I feel inadequate....

Adam and I went to mass today at Old St. Mary's in Over the Rhine. We didn't have any of the kids with us so we thought we'd go visit a different parish.

We sat in our pew and watched these large families come traipsing in - the girls were all in their mantillas and the boys were all wearing ties. They all sat so perfectly and quietly during mass. There was no visible elbowing of younger siblings. They weren't pretending to lead the choir. The parents didn't have to drag one of them out to the narthex halfway through the homily because he was deliberately doing something to make his sister cry.

The mass was beautiful and reverent, but I got lost in the Latin. Overall, it was a nice visit, but I think I'll stick with IHM where there are other families with awful kids :)

Inauguration Novena for Life

Go here

She could have understood....

....if I'd become Baptist, because at least she could blame my dad for that.

This is what grandma told me Saturday night.  I guess it doesn't matter to her that I didn't even really know Dad was raised Baptist.  After all, the only time he sets foot in a church is for weddings or funerals.

It's really starting to feel real now...

Adam and I met with someone from the parish last night to discuss marriage prep. We did the FOCCUS instrument and went over the basics of the marriage prep program. I paid the fee for marriage prep and the use of the church and got sent home with liturgy and pre-Cana stuff.

How Big is the Tent Really?

I'm going to start this post with a disclaimer - I am a registered Democrat and I am even a member of the county central committee and I serve as a precinct captain.

The Democrats are theoretically the party of inclusiveness - of the big tent, if you will. I always understood the ideology of the "big tent" to mean that there was a place at the table for people with multiple viewpoints. The kerfluffle in the liberal blogosphere about the nomination of Sarah Palin for vice president is truly making me question how inclusive the party of inclusiveness really is.

Here's a middle of the post disclaimer: I am Catholic, ergo, I am pro-life.

If the Democrats were truly as inclusive as they'd like to think they are, then this shouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately it is. As a more conservative Democrat, I am becoming more convinced that there is no place for me or for people like me at the Democrat table.

I come from a family of yellow-dog Democrats and I would never have ever considered voting for a Republican. The nomination of Sarah Palin for vice president is changing that. I didn't like either of the choices for president for this election, but the addition of Palin to the ticket brought a new level of respect for John McCain.

The liberal blogsphere is in a panic about Palin. They argue that she has no experience or that she's too far right. I think what the problem that they can't articulate is that Palin is highly appealing to those like me who feel we have been pushed to the fringes of the party because our relative conservativism.

Palin represents a whole generation of women who look to the excesses of the 1970s feminism and realize that it was too extreme. She is doing what many women want - raising a family and following a successful political career. I think most women can't relate to the Hilary Clintons or Gloria Steinems of the world. Sarah Palin is someone that we CAN relate to - she could be one of us. I think that scares some of the more liberal Democrats.

So, is there really a place at the Democrat table for people like me? I'm not sure. Am I going to switch my party affiliation? Probably not, especially when it comes to local politics (the local Republicans don't have the best ethical record). Is there a possibility I'd vote for a McCain-Palin ticket? There's a good possibility that I just might.

For Adoro

Can I be St. Joan of Arc?

Can you make sure the Dominicans in their black-and-white habits are prolific throughout, and make sure the evil governments that were the ones actually killing people look as nasty as they actually were? Can I be "burned at the stake" as long as it authentically reveals who was in charge of the burning?

You might want to have a guitilline in order to show the butchery of the State and the Mercy of the Inquisitors who saved so many from the fanaticism of the State....

Ooohhhhh.....Dominicans in black and white? Perfect! Those are my colors after all! For that suggestion, Adoro, you can most definitely be St. Joan of Arc.

Since you asked, the short version of the story is that my family is a version of protestant that buys into all the myths about Catholicism. I occasionally get tired of their remarks and start making jokes to keep myself sane.

Currently there's some discontent in the family about the fact that I'm planning a Catholic wedding. I've told my mother that unless she tells her family to back off, that I'm going to plan the most over-the-top Catholic wedding--one that buys into all of the stereotypes.

We're planning the wedding for the fall of next year, right around Halloween. The idea of a Halloween themed reception quickly morphed into an Inquisition themed reception.

My grandmother informed Adam that she will not be attending the wedding because she can't be part of a ceremony for two people who've left The Lord's ChurchTM to join a "Man Made Religion."

August Is Pray for PZ Myers Month

See the St. Peter Canisius Apostolate site.

Hallelujah! I have discovered the greatness that is Flannery O'Connor!

I cannot believe that I have survived this long without discovering her work. It's amazing.

I was having a very unproductive library trip last week, so I decided to peruse the classics section because I can always find something there.

Nothing really struck my fancy though so I decided to grab Mansfield Park and an anthology of Flannery O'Connor works.

I am in love with her writing. It's so rich and the imagery is amazing. I can almost visualize the scenes as I'm reading.

Sigh, too bad I'm sitting through the most mind-numbingly dull class that ever existed right now. I thought CivPro was bad, but this is much, must worse.

I'm going to start banging my head against the desk until sweet oblivion arrives.

This Blog is under the patronage of Our Lady of LaSalette

Fifteen year old Melanie and eleven year old Maximin were out tending their cows. They were simple children. When we say "simple" we don't mean like that magazine or the Amish. We mean 'dim bulbs.' They are simple enough to fall asleep and all lose track of the cows. When they awoke they went
looking for the cows but instead found a big ball of light. A beautiful lady stepped out of it. It was the Virgin Mary.

Unlike other Mary sightings, Mary is wearing an odd costume (not her usual blue), never mentions the rosary and she never stops crying. Mary slumps onto a rock and sobs. She tell the children that Jesus has absolutely had it with cart drivers using his name in vain. She tells the children Jesus is very angry and she can’t hold Him back much longer.

Apparently everyone stopped swearing in La Salette after that, as the town still stands.

Thanks Sister Mary Martha!

Visit Sister's Etsy shop.

"Good News For Catholics"

Do any of my astute readers (all three of you) know anything about an organization called Good News For Catholics? I know they're anti-Catholic but other than that I haven't heard much about them.

The reason I ask is because I found one of their tracts at my grandmother's house over the Fourth of July weekend. I didn't get a good chance to look at it though, but from a quick glance it seems to be the usual "Catholics don't read the Bible so if you encourage them to read the Bible then they'll no longer be Catholic, etc..."

CoC Funeral

I went to a church of Christ funeral today. It was really kind of sad. It was just a graveside service--the preacher gave a sermon about how we all needed to come to Jesus before we died and we sang two hymns--Amazing Grace and Revive Us Again.

I have a problem with preachers preaching their funeral sermons about how the good majority of the audience is going to go to hell. At least this preacher didn't condemn people to Hell by name like I've seen done before.

It was strange because most of the people there were from my old congregation. I stood in the back with my other apostate cousins and said the rosary during the main part of the service.

There was something lacking with the whole service. I can't pinpoint exactly what, but it all felt very superficial.

O/T but even with someone musically trained leading the acapella hymns, there is still something to be said for instrumental music. There was one couple there neither of whom could carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it :)

Behold the Spam of God

Mark Shea has a hilarious post over at Inside Catholic about the messages he's received from "Bible-Believing (TM)" Christians. You should go check it out.

Over the last two years of my Catholic journey, I've come to realize that sometimes you just have to laugh at things because you can't change them.

Wedding Reception Theme?

Ooh, I love it! (Even though it is just a joke.)

Just think: you could have a Catechism contest for who gets to be Torquemada...you and Adam could be Isabella and Ferdinand...your priest could play Pope Sixtus...and depending on what time of year you're getting married, maybe have a bonfire...

Too bad your family isn't Lutheran. You could really have some fun with that...

Kasia, if we didn't live in different states, I think we'd be good friends! :) I had suggested having a rack in the reception hall so I could use it on all the people who complain that a nuptial mass is too long.

My only problem is that I tend to get too Monty Pythonesque when thinking up wicked things to do to my families. You know, things like having the bridesmaids wear black cowls and carry whips or having someone wandering though saying "bring out yer dead!"

I do get a little giggle just thinking of it. Of course my family will already be absolutely scandalized because there will be drinking and dancing.

Sigh. Family.

I got another "you're going to hell because you're Catholic" letter from the CoC side of the family. It's from an aunt that even the other CoCers consider wacky so I'm not too concerned. I look at it this way--there's two less people I can invite to the wedding.

The letter does strengthen my desire to have an over-the-top Catholic wedding though. :)

Luckily, Adam and I can joke about it because we both deal with the same thing from our families. We were joking that we're going to have a Spanish Inquisition themed reception--complete with "indulgences" as drink tickets.

Poor mom thought we were being serious (which we're not really) but I think the humor is the only way we can deal with it sometimes.

My response to the letter....

16 February 2008

Esther,

I received your letter and while I am dismayed you are so willing to believe family gossip, I take your letter in the spirit of concern and love that you surely had in mind when you wrote it.

It is true that I am no longer attending a Church of Christ. It is not, however, true that I am simply attending a Catholic Church – I am a Catholic. I was received into full communion with the Catholic church through the sacrament of confirmation during the Easter Vigil in 2007.

The decision to convert was not one I made either easily or quickly. I fought the decision for over ten years before I ultimately decided I needed to follow God’s call in my life. I have never believed fully in the doctrine I was taught in the Church of Christ but had been attending enough to keep the family happy. The family was happy, but I was absolutely miserable. I had been living a lie for years and could no longer continue to do so. My mental health had deteriorated so much that I had to go under a psychiatrist’s care in 2006.

[I have deleted a portion of my response because it reveals personal details about two other people and I do not feel free to divulge these details without the consent of the other two parties.]

Because we, as Catholics, believe that marriage is a sacrament, the church holds that remarriage after a civil divorce is a mortal sin. The Church does not allow for remarriage even in the case where one spouse is guilty of adultery. Because marriage is a sacrament, it’s mark on the souls of the husband and wife are indelible. The only way a civilly divorced Catholic can remarry with the Church’s blessing is if, after investigation, the tribunal can determine that the requisite elements required to make a valid marriage were missing from the time the marriage was entered into.

The purpose of the tribunal is to look at the circumstances into which the parties entered into the sacrament of marriage to see if the requisite intent and knowledge were present. If there weren’t the requisite intent and knowledge and desire to enter into the sacrament of marriage, the tribunal will issue a decree of nullity thus freeing one or both of the parties to remarry with the blessing of the church.

You claim the Catholic church has practices that are un-Biblical. I too believed this until I began to study what the church actually teaches instead of what I had been taught the Church teaches. Unfortunately the Church of Christ’s teaching about Catholic doctrine and dogma is fraught with error.

Start, for example, with your claim that the Pope claims to have divine inspiration. I assume you are thinking of the doctrine of papal infallibility. Infallibility is not a claim of divine inspiration. We believe that Christ gave authority over the church on earth to Peter. See Matt 16:13-19

8 When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi 9 he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, 10 others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

11 Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood 12 has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, 13 and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. 14 Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

See also, this passage from the Gospel of John:

"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep’" (John 21:15-17).


The passage from Matthew is significant to Catholics in two ways. First, Christ chose to rename Simon as Kephas which is Aramaic for Rock. When God gives someone in the Bible a new name, it always signifies a new covenant (i.e. Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah or Jacob to Israel.) Secondly, we hear that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against Christ’s church.

Infallibility isn’t divine inspiration or the absence of sin. Infallibility is what arises when you take Christ’s words to Peter at face value. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against Christ’s church. How is this supposed to happen? We believe that the Holy Spirit protects the church from false teaching. This doesn’t mean the pope is always right – it simply means that when speaking on matters of faith and morals that apply to the entire, universal church, the pope will not be allowed to teach error. The Holy Spirit doesn’t always provide the pope with all the right answers, but He won’t let the pope promulgate false dogma.

The authority and teaching power of the Bishop of Rome (the pope is also the Bishop of Rome) has been recognized since the earliest Christian times. See this passage from Clement of Rome, written in 80AD:

"Owing to the sudden and repeated calamities and misfortunes which have befallen us, we must acknowledge that we have been somewhat tardy in turning our attention to the matters in dispute among you, beloved; and especially that abominable and unholy sedition, alien and foreign to the elect of God, which a few rash and self-willed persons have inflamed to such madness that your venerable and illustrious name, worthy to be loved by all men, has been greatly defamed. . . . Accept our counsel and you will have nothing to regret. . . . If anyone disobey the things which have been said by him [God] through us [i.e., that you must reinstate your leaders], let them know that they will involve themselves in transgression and in no small danger. . . . You will afford us joy and gladness if being obedient to the things which we have written through the Holy Spirit, you will root out the wicked passion of jealousy" (Letter to the Corinthians 1, 58–59, 63 [A.D. 80]).

Or this passage, also from Clement.

"Through countryside and city [the apostles] preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons had been written about a long time earlier. . . . Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry" (Letter to the Corinthians 42:4–5, 44:1–3 [A.D. 80]).

As a church, we believe that Christ did not found his church and then abandon it after his ascension. We believe that He gave the authority for His church on earth to Peter and to Peter’s successors. We also believe that He guides, guards and directs His church through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I am sure there are many other specific practices with which you disagree and I will be more than happy to address any specific questions you may have.

You say in your letter that I need to do what I know is right and my response to you is that I have done what I needed to do.

Love,

The Letter

Here is the letter I received from my cousin.

Sarah (yes, we're close enough that she misspelled my name)

This letter is, I am sure, not the first, nor the last you will received about certain things going on in your life. (Actually it's the second) First of all I hate gossip, so if any of the things I mention are not true of you, disregard the reprimand. This is what has come across the wires: that you are no longer attending Christ's church, but are going instead to the Catholic church; and that you're dating a man who does not have scriptural grounds to be remarried. Both of those made my heart sink when I heard them. Let me appeal to your intellect, though and keep emotions out of it.

Galations 1:6-10 says "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and went to distort the gospel of Christ. But even though we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed." No one, no matter how wonderful they are, is worth disobeying God and losing out on your hope of heaven. (As if anyone who truly knew me would actually think I base my major life decisions solely on what will make others happy) I understand that we have to have our own faith and can not believe something just because family does. We have to believe and worship how God commands, not friends or family. If everything the Catholic church practices were according the the Bible, that would be fine, but you and I both know that is not true. The apostle Paul said that if anyone taught different from what they had already taught, even an angel (the Pope claims to have divine inspiration) then that one is accursed.

Second there may be a few instances in marriage when it is neccessary to be separated from a spouse. Those decisions are never easy, I'm sure. I do know that Malachi 2:16 says "'For I hate divorce,' says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'and him who covers his garment with wrong,' says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously." In Matthew 19:9, Jesus says, "And I say to you, who ever divorces his wife, except for immorality and marries another woman commits adultery." Jesus also said in Mark 10:11 "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her." If someone is divorced for any reason other than immorality on the part of his ex-wife, he does not have the God given right to be remarried. If he does remarry, he causes his new wife to become and adulterer. I Corinthians 6:9-10 says "or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the couvetious, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

I will close this out by leaving you with one more scripture. II Timothy 3:14-17 "You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writing which are able to give you the wiscone that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired of God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

Please, please read over and thing about everything I have said. Done be afraid to do what is right. The Lord will reward you in the end.

Love,

Cousin

I am working on my reply to her and will post it here once finished. I'm going to have to do some editing from the full version I send to her because I must necessarily reveal details about individuals other than myself. I don't feel those details are appropriate to be put on a publically accessible site.

I welcome any suggestions for specific points of rebuttal. I will definitely be addressing the sacramental nature of marriage and the reason for obtaining a decree of nullity and I will also be addressing papal infallibility.

So It Begins...

My family found out I've become Catholic some time before Christmas. While Christmas itself went well, I knew it was too good to be true.

I came home today to find a letter from a cousin of mine telling me that I'm going to hell.

I'm not going to hell because of my chosen profession (although I'm sure insurance and law at the very least will buy me a nice long stint in purgatory) but because I have left The One True Church(tm) and am "dating a man who doesn't have a scriptural right to remarry."

Sigh.

I'm off for a fun exciting evening of being subject to the Socratic method in wills, but I'll post my response to her here when I get it finished.

Tract Project

I've been thinking lately that there's a definite lack of Catholic apologetics materials that relate specifically to the Church of Christ. I'm going to try to remedy that lack by finding Church of Christ tracts (preferably of the non-institutional variety) and giving a Catholic response to the tract.

Unfortunately the average CofC tract is so full of errors that I could probably write a book in response.

My experience with CofC thinking is that they rely heavily on soundbite prooftexting. They will also ignore any appeals to the early church fathers. Hence my goal is to try to use as much scripture as possible to support the Catholic position.

So if anyone comes across a good tract, feel free to send it my way!

Happy New Year

Well, the first Christmas after the CoC side of the family found out I'm now Catholic went well. Amazingly enough I wasn't accosted by anyone or challenged.

Even more amazing--I was playing handbells with the handbell choir for the 3pm mass on Christmas Eve and Mom and Dad actually showed up. Mom's a dyed in the wool CoC-er and Dad only sets foot in a church if he's being forced to do so for a wedding or a funeral.

After Christmas, Adam, the kids and I headed up to New Hampshire to visit his family. I think the visit went rather well. I really liked his parents and the town they live in is really pretty.

So that's my Christmas in a nutshell :-)

It should be an interesting Christmas...

Dear Sweet Sara

You are on my mind most of all, you having the Lord’s church a man made religion. Please take time to think about your soul.

Your friend seems nice, think, find out if he had a scriptural right for a divorce, you may get mad at me if you do I’ll love you and pray for you. Your mom had her heard broke. Your dad too.

If your friend has a right to remarry I will gladly accept it, but not you leaving the Lord’s church and joining a Catholic religion.

Grandmother

So that's what I found in the mail yesterday from my CoC grandmother--the one I wasn't allowed to tell I'm Catholic. I don't know how she found out, but I have my suspicions.

After 24 hours to reflect, I'm not really upset. In fact, in a way I'm relieved that I don't have to pretend to be something I'm not when I'm around the family.

This should make for an interesting Christmas though. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of CoC intervention staged. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the friend she speaks about will be there and is likely to face the inquisition also.

There won't be any changing my mind though. I know that my decision to convert was the right one. I've never felt more at peace with any decision in my life and so many changes have happened in the last year that only further convince me I made the right choice.

I suppose if she's going to pray for me I can return the favor and add her to my intentions for my hour of adoration.