If we bailed out McDonalds...

Here's a delightful piece of satire from Rob Long of the National Review:

TO: All McDonald’s Team Members

FROM: Management

RE: New Federal Guidelines in wake of the federal rescue

Dear Team:

As most of you are aware, the past few days have been challenging for all members of the McDonald’s USA and McDonald’s Worldwide Team.

McDonald’s, as you know, maintained a complex and highly-leveraged commodity futures operation, and recent events in the financial markets have made our risk-management strategies impossible to maintain.

(Read the whole article…)

Bible study, anyone?

We're making my classes on Holy Scripture available on podcasts. If you go to this website, you'll find recordings of several classes which covered St. Mark's Gospel, and also some classes covering the Epistle to the Hebrews.

They've only just started to be made available, so lots more will be coming soon. You can download these to your iPod if you have one, or you can just listen on-line.

I love teaching the Scriptures, and I hope these studies will be useful to some of you.

Music lovers, mark your calendars...

We are pleased to announce that, after a very successful inaugural year, our parish will once again host a Music Series. The first event will take place on Saturday October 4th at 7:30 PM. Our featured artist will be world-renowned French organist Pierre Pincemaille. Monsieur Pincemaille serves as Titular Organist of the Cathedral/Basilica of Saint-Denis, in Paris, France. In addition, he teaches harmony at the prestigious French music school, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. He has toured widely as both a recitalist and orchestral soloist in Europe, North America, Russia, China, and South Africa, and performing under the batons of conductors such as Mstislav Rostropovitch, Myung Whun Chung, Riccardo Muti, and Charles Dutoit.

Monsieur Pincemaille’s recital will feature works of Bach, Franck, Vierne, and Durufle, as well as his own improvisations, all performed on our magnificent Casavant pipe organ.

. . . . .

UPDATE: here's a link to the specifications of the Casavant gallery organ and the Nave organ.

God help us

One of the issues in the current presidential campaign is whether or not Barack Obama has voted in favor of infanticide. He and his campaign, of course, deny that he has ever done such a thing. But his opposition to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act is a matter of public record, and no matter how much he attempts to justify his position, it still comes down to the same things: dead babies.

Have a look at this brief article by Mona Charen. Here are the last two paragraphs:

At the time, Barack Obama was an Illinois state senator. An almost exact copy of the federal bill was introduced in 2001. Obama opposed it, saying, “I mean it, it would essentially bar abortions because the equal protection clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this is a child, then this would be an antiabortion statute.” Even though the baby would be completely separated from the mother. In 2003, the Illinois legislature added a neutrality clause to the bill, making it a virtual clone of the federal legislation. As chairman of the committee considering the bill, Obama again opposed it, saying, “… an additional doctor who then has to be called in an emergency situation and make these assessments is really designed simply to burden the original decision of the woman …”

Barack Obama is a charming and intelligent man. But there is no other way to interpret his position on BAIPA than this: A woman who chooses an abortion is entitled to a dead child no matter what. That is an abortion extremist.

This isn't a political issue. No, this is direct cooperation with evil.

Stabat Mater

At the cross her vigil keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
where he hung, the dying Lord:

There she waited in her anguish,
seeing Christ in torment languish,
in her heart the piercing sword.

With what pain and desolation,
with what grief and resignation,
Mary watched her dying Son.

Deep the woe of her affliction,
when she saw the crucifixion
of the sole-begotten one.

Him she saw for our salvation
mocked with cruel acclamation,
scourged, and crowned with thorns entwined.

Saw him then from judgement taken,
and in death by all forsaken,
till his spirit he resigned.

Who, on Christ’s dear Mother gazing,
pierced by anguish so amazing,
born of woman, would not weep?

Who, on Christ’s dear Mother thinking,
such a cup of sorrow drinking,
would not share her sorrows deep?

Jesus, may her deep devotion
stir in me the same emotion,
Fount of love, Redeemer kind.

That my heart fresh ardour gaining,
and a purer love attaining,
may with thee acceptance find.

Tree of Life

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross there will be a procession of the Relic of the True Cross, which our parish is blessed to have. At the 11:00 a.m. Mass the Knights and Ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre will be in attendance. At the conclusion of the procession, we will offer this litany in the presence of the Relic:

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy upon us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy upon us.
God the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, Have mercy upon us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy upon us.

Christ Jesus, laden with the Cross and led to Calvary, Have mercy upon us.
Christ Jesus, nailed to the Cross, Have mercy upon us.
Christ Jesus, raised up on the Cross, Have mercy upon us.
Christ Jesus, obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross, Have mercy upon us.
Christ Jesus, bearing our sins in thine own Body on the Tree, Have mercy upon us.
Christ Jesus, by whose stripes we are healed, Have mercy upon us.

By thine Agony and Bloody Sweat, Good Lord, deliver us.
By thy buffetings and stripes, Good Lord, deliver us.
By thy Crown of Thorns, Good Lord, deliver us.
By thy Cross and Passion, Good Lord, deliver us.
By the anguish of thy Sacred Heart upon the Cross, Good Lord, deliver us.
By thy most precious Death, Good Lord, deliver us.

We sinners do beseech thee to hear us, that we may die unto sin and live unto righteousness,
We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord.
That we may take up our cross daily and follow thee,
We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord.
That we may perfectly know thee, the Crucified,
We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord.
That we may never crucify thee afresh,
We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord.
That being made partakers of thy sufferings, we may share also in thy consolations,
We beseech thee to hear us, Good Lord.

Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, Hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy upon us.

Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, our merciful High Priest, who on the Cross didst offer to the Father a pure offering, to reconcile sinners unto God by the infinite merits of thy Life, thy Passion and thy Death; give us grace, we beseech thee, to die to the world, and live to thee alone, and finally depart in peace, through thy merits; who livest and reignest ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Vote

Every election is important. And during every election cycle we hear something like, "This is the most important election in our history..." Certainly the upcoming presidential election is crucial to the upholding of the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. Judges will be appointed. Legislation will be written. Decisions will be made. Vote.

9/11

At the students’ Mass we prayed for all those who died in the 9/11 attack on our country, and for those who mourn them. We prayed for our nation…

Almighty God, who hast created us in thine own image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice among the nations, to the glory of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

And as Christ bids us, we prayed for our enemies…

O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in thine image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ and grant that, by the prayers and labors of thy holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship thee as thou hast been revealed in thy Son; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Change

Every time I hear a politician saying, "We need change!" it reminds me of this classic:



More change...

September 8th - a special birthday...

"The day of the Nativity of the Mother of God is a day of universal joy, because through the Mother of God, the entire human race was renewed, and the sorrow of the first mother, Eve, was transformed into joy." - St. John Damascene
The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been celebrated as a liturgical feast at least from the sixth century. Its origin can be traced to the occasion of the consecration of a church in Jerusalem just inside St. Stephen’s Gate, near the Pool of Bethesda, on the traditional site of the house of Ss. Joachim and Anne. Within a few years the liturgy was celebrated in Rome, having been introduced by monks from the East, and the celebration included a procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

Although the actual date of Mary’s birth isn’t known, the Church settled on September 8th, and the celebration Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception was fixed on December 8th, as the date corresponding to nine months before the celebration of her Nativity.

These two feasts can be seen as a kind of bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. With the conception and birth of the Blessed Virgin, God completed the new Ark – the living Temple – in which He would dwell. Through Mary, Jesus the Incarnate God has come to us.

At the parish we have a special tradition attached to this day. The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin is the day on which all administrators and teachers at the Academy take the Oath of Fidelity. We began this tradition shortly after the founding of our school. After the reading of the Gospel at Mass, the oath is taken to uphold Catholic teaching and the promise is made to live in accordance with the teaching of the Church. The oath is taken in the presence of all the students, and it leaves a great impression on everyone. It’s a reminder of the solemn and serious obligation which belongs to every Catholic educator.


"I promise that I shall always preserve communion with the Catholic Church whether in the words I speak or in the way I act.

"With great care and fidelity I shall carry out the responsibilities by which I am bound in relation both to the universal church and to the particular church in which I am called to exercise my service according to the requirements of the law.

"In carrying out my charge, which is committed to me in the name of the church, I shall preserve the deposit of faith in its entirety, hand it on faithfully and make it shine forth. As a result, whatsoever teachings are contrary I shall shun.

"I shall follow and foster the common discipline of the whole church and shall look after the observance of all ecclesiastical laws, especially those which are contained in the Code of Canon Law.

"With Christian obedience I shall associate myself with what is expressed by the holy shepherds as authentic doctors and teachers of the faith or established by them as the church's rulers. And I shall faithfully assist diocesan bishops so that apostolic activity, to be exercised by the mandate and in the name of the church, is carried out in the communion of the same church.

"May God help me in this way and the holy Gospels of God which I touch with my hand."

Blessed Theresa of Calcutta

We'll be offering two Masses today, both of them commemorating this noble and remarkable woman who gave her heart and her life to our Lord Jesus Christ, and who served Him through His poorest and weakest children.

Blessed Theresa of Calcutta, pray for us.

It must have been a successful speech...

...this morning everyone is sharing what they thought was the "best line." And there were a lot of them!

A great American story

No matter what your politics, this is one heck of a story...



And in the interest of equal time, and for purposes of comparison...