Ad Orientem

Mass at the cathedral in Tulsa, Oklahoma will now be said ad orientem. His Excellency Edward Slattery explains why a priest facing East is superior to one facing the pews:

Unfortunately this change had a number of unforeseen and largely negative effects. First of all, it was a serious rupture with the Church’s ancient tradition. Secondly, it can give the appearance that the priest and the people were engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God. Thirdly, it places an inordinate importance on the personality of the celebrant by placing him on a kind of liturgical stage.

Don't impose your morality onto me

Doublespeak.

"The danger I think is when the United States or any country thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture," the president told the broadcaster.

But he stressed: "Democracy, rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of religion -- those are not simply principles of the West to be hoisted on these countries, but rather what I believe to be universal principles that they can embrace and affirm as part of their national identity."

If I didn't know any better I would think he's saying that the United States cannot simply impose its values on another country unless President Obama believes those values (democracy, rule of law, freedom of religion, etc.) should be imposed on another country.

Talk about a major typo. Breitbart got the headline completely wrong: "Obama says US cannot impose its values."

...or did they? I dunno. I'll have to re-read it again.

Hope and Change

Define: Tax Cut

Hmm.

Democrats turned back an attempt to strip out a provision that Obama has said was essential. It would provide a tax cut of up to $1,000 for working couples, including those who do not make enough to pay income taxes.

Interesting way of putting it. I wonder if General Electric Company has ever considered offering a quarterly dividend payment for its stock holders, including those who, like myself, do not own any GE stock?

Blago

Universal Health Care

What we have to look forward to:

An angry doctor allegedly threw a baby and twisted its arm and an elderly patient was left to die in a hallway at Bundaberg Hospital in Queensland, Australia, staff claim.

Three hospital staff have sought whistleblower protection after detailing allegations of gross medical neglect and incompetence, overcrowding, bullying, intimidation and cover-ups to the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

A nurse who spoke to The Courier-Mail said she was repeatedly made to falsify records to hide lengthy waiting times in the emergency department.

She said triage cases were improperly and dangerously downgraded because of understaffing. She said a troubled teenager who waited five hours without seeing a doctor ran away and slashed her wrists.

And a doctor said he was too busy to see a boy who had been stabbed in the leg in a suspected child abuse case. The cases are among 100 serious and minor procedural errors on the hospital's prime reporting database.

Dismissed as a troublemaker and frustrated at the lack of response, the nurse and two others took complaints to Burnett Parliament member Rob Messenger, who first raised allegations against the hospital in Parliament in 2005.

Messenger called for an inquiry, saying it was clear patients and employees of Bundaberg Hospital were "in continuing danger of physical and psychological danger."

I don't know about you, but I just can't wait for Obama's changes.

Mystified

Cardinal Mahony is making headlines again. Whenever he does, you can be sure it is another sad day for faithful Catholics worldwide.

The head of the largest archdiocese in the U.S. for the last 18 years, Mahony is being investigated by the feds for his handling of child abuse cases. Understandably, the Cardinal is "mystified and puzzled by the whole thing."

In July 2007 Cardinal Mahony managed to drain the coffers of $660,000,000 in settlement monies to avoid further testimony and proceedings in court. (Something perhaps worth remembering the next time collection plates are passed around and LA Catholics are asked to "give until it hurts" in the annual diocesan appeal.)

Anyhow, it appears Mahony will have a tougher time bribing a grand jury.

In light of the scandal this investigation will be for Catholics and non-Catholics everywhere, has there been any mention to the Holy Father of the Canon 401.2 provision?

I'm just asking...

Stimulus

The NY Post has a piece about President Obama and the proposed stimulus package. One Republican is trying to get his arms around it:

"You know, I'm concerned about the size of the package. And I'm concerned about some of the spending that's in there, [about] ... how you can spend hundreds of millions on contraceptives," House GOP Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) later said.

"How does that stimulate the economy?"

Good question.

Someone tell me this is a joke.

H/T: Neil Mueller

Brick by brick

The Holy Father continues to make exceptional appointments in the Curia. On December 9th Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera (in Spain, sometimes called the "Little Ratzinger") took the helm as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

In an interview this last Sunday granted to Spanish daily La Razón, Cardinal Llovera had this to say:

[La Razón:] Nevertheless, Benedict XVI has reiterated in some instances the propriety of receiving communion kneeling and in the mouth. Is it something important, or is it a mere matter of form?



[Cañizares:] - No, it is not just a matter of form. What does it mean to receive communion in the mouth? What does it mean to kneel before the Most Holy Sacrament? What dies it mean to kneel during the consecration at Mass? It means adoration, it means recognizing the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist; it means respect and an attitude of faith of a man who prostrates before God because he knows that everything comes from Him, and we feel speechless, dumbfounded, before the wondrousness, his goodness, and his mercy. That is why it is not the same to place the hand, and to receive communion in any fashion, than doing it in a respectful way; it is not the same to receive communion kneeling or standing up, because all these signs indicate a profound meaning. What we have to grasp is that profound attitude of the man who prostrates himself before God, and that is what the Pope wants.

Awesome.

Something else Obama and the Christ Child have in common

The One also has his own holiday.

MARION, Ala. — A small central Alabama county whose mainly black residents gave Barack Obama more than 70 percent of the vote on Election Day has created an annual holiday in honor of the president-elect.

The Perry County Commission voted 4 to 1 to observe the second Monday in November as "The Barack Obama Day." County offices will close and its roughly 40 workers will get a paid holiday.

The sponsoring commissioner, Albert Turner Jr., said the holiday is meant to highlight the Democratic president-elect's victory as a way to give people faith that difficult goals can be achieved.

The AP also interviewed the racist commissioner who voted against the measure.

"I'm a Democrat, but just in these financial times, it's not using the county's money wisely," Harrison told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday.

I have a dream

I have a dream that one day we will live in a nation where presidents are elected not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Entertaining...and true

H/T to Andrew St.Hilaire

Obama video gems

Michelle Obama in 2004


Opposing government confiscation of income is "selfish"

49 million reasons to vote against Obama

Abortion.
(Warning: Very graphic video. Not for the faint of heart.)

Obama family tree

I figured that, as a good American, I ought to familiarize myself with our soon-to-be First Family: the Obamas.

"Aunt Zeituni and Uncle Omar are the children of Mr Obama’s grandfather Hussein Onyango Obama, by his third wife – the woman Mr Obama calls “Granny” because she raised his father. Mr Obama’s father, Barack Sr, was Onyango Obama’s son by his second wife, Akumu. That makes Zeituni and Omar a half-sister and half-brother of Mr Obama’s father, or Mr Obama’s half-aunt and half-uncle."

Come again?

making some-things new

This time last year our church had a capital campaign to raise funds for a renovation project. Unlike many Catholic parish undertakings these days, ours is not a wreckovation but a real restoration of beauty. The estimated cost was somewhere near $2 million and included much needed repairs (new heating system, roof work, etc.) as well as much appreciated aesthetics.

Rather than going straight into debt, our pastor had the good sense to raise the cash before hand. All costs were raised or pledged by parishoners at Star of the Sea before the first paint brush came out.

Here are some before and during/after pictures.

Before (sorry about how dark it is!):



During/After:



Some things to note:

* marble columns (they aren't solid marble, but who would know any different?)
* Holy Spirit artwork
* the parking lot look to the back wall of the sanctuary is gone
* the sanctuary/altar has been raised (can't really tell looking at the first picture)
* the side altars will have their statues mounted against a white background
* the arches in the church look more natural (wood vs. the black covering you can't make out in the first photo)
* tile covering the sanctuary instead of carpet (again, not visible in these pictures)

There are other improvements, but these are some of my favorite.

Stand up, Chuck, lemme see you!

We couldn't have asked Obama for a better VP pick. (Chuck is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair.) Can you imagine what the media coverage would have been like if this had been George Bush?

fundamental beliefs

"That's the promise of America -- the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper" -Barack Obama, acceptance speech, 8/28/08

Which reminds me. How is Georgie doing these days, Barry?

Live and Learn

I was walking past the mental hospital the other day,and all the patients were shouting ,'13....13....13'

The fence was too high to see over, but I saw a little gap in the planks and looked through to see what was going on.

Some idiot poked me in the eye with a stick.

Then -- they all started shouting '14....14....14'...