Quote book

"I have been able to celebrate Holy Mass in chapels built along mountain paths, on lakeshores and seacoasts; I have celebrated it on altars built in stadiums and in city squares... This varied scenario of celebrations of the Eucharist has given me a powerful experience of its universal and, so to speak, cosmic character. Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world. It unites heaven and earth. It embraces and permeates all creation. The Son of God became man in order to restore all creation, in one supreme act of praise, to the One who made it from nothing." -- St. John Paul II

How do you summarize contraception in a few sentences?

Ten priests gave their answers, among which is Fr. Ezra Sullivan, OP's:

The purpose of contraception is to allow a man and woman to experience sexual pleasure without experiencing the full effects of the sexual act. It is very much like chewing food without allowing it nourish one’s body. Therefore, contraception is a sort of “sexual bulimia.” It leads to malnourishment of individuals, couples, and society.

Read them all here.

Happy feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe!

When we began Kenosis: Teen Disciples for Love and Life five years ago, one of our early meetings centered on choosing two patron saints for the group.  Each of the high school students was asked to report on a particular saint, mostly young saints or those from the 20th century.  The teens then voted on which two they would like to see as our patrons.  And so St. Maximilian Kolbe and Bl. Chiara "Luce" Badano became the patron and patroness of Kenosis.  

St. Maximilian Kolbe has been called a martyr for the family because he offered his life for one particular family.  He offered his priestly fatherhood so that another man could continue to live his vocation as husband and father.  

Today is St. Maximilan Kolbe's feast day, and Deacon Greg Kandra has a great link to the biography of the man he died to save, Franciszek Gajowniczek.  He lived to be 93 -- 53 years after St. Maximilian Kolbe saved his life.  

Learn more about him here.

Support the Christian refugees in Iraq

The Knights of Columbus is matching all gifts donated here.

Let's pray for our brothers and sisters halfway around the world who are suffering greatly.

A troublesome way to begin a life

Every time I see a video about surrogate motherhood or artificial reproductive technology, it brings to light how sad it is to be brought into the world so isolated from authentic love.  How do we call this good?



(You can read the full story here.)

Come hear Archbishop Kurtz, president of the USCCB, at Ruah Woods' banquet!

Are you coming to hear Archbishop Kurtz at Ruah Woods' fifth annual banquet?  It promises to be a wonderful evening. 

That's entertainment?

Anthony Esolen has such a way with words. His latest piece on the difference between grace as a staple of television several decades ago versus the meanness of television today is excellent.

It strikes me—and she confirms my impression by her observations—that there’s a real meanness in much of what comes on the air even in shows that should be only about which finials to choose under the eaves, and what spice goes on the roast pork. By meanness I intend what someone before our generation would understand by it: pettiness, shallowness of thought, smallness of spirit, avarice, being unwilling to praise others, a thoughtless slovenliness; all things snide, selfish, crude, currish, and coarse.

[...]

Sometimes I’m at the dentist’s and have to overhear something like The View, which, as far as I can tell, is a show in which four or five shrieking spluttering hags escaped fromMacbeth kick and scratch and pull one another’s hair while engaging in “debate” that has no more content to it than “I wanna!” and “So’s your mother!” Or I’ll see an advertisement for a crime show, featuring some craggy middle-aged man with a permanent glower, who looks for all the world as if he chews vipers in his office and spits the venom on his Turkish carpet. Or an advertisement for a medical show, featuring an anorexic female doctor with scowl-wrinkles, or a semi-shaved male doctor whose masculinity consists in never smiling or saying a single friendly word to anyone alive. Serious stuff, you know. If That’s Entertainment, give me silence. I’d much rather listen to the robins chirping in the maple trees when the sun sets. Did you know, reader, that robins are thrushes and are excellent singers?

Read it all here.

A beautiful witness of the cross of SSA

I know sitting down to watch an hour-long television program on same-sex attraction isn't on most people's to-do list, but I can't recommend this interview with Daniel Mattson enough.  A couple of weeks ago I was able to watch Courage's new documentary, "Desire of the Everlasting Hills," which was really an excellent conversation with three people who have same-sex attraction telling their stories.  Each was compelling in their own way, and by the end I felt as if I knew them.  

Yesterday I was reading the blog, "Letters to Christopher," which I have perused before, and I realized that the Daniel of the blog is the Daniel in "Desire of the Everlasting Hills," and the same Daniel whose Crisis Magazine article I recently read and found a tremendously articulated summary of the Church's teaching.  So, after all that I couldn't help but watch his recent Life on the Rock appearance, which was shared on his blog.  I highly encourage you to as well:

Prayers for marriage

On Wednesday, a court room in Cincinnati will be the scene of arguments and a decision about the definition of marriage in four different states, including Ohio.  It's time to pray for the lawyers, judges and all those involved, that the sanctity of marriage will be upheld.  Let's not give into thoughts of inevitability, but instead be hopeful that marriage's authentic meaning will be affirmed.

Good (?) news and bad news

After years of the majority of studies pointing to a link between the birth control pill and breast cancer yet not being reported, I was shocked to see Newsweek acknowledge a new study that affirms the link once again.  That'st the "good" news ... good that they are reporting it, but can we really call the finding itself good?

But in the article I found this line: 

However, physicians suggest that the potential benefits of birth control pills outweigh the risk, although all women react differently to taking the pill. Orally ingested pills are the leading contraceptive method in the United States and currently stand as the most effective method of preventing pregnancy.

So, the "potential benefit" of preventing new children from entering the world outweighs the risk of breast cancer?  Is preventing life really the benefit one wants to risk her own life to achieve?