"Bin Lauden's Death: Cause For Reflection, Not Rejoicing"

A friend pointed this article out to me today. With all the news surrounding the death of Bin Lauden what I find the most disturbing is the fact of how so many young elementary school kids here in America are rejoicing the death of a person, even if that person is Bin Laden. I think it is sickeneing to know we have taught them to be joyous over the blood of a human being. The Church seems to be in agreement of how I am feeling over this.... Just because this man's life is now ended does not mean there will be peace anytime soon. I have a feeling it will be even more tumultuous for awhile longer. Let us pray that whatever happens now is the will of God.

Vatican says bin Laden's death cause for reflection, not rejoicing

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican said the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, a man who sowed division and hatred and who caused "innumerable" deaths, should prompt serious reflection about one's responsibility before God, not rejoicing.

The Vatican statement May 2 came the day after President Barack Obama announced that U.S. forces had killed bin Laden in an attack on his hideout in northwest Pakistan. In several U.S. cities, the news prompted street demonstrations and expressions of jubilation.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, released a brief written statement reacting to the news.

"Osama bin Laden, as we all know, bore the most serious responsibility for spreading divisions and hatred among populations, causing the deaths of innumerable people, and manipulating religions to this end," Father Lombardi said.

"In the face of a man's death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred," the spokesman said.

The Vatican missionary news agency, Fides, reported that Christian schools and other institutes were closed and churches put on guard in Pakistan's main cities out of fear of possible repercussions on the Christian minorities there. Pakistani Christians are often identified in extremist literature with the West and the United States.

Paul Bhatti, a government adviser for religious minorities in Pakistan, told Fides that "the situation is tense."

"In fact, there are strong fears of reactions -- senseless reactions -- against the Christian minorities. The government is giving the maximum attention to prevention measures," he said.

Father Mario Rodrigues, director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Pakistan, said after a meeting with government officials May 2: "They put us on alert, requesting the closure of our institutes and making available additional police personnel around the churches. The Christians of Pakistan are innocent victims in this and other situations. Any pretext is used to threaten them or launch an attack."

Rodrigues said some experts predicted that bin Laden's killing would weaken the Taliban and their ideologies, which could help diminish anti-Christian persecution in the long term. But he said radical Islamic groups were flourishing in Pakistan, and other extremist leaders could arise.

What is needed, he said, is a serious policy of interreligious tolerance at every level -- cultural, social, political and legislative.

END

Sometimes It Is The Simplest Things That Can Make A Difference

I found this photo randomly while online. It makes me wonder how many of these types of signs could indeed make a difference. I also wonder how many people it would impact and who would actually take it seriously when they choose to take one.

A Local Youth Group From My Home Town On News About March...

St. John's youth group being interviewed about the March for Life. The young girl who speaks happens to have been part of my homeschool group during my senior year of high school. I am so proud of this. :)

It's Halloween Time!

Halloween
- by Mary Jane Carr

Witches flying past on broomsticks,
Black cats leaping here and there,
White-robed spooks on every corner,
Mournful moaning in the air,

Goblins peering out of windows,
Spirit-things that rap and run-
But don't be scared-it's just October,
Having one last hour of fun!

Catholic Voting

Last night the topic of discussion for s.l.t.'s "holy" hour was about Catholic voting. It was a very intense subject. There is a funny joke that I thought about last night from "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin." "There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.." This line kept coming to me because this topic became pretty heated last night. Everyone has their own opinions on who to vote for and why. It is tricky trying to decipher who to vote into leadership roles in this country when each of the main parties are both very flawed.

The nights discussion was to remind us where the church stands on voting. There are five non-negotiable issues which the Catholic church says should never be promoted by the law... Voting for a candidate which openly supports either one of these five things is a mortal sin. The five issues are as follows; abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and homosexual "marriage. This definitely makes voting for us Catholics very difficult. We have to take great caution when we do cast our votes. After hearing all of this last night it almost makes me not want to vote. It also reminds me that I really have to research each candidate more thoroughly. It is easy to vote for a "pro-life" candidate for me. I would never vote for a pro-choice candidate. After last night though I realized that even if that candidate claims they are against abortion that does not mean they are also against the other four issues the Church stands on.

It is obvious that our nation needs a lot of prayer and real Catholic people in the leadership roles. I know I will be praying and gathering lots of info on the candidates before I go to vote.

Fighting To Keep Childhood Innocence

This past week it seems as though the majority of the conversations I have held with my friends have all at one point or another focused mainly on sex. What I mean by that is we have discussed how sad it is that the kids nowadays are becoming sexually mature at an early age. Just this evening one of my friends was telling me how an eleven year old she knew of in her hometown had become pregnant. Eleven years old. It completely shocked me. Thinking back to age eleven I was just beginning to kind of notice boys. Sex completely grossed me out. Most of my friends have all agreed with this being how it was for them as well. It seems to me that children are growing up way earlier than they need to.

I became even more curious about how serious this may be down the road for the future of these kids. Apparently in one public middle school they handed out a sex survey which was very detailed. You are welcome to read more about that if you click here. I am very saddened to hear that such a detailed sex survey is being handed to seventh graders. I am not a parent, but I am pretty sure if I was a parent of a child at that school I would be furious. There is a study that has been going on with this age group which you can read about by looking here. Obviously there is a huge factor in this study which I do not agree with, and that is pushing more condoms into Middle schools. I do not think that will fix this issue... In fact that just tells them that having sex that young is ok.

Here are some more facts I have found:

Nearly half (46%) of all 15–19-year-olds in the United States have had sex at least once.

By age 15, only 13% of never-married teens have ever had sex. However, by the time they reach age 19, seven in 10 never-married teens have engaged in sexual intercourse.

Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia explicitly allow all minors to consent to contraceptive services without a parent's involvement (as of January 2010). Two states (Texas and Utah) require parental consent for contraceptive services in state-funded family planning programs

Of the 18.9 million new cases of STIs each year, 9.1 million (48%) occur among 15–24-year-olds.

Although 15–24-year-olds represent only one-quarter of the sexually active population, they account for nearly half of all new STIs each year

Each year, almost 750,000 women aged 15–19 become pregnant.

Ten percent of all U.S. births are to teens

1 out of 5 people will have an std withing the next few years.

These are only a few statistics and if I had more time tonight to really look for more I would. This is enough for me to read and know something is not working right when it comes to our kids.

Sometimes I wish I was born in a different century when everyone cared strongly about their reputations and how other people viewed them. Sex was supposed to be for marriage, as it should be today. All I can keep doing is working on being the best role model I can for the kids I am around. I want to be held accountable because I do know I have quite a few people who do look up to me. With lots of prayer and focus on my goal I am pretty sure I will not go wrong. I know, that is much easier said than done.

Update on Dr. Ken Howell

For those of you who have read about Dr. Ken Howell in my previous posts, I am happy to say he was officially rehired as a professor to teach on Catholicism once again. You can read more about him in my previous posts, if you have not yet, by clicking here and here.

Fired U of I professor vindicated, will again be allowed to teach Catholicism class

U of I says Kenneth Howell will continue as adjunct professor
Thursday, July 29, 2010, 12:00 AM (MST) |
ADF Media Relations | 480-444-0020

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Comments

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana confirmed to Alliance Defense Fund attorneys Thursday that it will once again allow popular professor Dr. Kenneth Howell to teach on Catholicism after recently firing him for explaining the Roman Catholic Church’s position on human sexual behavior to members of his class.

ADF attorneys representing Howell sent a letter to university officials on July 12 explaining that the university’s actions violated his rights protected by the First Amendment and asked that he be reinstated.

“A university cannot censor professors’ speech--including classroom speech related to the topic of the class--merely because certain ideas ‘offend’ an anonymous student. We greatly appreciate the university’s move to put Professor Howell back in the classroom, but we will be watching carefully to make sure that his academic freedom is protected throughout the university’s ongoing process,” said ADF Senior Counsel David French.

A letter from the University of Illinois Office of University Counsel admits no wrongdoing on the part of the university but states, “The School of Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics will be contacting Dr. Howell to offer him the opportunity to teach Religion 127, Introduction to Catholicism, on a visiting instructional appointment at the University of Illinois, for the fall 2010 semester. Dr. Howell will be appointed and paid by the University for this adjunct teaching assignment.”

The letter then adds that a university committee will continue its investigation of Howell’s situation.

Howell, who had been teaching at the university since 2001, was relieved of his teaching duties based in part on an anonymous complaint sent via e-mail to university officials. The e-mail was sent by the friend of an anonymous student who claimed to be “offended” by a May 4 e-mail Howell sent to students elaborating on a class discussion concerning Catholic beliefs about sexual behavior.

The May 4 e-mail from Howell addressed a May 3 lecture in which he explained how the Roman Catholic Church distinguishes between same-sex attraction and homosexual conduct. He accurately stated the church’s teaching that homosexual conduct is morally wrong, framing the issue in the context of natural moral law.

"Smile! Your mother chose life!" :)

It is fair week here in my home county. Fair time is usually the signal that Summer is quickly coming to an end. One of the last big "hurrah's" before school goes back into session and such. See friends you have not seen in awhile by happening to run into them. It is time to forget about dieting to enjoy to incredibly unhealthy, but delicious fried fool... deep fried oreo's, deep fried pickles, deep fried snicker bars, fried pork tenderloin sandwiches, ice cream, corn on the cob, funnel cakes, elephant ears, kettle corn... the list goes on and on. I enjoy hanging out with the different animals, more specifically the billy goats and horses. Waiting at least twenty minutes or so to ride the best rides on bracelet nights. Going around for freebies at the many different booths. Fair time is easily a highlight for me every Summer.

This year I also helped out with our Knight's of Columbus Pro-life booth. At first since no one was sitting there with me I thought I would become bored fast. I realized though that by sitting there looking bored people walking by were less likely to check out the booth. I then began to ask people if they wanted free tootsie rolls instead of just waiting for people to come up and by them. I found most people donated a lot more that way. I sold at least ten of our bumper stickers and a few other little things we had at the table.

There was one man in particular I remember the most from my time working at the booth. He was easily sixty something years old. He came up to my booth with his grandnephew and after they both looked at the booth for about five or six minutes the proceeded to donate their money. We were selling these bumper stickers that say, "Smile! Your mother chose life!" The older man saw them and bought me out. Granted there were only three left, but still it was something. He then had his grandnephew help him put them on all over his shirt. He told me how he was disgusted by the idea of abortion. I learned he had seven siblings who all had huge families, but he was not able to. He helped raise his nieces and nephews. He talked about how sad he was that he was not able to have children. His grandnephew (I want to say he was about ten or eleven years old) was incredibly polite, and also donated money to help with the "Crisis Pregnancy Center."

I enjoy hearing a person's story. Everyone has one, and there is always something to take away from them. I know that if I had sat there all grumpy because there was no one with me, I would not have met this man and heard what he had to say.

The Dinner Roll

I stole this off of a friend's facebook note... very sad, but oh so true.

Once upon a time I was invited to the White House for a private dinner with the President.

I am a respected businessman, with a factory that produces memory chips for computers and portable electronics.

There was some talk that my industry was being scrutinized by the administration, but I paid it no mind. I live in a FREE country. There’s nothing that the government can do to me if I’ve broken no laws. My wealth was EARNED honestly, and an invitation to dinner with an American President is an honor.

I checked my coat, was greeted by the Chief of Staff, and joined the President in a yellow dining room.

We sat across from each other at a table draped in white linen. The Great Seal was embossed on the china. Uniformed staff served our dinner.

The meal was served, and I was startled when my waiter suddenly reached out, plucked a dinner roll off my plate and began nibbling it as he walked back to the kitchen..
“Sorry ’bout that,” said the President. “Andrew is very hungry.”

“I don’t appreciate…” I began, but as I looked into the calm brown eyes across from me, I felt immediately guilty and petty. It was just a dinner roll. “Of course,” I concluded, and reached for my glass.

Before I could, however, another waiter reached forward, took the glass away and swallowed the wine in a single gulp. ”And his brother, Eric, is very thirsty,” said the President.

I didn’t say anything. The President is testing my compassion, I thought. I withheld my comments and decided to play along. I don’t want to seem unkind..

My plate was whisked away before I had tasted a bite. “Eric’s children are also quite hungry.” With a lurch, I crashed to the floor. My chair had been pulled out from under me. I stood, brushing myself off angrily, and watched as it was carried from the room. “And their grandmother can’t stand for long.”

I excused myself, smiling outwardly, but inside feeling like a fool. Obviously I had been invited to the White House to be sport for some game. I reached for my coat, to find that it had been taken.

I turned back to the President. “Their grandfather doesn’t like the cold.”

I wanted to shout, “that was my coat!” But again, I looked at the placid smiling face of my host and decided I was being a poor sport. I spread my hands helplessly and chuckled.

Then I felt my hip pocket and realized my wallet was gone. I excused myself and walked to a phone on an elegant side table. I learned shortly that my credit cards had been

“Andrew’s whole family has made bad financial decisions. They haven’t planned for retirement and they need a house. They recently defaulted on a subprime mortgage. I told them they could have your home. They need it more than you do.”

My hands were shaking. I felt faint I stumbled back to the table and knelt on the floor.

The President cheerfully cut his meat, ate his steak, and drank his wine. I lowered my eyes and stared at the small grey circles on the tablecloth that were water drops.

“By the way,” he added, “I have just signed an Executive Order nationalizing your factories.
I’m firing you as head of your business. I’ll be operating the firm now for the benefit of all mankind. There’s a whole bunch of Erics and Andrews out there and they can’t come to you for jobs groveling like beggars…we need to spread YOUR wealth around…”

I looked up. The President dropped his spoon into the empty ramekin which had been his crème Brule. He drained the last drops of his wine. As the table was cleared, he lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair.

He stared at me. I clung to the edge of the table as if it were a ledge and I were a man hanging over an abyss. I thought of the years behind me, of the life I had lived. The life I had earned with a lifetime of work, risk and struggle.

Why was I punished? How had I allowed it to be taken? What game had I played and lost? I looked across the table and noticed with some surprise that there was no game board between us.

What had I done wrong?

As if answering the unspoken thought, President Obama suddenly cocked his head, locked his empty eyes to mine, and bared a million teeth, chuckling wryly as he folded his hands.

“You should have stopped me at the dinner roll,” he said.

"Gotta Love This American Ride"

I was driving in my car while grabbing something for me to eat for lunch when this song came on the radio. Now it really got me thinking... I love being an American, don't get me wrong. I love my country... with that however, I think that somewhere along the lines the popular ideas and beliefs us Americans have now are very skewed. America was founded on Christian morals, but somewhere along the lines those ideals have become lost... The majority of us are all out for our own gain pretty much. The mind-set seems to be "The more I have, the happier I'll be." I am not saying all of us are that way, but when I look on t.v., and newspapers, and in magazines, that is what it all points to... This song is very much a Toby Keith song, filled with sarcasm and yet it is very true... That is why I keep praying for my own country, because we need it just as much as the next country... GOD BLESS AMERICA... AMERICA BLESS GOD!

American Ride

Toby Keith

Send "American Ride" Ringtone to your CellWinter's gettin' colder, summer's gettin' warmer.

Tidal wave comin' 'cross the Mexican border.
Why buy a gallon, it's cheaper by the barrel.
Just dont get busted singin' Christmas carols.

Thats us, that's right
Gotta love this American ride.
Both ends of the ozone burnin.
Funny how the world keeps turnin.
Look ma, no hands.
I love this American ride.
Gotta love this American ride.

Momma gets her rocks off watchin' Desperate Housewives.
Daddy works his can off payin' for the good life.
Kids on the YouTube learnin how to be cool.
Livin in a cruel world, pays to be a mean girl.

Thats us, Thats right
Gotta love this American ride.
Both ends of the ozone burnin.
Funny how the world keeps turnin.
Look ma, no hands.
I love this American ride.
Gotta love this American ride.

Poor little infamous America's town.
She gained five pounds and lost her crown.
Quick fix plastic surgical antidote.
Got herself a record deal, cant even sing a note.

Plasma gettin bigger, Jesus gettin smaller.
Spill a cup of coffee, make a million dollars.
Customs caught a thug with an aerosol can.
If the shoe don't fit, fits gonna hit the shan.

Thats us, Thats right
Gotta love this American ride.
Both ends of the ozone burnin.
Funny how the world keeps turnin.
Hot dog, Hot damn.
I love this American ride.
Gotta love this American ride.
Oh yeah,
na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na........... nanananananana

"The Call"

March For Life - 2010

"Merry Christmas" never gets old!!!!

There is one thing that really annoys me during the Christmas season... and that is people who really get annoyed when someone tells them "Merry Christmas." You look at their face and they look totally annoyed and usually grumble back something. I think that the stores that now have their salespeople say only "Happy Holidays" are more worried about not offending anyone. I think it is silly that a salesperson is not allowed to say "Merry Christmas," because as a client at their store I would much prefer hearing "Merry Christmas" over Happy Holidays.... I'm not saying they can't say "Happy Holidays," I just think that they should be able to say whatever Holiday greeting they feel like saying....
Another thing that really frustrates me are the people who consider themselves atheists, but enjoy the benefits of Christmas... the commercial side of the holiday... you know, basically they don't want to feel cheated out of presents... I find that so hypocritical to enjoy the fun part of a Christian holiday while the rest of the year claiming to not believe in any God whatsoever....
I am not quite sure what made me decide to write about those two things tonight except at work today a friend of mine got on the conversation of how we both get annoyed with the "Happy Holidays" greeting and hypocrites at Christmastime...
I want to apologize now for the lack of posting that will be happening over the next few days... My week-end is going to be packed with a college lock-in "mini-retreat" thing tomorrow night that I will be attending. It sounds like it will be fun, and after the week I've had I really really need it. Saturday I will also be busy catching up with some homework... so I might not be able to post anything until sometime on Sunday.... we'll see how it goes....

Getting Theoretical While Watching House

I am a huge fan of the show House. Tonight's episode was very interesting. In it there was an African dictator that became extremely sick and came to America to find a cure for his illness. The interesting thing about this whole show was watching how the characters were dealing with trying to save one man's life, because by saving his life it would most likely help kill thousands of other innocent people through genocide by that dictator. It brought up a point a good point. Is it okay to kill one man to save thousands of others?
After watching that episode I have become somewhat very confused. Part of me feels like it is okay to kill a person to save thousands of others, but then another part of me totally disagrees with that. I mean do I think it is okay to kill a doctor that does abortions even though he is helping to kill thousands of innocent lives? It is all very confusing to me because I do not think it is right to kill an abortionist, so I suppose it is not okay to kill a dictator threatening genocide either. Then again I go through this inner battle with myself because isn't one death more preferred to losing thousands of innocent lives? It is a very fine line right there and I am thankful that the story in House was obviously something I hope I'd never have to encounter because I am not sure how I would act myself...

"History 101"

I found this off of one of my friend's notes on facebook again. This was too funny that I had to pass it along!

History 101

For those that don't know about history... Here is a condensed version:

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

1. Liberals, and
2. Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.
Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.




Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history:

It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it.

A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.
And there you have it. Let your next action reveal your true self.

"New Health Care"

I got this one off of a note a friend posted on facebook.... kinda depressing, really.

New Health Care

The phone rings and the lady of the house answers, "Hello?"

"Mrs. Sanders, please."

"Speaking."

"Mrs. Sanders, this is Dr. Jones at St. Agnes Laboratory. When your
husband's doctor sent his blood test to the lab last week, a blood test from
another Mr. Sanders arrived as well. We are now uncertain which one belongs
to your husband. Frankly, either way the results are not too good."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Sanders asks nervously.

"Well, one of the specimens tested positive for Alzheimer's and the
other one tested positive for HIV. We can't tell which is which."

"That's dreadful! Can you do the test again?" questioned Mrs.
Sanders.

"Normally we can, but the new health care system will only pay for
these expensive tests just one time."

"Well, what am I supposed to do now?"

"The folks at Obama health care recommend that you drop your husband
off somewhere in the middle of town. If he finds his way home, don't sleep
with him."

Obama Reciting the Islamic Call to Prayer in Perfect Arabic