lol

The two forces of Change meet head-to-head

You haven't heard much from me on Global Warming in past months as the alarm had seemed to have blown over for the most part, and so I felt less obligated to point out the obvious holes. It seems in the past year, we have heard more prominent scientists "coming out" and making known their skepticism of the widely accepted theories behind global warming. We saw credible reports suggesting the next 10 years will actually see a decline in global temperatures, which have, thus far, proven to be on target, as many countries are experiencing cooler winters than in recent decades.

This all shifted mainstream terminology from "global warming" to "climate change." It is no longer warming that we should fear, but "change." The effect of Al Gore's computer generated horror film, "An Inconvenient Truth", seemed to be wearing thin. Finally, it appeared the environmental alarmism was fading away faster than the hole in the ozone layer. Until...

...Barack Obama was elected president. On this day, any hope gained by our society coming to its senses was crushed in the process of Obama and his far-left ideology coming into power. That night, my worries had little to do with Obama's positions on the environment. But, since then, having come to grips with the wide array of potential harm that could take place over the next 4-8 years, it's become apparent that Obama, the beacon of Hope and Change, will be pursuing costly and economy-crippling policies to combat the evil "climate change," regardless of weather the tides were shifting.



*Sigh*.... I guess there are more important things to worry about.

St. Andrew: a love for the Cross

November 30th was the feast of St. Andrew. In reading about his life, I learned not only that he was believed to be the elder brother of St. Peter (I always pictured him as the younger brother), but that, when he caught sight of the cross upon which he would be martyred, he said the following:

"O Good cross! made beautiful by the limbs of Christ, so long desired, now so happily found! Receive me into thy arms and present me to my Master, that He Who redeemed me through thee may now accept me from thee."

Lives of the Saints continues:

Two whole days the martyr remained hanging on this cross alive, preaching, with outstretched arms from this chair of truth, to all who came near, and entreating them not to hinder his passion.

The Orphan Ride

My friend Andrew and his brother Randall are about to embark on a remarkable journey around the world to raise money for a Catholic-run orphanage in Southern India. I met Andrew nearly a year ago when I was heading up the 40 Days for Life in Bellingham. He volunteered for a mind-boggling amount of hours, mainly in the wee-hours of night, which gave me more time to sleep, naturally making Andrew a good friend : )

I learned quickly that Andrew was an avid bicyclist when he asked if he could protest and pray at the abortion facility while using his bike trainer:


Today, I found out that he and his brother will be biking for 2+ years in 25+ countries, some 25 thousand miles across the world for the cause of Life in India. They're calling it The Orphan Ride. They will be donating two years of their time, money and God-given strength and giving 100% of the proceeds to the orphanage. Pretty cool.


Be sure to check out their website for more information, to follow their journey (beginning March 2009), and support their cause by donating, even if it's just a few dollars. Also, keep them in your prayers!

This article title:


Reminded me of this t-shirt:

My friend, Tom Herring at the 2006 Walk for Life West Coast

"Behold, I make all things new." Rev. 21:5

Since before my wife and I were married in August, our new parish in Bremerton, WA , Our Lady Star of the Sea, had been undergoing a well-needed restoration. We spent six months in "the desert," as our Pastor, Fr. Lappe put it, in the gym across the street, where Mass was celebrated daily during the restoration project. Most appropriately, on the feast of Christ the King, we returned from the desert to our newly restored parish, to give praise and thanksgiving to God and celebrate the Kingship of Our Lord, who reigns in heaven and on earth.

The church, as you'll see below has gone through its own time in the desert, or what I would term, "the 1970s.":

"What are those bird-like things hanging from the ceiling? And what place did they have in Sacred Architecture?" Good question. Your guess is as good as mine. Here's a more recent picture of what the church looked like prior to the restoration:

Perhaps one of the best decisions ever made when mapping out the restoration, was the removal of the rock wall behind the altar, on which one could almost imagine water trickling down:

And so, it was quite something on this feast of Christ the King, to witness a sort of transfiguring of the church. Such great care was taken to restore the beauty and sacredness of this relatively young church (originally dedicated in 1953). Really, the project even went beyond restoring the church to its original interior -- a simple 1950s design, not too different from the picture above. Opposed to locking the church architecture into some other era, I believe the new design is timeless:

I've put together a video of the Dedication Mass, with Bishop Joseph Tyson, below. These clips do not do justice to the beautiful liturgy of the feast. It was at the Dedication, I was reminded how the Sacred Liturgy is meant to incorporate our senses as a way of drawing us into worship. The smell of incense and oil; the sound of sacred music, bells and chant; and the sight of such beautiful art, and architecture -- all of which lift the soul heavenward. These are things we must truly cherish and work to preserve as Catholics.

I took some pictures which give a closer look at some of the changes made with this restoration. They can be seen here.

No Surprise: How Obama got elected

USCCB addresses Obama's looming war on pre-born babies

And forcefully so. We can all be pleased with the following statement, which makes clear the fundamental difference between president-elect Obama and Catholic teaching. Francis Cardinal George, President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, writing on behalf of the US bishops to the incoming administration, first acknowledges that the Church and Obama share a common pursuit of economic justice, more affordable health care, better education, etc. Attention is demanded, however, by the crippling disparity of views on human life:

a) the Catholic Church, which regards human life from the moment of conception, made in the image and likeness of God, worthy of protection and the right to life

b) Obama who, while having determined the question of life's beginning as "above his pay grade", finds room in his pay grade to fight tirelessly for the "right" to kill those not yet born.

Statement of the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

"If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor; if the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil." (Psalm 127, vs. 1)

The Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States welcome this moment of historic transition and look forward to working with President-elect Obama and the members of the new Congress for the common good of all. Because of the Church's history and the scope of her ministries in this country, we want to continue our work for economic justice and opportunity for all; our efforts to reform laws around immigration and the situation of the undocumented; our provision of better education and adequate health care for all, especially for women and children; our desire to safeguard religious freedom and foster peace at home and abroad. The Church is intent on doing good and will continue to cooperate gladly with the government and all others working for these goods.

The fundamental good is life itself, a gift from God and our parents. A good state protects the lives of all. Legal protection for those members of the human family waiting to be born in this country was removed when the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This was bad law. The danger the Bishops see at this moment is that a bad court decision will be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself.

In the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that would, if brought forward in the same form today, outlaw any "interference" in providing abortion at will. It would deprive the American people in all fifty states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. It would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government and others of good will to reduce the number of abortions in our country.

Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial-birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. Abortion clinics would be deregulated. The Hyde Amendment restricting the federal funding of abortions would be abrogated. FOCA would have lethal consequences for prenatal human life.

FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil.

On this issue, the legal protection of the unborn, the bishops are of one mind with Catholics and others of good will. They are also pastors who have listened to women whose lives have been diminished because they believed they had no choice but to abort a baby. Abortion is a medical procedure that kills, and the psychological and spiritual consequences are written in the sorrow and depression of many women and men. The bishops are single-minded because they are, first of all, single-hearted.

The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world. If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve. Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion.

This statement is written at the request and direction of all the Bishops, who also want to thank all those in politics who work with good will to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us. Those in public life do so, sometimes, at the cost of great sacrifice to themselves and their families; and we are grateful. We express again our great desire to work with all those who cherish the common good of our nation. The common good is not the sum total of individual desires and interests; it is achieved in the working out of a common life based upon good reason and good will for all.

Our prayers accompany President-elect Obama and his family and those who are cooperating with him to assure a smooth transition in government. Many issues demand immediate attention on the part of our elected "watchman." (Psalm 127) May God bless him and our country.

This is an excellent statement put forth by our bishops, one to be commended for certain. However, I can't help but notice yet another disparity:

• One the one hand, you have the USCCB forcefully condemning the pro-abortion policies of the incoming administration as gravely evil.
• On the other, the USCCB has again failed to take action with regard to Catholic politicians who are pro-abortion and receiving Holy Communion, furthering the scandal, the sacrilege and the jeopardizing of these politicians' souls.

This inconsistency seems, to me, to do a great disservice both to our pre-born brethren and Our Lord, fully Present in the Eucharist. Words are imperitive to the spreading of the Gospel. But, words do not stick without our living by example. Killing an innocent baby is either gravely evil or it is not. Likewise, Jesus is either fully Present in the Eucharist or He is not. You can't have it both ways.

Tolerance

Those who do not tolerate will be silenced, bullied, vilified, or... not tolerated. Hmmmm.

When the crowd, almost instinctively, stamped upon and trampled the Cross it nearly brought tears to my eyes. Christ continues to be beaten and spit upon even 2000 years after suffering the Way of the Cross.  Those vile with hatred for the Cross, the triumph of Christianity, are no different from those who yelled "Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!"  

The Common Good

According to Francis Cardinal George, "The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice."

Word has spread that the US bishops will indeed be addressing the matter of Catholic politicians who are pro-abortion.  Please pray for a fruitful outcome.