Saturday, December 31, 2005

tag--i'm it

Penni tagged me with new liturgical year resolutions meme earlier this week. I'm getting around to it now, so I guess they're going to be new calendar year's resolutions.

1. I will get myself organized at work by the end of January. My secretary quit in August and I was a month without one. I am woefully behind.

2. I will continue to get to daily Mass at least twice a week (not including Sunday). I did it during Advent and it was very very good.

3. I will stay on top of my college coursework (I don't get any more extension requests).

4. I will make up the "Honey do" list my husband has asked me to do (No snarking. He really DID ask me to make one up). He got a new position with the University he works for and now he will have nights and weekends free!!!!!

5. I will not put crap into my mouth to eat because I will not gain 65 lbs. (*again*) with the new pregnancy.

If you'd like to do this one, consider yourself tagged.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

you know it can't be good

when the boy calls down from the bathroom, "Mom, I think you're going to need a Clorox wipe!"

Thursday, December 15, 2005

I loves me some firefox!

Now I have a full toolbar in Blogger. I had to try to remember all kinds of code using Safari. Mark, if any good was to come with your web design trouble, this is it!

if the Catholic Girl can't be home...

h/t to Jen P


You Belong in Rome

You're a big city girl with a small town heart
Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome
Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand
And gorgeous Italian men - could life get any better?


Only better if my own gorgeous Italian DH were with me. And we got to meet the pope.

snow


We're supposed to get more snow this evening, before it all changes over to rain and melts the snow we got last Friday and whatever falls this evening. I am not a big fan of winter, but when it's getting on Christmas and your kids get so excited to go play in the stuff, it gets tolerable.
Picture is of sunrise in Antarctica.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Interreligious dialogue question

This is something i've been mulling for a while. Let's have at it.

Since the Roman Catholic Church is the one true Church (the only one founded by Christ Himself) and since our mission as Catholics is to go forth and make disciples of all nations, at what point during the Church's dialogue with other faiths and/or Christian denominations do we confront that? In Lumen Gentium, the Fathers write that other Christian Churches are Churches in as much as they subsist in the Catholic Church, meaning are in union with the Catholic Church. In the Gospels, Jesus tells us to spread the Good News, to makes disciples of all nations.

So, when talking with any non-Catholic, how far can the dialogue go before we say: but you're missing something big?

I know a priest of our Archdiocese who does a lot of work in this area (he got back from a 2 week trip to the Holy Land and Lebanon with his dialogue group last fall) and I haven't been able to pose it to him yet.

I think we can learn a lot from Protestants in different areas. Not the true stuff (creed, liturgy, sacraments, etc.), but the way that they run their programs, especially their outreach to kids and teens. I also think that the zeal of an evangelical Protestant and their knowledge of the Scriptures is to be admired. They aren't ashamed to talk about the "God Stuff"- how many Catholics do you know who constantly seem to say "Yes, I'm Catholic; I'm sorry?"

So, where do we start converting people? Or is the dialogue part of the conversion process (isn't this the Dominican way: Let's start from what we have in common)? Do we act in bad faith if we don't try to convert the people with whom we dialogue? Or does the conversion come through our own conviction?

Let's be kind in the comment box, please.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

I turned into a real dork...

...when I met Susan from Sesame Street in Target this afternoon.

I had passed her in the aisles, but then I wound up behind her in line. This is the replay:

Me: Excuse me, but you look just like Susan from Sesame Street.

Suasn looks at me,

Me: *gasp* (whispers) You are Susan from Sesame Street!

Susan: (very sweetly) Yes, but please keep it quiet. I'd like to get out of here.

m: Of course. Wow.

S: Oh, your face is all red (gives me a hug).

m: Thank you so much for all of your work.

s: (takes my hand) Oh, you're welcome. what's your name?

m: Amy.

S: It's nice to meet you, Amy. Merry Christmas.

m: Merry Christmas.

Susan leave the register, presumably gets into her car without another 30 year old woman making an idiot out of herself over her.

m: Mom, that was Susan from Sesame Street!

Mom: Your face is all red!

m: I know! and I'm crying!

I bend down to get Primo's jacket on him,

m: Do you know who that lady was?

P: Yeah. It was Susan from Sesame Street.

m: daddy's not going to believe me when I tell him.

P: He'll believe you 'cause I saw her too!

I can't believe I cried. It probably happens to her all the time. Grown woman makes a total fool out of herself because she's there. It's just because I grew up watching Sesame Street and now my kids watch it too. I'm still glowing. Susan hugged me!!!!

Thursday, December 08, 2005

made up meme-ories

I saw Martha Martha do this and I thought it was fun. Now, Der Tomissar has it on his blog, and I'd be interested to see what you guys do with it. So, here it goes:

Please post a comment with a COMPLETELY MADE UP AND FICTIONAL MEMORY OF YOU AND ME.

It can be anything you want–good or bad–BUT IT HAS TO BE FAKE.

When you’re finished, post this paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people DON’T ACTUALLY remember about you.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

College mascot

My DH works for a college that has a mascot which makes me uncomfortable. It's the devil. Well, a devil. I think they chose it for the athletic dept. because of the legend of the Jersey Devil, but they're not the Jersey Devils, just the devils. And they have a kid dress up in a costume of this figure for their football and basketball games.

Now, my three readers will probably get my reasons for discomfort with this but others will not. I don't want my kids going to football games with a friendly fiend there. I think in a subconscious way that they will be desensitized to the Evil One by interacting with this kid in a cartoonish devil costume. That is simply dangerous. I don't want to freak my kids out, but I have had this discussion with Primo: There is a real devil, not the guy at daddy's football games. He doesn't like people. He wants to trick us to do things that make Jesus sad. We have to be careful about him. We have to remember that Jesus loves us all the time, even if we mess up, but we have to try real hard not to mess up.

I'm thinking about writing a letter to the president of the university. There has got to be a better mascot out there. I'm a little concerned because it is my DH's employer, but bad thing happen because good people stand aside and do nothing, right?

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Mid-term

Took it yesterday. Seriously, if I didn't ace it, I must be a total moron. We'll see what Dr. Martin says. I'll keep you posted and thanks for the prayers!

Clarification:
What I mean by the total moron statement is this: Dr. Martin gave us 8 questions that could be on the mid-term in advance. If you don't go ahead and write out your essays while studying, you deserve whatever grade you get.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

TTLB Ecosystem rankings

I've been toying with adding my blog to see where I'd rank on the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem. Thing is: I'm not sure my fragile ego could handle being a microbe for a long time. I would probably start doing things to get more traffic. Plus, I don't really need to feed my pride. I am already my biggest fan.

Thoughts?

I have to stop going to these meetings

WARNING: the following is a rant. Proceed with caution.


My couterparts in ministry from the neighboring parishes are, as a whole, some of the most bitter women I have ever had the chance to meet (there are a few notable exceptions). I haven't met a bigger bunch of women who were more pissed off that they weren't born men.

This may be an unfair characterization. Then again, maybe not. It's my rant. I'll say what I want to.

We held the county Parish Catechetical Leaders (PCLs) meeting here today-we rotate it through different meeting sites every few months). Last time, I got my skirt in a bunch 'cause we worshipped autumn in our opening prayer. This month, we had another helping of Archbishop bashing specifically and man bashing in general.

They whined that we are unappreciated in our ministry. "If all the women who work in the Church took a 9 month sabbatical (9 months for a reason, folks), then they'd appreciate us!"

Well, ladies, not everybody appreciated Jesus when He was walking around either. Did he whine about it? NO. SUCK. IT. UP.

It all gets down to power. The bishops and priests have it, they think. These women want it. They're ticked off since they're out of the power loop. Well, ladies, you strike out again. Power is not the point.

If you're currently a priest, or a man in priestly formation, please correct me if I'm wrong. The call to the priesthood is an incredible gift from God. It is not a right. It is a gift. It is also a sacrifice. These are men who are called to give up the love of a wife, the joy of sexual intimacy, and the happieness of children of their own to care for them as they age and infirm. All for the love of Holy Mother Church and for the infinite love of Christ. This is a hard life that these men are called to. Imagine: funeral in the morning, go to graveside, baptism after lunch, wedding at 3, Mass at the old folks home at 4:30, then your Sunday vigil Mass and a full Sunday Mass schedule, plus getting called to a deathbed in the middle of the night. Who in their right mind wants that for himself or herself? These are special men who are called and given strength through their Holy Orders and by our prayers for them. say a quick prayer for our priests right now.

Can we talk about ordaining women for a second? I have talked about this before, but honestly, if Jesus wanted women to be priests, don't you think He would have called Mary, His Mother, the only sinless human being conceived besides Himself, as one of the Apostles? He defied culture and tradition regarding the treatment of women in every way during His life on Earth. Why didn't He ask Mary Magdalene to be an apostle?

I am tired of talking about this! Where is the humility here? Where is any other sort of imitation of Christ that we care called to as Christians? I am having a hard time seeing it. Suffering, sometimes at the hands of the clergy, is part of life as a Catholic in ministry. Offer it up for the good of your parish. Better: offer it up for the person whom you feel is persecuting you. Jesus suffers worse than you or I ever will. And He is innocent. We bring some of our suffering on ourselves sometimes. We sometimes deserve it. We can unite it with Christ's for the good of the whole world.

running out of steam...



That feels a little bit better. I had a lot of good thoughts when I was driving around in the car a little while ago. Naturally, when I sat at the keyboard, they all left me. I do my best philosophizing when I'm driving. *sigh*