Aaah...

I finished my last final for this semester two hours ago.


I have the luxury of three weeks off school. What am I going to do with my time now that I don't have to study every night?

Maybe I'll practice being a housecat :-)

Dress Shopping

So, Mom and I went dress shopping for the first time Saturday. I tried on four dresses - two of which would be contenders if they had a wee bit more fabric on top. One dress would be very pretty, but is out because when I kneel Father would get a view of a part of me that neither he nor I would want him to see.

So, it looks like I'm going to have to go looking at one of the area shops that sells Jasmine or Eternity gowns. Eternity is a LDS gown designer and Jasmine will make certain styles of their gowns "temple ready."

Wedding Planning

All this wedding planning stuff I've been doing lately has made me once again stop and realize the wisdom of Holy Mother Church.

I've been perusing some of the online forums dealing with wedding planning and I am extremely grateful that I don't have to worry about what venue I'll use for the ceremony, who I'll get to officiate or what poem/unity candle/handfasting ceremony I'll use to fill time to make the ceremony more substantial.

Nope, Holy Mother Church in her infinite wisdom doesn't leave those decisions up to me. Yes, I have some choice as to which church I plan on using (my home parish) or which reading to choose from the list, but currently my biggest decision regarding the ceremony is whether I want to have a full mass or the rite of marriage outside of mass.

I know that I can trust the guidelines set forth by the Church and that I will have a beautiful, reverent celebration of the sacrament.

I have crossed to the dark side...

....no, I haven't become republican :-)

I bought a macbook! My monster hp laptop I bought when I started law school four years ago is on life support and I was tired to trying to get it going another semester so I have gone mac.

Snow Day

I spent my morning making this:



Because it looks like this outside:

Three in one night!

Okay, Fr. Schippel's comment got me posting again. Here's a general roundup:

I have been crazy busy this semester. I'm taking Insurance, Remedies and Wills & Trusts. Wills is a 4 credit hour course so for 5 weeks I have to be at NKU 4 nights a week. Not to mention I need to find time to do all of the reading to prep for the class.

My aunt has been very ill and has been hospitalized for weeks now. My mother is my aunt's guardian and is responsible for all decisions regarding my aunt. Prayers for both would be appreciated.

In happy news, Adam and I are now engaged. We plan, Lord willing, to be married in the fall of 2009. Clam I now share your frustration at finding a non-strapless wedding dress. I absolutely refuse to wear one even if it means I have to learn how to sew so I can make my own.

That's a quick update.

Parable Meme

Fr. Schnippel tagged me for a meme so here goes:

1. You name your five favorite parables.
2. You tag one blogger per parable.
3. It would be nice if you linked back to this post.

1. The Prodigal Son - Luke 15:11-32

I love this because it shows us that no matter how grave our sins, if we approach God with true contrition and ask his forgiveness it will be granted.

2. The Little Children - Matt 18:1-6

I chose St. Therese as my confirmation saint because I was so drawn to her Little Way. To me it is a great example of truly living this parable.

3. The Faithful Servant - Luke 12:35-38

To whom much is given, much will be required. Enough said.

4. The Good Samaritan - Luke 10:30-37

5. The Pharisee and the Publican - Luke 18:9-14

Lord have mercy on me, a sinner.

I tag Stephanie because she's been quiet for too long, Kasia , and anyone else who feels the need to respond. If you don't have your own blog, feel free to use the combox.

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.

Vocab Time

Luddite



Main Entry: Ludd·ite
Pronunciation: \ˈlə-ˌdīt\
Function: noun
Etymology: perhaps from Ned Ludd, 18th century Leicestershire workman who destroyed a knitting frame
Date: 1811
: one of a group of early 19th century English workmen destroying laborsaving machinery as a protest; broadly : one who is opposed to especially technological change
— Luddite adjective

Luddite--Me, when I confuse the poor teenage stocker at the office supply store by asking for "typist's carbon."

It's almost as much fun as when I caused the cashier at the local toy store to have an existential crisis by refusing to give her my phone number.

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 :-)

Two Hours of Snow

This is the view from my kitchen window after two hours worth of snow.

No Touchdown Jesus for me :(

Such a sad day (not) the mega church across the street merged with the Solid Rock megachurch (home of the touchdown Jesus) but they won't be putting a matching statue out front.

So for your enjoyment I'll post Heywood Banks' "Big Butter Jesus" instead. You may want to cover your keyboard.

Joe Nuxhall: July 30, 1928 - November 15, 2007

Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Texas Style Deposition

WARNING: Some Offensive Language

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.

Do you ever think....

...that sometimes God is giving you a divine slap upside the head? I have a post in the works about this but I'm still trying to get my thoughts together enough to give a good idea of what I mean but without revealing too many personal details.