can be very misguided, making poor choices because they are confused.  I felt a lump in my throat as Charlie was concerned that someone would try to kill Josie.  We explained that we would never let that happen, but it was really a sad, horrible conversation.  I felt angry that the laws of our nation strip my children of their innocence and make their own parents talk to them about the killing of infants in the womb.

So please take some time today to pray for an end to abortion.  Please pray for all those marching, and please, please pray for the leaders of our nation.  Pray their eyes will be opened to the horror of abortion, and pray their hearts will be changed.

And speaking of the leaders of our nation, the White House and President Obama announced last week that they will not be allowing a conscience objection on the HHS regulations for Catholic or Religious institutions.  In practical terms, what this means is that in a years time, all medical insurance plans will be required to distribute contraception and provide other unethical family planning services–for free–to all women.  The Catholic Church will be forced, against its own religious beliefs, to distribute contraception.  There will be no religious exemption for Catholic Institutions.

In the weeks and months ahead, it will be interesting to see how the Catholic Bishops handle this declaration of war against our Church.  Will they shut down Catholic Hospitals?  Will they refuse to comply?  Will they negotiate and/or will with President change his anti-Catholic position, it is an election year after all?

I don’t have extensive time to write on this today, but I am horrified by Obama’s extreme violation of our religious liberty.  For more thoughts, please read the following two links–

The National Catholic Reporter

Professor Robert George at Mirror of Justice

My husband and I recently began watching the Catholicism series that we DVRed some time ago when it was on EWTN.

It. Is. Awesome. You can view the trailer here: Catholicism

There are about 20 episodes that present the Church in her fullness. Fr. Robert Barron travels to 50 places around the globe while articulately expounding on Jesus, the Bible and Catholic doctrine and how all this applies to us as people created for joy. Just watching the first episode brought be back to my time living and working in Rome, where one truly feels the universality and fullness of the Church. The series is part of an answer to John Paul II’s call to a new evangelization using modern media to teach, evangelize and energize the Church.

The website describes it as, “groundbreaking program as a thematic presentation of what Catholics believe and why, so all adults can come to a deeper understanding of the Catholic Faith. Not a video lecture, Church history or scripture study, this engaging and interesting formational program uses the art, architecture, literature, music and all the treasures of the Catholic tradition to illuminate the timeless teachings of the Church.”

Our parish is basing several adult education classes around this beautiful series and I am so encouraged. I think this program has the power to transform the Church, especially in America, for the better. See if your parish would consider establishing an adult class, or get together a group of friends to watch and discuss. Or if you need something to watch with a late evening cup of tea while you fold laundry, make this it!

I found this article a light chuckle amidst the cozy fire and twinkling Christmas tree lights.

Savor the season, friends.  We are, for sure!

Glorious St. Joseph, model of all those who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in a spirit of penance for the expiation for my many sins; to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my inclinations; to work with gratitude and joy, considering it an honor to employ and develop, by means of labor, the gifts received from God; work with order, peace, moderation and patience, without ever recoiling before weariness or difficulties; to work, above all, with purity of intention, and with detachment from self, having always death before my eyes and the account which I must render of time lost, of talents wasted, of good omitted, of vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God. All for Jesus, all for Mary, all after your example, O Patriarch Joseph. Such shall be my watchword in life and death. Amen. (prayer found here)

“The Catholic story is being told, but being told by the wrong people in the wrong way.” ~Fr. Robert Barron in the trailer for “The Catholicism Project”

You can watch the video here – enjoy!

As the mother of a crying baby who I walked to the back of the church last Sunday, I found this article compelling.  Do crying babies belong in Mass?  You be the judge.

Pope appoints Archbishop Chaput to Philadelphia archdiocese :: Catholic News Agency (CNA).

Exciting news for our area, and also another chance to practice with PressThis.  I must now relinquish the computer so that a certain nine year old can check his online chess game.  By the way, does anyone have success posting to wordpress from email or an iphone?  I want to be able to do this, I can post pictures and things easily to blogger and facebook, so why not wordpress?  But, this will not help with my oversharing problem.

Happy Monday morning, dear friends! There is a beautiful website called Catholics Come Home that I wanted to draw everyone’s attention to. This website was originally intended to provide information to fallen away Catholics who had questions about the faith, but has evolved into a great resource for all Catholics, whether fallen away or faithfully practicing. I have been especially touched by the short video clips, particularly the “Movie commercial” clip.

Check it out and pass it on to your friends and family members! And if YOU have any resources that you’d like to share with us, please let us hear from you!

Mary, seat of wisdom, pray for us!

A happy Feast of the Sacred Heart to all of you!

For those of you who are history enthusiasts, here is a brief history of this beautiful feast day, taken from this website:

After we returned home from a family vacation a couple of weeks ago, my husband ran to the grocery store for milk and bread, and also returned home with some cheerful tulips. He put them on the windowsill above our kitchen sink, thinking that they would remind me of being at the beach  One bud was placed in a separate small vase on the windowsill, which I put next to a picture of Mary (Our Lady of Guadalupe, to be exact).

A couple of days later, the rest of the tulips were still closed, but the bud next to Our Lady had turned towards the frame and opened up. In that moment, I thought to myself that when we turn towards Mary, she will help us to open our hearts to Jesus. Just as we know our children better than anyone in the world, Mary knows Jesus better than anyone else, and wants to help us know him better, too. By turning towards Mary and asking for her help, we will begin to learn how to love Jesus and open ourselves to him more each day.

God bless you all this morning!
~Katrina