Some of God's Gifts

I often think about how good God has been to me. Here are some of His places and things I see and love near where I live.....

Kansas Wheat Fields

Here are photos of Kansas wheat fields in Springtime==some of my husband's favorite places to visit.

Where I Think We Are...

WolfTracker left an interesting comment on the previous post re Bishops' Scorecard:

...even after all of the evidence you show to the contrary, you state that things [in the Church] are not "significantly improving." Surely, things are improving drastically, even if not all is all right. Perhaps, I misread your summation. Please help me out.

WT, I think we are now on the upside curve of the 'decline and resurgence' graph of strength within the Catholic Church in the U.S. The graphed line is intended to represent the precipitous fall when so much was lost in the past 40 years. My estimate of where we are now is marked at slightly beyond the low point and climbing.

We are a long way from climbing as fast as we fell, and we are likely to never reach the opposite of that severe decline rate in church strength. For example, weekend (Sunday) Mass attendance fell from approximately 70 percent attendance to 30 percent in 40 years--averaging about 1 percent decline per year for approximately 40 million Catholics (400,000 less Mass attendees per year). It is hard for me to imagine that we can gain 400,000 more regular Mass attendees per year over the next 40 years (but I do believe in God's miracles, especially when inspired by saintly lives and preaching!)

I cannot yet say that things are "significantly improving," although we seem to be advancing to that point. I will use the word "significantly" only when there is at least a sizable increase from the lowest value on the chart. I don't think we have yet reached that point--for example, in number of regular Mass-going Catholics, or in sacramental confessions and marriages.

Good Bishops are now coming on the scene, and one of the most optimistic reports I've seen is the news reported by Sandro Magister that Pope Benedict XVI is very carefully reviewing candidates for Bishops.

Much more than curia appointments, Benedict XVI has at heart the appointment of bishops.

He dedicates much greater attention to these than John Paul II did. Before giving his permission, the pope keeps the dossiers of the designates on his desk for up to two or three weeks. And sometimes he rejects them, without giving an explanation to the competent curia dicastery presided over by cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.

Pope Ratzinger is very demanding; he wants bishops of quality, and doesn’t always find them. The pace of episcopal appointments has fallen by a quarter with him, in comparison with the previous pontificate.

However, even a good Pope and good Bishops will have an extremely difficult job to restore and rebuild the Church to the point where most Catholics regularly attend Mass, get married before living together, and understand the importance of frequent confession. Moreover, the technologically adept secularists and pagans oppose the teachings of Christ and have a great deal more power in society than 40 years ago.

Scorecard for Kansas City Bishops

Since 1968, a scorecard that rated performance for most Kansas City Catholic Bishops would have been marked with many deficiencies, justifying grades of "D" and "F". However, almsgiving was not lost during the past 40 years as the Church continued its beautiful work for the poor. [Unfortunately, 'love' also was used by some Bishops to justify the extinction of common sense, as could be seen when examining lists of grantees and expenses receiving diocesan 'charitable' funds.]

Fortunately, the current two Bishops (Bishop Robert W. Finn and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann) of Greater Kansas City deserve much, much better grades than most recent KC Bishops. I wish I had started to summarize their accomplishments when each Bishop took charge, but I really thought they did not have what was needed to dig the Church out of the pit of Modernism. However, the list of our current Bishops' good and faithful works gets longer and longer.

1. The Leaven and The Catholic Key diocesan newspapers are much improved. [Lots could be said in support of this conclusion--perhaps in a future post. The Key is now better than The Leaven, in my opinion.]

2. The diocesan leaderships are no longer hotbeds of dissent, even if some local parishes and 'Catholic' colleges remain bulwarks of Modernism.

3. The Bishops acknowledge and support the contributions and aspirations of traditional Catholics, even giving churches for the offering of the old Latin Mass and allowing FSSP and ICKSP priests to serve as chaplains.

4. Bishop Finn shows character, strength, and wisdom when dealing with dissenters. ['Nuff said!]

5. Archbishop Naumann seems to have taken a quieter approach in handling dissenters, but the results also seem fairly good, as diocesan Masses seem less 'experimental' than before. [Interestingly, I've observed two Kansas parishes where people were invited to kneel at the beginning of Mass where they ask God for forgiveness of their sins. I assume Archbishop Naumann is responsible for this welcome 'innovation.']

6. Archbishop Naumann and Bishop Finn are both strong pro-life supporters. Almost every week, their diocesan newspapers have an article or two on the life issues, and Archbishop Naumann usually leads a monthly rosary march to the abortion clinic in Kansas City, KS. In addition, both Bishops lead efforts to ban harvesting of stem cells from aborted infants, and Archbishop Naumann sponsored the production of a stem cell video to encourage opposition to the practice.

7. Bishop Finn has recruited the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, a traditional group of Catholic nuns, and is extending considerable support and encouragement to them.

8. Both Bishops recognize the evil of pornography and have organized programs to combat it.

9. Archbishop Naumann, a member of the Bishops' Committee on Marriage and Family Life, appears to recognize the great danger to the Church of the loss of over 50 percent of Catholic marriages. See my related post.

10. Archbishop Naumann has written many good columns in The Leaven that teach Catholic doctrine and that address thorny issues, such as contraception, 'free' love, and confession.

11. The two Bishops jointly sponsored the Annual Corpus Christi procession from St. Thomas More Church to Avila College, emphasizing Catholic belief in transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

12. Bishop Finn has appointed faithful stewards of Catholic teaching to key roles in his diocese.

13. Both Bishops are working very hard and successfully to get religious vocations. Bishop Finn just announced that the Missouri diocese now has 25 seminarians. He promoted a diocesan observance of 30 Days of Prayer to St. Joseph for vocations that ended when he led a pilgrimage to St. Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec. [It's heartening to see Bishop Finn is not afraid to get on his knees! Photo from The Key.]

14. Archbishop Naumann recognizes the importance of serving the homeschooling community. The Savior Pastoral Center was the site of a recent homeschooling conference and Laura Berquist will promote homeschooling at a July 15 conference starting at 1:00 pm at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS.

16. Archbishop Naumann is not afraid to publicly confront Governor Kathleen Sebelius on her pro-abortion activities. [Catholic pro-lifers are still waiting for the Archbishop to publicly acknowledge that the Kansas governor has removed herself from the Catholic Church and should no longer receive Communion. See my related post.]

17. Bishop Finn and Archbishop Naumann are co-sponsoring a Global Living Rosary during May 2008 at Kauffman Stadium. Also see here.

Not everything is all right or even significantly improving, but events over the past two years indicate that the days of unopposed Modernism in Kansas City have come to an end. Moreover, there is a resurgence of faith and Catholic action that I haven't seen for a long, long time.

Vatican Finances and Vatican Radio

Yesterday (July 6, 2007), the Vatican released a summary of their financial statement for last year, and today Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, president of the Vatican's Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, released additional financial notes.

It seems apropos to review the spending and income of the Holy See because Peter's Pence is collected at this time of the year by U.S. Catholic Churches. A surplus of 2.4 million euro was reported, and it seems the institutional activity of the Holy See cut expenses (Secretariat of State, congregations, councils, tribunals, the Synod of Bishops and various other offices). More importantly, the donations that came from Episcopal Conferences, dioceses, religious Institutes, faithful and various Entities increased from 73.9 million euro in 2005 to 86 million euro in 2006. Contributions for Peter's Pence grew to 74.6 million euro in 2006 as against the 2005 total of 46.7 million.

A major drain on Vatican resources appears to be Vatican Radio (deficit of about 23.8 million euro) and L'Osservatore Romano (deficit of 4.4 million euro), even though the Vatican Printing Office and the Vatican Television Center reported surpluses. All newspapers are struggling with the revolutions of the information world, so L'Osservatore Romano's problems are not unexpected.

The large 2006 deficit is not the first Vatican Radio deficit. In 2004, several Cardinals also questioned a large annual deficit of Vatican Radio. In addition, the 2000 financial statement also reported a large deficit for Vatican Radio, noting that the number of hours transmitted in the year were almost 24,000, and that many [2000] Jubilee events were transmitted in as many as 60 languages.

The most useful information on the large annual deficits of Vatican Radio were reported in 2006 by CNS:

Vatican Radio, which accepts no advertising, and the Vatican newspaper, which accepts very little, are traditional drains on Vatican revenues.

One day after he was appointed director of the Vatican press office, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, who also serves as general director of Vatican Radio, told reporters the radio is working on reducing its deficit, which amounted to $29.9 million in 2005.

He said the radio was committed to reducing its staff from 395 employees to 335 by 2013, primarily by not replacing retiring workers whose jobs can be handled easily by others with the help of new technology.

As for advertising, he said the question was not only "ideological," but practical as well. Advertisers want to know how many people they will reach in a targeted geographic area, information Vatican Radio does not have for its programs broadcast in more than 40 languages around the world.

If you would like to listen to Vatican Radio, the signal is broadcast to North America on iTuner. I listened this morning to interviews with student astronomers given a chance to study at the Vatican observatory, and especially to an interview with Anita Garibaldi Hibbert, the great granddaughter of the Italian revolutionary, Giuseppe Garibaldi. Anita Garibaldi is the curator of Garibaldi 2007, a celebration of his revolutionary life.

The Risorgimento was the Italian revolution against the Papacy during the 19th century that was lead by Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cavour -- all ardent Freemasons associated with the Carbonari. Wikipedia notes that the Carbonari (coal-burners) was "at the root of many of the outbreaks in Italy from 1820 on." The Carbonari was formed in southern Italy and was inspired by the principles of the French revolution. The controversial document, the Alta Vendita, was attributed to the Sicilian Carbonari. Wikipedia comments that the Alta Vendita details an alleged Masonic plan to infiltrate the Roman Catholic church and spread liberal ideas within it.

It was surprising (or perhaps not!) that the Vatican Radio is promoting Garibaldi's Bicentennial. In her introduction, Tracy McClure (the Vatican Radio interviewer) even called Garibaldi "one of Italy's greatest heroes." This in spite of the fact that Garibaldi was noted by his great granddaughter as getting to know many young woman and quickly forgetting them.

Frankly, I was not impressed with Vatican Radio and hope it goes "down the tube" if the stuff I listened to is typical of their programming. What I listened to showed Vatican Radio is more an enemy than a friend of the Church.

Motu Proprio in English

The Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, was issued in Latin but both Whispers in the Loggia and Rorate Coeli have English versions.

I know of one Wichita diocesan priest who claims he will be one of the first priests in the U.S. to take advantage of the Motu Proprio and offer the old Latin Mass now permitted by Pope Benedict XVI. He has been training himself in the rubrics using a DVD produced by the SSPX, although there appears to be a number of other sources, especially the priests' training program developed jointly by Una Voce and the FSSP.

Deo Gratias.

Religious Education in Catholic Schools

I'd like to know if the problems of yesterday's religious education still exist in Catholic parochial schools and CCD programs. Comments from parents of or students in Catholic schools are solicited. From my own experiences of many years ago, here are examples of Catholic religious education during several time periods.

1950's--Grade school religion was taught using the Baltimore Catechisms and a small volume that summarized the Old and New Testaments. Our pastor would come into the classroom and ask us questions that we had to answer using what had been taught by the nuns (who he once noted were NOT very good theologians).

One question that I particularly remember was, "Can God make a circle that isn't round, or that has an endpoint?" We kids stumbled around, some saying yes and some saying no. We knew God could do all things--every power was His--yet we couldn't imagine His creating a circle of such a difficult to conceive nature. Our pastor finally told us that God could not create a lie, and the contradiction of an unround circle with an endpoint was a lie. If God lied, then He would violate His truthfulness and goodness and that was impossible. It was a very good discussion of the power of God.

During high school religion classes, we used a more advanced version of the St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism, but mostly studied Catholic history using a book written by a Fr. John Laux. Better histories have been written, but this was a good book for Catholic students in the 1950's. More importantly, the assistant pastor who taught religion talked to us personally. I remember when he asked if I was going to attend a public university, and when I said 'yes,' he was very disappointed. He then told me that "Excellent Catholics who attend a public university will become good Catholics, good Catholics will become fair, fair Catholics will become poor, and poor Catholics will become no Catholics at all."

When our assistant pastor said this, I resolved not to let it happen to me. I tried to attend daily Mass at 6:30 am while in college. A very good decision, because my husband says that is a big reason why he married me! Both of us also attended religion classes sponsored by the Catholic church and the Newman Club.

1960's--After Vatican II, I taught CCD to public school students in the middle grades. By the second half of the 60's, the religious education programs were becoming quite deficient and even very misleading. One Saturday, I was told to bring my fourth grade students to see a video presentation, "This Sunday Party," written and produced by a priest, Robert Hovda, of the Fargo diocese who was then working in Washington, DC with the National Liturgical Conference, a radical and very active Catholic organization during the 1960's.

It is informative to know more about this renegade priest who spearheaded much of the work of the NLC--so let's digress a little bit. Please note that in 1964, the National Liturgical Conference meeting in St. Louis celebrated the first official high Mass said in English in the U.S. Catholic Church.

The National Liturgical Conference continued to hold large annual conventions around the U.S during the 1960's. One convention was held in Kansas City, MO on August 21-24, 1967. Several small Catholic newspapers and magazines (introduced to me by my adoptive Godmother) had begun to pick up on the craziness of the time, and I became quite interested in what the NLC organizers were going to do at the Kansas City convention which was held in the Municipal Auditorium.

Because I had morning sickness (that was particularly bad in the evening!), I asked my husband to attend the advertised "Mass of the Future" after he left work. He came home and described four screens mounted at the four ends of the large arena. My husband said the offertory of the "Mass of the Future" featured a ping pong ball bouncing from one screen to the next--all around the arena. Many other bad things occurred from what my friends told me, and Bishop Hallinan's address made things worse by saying the Bishops "can prod those who are indifferent to the changes [of Vatican II], a more important task than curbing those whose enthusiasms outdistance their experience and skill." A good review of Hallinan's speech is also given by Adoremus.

The following year (1968), the annual convention was held in Washington, DC and it was W_ I_L_D! Check out the button ticket needed to enter the convention. One year later, Wikipedia reports that the first “rock mass” was produced, "featuring Minnie Ripperton and the Rotary Connection, at the Liturgical Conference National Convention, Milwaukee Arena, Milwaukee, WI, 1969, with thousands attending." The Wanderer newspaper sent a reporter to cover the convention, but nothing was printed in this orthodox Catholic newspaper. The editor explained that the convention "Mass" was sacrilegious and they could not describe it without sinning. [Much more information about the liturgical power of the NLC, its connection with ICEL, and its genesis of the English Mass is found in this article written by Michael Davies, the modern historian to whom I owe so much for a good understanding of what happened before, during, and after Vatican II.]

Now back to Hovda's slide show and my CCD class. The slide show taught the children that in the Mass, "we eat the bread and drink the wine"--which is exactly what one of my students answered when the assistant pastor asked the class what they had just learned. The young priest quickly responded, "No, no! In the Mass, we eat Christ's Body and drink His blood under the forms of bread and wine." I will never forget the puzzled and disappointed face of the young girl who had answered truthfully what she had heard and seen in the Hovda slide show. Later I asked the assistant pastor to withdraw the slide show from future use, but he made some excuse that it must still be shown to the students.

Early 1970's--Our own children were in Catholic grade school and learned very little about their faith from the new and very deficient catechisms. Even the religious songs were bad. I confronted one nun who was teaching my children a song with words that were heretical. I asked her to explain why she used religious songs. She suddenly realized her answer, that songs were repetitive means used to more effectively teach students the faith, was self-condemning.

One of the last straws was the introduction of the "Becoming a Person" program in the Catholic grade school. This objectionable sex education program was likely related to the 1961 book by Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person. Many parents objected, and so the program was allowed to be 'voluntary', with children allowed to be excused if the parents insisted. My husband and I did insist, yet within a couple of weeks, the principal called to apologize because our children had been "accidentally left in the classroom" when the "Becoming a Person" sex education program was taught.

About this time I toured the classrooms during teacher-parent conferences and found some of the displays quite unsuitable, unworthy of a Catholic bulletin board, and even objectionable. One that I particularly remember was of the stations of the cross. It had been changed. Now the image of the fall of Jesus as he carried his cross up Calvary was pictured as the beating of a black person by a white police officer.

In short, we found our situation in the typical Catholic school of the early 1970's more than a challenge--it was a spiritual disaster. We moved (another story), and this decision was the best we could have ever made to save our souls and the souls of our children.

At the Bedside...

Three old ladies, of whom I was one, visited Mrs. E this afternoon in her home. Each of us had been called and told Mrs. E now was sleeping most of the time--and that her body "was beginning to shut down." The hospice nurse said that this very elderly woman (approaching 100 years) will live only a very few more days. She drank a little water last night, but none today. I offered Mrs. E some newly picked black raspberries a couple of times, which I know she loves, but she did not respond.

Mrs. E received the Sacrament of the Sick and Dying about three weeks ago in her last hospital stay, and appeared quite happy when the priest confirmed all her sins were forgiven her. Her granddaughter has been saying the rosary with her. This afternoon we three old ladies prayed three rosaries at the bedside of Mrs. E. During the first rosary, Mrs. E attempted to make the responses, but then seemed to be asleep.

The very small bedroom of Mrs. E is very Catholic. Above the head of the bed is a picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. On one side wall, someone has framed about six or seven very old Holy Cards belonging to Mrs. E's mother, who died about 25 years ago. A crucifix hangs on the opposite wall. At the foot of the bed is a dresser on which is placed a statue of the baby Jesus in His Mother Mary's arms.

After the last rosary, one of us recommended we all pray the Act of Contrition to ask God for forgiveness for our sins. It is a good prayer to say at the bedside of a dying person because his/her hearing is usually the last sense to be lost. Please keep Mrs. E and her family in your prayers over the next few days, then remember to pray for her as a possible poor soul in purgatory.

Resourcefulness in Children .... and Wallace

Fr. John Fullerton, District Superior of the Society of Saint Pius X, writes that assigned chores and hobbies are necessary to develop resourcefulness in children. He adds that creative and educational hobbies are endangered by TV, video games, and surfing the web.

The story of a very resourceful young student was told to me recently by a 91-year old woman. She described her days in the southwestern desert where she and her family tried to eke out a living on a farm when it was expected the crop would fail two out of every three years. Loans from the bank allowed farmers to survive in the off-years.

Thirteen-year old Wallace, a sixth grader, was a fellow student in the consolidated school of the early 1920's. Wallace's father was a farmer who had bid successfully with the school district to provide a canvas covered truck to transport the children the long distances to and from the school. Interestingly, the farmer always made his young son, Wallace, drive the "school bus".

One day, the bus left school and went about a mile and a half before it ran out of gas. Wallace had to walk back to get gas and carry it in a can to the bus. The other kids shivered on the wood benches under the tarp-covered truck until Wallace returned, filled the gas tank, and drove the students the rest of the way home.

Wallace had to be especially resourceful the day when the bus broke down. While he and a couple of other boys repaired the truck, the late autumn weather was delightful and the girls decided to walk home with the full moon rising on the eastern horizon. In about an hour, Wallace and the boys were good enough mechanics to get the bus running again to pick up the girls and drive them the rest of the way home.

Can you imagine this example of youthful responsibility and ingenuity happening today? Resourcefulness in children seems to be limited to family environments where a lot of children (or grossly defective parents) require the children to take care of themselves and their siblings. Maybe, just maybe, some of these children will be as responsible and resourceful as Wallace Lockmiller.

Missale Romanum

Did you know that a 16.5 MB pdf file of the Missale Romanum is available here? You won't be able to print it, but you can see and search it. Compliments to the German site kath.net and its community forums for this information.

The latest news on the coming Motu Proprio again is found at Rorate Coeli.

A Long Remembered Lesson About Envy

When I was ten years old I was very sick with pneumonia. The doctor arrived at our house and brought penicillin, a new drug at the time. When I saw the needle, I freaked out and it took three grown people to hold me down while I was given an injection. Naturally, I became immediately better, but the doctor also prescribed continuing doses of oral penicillin that tasted terrible. Being a rather difficult child, I clenched my teeth and refused to take it.

After all cajoling and threats did not work, my Aunt E decided to bribe me. If I swallowed the foul-tasting medicine and finished the bottle, she and my Uncle B would buy me a pair of cowboy boots. At that time, my life revolved around playing cowboys and Indians in the barn and in the woods--well, what could you expect from a kid who loved to watch Roy Rogers' movies. So I gulped the sickening medicine down as fast as I could and a short time later got my beloved cowboy boots. They cost about $10 and probably represented about $70 in today's money.

Naturally my siblings were very impressed and looked longingly at my beautiful brown and cream cowboy boots with the stitched red design. When next Christmas came, my generous uncle and aunt decided to give my brother and sister each a pair of cowboy boots. As the packages were opened, I looked at their NEW boots and compared them with my now worn ones. I became very angry, "They didn't have to swallow that terrible medicine. They shouldn't get any cowboy boots!" Then I ran and pouted and cried.

My Uncle B caught up with me a few minutes later and I'll always remember what he told me in that excellent 'teaching moment'. He asked if I remembered the Gospel told at Mass a few weeks earlier. Then he repeated the story of the laborers in the vineyard, especially:

These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats. But he answering said to one of them: Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine, and go thy way: I will also give to this last even as to thee. Or, is it not lawful for me to do what I will? is thy eye evil, because I am good? (Matt 20: 1-16)

I felt very ashamed when I was told that the cowboy boots were given to my siblings because my aunt and uncle tried to be very generous people. It was a lesson I will always remember. May God grant His eternal love to my Uncle B. who died unexpectedly almost 50 years ago.

Severe Decline in Catholic Marriages

U.S. Catholic dioceses reported 426,000 Catholic marriages in 1970 but only about 212,000 in 2006, a decline of 214,000 (or 50%) in the past 36 years, according to Our Sunday Visitor. This statistic means that there are 50% fewer new Catholic families being started than in 1970--even though the population of Catholics has supposedly increased. Moreover, the number of children may be fewer because of contraception.

I wouldn't be surprised if a significant part of the recent 212,000 marriages in 2006 were Catholic because of the parents' faith or wishes, rather than that of the bride and groom. Considering this likely scenario and other statistics, the number of Catholic marriages may indicate that the Catholic church in the U.S. could have decreased in believing members by over 70 percent.

If I were a good Bishop today, it would be hard not to look at the mess left by former Bishops in my diocese and ruefully say, "Thanks a lot, guys--you've made my work a lot harder than it should have been!"

The Motu Proprio - Update

Brian Mershon combines a lot of information on the coming Motu Proprio re the old Latin Mass here.

Corpus Christi - KC Procession

The two Kansas City dioceses are sponsoring a Corpus Christi procession on Sunday afternoon, June 10, beginning at 2:00 p.m. Bishop Robert W. Finn, of the Diocese of Kansas City ~ St. Joseph, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, will lead a procession from St. Thomas More Parish, 11822 Holmes Road to Avila University, 11901 Wornall Road, Kansas City, Missouri. Hundreds of people expected to make the 0.75-mile procession that will bring the presence of God to bless and protect the community. See Mapquest street map, although the route may not be as pictured.

At 1 pm the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for adoration in the church, and opportunities for sacramental confession and reconciliation will be offered. At 2 pm the procession will form and proceed to the college, where Benediction will be sung.

Archbishop Naumann has asked specifically for many young people to participate and is offering t-shirts for the first 500 people that attend from the Kansas Archdiocese!

I highly encourage attendance at this procession, especially because honoring Our Lord's Body and Blood in the Blessed Sacrament is the best way to strengthen our faith for the coming days.

Chinese Leadership & One Child Policy

An official Chinese news site identifies the former occupations of the leaders of the Communist Party of China. Based on the success of the new Chinese technical revolution, I was not too surprised that ALL nine men were trained as engineers.

Hu Jintao--Civil/Hydrological Engineer, hydropower stations
Wu Bangguo--Electronics Engineer, radio electron tubes
Wen Jiabao--Geological Engineer, surveying and prospecting
Jia Qinglin--Electrical/Mechanical Engineer, electric motor and appliance design and manufacture
Zeng Qinghong--Electrical/Mechanical Engineer, automatic controls
Huang Ju--Electrical/Mechanical Engineer, electrical machinery manufacturing
Wu Guanzheng--Mechanical Engineer, thermal measurement and automatic controls
Li Changchun--Electrical/Mechanical Engineer, electric machinery
Luo Gan--Mining and Metallurgical Engineer, machine casting

Engineers are mostly pragmatists--they generally act according to what they observe to work successfully. Therefore, I believe the Chinese leadership will determine that the one-child family is bad for society and the terrible policy will not endure as long as planned. In fact, this may already be happening according to the Wikipedia article on the Chinese one-child policy:

However, some 30 delegates called on the government in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in March 2007 to abolish the one-child rule because they believe "it creates social problems and personality disorders in young people." and "It is not healthy for children to play only with their parents and be spoiled by them: it is not right to limit the number to two, either." The proposal was prepared by Ye Tingfang, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who suggested that the government at least restore the previous rule that allowed couples to have up to two children. According to this scholar, "the one-child limit is too extreme. It violates nature’s law and, in the long run, will lead to mother nature’s revenge."^[39][40]

May God grant further insights for the Chinese leaders/engineers to see the bad results from abandoning God and His laws of nature. Unfortunately, abortion is still considered the answer to social problems, as in Xi'an Reaches out to Pregnant Girls with Center.

Hoeing the Garden

One comment to a previous post on gardening asked how beautifully straight rows of vegetables with no weeds was obtained. My answer is that you need to hoe--not a lot, but definitely at the right time. This is what we did when my Grandmother lived across the road on her ten acres and Mother took care of our five acres while my Dad was in the Army during WWII.

First, the hired man used Grandma's horse to till the soil before seeds and young plants were placed in the ground. To make straight rows, two sharpened sticks with string made a line to follow for planting.

A narrow, horse-pulled tiller could be used once between the rows of new vegetables. [Now the motorized garden tiller replaces the horse to till the soil between the narrow rows, yet not disturb the plants.] Now I use an old manual rototiller bought at an auction. But it was and still is necessary to use a hoe after the plants begin to spread their foliage.

The first rule of hoeing was to use a sharp hoe. The cutting edge of a new hoe was thinned by hammering the hoe blade held against an anvil. Only when the forward and side edges were thinned sufficiently was a file used to sharpen the blade. After hoeing, the hoe was cleaned (with a stick and oily rag or crumpled aluminum foil) and stored for future use.

My Grandmother used two different hoes, depending on the soil and weed conditions. A newer hoe with a larger blade was used to dig more deeply into compacted soil. The second hoe was much older, yet highly prized, with the blade mostly worn away. The old hoe was much lighter and you could work faster to cut small weeds only slightly below the ground level. In other words, you only skimmed the surface with this hoe.

When hoeing, I was told to advance forward with relatively short arcs of hoeing and not take too much soil at a time. It's easier that way. I never stepped unnecessarily on the ground that had been hoed. If I did, the footprints compressed the soil and weeds could regrow more easily. I've learned to step on the side of a hoed path and re-hoe my footprints to loosen the trampled soil.

If your hoe hit a rock, it was always necessary to pick up the rock so that next year or the following years the same rock would not again dull the hoe blade. When you see rock walls around old farm fields, I believe this was one of the reasons they were built.

The most important rule of hoeing is that it must be done whenever little weeds begin to grow. My Mother must have told me twenty times that hoeing is easy when weeds are small, and the work is so much harder when the weeds are large and well established. I've learned this lesson the hard way more than a few times! [A good lesson with regard to bad habits!]

Hoeing is usually done in hot weather. Get used to it. Definitely wear a wide-brimmed straw hat and a long-sleeved old thin shirt to protect against the sun. Bring drinking water to the garden, even if you plan to go back into the house to take breaks.

When you teach your children to hoe (perhaps 8+ years old), let them hoe for no more than 15 min. Then let them play for a similar time period before they start again. Teach them the right way to hoe. Yes, they'll complain, but it will be good for them to learn to work well. Even better, give your children their own space or row within the garden in which they plant, hoe, and harvest their own berries and vegetables.

My family will always remember that my brother was the King of the County Garden Fair. He was about ten or eleven when he raised onions, tomatoes, and other vegetables. Mother told him to take the garden area where she dumped old vegetation and which had a high organic matter content. Before planting, the garden was fertilized with old composted chicken manure, and perhaps lime was added to reduce soil acidity. [The smell of ammonia/nitrogen was much more pungent with chicken manure than with cow manure.] The spot chosen to grow the contest vegetables also was closest to the faucet which could supply water to the garden when needed.

I especially remember the giant onions and beautiful tomatoes that won the contest. The secret to the onions was to plant them not very deep and to keep the upper soil around them always very loose so they could expand. [A sandy soil also helps.] The tomatoes required watering, but not too much or the skin would crack. Hoeing--YES. That was always necessary in making sure the top soil was loose and free of weeds that would steal the moisture and nutrients.

I don't remember mulching the garden plants, except to place manure close to the plants, yet not too close to burn the roots. If I were younger, I think I'd buy one of the rotating barrels for sale on the internet so that grass clippings could become compost within about a 3-week period. One of my friends uses one and he highly recommends it. I think I'd make my own tumbling composter as is described at WikiHow.

Juli Loesch Wiley

Juli Loesch Wiley has commented wisely about the unwise New Drive Afoot to Pass Equal Rights Amendment. Juli has always been an excellent writer and her current article in Voices continues to enlarge her reputation. More than that, the piece shows how much she has matured from the radical feminist of about 25-30 years ago when I first met her at a National Right to Life Convention.

Juli's background is of a young Catholic woman who worked as a boycott organizer for the United Farm Workers (Cesar Chavez) and then with a community of radical sisters. When I met her, probably in the early 80s, she was a committed pro-life worker who otherwise adhered closely to the liberal social causes of the Democratic party. We talked for almost an hour, and it was a conversation that I remembered for Juli's forthrightness, willingness to listen, and especially because she was never lukewarm about anything in her determined beliefs. Because of her reputation as an outspoken feminist, she reached groups that most pro-lifers would not have touched with a ten-foot pole!

Juli now lives with her husband and homeschooled teenage sons in Johnson City, TN. Her article about the ERA notes clearly that this proposed amendment to the U.S. constitution has precedents at the state level in requiring same-sex marriage, gay adoption, insurance funding for contraception, and public funding for abortion. I read Juli's afterword with even more interest:

Most of the political and legal analysis in this article was derived from two sources: the Arkansas Republican Assembly and Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum. To them I give full acknowledgement and gratitude for their indispensable work.

Juli's new (and presumably somewhat autobiographical) novel, Emma's Journal, describes "an activist's journey from living as a lay woman in a community of radical sisters to founding a movement combining peace and pro-life conviction -- who, following tribulation, pain and grace, eventually finds her heart's home." I suspect that if Juli and I talked again, we would agree much more than we did in the early 60s.

Old Time Garden

I passed by a new garden this morning on the way home from Mass and it reminded me of the way my Mother used to garden. That is, with straight rows and NO WEEDS! Enjoy the photos of beets, onions, and beans.

Gov. Sebelius at Planned Parenthood Fundraiser

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius spoke this evening to the Planned Parenthood fundraiser at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, MO. This "Catholic" politician avoided meeting many prolifers who waited at several entrances to the Museum by using a separate entrance through the Blue Room jazz club. Some prolifers said they also saw Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, KS (who specializes in late-term abortions) enter the PP fundraiser. Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the U.S.

Catholic Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, KS has criticized Sebelius openly in his archdiocesan newspaper because of her veto of a bill that would have curbed violations of Kansas law on abortions. The Archbishop urged Catholics to pray for Sebelius to "reconsider her long-held position supporting legalized abortion." At least one pro-life sign this evening asked if Sebelius now would be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

Priests and nuns who prayed the rosary outside the PP fundraiser included Fr. Norm Weslin, who is distinguished for his many years of heroic work saving babies from abortion. He is an ex-military officer who has been arrested over 70 times for his mighty pro-life efforts. I recommend Fr. Frank Pavone's (Priests for Life) interview of Fr. Weslin here. Fr. Weslin may be most distinguished by the enemies he has made, as shown by any search of the web. I admire someone who does not fear to be hated by God's enemies.

Wolftracker also came to the protest of Planned Parenthood. Be sure and read his post here.

Pope in Sao Paulo Stadium

I watched part of the Pope's visit to Brazil last night on EWTN and concluded the youth were there to be entertained. Lively songs, dancing, and a festive atmosphere prevailed in the Sao Paulo stadium. I watched the TV broadcast for only about 40 min, and the program organizers believed they needed to attract young people with candy. Personally, I believe sweets are not good or necessary, as witness the attraction of young Muslims to the difficult work of militant Islam.

Partly I was concerned because of the music. Art is powerful, and music and dancing stir up our emotions. All of the arts are powerful shapers of character. A long time ago, I bought a large book that described how music was used to influence societies. I did not hear the kind of music last night in Sao Paulo that called people to higher things. Did the Pope call Brazilian youth to holy things? Yes, he used words--but the music and other arts did not reinforce his message.

Favors of the AntiChrist

Staying abreast of news on important Catholic blogs is easier with Google Reader that presents brief snippets of new posts. Once you scan each snippet (and are offered the opportunity to link to the complete post), you won't see it again on Google's Reader. It saves time, but it means Google keeps detailed track of your blog reading.

One of the Rorate Coeli posts that I had missed from March 30 discussed the Papally invited Lenten retreat by Cardinal Biffi to Pope Benedict XVI and the top members of the Vatican. The post is based on a LifeSiteNews article that states:

Cardinal Biffi is most well known, at least in the secular media, for his preaching on the Antichrist. In fact, the Times of London reported in 2004 that the Cardinal described the Antichrist as "walking among us."

In particular, the Rorate Coeli post states AntiChrist will promote pacifism, ecology, and ecumenism. I've already written of Google and their charitable foundation. Please read this post again to see my concerns. Google's power continues to grow. Some of their increasing suite of new applications can be reviewed here, including free replacement software for virtually everything that Microsoft (and every other major software developer) sells!

I noted to a friend that I was concerned about Google because my parents used to warn me that nothing is really free--everything has a cost. My friend responded with this very insightful comment about Google Apps:

Try this one- 'A penny for your thoughts'. Since there's no software or apps to download (and for you to use, OFFLINE), it makes all your actions and communications rather transparent to 'them', doesn't it? If I was a cynic (and I may well be), I wouldn't feel that they were doing me any real favors.

Can the devil read your mind? The Church says 'no'. But Google can--to a significant degree if you use their Apps or their lobbying software. Maybe Cardinal Biffi is on to something. BTW, the word 'google'--there's nothing similar to it in the English language, except googol (which is the name for the large number 10¹⁰⁰ that Google is named for). I'm also reminded of the words "Barney Google" and "gargoyle." You might want to read the Wikipedia articles on googol and gargoyles.

I've just tried to delete my Google Reader. Guess what? The only option is to delete all Google Account services--including this blog. I mustn't forget to look at changing my blog to WordPress, like the Cornell Society for a Good Time has done. That is, until Google decides to buy WordPress.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, KC, MO

Arguably the most beautiful Catholic Church in the Kansas City area is Redemptorist Church, with a capacity of over 2,000 people. It is staffed by Redemptorist priests and the true name is Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.

The white and glorious main altar is flanked by two similar side altars, plus two other very large end altars with separate railings that are located in the cross-part of the church. The ceiling of the church is awesome, likely stretching to 60 feet or more above the floor. The sanctuary has a white front altar/table that is beautifully carved. Twenty-five magnificent and large stained glass windows rise along the sides and around the back of the sanctuary. A very large crucifix is mounted on a pillar on the right side of the sanctuary.

This is a church which represents the best construction work of prior generations in Kansas City. Fortunately it appears little if any interior art work has been damaged by reconstructionists of the past 40 years. Even most of the beautiful altar rail remains. Flowers were in abundance.

I attended Tuesday 11:00 am devotions to the Mother of Perpetual Help. An estimated 100 or more people attended the Novus Ordo Mass, some in their 30's and 40's, but most above the age of 50. Different races were present, with the majority older Caucasian. Several women wore head coverings and most of the people were dressed up for Mass and the devotions that followed.

The homily on St. Paul ended with the admonition that we have to choose whether we just sit back and "watch, or get into the action" with respect to acting on our faith. Afterwards, two women in their 30s who were scheduled for surgery the next day were anointed with holy oil said to be blessed by Bishop Finn. Their emotions seemed to indicate that their health problems were serious and they appeared to be consoled by their experience. I was surprised to see a weekday collection taken up, but likely the large church has a tremendous heating/cooling bill and needs all the resources it can obtain.

The Mystery of Faith acclamation, as standard practice in the Novus Ordo Mass, referred to Jesus coming again. This has always upset me because the words "Mystery of Faith" are very old and formerly referred to Christ's true presence after the consecration. After the liturgical revolution, the meaning of "Mystery of Faith" was changed to mean Christ's coming at the end of the world--just at the time when he becomes present in our midst.

Two priests distributed Holy Communion to people, mostly in the hand. Some bowed before reception; one genuflected before the Blessed Sacrament. Apparent recorded instrumental music was played during the communion time. After communion, there was a blessing with holy oil given to most of the church attendees who came in long lines to two priests.

Almost all the people stayed after Mass for the devotions to our Mother of Perpetual Help. After devotions, quite a few people stayed to pray in church, remaining in pews, but especially before the crucifix and two large end altars with candles--one of which had a painting of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

TV in the "Old Days"

"Death Valley Days" began as a radio program in 1930 and featured stories of the old West. I've looked for reruns of the popular TV series that appeared in the 50s and early 60s, but they never seem to be rebroadcast. Before he became Governor and then President, Ronald Reagan was host of the series and starred in eight episodes. The show is ranked as #3 of the longest running anthology series on TV.

The stories on "Death Valley Days" were all of a historical nature (a "true western adventure") and were sponsored by U.S. Borax (20 Mule Team Boraxo). [The borax mine in Nevada is now owned by Rio Tinto, and the Boraxo soap name is owned by Dial.

One program featured Ronald Reagan who played a Protestant minister who was asked by a widow to discipline her son. The minister hesitated, but finally agreed after the widow insisted that the 13-year old boy needed to be whipped for being very bad. After the boy had been beaten with the minister's belt, he cried and asked the minister "Who beats you when you're bad?" I've always remembered Reagan's slow and sorrowful answer, "When I'm bad, I beat myself."

I highly encourage readers to view an example "Death Valley Days" TV program by clicking on the sidebar, "Episode Webcasts". The half-hour free episode "Fifty Years a Mystery" gives a flavor of the many good TV programs we kids saw over 50 years ago.

In particular, look at the Boraxo commercials with Rosemary DeCamp and ask yourself if you would mind looking at this type of commercials again. Also note the number of commercial minutes in the program. You will ask yourself how our public airways became so fouled and with much, much longer commercials. You may want to point this out to the Federal Communications Commission which is supposed to protect the interests of American citizens--not the TV owners!

Disorder and the Man on a White Horse

Many years ago we were warned that if our country became libertine (as distinguished from exercising responsible freedom), disorder would come and the only solution would be a Man on a White Horse. The Man would justify taking away legitimate freedoms so (he would claim) to restore order to society.

One website describes the phrase "man on a white horse" as

referring to a politician who does nothing but appease the masses. The white-horse aspect refers to the fact that such a politician will 'ride in and rescue all the people from their sorrows'. The man-on-a-white-horse typically labels himself as a champion of the common man.

Order and disorder are addressed by Alice von Hildebrand in the April 2007 issue of This Rock magazine (usually quite good). She puts the issue into perspective, showing that order for its own sake can "become a straitjacket and can cause them [some people] gravely to offend charity."

Another kind of habit is genuinely good in and of itself. One only need read the Rule of St. Benedict to see that he orders his monks to follow a tight schedule: time for prayer, time for reading, time for work, time for sleep. In convents and monasteries, the bell rings to call the religious to certain duties. St. Benedict insists that as soon as it rings, the monk should immediately abandon whatever he is doing (relictis omnibus). This is not easy when one is very close to completing a task. Most of us would either get irritated, or cheat a tiny bit....

Following a schedule is a good habit; so is leading an ordered life. Some talented people accomplish very little because they lack discipline. Some people who have no exceptional talents nevertheless accomplish much because they organize their day. Discipline and order are praiseworthy. But they too can become illegitimate ties. We all know peopole who actually lose their temper when an object is misplaced. Moreover, charity demands that sometimes we should disrupt our schedule in an emergency. In such cases, charity should always be given precedence.

Mrs. Von Hildebrand concludes: "The saint, though, acquires a superb flexibility and indifference. One the one hand, he never allows his moods to disrupt his schedule; on the other he never hesitates to break it when charity demands it." Very good advice.

My own opinion is that societal disorder is so rampant that the firm practice of order should be encouraged. When I was growing up my elders all followed a regular pattern of life. Monday was wash day; Tuesday was ironing day.... Saturday was housecleaning day. Most importantly, Sunday was a very special day beginning with early Mass followed by breakfast, reading the paper, and refreshing our energy. On that day we were likely to visit with relatives. Sunday always ended with the family rosary. It's a good way to live life.

St. Louis Church, Kansas City, MO

I visited St. Louis Church for a Saturday afternoon Mass. It is a fairly small church with predominantly black Catholic parishioners and is located on one of Kansas City's wide boulevards. St Louis parish seems to be a keystone of Catholic life in the local community with its Senior Center, Food Pantry, and Social Services and assistance office.

Only clear windows are seen from the exterior of the church, but inside there are six very large and beautiful pictures of saints that appear to be large stained glass windows. The sanctuary includes a large, wall-mounted crucifix at the back of the sanctuary. On a high platform (formerly high altar?) beneath the crucifix, chairs were occupied by the priest and deacon during much of the early part of Mass. An Easter candle was lit in the front of the sanctuary.

During the Mass, a choir of four older men and women who sat in the front left of the sanctuary sung several songs from "Lead Me, Guide Me," identified as an "African American Catholic Hymnal" from G.I.A. Publications. One song seemed quite appropriate for Mass: "Let us praise God together on our knees. Lord, have mercy on me." The refrain, "on our knees," was repeated many times.

The accompaniment was provided by an older gentleman who played the piano as well as anyone I've heard recently. Even though the style of music was very expressive and could not be considered as "Roman reverent," my personal judgment (take it for what it is worth!) was that God was pleased with the music in the Mass.

The priest, deacon, an altar girl, and others processed down the main aisle toward the sanctuary at the beginning of Mass. The deacon held the book of prayers raised high, with its bright colors on the cover. As the priest entered the sanctuary, he moved to the right and genuflected deeply to the Blessed Sacrament reserved in a tabernacle on the right side altar. The opening prayers included prayers for both Pope Benedict and Bishop Finn and these were repeated in the Eucharistic Prayer.

The priest spoke with a Spanish accent, yet I did not see any other Latinos at this Mass. Almost all of the 40 to 50 people at the Saturday afternoon Mass seemed older than 55 years old, with minor exceptions including two young black men in their 30s. Many of the people wore suits and dresses, as distinguished from casual clothes such as jeans, and a few black women wore hats.

Lay women read the scriptures and led the music. The deacon read the Gospel and the priest gave the homily that preached on death as a reality, the conquering of death by Christ, God's mercy, and the need for faith beyond the apostle, Thomas, who wanted a sign of Christ's resurrection. The priest reminded his listeners that "people who go to heaven will pray for us."

After the homily, the petitions were requested, with additional ones added from the parishioners. The prayers preceding and during the Preface were sung by the priest. It appeared that the sacred liturgy was precisely and reverently performed by the priest and deacon. A large beige circular host was used by the priest during the consecration. No bells were rung to remind the people of the consecration. Gold vessels were used for the Blessed Sacrament. The Great Amen reminded me of a reverent Negro spiritual.

Both species of the Eucharist were distributed to the parishioners. The priest and deacon distributed the Body of Christ, and lay persons distributed the Blood. Almost everyone in the church received Holy Communion. One old white woman knelt, but most people received communion standing and in the hand. The deacon cleansed the holy vessels after the distribution of Communion.

The meditation time after reception of Holy Communion was followed by several announcements by laypersons, including an announcement of the Dead Sea Scroll exhibition in Kansas City, and a 'thank you' from the altar girl for a relatively small amount of money contributed by parishioners to help her in a contest. The priest then announced that another Catholic community would begin joining them every Sunday. Daily Mass would be started, and monthly Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament would be on First Fridays.

Fantasy Vatican

The NCR was trying to be funny, but Wolftracker achieved real hilarity. See his Kansas City Catholic piece here.

Sedevecantism

A lot of traditional Catholics in Kansas City recently received a letter advertising "Counterfeit Catholicism," a talk to be given by Gerry Matatics. Gerry used to accept the Pope, but now has retreated to the belief that no Pope has occupied the chair of Peter since Pope Pius XII who died in 1958--almost 50 years ago. As is pointed out by one of the three indult priests serving traditional Catholics in the Kansas City area, this requires one to believe the Papacy is now extinct because no Cardinals appointed by the last 'valid' Pope, Pius XII, are alive to elect the next Pope. Sedevecantists cannot objectively describe when and by whom the next Apostolic Primate will be elected, indicating a Papal vacancy could last until the end of time.

Some other observations on and objections to sedevecantism (two Latin words which mean “the Chair is vacant”) include:

1. To a large extent, this theological position is a deeply emotional response to the horrors in the Church in the past 40 years, something we can all understand.
   
2. Sedevecantism requires one to believe the visible and indefectible Church promised by Christ can exist without a successor to St. Peter for a very long time--generations--even though the longest time between the death of one Pope and the election of the next has been three years, with the Holy See providing a visible government in that short time period..
3. Past Popes have been heretics and have continued at the helm of the Church. For example, Pope Honorius (625-638) was condemned in 680 by the 3rd Council of Constantinople because he favored the Monothelite heresy.
4. Father Garrigou-Lagrange is one of several extremely well respected theologians who concluded in the past 500 years that a heretic Pope could still retain his jurisdiction if his heresies were not notorious and pertinacious. [And only a very few Catholics are acquainted with the charges that recent Popes were heretics.]
   
5. Jesus Christ instituted a visible Church with a visible leader. The Church was designed by Christ never to be a rudderless ship without a Captain--a successor of St. Peter.
6. Sedevecantism is reduced to the absurd (reductio ad absurdum) when one considers:
1. An imposter Pope would always act invalidly, eliminating the rule of obedience
   
2. All church laws and spiritual activities from Rome would be either evil or worthless
   
3. This malignant cancer would completely destroy the Church, contrary to Christ's promise
   
4. An imposter Pope would also be an false Bishop and could not legitimately consecrate other Bishops
5. No cardinals to elect the next Pope could be validly appointed by an imposter Pope

[The above items have been taken from a thorough examination of sedevecantism found here. Don't be surprised that this very detailed study was written by Rev. Dominique Boulet of the Society of St. Pius X. The SSPX has been in the forefront of opposing sedevecantism for many years.]

The terrible confusion in the Catholic churches today encourages poor understanding and judgment. Catholics find it difficult to explain how Popes can err in the governance of the Church, or approve 'new teachings' such as Limbo no longer exists. [Also see Fr. Brian Harrison's comments on Limbo.] Consequently, they turn their backs on the Church because the Captain can be an incompetent or unfaithful sailor.

My own opinion is that if St. Peter, the first Pope, could deny Christ three times, and even later had to be corrected by St. Paul for his error in compelling Gentiles to live as do the Jews (Gal. 2:11-15), then it isn't unusual to observe current Popes making mistakes--even very serious ones that lead to very critical damage in the Church. Yet the Church will continue to be led by a valid successor of St. Peter because Jesus promised Peter:

And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven. (Matt 16:18-19)

The Church exists to bring men to holiness by the sacraments, the sacrifice of the Mass, and by transmitting the teachings of Jesus to future generations. It will not and cannot fail this mandate.

Our "Sunday Best"

This post continues the discussion of dressing up for Sunday Mass. To clarify, we are not talking about wearing our "Sunday Best" clothes for weekday Mass. People work during the week and often can attend Mass only if they wear their work clothes.

Millet's painting of peasants praying the Angelus shows the work clothes of European farmers of almost 200 years ago. These clothes might have been worn for daily Mass (probably after they washed their hands and the woman took off her dirty apron), yet the peasants would have worn their "Sunday Best" on God's Day.

A lot of time was required to dress in their "Sunday Best." My Grandma said that to obtain lye, she would filter water poured through wood ashes. She said the lye water would bleach the white shirts worn by the men to Sunday Mass. Washing was often done by hand using a washboard. [Does anyone even have one of those? I do, but now seldom use it.] Shoes were polished for Sunday. Regardless of how poor they were, everyone was expected to be dressed up, clean, and neat for Mass.

For over forty years, two of my aunts even dressed up in "church clothes" for early daily Mass (6:00 am), then changed into house and farm work clothes when they came home. It would have been unthinkable for both of them to wear their "everyday clothes" to church to greet God and receive the Eucharist.

The men who attended daily Mass were different because they had to wear their work clothes to church as most of them left Mass to go directly to work. Yet, work clothes were considered highly unsuitable to wear for Sunday Mass, unless the man had a job requiring him to leave Mass immediately to go to work on Sunday. Sunday jobs were not common (mostly firemen, a few policemen, and a small number of utility workers).

To give a feel for the effort to get ready for Sunday Mass, I remember my mother washing our shoe laces and restringing them, and polishing our white shoes on Saturday so that my siblings and I would look our best for Sunday Mass. We took weekly baths and washed our hair on Saturday, so that we would be our cleanest and smell nice for Sunday. Sunday was a much more special day then than it is now, and our appearance mattered because beauty, order, and cleanliness were highly valued. We believed God also valued these, and it was a common saying that "cleanliness (and neatness) is next to Godliness."

It may seem hard today to understand why these beliefs and practices were valued so highly when I was young. We believed that a person's Sunday appearance should reflect attention to beauty, order, and cleanliness. If it didn't, then it meant the person was sloppy or lazy and didn't take the time to prepare adequately for Sunday Mass.

Do I want the Church to enforce a "Sunday Best" clothes mandate? Of course not. I am also opposed to individuals posting themselves at the church doors believing God has authorized them to take on the role of "clothes police." Rather, the purpose of my posts is to encourage people (including myself!) to voluntarily prepare ourselves in our "Sunday Best" to meet our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the local Catholic church. And this means preparing ourselves both spiritually and physically for our great encounter with the Divine!

Casual Dress at Sunday Mass

My recent post "Should I Reconsider?" asked whether I should begin again to review Catholic church liturgies and their environments. The number of comments certainly exceeded my expectations, with the majority of people answering in the affirmative. Nevertheless, there is a significant opposition to my continuing to review Kansas City churches, especially to my descriptions of the church environment and people's casual dress at Sunday Mass. This post (and a future one) responds to those comments.

I did not advise on the suitability of people's dress and actions during Sunday Mass. I simply noted people most frequently dressed in a casual fashion (except for one traditional Latin Mass group where very few, if any, casual clothes were seen). I also noted whether a church had beautiful artifacts (e.g., stained glass windows, statues), altar girls, a crucifix, stations of the cross, etc. I attempted to describe those who attended Mass on Sunday. Only old people? Pregnant women? Children? Black, white, and Latino? Finally I tried to remember whether lay participants showed any outward signs of reverence, especially by silence or by staying after Mass to pray. I also commented on the special actions and prayers of the priest and others at Mass, such as kneeling for the introductory prayers of the Mass where the entire church asks God to forgive their sins.

I did not claim to see into people's hearts when I noted that many of the people at Sunday Mass wore jeans and almost all the women did not wear head coverings. I recognize these people came to Mass with the obviously good intention to fulfill God's solemn commandment to adore Him on the Sabbath (or on Sunday because of Christ's Resurrection). At a future point, I intended to discuss the suitability of casual clothes at Mass, and this post is that occasion.

My own experience shows that in the workplace, the visit of an important client or a key official means employees dress formally. Men continue to dress mostly in suits or sportcoats and dress slacks, and women typically wear dresses, nice blouses, or suits. Neither sex wears athletic shoes for the workplace visit of an important person. Yet these same people wear jeans and athletic shoes to Sunday Mass. In particular, some of the jeans I have seen at Sunday Masses I previously reviewed were well-worn, frayed, and had holes in them.

Let's put the issue of "dressing up" into perspective by returning to the World's Fair of 1939-40. More than 40 million people visited this Fair to see "The World of Tomorrow." A film projecting the lives of people in the future showed all of them were dressed up--just as they were when they went to public events in 1939 (and that continued for another ten or fifteen years. My Mother never went out of the home into the public without dressing up in those days, and she still keeps that habit. Most certainly Dad and Mom and their children never went to Mass on Sunday except in their "Sunday Best." In fact, our clean and pressed clothes were specially laid out the night before, and shoes were well polished.

So what happened? Fashions clearly slid downhill because it was easier, more comfortable, and often required less cost and time. Also people started doing alternative things on Sunday that they could not and would not have done before--such as shopping at the newly opened stores. Sunday dress became less important, and so did the worship of God. (to be continued)