September 28, 2009

Catholicism 101

St. Mary's Catholic Center at Texas A&M offers a three year non-credit Catholic theology program for Aggies. Catholicism 101 is the first semester, and the first three classes with notes are online. How fabulous that this kind of program is offered and on a secular campus!

Noteworthy statistic on their site: out of the 44,000 students at Texas A&M, 25% are Catholic.

September 25, 2009

Little One's first confession

Well, not really since she is only 3. However, she did insist quite vocally that she wanted to go with me a few weeks ago. I explained that she had to be very quiet and that we would most likely have to wait in line (which is good since it means that there is a line to wait in).

So, off we went to church on a Saturday afternoon. Little did the others in line know that they would get minor entertainment while waiting their turn to enter the confessional.

And little did the priest know that he would be blessed with three-year-old advice. Something like:
Father: "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
Little One: "Mommy, say the 'Glory Be'." (I'm convinced she likes this prayer because it is short.)
Me: "Maybe later dear."

And this is what I remember for my penance: "Read and meditate on the Beatitudes. And then say one ..." Uh, oh, is that bad that I forgot which prayer he wanted me to say? I tried to compensate by saying one each Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.

September 18, 2009

You Shall Believe

Last week, I went with a dear friend to a talk entitled "You Shall Believe". Excellent! (Although the timing of the event did nothing for my s-l-o-w transformation into a morning person.)

Two gentlemen from Australia, Ron Tesoriero and investigative reporter Mike Willesee, spoke about their investigation and documentation of several miraculous events such as a weeping statue, a communion host changing to flesh, and a woman in Bolivia with the stigmata. The interesting angle is that they use science to prove the validity of these miracles.

I have not read it yet, but I did pick up a copy of their book Reason to Believe.

You can see a short video on Eucharistic miracles and a longer excerpt from a Fox broadcast on stigmata by visiting their site.

September 10, 2009

Healthcare in the UK

Posted on EWTN today, an example of how healthcare fails in the UK: Infant Left Untreated Because of U.K. Health Rules.

Doctors in England ignored a mother’s pleas for help and left her extremely premature baby to die because he was born two days before a hospital guidelines’ recommended cutoff age for providing medical treatment.

September 3, 2009

How not to succeed in becoming a morning person

I failed miserably last night. See, I get tired at the end of the day, often feeling as though I could go to bed at the same time as Little One (around 8 pm). But I don't, which can lead to trouble (like last night). It starts out innocent enough: check Facebook "for a few minutes, not long. I promise!"

But since I am already logged in, I have to take a few quizzes (I am a left-brained person who does well staying on task and prefers the government to stay out of people's business), maybe play a quick game or two (or five). Then I notice that a friend from college has posted a comment on someone else's photo. College was a bit of an alternative time for me (one that I would not repeat), so there is a certain curiosity on my part to check out what is going on in the lives of the not-even-a-handful of people that I have only kind of stayed in touch with.

(It looks like I'm the one who has changed. Or was I ever really that...alternative? Of course, thinking back, I can't say that I truly fit in with that group of people either. There was the whole "Which brand of cigarettes do you smoke so I know whether or not to bum one from you" incident. The girl was genuinely confused by my "I don't smoke" answer. Then there were the "oh, you are not into girls, are you?" questions. Uh, no I am not "into girls". But I digress.)

Anyway, by clicking on the link to the friend's comment, I see a photo of a girl from that group of people. In fact, now that I think about, I think she was the one who wanted to know my brand of cigarettes. This gets me thinking about the music that I used to listen to. Which leads me to searching for anyone that may have compiled lists from certain clubs of the time and place. Which I find and then have to search for on You Tube. After listening to a number of them and exclaiming "Wow, I haven't heard this song in 15 or 20 years!" to my husband (who takes the opportunity to point out that he is younger than me), I realize that I am really tired and that it is after 11 pm.

And this is how I stay up too late.

September 1, 2009

Blood Money

Watch the trailer for Blood Money, a movie about abortion and Planned Parenthood.