22 Friday Jul 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
Today on the first FEAST DAY of St. Mary Magdalen, I was able to chat with my buddy, Wendy Wiese on her Relevant Radio Show, On Call With Wendy Wiese, about St. Mary Magdalen and the confusion surrounding who she really was. Also, we were able to talk about the beauty that is Magdala, Israel today!Listen here:
http://relevantradio.streamguys.us/OC%20Archive/OC20160722.mp3
10 Wednesday Feb 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
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For the last several years, Frito-Lay, the company that owns Doritos, has sponsored the Crash the Super Bowl contest. Consumers are invited to create their own Doritos ads and at least one fan-made commercial is guaranteed to air during the Super Bowl. Over the years Doritos offered bonus prizes ranging from $400,000 to $1,000,000 making the Crash the Super Bowl contest the largest online video contest in the world.
During this year’s Super Bowl, a Crash the Super Bowl Doritos commercial aired that riled up both the pro-life and the pro-abortion factions.
If you haven’t seen it, a mother is lying on an exam table looking at the ultrasound image of her baby while the baby’s father is standing alongside crunching on the contents of a bag of Doritos.
The next thing we see is the father waving a chip in front of the ultrasound image of the baby who, in turn, darts after the chip, eventually rocketing out of the womb in an attempt to grab the snack.
NARAL’s Tweet during the commercial. Absurd.
NARAL (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League) disliked the ad because it “humanized the fetus.”
An absolutely absurd statement that merits no further discussion here.
What happened after the commercial aired was interesting, albeit not entirely surprising; the pro-life community felt validated, stories about the real baby in the ultrasound (the director used the ultra sound of his own son, Freddy), and a great and growing vocal show of support for Doritos emerged on Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and grassroots efforts of the faithful to show Doritos how much the pro-life contingent appreciates their pro-life stand.[insert sound effect of needle scratching across record here…]
While I am, indeed, very happy that a human fetus was shown on national television, during the most highly watched broadcast of the year, for what it, in fact, is–a living human being; and while I’m very happy to show support for any corporate entity that will, at least, not negate the humanity of a baby in the womb, I’m a tad apprehensive about crawling up on that “DORITOS: FRIEND OF THE FAITHFUL!” bandwagon.
Here’s why…
Pride in their chips…
EXHIBIT A:
Last year Doritos decided to jump on the LGBT bandwagon (while we’re talking about bandwagons) and it released limited-edition rainbow colored chips.
The company produced the chips in order to “celebrate and support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the boldest, most colorful way possible.”
The Roy G. Biv chips were inspired by the gay pride flag and were only available to consumers who donated $10 to the It Gets Better Project.
What is the It Gets Better Project? In theory, the mission of the organization isn’t altogether horrible. It’s an organization that supports LGBT youth around the world. Basically, life as an LGBT youth is terribly difficult (which I’m sure it its) and the IGBP was formed “In response to a number of students taking their own lives after being bullied in school, they wanted to create a personal way for supporters everywhere to tell LGBT youth that, yes, it does indeed get better.” Unfortunately instead of leading these youth in a direction similar to that of the Catholic apostolate, Courage:
“The heart of Courage and EnCourage spirituality, based on the writings of Saint Francis de Sales and The Five Goals of Courage, is the belief that sanctity is possible in everyday life. Through the Courage Apostolate those persons experiencing same-sex attractions are encouraged to deepen their Christian discipleship through participation in the sacramental life of the Church, particularly through the frequent reception of the Eucharist and frequent confession, as well as through a regular prayer life, witness, counsel, service, and self-giving. By developing a dedicated prayer life and seeking meditative and prayerful union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we come to recognize our true identity as children of God, men and women in Christ, understanding and experiencing the unconditional love of God, thus conforming ourselves to His will for our lives. Fr. Harvey recognized this transformation as a process requiring great patience and perseverance, where “white-knuckled chastity” will give way to “interior chastity of the heart,” when a soul truly seeks wholeness and holiness in Christ.”
the IGBP’s mission is to be, “a place where young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender can see how love and happiness can be a reality in their future. It’s a place where our straight allies can visit and support their friends and family members.”
EXHIBIT B:
In 2010 a filmmaker from Pennsylvania produced a Crash the Super Bowl entry that featured the products Doritos and Pepsi Max. The commercial was entitled “Feed Your Flock” and the story featured an older man in a Roman collar and a younger man in a Roman collar discussing how they might pay all of their invoices and get the church out of debt.
Wait a minute! Divine intervention! We’ll have a “Free Doritos and Pepsi Max Sunday!”
Now, the imagery throughout this commercial is a mish-mash of Protestant, Catholic, and non-denominational, so it’s difficult to say that which particular faith is being mocked; however, the climax of the commercial features the congregation all lining up, approaching the “priests” and receiving a Dorito chip and a small glass of Pepsi Max in what is clearly a mockery of the reception of Holy Communion.
Communion: A perfectly fine thing to mock!
If you want to watch the whole thing for yourself, you can find it on YouTube here
Word leaked out about this entry and a number of Catholic blogs and websites put out the word to pray for reparation. Calls and emails flooded Pepsi demanding that Feed your Flock not win the Crash the Super Bowl contest. Finally, CatholicMom.com blogger Victoria Gisondi, posted the following: “Great News! Thanks to all the phone calls, prayers and comments, Pepsi has informed a friend that the commercial didnt [sic] make the cut. I still need to verify this but it’s great news. Thanks for your help.”
Here we are, six years later, and we’re in love with Doritos.
It is very difficult to be a Catholic in today’s culture.
Adobe, American Cancer Society, American Express, AT&T, Avon, Bank of America, Bath & Body Works, Ben & Jerry’s, Clorox, Converse, Deutsche Bank, Dockers, Energizer, Expedia, ExxonMobil, Fannie Mae, Groupon, Intuit, Johnson & Johnson, La Senza, Levi Strauss, Liberty Mutual, Macy’s, March of Dimes, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Nike, Oracle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Progressive, Starbucks, Susan G. Komen, Tostitos, Unilever, United Way, Verizon, Wells Fargo are all companies that have directly funded Planned Parenthood. Do we boycott them all? We should. But we don’t.
So Doritos ran a contest-winning commercial that showed a baby in the womb. Just because they didn’t show it being destroyed by saline and then dissected and vacuumed out doesn’t mean they’re a new champion of life.
All I’m saying is just proceed with caution.
16 Monday Nov 2015
Posted in Catholic, Prayer, Ugh..., Uncategorized
In the wake of the attacks on Paris, the social media sphere erupted with outrage, sadness, fear, check-ins, news reports, and first-hand posts from those who had experienced the slaughter first-hand.
No more than 24 hours later, the complaining started.
First it was the Catholics complaining that the use of the French tricolor flag to show support for France was unbecoming for use by any Catholic who was worth his salt.
Then it was reported that university students were complaining that the Paris bombings were stealing attention away from their protests.
Then it was those who complained that all the coverage of the attacks was giving Islam a bad rap.
Then it was the Russians, Lebanese, and Africans who complained that the recent attacks on their soil didn’t get any attention. Where were their Facebook check-ins and profile picture overlays? The New York Times quoted, “no one cares when it happens in those places, where it’s expected.”
Then a cartoonist from the recently attacked Charlie Hebdo complained via Instagram that people were praying for Paris.
Here’s something I’d like all of us to stop and consider for a moment; 132 people were massacred on Friday night. Are the above points worthy of consideration? Absolutely. However, what is correct isn’t always appropriate.
“…he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.” (IS 53:7)
Notre Dame de Paris, pray for the people of your city! Our Lady of Grace, you who showed yourself to Saint Catherine Laboure and brought miracles, who smiled upon Saint Therese of Lisieux and created a missionary, in your holy Motherhood, please intercede for your fearful and endangered people; bring your consolations to the people of Paris and all of France. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, hear us.
Saint Therese of Lisieux, Patron of France, pray for them
Saint Joan of Arc, Patron of France, pray for them.
Saint Martin of Tours, Patron of France, pray for them
Saint Remigius, Patron of France pray for them
Saint John Vianney pray for them
Saint Jeanne Jugan pray for them
Saint St Genevieve pray for them
Saint Denis pray for them
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux pray for them
Saint Germain Cousin pray for them
Saint Peter Julian Eymard pray for them
Saint Louis pray for them
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque pray for them
Saint Peter Fourier pray for them
Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat pray for them
Saints Louis and Zelie Martin pray for them
Saint Jane Frances de Chantal pray for them
Saint Catherine Laboure pray for them
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne pray for them
Saint John Eudes pray for them
Saint Vincent de Paul pray for them
Saint Hilary of Poitiers pray for them
Saint Isaac Jogues pray for them
Saint Jane de Chantal pray for them
Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle pray for them
Saint Benedict Joseph Labre pray for them
Coptic Martyrs, victims of ISIS, pray for them
All you holy men and women, pray for France, and pray for us.
St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Litany from Elizabeth Scalia’s post at aletiea.com
25 Friday Sep 2015
Posted in Amusing, Faith, Pop Culture, Religion, Uncategorized
Tags
Dear Roseanne, Ever since Pope Francis arrived in the United States and started talking about this, that, and the other thing, all I’ve been hearing is people complaining about what he’s saying, what he isn’t saying, what he should be saying. What do you think about all this and should I even care? Sincerely, Milton Dworkin
Mr. Dworkin, I know what you’re talkin’ about, because, I, Roseanne Roseannadanna, have had the same thought! From the minute the Pope arrived, I’ve only been upset that he was wearin’ white after Labor Day, but when you’re the Pope, I guess you can do whatever you want! Like this one time, when Dr. Joyce Brothers was at the same restaurant I was at. I looked over and there she was-eatin’ her meatloaf with a salad fork! I said, “Hey! Joyce! What’re you doin’ with that salad fork, eatin’ your meatloaf?!” Meatloaf was goin’ everywhere! It was makin’ me sick! I thought I was gonna die!
Anyway, so Pope Francis talked to the members of Congress yesterday and he talked about the Golden Rule, and the death penalty, and the environment. I don’t know if any of those congress people were payin’ attention or not, but a lot of Catholics were. It made me think of my Aunt, Hosanna Roseannadanna–who was a real brainy, serious kinda’ gal–and who used to say to me when I was just a little, tiny girl, she’d say, “Rosanne, the Church cares about all of the issues facing people today, but She doesn’t weigh war, healthcare, and capital punishment the same as She weighs abortion or other non-negotiables like euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and same-sex unions. For instance, just as if your child had both a messy room and been caught freebasing heroin. Both are bad, but one necessitates an immediate, serious discussion. The other can be dealt with along the way.”
It just goes to show you. It’s always somethin’. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
28 Tuesday Jul 2015
Posted in Catholic, Church Militant, pro-life, Ugh..., Uncategorized
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In the last couple of weeks, videos have surfaced of Planned Parenthood “medical” officials casually discussing the harvesting and sale of body parts from aborted babies over casual lunches and matter-of-factly separating the wheat from the chaff of the tiny, harvested body parts.
Almost as soon as the videos started going viral on social media, so, too, did the rebuttals that the videos were fakes, that the means by which they were attained were unethical, that we should be careful in our approach to discuss these videos.
The fact of the matter is that we as human beings, and certainly we as Catholics, should be so horrified, so disgusted, so ashamed by what we heard discussed and what we have now seen in these videos, that we should be rendered speechless, both from terror and from tears.
We No Longer Fear
As a society, we no longer fear anything.
There was a time when stories about and images like these here horrified and frightened man. Not quite in the same way that horror movies of today frighten us, but in a way that forced the viewer to look into his own heart and consider, even if just for a moment, whether or not what he saw within that organ was the same sort of evil he had just heard in the story or saw in the image before him.
Today we, who are ever so sophisticated, who have smugly intellectualized God right out of existence, look at these images and find them cartoonish and over the top.
We, all of us, have become anesthetized, to one degree or another, to the horrific, to the dreadful, perhaps even to evil itself.
Francisco Goya: Saturn Devouring His Son
Now, more than ever, we should be afraid–very afraid. “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.” –God
We are the sum of our whole and our whole is currently rotten to the core and the collective is too blind and too ignorant to see it.
Too Smart to Believe in Satan
I think I can safely say most of us don’t act upon homicidal ideation. What then of the homicidal functionaries of Planned Parenthood we see in the videos? Were they born evil? Are they possessed? Are they criminally insane? The answer I hear most often regarding the workers in this diabolic vineyard is, “No. They just don’t understand what they’re doing.”
Whether they do or do not, their actions are evil and they themselves are the purveyors of evil; carrying out their acts in the name of enlightenment, with the same cannibalistic ferocity of Saturn in the painting by Goya.
Charles Baudelaire is credited as saying, “My dear brothers, never forget, when you hear the progress of enlightenment vaunted, that the devil’s best trick is to persuade you that he doesn’t exist!” I think we can all agree, finally, that he does, indeed, exist and resides within the walls of Planned Parenthood and within the hearts of many who do its work.
“Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Pet 5:8)
Watch these videos. I implore you. Yes, they are graphic. Yes, they are upsetting. Yes, they are going to haunt you…and they should. We must do everything we can to wake ourselves and those around us from the drugged stupor in which we are walking nowadays. We must be a witness to these lost lives. We must be a voice for them. We must be a voice crying out to Heaven!
The culture in which we now live is the excrement produced when pride and arrogance gorge on too much stupidity, ignorance, indifferentism, passivity, and moral relativism. We as Catholics must heed the words of St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein), who was witness to another great holocaust of humanity, when she tells us, “The nation doesn’t simply need what we have. It needs what we are.” Indeed.
May God have mercy on us.
26 Friday Jun 2015
Posted in Catholic, marriage, Uncategorized
As you probably know by now, this morning the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage.
The definition of marriage has been changed in the law of the land.
However, regardless of today’s SCOTUS ruling, for us Catholics, the definition of marriage as a sacramental institution of marriage remains unchanged: The union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator’s generosity and fecundity: ‘Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.’ All human generations proceed from this union. ‐Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2335
In the coming days, you will, no doubt, find yourself engaged in conversation, heated debates, question and answer sessions with loved ones, friends, foes… Understand that the Church isn’t against anyone’s right to the pursuit of happiness; however, She has certain teachings that cannot change to meet the approval of the culture in which She resides and that these teachings exist in order for all God’s children to live in happiness and holiness in this life so that we can live with Him in the next.
Holy Family, pray for us.
17 Wednesday Jun 2015
Posted in Pop Culture, Right on, Ugh..., Uncategorized
Tags
Given the breathtaking turn of events we’ve seen in our culture in the last month or so regarding gender, race, marriage, what I’m about to write will be the most controversial blog I’ve ever written.
I am a white, heterosexual, Catholic woman. No, really, I actually am.
There. I’ve done it. Let the backlash begin.
12 Thursday Feb 2015
Posted in Pop Culture, sex, Ugh..., Uncategorized
Originally published February 12, 2015
This will be brief.
I am a Roman Catholic. I am the pop culture blogger for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. I have a Master’s Degree in English Language and Literature.
I am sick and tired of hearing about 50 Shades of Grey.
Does it portray sexual intimacy in a way that is counter to Catholic teaching? Absolutely.
Is it responsible for the ruination of marriage in our culture? It certainly falls in the category of “things that probably are.”
Is it a flash in the pan? Yes.
Is it good literature? From the excerpt I read in order to be able to make this comment…no.
Am I offended by the content of 50 Shades of Grey? Yes.
Am I, perhaps, a bit more offended by the innumerable abortions, beheadings, immolation, human trafficking, pedophilia, euthanasia, murders, rapes, robberies, et cetera taking place every day all over the planet? Yes.
What’s an alternative to 50 Shades of Grey?
Saint Valentine, pray for us!
03 Tuesday Feb 2015
Posted in Prayer, Uncategorized
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Today I watched a video that was released of a young man (purportedly Jordanian pilot Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh) wearing a wet, orange jumpsuit. He was caged like an animal. A masked man with a torch touched the flame to a line of earth that led to the cage, encircling it. As the flame reached the cage, the man inside was engulfed in fire. He frantically bat at the flames with his burning arms. I was amazed at how long he remained standing as he became a pillar of fire. Finally he fell to his knees, head bowed. As the videographer zoomed in on his head for a close up, you could see this young man, literally, melting. His charred remains fell back and that was the end of the video.
It was one of the most horrific things I have ever seen.
I have watched other videos like this. I have not watched them because of a morbid fascination. Each has sickened me. Each has frightened me. Each has left me weeping. I have not watched them because I felt compelled to do so, I watched them because I felt obligated to do so. I watched them so that just one more person would be aware of the evil that roams the earth. I watched them so that I would be informed as to what is happening in our world. I watched them so that I could pray for the victim.
With the release of each of these videos, I have been reminded of the images of the citizens of Weimar, Germany that General George Patton marched through Buchenwald after W.W. II. Approximately 2,000 of them–all civilians–were made to march several miles up a steep hill. It took days for the townspeople to file through the camp. There were no precautions taken to protect them from the typhus epidemic in the camp. In their clean, starched and pressed dresses and suits, the townspeople came face-to-face with the enormity of evil men and the death that resulted from it. They left that day with the stench of barbarity upon them.
General Patton wrote to General Dwight Eisenhower: We have found at a place four miles north of WEIMAR a similar camp, only much worse. The normal population was 25,000, and they died at the rate of about a hundred a day…I told the press to go up there and see it, and then write as much about it as they could.
I often find myself in a minority of thought and opinion. With this post, I am sure I will find myself there once again. We should be echoing General Patton’s directive to “write as much about it” as we can! We should be telling each other what we know without fear of appearing a lunatic. No longer can we turn a blind eye to evil and hatre
d! Today’s video. Abortion photos. Holocaust photos. They should all be force fed to our population so that we see evil for what it really is. So people will recognize it when it finally meets them face-to-face…and it will. We are, each of us, complicit in our own way. Silence is tacit approval. Unfortunately, I fear we are reaping what we have sown.
Pray. Fast. Pray again.
All angels, saints, and martyrs, pray for us! May God have mercy on us.
22 Thursday Jan 2015
Posted in abortion, Pop Culture, pro-life, Uncategorized
Today is the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade. Nearly one million people will be marching in Washington, D.C. today to show their disagreement with the decision. There will be thousands of signs protesting the murder of the victims of this law, posters of cherubic babies asking that their brothers and sisters in the womb be spared, tiny gold and silver feet pinned to lapels, and banners stating “I survived Roe v. Wade.”
I don’t like that last one. I was born in 1974, so I am part of the group that supposedly “survived Roe v. Wade.” It seems to me, by stating you survived Roe v. Wade, there was a chance you wouldn’t have survived, that your mother considered aborting you. My mother did not consider aborting me.
By following the Blessed Mother’s lead in putting herself aside, by allowing God’s will to be done, by saying “I will,” my mother gave me life, she gave me the opportunity to participate in the fight against this grave evil, and she gave me the occasion to be a witness of God’s love in the world. My mother’s fiat–and every other mother’s fiat since 1973–is what must be echoed by every woman if we are ever to overturn the atrocity of Roe v. Wade.
I did not survive Roe v. Wade. I triumphed over Roe v. Wade.
Saints Gianna and Gerard Majella and Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!
elizabeth westhoff 