Letter Raed in Many Catholic Churches Yesterday

It wasn't read in our church, but I've heard from many friends who said itvwasvread, or portions were read in their churches. A few even commented that their homily was on the same subject.
We need to pray and fast. Obama must be stopped.

Let the Quiet Children Come to Me?

I often wonder if "quiet" is a word many Catholics insert into Jesus' words when He says, "Let the children come to me." He didn't qualify that statement with "quiet", "well-behaved" or "mute".  Our parish instituted a new policy last year sometime.  Announcements about disruptive children being brought out were being made every week along with announcements about the "training room".  We eventually began a nursery at one Mass.  Note: this is not a teaching of the Catholic Church, it is a policy of our local parish.  One I hope will change. Here is a good article on the subject: For Crying Out Loud

Not long after the policy went into effect, the priest asked a woman to take her child out during the homily.  I was shocked, as the child was not being noisy.  He was moving around a bit, sure, but 3 year olds do that. I complained.  Then, the policy changed to making awkward pauses during the Mass for any noise or disruption. It has evolved into an atmosphere of complete intolerance for any noise, good or bad - from children. Adults talking during Mass goes without any punishment at all.  I call the pauses and the asking people to leave Mass punishments.

Yesterday, this policy escalated into a new level of intolerance.  Not only was Mass paused, but several parishioners, including an adult parishioner serving up on the altar, stared down a family whose baby cooed, babbled and made a few grunting noises.  This baby was not crying.  I was sitting directly behind this family with their precious children. Two well behaved toddlers and a baby in a car carrier. Really? A baby coos and people feel it is okay to turn their heads and stare them down?  I'd never seen this family at Mass before and I hope they were not scared away.   I was shocked by their actions and found it ironic that the man on the altar and one other parishioner staring had often disturbed me and my family with their conversations during the homily and even the Consecration! 

I am opposed to cry rooms, training rooms and nurseries.  We do not raise Catholic children by keeping them out of the church. We raise Catholic children by having them celebrate the Mass with us in the actual church and teaching them proper behavior and reverence.

My letter to the parish council (I just emailed it to them all):

Dear Parish Council,

The quiet baby policy has now escalated to an unacceptable level of intolerance.  I’ve addressed each of these issues with Father XXX in the past, and have decided that it is best to inform the council of my thoughts regarding this matter.  I find it quite ironic that those who stare down families whose babies coo or babble are often the ones who have disturbed me and my family with their endless chatter during Mass (even during the homily and Consecration!). I suggest adding announcements for restless, talkative adults.  Perhaps suggest that the training room is there for them, as well.

Yesterday, there was a family directly in front of me with a baby and two young sons.  Very well behaved young sons, I might add.  The baby DID NOT cry during Mass. They baby cooed and babbled.  I was embarrassed by the level of intolerance shown by my fellow parishioners, including one adult male serving up on the altar.  At one point, the man on the altar stared at this family for at least one entire minute.  I was horrified—he was standing sideways and adjusted his head so as to give them the “evil eye” when all their baby was doing was making a few coos and babbles. 

My husband and I have already decided we would no longer attend Mass at this parish if we have any more children.  No matter how wonderful, generous or brilliant the other parishioners are, they can never make up for the torment, embarrassment and torture parents must go through when their baby is cooing and babbling.  A crying child seems to be an unforgivable sin. If we are truly a pro-life people, we would be filled with joy when we heard the voices of children. Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.”  He didn’t qualify that statement with “quiet”, “well-behaved” or “mute”.  Perhaps, the noise of children are the prayers God enjoys most.

Crying babies are a completely different matter, and not the point of my letter.  We do not agree with cry rooms, training rooms or nurseries.  We do not raise Catholic children by keeping them out of the church. We raise Catholic children by having them celebrate the Mass with us in the actual church and teaching them proper behavior and reverence. Children are not perfect, just as adults are not perfect.  I personally am more irritated by adults who talk during Mass than any child who babbles or even cries. If you are going to punish families with pausing the Mass, evil looks and announcements, you need to treat the adult offenders accordingly.  I am utterly disgusted by the treatment this precious family received on Sunday.  I’ve not liked the policy from the very beginning, have voiced my opinion on the matter and believe, we, as a parish, have finally crossed the line.

One last note—while I do not care about the change in Mass times, I find it quite ironic that you expect parents to make their children behave inside the church, but do not require it outside the church. Isn’t is a bit ridiculous to be changing the Mass times when all that would be required would be to make parents be responsible for their own children? How about a few announcements about that?

If interested, here is a link to an article called “For Crying Out Loud”  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2012/01/for-crying-out-loud-a-pastors-message-to-parents/

Pattie Curran

What Does it Say......

When a US President is a lawyer and taught Constitutional law and his agenda of religious persecution is unanimously rejected by all 9 Supreme Court Justices? Yes, there is something fundamentally wrong our colleges and universities. It says that he is part of the problem.

I'm just a state college graduate. No Ivy League for me. Yet, I can read the First Amendment and it seems clear to me: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Mr. Obama, you already lost on trying to force churches to ordain men and women. The court unanimously said you were WRONG. On the issue of forcing the Catholic Church to cover and dispense birth control and abortion drugs, even the Washington Post is on our side. That really says a lot -- Once again you are wrong and will receive a fail. Obamacare is a fail. It needs to be repealed. Those of us on the right kept telling people this would happen, that the government would mandate and dictate our freedoms away once Obamacare passed.

God is on our side, Obama. God is bigger than the Obama Administration.


Obama Picks Fight with Catholics

All Things Considered

I've never been angry with a president of the United States and his Administration. Never. There is a first time for everything. I was in the military and can say that I was really not that fond of Clinton. I remember living in California during the Carter years, the long gas lines.....and I never felt anger.

I suppose, this is really the first time I have felt religious persecution. I am Catholic and the Obama Administration is blatantly attacking the Catholic Church. They are blatantly violating our First Amendment Rights. Forcing the Catholic Church to cover birth control, something that it finds to be morally objectionable, is against the Constitution. Oh, wait, we're supposed to be happy because he is giving the Church a year to comply. Read one article here: BHO Birth Control

What is next? Will the Amish be forced to buy into the new plan and pay social security? Will the Quakers be forced to sign up for the selective service draft? The BHO administration defines a tax exempt religious organization as one whose employees and clients are 100% that religion. So, the Catholic Church helps the poor-- no matter their religion. So will they force the Catholic Church to shut down its hospitals and stop caring for the poor because they service people of all faiths, creeds, sexual orientation, race or gender?

Time will tell. All things considered, the 2012 election is a battle and this picture sums up how I feel:

Catholic Church TV Ad

One of my favorite commercials!

iConfess App

I was reading an article in The Daily about the iConfess App for the iPhone.  It is very interesting.  Some of the comments were a bit crazy, but that is to be expected, right?  Not everyone understands the value of examining one's conscience. To read a web version of the article in The Daily (an app for the iPad - a tablet-based original news publication), use this link: http://bit.ly/i08PwL

We've had books on examination of conscience and pamphlets, why not bring it to the iPhone and iTouch? You still have to go to confession with a priest, but this certainly helps with examination of conscience!

We downloaded The Daily App for the iPad and have a free two week trial.  So far, we like it!  I'm reading a story continued from yesterday on a US Army Soldier who is the most wounded soldier ever to go back into combat.

Duty to Work - What Does the Church Teach?

Recently, our family was discussing conditions in third world countries such as Haiti. Our guest discussed that it seemed that the people in Haiti didn't understand the common good. That they failed to understand what they do upstream affects those down the river. They failed to understand that washing and using the bathroom upstream wasn't good for the common good of the people downstream. I get that, I really do. I added that another reason many people are not able to thrive is because they lack the freedom to build and thrive, that we had once experimented with building a society based on "the common good", and it wasn't until Captain John Smith quoted the Bible and said, "He who shall not work, shall not eat." At that point, our guest interjected with, "That is the Protestant work ethic." It was news to all of us.

We'd never heard of it, so after our friend left, we looked up the scripture in 2 Thessalonians 3:10. St. Paul says, "In fact, when we were with you, we instructed you that if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat." I told my boys that this scripture was in all Bibles-- Catholic and Protestant. We then looked up what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about this same scripture. The Catechism says:

"2427 Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another. Hence
work is a duty: "If any one will not work, let him not eat." Work honors the Creator's gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows
himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish. Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ"

The Church clearly teaches that work is a duty and that work can be a means of sanctification. The Church uses 2 Thessalonians 3:10 as a reference for that teaching.

I looked up the Protestant work ethic and found that the Protestant work ethic isn't even something accepted in all scholarly circles and some sources say it is a capitalist work ethic and later, it gets linked to Marxism, etc. Liberation theology was condemned by the Church because of the many references to Marxism. Is it a stretch to say that a belief in the Protestant work ethic is part of Liberation theology? I don't know, but I find the link interesting. I'm not a theologian nor am I a scholar. After our discussion, I just wanted to know what the Church taught about this scripture.

My answer? I believe what the Bible says and I believe what the Church teaches. Work is a duty and it can be a means of sanctification. This scripture is not linked to the Protestant work ethic (the sites I searched didn't even mention 2 Thessalonians 3:10 - one site mentioned Matthew 6:33). It is curious that this Protestant work ethic is linked to Luther and Weber. Luther believed in sola scriptura and I find it odd that a man who was against the Church because of its teaching on works would then turn around and develop a theory that working hard and aquiring worldly goods showed you had favor with God or was somehow linked to one's salvation.

Our founding fathers knew that men needed freedom to thrive. They knew that work was a duty. Charles Carroll, a Catholic signer of the Declaration, obviously realized this, as well. Captain John Smith had been captured for over a month before returning to the colony. His friends had been killed and he wasn't aure if he would suffer the same fate at the hands of the Indians. When he returned to the colony, it was in chaos. They had already lost too many colonists; the colony was failing after a winter of illness and famine. The colonists all had been working for the "common good". It failed. Not everyone able to work was working. Once Captain John Smith quoted this verse of the Bible, the colony turned around. They paid their debt to England and prospered.

Was Paul saying this scripture applied to those who were lame, sick or unable to work? Nope. He was speaking of those unwilling to work. He was not speaking of those unable to work. The Church tells us it is our duty to work, just as it also calls us to care for the sick, lame and poor. This scripture doesn't take away our obligation to help those in need.

Opus Dei (work of God) is a wonderful prelature of the Catholic Church. I am a cooperator in Opus Dei and have enjoyed the spirituality of Opus Dei for over 13 years now. Finding God in ordinary life. Finding God in our work-- no matter what station in life you are in, your work can be a means of sanctification. I wrote an article once on Scrubbing Toilets for God, where I go into a little bit of how we can make he ordinary life extraordinary by offering our work up to God.

Crazy Catholics

People are often puzzled by how we live our faith. Yes, we are crazy Catholics in love with God. We follow Church teaching and that may seem crazy to many, but there are many of us crazy Catholics out there! I think the biggest thing that make folks think we are crazy is that we don't se birth control and that we continue to have miscarriages. On the birth control issue, I won't go into debate on BC ... but I simply say that we trust God in ALL things. We can't just say we trust you in ALL areas except this one. We either trust God all the way or nothing else.

If we are not oepn to life, then we don't allow God to perform that miracle. The 21st pregnancy could be the one that makes it. Most of our friends know that Joseph doesn't have a match in the bone marrow donor registry. A sibling is the best chance Joseph has. While we have not tried to have more children, we do believe that God could also perform a double miracle: we' could have a baby make it to term and that baby could be a match for Joseph. We do believe that no matter what, if Joseph needs a bone marrow transplant, God will provide a match for him. Sibling or stranger. He was run against 6.5 million people in the registry and had no match, but it only takes one and God IS able.

Matthew is not feeling well today and is resting a bit. He is trying to work on his book report because he can't have a day without doing SOME school work! Sean and Joseph are doing fine. They are working on writing about the shot heard round the world. Of course they are also doing math, spelling, vocabulary.............

We are all excited about a Halloween party we are planning. It is helping me to focus on something other than what is going on at the moment. We hope to have the party on Friday, October 31. We'll turn our yard into a Halloween playground..... If I get to the othe rcomputer, I will try to post some pictures of Matthew's first varsity game. Hegot an interception. We were all so excited and proud of him! We LOVE fotball and it is even more exciting when we get to watch him play. God has blessed us with so much!

Joseph Pretends to Offer Mass

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Prayer Altar

We visited a group of sisters a few weeks ago who had a chapel in their house. Joseph wanted to build a chapel in our house. We settled and let him design a prayer altar. Here are a few pictures. We have to build a kneeler of some sort. Joseph is working on ideas for that.

A Peek Into My Church and A Child's Guide to the Mass

A Peek Into My Church By Wendy Goody and Veronica Kelly- takes children inside of a Catholic Church, names various object found in the church and what they are used for.

Child's Guide to the Mass By Sue Stanton -- explains the Mass to children with bright pictures and engaging text.

Happy St. Valentine's Day!