What if? The Good Friday Prayer for the Jews

My post is inspired by a long email received from two handsome young traditional Catholics who are members of SSPX communities. They are quite upset with Pope Benedict's announcement that the Good Friday prayer for the Jews will be modified in the Missale Romanum of 1962 which is used for the offering of the old Latin Mass. Rorate Coeli has received at least 178 comments on the Papal announcement, including "this is part of Benedict's way of proclaiming the traditional Faith in somewhat more positive terms (i.e. 'enlightening their hearts' vs. 'removing the veil').

My young friends state that while "the new prayer is decent," the change is a "capitulation and a continuation of the destruction of the Roman Rite." I beg them to consider what would have happened if conservatives had been able to control Vatican Council II. What if the schemas prepared by the Central Preparatory Commission (CC) had not been abandoned? I think this would be a interesting exercise in historical speculation and would make a fine story.

To briefly recap events, Pope John XXII stunned the world on January 25, 1959 with his announcement of Vatican Council II. He then appointed an Antepreparatory Commission to begin preparation of the Council. On June 7, 1960, the Pope appointed 25 members to a larger Central Preparatory Commission, to be led by Secretary General, Archbishop Pericle Felici, who also had led the Antepreparatory Commission. Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), was a member of the 25-member CC.

The CC prepared significant material for consideration and debate by Vatican Council II, but these schemas were considerably thinned out by late 1962. A new agenda was developed by liberal bishops that resulted in different and more liberal documents, and a longer council. The remaining conservative material prepared in advance of the Council by the CC came under continued attack in 1963. Consequently Vatican Council II abandoned most of the conservative material prepared by the CC under the command of Pope John XXIII.

The abandoned preparatory work of the CC is discussed only briefly in Ralph Wiltgen's The Rhine Flows into the Tiber, and in the new 5-volume History of Vatican II edited by Giuseppe Alberigo. The earlier volume is preferred, but the latter books contain more data. The latter volumes exhibit a preference for the positions of the "progressives" who ultimately were able to take control of Vatican Council II and to substitute their own liberal schemas for the ones prepared earlier by the conservative CC.

I've not found any book or documents (maybe I haven't looked far enough) that give samples of the preparatory work of the CC. What would the documents of Vatican II have looked like if Council had actually used the schemas developed by the CC?

What could the Church have looked like in the 21st century had the 1960-1962 preliminary schemas have survived for Council deliberation? My own view is that it is likely that organic changes to practices in the Church would have taken place--but not radical assaults on traditional Catholic beliefs. [Remember that the Holy Spirit remains the protector of the Church--regardless of the Pope and the Councils.]

I believe Pope Benedict XVI is trying to do the kind of thing the CC intended--make small organic changes. By modifying the old Good Friday prayer for the Jews, the Pope continues to reflect the same intention as before, but now roots the new prayer in the New Testament and with a more obvious charity.

Going Steady

When I was young, I would have greatly resisted the idea of my parents telling me who to date or who should be my husband. They only told me not to date until I was 16 years old and not to date steadily until I was serious about marriage. I followed their rules and am very glad I did.

This post deals with "going steady" and the grave sins it frequently causes, perhaps including murder. My other posts on courtship and marriage have included:

• Marriage preparation in the Catholic Church
  
• How spouses were courted in the old culture of Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Matchmaking
• How my grandmother and grandfather were alone for the first time in a wagon while going to City Hall in Kansas City to obtain their marriage license
• How Church "Defenders of the Bond" of marriage have not done their job during the past 40 years
• Whether it's possible for the elderly to marry secretly to save their pensions
• On the advantages of separating religious and civil marriages
• The effect of Dignitas Connubi on Annulments
• The current State of the Union of Marriage in the US

The murder of the young mother and her baby girl in Kansas City, Kansas is a tragic ending to a failed marriage that began with the meeting of young Andrew Guerrero and Nicolette Lyons while attending a local Catholic high school. A newspaper reported that the "2002 yearbook described the two as 'star-crossed lovers.'" I take the report to mean that the teenagers dated steadily while in high school.

The couple married in 2003 after the young man had joined the Army Reserve, and the young wife filed for divorce three years later. Now the young husband and father has been accused of murdering his wife and a child she had by another military man. What a sad story and what could have been done about it?

I suspect that young people today are never counseled about the dangers of going steady. Yet the Church's combat against steady dating in high school continued at least until 1963 when TIME magazine reported that Fr. James A. Carey mandated that any student "dating one person to the exclusion of all others shall be expelled." By 1964, it was reported in the social literature that "going steady is becoming increasingly common....There seems to be a growing tendency of daters to 'pair off' very early and for extended periods."

My generation was taught that going steady was reserved for persons who were able and ready for marriage. We were told that if we weren't mature, couldn't provide for a spouse, or had no intention of marrying in the near future, then we shouldn't go steady.

So what did I do? In high school and college, I dated guys for only two or three times, at max! At the time it was called "playing the field!" That extended the number of guys I dated before settling on my husband, and reduced the opportunities for intimacy that would have developed had I steadily dated a single guy. In other words, spiritual and physical problems were avoided.

Dating twenty, thirty, and even up to 100+ guys (a sister!) for short durations from age 16 to the time when marriage is possible can be quite helpful in choosing a spouse. You learn about the different characteristics (good and bad) of potential spouses. You learn what you like and what you don't. Most importantly, you don't make commitments or promises because you are not ready to make them. [Although there may be the problem of someone waiting forever for the "perfect spouse!"]

Catholic schools must again discourage "going steady" while students are in grade and high school. Social research proves that having a steady boyfriend or girlfriend as a young teenager significantly increases the odds of having sex. [Fr. Carey already knew this back in 1963--a good priest always hears a lot of sorrowful confessions.]

Right now, the Bishops are mostly concerned about those "living together outside the bond of marriage." Frankly, that sin--fornication-- is a primary effect of "going steady" when one is not ready or able to contract a good marriage.

Catholics must explain the disadvantages of steady dating and explain why the alternative of short-duration dates with different persons (group dating, too) is much more interesting and has better results.

Here are reasons not to have an exclusive relationship with the opposite sex while in pre-teen and even teenage years:

1. You are much more likely to commit the sin of fornication (and possibly become pregnant with a baby)
   
2. Steady dating is a proven high-risk behavior for catching sexually-transmitted diseases
   
3. You will commit yourself to always explaining who you are with, why you didn't answer the phone, where you are going, how much money you have, etc.
4. You will not improve your social abilities in new situations with others
   
5. You will be obligated to spend most of your free time with the other party
6. The two of you will likely withdraw to your own world and you will miss out on important times with friends
   
7. Steady dating restricts you from responding to new social opportunities and developing an improved self-esteem
   
8. Steady dating, without the ability to commit to marry within a short time period, leaves the girlfriend or the boyfriend fearful that the other will eventually leave them for another
   
9. There are lots of repercussions when a romance is over that are similar to those of a marital break-up.

Music, War, Culture, and Religion

World War II was being fought when I was quite young. My Father was away in the Army and my Mother, siblings, and I saw military airplanes fly overhead after being manufactured at the local "Bomber Plant." I remember the radio and movies were always full of War--stories, news--AND MUSIC. My young world heard lots of martial sounds that made me want to march energetically in rhythm--even by myself!

Once while sitting on a grassy bank in Kansas City, I watched a high-stepping military parade march down the street. When the parade of soldiers and their band ended, I was very disappointed and begged Mother to let me to see more military parades and hear more martial music. It was the first time I experienced how powerfully attractive music could be.

In the 1950's at the beginning of rock music era, an invited lecturer at the University where I was a student gave a talk I have never forgotten. This Ph.D. physicist (biologist?) claimed that musical tones, volume, and beats initiated sympathetic vibrations in several different parts of the body. He claimed that specific beats could make the heart beat faster or slower, with less energy or more. Music was described as akin to other sounds that affected the body and emotions--like laughter and crying, or fingernail scratches on a blackboard.

Later in the 1970's, I read a book distributed by the Conservative Book Club of America that described the manipulation of societies through music to cause anger, fear, militaristic pride, and other adverse emotions. Alternately, music inspires hope, faith, cheerfulness, happiness, sympathy, love, and altruism.

Does music have a power over us? How we feel? How we think? How we act? Yes, Yes, Yes, and Yes! Music is the art form that inspires, excites, calms, deceives, heals, or disturbs us. Music transmits ideas and images with emotional environments: relaxation, action, inspiration, imagination--even holiness in Church. Alternatively, much of modern music corrupts civilization.

A Wagnerian march produces different physical effects than does a Mother's lullaby. Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite (a favorite composition of mine) that evokes a desert sunrise, donkeys clomping down a rock trail, and a powerful thunderstorm. In contrast, rock, rap, hip-hop, and punk music jar the senses, create rebellion, and disturb natural emotions, and their cultural effects are noted in many academic papers.

I've just listened to a recent 6-part talk on "Music and Culture" given by Michael Matt, editor of the Remnant Newspaper. About 40 years ago, I met Michael's father, Walter Matt, but have never seen or heard the younger Matt. Yet I've read his many articles in the Remnant on the effects of rock music on young people.

Michael Matt, a former member of a rock band, calls modern music a "meat hammer" that makes the current revolution against family and morality possible. Take a look at Matt's YouTube sequence (e.g., Part 3 of 6) to understand why and how modern popular and "sacred" music destroys our culture and Church.

KANSAS Presidential Caucuses

My Kansas correspondent reminds me that the Kansas Republican Party caucuses will be held on February 9, and the Democratic Party caucuses will be held on February 5. See http://www.ksgopcaucus.org/ and http://www.ksdp.org/supertuesday for more information. The basic requirement is that a Kansas citizen be a registered Republican to vote in a Republican Caucus, and a registered Democrat to vote in a Democratic Caucus.

I was asked today which Presidential candidate is most pro-life. Obviously that candidate is NOT a Democrat. Among the Republicans, Huckabee is the most pro-life candidate. He actively opposed abortion while Governor of Arkansas, led a pro-life rally in Georgia on January 22, and supports a Human Life Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Rep. Ron Paul is the only candidate who came to the March for Life in Washington DC on January 22 and gave a supporting address. He believes abortion is a crime to be regulated by the States--if they choose to do so.

Governor Romney's position was examined by pro-life Senator Brownback who concluded Romney is anti-Roe, but not pro-life. During his unsuccessful 1994 bid for the Senate and during his run for Governor of Massachusetts, he courted pro-abortionists by touting his pro-choice positions. Catholic Fire notes that Romney's health care plan in Massachusetts provides for abortions at government expense.

Senator John McCain says he is a life-long friend of Right to Life. He has voted to restrict or regulate the practice of abortion and says Roe v. Wade should be overturned. However, he is not a great pro-life leader in the U.S. Senate as is Senator Brownback.

So what's the answer?

1. Take a look at American Family Association's list of candidate positions"on support for a Human Life Amendment, Traditional Marriage, Gay Pride and requiring businesses to favor homosexuality, the Iraq War, and Moral Education.
2. Also see "Will the Republican Nominee respect Us in the Morning" published by the Republican Coalition for Life.
3. Next, review the American Life League's Voter Guide.
4. Then pray that God will enlighten you on the Presidential candidate to support.
   

I am Fascinated and Encouraged....

by Sheriff Joe of Maricopa County (Phoenix), the most famous sheriff in the country.

What is he doing for Super Bowl Sunday? See here.

Reminder about Cultivation of Fields

My sister sent me this very short but powerful discussion by Saint Caesarius of Arles (470-543), monk and Bishop. [Sermons, no. 6; CCL 103,32 (SC 175)

Brethren, there are two kinds of field: the first is God’s field, the second is man’s. You have your property; God has his, too. Your own property is your land; God’s property is your soul. Is it right that you should cultivate your property and leave God’s lying fallow?

If you cultivate your land but fail to cultivate your soul, is this because you want to set your own property in order but leave God’s fallow? Is that right? Does God deserve that we should neglect the soul he holds so dear?

You are delighted when you see your property well cultivated; why don’t you weep when you see your soul lying fallow? We cause the fields on our property to come alive for a few days in this world; caring for our souls will enable us to live forever in heaven…

God has deigned to entrust our souls to us as his property; so let us set to work with all our might, by his help, so that when he comes to visit his property he will find it well cultivated and in perfect order.

May he find a harvest and not thorns; may he find wine and not vinegar, corn rather than chaff. If he finds everything in it that can be pleasing in his eyes, he will give us an eternal reward in exchange, but thorns will be committed to the fire.

Handy Little Warming Bag

As I get older and the weather seems to feel colder, my favorite companion is this sock bag. It's filled with cheap dry beans and is heated in my 20+ year old microwave for about a minute to become toasty warm!

In the daytime, the bean bag warms my hands and the cold chair bottom before I start typing this blog. At night, I love to feel the bag's warmth on my feet under the covers at the end of the bed. [Even though my husband's feet are usually warmer than mine, I am reluctant to place my cold feet on his!]

The warmth of a heated bean bag endures for at least 30 min. And I've been using the same beans for at least a month.

Another way I try to get warm is a cup of hot tea! Especially Constant Comment Green Tea flavored with orange and spices. Splenda works great to sweeten the tea.

New Bishop for Springfield, MO

My friends in south Missouri are elated over the overdue appointment of a new Bishop. Fr. James Vann Johnston Jr., J.C.L. has been named bishop for the Roman Catholic diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, MO and will be ordained and installed the weekend after Easter on March 31.

Fr. Vann Johnston is currently Chancellor of the Knoxville, TN diocese and pastor of the large new Our Lady of Fatima Church in Alcoa, TN, a suburb to the south of Knoxville. Fr. Johnston's parish sponsors perpetual adoration of the Eucharistic Sacrament, and prays the rosary before daily Mass. The active parish with almost 1,200 Mass attendees every weekend also sponsors a twin parish in Thomonde, Haiti.

Bishop-elect Johnston is the oldest of four children and holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee. Before entering the seminary, he worked from 1982-85 for an engineering consulting firm in Houston. He was ordained a priest in 1990.

One of the most interesting facts about 48-year old Fr. Van Johnston is that three years ago, he and two other priests were nationally recognized for saving a father and his two children during a hiking vacation in Montana. He has recognized the benefits of fasting in the public media:

“Christians have to practice some form of self-denial; otherwise, it begins to affect the soul. We become prone to what’s often referred to as sloth and/or gluttony. We begin to live our lives to fulfill whatever urge or hunger that we have rather than loving God and loving our neighbor and serving them in love. Christ often teaches his disciples about the importance of detachment to the things of this world.”

The interview of Fr. Johnston at KnoxNews on the subject of the old Latin Mass is even more interesting.

The Rev. Vann Johnston, chancellor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville, says the Latin-only controversy has not affected this area. He explains that Bishop Joseph Edward Kurtz has granted permission to two churches in the diocese to offer the Mass in Latin: "This came about after a petition was passed asking that Latin be offered, but the people who signed it indicated they did not believe it was the only true Mass. They respect and legitimize Mass done in English and Spanish, or whatever the language of the people; but they loved the poetry, the music, the tradition of the Latin, and they wanted it offered for those reasons."

The first church in the Knoxville Diocese to offer the Latin Mass was St. Therese in Cleveland, which began offering the traditional Mass in 2004 on the first and third Sundays of each month. Now, beginning Sunday, it will also be offered on the second and fourth Sundays at St. John Neumann in Farragut.

"I'm comfortable with that," says Johnston. "The people asking for it are faithful Catholics, and their motivations are not related to schismatic groups. The Latin Mass is very beautiful."

He agrees people today are longing for a sense of the holy, but that, if done reverently and in accordance with the mind of the church, the English and the Spanish Mass have the same spiritual components and value as the Latin.

"They, too, can and do feed people's hunger for the sacred," he says.

The current Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has finally given in to many requests for the old Latin Mass and will now allow it to be offered in several churches, but my friends have reported that start dates have been amorphous. It is now known that the first old Latin Mass in the diocese will be celebrated at 4 p.m. Feb. 10 at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Springfield, MO.

The Necessity of Baptism

I am greatly uneasy, even horrified, by Avery Cardinal Dulles' article on Who Can Be Saved? published in the February 2008 issue of FIRST THINGS. Dulles' words appear very different from those of Jesus, His apostles, the evangelists, and the early Church Fathers who spoke of the necessity of Baptism to be saved.

Who, then, can be saved? Catholics can be saved if they believe the Word of God as taught by the Church and if they obey the commandments. Other Christians can be saved if they submit their lives to Christ and join the community where they think he wills to be found. Jews can be saved if they look forward in hope to the Messiah and try to ascertain whether God’s promise has been fulfilled. Adherents of other religions can be saved if, with the help of grace, they sincerely seek God and strive to do his will. Even atheists can be saved if they worship God under some other name and place their lives at the service of truth and justice. God’s saving grace, channeled through Christ the one Mediator, leaves no one unassisted. But that same grace brings obligations to all who receive it. They must not receive the grace of God in vain. Much will be demanded of those to whom much is given.

Does anyone else see how the word "saved" is cheapened by Dulles, especially when it is disassociated from Christian Baptism that gives the soul sanctifying grace to make it pleasing to God? For comparison, read the Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Baptism which holds Baptism to have definite matter and form, requirements for a valid sacrament.

The beliefs of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas are described earlier in Dulles' article. If you really want to answer the question of who will be saved to receive God's reward in heaven, learn from these two saints--not from Dulles. Most importantly consider well the clear words of the Gospel of John: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."

Heaven, Space, and Time

The three most important questions to ask and answer are: Where did I come from? What am I? Where am I going? The answer to the last question is “Heaven,” to be united with our Creator. But what is heaven like?

Personally, I’ve wondered if heaven is like a science fiction novel of a perfect world—an earth-like Paradise, but outside of time. St. Augustine notes that the past does not exist, for it has passed; nor does the future exist, for it has yet to come; and the present is simply the moment which joins the past with the future. This great philosopher showed that ideas and formal principles are by nature universal and necessary, and consequently outside the confines of time and space. Heaven must also have such a nature.

In a world where we could control time, space would also be controlled. The past, present, and future would all exist at the same time. Moving from physical point A to a distant point B would take only an instant if you could control time. Even more importantly the effect of a cause would be instantly seen, even into the far future.

The Catholic Encyclopedia defines Heaven as the dwelling of God and his angels—God’s reward for those who die in a state of justice and His friendship. [Catholic teaching usually emphasizes the complete intimacy with our Creator in Heaven, while this post will focus more attention on the physical attributes of heaven.] Catholic theologians speculate on the location of heaven but the Church has decided nothing. Most likely, this is because St. Paul said that heaven is beyond our imagination.

A Protestant author and pro-life activist, Randy Alcorn, describes Heaven in colorful terms as a bright, vibrant, and physical New Earth, free from sin, suffering, and death, and brimming with Christ's presence, wondrous natural beauty, and the richness of human culture as God intended it. Alcorn says that God preceded Heaven, and that Heaven, His home, is one of God's creations. [I won't vouch for Alcorn's adherence to Catholic teaching in his 2004 book, Heaven, but his "intermediate Heaven" sort of sounds like Purgatory.]

Peter Kreeft, Catholic author of three books on Heaven, claims “Heaven does not contain God. God contains heaven. Heaven is relative to God, God is not relative to heaven. Heaven is heaven only because it is the full presence of God.” The principle appears to be, “Wherever God is, Heaven is.”

Why is this present earth not heaven? Because our fallen nature prevents us from being completely united with God. Adam and Eve’s Paradise remained only when they did not disobey God. Yet Paradise continues to partially envelop those people who love God, and they get a taste of Heaven while on earth.

Jesus, after his crucifixion and death, gives us a sample of a glorified body that has been resurrected and reunited with its soul to reside in heaven. First, a glorified body is not always recognized, such as Jesus on the road to Emmaus. [Perhaps because Jesus appeared as a handsome young boy, rather than as a 33-year old man.] Second, a glorified body can move through walls, such as when Jesus came to the apostles in the locked upper room. Third, a glorified body continues to eat and converse—as illustrated in recounts of Jesus’ appearance after his Resurrection. Fourth, a glorified body will not marry, as also discussed by Jesus. [In heaven, we will necessarily be children, with God as our Father, Christ as our brother, and Mary as our Mother.]

In a spiritual joyride over the past several days, I’ve speculated on the physical attributes of Heaven. Our resurrected bodies will have spatial dimensions, so those bodies need to occupy a physical place. Our souls are immortal and our risen glorified bodies will not die a second death; consequently heaven must be everlasting. Heaven must be an active physical place with dynamic love, contemplation, study, joyful work, and conversation; i.e., a perfect earth or Paradise.

I can’t imagine a static heaven without movement, and any movement implies the existence of time. Time must exist in heaven but time does not necessarily need to follow a one-way, single-speed direction. Rather, all of time and space could be God's adventurous playground--from the Big Bang to the possible Big Crunch. [Or has God balanced the expansion of the universe so that a crunch will never occur?]

Let’s assume that you received an undeserved but highly desired reward at the end of your life—HEAVEN! After you die your soul is united with God in a spiritual Paradise, but your body remains in the grave. When the final judgment occurs, your body is raised from the dead and you are a glorified person in a home that you can control perfectly. Nothing is out of whack, including the weather. Because of intimate and detailed foreknowledge of cause and effect, IF…AND…OR…THEN… is always in the present, because we know and can control the past, present, and future.

This hypothesized Heaven will allow all of time and space to be traversed and even used to develop a perfect world. What? Is not Heaven already perfect? Yes, it is, but once we are there, we still will have work to do. God’s angels received work to do after they remained faithful to God. I suspect that we also will work in the most delightful and challenging environments you can imagine. Think of heaven’s work as the perfect job with the perfect Boss!

In this earthly world, we already control space as we design, build, destroy, and change physical things. In heaven our faith and infused knowledge will be immense and so we will be able to “move mountains.” Yesterday, today, and tomorrow we can’t control in our present world, but the control of time would be a true gift of God. All of time and space would be opened up to heaven’s citizens to live and explore.

My theorized heaven is like a great Utopia where people live their lives perfectly. No mistakes will be made or sins committed—because of intimate union with God and foreknowledge of the results of all our actions.

Even nature will be controlled because nature always bows to the control of space and time, and will be subservient to those in Heaven. Entropy, the arrow of time, will be reversible, and God will provide limitless new energy over infinity.

Perhaps some worlds will be fix-it-up worlds designed by God to provide opportunities for highly rewarding co-creative work, such as terraforming inhospitable planets. An even more interesting adventure would be to assist God's newly created creatures in another star system to learn to love God, avoid sin, live well, and attain heaven.

Can you imagine the new challenges to explore and build a world as earth should have been if Adam and Eve had not sinned? To live a constantly new and never-ending life—always in perfect union with God. To experience old and new times and places? To create an infinitely expanded version of your life? If time and space are controllable in heaven, you would be able to open up all of God’s creation over all of time.

It would take you an infinity to explore all the creations and adventures in God’s playground. [Physically, this would mean that even if time has an end (Big Crunch, although this is debatable), the different paths that could be taken by an individual through the space-time continuum are essentially infinite in number.]

Could God give us the ability to control time? Yes, because He is the creator of time. Is that to be one of his rewards in heaven?

1/16/2008: I wrote the above after reading the introductory 15 pages of Anthony DeStefano's book, "A Travel Guide to Heaven," and then jumping to my own conclusions. I was not able to finish the written work until this evening. BTW, DeStefano is the Executive Director of Priests for Life which distributes this highly recommended book.

Learning a Lot from Chickens

I joined the 4-H Club when I was about 11 years old and learned to cook, sew, and raise chickens. I learned more from chickens than from the other projects.

• First, my chicken project taught me bookkeeping. Much more important than feeding and watering chickens was finding out how much they cost to raise and the profit that could be expected. The 4-H project demanded that I keep a notebook that accounted for every cent spent and earned. Even 60 years ago, my bookkeeping showed that raising chickens is not a moneymaker unless you raise tens of thousands of chickens (or the price of eggs is very high!). [In contrast, chicken raising was quite popular in 1922 and could make lots of money for boys and girls.

• Second, chickens gave me a wonderful appreciation of young nature. We kids looked forward to the day that the postman would bring a cardboard box with holes in the sides. The box contained baby chicks that had not eaten since being hatched. Mother had prepared a light-bulb heated brooder with a wire screen floor for the chicks when they arrived. We kids enjoyed feeding the cuddly chicks small flakes of oatmeal after taking them out of the box to play with them.

• Third, I learned that sometimes difficult remedies were needed to prevent worse things from happening. When the chicks grew a little and started pecking at each others' tails, the tails were painted with tar.

• Fourth, I found out where the best garden space is--in a former chicken yard where lots of high-nitrogen fertilizer has been deposited. After our land was developed into a housing edition, my mother planted a garden where the chicken house and yard had formerly been located. The rich soil produced wonderful berries, flowers, and vegetables for quite a few years.

• Fifth, chickens taught me responsibility because I had to water and feed the fowls. Cleaning out the chicken house is an odorous job that had to be done routinely. Years later, when a high school chemistry project created the pungent smell of ammonia, I knew exactly where I had smelled it before--in the chicken house!

• Sixth, I learned chickens are not very smart and have to be encouraged to get out of the rain, to get to food they can see on the other side of a fence, and to stop sitting on an unfertilized egg. [Some people are like that too.]
  

• Seventh, I learned that chickens can be easily caught using a hook at the end of a long stiff wire. [Advertisers also use long wire hooks.]
  

• Eighth, I learned hens won't lay eggs in the winter when the sun shines for less than 11 hours a day. Hens can be fooled laying eggs by turning the light on in the chicken coop at 4:30 am every winter morning.

• Ninth, hens like to talk and make lots of racket While it's possible to stop many dogs from barking or horses from neighing, it's impossible to stop a hen from cackling.

• Tenth, roosters can be dangerous--keep a stick with you if you have a bad rooster. Then plan when to eat him.
  

You too can learn more about raising chickens in your backyard. It will cost you money, but it will make your kids learn to carry eggs carefully--probably the most important lesson!

Medical Tourism and the Coming Election

"Medical Tourism" occurs when people travel all over the world for medical procedures that either cost a lot or have a long wait time in their own country. In Canada with universal health care, the number of medical procedures in 2005 for which people were waiting was 782,936.^[1] That means doctors and hospital beds to treat even seriously ill patients are not available on anything near a timely basis. Everyone has to wait. See this video "A Short Course in Brain Surgery for an example.

A friend in San Antonio tells me that her father was a medical tourist who came to the U.S. several years ago for a heart bypass operation. His wait time in Canada was going to be at least three to four months and the family didn't believe he could survive that long. So he flew to San Antonio where the surgery was performed almost immediately, then flew home after recovery from the successful surgery.

If the U.S. votes for a new president who is able to install Universal Health Care, then our country also will have significant wait times for medical treatment. For those able to afford it, they'll travel to other countries--not a good situation for our country's already unfavorable balance of payments.

A sister returned from Costa Rica recently and said that she and her husband saw large signboards that greet tourists with claims of much reduced costs for dental treatment. Will older people with limited savings and poor teeth be attracted? Of course! Why not take a vacation to Costa Rica during the winter to get dental implants? Or why not go to India, Argentina, a Scandanavian country, or Thailand for other medical procedures--most of which will cost much less than what it will cost in the U.S. Moreover, the treatments will be performed by well-trained physicians in good hospitals (if good homework is done to research the selected physicians and medical facilities).

There are good reasons for not traveling to another country for medical treatment: (1) unknown risks; (2) no applied insurance; and (3) inability to sue for damages if the procedure is badly performed. Still, as pointed out in a 60 Minutes news program, people will follow the demands of their pocketbook with respect to getting the most cost effective medical treatments. Will you be a medical tourist if Universal Health Care comes to the U.S.?

Womenpriests

Over a year ago, this blog published a post on ordination of priestesses. I haven't kept up with this deformed religious escapade until today, when I reviewed a article lavishing attention and praise on "Roman Catholic Womenpriests." The group recently attempted ordinations of two women, ages 67 and 69, in the St. Louis area.

They weren't able to afford a boat ("the cost of renting boats has proven high"), nor were they able to easily arrange for a Christian church, so they conducted their illegitimate ceremonies in a Jewish Synagogue with a woman rabbi as the hostess. The article was originally published last month (Dec 7, 2007), but it was revised the day after tomorrow, on January 11, 2008???

I was flabbergasted by a number of quotes in the article and have several questions:

"These are women “of a certain age” -- often in their 60s...."
"...it has often been noted that many young Catholics are of a conservative bent -- and not a few have raged against ordaining women on blogs." [Q: Are mostly old liberal females being ordained? What is the future when the new young priests are more like Benedict XVI?

"A harbinger of the sorts of communities the Womenpriests’ movement would create, Spiritus Christi supported priestly roles for women, celebrated gay unions and offered Communion to non-Catholics in violation of church law." [Q: Is Disobedience a virtue with these women? Should God and husbands beware?]

...the Womenpriests movement discourages titles for priests and bishops and requires no vow of obedience. [my emphasis] [Q: Did Satan suggest this?]

...continuing the work we have espoused for the last 30 years.... forced to resign her position as head of health care ministry for the Boston archdiocese.... fired from a prestigious teaching post.... a former editor at Liguori, a Catholic publishing house... [Q: Why did the Church ignore these saboteurs for so long?]

...promote a “discipleship of equals,” a church without clerics. [Q: Does this mean women's ordination is directed to destroying the male priesthood?]

“We are using the master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house” [Q: Did you forget to capitalize the word Master?]

BTW, The latest news on the St. Louis attempted "ordinations" is found on the TinMan's blog.

BTW, The latest news on the attempted "ordinations" of priestesses in St. Louis is found on Timman's blog.

"The Devil's Advocate" and "Defender of the Bond"

The Church must exercise 'greater caution and more accuracy' in the process for beatification and canonization of new saints, according to the head of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins stated in Osservatore Romano (January 8, 2008) that more precision is needed in diocesan procedures that open and advance sainthood for particular individuals. The Cardinal's desk, stated one news article in October 2007, "has turned into a frequent-flyer assignment", as he represents the the Pope at many different canonization ceremonies around the world.

I'm happy to see the tightening up of canonization procedures that good Cardinal Silvio Oddi once called a "saint factory." Since the time of Pope Sixtus V in the 16th century, well over half the new saints were canonized under the direction of Pope John Paul II. Sometimes it seemed that ideological, political, and other interests were able to push through beatifications and canonizations in record time.

Here are the statistics from Catholic Online that show the unprecedented explosion of saints under Pope John Paul II. Compare these numbers to the 296 total saints who were canonized in the 400+ years before his pontificate.

Beatifications and Canonizations in the Pontificate of John Paul II
	Ceremonies		Martyrs	Confessors	Total
Beatification Ceremonies	147		1.032	306	1.338
Canonization Ceremonies	51		402	80	482
Statistics: Ceremonies in Rome - Ceremonies in Italia outside of Rome - Ceremonies outside of Italy during Apostolic Voyages [Italian]

The position and duties of the Devil's Advocate (Advocatus Diaboli), whose job it is to attack the integrity of the proposed saint, may be restored if I read the Vatican report correctly. This person is described by the Catholic Encyclopedia as:

...one of the most important officers of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, established in 1587, by Sixtus V, to deal juridically with processes of beatification and canonization. His official title is Promoter of the Faith (Promotor Fidei). His duty requires him to prepare in writing all possible arguments, even at times seemingly slight, against the raising of any one to the honours of the altar. The interest and honour of the Church are concerned in preventing any one from receiving those honours whose death is not juridically proved to have been "precious in the sight of God"...

We next need to see the position of Defensor matrimonii (defender of the bond) restored. This would allow a more precise and consistent analysis to determine whether the bond of marriage exists in a case before the diocesan marriage tribunal.

Back in the 70's, I remember one priest who loudly asked at a public meeting, "WHERE is the defender of the bond?!" His rage was expressed after a discussion of the many annulments being granted. At the time we knew that virtually all applications for annulments were being approved, and it seemed there was always some new reason identified as a serious defect in the marriage under consideration that prevented it from being recognized as valid. I even remember one woman (RIP) who told me that her husband received an annulment, but she was not aware of it until several years later when she confronted the priest who was giving Holy Communion to her husband who had remarried.

Do I want to see a return to the days when only two canonizations took place under a papacy? NO! Clearly these and recent times indicate there are likely more than a few great saints who should be canonized each year. Yet the procedures must be strict and carefully followed, including carrying out those necessary duties performed by the "Devil's Advocate."

The same as for hearing and granting annulment petitions. Diocesan procedures need to be tightened so that the Church can begin to restore credibility to the annulment process. In other words, let the "defender of the bond" do his necessary job. Yet there appears to be good reasons why more annulments should be granted than during the 1940s and 1950s.

Curt Jester's View of the Forthcoming Instruction on the Motu Proprio

The Curt Jester is always imaginative and funny. He thinks the Pope's new document for the Bishops who are ignoring his Motu Proprio might be issued in a familiar format.

More than One Child...$$$$$$

AsiaNews reports that the heftiest fine ever levied in China for a banned second child is $100,000 US. See the complete story.

Latest about Msgr. Heliodore Mejak

A recent post discussed the world-wide interest in Msgr. Mejak, who died late on Christmas Eve. Since then, I've been watching Google to see that the web is full of information on Msgr. Mejak's life and death, including these news sites:

• Fresno Bee
• Chicago Tribune
• Monterey Herald
• Transunion (Albany, NY)
  
• ABC News
• Lawrence Journal World
• News Tribune (Tacoma)
• Wichita Eagle
  
• Kansas City Star
• Kansas City Kansan and here
  
• CBN News
  
• KXNet
• TownHall.com
• Trawlr.com
• Topix.com
• Religion News in Brief
  
• Myspace.com
• Various Kansas newspapers (e.g., Downs, Elk City, McAllster, Hutchinson, and Thomas County)
• An Associated Press article picked up by newspapers around the world
  

Local blogs keep track of their traffic using SiteMeter that shows 'hits' because of Google searches that identify the websites and blogs with information on Msgr. Mejak. My fellow blogger at Kansas City Catholic reports that his site had a significant amount of traffic from visitors who were searching for "Mejak" using Google. "I sent my post to Spiritdaily.com which linked to it and brought almost 3,000 visitors yesterday. He was well-loved, as you already know."

Here are other blogs that have featured stories on Msgr. Mejak.

• The World...IMHO
• Byzantine Forum
• The Cafeteria is Closed
• Whispers in the Loggia
• Curmudgeon's Cave
• Blogging Religiously
• More on Vocations
• FishEaters
• Hermeneutic of Continuity
• Sancte Pater
• Free Republic
  
• Loved Sinner
• Forums.Catholic.com
• Angelqueen.org
  
• Syriacus at Il Blog di Andrea Tornielli
• Katoliko Forum

KC Cyclone on the Angelqueen Forum added his own interesting comment:

Fr. Mejak baptized me. I went to the parish school. We always received communion at the communion rail on our tongues, had benediction after Sunday Mass and on First Fridays. I remember in 7th grade we learned the Latin Kyrie, Gloria, etc for the Midnight Christmas Mass. I also remember serving his Mass, and seeing the XXXX marked through the Sign of Peace in the Altar Missal.

One emailed comment to my previous posts said this blog failed to note all the information available on the life of Msgr. Mejak. Please read the entire 2003 Leaven article by Bethanne Scholl entitled:

Faith of our Fathers: He's ancient of days. He can't see very well. And he has been known to be slow to change. But at age 93 Msgr. Heliodore Mejak has no intention of calling it quits.

Wrapping Presents is Fun!

One of my Dad's temporary jobs in the Great Depression of the 1930s was to wrap Christmas presents for Montgomery Ward. Dad was never especially artistic or neat, so I've often wondered how his job performance was rated.

I was reminded of my Dad at Christmas time when one of our daughters brought out the Christmas presents to open at our family gathering. She has figured out how to efficiently wrap a lot of presents for Christmas, have a lot of fun doing it, and teach her children a skill.

Each child took turns wrapping presents for some of the other children. Even the littlest kids helped put paper around the gifts and tape them up. No one got tired, no one got exasperated, and every child excitedly asked for more and more presents to wrap. Our daughter said her children actually had more fun wrapping presents than unwrapping them!

Take a look at the "character" and the "personal touch" associated with the special style of a small child who has been asked to wrap a sibling's present. Do you think they'll eventually get good enough to wrap presents for Macy's, Kohl's, J.C. Penney's, or Target?

Worldwide Interest in Local Priest

I am amazed at the places from which people have googled the name of "Msgr. Heliodore Mejak" of Holy Family Church in Kansas City, KS to reach a short biography of his life. Msgr. Mejak died just before midnight on Christmas Eve after becoming ill the previous Thursday. The 98-year old priest was the oldest active pastor in the U.S. and likely in the entire world. Here are some of the locations of computers that searched for news about Msgr. Mejak in the past 22 hours:

1. Tokamaru, New Zealand
2. Englewood, Colorado
3. Edinburgh, United Kingdom
   
4. Wallingford, Connecticut
5. Lexington, Kentucky
6. Silver Spring, Maryland
7. Hermosa Beach, California
8. Pueblo Nuevo, Chiriqui, Panama
9. Mansfield, Ohio
10. Minneapolis, Minnesota
11. Flower Mound, Texas
12. Pompano Beach, Florida
    

These "search from" computer locations are in addition to many local searches for Msgr. Mejak from Olathe, Shawnee, Lenexa, Prairie Village, Overland Park, Topeka, Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri.

The body of Msgr. Mejak will be able to be viewed and he can be prayed for in his parish, Holy Family Church, on Sunday afternoon, December 30, from 2 pm to 6 pm, with the rosary to be said at 5:00 pm. The funeral Mass is scheduled for 11 am on Monday, December 31, at the same church. Msgr. Mejak's body will be buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Kansas City, KS.

Kiddie, Kiddie, Bang, Bang!

One of our daughters contributed the idea for this post. She told me that families with more than four children evoke a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reaction when people stare at their families. Some people look at the children with wide-open surprise, but other individuals continue to question large families with slightly raised eyebrows.

In the 1968 move, Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang , there is a scene where the townspeople of Vulgaria stare wide eyed at Jeremy and Jemima Potts, who with their father are trying to find their kidnapped Grandpa. The people stare at the children because their town has no children, not one! Children are banned in Vulgaria because Baroness Bomburst finds children disgusting. The plot includes an evil Child-Catcher (China? Planned Parenthood?) and is relevant today.

Our children's large families have encountered similar stares. When one daughter takes all her well-disciplined (mostly!) young children with her to the grocery store, she is asked whether they are all hers. While visiting his wife in the maternity ward of a hospital, my son-in-law is questioned on whether the new baby is the last one. [He quickly answered that he might need more substitutes for his sports team!]

The Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stare should be called the Kiddie, Kiddie, Bang, Bang! stare, and it's even been encountered in Catholic churches. One of our children's family stopped for Sunday Mass while on vacation in another state. When they entered the large church, many of the congregation stared openly at them. As they looked around, they saw only one other person in church was less than five years old. So it was not surprising that the old people looked in wonder at all the little kids entering the church with their two parents.

The same situation happened to another daughter. The church was quite large and in a wealthy neighborhood, but there were extremely few children. My daughter actually felt somewhat uncomfortable because her large and young family stood out as so different from the rest of the older Mass-goers.

One local Catholic parish approaches death because the parishioners are mostly elderly. One large family visited this parish and easily stood out from the rest of the many much older Mass attendees. The family was eagerly approached after Mass with a specific invitation to become parishioners. The inviting parishioner was somewhat disappointed to hear that the visiting family was a member of a Kansas City community with the old Latin Mass.

The National Center for Health Statistics says the fertility rate in the U.S. has jumped to its highest level since 1962, when the " baby boom" ended. Many of the births are due to new young immigrants, but some appear to be the result of individual citizen concerns that our country and families will die without more children being born. I was surprised and elated that USA Today's article on the increasing birthrate correctly emphasizes:

A high fertility rate is important to industrialized nations. When birthrates are low, there are fewer people to fill jobs and support the elderly.

May these valid concerns increase and result in larger families.