Be Proud of Being Catholic

These are excerpts from an article written by Sam Miller, prominent Cleveland Jewish businessman. Note that he is not Catholic.

Why would newspapers carry on a vendetta on one of the most important institutions that we have today in the United States, namely the Catholic Church?

Do you know - the Catholic Church educates 2.6 million students every day at a cost to the Church of 10 billion dollars and a savings to the American taxpayer of 18 billion dollars? The graduates go on to graduate studies at the rate of 92%.

The Church has 230 colleges and universities in the U.S. with an enrollment of 700,000 students.

The Catholic Church has a nonprofit hospital system of 637 hospitals, which account for hospital treatment of 1 out of every 5 people - not just Catholics - in the United States today.

But the press is vindictive and trying to totally denigrate in every way the Catholic Church in this country. They have blamed the disease of pedophilia on the Catholic Church, which is as irresponsible as blaming adultery on the institution of marriage.

Let me give you some figures that Catholics should know and remember. (Please note: Since these statistics aren't cited, I wouldn't give them too much credence [especially the 10% of Protestant ministers], but they express an important point.) For example, 12% of the 300 Protestant clergy surveyed admitted to sexual intercourse with a parishioner; 38% acknowledged other inappropriate sexual contact in a study by the United Methodist Church, 41.8% of clergy women reported unwanted sexual behavior; 17% of laywomen have been sexually harassed. Meanwhile, 1.7% of the Catholic clergy has been found guilty of pedophilia. 10% of the Protestant ministers have been found guilty of pedophilia.

This is not a Catholic Problem. A study of American priests showed that most are happy in the priesthood and find it even better than they had expected, and that most, if given the choice, would choose to be priests again in face of all this obnoxious PR the church has been receiving.

Walk with your shoulders high and you head higher. Be a proud member of the most important nongovernmental agency in the United States. Then remember what Jeremiah said: 'Stand by the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is and walk in it, and find rest for your souls'. Be proud to speak up for your faith with pride and reverence and learn what your Church does for all other religions. Be proud that you are a Catholic.

Of d'ohs and doughnuts: Vatican newspaper discusses Simpsons' theology

The Simpsons is the longest-running animated show in television history. Even non-fans know about it.

Recently the Vatican used the landmark show to discuss theology. What did they learn? Check it out here.

Christmas Eve attack on Pope

Christmas Eve proved more eventful than Pope Benedict XVI would have preferred. First, he changed traditional midnight Mass to 10 p.m., creating a mild outcry. Then a 25-year-old woman with a history of mental problems managed to pull down the pontiff as he entered to celebrate Mass. Thank God we have a resilient Holy Father. He went on to deliver his homily and celebrate the Eucharist unscathed and without any signs of injury or distress from the incident. Another Cardinal suffered a broken femur in the chaos. See the video of the attack below.

12 Days of Christmas

This month at a Life Night, we sang "The 12 Days of Christmas." But what in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

• The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
• Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
• Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
• The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
• The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
• The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
• Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
• The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
• Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
• The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
• The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
• The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

Practicing (not just) Catholic

I found this post from another blog interesting. This article comes from uscatholic.org. See it here.

By Megan Sweas

The choices in line for the "cafeteria Catholic" have expanded in recent years. Instead of simply choosing the pieces of Catholicism that they like, Catholics can--and do, according to a recent study--choose what they like from any number of faith traditions.

A Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life poll found that six in 10 Americans blend practices and beliefs from a variety of traditions, including New Age spirituality.

That's the highlight reported by ABC News. While it's significant that a quarter of Americans (and Catholics) hold Eastern or New Age beliefs, the people highlighted by ABC--who have really blended their faiths--aren't exactly representative.

Nineteen percent of Catholics attend services in different faiths (other than for special occasions), significantly less than the total population. The people most committed to going to church (at least once a week) are less likely to stray from their home church than those who attend monthly or annually. Finally, when both Protestants and Catholics say they attend a service of another faith, they most often mean they attended a Protestant service.

This study reminds me of Huston Smith's autobiography, Tales of Wonder. Smith brought The World's Religions to Americans in his book by that name. His publishers have pushed the book as "a story of uncanny synchronicity," seeing as Smith has been at so many important events and met so many important people in his 90 years.

But what most fascinated me about Smith was the way he learned about other religions. This son of a Methodist missionary practiced Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism for 10 years each without giving up his own faith and practice as a Christian. He went far beyond the dialogue of interfaith relations to experience the "other."

The ABC story had me thinking that Americans were beyond interfaith dialogue, but a closer look at the numbers reveals that we have a long way to go before achieving such understanding across religions. I doubt those who visit other churches study the actual beliefs and practices as carefully as Smith did.

As with Smith and Karen Armstrong, my own study and experience of other faiths has brought be back to my own.

How about you? Have you visited the services of other faiths? Has family led you to celebrating Christmas at a Protestant church? When you're there, do you feel that you're worshiping the same God or do you feel that someting is lacking (or perhaps both)?

Do you study other faiths outside of Christianity? Have eastern traditions such as yoga or new age spirituality been incorporated into your own faith life?

Funny Church Signs

"Mankind is No Island" by Jason van Genderen

We are called to love ALL our sisters and brothers, especially those who are cold, hungry, naked, and thirsty. Let us seek ways to serve those in need!

Edgers Christmas Caroling

In addition to our photo slideshow, Wade Oswald filmed our middle schoolers caroling. Enjoy the sights and sounds of the Christmas season!

Merry Christmas: Edge at Merrill Gardens

Caroling, Santa, cookies, hot cocoa, and smiles of the elderly greeted our middle schoolers at Merrill Gardens last night.

Photos: Big Feet & More Than Words

Enjoy these pictures from our last night of the fall semester.

Food Fast Photos

Check out the snapshots from our Food Fast Retreat in November.

'Sexting' is common among young people

This story appeared in the Everett Herald on Friday, Dec. 4.

WASHINGTON — Think your kid is not “sexting”? Think again.

Sexting — sharing sexually explicit photos, videos and chat by cell phone or online — is fairly commonplace among young people, despite sometimes grim consequences for those who do it. More than a quarter of young people have been involved in sexting in some form, an Associated Press-MTV poll found.

That includes Sammy, a 16-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area who asked that his last name not be used.Sammy said he had shared naked pictures of himself with girlfriends. He also shared naked pictures of someone else that a friend had sent him.

What he didn’t realize at the time was that young people across the country — in Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania — have faced charges, in some cases felony charges, for sending nude pictures. “That’s why I probably wouldn’t do it again,” Sammy said.

Yet, “I just don’t see it as that big of a problem, personally.”

That was the view of nearly half of those surveyed who have been involved in sexting. The other half said it’s a serious problem — and did it anyway. Knowing there might be consequences hasn’t stopped them.

“There’s definitely the invincibility factor that young people feel,” said Kathleen Bogle, a sociology professor at La Salle University in Philadelphia and author of the book “Hooking Up: Sex, Dating and Relationships on Campus.”

“That’s part of the reason why they have a high rate of car accidents and things like that, is they think, ‘Oh, well, that will never happen to me,”’ Bogle said.

Research shows teenage brains are not quite mature enough to make good decisions consistently. By the mid-teens, the brain’s reward centers, the parts involved in emotional arousal, are well-developed, making teens more vulnerable to peer pressure.

But it is not until the early 20s that the brain’s frontal cortex, where reasoning connects with emotion, enabling people to weigh consequences, has finished forming.

Beyond feeling invincible, young people also have a much different view of sexual photos that might be posted online, Bogle said. They don’t think about the idea that those photos might wind up in the hands of potential employers or college admissions officers, she said.

“Sometimes they think of it as a joke; they have a laugh about it,” Bogle said. “In some cases, it’s seen as flirtation. They’re thinking of it as something far less serious and aren’t thinking of it as consequences down the road or who can get hold of this information. They’re also not thinking about worst-case scenarios that parents might worry about.”

Sexting doesn’t stop with teenagers. Young adults are even more likely to have sexted; one-third of them said they had been involved in sexting, compared with about one-quarter of teenagers.

Judy Byrne

Faith means walking with God and with each other in our finest and darkest moments. Today we give thanks for the life of Judy Byrne, a catechist for our middle schoolers and mother of three from our Life Teen and Edge programs.

Last night at about 7 o’clock Judy died with her family beside her. In the afternoon, Susie delivered the notes that our community wrote on Sunday and said that while Judy didn’t have the strength to have much of a conversation, she was very peaceful.

No funeral arrangements have been made. Please pray today for Dan, Gabby, Mackenzie, Sam, and all who loved Judy. We rejoice that Judy rests in the peace of God’s grace, but also we mourn the loss of her presence here as a wonderful mother, teacher, and friend. Consider saying a Rosary or stopping by the Adoration Chapel in Judy’s honor.

Satan and Jesus in a Computer Battle

Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering.

Finally fed up, God said, 'THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job.'

So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.

They moused.

They faxed.

They e-mailed.

They e-mailed with attachments.

They downloaded.

They did spreadsheets.

They wrote reports.

They created labels and cards.

They created charts and graphs.

They did some genealogy reports

They did every job known to man.

Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.

Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off.

Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.

Jesus just sighed.

Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming:

'It's gone! It's all GONE! 'I lost everything when the power went out!'

Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work..

Satan observed this and became irate.

'Wait!' he screamed. 'That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?'

God just shrugged and said,

JESUS SAVES

Take Back the Story

What if we took back the story of Christ's coming? What if we celebrated Advent differently this year? Can we join together and actually make a difference? Can we reclaim Christmas for Christ?

The Charles Schulz Philosphy

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip. You don't have to actually answer the questions, just ponder them.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?
The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.
These are no second-rate achievers.
They are the best in their fields.
But the applause dies.
Awards tarnish.
Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They simply are the ones who care the most.

Let us remember and offer praise to those who have made a difference in our lives.

'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia !'

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Be yourself. Everyone else is taken!

He Loves Us Anyway

This excerpt comes from Daybreaks: Daily Reflections for Advent and Christmas by Kenneth G. Davis, OFM Conv.

My Uncle Ed had a dog he named NoGive because the dog had no give in him. He was as territorial as a salesperson working on commission. If any animal, child, or even Uncle Ed got close, NoGive would growl, snap, or bite, but he'd never give a millimeter.

When I heard about a passel of new puppies, I raced to my uncle's. On arriving, I was startled to see NoGive with a dozen puppies climbing on him, worrying his ears, teething on his tail--jumping, yapping, and playing all over his complacently sprawled form.

The Gospel story of Jesus' encounter with the Canaanite woman reminds me of my uncle's dog and the puppies, because Jesus appears disappointingly canine. He snaps at her, calls her a dog. A man might have hit him. A Pharisee might have argued with him. This woman just accepts the rebuke; then, without pretense, she admits she doesn't deserve his love but asks him to love her anyway: "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters."

It's God's unconditional love that makes us bold enough to approach the Eucharist. It's why we needn't make reservations or pay admission to that feast. The door has no sign proclaiming "No sanctity, no sinlessness, no service." To the Lord's table we haul in our burden of guilt, dragging behind us an endless chain of sin. We clank it down with our first genuflection and beg God: Love me anyway.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

A reminder of Christ's coming this Advent. Let us prepare for Jesus to arrive anew in our lives!

Atheist Holy Day - A Funny Fictional Story

In Florida, an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover Holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians and Jews and observances of their holy days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, "Case dismissed!"

The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Your honor, How can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays."

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, "But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant."

The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists."

The judge said, "The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day. Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that, if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned."