More than my Waist Line has Inflated Since 1979

Here are some things I pay for today that weren't on my tab when I first moved out of the parental home all those years ago:

• Internet 
• Cable
• Telephone  $160, a bundle of internet, cable and home phone
• Cell phone  $65
• iPod $200 +/-

Here's what those things cost me in 1979:

• Internet  $0
• Cable - less than $10, I can't remember exactly; maybe I didn't have cable
• Telephone $9.95 + long distance calls (rarely, and very short)
• Cell phone $0.  Pay phones cost $.10 a call, maybe I spent a buck a year.
• Stamps for letters and cards and bill payments I mailed - probably $30 a year tops
• A Sony Walkman, first edition $350
• Batteries for said Walkman - incalculable.  It chewed through two C cells for every 8-10 tapes, more if I used Fast Forward and Rewind

Of course I spent more on books and magazines, tapes and LPs, cigarettes and booze, and trouble in general in those days (mind you, I had to go out to find it.)   

Now trouble comes right into my home.  Aaah, the price of convenience.

Resting in the House of God

26th Sunday in Ordinary time, Year B
This week's Gospel is from Mark 9:30-37 in which the disciples learn a lesson in envy, humility and  faith.

In one telling scene outside of these important life lessons, Jesus asks his disciples as they walked through Galilee, "what were you arguing about?"  (The disciples were arguing about which of them was the greatest.)  They respond as many of us do when faced with a realization we have strayed from the teachings of Christ...dead silence.  Jesus doesn't judge, but he doesn't pull any punches when he confronts our sinfulness.

No wonder the disciples feared to answer.  When conscience catches up with us we want to go silent.  Perhaps we dread the Sacrament of Reconciliation with God for our sins.  Perhaps we dread confessing the same sin, again and again.

What is essential to the growth of our relationship with Christ is to look up from our feet and speak our truth.  We messed up, we strayed from the path, we forgot the teaching, we actually believed we were out of God's earshot or sight.

Jesus invites us to confront our sinfulness, regularly.  And like the disciples in this Gospel reading, we have the opportunity at Mass to take a break from the journey of life and rest for a while in the house of God; to learn at the feet of Jesus the rabbi.

We should take it.  See you next Sunday.

Why Catholics shouldn’t put their faith in Paul Ryan - The Globe and Mail

His butchering of papal teaching on the doctrine of subsidiarity, his love affair with the rugged individualism of Ayn Rand (the very antithesis of Catholic communitarianism) although now forsworn, and his quirky recasting of the liberationist notion of the preferential option for the poor, amply demonstrate that his ready command of the minutiae of budget formulas and economic forecasting do not translate into a penetrating or even accurate appropriation of the more philosophical side of things.

Read more of Michael Higgins commentary here:

Why Catholics shouldn’t put their faith in Paul Ryan - The Globe and Mail:

'via Blog this'

I'm Done on This Side

This week we celebrated the feast of St. Lawrence, who was famously reported to have said, while he was being tortured to death over a slow roasting pit of coals, "Turn me over, I'm done on one side already!"

Whether this be lore or legend, one can almost hear this most famous of deacons thumbing his nose at authority with these or similar words, as he did when asked to turn over all the riches of the church to the Emperor Valerian in 258 AD.  Deacon Lawrence gathered the poor and presented them to the Emperor.  "Here are the riches of the church."  The man who was to become a saint had a special place in his heart for the poor, and little use for unreasonable civil authority.

We, today, face the same command from society.  "Turn over the riches of your church!  Renounce your faith.  The Catholic church needs to get with the times!"  Litigating the church into receivership will not end the faith any more than it will end poverty, as history has proven.

Catholics are being slowly roasted on the gridiron of popular opinion because of our stand on the slaughter of the unborn to the culling of the human herd and the human condition between.  Get with the times?  No, it is the times that need to get with the Church.

When we are accused of being Catholic and our crimes against modern mores listed, we can start with a prayer to God in thanks for the opportunity to suffer for Him.

And as we weary of the incessant nattering, I for one, will be quoting St. Lawrence.

"Turn me over.  I'm done on this side."

Just One Side of Your Mouth at a Time, Please

If it's OK with everyone, let's just talk out of one side of our mouths for a moment.

Gay-Straight Alliances in Ontario schools
Far from being the champions, the homosexual agenda should be actively objecting to differentiation based on sexual orientation.  Separate boys and girls entrances to grade schools are quaint reminders of a time long past.  Now we divide and define by hetero or homosexual attraction?  The good work of the homosexual lobby of the last thirty odd years in ending discrimination will have been for naught when this happens.

The Most Loving Place for one who Suffers from Same Sex Attraction is the Catholic Church
...and anyone who suggests otherwise isn't paying attention, and yes, I said suffers.  It is not an easy life.  We hold to God's truth that we should love one another, and that homosexual orientation, in and of itself, is not a sin.  Neither is temptation a sin; however acting on it is another story.  We believe that God is the final judge, and we love each other in spite of our failings and differences, and because God commands us to.  Let me clarify - we are to love one another.  We frequently fail.  We should never stop trying.

Critics Claim Catholic Bishops are "Out of Step" with Society
Of course they are, thank God.  Pray that all Catholics are.  We must carefully consider each step, not blindly march to the current whim and changing fancy of modern society.  We are called to be in the world, not of the world.  Truth is, as the Bishops prayerfully consider our world and God's will, I suggest they are actually closer to feeling the true pulse of the people than are politicians. 

The End of Catholic Schools in Ontario?  Not Yet
It is suggested that Separate Schools should no longer be funded by the taxpayer because Catholics refuse to act against our tradtion and beliefs.  In fact the exact opposite is true.  A Catholic school system that goes against it's own beliefs and bends to public will is one that should have it's funding removed, it's union disbanded, it's administration dismissed and the crosses removed from the classroom.  When there is no longer any discernible difference between a Catholic school and a public school we're just going through the motions, aren't we?

A Public Accountability to be Catholic
An educated electorate of all faiths and beliefs should scream bloody murder, clamour, protest and object to funding a Catholic school system that isn't different, to bankrolling one that doesn't put the Catholic faith first, to footing the bill for a Catholic systtem that doesn't obey the local ordinary (the Bishop) or one that doesn't offer a religious objection to the practices of the secular world. 

Pray for the day, but don't hold your breath.

Rise of Secularism Risks Making World Inhospitable, Warns Pope

"Unfortunately, it is God Himself who is excluded from the horizon of so many persons, and when the discourse on God does not meet with indifference, closure or rejection, it is nevertheless relegated to the subjective realm, reduced to an intimate and private event, marginalized from the public conscience." Pope Benedict XVI

Read more here:  EWTN.com - Rise of Secularism Risks Making World Inhospitable, Warns Pope

Actually, This is NOT the Beginning of the End

A column appeared in my local rag recently in which the columnist, no fan of Catholics, has begun a cogent discussion about the merging of administrative functions in the different Boards of Education in Ontario. Read more here

Actually, this is NOT the beginning of the end of a separate, publicly funded Catholic school system in Ontario.  The downward spiral started before this.

Some blame Archdiocese of Toronto Cardinal Carter and Premier Bill Davis, who struck a deal for full funding of the separate school system.  The argument goes that he who pays the piper calls the tune - when the funding came from general taxation we began to lose our independence.

I think it might be more subtle.  I wonder how strong can a religious school system possibly be when it's own students, parents and educators can't find their parish church without a map and a compass?  If a teacher in a Catholic school system does not regularly attend Mass, how can they teach math?

Teachers don't teach children reading, writing and arithmetic.  They form young minds and teach reading, writing and arithmetic.  Catholics can expect they will teach Gospel values, but when the teacher hasn't attended Mass regularly they can't possibly be in communion with the church, and by that I mean with Catholics; students, parents, trustees and other teachers.

Some would argue that it's no one's business who attends church and who doesn't.  That would suggest that it doesn't affect anyone else.  It does, and as a parent I would argue that my child be taught by a devout Catholic, or why even bother attending a separate school?

Make no mistake, there is nothing to fear from others outside our own Catholic system.  We're doing a good job of making it irrelevant every Sunday that students, parents, educators, administrators, support staff and trustees skip Mass.