Thursday, August 26, 2010
Saturday, May 9, 2009
One more year...
Five of the middle school students seen above comprised my small class and they did it! They all were present and received their First Holy Communion today...yay! Us catechists are always so proud of them. God bless them all always!
One of my students gave me a bouquet of flowers. Love it!!!
May 1976 :-) We've come a long way, baby!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Lord Macaulay, 19th Century Protestant British Historian, on Ranke's "History of the Popes"
“There is not, and there never was on this earth, a work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church. The history of that Church joins together the two great ages of human civilization. No other institution is left standing which carries the mind back to the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon, and when camelopards and tigers bounded in the Flavian amphitheater..."
"...The proudest royal houses are but of yesterday when compared to the line of the Supreme Pontiffs. That line we trace back in an unbroken series from the Pope who crowned Napoleon in the nineteenth century to the Pope who crowned Pepin in the eighth; and far beyond the time of Pepin the august dynasty extends, till it is lost in the twilight of fable. The republic of Venice came next in antiquity. But the republic of Venice was modern when compared with the Papacy; and the republic of Venice is gone, and the Papacy remains. The Papacy remains, not in decay, not a mere antique, but full of life and useful vigor..."
"...The Catholic Church is still sending forth to the farthest ends of the world missionaries as zealous as those who landed in Kent with Augustine, and still confronting hostile kings with the same spirit with which she confronted Attila. The number of her children is greater than in any former age. Her acquisitions in the New World have more than compensated for what she has lost in the Old. Her spiritual ascendancy extends over the vast countries which lie between the plains of the Missouri and Cape Horn, countries which, a century hence, may not improbably contain a population as large as that which now inhabits Europe..."
"...The members of her communion are certainly not fewer than a hundred and fifty millions; and it will be difficult to show that all other Christian sects united amount to a hundred and twenty millions. Nor do we see any sign which indicates that the term of her long dominion is approaching. She saw the commencement of all the governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all..."
"...She was great and respected before the Saxon had set foot on Britain, before the Frank had passed the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still flourished in Antioch, when idols were still worshipped in the temple of Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished vigor when some traveler from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul’s.”
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Big thanks to Fr. Michael!
Fr. Michael Robinson, our pastor, was kind enough to visit and take questions from the students. My students are very inquisitive and I do my best to give the correct, practical, age-appropriate answers to their questions. I also try to bring in videos that may illustrate aspects of our faith better than any lecture I could give. But it is always cool to have someone who has a deep understanding of our faith visit live in the classroom. His explanation of Scripture and our Catholic faith is honest, orthodox and straightforward and you can tell by the way he takes his time to fully answer a question that he cares about souls. We are very blessed to have Fr. Michael as our pastor, who faithfully serves our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and His Church. Thank you, Fr. Michael!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Truth stands, even when alone...
I know of Archbishop Raymond Burke because of his work when he was the Archbishop of St. Louis, MO. He is a solid, orthodox Catholic, he does not bend according to public opinion and stands firm for the truths of Catholic teachings. Oh, if we could only say that about all people who claim to be Catholic! One of my speakers, Sister Rosalind Moss, was almost going to have her community of nuns inaugurated by Archbishop Burke before he was promoted to the highest ecclesiastical court of the Catholic Church. The U.S.A's loss, but now Archbishop Burke has a bigger platform in which to teach us all what it means to be Catholic. God surely knows what He is doing!
Exclusive Interview: Leading Vatican Prelate Says Document of US Bishops Partly to Blame for Election of “Most Pro-Abortion President”
Also says Bishops’ Catholic News Service needs to be given "some new direction"
By Hilary White, Rome Correspondent
ROME, January 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A document of the US Catholic Bishops is partly to blame for the abandonment of pro-life teachings by voting Catholics and the election of the “most pro-abortion president” in US history, one of the Vatican’s highest officials said in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com.
Archbishop Raymond Burke, the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, named a document on the election produced by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that he said “led to confusion” among the faithful and led ultimately to massive support among Catholics for Barack Obama.
The US bishops’ document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” stated that, under certain circumstances, a Catholic could in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports abortion because of "other grave reasons," as long as they do not intend to support that pro-abortion position.
Archbishop Burke, the former Archbishop of St. Louis Mo. and recently appointed head of the highest ecclesiastical court in the Catholic Church, told LifeSiteNews.com that although “there were a greater number of bishops who spoke up very clearly and firmly ... there was also a number who did not.”
But most damaging, he said, was the document “Faithful Citizenship” that “led to confusion” among the voting Catholic population.
“While it stated that the issue of life was the first and most important issue, it went on in some specific areas to say ‘but there are other issues’ that are of comparable importance without making necessary distinctions.”
Archbishop Burke, citing an article by a priest and ethics expert of St. Louis archdiocese, Msgr. Kevin McMahon, who analysed how the bishops’ document actually contributed to the election of Obama, called its proposal “a kind of false thinking, that says, ‘there’s the evil of taking an innocent and defenceless human life but there are other evils and they’re worthy of equal consideration.’
“But they’re not. The economic situation, or opposition to the war in Iraq, or whatever it may be, those things don’t rise to the same level as something that is always and everywhere evil, namely the killing of innocent and defenceless human life.”
Archbishop Burke also cited the work of the official news service of the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference, that many pro-life observers complained soft-pedalled the newly elected president’s opposition to traditional morality.
“The bishops need to look also at our Catholic News Service, CNS, they need to review their coverage of the whole thing and give some new direction, in my judgement,” he said.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Rehearsal on January 20, not January 19
Just in case you are checking this blog, please remember that rehearsal has been moved from Monday, January 19 to Tuesday January 20 from 7-9 PM. See you there!
