Cultivating our relationship with the Blessed Mother… by Fr. John Corapi

As we enter another month of May we can’t help but turn our thoughts to Mary, the Mother of the Lord and our dear spiritual Mother. For whatever reason some people have difficulty relating to the Blessed Mother. On the other hand, tens of millions of us love her dearly and can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t. I have always thought, “If she’s good enough for Jesus, She’s good enough for you!”

We find ourselves caught in a violent spiritual war today. We need all of the help we can get. One of the greatest aids God has given us is the gift of His own Mother. We are foolhardy indeed if we refuse or fail to avail ourselves of this powerful gift. 

Pray the Rosary every day. If we do not do this I’m afraid we’ll bear much of the responsibility for the state of the world-which is catastrophic. Can God bless a country that formally and legally embraces such human rights abuses as the genocide of abortion? Can God look fondly on a world that sanctions things such as fetal stem cell research, human cloning, and gay marriage? These things constitute an assault on life itself, yet the average person is apparently too dull witted or morally blind to see this.

At decisive times in human history, when all seemed dark, desperate, and nearly lost, the Church turned to Mary, the Mother of the Lord and our Mother, the Woman Clothed with the Sun. She interceded for poor humanity with her Son and won the day. We are at such crossroads now and this May let’s not fail to turn to her in all of our needs. Everything we give to her, all of our prayers, go immediately to Jesus, Who gives them to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I strongly urge you to totally consecrate yourself to Jesus through Mary, pray the Rosary every day, and have confidence in her maternal intercession. Above all love your Mother, for I promise you-your Mother loves you.

God Bless You

Fr. John Corapi

Fr. John Corapi Website

Cardinal Regali: “It is most unfortunate that this pseudo-ordination has occurred within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,” (Full Text)

Self Excommunication in Philadelphia…

Cardinal Justin Regali

The Bulletin

An invalid ordination that tried to make two women Catholic priests has spurred a strong reaction from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in the form of an open letter from Cardinal Justin Rigali.

The ordination ceremony, which took place on Sunday with a bishop from a group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP), took place at a Christian chapel inside Congregation Mishkan Shalom, a Reconstructionist Jewish synagogue in Philadelphia. It was the first such invalid ordination of women to occur in the Philadelphia archdiocese.

“It is most unfortunate that this pseudo-ordination has occurred within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,” said Cardinal Rigali. “I am concerned pastorally for the souls of those involved and for the Catholic faithful who may be confused. Those who present themselves for ordination at such an invalid ceremony – as well as those who falsely claim to be ordaining the women – are, by their actions, automatically excommunicated from the Church.”

While a push to ordain women has subsided since its height years ago, it is still a goal for some feminists in various countries. The Catholic Church has closed the book on any discussions about women joining the priesthood, saying the Church lacks the power to change the matter. Cardinal Rigali said that the reason for this is that the Church draws on scripture and sacred tradition, two sources that are not negotiable.

“Both clearly indicate that Jesus called only men to follow him as apostles, and the Church has always regarded his choice in this matter as normative for all time,” said Cardinal Rigali. “Therefore, she has always followed Jesus’ example by choosing only men for the ministry of Holy Orders. This teaching has been confirmed by the supreme authority of the Catholic Church as definitive and irreformable. Consequently, the Church is not authorized by Christ to confer holy orders upon women, and cannot do so, no matter how ardent a person’s desire may be.” Read The Full Story

Full Text Follows:

STATEMENT FROM CARDINAL JUSTIN RIGALI 

ON THE INVALID CEREMONY OF THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN IN PHILADELPHIA

It is most unfortunate that this pseudo-Ordination has occurred within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. I am concerned pastorally for the souls of those involved and for the Catholic faithful who may be confused. Those who present themselves for ordination at such an invalid ceremony – as well as those who falsely claim to be ordaining the women — are, by their actions, automatically excommunicated from the Church. (General Decree regarding the delict of attempted sacred ordination of a woman, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, December 19, 2007) 

Such a ceremony is in violation of the constant teaching of the Church, based on Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Both clearly indicate that Jesus called only men to follow Him as Apostles, and the Church has always regarded his choice in this matter as normative for all time. Therefore, she has always followed Jesus’ example by choosing only men for the ministry of Holy Orders. This teaching has been confirmed by the supreme authority of the Catholic Church as definitive and irreformable. Consequently, the Church is not authorized by Christ to confer Holy Orders upon women, and cannot do so, no matter how ardent a person’s desire may be. 

All Catholic men and women bring different yet equally valuable gifts to the Church. The Church is strongest when the gifts given by Christ to all her members are celebrated and respected. Our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, said, “The presence and the role of women in the life of the Church, although not linked to the ministerial priesthood, remain absolutely necessary and irreplaceable.” (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, 1994). 

God’s gifts, however, are never given to individuals merely for their own fulfillment, but for the unfolding of his plan of salvation in the Church for the benefit of the whole community of the faithful, and no one’s true personal dignity in the Church can be fostered in opposition to the will of Christ Himself. Consequently, such a pseudo-ordination ceremony denigrates the truth entrusted to the Church by Christ Himself, and demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of the respect and dignity accorded to women by Christ and His Church.

Fr. Carmelo Mifsud Tribute: 50 Years of Faithful Service to Holy Mother Church

On March 14, 2009 Fr. Carmelo Mifsud celebrated 50 years as a priest of God.

Fr. Carmelo Mifsud, is from the Island of Malta, and was one of 21 children. 15 of his brothers and sisters died in infancy and only lived the longest up to 2 years old. That is hard to believe, how his parents buried 15 of their children. Of the 6 that lived, 5 are still alive today. What a family..

It has been our priviledge to have Father “retire” in So. Oregon at Sacred Heart parish, in Medford. He is one busy priest as it is and this is his retirement. We are so grateful for the loving sacrifice of his life and that he is still giving of himself. We are blessed to have Fr. Carmelo and pray Our Lord continues to grant him good health of mind and body as he continues to serve Holy Mother Church. 

Here is a beautiful video including a collage of his life and ordination, honoring a well beloved priest, and thanking God for his faithfulness for these 50 years. Fr. Carmelo just celebrated his 50th Anniversary of his Priesthood in the same cathedral he was ordained in with remaining members from his ordination class in Malta.

50 YEARS A PRIEST

A TRIBUTE TO FATHER CARMELO

Video: Sacred Heart/Story M. S.

Mary Ann Glendon Letter To Notre Dame (Full Text): “I cannot accept the Laetare Medal or participate in the May 17 graduation ceremony.”

HT/FIRST THINGS

Mary Ann Glendon

Declining Notre Dame: A Letter From Mary Ann Glendon

By Mary Ann Glendon

Monday, April 27, 2009, 9:32 AM

April 27, 2009
The Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
President
University of Notre Dame

Dear Father Jenkins,

When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame’s most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students and faculty.

Last month, when you called to tell me that the commencement speech was to be given by President Obama, I mentioned to you that I would have to rewrite my speech. Over the ensuing weeks, the task that once seemed so delightful has been complicated by a number of factors.

First, as a longtime consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, I could not help but be dismayed by the news that Notre Dame also planned to award the president an honorary degree. This, as you must know, was in disregard of the U.S. bishops’ express request of 2004 that Catholic institutions “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles” and that such persons “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” That request, which in no way seeks to control or interfere with an institution’s freedom to invite and engage in serious debate with whomever it wishes, seems to me so reasonable that I am at a loss to understand why a Catholic university should disrespect it.

Then I learned that “talking points” issued by Notre Dame in response to widespread criticism of its decision included two statements implying that my acceptance speech would somehow balance the event:

 

• “President Obama won’t be doing all the talking. Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, will be speaking as the recipient of the Laetare Medal.”

• “We think having the president come to Notre Dame, see our graduates, meet our leaders, and hear a talk from Mary Ann Glendon is a good thing for the president and for the causes we care about.”

A commencement, however, is supposed to be a joyous day for the graduates and their families. It is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame’s decision-in disregard of the settled position of the U.S. bishops-to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church’s position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.

Finally, with recent news reports that other Catholic schools are similarly choosing to disregard the bishops’ guidelines, I am concerned that Notre Dame’s example could have an unfortunate ripple effect.

It is with great sadness, therefore, that I have concluded that I cannot accept the Laetare Medal or participate in the May 17 graduation ceremony.

In order to avoid the inevitable speculation about the reasons for my decision, I will release this letter to the press, but I do not plan to make any further comment on the matter at this time.

Yours Very Truly,

Mary Ann Glendon

Mary Ann Glendon is Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. A member of the editorial and advisory board of First Things, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican from 2007 to 2009.

 

…Speaking of Lefties Twisting the Bible – ‘Jesus was not Spartacus, he was not engaged in a fight for political liberation’.”

THE CATHOLIC HERALD

Left-wing “social” Catholicism falsifies the Gospel and can promote violence, according to Catholic novelist Piers Paul Read’s new book.

The Death of a Pope, published in America on May 1 and available in Britain later in the year, intertwines real events with fiction, and is likely to be controversial for its attacks on secularism and liberal Catholicism, especially liberation theology.

Mr Read told the Herald: “The anti-hero is an aid worker, a Basque who was once a Jesuit in Salvador and left to join the guerrillas. He’s now an aid worker.

“The themes are Catholic ones, you could say it’s about the battle between liberal and conservative Catholics, a debate between the Tablet and The Catholic Herald. There is also a certain amount of satire.”

Mr Read said the theme originated with a visit to El Salvador in 1990, where many Catholics supported the Communists.

“I wrote a piece for the Independent about the Jesuits at the University of Central America, and more broadly the Catholics who supported liberation theology. I was once a Catholic radical but El Salvador was a long, drawn-out disaster. I began to realise, as Pope Benedict XVI puts it in his encyclical Spe Salvi: ‘Jesus was not Spartacus, he was not engaged in a fight for political liberation’.” 

In an interview on the website of Ignatius Press, the book’s American publishers, Mr Read said: “When I was young I was a zealous exponent of liberation theology. As I grew older I like to think I grew wiser and came to see how ’social’ Catholicism, however superficially appealing in the face of the suffering caused by poverty and injustice, in fact falsifies the teaching of the Gospels.

Full Story Here

Calling All Theologians – Bible: Divine Inspiration and Church Tradition by Pope Benedict XVI

VATICAN CITY, 23 APR 2009 ( VIS ) – This morning the Pope received thirty representatives of the Pontifical Biblical Commission who have just held their plenary assembly, dedicated to the theme: “Inspiration and truth in the Bible”. The president of the commission is Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Benedict XVI began by underlining the importance of the chosen theme, which “concerns not only believers, but the Church herself, because the Church’s life and mission necessarily rest upon the Word of God, which is the soul of theology and, at the same time, the inspiration of all of Christian life”. Moreover, “the interpretation of Sacred Scripture is of vital importance for Christian faith and for the life of the Church”.

“From a correct approach to the concept of divine inspiration and truth in Sacred Scripture derive certain norms that directly concern its interpretation”, said the Pope. “The Constitution ‘Dei Verbum’, having affirmed that God is the author of the Bible, reminds us that in Sacred Scripture God speaks to mankind in a human manner. For a correct interpretation of Scripture we must, then, carefully examine what the hagiographers really sought to say and what God was pleased to reveal with their words”.

The Pope then recalled how Vatican Council II had identified “three perennially-valid criteria for interpreting Sacred Scripture in accordance with the Spirit that inspired it. In the first place, great attention must be given to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture. Indeed, however different the books it contains may be, Sacred Scripture is one by virtue of the unity of God’s plan, of which Jesus Christ is the centre and the heart.

“In the second place”, he added, “Scripture must be read in the context of the living Tradition of the entire Church. … In her Tradition the Church carries the living memory of the Word of God, and it is the Holy Spirit Who provides her with the interpretation thereof in accordance with its spiritual meaning. The third criterion concerns the need to pay attention to the analogy of the faith; that is, to the cohesion of the individual truths of faith, both with one another and with the overall plan of Revelation and the fullness of the divine economy enclosed in that plan”.

The task of scholars, the Holy Father went on, “is to contribute, following the above-mentioned principles, to a more profound interpretation and exposition of the meaning of Sacred Scripture. The academic study of the sacred texts is not by itself sufficient. In order to respect the coherence of the Church’s faith, Catholic exegetes must be careful to perceive the Word of God in these texts, within the faith of the Church”.

“The interpretation of Sacred Scriptures cannot be a merely an individual academic undertaking, but must always be compared with, inserted into, and authenticated by the living Tradition of the Church. This norm is essential in order to ensure a correct and reciprocal exchange between exegesis and Church Magisterium. Catholic exegetes do not nourish the individualistic illusion that biblical texts can be better understood outside the community of believers. The opposite is true, because these texts were not given to individual scholars ‘to satisfy their curiosity or to provide them with material for study and research’. The texts inspired by God were entrusted to the community of believers, to the Church of Christ , to nourish the faith and to guide the life of charity”.

“Sacred Scripture is the Word of God in that its is written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Tradition, on the other hand, integrally transmits the Word of God as entrusted by Christ the Lord and by the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and their successors so that they, illuminated by the Spirit of truth, could faithfully conserve, explain and spread it through their preaching”.

“Only within the ecclesial context can Sacred Scripture be understood as the authentic Word of God which is guide, norm and rule for the life of the Church and the spiritual development of believers. This means rejecting all interpretations that are subjective or limited to mere analysis [and hence] incapable of accepting the global meaning which, over the course of the centuries, has guided the Tradition of the entire people of God”.

Mass Obligation Fulfilled By Radio: Mexico City Flu

‘The local Roman Catholic Church recommended that priests shorten Mass; place communion wafers in worshippers’ hands, instead of their mouths; and ask parishioners to avoid kissing or shaking hands during the rite of peace. The Archdiocese also said Catholics could fulfill their Mass obligation by radio.’

MEXICO CITY – A new swine flu strain that has killed as many as 68 people and sickened more than 1,000 across Mexico has “pandemic potential,” the World Health Organization chief said Saturday, and it may be too late to contain the sudden outbreak.

The disease has already reached Texas and California, and with 24 new suspected cases reported Saturday in Mexico City alone, schools were closed and all public events suspended in the capital until further notice _ including more than 500 concerts and other gatherings in the metropolis of 20 million.

A hot line fielded 2,366 calls in its first hours from frightened city residents who suspected they might have the disease. Soldiers and health workers handed out masks at subway stops, and hospitals dealt with crowds of people seeking help.

The World Health Organization’s director-general, Margaret Chan, said the outbreak of the never-before-seen virus is a very serious situation and has “pandemic potential.” But she said it is still too early to tell if it would become a worldwide outbreak.

“The situation is evolving quickly,” Chan said in a telephone news conference in Geneva. “A new disease is by definition poorly understood.”

This virus is a mix of human, pig and bird strains that prompted WHO to meet Saturday to consider declaring an international public health emergency _ a step that could lead to travel advisories, trade restrictions and border closures. Spokesman Gregory Hartl said a decision would not be made Saturday.

Scientists have warned for years about the potential for a pandemic from viruses that mix genetic material from humans and animals. Another reason to worry is that authorities said the dead so far don’t include vulnerable infants and elderly. The Spanish flu pandemic, which killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19, also first struck otherwise healthy young adults.

This swine flu and regular flu can have similar symptoms _ mostly fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the U.S. victims who recovered also experienced vomiting and diarrhea. But unlike with regular flu, humans don’t have natural immunity to a virus that includes animal genes _ and new vaccines can take months to bring into use.

But experts at the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the nature of this outbreak may make containment impossible. Already, more than 1,000 people have been infected in as many as 14 of Mexico’s 32 states, according to daily newspaper El Universal. Tests show 20 people have died of the swine flu, and 48 other deaths were probably due to the same strain.

The CDC and Canadian health officials were studying samples sent from Mexico, and airports around the world were screening passengers from Mexico for symptoms of the new flu strain, saying they may quarantine passengers.

But CDC officials dismissed the idea of trying that in the United States, and some expert said it’s too late to try to contain spread of the virus.

They noted there had been no direct contact between the cases in the San Diego and San Antonio areas, suggesting the virus had already spread from one geographic area through other undiagnosed people.

“Anything that would be about containing it right now would purely be a political move,” said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota pandemic expert.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said his government only discovered the nature of the virus late Thursday, with the help of international laboratories. “We are doing everything necessary,” he said in a brief statement.

But the government had said for days that its growing flu caseload was nothing unusual, so the sudden turnaround angered many who wonder if Mexico missed an opportunity to contain the outbreak.

“Why did it break out, where did it break out? What’s the magnitude of the problem?” pizzeria owner David Vasquez said while taking his family to a movie Friday night, despite warnings to stay out of theaters.

Across Mexico’s capital, residents reacted with fatalism and confusion, anger and mounting fear at the idea that their city may be ground zero for a global epidemic.

Authorities urged people to stay home if they feel sick and to avoid shaking hands or kissing people on the cheeks.

Outside Hospital Obregon in the capital’s middle-class Roma district, a tired Dr. Roberto Ortiz, 59, leaned against an ambulance and sipped coffee Saturday on a break from an unusually busy shift.

“The people are scared,” Ortiz said. “A person gets some flu symptoms or a child gets a fever and they think it is this swine flu and rush to the hospital.”

He said none of the cases so far at the hospital had turned out to be swine flu.

Jose Donasiano Rosales, 69, got nervous on the subway and decided to get out one stop early.

“I felt I couldn’t be there for even one more station,” Donasiano said as he set up a rack to sell newspapers on a busy thoroughfare. “We’re in danger of contagion. … I’m worried.”

The local Roman Catholic Church recommended that priests shorten Mass; place communion wafers in worshippers’ hands, instead of their mouths; and ask parishioners to avoid kissing or shaking hands during the rite of peace. The Archdiocese also said Catholics could fulfill their Mass obligation by radio.

Full Story: Sentinel Online

Or, Maybe Not: Jesuits release note on Pope Pius XII documents

NOTE CONCERNING PUBLICATION OF DOCUMENTS ON PIUS XII

VATICAN CITY, 24 APR 2009 (VIS) – The Press and Information Office of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) today issued a note concerning a news item carried by certain communications media according to which Fr. Adolfo Nicolas S.J., superior general of the Society, had approved the publication of certain documents from the archives of Fr. Robert Graham S.J.

  “Such authorisation has never been given”, the note says. “The documents will be catalogued but not published. A possible future publication can only happen after the Holy See opens its archives regarding the pontificate of Pope Pius XII”.

  The private collection of Fr. Graham, who died in 1997 and was considered the leading Vatican expert on the role played by the Pontiff during World War II, contains more than 25,000 documents concerning initiatives undertaken by the Pope and the Vatican during that period.

A Proper Appreciation of the Priesthood – Bishop Vasa: Proper inner and outer dispositions needed for sanctity (Full Text)

CATHOLIC SENTINEL

BEND,OREGON – The expressions of esteem for the dignity of the priesthood which I quoted from the saints last week are sentiments which are not often heard in our modern era. If any priest would be so bold as to utter them he would be roundly mocked and yet they are the fruit of the meditation of the saints. Any hint that such an elevation of priestly dignity would be proposed in our day would, in many circles, generate an immediate rebellion from the priests themselves as well as from the laity. Many are much more comfortable with that easy familiarity so common and so popular, “Just call me Tom or Jim or Bob, I am no different than anyone else.” I am not at all proposing that we condone the possibility that priests, lacking an appropriate humility, hold themselves in such high esteem that they carry the priestly mantle like a club with which to beat the laity. That is not at all what these saints are proposing. Unfortunately, somehow the necessary promotion of the proper role and dignity of the baptismal priesthood of the laity seems to have been accompanied by the abandonment of a proper sense of the true dignity of the ministerial priesthood. Now anyone who would dare to hint that the priesthood constitutes a higher state of life runs the risk of being accused of a grossly inappropriate and insensitive air of superiority. There is not, however, any necessary connection between the recognition of the great dignity of the priesthood, by either the laity or the priest himself, and an egotistical pride in the honor. Jesus, after all, the Great High Priest, was himself meek and humble of heart without ever abandoning or denying his priestly dignity.

The profound depth of appreciation for the priesthood which the saints manifest ought to be an impetus for all of us, priests and laity alike, to evaluate the poverty of our own appreciation. The church’s Year of the Priest affords us the opportunity to do precisely that.

The Holy Father’s brief announcement of the coming year gives us a hint of the outline which he might follow in approaching this effort to foster a priest’s yearning for spiritual perfection. Certainly the effort must be made by all of us priests, as the Holy Father points out, to be more present, identifiable and recognizable. We need to be more recognizable for our faith filled view of this world and the next. We need to be more identifiable in our aspiration to and manifestation of personal virtue. The Holy Father also adds that we need to be more visible and identifiable in our priestly attire. These are not only external trappings. They must be, first and foremost, external expressions of an interior appreciation and commitment.

When there is a deepened sense for all of us of the interior dignity of the priesthood then the exterior garb cannot be seen as an imposition of some difficult externally imposed rule by the Church. Such distinctive garb becomes the concrete expression of our realization that the priesthood sets us apart. Our recognition that we have been set apart demands that we give witness to this otherness of the ministerial priesthood in a variety of ways, including proper clerical dress. As we know, that dress applies to proper daily clerical garb as well as and especially to liturgical vestments. The proper use of the alb, sometimes with the amice as needed to cover the clerical collar, the conscientious use of the required cincture, a sign of our commitment to celibacy and chastity, the use of a stole as a concelebrant and the use of a chasuble over the stole for the main celebrant are all external manifestations and indications of our own humble recognition of the dignity of the priestly office which is entrusted to us. Every priest needs to take the graced opportunity which this year presents to evaluate how well, or how poorly, our own utilization of clerical garb reflects the awesome dignity of the priestly service which we are to provide. If it is true that the holiness of a man is manifested even in how he picks things up and puts them down, how much more is the holiness of a priest manifested in how conscientiously he attends to the details of appearance especially at Holy Mass.

St. Ambrose notes: “To offer sacrifice worthily, the priest ought first to sacrifice himself by the oblation of his whole being to God.” When the Church asks us to be garbed in an alb which fully covers the collar, girded with a cincture and clothed with a stole and chasuble we have an opportunity to exercise humility, obedience and even a bit of self sacrifice. The more fully we recognize the dignity of the liturgical work we are called upon to fulfill the more readily will we make conscientious efforts to conform to the liturgical norms of dress and demeanor.

There is an unfortunate casualness which has invaded our churches and our sanctuaries and this excess of casualness, often mistaken for charitable hospitality, erodes our ability to recognize, with the Spirit’s gift of wonder and awe, the sacredness of places, liturgical actions and persons. In this the clergy certainly have a responsibility but the laity must likewise bear a large portion of the responsibility for the erosion of the sense of the sacred. Those who exercise liturgical ministries of one type or another have an obligation, as does the priest, to reflect upon the sublime dignity of the task entrusted and to make sure that all interior and exterior dispositions are well suited to the task at hand. In this, a particular attention to modesty needs to be noted. It is not only those who enter into the Sanctuary during Holy Mass who are to be properly disposed and properly attired but everyone who comes to participate in the Holy Sacrifice needs to take note of those same dispositions. Each needs to ask: How well does my appearance reflect my appreciation of the holiness and otherness of the event for which I am preparing? It may be necessary for parents occasionally to say to their children, I love you but you are not properly dressed for Holy Mass. It may be necessary to recognize that teens might tend to dress a couple of levels less respectfully than parents and this might require parents to dress up a couple of levels in order to justify asking their teens to step up as well.

If the laity recognize the need to show a greater wonder and awe for that which is sacred, perhaps the priests will be aided in fostering a deeper yearning for spiritual perfection.

END

There Will Be Weeping And Wailing After School Lets Out Today: Mokie the Christmas parakeet has died…

I didn’t think I’d cry, but I am…

Mokie, my daughter Hannah’s “Christmas parakeet”, just died…

Mokie was Hannah’s “Big” Christmas gift this year. And she loved him as much as her little heart could.

The trouble started last Sunday, Mercy Sunday. The bird was obviously laboring. And the family consensus was that it wouldn’t be long for the bird to expire. Hannah crumpled in my arms in tears and was for a time unconsolable… But, the bird didn’t die after the first day and we went into emergency mode.

The second day brought no change despite the efforts of the family, particularly, Grandma Francy, my wife Dea, and Hannah’s sister Sharai. Instead, again, things looked like they were getting worse–3 flopping episodes in the cage and 1 as we treated the bird.

Mokie was a fighter.

Mokie and Andrew

We thought there was hope. Grandma took Mokie to the Vet in town, but the Vet did not treat birds. All the information we gathered said antibiotics and we did that. All the while mokie would fall time and again, regain his balance, eat millet, and slowly reclimb the wire cage up unto his perch.

The third day no change. More antibiotics, a place in the sun by the window…

Mokie was a fighter up until the last moment.

I was fixing a bottle for my Grandson Bram, there was movement over in the cage, and I witnessed the final throes. Mokie the Christmas parakeet stood once more, and then fell for the last time…

No, I didn’t think I’d cry, but I still am…

There will be weeping and wailing in my house when school let’s out today…

Pray For Hannah. Thanks.