tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34170271839412029242024-03-14T00:28:19.432-04:00Unshakeable HopeEmily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.comBlogger1099125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-15475446048774295642015-09-30T15:34:00.001-04:002015-09-30T15:34:20.527-04:00A bishop speaks to the heart of men<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Sv4NP_aJaA" width="560"></iframe>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-89023034694490013682015-07-02T11:14:00.000-04:002015-07-02T11:14:11.223-04:00The best article I've read on Obergefell v. Hodges<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I've skimmed dozens of articles both before and after the Supreme Court's decision on Obergefell v. Hodges was handed down last week. Most of them I'd begin to read, then grow bored and end up scanning paragraphs to see if there was anything truly new or intriguing or interesting. For the most part, the articles I read seemed to miss the fundamental issues in the case, those lying more deeply than the demise of democracy in America.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But fortunately, I clicked on a new article this morning -- <a href="http://angelusnews.com/voices/archbishop-gomez/creation-and-the-future-of-marriage-8308/#.VZVHIvlVikq">"Creation and the future of marriage"</a> by Los Angeles' Archbishop Jose Gomez. It is very much worth reading and sharing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If I could, I would paste the <a href="http://angelusnews.com/voices/archbishop-gomez/creation-and-the-future-of-marriage-8308/#.VZVHIvlVikq">entire column</a> here, but instead I will share a piece or two, and send you on your way to Angelus: The Tidings Online to <a href="http://angelusnews.com/voices/archbishop-gomez/creation-and-the-future-of-marriage-8308/#.VZVHIvlVikq">read it in full</a>. Bookmark it. Share it. Reread it. Archbishop Gomez has really found the pulse of the problem, digging far deeper to find a remedy than most everyone else.</span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But the opinion of the five justices in the Court’s majority reflects the passions and priorities of many who lead and shape our society in the areas of law, government, education, science, industry and the media.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In fact, <em>Obergefell</em> expresses the same “anthropocentric” and “technocratic” mentality that Pope Francis warns about in his new encyclical, <span class="s2"><em><a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html" style="color: #0f5987; text-decoration: none;">Laudato Si’</a> </em></span>(“Praised Be”).</span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the heart of this mentality is a rejection of the idea of creation and human nature. Everything — the natural world, our social institutions, our physical bodies, even our very “selves” — everything becomes a kind of “raw material” that we can engineer according to our will, using technology, psychology and even law and social policy. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This “technocratic” mindset explains the audacious tone of the <em>Obergefell</em> ruling. </span></span><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Court expresses noble thoughts about the “transcendent” purposes of marriage and its importance as a “keystone” of our social order. It acknowledges that marriage has existed “for millennia and across civilizations.”</span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But the five justices in the Court’s majority do not accept that human sexuality and marriage are part of the order of creation. For them, these are just “constructs” that we are free to “re-construct” according to our preferences.</span></span><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That is why these justices can assume they have the wisdom to “recreate” this institution that has been the foundation of human civilization. That is why they can presume the power to discard the definition of marriage that has existed since the beginning of history — as the lifelong union of one man and one woman.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Be sure to read the entire piece <a href="http://angelusnews.com/voices/archbishop-gomez/creation-and-the-future-of-marriage-8308/#.VZVHIvlVikq">here</a>.</span></span></div>
Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-48379876540826039562015-04-02T14:01:00.000-04:002015-04-02T14:01:01.965-04:00A decade ago ...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A decade ago, I remember exactly where I was. My <a href="http://franciscan.edu/households/">household</a> at Franciscan University had been planning our once-a-semester retreat for weeks on the weekend of April 1-3. On Saturday afternoon we were sitting on couches reflecting on something or distractedly attempting to listen to a talk when one girl received a phone call we had all been dreading. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"He's gone," she barely whispered.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The crying commenced. The praying continued. And the sudden feeling of being orphaned, bewildered and lost began.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49MKjyQsuYn1S_sA1Mcg255Y__RaR2lsTsBS5LZ3CJtwhvfCottJN_nkJBOjCBa-URQblSWl-XmsrYS0KFdihMowpXJ5r2syZh_32xzS0DjCNKtsjD9P47x_ZSsN0H6mNX_dEydbI6kLG/s1600/DSCN9190.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49MKjyQsuYn1S_sA1Mcg255Y__RaR2lsTsBS5LZ3CJtwhvfCottJN_nkJBOjCBa-URQblSWl-XmsrYS0KFdihMowpXJ5r2syZh_32xzS0DjCNKtsjD9P47x_ZSsN0H6mNX_dEydbI6kLG/s1600/DSCN9190.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At 3:37 pm in Ohio (9:37 pm at the Vatican), the only Pope we had known in our lifetime died. Ten years later, we have officially recognized John Paul II as a saint, as the cries of Santo Subito at his death and funeral predicted. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We knew it was going to happen. In fact, the day before, the most horrifying way to hear the news came on Fox News when a producer of some </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev0auIRykyg" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sort screamed that the Pope had died when her microphone was inadvertently audible on air</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. It was a mistake. He was not dead, but for several minutes dozens of students huddled around the small television screen mourning his life prematurely. When we learned that it was all a mistake, that he was still living, we stood on the boundary of waiting to mourn again and hoping that somehow a miracle would occur.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But the next afternoon, hearing, "He's gone," jolted us to the reality that John Paul's race really was over. He was no longer our Pope. Now he was our intercessor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It seems impossible that it has really been ten years since St. John Paul II went "to the house of the Father." Yet here we are reflecting on the passage of time and the ever-strong intercession and inspiration of our Polish pontiff. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I've <a href="http://unshakeablehope.blogspot.com/2015/01/less-blogging-more-writing.html">mentioned before</a>, my blog writing is on hiatus as I devote more time to a writing project, but I couldn't let this day go by without a brief reflection.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My reflection on John Paul, <a href="http://www.timeforthefamily.com/2015/04/remembering-pope-of-family.html">"Remembering the Pope of the Family"</a> can be read at <a href="http://www.timeforthefamily.com/2015/04/remembering-pope-of-family.html">Time for the Family</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And if you'd like to read a beautiful tribute to the particular influence of St. John Paul II on one young woman's life, read what Jenny Uebbing has to say in her piece,<a href="http://www.mamaneedscoffee.com/2015/04/he-moved-me.html"> "He moved me."</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">St. John Paul II, pray for us.</span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-67614952123503931762015-03-17T18:17:00.002-04:002015-03-17T18:17:41.386-04:00The witness of a little girl persecuted by ISIS<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_ige6CcXuMg" width="560"></iframe>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-60014214962035542192015-01-20T16:15:00.000-05:002015-01-20T16:15:23.060-05:00The incredible value of one little life<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/116938258" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> <br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/116938258">30 Hours</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/archdioceseofdenver">Archdiocese of Denver</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-25374092628526467832015-01-09T19:50:00.002-05:002015-01-09T19:50:49.199-05:00True death with dignity<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0nf_rb2qkbE" width="560"></iframe>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-13775885541712823452015-01-07T12:58:00.001-05:002015-01-07T12:58:17.792-05:00Less blogging, more writing ...<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Unshakeable Hope has been around for more than 4 years. In the early days there were daily posts or even multiple posts per day. As time has gone on, however, the writing has decreased. In large part this is due to a change in my responsibilities at Ruah Woods, which are much more writing-centric than in the beginning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the foreseeable future, new blog posts will become even rarer as I dedicate more time to completing an exciting project for high school students and teachers. There will probably be moments from time to time when I can't help but share my thoughts on a particular topic, but I will not be regularly blogging.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the mean time, feel free to peruse a new site --<a href="http://www.timeforthefamily.com/"> www.timeforthefamily.com</a> -- which I co-founded with fellow alumni from the John Paul II Institute. It is not affiliated with Ruah Woods or the John Paul II Institute. As an independent venture of some JPII Institute alumni, it is a place to visit to reflect on the gift of marriage and family, and to learn more about what the Church teaches and why on these subjects.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Please pray for the project I am working on and for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as I move to less blogging and (ironically) more writing.</span><br />
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<br />Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-40498902147437317902014-12-18T16:55:00.001-05:002014-12-18T16:55:13.607-05:00A beautiful faith and a papal blessing<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" background="#000000" flashvars="pType=embed&si=254&pid=aNCc1eU0J9JA&url=http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/new-jersey-girl-receives-popes-blessing-while-fighting-cancer" height="279" salign="lt" scale="noscale" src="http://www.cbsnews.com/common/video/cbsnews_video.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425"></embed>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-57356017111406688122014-12-15T16:42:00.003-05:002014-12-15T16:42:54.879-05:00Christmas generosity and fruitfulness<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Y-0UpZwg8F4" width="560"></iframe>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-81218111671188058842014-12-12T12:18:00.001-05:002014-12-12T12:18:06.403-05:00The dignity of a haircut<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The New York Times just featured the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/style/a-hair-stylist-provides-free-cuts-to-the-homeless.html?ref=fashion">story of hairstylist Mark Bustos</a>. His weekdays are filled by giving $150 haircuts, often to celebrities. But his Sundays? His Sundays are dedicated to giving free haircuts to the homeless of New York City. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The story of Mark Bustos' unique way of affirming the dignity of the person is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/style/a-hair-stylist-provides-free-cuts-to-the-homeless.html?ref=fashion">here</a>. </span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-62806988110102294502014-12-09T16:28:00.000-05:002014-12-09T16:28:56.841-05:00Christmas gift list ... or should I say book list<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's been awhile since I've offered a Theology of the Body-inspired Christmas list for those of you looking for gift ideas (whether for friends and family or for your own wish list). This year, though, I've seen sufficient new material to warrant a new post. I try to stick with new resources, though a few other ideas might pop up in the list.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfdQ3tFqvUPk9p0d6y5XbFO39PRMjVPn94f1xAiziMd2djio-qrNaB-oH9XuoIMv1suyihnPRkxEBoevtWkYLWoFzTpxQXjjoMbcFWf9kXla9ZMuXnYXwb64Qpxok6LNlSWL2YOI4MPEiF/s1600/Discovering+the+Human+Person.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfdQ3tFqvUPk9p0d6y5XbFO39PRMjVPn94f1xAiziMd2djio-qrNaB-oH9XuoIMv1suyihnPRkxEBoevtWkYLWoFzTpxQXjjoMbcFWf9kXla9ZMuXnYXwb64Qpxok6LNlSWL2YOI4MPEiF/s1600/Discovering+the+Human+Person.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First up, we have Prof. Stanislaw Grygiel's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Human-Person-Conversation-John/dp/0802871542/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417471457&sr=8-1&keywords=grygiel">"Discovering the Human Person: In Conversation with John Paul II."</a> The "in conversation" phrase seems to be applied rather liberally to biographies and studies of saints, but this particular book is written by a student and friend of the late Holy Father. I have not read the book yet but was able to hear some of Prof. Grygiel's reflections in person at the John Paul Institute in Washington, DC. He always had beautiful insights to share, and left us in awe of his personal experiences with the late Holy Father.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYw4DGfARPdzO46vubDdbMEEWavV4RemoZcZF1PWIfinGf9k_8k1ngDPvv1y5kzNrF3EZPOtjkpV56iHkct7IQkVoobHdGqVegGwKcPSPJ7E2b6sNKVEn9MfnujuSg1NEKBgnS-mkJKIP4/s1600/St.+John+Paul+the+Great.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYw4DGfARPdzO46vubDdbMEEWavV4RemoZcZF1PWIfinGf9k_8k1ngDPvv1y5kzNrF3EZPOtjkpV56iHkct7IQkVoobHdGqVegGwKcPSPJ7E2b6sNKVEn9MfnujuSg1NEKBgnS-mkJKIP4/s1600/St.+John+Paul+the+Great.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While we're on the subject of St. John Paul, I'd highly recommend Jason Evert's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Saint-John-Paul-Great-Loves/dp/0991375408/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417546256&sr=1-1&keywords=st.+john+paul+the+great+his+five+loves">St. John Paul the Great: His Five Loves</a> Or, for about triple the cost of one book, <a href="http://shop.chastityproject.com/books/saint-john-paul-the-great-bulk-paperback.html">purchase 32 copies</a> in paperback to give to all of your friends. Leave a copy on a coffee shop table with a note to anyone who would like to take it. It's a different kind of biography -- a collection of verified stories of JPII that give fresh insight into who he was and what he loved. My copy is quite underlined and asterisked. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXKyjudYTPMr2O7vngUpO8E0gUXW9KzaKGD4ATdeFphEHRgqpb1uAgHsVBDUXJCAtVnanlDmEH8_dD4sSrT6af538MkJuev6X1rOmggQFWeMkEie0hdMe9b3HHpXS8iTRW92tkQlO0E8k/s1600/These+Beautiful+Bones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXKyjudYTPMr2O7vngUpO8E0gUXW9KzaKGD4ATdeFphEHRgqpb1uAgHsVBDUXJCAtVnanlDmEH8_dD4sSrT6af538MkJuev6X1rOmggQFWeMkEie0hdMe9b3HHpXS8iTRW92tkQlO0E8k/s1600/These+Beautiful+Bones.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/These-Beautiful-Bones-Everyday-Theology/dp/1937155153/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417546207&sr=1-1&keywords=these+beautiful+bones">These Beautiful Bones: An Everyday Theology of the Body</a> by Emily Stimpson didn't come out this past year, but made its debut late enough in 2013 to warrant a mention. What a beautiful book! Emily Stimpson is a gifted writer, with words simply flowing from her pen in such a way as to captivate the reader with her beauty, humor and insight. Her book seeks to go beyond the idea that Theology of the Body is "just about sex" and instead to challenge us all to see how we can live TOB more fully in other areas of our lives (manners, what we eat, how we work, etc.). It's the perfect book for the TOB aficionado and the person who has never heard of Theology of the Body. All will find insight, challenge and beauty. </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggB51OOjsityZHa0lhR0pDkk51sq1f_PfUDC6LjFG5aC6YcDW7fcVmVDKhqB-0Cb4OcxxxsqbtWwfrY1RA1rNhmfLc41ms1nPRofwqrRM90DGkcpTy6MTQKCInTft2xMO5dn3xXOzfLI5V/s1600/Defending+Marriage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggB51OOjsityZHa0lhR0pDkk51sq1f_PfUDC6LjFG5aC6YcDW7fcVmVDKhqB-0Cb4OcxxxsqbtWwfrY1RA1rNhmfLc41ms1nPRofwqrRM90DGkcpTy6MTQKCInTft2xMO5dn3xXOzfLI5V/s1600/Defending+Marriage.jpg" height="200" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another book that I have not yet read but which looks quite promising is Anthony Esolen's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Defending-Marriage-Twelve-Arguments-Sanity/dp/1618906046/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1417799168&sr=8-3&keywords=anthony+esolen">Defending Marriage: Twelve Arguments for Sanity</a>. I've long found Prof. Esolen's writing to be engaging, witty and enlightening, and I have no doubt his reflections on this important matter will not disappoint. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg0-98AB4xOSIev3LmEOZP5ZwfqxrkaHDoAGnK7BXS6ebAIkTv2eG2KIjMQj-nw1Ig45FXbaW_95A6wi65H0wm1CEHXtz01ovJY06DVbD5xhN-8ArYFQr04L9Y2-qV_54hHfCS0hXZuxut/s1600/Gift+of+Joy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg0-98AB4xOSIev3LmEOZP5ZwfqxrkaHDoAGnK7BXS6ebAIkTv2eG2KIjMQj-nw1Ig45FXbaW_95A6wi65H0wm1CEHXtz01ovJY06DVbD5xhN-8ArYFQr04L9Y2-qV_54hHfCS0hXZuxut/s1600/Gift+of+Joy.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the newly expecting couple, "Gift of Joy: The Blessing of the Child in the Womb" is excellent. The actual blessing is not in the book. Instead, co-authors Archbishop Joseph Kurtz and Msgr. Brian Bransfield introduce parents more fully into comprehending the mystery they are living while awaiting the birth of their child. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm sure there are plenty of other items I could add, though I risk not posting this until it's too late to purchase these books in time for Christmas. For the Theology of the Body or St. John Paul II fans in your life, chances are likely that at least one of these items is not yet in their possession.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Happy gift-giving and receiving!</span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-50995693480258421312014-12-01T12:42:00.000-05:002014-12-01T12:42:57.583-05:00Why not live together before marriage?<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of the resources people ask me for are articles or pamphlets about cohabitation. Why not live together before marriage? It's virtually assumed today that two people planning on marriage will share the same address before exchanging rings. <br /><br />There are quite a few articles and summaries of the problems with cohabitation, but today's IBelieveinLove.com article, <a href="http://www.ibelieveinlove.com/2014/12/01/why-i-dont-live-with-my-fiance/">"Why I Don't Live With My Fiance"</a> was one of the best, simple explanations I have seen.</span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don’t want to live with my fiancé because his title says it all. He’s still my fiancé. He’s not my spouse. He’s not the man I married—he’s the man I will marry. And when we’re married, we will move in together. Why then?</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because then I will know it won’t be a decision based on finances or split rent. It won’t be a decision based on the desire to sleep with each other. It won’t be a decision based on a trial run to see how things go and with an easy out when the going gets tough.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rather, our decision to move in together will be based on a public profession to love each other in good times and bad, in sickness and health, until death do us part. It will be a decision based on mutual self-respect in a way that says, “You are worth more to me than a split rent check. You are worth more to me than any self-gratification. I don’t need a trial run of living together because I already know I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” that’s what dating is for!</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Read the rest of the article <a href="http://www.ibelieveinlove.com/2014/12/01/why-i-dont-live-with-my-fiance/">here</a>. It's worth bookmarking and sharing when you need a handy answer to a common question.</span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-29429218371749403272014-11-26T11:29:00.000-05:002014-11-26T11:29:04.044-05:00Vocational Discernment 101<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just last night I was having a conversation about vocations discernment in which I recalled the words of Matt Maher during a concert at Franciscan University ten years ago. He said, "Sometimes people make finding their vocation their god." It becomes this all-encompassing thing to obsess over and spend every waking moment contemplating. <br /><br />Exhibit A: "An attractive guy/girl sat in front me during Mass today. Maybe I'm called to marriage! Or, maybe it was an invitation from God to give up this good for the greater good of priesthood/religious life."<br /><br />So, it was rather good timing that <a href="http://blog.restoreculture.com/">The Culture Project</a> reposted an article from July entitled, <a href="http://catholicexchange.com/vocation#.VHCqlxN1WjV">"Your Vocation is Not About You."</a> Benjamin Mann has some thought-provoking insights into how we view our vocation (whether in the future or the present). <br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our expectations are wrong. Consciously or not, we sometimes expect a vocation to solve all of our problems, answer all of our questions, and satisfy all of our desires. But these are not the purposes of a vocation. Discernment, likewise, does not consist in finding the choice that will meet those expectations.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Your vocation will not live up to these unrealistic hopes. Nothing in this world will answer all your questions, solve all your problems, or satisfy all your desires. These are impossible, immature ambitions, and the spiritual life consists largely in realizing that they are impossible and immature.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The purpose of life is the unitive devotional service of God, which includes the love of our neighbor (in whom God dwells). This is the real purpose of any vocation. Some forms of life, such as monasticism, are ordered directly to this end; other states of life are oriented toward it indirectly. But these are only different versions of the one human vocation: to love and serve God, and become one with him in Christ.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A vocation – any vocation – is a school of charity and a means of crucifixion. Your vocation is the means by which your self-serving ego will die in order to be resurrected as the servant and lover of God. This is all that we can expect; but this is everything – the meaning of life, all there really is.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My vocation is where I will learn to let go of my questions, carry the cross of my problems, and be mysteriously fulfilled even when I am not happy. We have some choice as to how we will undergo that process; we do not – so long as we abide in the grace of God – get to choose whether we will undergo it.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Read it all <a href="http://catholicexchange.com/vocation#.VHCqlxN1WjV">here</a>. </span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-60202313940351009932014-11-25T15:48:00.000-05:002014-11-25T15:48:40.986-05:00Good story of the day<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZOL2zTgweMs" width="560"></iframe>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-80226058144528703842014-11-20T15:56:00.000-05:002014-11-20T15:56:31.689-05:00A most succinct summary of the human person<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When the hundreds of pages of Theology of the Body need to be summarized in a minute or two, it's difficult to know what to say. How to say enough without saying too much?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the current issue of the "National Catholic Register," Katie van Schaijik fulfilled the task admirably.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">To be a human person is to be made in the image and likeness of God. It is to be absolutely unique and unrepeatable. It is to exist from love and for love, with others and for others. It is to be embodied, incomplete and in need. It is to be called to a life-giving union and communion with God and others — or, with God </span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">through</em><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> others.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br />Read more of her thoughts on "Personalism and Pope Francis" and the recent Synod at <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/personalism-and-pope-francis/#ixzz3JdyvgVny" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #003399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">http://www.ncregister.com/site/article/personalism-and-pope-francis/#ixzz3JdyvgVny</a>. </span></span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-32354443019646313192014-11-19T14:00:00.002-05:002014-11-19T14:00:42.942-05:00Forgetting Jerusalem <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Have you heard what happened in Jerusalem yesterday? Perhaps you have not. It is likely that you know that the "first openly gay NBA player is retiring" or that Buffalo has six feet of snow. But Jerusalem?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I came across too references to "something" happening in Jerusalem on Catholic news, so I figured it must be a big deal. A quick check of Google News came up empty. But tomorrow, President Obama will be making a speech, and a Bill Cosby show might not air due to allegations he is facing ...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I checked a couple of other national news sites. Nothing on Jerusalem. But a baby with four arms and four legs is attracting interest in India and "Transgender People Push for Greater Acceptance" ...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicGe1Bfs-WpEqqkls8V2G_wpoyUBFi9ueWE6HZq6SbHDJRxvT80cACcTHhAsl_u_NtR-Heb3-YjEu66xnfay6Z0XfPQbwd0IK5loPvEdfxCLNU2iRbEIXCzoc04YVQTVIckyX69q0jMZlk/s1600/Israel-Flag-Johnk85-300x200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicGe1Bfs-WpEqqkls8V2G_wpoyUBFi9ueWE6HZq6SbHDJRxvT80cACcTHhAsl_u_NtR-Heb3-YjEu66xnfay6Z0XfPQbwd0IK5loPvEdfxCLNU2iRbEIXCzoc04YVQTVIckyX69q0jMZlk/s1600/Israel-Flag-Johnk85-300x200.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/?attachment_id=39274">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, back to Google News I went, thinking that whatever cryptic references to Jerusalem I heard must have been misunderstood. This time I typed "Jerusalem" in the search bar. And then I saw <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/israelis-killed-in-jerusalem-synagogue-attack-1416292829">the news</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This morning in Jerusalem two Palestinians, armed with butcher knives and a rifle, entered a synagogue and brutally killed five men, including four rabbis. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the heart of the Jewish faith -- Jerusalem -- in the location they hold so dear -- a synagogue -- four leaders of the Jewish faith -- rabbis -- were attacked. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And here in the United States, we barely heard a whisper. Sure, it probably was a top story when it first happened, but after a few moments, more important things took the stage ... like Disney's new "Cinderella."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">News is now entertainment. We need to know what the latest celebrity kerfuffle is, but all of the injustices to human dignity and attacks on religious liberty and atrocious treatment of men, women and children around the globe? Well, those only merit attention if they drive ratings and spike website visitor counts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why aren't we stopping to mourn the loss of life in a synagogue in Jerusalem today? Why aren't we praying for our Jewish brothers and sisters who, whether or not they were physically present in the synagogue during the attack, were attacked today? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you did not know about the attack in the Holy Land today, I hope you'll take a few minutes to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/israelis-killed-in-jerusalem-synagogue-attack-1416292829">read the story</a> and to pray for those killed, those present and for all Jewish people. </span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-46270985088637987062014-11-18T10:44:00.000-05:002014-11-18T10:44:21.043-05:00A Vatican conference from the comfort of your home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhollIVVS9S5OyHHs6WW0KqJCI_BQIgne30RiPvR5BPqGbd80Qioyy8b2j702yVxLwXkP8eXIcROZoTls3fvbve8lo4askNGUd8PvANVCiVdBBQ6-pBVE63XeP0Lu_65yadBnIP4BOZIN6B/s1600/Humanum+logo.png" height="191" width="320" /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It isn't too often one has the opportunity to partake in a Vatican conference. Fortunately, the event occurring right now -- the <a href="http://humanum.it/en/">Humanum conference</a> focusing on the complementarity of men and women -- is open to all of us. The conference features the presentation of short films on a number of topics, followed by live witnesses and brief presentations from people of various faiths. The <a href="http://humanum.it/en/videos/">short films and the presentations are available on the Humanum website</a> and are being posted soon after they occur live in Rome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Be sure to <a href="http://humanum.it/en/videos/">take a look</a> ... and to be truly authentic, perhaps you'd like to watch with a cappuccino or gelato in hand.</span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-84875206616932665382014-11-17T08:30:00.000-05:002014-11-17T08:30:00.243-05:00Quote book<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"We are led to believe that success in life lies primarily in our being able to bring <i>credentials,</i> and yet, who would dream of saying to another person: ‘I love you because you are the most efficient secretary I have met in my life,’ or because ‘you are the teacher who best organizes the material.’ Love is not concerned with a person’s accomplishments, it is a response to a person’s <i>being</i>: This is why a typical word of love is to say: I love you,<i> because you are as you are.</i>"</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">-- Dietrich Von Hildebrand</span></div>
Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-57414175226015657122014-11-14T09:30:00.000-05:002014-11-14T09:30:00.353-05:00What do you know about China's one child policy?<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I frequently hear people dismiss China's one child policy as something that is in the past. They talk of it as if it's no big deal. An entire nation forcing its women to be injected with Depo Provera or to have babies aborted all the way up to nine months of pregnancy is tragic, inhumane and something we cannot continue ignoring. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENiKhuNRTQIkkSo8QDTCPwMIeg843lTdcNeNyLES2lzlO8ycag1KWmmOrE34if-jKz9aD1Lfpk3kjjGsMshX0Cz06VptfBNu3U9IEy3MZsTRt7WDAMX-mDTNh0lYrJPkR7ulAMpoa1WjN/s1600/projects-stop-popcontrol-china.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENiKhuNRTQIkkSo8QDTCPwMIeg843lTdcNeNyLES2lzlO8ycag1KWmmOrE34if-jKz9aD1Lfpk3kjjGsMshX0Cz06VptfBNu3U9IEy3MZsTRt7WDAMX-mDTNh0lYrJPkR7ulAMpoa1WjN/s400/projects-stop-popcontrol-china.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pop.org/projects/stop-tax-funding-population-control-china">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In college, I was able to read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Ordeal-Womans-Against-One-Child-ebook/dp/B00LNB1MOS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415726927&sr=8-2&keywords=a+mother%27s+ordeal">"A Mother's Ordeal: One Woman's Fight Against China's One Child Policy,"</a> which I would recommend to anyone who would like to know what the "policy" is really like. It reads like a novel, but it is tragically non-fiction. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rep. Chris Smith, who has long fought for the rights of the Chinese people, <a href="http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/10/13942/">recently wrote</a> about current United States legislative efforts to fight the one-child policy, which he describes in part as:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For more than three decades, most brothers and sisters have been illegal. And the price for failing to conform to the limit of one child per couple is staggering. A Chinese woman who becomes pregnant without a government permit will be put under mind-bending pressure to abort. She knows that “out-of-plan” illegal children are denied education, health care, and marriage, and that fines for bearing a child without a birth permit can be ten times the average annual income of two parents. Families who can’t or won’t pay are jailed, or their homes are smashed.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If the brave woman still refuses to submit, she may be held in a punishment cell. If she flees, her relatives may be held and, very often, beaten. Group punishments will be used to socially ostracize her. Often, her colleagues and neighbors will be denied birth permits. If the woman is, by some miracle, still able to resist this pressure, she may be physically dragged to the operating table and forced to undergo an abortion.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The result of this policy is a nightmarish “brave new world” with no precedent in human history, where women are psychologically wounded, girls are the victims of sex-selective abortion, and children grow up without brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, or cousins. The United States government must take active steps to fight this atrocity.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rep. Smith goes on to outline his efforts in Congress currently, as well as the support for the one-child policy given by the current administration (and, by extension, our taxes). It's important <a href="http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/10/13942/">to read </a>and to know what is happening in China. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's not just China, however, that is choosing who should have children and how many. Kenyan bishops <a href="http://www.news.va/en/news/africakenya-the-bishops-what-does-the-tetanus-camp">recently drew attention</a> to a puzzling tetanus vaccine campaign in their country (emphasis added):</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">According to reports from CISA agency in Nairobi, during a press conference in Nairobi, His Exc. Mgr. Paul Kariuki Njiru, Bishop of Embu and Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops Catholic Health Commission of Kenya, <b>questioned why the national tetanus campaign is aimed at girls and women aged between 14 to 49, excluding girls under the age of 13, in addition to the male population</b>. Mgr. Kariuki Njiru reported the church had <b>conducted laboratory tests on the vaccine used in the Tetanus campaign of March 2014 and found out that it contained the Beta HCG sub unit. HCG according to the findings is necessary for pregnancy</b>. This substance, combined with the tetanus vaccine, actually becomes a vaccine against pregnancy. A similar methodology was used in previous tetanus campaigns in the Philippines, Nicaragua and Mexico.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This morning, I <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d4f8b430-6985-11e4-8f4f-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3ImSmhA8X">learned that in India this week</a> ten women died and dozens more were critically injured during a government-sponsored sterilization campaign. The women were pressured by the promise of $23 if they agreed to be sterilized. The medical conditions were unsanitary, rushed and not remotely patient-centered. And women died.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why don't we hear more about this very real "war on women?" Why instead are we as a nation concerned with who is going to pay for women's birth control pills, when women around the world are being mutilated and their children destroyed? We have been silent for years as families suffer. We turn a blind eye rather than learn what is really occurring. It's uncomfortable to know. But we really must ask what is really happening in China, India, Kenya and other nations. And then we must ask what <a href="http://pop.org/projects">we can do</a> to stop it. </span><br />
<br />Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-83183762595590309962014-11-13T07:30:00.000-05:002014-11-13T07:30:00.290-05:00Quote book<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Ironically, in a day when Catholics often decide that 'The New Evangelization' means “go online” we may need to rethink our approach. Maybe in an overly digitized age, the New Evangelization means that we must also go out of our way to meet real people, in real life, face to face.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />“'Love God above all else' cannot possibly mean 'pin a Divine Mercy picture on your Pinterest page.' 'Love your neighbor as yourself' has to mean more than 'Like all your neighbor’s status updates that aren’t too political.'"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />-- Tom Hoopes in <a href="http://www.aleteia.org/en/society/article/the-decline-and-fall-of-a-decadent-west-can-only-be-reversed-by-christianity-5841986305130496">"Only Christianity Can Save the West from Falling"</a></span></div>
Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-11030451111232932502014-11-12T08:30:00.001-05:002014-11-12T08:30:00.172-05:00Victims of the Lonely Revolution <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With all of <a href="http://unshakeablehope.blogspot.com/2014/11/an-uncoupled-open-marriages-biggest.html">these</a> depressing <a href="http://unshakeablehope.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-future-of-fertility.html">stories</a> lately, it's time for some beauty. Anthony Esolen always writes with beauty, even if his subject matter is ugliness. <br /><br />This time, <a href="http://www.crisismagazine.com/2014/will-rescue-lost-sheep-lonely-revolution#.VF7FGRrjT2X.facebook">he's penning about the Lonely Revolution</a> (what we generally term the "sexual revolution) and its victims who are usually unmentioned. Victims like:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">... children of divorce, who see their homes torn in two, because of a mother or a father who has shrugged away the vow of permanence. I see them straining to put a fine face on it, to protect the very parents who should have protected them, to squelch back their own tears so as not to hurt those who have hurt them. Who speaks for them, harried from pillar to post? Who pleads their case, whose parents conveniently assume that their children’s happiness must depend upon their own contentment, and not the other way around? Where is my Church’s apostolate for the children sawn in half, while the Solomons of our time looked the other way?</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Or:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">... the young people who do in fact follow the moral law and the teachings of the Church. Many of these are suffering intense loneliness. Have you bothered to notice? Have you considered all those young people who want to be married, who should be married, but who, because they will not play evil’s game, can find no one to marry? The girls who at age twenty-five and older have never even been asked on a date? The “men” languishing in a drawn-out adolescence? These people are among us; they are everywhere. Who gives them a passing thought? They are suffering for their faith, and no one cares. Do you care, leaders of my Church? Or do you not rather tacitly agree with their fellows who do the marital thing without being married? Do you not rather share that bemused contempt for the “old fashioned” purity they are trying to preserve?</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />It's a call to leaders of the Church, but really it's a call to all of us. Read it all <a href="http://www.crisismagazine.com/2014/will-rescue-lost-sheep-lonely-revolution#.VF7FGRrjT2X.facebook">here</a>, and say a prayer for those suffering from the Lonely Revolution.</span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-35715178495711386522014-11-11T10:14:00.000-05:002014-11-11T10:14:00.047-05:00The future of fertility?<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Professor Carl Djerassi, a chemist who contributed to the development of the birth control pill, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/11217750/Sex-will-soon-be-just-for-fun-not-babies-says-father-of-the-Pill.html">recently spoke to Britan's "The Telegraph"</a> about his predictions for the future of sex, babies and their connection (or lack thereof).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">According to Djerassi, by perhaps 2050, the majority of women will choose to freeze their eggs in their early twenties, thus "freeing" them to experience their careers without the worries of a baby interfering. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vIaAxj864yK_Ls_x3hqkY6YZti10n423b8T_EFeRN4xV99WHSKFLiqxn8i3OA7Ihgh9qhVcbQDIM5NfWSMAGJ6G-T2CWlrQH2tfZvnOw995gfFKdZuxy_YwAwtbZIw4sAQx59r2qnXNH/s1600/Egg+freezing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vIaAxj864yK_Ls_x3hqkY6YZti10n423b8T_EFeRN4xV99WHSKFLiqxn8i3OA7Ihgh9qhVcbQDIM5NfWSMAGJ6G-T2CWlrQH2tfZvnOw995gfFKdZuxy_YwAwtbZIw4sAQx59r2qnXNH/s1600/Egg+freezing.jpg" height="178" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bodyconfidential.co.uk/Health/Egg-Freezing-A-21st-Century-Dilemma">Source</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next, these women will be sterilized, thereby "freeing" them to live life without the specter of an unexpected pregnancy haunting their limitless sexual encounters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And, finally, when women are ready to check "motherhood" off of their to-do list, IVF will be performed (possibly with frozen sperm, but that needs to be experimented with and researched first). Genetic screening will become standard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sex will officially be "just for fun." No one will have to worry about having an "unwanted" child. Daily Pill-popping and abortion will be no more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Apparently, Pro. Djerassi is unfamiliar with the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1284384/IVF-babies-aborted-women-change-minds.html">number of women </a>who have aborted their children who were "wanted" and conceived by IVF after they changed their minds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Surprisingly, he did not mention artificial wombs entering into the equation, thereby "freeing" women from the biological constraints and responsibilities of pregnancy. Such an arrangement would also give men equal womb access, which would give the equality-as-sameness that the Pill seeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A brave new world indeed! Where is the beauty of the mystery of fruitfulness, rooted in something (Someone) greater than ourselves? Where is child-as-gift instead of child-as-commodity? It's staggering to consider how detrimental this would be to society. More than ever we would say, "We've forgotten who we are."</span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-79045201853267931552014-11-10T10:57:00.005-05:002014-11-10T10:57:58.380-05:00An uncoupled, open "marriage's" biggest victim <br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">OK, so let's get this straight ... <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/couples-uncoupling-ceremony-releases-marriage-divorced/story?id=26738485">Clark and Valerie</a> want to protect their son Jonah from divorce, so their solution is to host an "uncoupling ceremony" on a California beach, live in the same home together and date other people. For Jonah. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Apparently seeing Mom with her boyfriend ... or not seeing her while she spends "private time" with him at another location is not damaging. And, I guess knowing that Dad doesn't want a third divorce but that Mom is keeping her options open doesn't hurt either.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What is it about divorce that is <a href="http://www.mamaneedscoffee.com/2014/10/suffer-children-highest-cost-of-divorce.html">damaging for children</a>? A broken covenant, a love that has "ended," a break in fidelity ("if you promised to love Daddy forever and didn't, then do you really mean it when you tell me you will love me forever?), a turbulent, unknown rollercoaster where there should be a secure foundation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, what about Jonah's situation is supposed to be different? His parents are dating other people and divorce is still a viable option, at least for Valerie. Clark doesn't want to get married a fourth time, but he has trouble convincing other women to see where their place will be in the relationship. Apparently, Mom's boyfriend Joseph has no problems with greeting Valerie for a date ... and then Valerie's husband. And apparently Jonah is "fine" with it. Why would he say otherwise? Does this little boy feel like weight of his parents' happiness is squarely on his shoulders? And might be feel that he shouldn't say a word because this odd little arrangement is being done "for him"?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's just so sad! Who does "uncoupling" benefit? It would seem it benefits no one. In the end, while Clark and Valerie say they want what is best for Jonah, it would seem that this uncoupled, "open relationship" is hardest on Jonah. Splashing in the waves together after returning wedding rings can't possibly convey the same security and love that lifelong fidelity (even if clearly sacrificial) could give a little boy who just wants (and deserves) to know authentic love. </span><br />
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<br />Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-84141399276321252752014-11-07T13:09:00.000-05:002014-11-07T13:09:00.231-05:00Cardinal Dolan on who we are<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRYUO-01-wd_TI8PhnrKsQMJus1fRaYKRa4zp4iI1BikteXCLQqJDkXBbBljgLyA8XJTe4nrc6fe91ZBGakBo3yrqKdRalyvio7tTffOcPtCdVwpujLcIA8W8C8JQR04FSu2zJ4rSECbpi/s1600/ArchbishopDolanPhoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRYUO-01-wd_TI8PhnrKsQMJus1fRaYKRa4zp4iI1BikteXCLQqJDkXBbBljgLyA8XJTe4nrc6fe91ZBGakBo3yrqKdRalyvio7tTffOcPtCdVwpujLcIA8W8C8JQR04FSu2zJ4rSECbpi/s1600/ArchbishopDolanPhoto.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cardinal Dolan has a gift for making seemingly overwhelming concepts make sense. He recently took the phrase "image and likeness of God" and <a href="https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/InFocus/Article/TabId/721/ArtMID/13629/ArticleID/16295/Made-in-God%E2%80%99s-image-and-likeness.aspx">explained in the Our Sunday Visitor</a> what this means for daily life. As the late<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Love-Fr-Richard-Hogan-ebook/dp/B004O0UHG4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415297061&sr=8-1&keywords=Fr.+Richard+Hogan"> Fr. Richard Hogan </a>liked to say, "You were made in the image and likeness of God. Now act like it."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I invite us to see who we are: At the core of our being, each one of us has the identity of being a child of God, made in his image and likeness, redeemed by the precious blood of his Son, Jesus, and destined to enjoy eternity with him in heaven. That’s who we are. As Pope St. John Paul II taught, “being is more important than having and doing.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s not just that I’m made in God’s image and likeness, but that every human person is as well, thus deserving dignity and respect. This is our belief in the Imago Dei (“Image of God”) central to Judeo-Christian revelation, cherished by other creeds as well.As Christians, however, we have to ensure that this truth of our faith doesn’t somehow make us the center of the world. There is a heavy stress today on individualism: my needs, my wants, my career, my sexual preferences, my convenience and my time are most important. But being made in the image and likeness of God means that God happens to be the center of the world!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If we properly understand who we are in God’s eyes, and in relation to other creatures and all of creation, we will sense that there are certain duties and obligations that simply flow from who we are.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><br />Read the rest <a href="https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/InFocus/Article/TabId/721/ArtMID/13629/ArticleID/16295/Made-in-God%E2%80%99s-image-and-likeness.aspx">here</a>. </span>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3417027183941202924.post-47054532705470973002014-11-06T12:59:00.000-05:002014-11-06T12:59:04.637-05:00Controlling life or death is only an illusion <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Brittany Maynard's tragic death has skyrocketed to the top of news feeds for the past week. The world waited in suspense as November 2 drew closer. Would she choose to die or, as one of her final messages seemed to allude to, would she decide to keep on living? But as we know, she did die. <a href="http://www.mercatornet.com/careful/view/15077">As one author suggested</a>, though, we will never know if her death was a free choice or one that was horribly influenced by the organization "Compassion and Choices" that hijacked Brittany's situation for their own benefit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The loss of Brittany is certainly tragic. The tragedies could continue to mount if people use her story as a catalyst for physician-prescribed suicide. That's why another young woman with the same cancer shared her perspective on CNN:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cancer has been in the news in Cincinnati lately. Bengals' player <a href="http://www.wcpo.com/sports/football/bengals/devon-still-bengal-corrects-false-reports-that-daughter-leah-is-cancer-free-after-surgery">Devon Still's four-year-old daughter is battling cancer</a> right now. Lauren Hill, a freshman basketball player at the College of Mt. St. Joseph, has been told she has until December to live.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There has been no talk of suicide pills or control of death for Lauren. Instead, the entire city has rallied around her as she <a href="http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:11812922">played her first (as she says, her first, not her last) college basketball game</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Women like Lauren and Maggie Karner (above) are witnessing how to live, which is also how to die. They are truly brave in submitting to the reality that we cannot control everything -- not death, nor life. They are courageous in allowing their immense suffering to transform them and others, rather than to dominate them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pray for Lauren. Pray for Maggie. Pray for all who are faced with terminal diagnoses -- for the courage to live while dying. </span><br />
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<script src="http://player.espn.com/player.js?pcode=1kNG061cgaoolOncv54OAO1ceO-I&width=576&height=324&externalId=espn:11812922"></script>Emily Mackehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00622404593494742572noreply@blogger.com0