They had a thread on DCF about wanting to see where folks lived. I thought it was a good idea so I participated and I thus give you a quick tour of Baton Rouge.

Mark Twain called this the ugliest building on the Mississippi. It is the Old State Capitol.


The tallest state capitol in the US (still I think) ... Huey Long met his end here.


The Stockade Inn off Highland road


Bluebonnet Swamp


But this is what we mostly see ... (my son standing in what we set our clocks by around here ... afternoon thunderstorms)


So there ... a quick tour around my hometown.

I am currently reading Salvation is from the Jews. I am juuuust about to start the chapter on the Holocaust. What I have read so far is incredible. I expect the rest to be the same ... please ... read this book.

"Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma" by Dr. Ludwig Ott is something that I picked up for reference. It actually seems halfway decent for reading as well. It is also jam packed with information of where to go to see the history of particular doctrines. This will be most helpful for the ECF web site and just for my general knowledge about certain distinctively Catholic doctines.

I read things REALLY SLOW, mostly because I have three kids and there is little time to read ... I usually need to sleep when they do.

Zombo com is odd, but for some reason I cannot stop laughing at it. I found it at Southern Appeal.

Today, for the first time, we put all three of our kids in the nursery for mass. For the first time since Easter Vigil last year that we were able to focus and really participate. Mass nearly moved both my wife and I to tears. I cannot express to you how blessed we are to be Catholic.

Also, today I noticed that for the second week in a row we sang some part of the mass in Latin. We did the Sanctus and tha Agnus Dei. We also sang a song early in mass in Latin. This is all supposedly at the request of the bishop, although I am not certain if it is for Lent only or permanently. We can hope correct?

I actually have good reason to hope

The new priest likes to chant portions of the mass ...
The introduction of Latin into the music has been VERY welcome ...
Focus has been placed diocese wide on implementing Redemptionis Sacramentum
Apologetics groups are sprouting up like clover patches in March ...

Now, back to being blessed to be Catholic. My wife mentioned today that she has been so impressed with how intimately personal mass is. It is completely difficult to explain this to someone who hasn't experienced it. YOU receive Jesus but everything up until that point is like a present unwrapping every week. I hope one day to find the words so that I can bring more folks to the tremendous richness that we have been experiencing as Catholics ...

I'LL LEAVE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IF

Interesting read from Catholic Answers ... it is basically a challenge to non-Catholics. If you can convincingly refute one of the 4 following, I will leave the Catholic Church. I have edited the article to get the gist of the 4 points out. Read the article for further clarification.

1. The Catholic Church, in nearly 2,000 years of existence, has never reversed or contradicted a single doctrine, once that doctrine has become part of the infallible teaching of the Church.
2. A Christian cannot have an absolute assurance of which books belong in the Bible without accepting the authority of the Church.
3. The Bible does not teach that Scripture alone is the sole rule of faith for Christians (sola Scriptura).
4. The beliefs, government, and worship of early Christianity were clearly Catholic and not Protestant.

There is some overlap with my 10 reasons for being Catholic. I have bolded those in common.

More Episcopalians crossing the Tiber

As a former low church Episcopalian myself, I cannot seem to figure out why it isn't happening faster.

More on this later ... if I stay up.

Quick notes ...

Cardinal Arinze and his comments on the world over are STILL causing a buzz in circles of Catholics intent on fidelity to the Magesterium.

A RealAudio stream is available.

A LifeSite article is also available.

Some choice quotes

Cardinal Arinze responded, “The answer is clear. If a person says I am in favour of killing unborn babies whether they be four thousand or five thousand, I have been in favour of killing them. I will be in favour of killing them tomorrow and next week and next year. So, unborn babies, too bad for you. I am in favour that you should be killed, then the person turn around and say I want to receive Holy Communion. Do you need any Cardinal from the Vatican to answer that?

Laughing, Arroyo responded, “It should be pretty transparent.” To which the Cardinal concluded, “Simple, ask the children for First Communion, they'll give you the answer.”

and

The Vatican Cardinal responded, “No, no. You see, let's get it clear. These rainbow sash people, are they really saying we are homosexuals, we intend to remain so and we want to receive Holy Communion. The question arises; take the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It says it is not condemning a person for having homosexual tendency. We don't condemn anybody for that. But a person stands condemned for acting on it.”

The rest of the interview is worth listening to, and I have provided you no excuse ... so listen.

Personal notes

Please pray that our house be sold and at or near market.

I am using Feedreader now which allows me to keep up with far more blogs than I used to. This has helped out tremendously and will likely replace My Yahoo as my preferred method of blog reading. Eventually I will add my favorites to a blog roll.

Or statements that Protestants might be shocked to hear come out of a converts mouth ...

1. By the grace of God, I believe Christianity to be true.
2. The WHOLE of Catholicism CAN be reconciled with the scriptures and Catholicism is internally consistent.
3. Catholicism claims the Eucharist to be the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, which is the easiest Catholic belief to identify in scripture and the most overwhelming as far as evidence goes for historical continuity.
4. Catholicism appears more like the Judaism of the Bible than any other Christian faith; the same Jewish faith which Christ came to fulfil, not replace.
5. Catholicisms moral teachings exceed those of any other Christian faith both in logical purity and difficulty to adhere to apart from the grace of God.
6. Fundamental Catholic doctrines have not changed in 2000 years.
7. Catholicism suffers from no difficulty in linking itself back to the apostles. The documented evidence for this claim is overwhelming.
8. The bulk of distinctive Catholic doctrines are documented as present in the first few centuries thus the early Church resembles Catholicism far more than any other alternative, requiring one of two conclusions
a. If you are not Catholic, the gates of hell prevailed in a manner of decades, which is contrary to scripture
b. or Catholicism/Orthodoxy is the true faith
9. The Catholic Church almost uniquely handles disputes in the manner depicted in Acts 15 whose results are binding on the faithful.
10. Catholicism contains the highest form of worship available to the Christian in the Sacrifice of the Mass.

To expound a little more on 10, I read another convert say at one time that ALL that is positive and present within Protestantism is available in Catholicism. Bible studies, great preaching, good fellowship, deep Christian reflection, extemporanoeous prayer - just to name a few. The full extent to which Christian worship and love can be extended can only be found in the Catholic Church and nothing I have picked up in a Protestant bookstore can hold even a tiny candle to the historical writings of the great doctors and saints of the Church.

So that is why I am Catholic ...

We have been pressed upon a big deadline at work which has had me working long hours. I really do intend to finish my conversion story on these pages (although I think I am not going to necessarily write them in the order I started in) ...

Couple wed 83 years die four days apart

Comments later ...

This is an attempt to give folks a look into my tastes by description.

time (rating) song by artist - note

9:41 am (100) Dance the Dance by Jazzanova - IMHO quite possibly the most intelligent electronic song ever produced. There is enough to keep the ear interested and the brain working for a lifetime of listens ... supurb. For those into synth programming, you will get a kick out of the sound pallette. Especially you old school knob twiddlers. Heavy jazz influence.
9:51 am (90) Hymn To The Sun by Anjali - A downtempo groovy song with a whispy lyricist (similar to The Cardigans) ... there are some samples from some 70's funk piano chords mixed in with a most excellent barrage of rhythm samples. Add some ethereal resonant chirps and a constant harpsichord and there you have it.
10:05 am (90) Fog Plants by DJ Cam ... OK DJ Cam got me over my bias against folks with DJ in their name. If I were not a big fan of Severed Heads this song would likely annoy me to no end. It is a very rare talent that can make stuff that is disparate and often out of key sound good together. It is really less a song than a landscape of sounds with rhythm. Lots of bleeps, blips and samples from uhhh more modern classical tunes ...
10:24 am (100) Well You Needn't by Thelonious Monk - This is a classic. Monk is a pioneering jazz pianist. This is one of his most recognizable works ... be do be do .. be doop ... be dooop
10:28am (90) 6 Space by Ils - OK, this dance song has one desciption. Analog, fast and hard. It even has the "obligatory sci fi sample" (credit Strong Bad) "Welcome to the next level ... the next level" .. That said it is interesting enough to not fall into the has been bin of the millions of other really bad so called "dance" tunes. On the other side of the electronic afficionados tastes lie seas of songs that should have never left the sequencer and been pressed to vinyl, CD ... or any other medium for that matter.
10:42am (90) Rippin Kittin by Golden Boy - I like Golden Boy. I like this song. I shouldn't but I do. This song has a rather disturbing mofif. "Mommy can I go out and kill tonight ... I feel ... feel like taking a life" ... This song to me represents all the life I simply couldn't understand about this scene. I never could get into the scene, so to speak, because of its polarizing stance against who God created me to be. In that way this song is quite tragic to me. A glimpse into the reality of promiscuity, alcohol and drug abuse that permeates the electronic music scene makes me long for a Catholic alternative (Data are you listening?) ... The life is nothing but drama and pain. Blips and bleeps are not incompatible with holiness.

This final song brings to mind a really good topic that I will discuss at length in the near future ... The seeming dichotomy between the holy life and appreciation of secular music. There are nuggets of truth in everything. In this case wew have the sheer gifts of God given to all those created in His image. The ability to appreciate them without compromising yourself to the secular and oftentimes synical views contained within is one of the greatest spiritual battles I fight.

I am considering creating a blog that pretends to be various ECFs during key times in their lives. I would include actual quotes and various circumstances related to portions of their lives ... I might even modify it to allow commentary on current day topics using ECF quotes (similar to the one below).

Anyway ... tell me if you have any thoughts on the matter ...

The following
(And you can quote me)
apparently upset some EO apologists. Here is a summary
Quote:

So I got to thinking and decided to compile this long list of almost exclusively Eastern patristic quotes about the Roman See. I've arranged them as chronologically as I could and have emphasized key words. Let me also admit that reading such profoundly Romish stuff by such profoundly Eastern Fathers makes my bowels quiver. I nearly wept for my lingering this side of the Tiber when I first read (a year ago) the great Maximus's acclamation of Rome's supremacy. Seeing it all again, and now with so many more buddies to back him up, makes my head spin.

And now his response to their criticism ...
(ecumenical warm fuzzies)
Quote:

And now, a final request: I’ve heard both of you say the Fathers I shamelessly ripped out of context and manipulated for my own dark papal schemes quoted do not support Catholic ecclesiology (nor even imply it!?), and that they are all of them perfectly compatible with EO ecclesiology. I’ve followed up on the works you guys have suggested, and am “in country” now trying to make my way through it all. But in the meantime, I’d like you – in all humble, unsneering honesty – to explain in as few words as necessary how or why any EO layman, priest or bishop would ever say what the Fathers said in my post. How, in as few words as necessary, do you reconcile all the Eastern papalism of the pre-schism Church with EO ecclesiology? Further, why does the East still have to make space for the apostate Roman see, when any other apostate see would go the way of, well, apostate sees – into the margins? On the one hand, why can’t (or doesn’t) the East just ignore the Pope and, on the other hand, how could it ever embrace him?

Notice I am NOT implying you CAN’T answer of these questions; I am simply admitting in a roundabout way (and now in a direct way) that I’m just too dumb to see how it can be done. I genuinely want to hear your explanation. (And please don’t pay too much mind to the Calvinist up above; since he’s withdrawn from the apologetics biz, I’m his hobby hunting great white whale.)

If any of you do not read Elliot Bougis, you should. He posted on Mark Shea's blog during a period when he took a break and at the time he was waffling between EO and Catholcism. It appears now he is going to take the plunge and cross the Tiber so to speak. Witnessing this guy convert (or nearly so) has been a real treat.

I am curious what you others of you hear as "high virtues" from any non-religious folks you might know ...

A few examples ...

1. Hypocrisy is the worst attribute any person can have - in application this one means that having high moral standards makes one a hypocrite so the obvious solution is to avoid having standards one cannot keep to.

"It is impossible to make it to your wedding day without having sex. After all, you didn't so that makes your theory about what is and isn't moral suspect."

2. Individual freedoms trump the good of others and the individual freedoms of others - highlighted by key phrases such as "freedom of choice", "my rights" and whatnot.

"It is 'my right' to not have to listen to what you have to say about your religion."

3. Tolerance - The necessary partner of excessive individual freedom. Keep in mind though, we are not talking religious tolerance. Religion interferes with 1 and 2 and is to be rejected at all costs.

"Your religion is too black and white. You need to be tolerant of the lifestyles of others."

Who do you think of first when you read it? ... I replaced a few words and cut a few things out to try and mask the time period a little

Quote:

(They) work to pull down and to destroy, not to edify and elevate. (they) do not adhere even to their own traditions, but harbour dissent even from their own founders.

But what shall I say concerning the ministry of the word, since they make it their business not to convert the heathen, but to subvert our people? This is rather the glory which they catch at, to compass the fall of those who stand, not the raising of those who are down. Accordingly, since the very work which they purpose to themselves comes not from the building up of their own society, but from the demolition of the truth, they undermine our edifices, that they may erect their own. ... The consequence is, that they more easily accomplish the ruin of standing houses than the erection of fallen ruins. It is only when they have such objects in view that they show themselves humble and bland and respectful. Otherwise they know no respect even for their own leaders. Hence it is [supposed] that schisms seldom happen among (them), because, even when they exist, they are not obvious. Their very unity, however, is schism. I am greatly in error if they do not amongst themselves swerve even from their own regulations, forasmuch as every man, just as it suits his own temper, modifies the traditions he has received after the same fashion as the man who handed them down did, when he moulded them according to his own will. The progress of the matter is an acknowledgment at once of its character and of the manner of its birth. ... In short, all heresies, when throughly looked into, are detected harbouring dissent in many particulars even from their own founders. The majority of them have not even churches. Motherless, houseless, creedless, outcasts, they wander about in their own essential worthlessness.

A quick update ... I had a long update but the cache cleared it out and I lost it ... darned technology ...
Anyway, here are the quick hits

My wife and I have had a five year plan to get out of Louisiana and into a place that is more conducive to raising a large family with the support necessary to properly educate and form our children in the Catholic faith.

1. We are going to sell our current home, which we love. It is just too small.
2. We have signed a contract to have a home built in a neighborhood close to here. We will have almost twice as much room as our current home.
3. My near future with my current job is looking brighter. When I took the job it was for the pay increase and the flexibility to work at home on occasion. I had concerns about the stability of the position but it is looking more and more like those concerns will fall by the wayside.

1 & 2 above were totally a God thing. We had a six month plan to look for a place to live. This dropped in on us a little early. So much for comfort zone. I am going to miss our first home ...

Tonight my wife and I had a big kink thrown into our five year moving plan ....

We found a good school run by lay Catholics that appears to be faithful to the Magisterium of the Church. This gives us access to a significant number of families whose loyalties lie with Rome. It is about 1/4 mile from the entrance to our new neighborhood. We are in prayer on the matter, but this could be the answer to a significant amount of our prayers.

Finally, http://www.earlychurchfathers.com is coming along nicely. Bookmark it and make sure to thank the others who have been helping me. They know who they are ... poke around the site.

in no particular order

808 State - Ex:El
L.F.O. - Frequencies
Pet Shop Boys - Actually
Clan Of Xymox - Medusa
Future Sound Of London - Lifeforms
Bjork - Post
Everything But The Girl - Temperamental
Severed Heads - Come Visit The Big Bigot
Jazzanova - In Between **
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor

** most recent addition to the list ...

Later I will make a post listing some albums that do not make this list but that need to be mentioned for the significant influence they had on my songwriting.

[NOTE: It needs to be known that these posts are short starters for longer overviews that I eventually intend to complete in a more thorough manner. There are few actual references to information (ie lengthy scripture quotations etc) because my time to blog is limited. Anyway, I have decided to be more candid with these and clean them up when I organize them in the future. The initial goal is just to get down the basic story.]

Shortly before and just after my wife and I were married the topic of birth control came up regularly. We had decided prior to marriage to use the pill just like all of our friends and relatives. The wedding day and the honeymoon came and went. We were together. Life was beautiful. Despite those facts, my wife was extremely depressed. This was a shock to both of us because we had just been through the most beautiful wedding that God could have blessed a couple with and the start of our marriage was wonderful. Once again, we were together. Life was beautiful. Why the sorrow?

Shortly afterwards my wife noticed that the times in her when she was depressed and significant hormone changes tended to coincide. This caused her to suspect the birth control pill of affecting her in a negative way. Prior to our wedding my wife received an unsolicited email from a friend with several bits of information about known side effects of the pill. We had neglected to read the email thoroughly when we received it but these recent developments begged us to pull it up and really delve into what the email contained. What it claimed left us horrified. The email noted that side effects of the pill included depression, stroke and even in rare cases death. Not only that, the email alluded to the fact that it was an abortaficient, which meant that it would expel an egg AFTER fertilization. My wife and I are staunchly against abortion and we firmly believe that life begins at conception so the idea that we could be terminating a pregnancy after conception weighed very heavily on us. During the time following the reception of that email my wife and I looked into the matter further. We specifically looked into what doctors had to say and what various Christian leaders had to say about the use of the pill and other birth control methods. In our reading, we happened upon a stunning fact. Prior to 1930 EVERY Protestant denomination was unified in teaching with the Catholic Church that contraception in any form was immoral. It was the Lambeth Conference in 1930 that was the first declaration by a major Protestant denomination (Anglican) to allow for the use of contraceptives and then only in difficult circumstances. The questions raised by this were obvious: Why did the whole of Protestantism modify their teaching on this matter and even more curiously, why DIDN'T the Catholic Church modify its teaching on the matter? These side questions distracted us from a settling answer on the matter of other birth control. We had to press on.

We decided to consult other friends to ask how they arrived at their conclusions. The more that I asked the question the more I realized that it just wasn’t asked any more. When presented with the information we had found some even responded, "God is bigger than the pill. If He wants to bless you with a child then He will” and the issue was promptly dropped. We found this to be akin to testing God. Why would this be any different than expecting God to stop us from stealing chocolate from the candy store by performing some extraordinary miracle? Why were we trusting God to undo our decision to not have children? That rationale simply did not sit well with us. Some concluded that it is wrong to bring many children into the world if you cannot provide a prosperous life for them and that any method was just as good as the other. To me this was motivated by material wealth and implied that those who cannot afford to exist shouldn’t. This also didn’t sit well with us because scripture stated in Psalm 127 that children are a blessing from God. Still, the avoidance of the issue was what stood out. Thinking back, without the depression that came about in the life of my wife I am not sure we ever would have asked any questions about birth control itself. I firmly believe that it is by the grace of God that this issue was raised in our lives.

Meanwhile my wife and I struggled with birth control questions for a brief period before finally determining that NFP was a good method if properly utilized. It must be noted that during this time our thought process had not come in line with what the Church teaches about NFP. We were purposefully avoiding pregnancy by using NFP. We had not entirely embraced the idea of openness to life and we had not discerned the difference between NFP and other forms of contraception. The difference is quite clear. On one hand we have the conscious decision to have sex given available information and on the other we have the deliberate interruption of fertility during sex. My favorite response about this not so subtle difference from a rather brash apologist I read online was “What? You don’t know the difference between having sex and not having sex?” Still, within 5 months of our marriage, my wife was pregnant with our first child.

Our future research on this matter will lead us closer to the teaching of the Church, not because we sought what the Church had to say about it but because we became increasingly aware of good reasons not to practice birth control. A prime example is my own existence. I am the fifth of six children. If my parents had chosen to stop at two or three like the majority of couples today, I would not exist. I have five siblings and at current count they have fourteen children. The legacy my parents will leave is impressive indeed and each and every life that resulted during the course of their adherence to Church teaching is a blessing in my life and for certain the lives of others.

Even though we had come to a better conclusion than the pill on the matter, the questions about our decision lingered … especially the troubling ones that raised real issues about teaching authority in the church we were attending.

[in final affirmations add story about contraception coming up before V2, being tabled til theologians could recommend FOR its use and Humane Vitae coming out opposed to it anyway]

To learn more about the next step in my conversion you have to know a little bit more about me. I come from a background of musicians. My mother taught piano. Also, my brother is a professional bass player for a fairly well known blues band. Finally, I spent a significant amount of my summers writing songs despite my thorough lack of training. For my mother and brother it was a vocation. For me, it was the sheer beauty of it that uplifted me. My own songwriting experience allowed me to experience musicianship and thus music at a level that is a little beyond that of your average pop music fan. My taste in music at one time was an obsession. I had found a small niche of music, or genre rather, that spoke to the depths of my person at the age of 14. You couldn't hear much of it on the radio so I began to seek friendships with those that had similar tastes. I met a couple of friends in school, one with some musical training and one with just good taste in music. Our friendship developed into a band, which for me was a hobby and to this day represents some of the fondest memories that I have as a youth. The love I have for music remains to this day. As my tastes matured I longed for something deeper. That something I found in classical music and jazz so both are very much a part of my music collection and a significant amount of time late in college was spent listening to everything I could get my hands on. To me, experiencing music was the way I got to know God before I had the foggiest idea what His place in my life was. I was wandering in wonder. That was my knowledge of God.

Upon my zealous reversion back to Christianity my attendance at non-denominational Protestant services exposed me very much to contemporary Christian music, which I fought very much against despite the will of my friends to convince me that the message was what was important. Over my years as a Protestant I slowly was able to sing along and find a value in the words themselves, but the music left me wanting for something that I got in secular music and most prominently in classical music. The choir in Neptune of Holsts' The Planets never failed to give me chills. It always touched me in a very deep way and that was something that I could not get from the praise music I was singing, no matter the venue. Where was the awe that I was brought to when I was listening to the finest musical talent in the world? Where was the mystery? Where was the sacred? I must stop for a moment to highlight a lesson that I took from this that I wish many folks in Catholic churches would learn. There is spiritual value in singing along in church. The actual participation in every aspect of the mass brings you to a deeper realization of what is going on. It is an opportunity to praise God and in the mass is far deeper than that. You can participate in ways that Protestants cannot. Much of Protestant worship is very much geared towards praise. Catholic worship is geared towards the Most Blessed Sacrament. In it we touch God in a very real way. We join our sufferings with His and He gives us Himself fully in the Eucharist. The music should be beyond that of pop songs that happen to mention scripture, or God or something Jesus did. The music should be the best mankind has to offer; that which is created by the greatest gifts He gave to man. It is what we should expect, but we should also do what we can to participate ourselves. Every action we make towards Him is a good one and singing is such an easy way to do something simple that grows like an oak tree from the smallest seed.

My thoughts on music further extended into art and architecture but at a later date. My first flirtation with that was when I became engaged to my wife. We started attending a local Episcopal church downtown known for its beauty and architecture. I have no qualms admitting that reason. We were tired of going to church in warehouses. We only attended the church downtown for a few weeks before we started attending the church of her youth, which was also a beautiful little chapel on the campus of a local high school. What was common with both was the artistry. The colorful stained glass windows and adornments were a constant reminder of the greatness of God. The detail given to the flowers on a weekly basis were a reminder to life and the regular renewal of that life. All in all things were simply beautiful and it enhanced my ability to focus on worship. After months of attending church in both places I realized something was happening to me. I was beginning to enjoy art. I was beginning the journey I had in my youth with art, and more importantly with God. Beauty drew me in and it enhanced my relationship with Him far beyond that which I could have ever achieved on my own or by only reading or singing praises.

Man is created in the image of God, and we are endowed with attributes that are similar to certain awe-inspiring aspects of God. He is the Creator. All He creates is good. Man is creative. We do not create in the sense God does because we are incapable of creating something from nothing. We can however take what is created and craft it into a work of art, or a piece of music or poetry. It is in this sense that we have a similarity which in itself inspires us to contemplation of the great He who Is. In every imperfect painting of a waterfall that we create, we can further strive to realize the perfection of God's creation in the flowing thunder of Niagara Falls. Art itself is a catalyst that assists our getting closer to God by understanding the attributes that we are endowed with that are mere types of what He actually is capable of. Our imperfect understanding of the mystery that is the chasm we cannot bridge keeps the well of desire in our hearts for Him overflowing. The beauty we see is a grace that keeps us coming back.

These aspects are not limited to just art and music but also flow into the liturgy itself. The first time I attended an Episcopal church I thought to myself that I was getting back to something that was more real. I was getting back to something that was beautiful and that was ordered towards thinking about God at a very high level. That is where I wanted to be. God wooed me towards Him with beauty. After all, it only makes sense. He is the one who invented the passion for it.

"Art is beauty made a sacrament" - V. McNabb: Thoughts Twice-dyed.

I was not convinced that this was the end of the road but I had quickly come to the conclusion that the Episcopal Church was really no different than the Catholic Church. The only difference was that folks wouldn't get on my case about it. And they didn't ...

I noticed a few changes Saturday morning making this day the best yet on LAUNCHCast. They added a bunch of new music. For the first time I heard on LAUNCH ...

"Hello Cleveland" by Mono (superb song ... one of my favorite of all time by any band)
"Port Rhombus" by Squarepusher (WOO HOO!!!! We have Squarepusher and one of my faves of his for the first one)
"Change" by Tears for Fears (Finally some classic Tears for Fears)

I notice that it is also playing more by The Police. You just cannot go wrong there.

Current: "Os Iusti Gradual (Modo I)" by The Benedictine Monks Of Santo Domingo De Silos
Oldie but goodie: "Stars in My Pocket" by Opus III
Best this session: "Flite" by The Cinematic Orchestra

"Stars in My Pocket" is another one of those ones that reminds me of 6am in front of the board at KLPI. Opus III is presumably named after a Moog synthesizer. This moment in the middle of the night made special by my 4 month old daughter who is once again asleep in my lap.

My wife and I had a great discussion tonight about creativity and our relationships with God. Soon I will let you all in on the big secret. Loving what you do, creatively, is important. I know not rocket science to most of you ...

A Moog Opus 3

Study is here

Kudos to Southern Appeal for the link

I will try to comment on this later ... being a Southern Catholic myself.

OK, the BCS is bunk ... Most would agree with that so I am going to dish out my personal desire when it comes to an Division 1-A NCAA playoff. This is from the perspective of a fan of a non-BCS school but I try to keep in perspective the desires of the big boys, the current bowls and the money players involved.

1. Mandate a 10 game schedule. 8 conference and 2 to play with. One 1-AA game a year can be scheduled ... rather SHOULD be scheduled. Required 4 home games. I would prefer a fixed 5 home and 5 away with requirements that each conference have to visit every other conference on the road at least once every 3 years.

2. NO CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES. Each conference should determine for itself a set of tie breaker rules to determine a champion in order that a designated playoff champion is crowned.

3. There will be a 32 team playoff consisting of 31 games.

4. The playoff will consist of "4 regions" NE, SE, NW, SW. Placements will be done similar to basketball. The winners in NE, SE play for the right to the NC game and the winners of the NW, SW play for the right to the NC game.

5. Prior to playoff selection (preferably before the season to facilitate planning) the CURRENT bowl committees will PURCHASE the slots they want. For example, X bowl buys SE, 1st round 4-5 game. That committee handles advertising and gets appropriate gate, cuts and whatnot. Naturally the higher up the ladder, the more the game will go for.

6. For the first 3 rounds, the higher seeds host.

7. The Final Four is played at host sites selected by the committees that win bidding for those games.

8. ALL ELEVEN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS GET A BID regardless of their record.

9. At large bids are done by a selection committee similar to that of basketball.

OBJECTIONS:

-Big boys lose those 6th and 7th home games.
+not if they finish in the Top 16 nationally, which many, if not most, would on a regular basis. Besides, scheduling a 6th home game in not out of the question in the in-season rules.
You would have to earn those games. Seems fair .... right?

- We would lose the bowl tradition and fewer teams would make the postseason and get bowl payouts. Your plan hurts the little guy.
+ There is nothing in my plan that prevents a small collection of post season bowls or even something like a 16 team NIT-like tournament for teams that ended up just outside the 32 team cut. The playoff games can maintain SOME of the bowl tradition ... The 1-8 SE region Gator Bowl in Orlando Flordia featuring Central Florida vs Auburn.

- This is taxing on the student athletes because they have to play too many games
+ Myth. The two teams playing in the national championship game would play 15 games each. MOST teams would play 10-11 games. Why folks don't have a problem with 1-AA teams doing this but for some reason DO with 1-A teams is beyond me.

MY THOUGHTS: First off ALL Division 1-A teams now theoretically have access to the National Championship even in for all practical purposes they do not.
Second ... Can you imagine the kind of money the bidding process would bring in and better yet the ticket prices, corporate sponsorships and whatnot for playoff games at the home sites? This would benefit the program that is working hard to make it to elite status the most. The system very much benefits the Fresno States, Utahs, Boise States and good mid-majors that do not have the benefit of BCS money and TV time currently. ALL games would be sold out, without a question.
Third, could you imagine the corporate sporsorship money at the Final Four level. This would be March Madness on steroids.
Finally, we would have a REAL national champion.

Isn't it worth giving up a few home games for something that will benefit everyone?

Young and Catholic

Like everyone else who has a Catholic blog these days I had to get one in for this new blog. I ordered the book today and based on the reviews I expect it to be fantastic.

Nothing like hope for the future and I think these stories are the earliest springtime buds of the future of the New Evangelization. Add this to the continued increase in conversions from zealous dedicated Protestants to His One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and we have a leak turning into a real plumbing problem for Satan.

at3-tst

OK I have a mood that I have setup that I thought my wife would like. I think it is the best mood I have by far. It plays a lot of pop, Christian music, classical, jazz etc. It just spits out good song after good song.

I have always said that my wife makes me better ... that includes my LAUNCHCast station.

Way to go sweetie ....

Current band of choice: Talk Talk
Current song as of posting: "VI. Uranus, The Magician" (Royal Philharmonic) Holst: The Planets
Oldie but goodie: "Trouble Me" by 10,000 Maniacs
Huh? song of the day: Don't Stop Believin' by Journey (don't laugh, I like it but not exactly my usual fare)

Note sometimes my reasons for liking songs is purely superficial so I FREQUENTLY overlook lyrics for catchy riffs ... DO NOT consider songs I like an endorsement of what they stand for.

The first real indications that the Catholic Church was who they say they were occurred to me when I was attending a non-denominational church just out of college. At the time I was travelling out of town 5 days a week. My life consisted of travelling, sleeping and going to this church on Sunday. I had recently gotten involved in their Ministry 101 course which was geared towards getting you active in a particular ministry in their church. During that time the church, which had been around for 25 years, had gone through a great deal of growing pains about "doctrine". Nobody could seem to agree on what the church stood for as far as core doctrine went and a movement had come about to at least specify a small statement of what was considered required beliefs by the members of the church. The reason for this is because some dissent was arising amongst the members of the church. Some of the elders wanted to clarify which particular beliefs were in line with what the church was teaching and what beliefs were not. Now this is what Catholics, Orthodox and mainline Protestants call a creed. Creeds are very tradition based and many, particularly in the Evangelical movement of Protestantism are so opposed to tradition that the idea of a creed is itself creepy and "unbiblical". Still this church discovered from its own growth that it was necessary to minimze dissent and to foster unity within the church. The Apostles creed has verbage that can be traced back to at least Tertullian in the early 3rd century with some evidence to support the idea that the creed traces back to the 12 apostles themselves. This seed would uproot my holding of the doctrine of sola scriptura and it was planted here. While it was a slight doubt at this point, it would eventually grow into the single issue that caused me most to question Protestantism.

But this is just the beginning of my journey. The issue that really set me off on the path towards Rome was different but it came up right around the same time period. Usually at this church, every so often, a missionary would come in and give a talk about their ministry and then an offering would be taken up for them. One week an offering was being taken up for a new ministry that the church was going to fund. This ministry was going to send people to Rome in order to convert Catholics at the Millenium Jubilee who were going to walk through a gate "to have their sins forgiven" through an indulgence. Naturally, it was apparently well known at this church that Catholics do not hold to the true biblical doctrine of the blood of Christ being the sole source of redemption of sins. Catholics had ways to buy and earn redemption through works and indulgences. The problem I had with this was two-fold. 1) I knew through discussions with my parents that the doctrine of salvation by works alone (Pelagianism) was a historical heresy in the Church. 2) I knew that Catholics did not believe that sins could be forgiven by some approved actions other than our repentance, confession and penance. To me the problem here was clearly one of misinformation. All throughout the presentation there was an underlying air of hatred for this unbiblical Church that has misled many and something needed to be done about it. Countless many had been rescued from Catholicism and this was their way of advancing the cause. The problem is, as was clear to me early in my conversion process, was that they were attacking a Church that did not exist. As Bishop Fulton Sheen once said:

There are not 100 people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are however, millions who hate what they think is the Catholic Church.

I was foruntate in my conversion process that I did not have to get over bias founded on thick layers of lies about what Catholicism actually is. I could see clearly that lies were being propogated as truth by good, honest and sincere people. If lies about the Catholic Church could inflitrate the church I was CHOOSING to attend, how bad could it be elsewhere where virulent Catholic hatred had been apparent from my youth?

I cannot finish this story without pointing out something very valuable that I took from this time in my life. The zeal for the scriptures that I saw in this church allowed me to develop a deep desire to want Christ and to seek him fervently within the scriptures. The doctrine of sola scriptura had been mentioned to me by my brother and my parents (each with opposing viewpoints) and it seemed logical on the surface and it was all I had to go with. Grace got me closer through another wonderous avenue in my life but clearly the problems I was seeing with this church were readily apparent and I had to leave.

As one who has spent the entire 31+ years of my life in Louisiana I must ask where these secret ski destinations in Louisiana are ... Get your Louisiana ski lift tickets here

That is unless you are talking water skiing ...
check this out
where Louisiana has a long history of excellence in performace.

This also brings up another beef that I have. Why on earth are skiing and hockey considered NCAA sports when it is clear that they AT BEST enjoy only regional support. Now, considering that, for example, 16 team sports are necessary for 1-A football teams to maintain their status, a team in the mountains has an unfair advantage because they can add a ski team. Shouldn't those of us in the south be able to add a water-skiing team?

Lets be fair folks ... if you are going to have mountain specific sports in the NCAA, lets add some warm climate sports for the teams in the south.