Evangelical Lutheran Church-Conditional Support for Polygamy, Homosexuality - I guess this is the easy way to solve the problem of polygamist converts in Africa.
Sensual and Sacred, Body and Soul, Catholicism and Art
Bush Nominates Alito for Supreme Court OK, I SERIOUSLY doubt my blog is the first thing you read today so this is SO old news but I am linking it anyway ... Five Catholics on the Supreme Court? I can't wait until the conspiracy theories start coming out of the woodwork on this one.
Vandals damage to Panhandle church, 10 other properties - As if Hurricane Katrina wasn't bad enough

After determining that the biblical case for Catholicism was at least as favorable as any other, I turned to the case from history by consulting with the early church fathers. At first this case was one I totally ignored. I did not see any reason to consult them because they certainly did not supersede Scripture. I knew even Catholics believed that. In the discussion on infant baptism I saw many citations of the early fathers used to show that the Church in early centuries did in fact practice baptism of infants. It was an interesting piece of information but I figured that surely one doctrine could have been corrupted in a high percentage of churches and it just caught on.

The basic path prior to this point was
1. Sola scriptura fails its own test as it is not clearly discernable from Scripture alone, nor does it explain how the Canon itself must have been determined -- external to Scripture.
2. If this is the case, then Christianity itself rests on someone having the authority to decide what scripture IS.
3. The historical case for most other Churches is lacking.

It was this final point that was the most compelling to me. From the introduction to EarlyChurchFathers.com

Most of these theories refer to small churches that remained persecuted, hidden or unseen throughout the course of documented Church history. However, the lack of documentation on these small churches would seem to be indicative of their actual lack of existence.

Another theory -- the idea that the Church went wrong around the time of Luther or went past the point of maintaining its place as "The Church" at exactly the point of the Reformation is suspect because the majority of teachings that the Reformers had problems could easily be shown to have been taught by the Church since the earliest times. The Church would have gone off the mainline Protestant path VERY early. This brings us the rapid apostasy theory. This is immediately called into question by Matthew 16:18 which indicates that the "gates of hell will not prevail". If they had prevailed then Christ was a liar or Scripture is not inerrant on an important matter of faith. Finally the theories about the Church, being the historical "winner" in matters of faith, and thus having covered up documentation and artifacts of the genuine Church prove to be almost astronomically unlikely. Some physical evidence would have remained long enough for someone to find it. Also, given the number of heresies that were documented, it seems unlikely that some would have been left out. Churches attempting to trace their lineage through these known heresies demonstrate significant ignorance of the teachings of those groups because while they may have had a single belief or two in common with a particular church, their core teachings were often in conflict with core Christian beliefs that all Protestants, Orthodox and Catholics take for granted today. The absence of useful evidence to the contrary of the apostolic churches being THE historic Christian Church is compelling.

Furthermore, the PRESENCE of the evidence for the core beliefs of the Catholic and Orthodox churches in contrast to those of your typical Protestant denomination is overwhelming -- even from the earliest times.

As I mentioned earlier, I never looked at the early fathers in my review of the biblical case. I didn't see the point. What started me looking at this was knowing that I kept hearing a few wild dates about when Catholics "invented" certain doctrines and nothing irritated me more than quick one liners with virtually no factual support. Infant baptism was claimed to have been invented anywhere from the 4th century on. Transubstantiation or even the Real Presence was in the 13th century and on and on. I knew these were bogus from the little reading I had done from the early fathers. My goal was to present a quick list that could be used at least to counter those common claims. The chart would show the doctrine and the earliest known instance of the doctrine being demonstrated or taught. In some cases, the documentation falls outside of simply the documented early fathers. For example, evidence for a post death cleansing (what Catholics call purgatory) is implied and documented by prayers for the dead which can be found in the catacombs in Rome, as well as in documents we have from the early Church. Judaism also historically contains a doctrine similar to purgatory and thus also has prayers for the dead.

The effort of collecting this evidence across the web resulted in many late nights creating files containing these quotes and keeping track of links where they could be read, preferably in context, as to allow the reader to come to his own conclusions given the information. The result is what is now EarlyChurchFathers.com.

At this point the question of why Catholicism over Orthodoxy often arises. To me the matter was settled over two points. I find it difficult to reconcile the seemingly clear eastern affirmation for the place of Rome as the primary see with their separation from Rome. This is best demonstrated by Ellliot Bougis' blog post in November of 2004, which I read after my conversion, titled And you can quote me! The second point is summarized by looking at the major sees in the early church and noting which ones taught which heresy at which time. Rome never taught one of the early major heresies like Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism etc. This is excellently documented in "Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic" by David Currie. The same chart is also documented online at Heresies of the Patriarchs.

In conclusion, I can only leave one with the best, most often cited statement about this evidence that exists and it is from John Henry Cardinal Newman:

And this one thing at least is certain; whatever history teaches, whatever it omits, whatever it exaggerates or extenuates, whatever it says and unsays, at least the Christianity of history is not Protestantism. If ever there were a safe truth, it is this.

And Protestantism has ever felt it so. I do not mean that every writer on the Protestant side has felt it; for it was the fashion at first, at least as a rhetorical argument against Rome, to appeal to past ages, or to some of them; but Protestantism, as a whole, feels it, and has felt it. This is shown in the determination already referred to of dispensing with historical Christianity altogether, and of forming a Christianity from the Bible alone: men never would have put it aside, unless they had despaired of it. It is shown by the long neglect of ecclesiastical history in England, which prevails even in the English Church. {8} Our popular religion scarcely recognizes the fact of the twelve long ages which lie between the Councils of Nicæa and Trent, except as affording one or two passages to illustrate its wild interpretations of certain prophesies of St. Paul and St. John. It is melancholy to say it, but the chief, perhaps the only English writer who has any claim to be considered an ecclesiastical historian, is the unbeliever Gibbon. To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.

--An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine by John Henry Cardinal Newman

Lincoln diocese boasts highest number of priests to Catholics via Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Let me see .... lets do a little math
1. Orthodox teaching
+
2. Numerous opportunities for Eucharistic Adoration
+
3. Strong moral standings against groups like Catholics For a Free Choice and Planned Parenthood
=
Healthy numbers of seminarians and priests

WE HAVE A WINNER!!! God has a plan for increasing vocations. Any time I read an article about a diocese that is NOT having problems with vocations, I note the things it is doing. The three I have listed are almost always present.

See also Orthodox Dioceses Produce Five Times the Vocations as Progressive Ones
and Priestly Vocations in America: A Look At the Numbers

Cue Music --- (cheesy piano) Real Men of Genius (cheesy piano) Mr. Name My Friends For The Highests Posts In The Country
And here's to you, Harriet Meiers

Court rules St Vitus' Cathedral belongs to Catholic Church



School board bans religious holidays via Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Muslims ask for a religious holiday and the school board bans them all ... Even better check out the reason that the lone dissenter voted against it. "She believes Good Friday has become a secular holiday in American culture."

What were they going to do though? This religion asks for one. Another one does and all of the sudden ... wait a second, I see an excellent opportunity for saving a LOT of taxpayer money. Holiday away the entire public school system. Anyone with me?

When Inhumane Treatment Is Just Dandy via Dappled Things

It amazes and frightens me to see how tenaciously the Bush Administration is fighting to keep Congress from outlawing torture.

What is even more amazing are the number of Catholics defending the administration for wanting to do this.

Catholics and ‘Community’

http://www.earlychurchfathers.com
or http://www.earlychurchfathers.org

The web site that is hosting my blog represents a great deal of work that was done during my conversion to the faith. Since my collection of the original quotes I have received much needed help and the site is a much better presentation of the original idea I had.

Please take the time to look it over.

This goes into the files of "we are still making this decision and every piece of information matters"

Nazi girls spread hate - I noticed they QUICKLY mentioned homeschooling in the article. Of course, we all know the rise of homeschooling in this country is to blame for all of the ills we see in this country today ... NOT.

I am not as much worried about how to deal with the criticism of homeschooling on this front as dealing with the very real problem of the minority of homeschooling parents that shouldn't be teaching their kids. Is there anything we can do as parents concerned for these kids OR is this the price we pay for the freedom to raise our children as we feel is best?

My wife and I have not formally homeschooled day one and the vast majority of the parents we meet are up to the task. That said, there are a few familes whose kids we wonder about. Do you pray? (of course you do) ... Do you say something? Do you encourage the passing of laws to require certain standards from homeschooling parents AGAINST the voices of many within the homeschooling movement calling for as much freedom as possible?

These are tough questions and homeschoolers need real answers to silence the legitimate concerns of critics. A unified blanket of leave us alone only feeds the fire raging in the minds of the majority of Americans who find already homeschooling "creepy".

Church Growing Everywhere Except Europe via Shrine of the Holy Whapping
Staged sex crime fooled Supreme Court? - I tend to not trust World Net Daily articles myself but the question is an interesting one.
5 year old boy's attempt to establish a state religion quelled for now via De Civitate Dei
Opus Dei takes over World Domination Project from Jesuits via Cacœthes Scribendi I noticed that another blogger wanted to start keeping a tally of these things to see if someone could guess the grand total of Opus Dei conspiracy articles from now until the film comes out.
The Gospel According to Anne Anne Rice has apparently reverted to Catholicism. I am not going to join the speculation as to whether or not her conversion is "sufficient" enough. My conversion isn't sufficient enough as I find myself having to mope back to Christ on a daily basis. I pray that she continues to respond to grace and eventually becomes a high profile zealous voice for the Catholic faith.

On a similar note, in recent weeks I have found myself getting all bent out of shape about people who use contraception. Thats kind of a bummer because the percentages of those using the pill is unreal high. The fact is, it took time for me to be fully converted to the teaching of the Church on this matter and it isn't like one or two homilies is going to convert folks overnight. "This is a hard teaching" ... it is and often times it takes years for the truth to work in our lives. It is important for us to present the truth but the real work is grace ... and that is done by God.

And from my Episcopalian past, Episcopal liberals prepare for split. An already ugly situation and it seems it could get worse.

I have to confess ... I have been keeping these from you ...

The Intellect and the Church A nice blog entry on the interesting problem of people OUTSIDE the Chruch perceiving conversion to Catholicism as being a primarilly emotional event and the very real problem INSIDE the Church of the large number of people who allow their intellect to rule them to the exclusion of the emotional aspects of faith. He mentions the ire of folks towards the Charismatic movement within the Church. I have made quite clear my opinion on Charismatics in past entries.

They deserved disaster? You know, all of those pesky sinners in New Orleans .... and everywhere else around the world. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Rage Betrays Fear: Christians will Outlive Sterile Sexual Liberals I keep this simple thought in mind everytime I even get the hint that someone disapproves of our desire to follow Church teaching on the matter of family size. In a related sense, you must read the Wall Street Journal opinion page article titled The Roe Effect.

Blessed Cardinal Newman? Apparently a miracle has been attributed to his intercession. This is most excellent news for those of us who were affected by his writings. I am sure many a convert can trace their conversion to his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. In related personal news, I noticed that some posters on DCF discovered our Early Church Fathers effort and thought it was WAY cool. :)

Nation's wrath falls on bishop who wants to redesign cathedral via Shrine of the Holy Whapping Wrath away!!! Our diocese has a handful of gorgeous churches. Many of them were replaced with the spaceship variety. Fortunately Houma-Thibodaux, New Orleans and Lafayette dioceses have maintained much of their early historical structures.

I hate tolerance and diversity Just remember, its ALWAYS OK to allow any manner of nonsense in the name of tolerance but it is also OK to squash any manner of sensibility in the name of not offending others.

This post is not worth reading ... it is a reminder for me

Random nonsense that I want to expound upon

Light bulbs obsolete -- and my thoughts on light polution
Crunchiness (N.R. article link if possible), things that seem at odds with my somewhat traditional Catholic faith but are not really (I like SOME modern design in some contexts, I like SOME old school rap)

Getting the "message" across without demonizing your opponent just BECASUE they are your opponent because you opponent might be more open to listening to your point if you would just present the facts without all of the rhetoric ...

And others ... I was on a roll this morning but the day happened ...

Updated my feed reader today. The following blogs were added:

DCF blogs ... I will clean these up soon with their real titles and RSS feeds

peachsummer current
The young fogey current
Pythia current
me3rd current
Blondie current
anawim current
Salome Kaia current
orourke current
Kenny current
Childwise current
Shawn McElhinney current
dcheney - Catholic-Hierarchy News current
Lillybet current
mgross current
Justin's ("ressourcement") current
Steve Ray current

Three more blogs have been added. They get permanent links now so check the right

De Civitate Dei, Cacœthes Scribendi, Working papers
St. Blogs Parish Feed - RSS
and the St. Blog Webring navigator to the right ... poke around. It won't hurt.

DCF blogs will soon get their own block.

Move aside Gilbert

BASED ON DROPSONDE AND FLIGHT-LEVEL DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE PLANE
JUST RETURNING FROM ITS MISSION IN WILMA...THE MINIMUM CENTRAL
PRESSURE IS ESTIMATED TO BE 882 MB...26.05 INCHES. THIS IS THE
LOWEST PRESSURE ON RECORD FOR A HURRICANE IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN.

I'll add a satellite shot later. The cloud tops are amazing. This storm also breaks the record for rapid deepening, even for typhoons. Could it give Typhoon Tip a run for most intense storm on earth?

For the first time since I became a Catholic I am starting to really understand the concept of making yourself less dependent on things and on the daily routine being the way it usually is. The idea isn't just to make you miserable but to INCREASE your dependence on God and make you less dependant on the things of the world. I used to be dependant on a good Krispy Kreme in the morning before work. Not only was that making me gain weight, it was putting me in a bad mood later in the day. I removed it from the daily lineup and the weeks immediately following it were hard. Now it is a rare treat as opposed to an expectation of something I deserve. I have learned to be content without.

My way of fasting tended to focus on the misery rather on the contentment to be acquired by dependence on God. That misses the point. "Be joyful" Paul commands.



I think the idea that we deserve anything on a daily basis is a thought process that most of us have to get over. Sometimes I get frustrated when I don't get a "precious" few moments to blog in the late evening or morning. Usually the interference involves the needs of one of my family members. How selfish am I to get frustrated about something far less significant than the needs of my wife or kids?

In the next few weeks I plan to identify the things I am used to having on a daily basis; the things I think I CANNOT do without and I am going to better discipline myself in regards to them in order to learn contentment without them. I resolve to work harder to serve my family in joy, even when I am tired or at my wits end.

It has always been my experience that if I don't discipline myself, God always has a way of shifting life around to ensure that I am more dependant on Him. I am always thankful for the shakeup because it points out my clear weaknesses and need to turn YET AGAIN to Him. Hindsight of course always reveals that there was a much easier path if I had made the decision to seek Him a lot sooner.

I might as well make the connection to joy a lot easier by taking the steps myself rather than relying on Him to gently nudge me ... or even rudely thrust me ... into understanding.

Items over the last few days ...

Winnie the Pooh's Friend Piglet Banned in British Municipal Office - "Offends Muslim Staff" - The FREE PIGLET Campaign.
MyCatholic.com via Summa Mamas I have tried this. It is an easy way for me to get a hold of articles I normally do not see on a day to day basis. I tend to scour secular news for information about the Church, which usually leads to rage and often times saddened hilarity. Its good to have ONE point to get news about Catholicism from CATHOLICS.
The Toronto Star published a column full of bile and venom against the Church. via Bettnet - Musings from Domenico Bettinelli, Jr.
Father sues abortion pill (RU 486) provider over daughter's death via No So Quiet Catholic Corner
A couple of cardinals: Pro-abort Catholic pols not a private issue
70% of Italians Oppose Same-Sex 'Marriage' via ++ relapsed catholic
MERLOT via Summa Mamas: For those of you homeschooling older kiddos....

I linked to this in a recent post ...
Catholic Church no longer trusts the Bible
Keep in mind that the title of that article is patently false.

and some possible good news?
Anglicans Seeking Union With Rome!
I believe it when I see it. I would be very pleased should this come about.

I am about convinced that the not so stated purpose of education in this country is to do one of two things:
1. Indoctrinate
2. Generate worker bees

I can tell this most obviously in political discussion. Basically most people are able to spit out talking points for the Democrat, Republican and in some cases the Libertarian or some other third party.

The idea, it seems, is that that one party has given us a coherent block of thinking that makes it safe for us to ignore what the ignoramuses on other sides of an issue are thinking. I find it even more interesting that these are the same folks who like to accuse Catholics of bowing their every whim to the thoughts of one man, the Pope. That, however, is not reality. There are FEW truths which Catholics must believe, at least in comparison the the number of "truths" spelled out by the average political party on issues most important to a country.

Catholics cannot deny things like:
The Trinity
The Presence of Christ in the Eucharist
There IS a hell
Abortion is ALWAYS wrong

My point is that those who criticize Catholic thought, and especially the idea of dogma, are quick to adopt zombie like zeal in following a party line point for point in whatever political party they are a part of. After all, people who think like they do cannot be all that bad and their word can be trusted without thought. Besides, they were taught that way. In school developing your political identity WAS important. It had very little to do with truth. In college I had a political science professor tell our class that "I don't care what you believe, but it is important to know WHY you believe it?" The idea is that you would choose your side and craft your worldview according to those principles. In adopting the talking points of a political identity a person is surrendering their thought to an ideology that covers far more of lifes questions than the ones answered by the Church.

Of course the problem with all of this is that there IS TRUTH. Its not about trusting your gut and then finding out why you are right about a myridad of, honestly, mostly insignificant issues. It is, in my experience about finding out how wrong you are. A wise man once told me that "if there is one thing that you can be certain of, it is that you are wrong about something". Almost every conversion to Catholicism I have read involved a person having to shed numerous CORE beliefs. You are torn between what you want to believe and the evidence that points to a sobering conclusion that it is necessary to become something you either used to hate or are deathly afraid to become. I am not Catholic because I like being right about a whole bunch of things. I am Catholic because I was humbled in the face of all of my errors.

But all of those errors, once corrected, pointed back to a few truths that have been preserved and carried down through the centuries. I surrender to those few things because I have found it reasonsable to do so. One of the biggest things I give up was being right about being a member of a particular political party. Like I have seen pointed out numerous times recently, "right now they are with us" but who knows what tomorrow holds.

FAQ on Avian flu via Catholic and Enjoying It!

I am not exactly prone to panic about things like this. I mean, the numbers they are talking about are 5-150 million people could die in a pandemic with a new avian flu. Sooner or later something like that is going to happen. With the 1918 breakout the numbers worldwide were in the 20 million range with 500,000 of them being in the United States. I would guess that at the time the US contained a greater portion of the worlds population, but for the sake of easy numbers lets say things are the same and NO factors other than simple proportion would affect US numbers up or down.

A similar breakout today using the numbers I have frequently seen cited would result in anywhere from 125,000 to 5.6 million dead in the United States. For comparison, 600,000 is about the usual yearly death toll from heart attacks in this country. There are good reasons to think that this possible pandemic would come in on the low side, furthermore the high number I have cited for the US is beyond because of things like better treatments in the US and the fact that the US population as a percentage of the world population could be lower (look at birth rates here and elsewhere in the world and you will see why I initially think this).

From the FAQ I posted above, the best thing we can really do about this is WASH OUR HANDS, literally. If you are prone to panic the one thing you really need to buy is lots of soap.

SWEET! - back up to a Slithering Reptile. I am sure I will be an insect or something this afternoon. :)

Redemptive Suffering: "Offering it Up" via Happy Catholic

The second link (Happy Catholic) is an excellent succinct overview of something I didn't understand very well as I entered the Church. I always wondered if there was some sort of action that we were supposed to do in order to offer up our sacrifices. I had the same problem initially with Eucharistic adoration. What exactly IS IT that I am supposed to do for one hour in front of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord? In both cases I have kind of felt my way along doing the best I can. Come to find out, that is really about all you can do in either situation and the rewards for it are incredible. Sometimes just trying to be obedient is best way to find out.

Vince struck southern Spain/Portugal as a tropical storm

The 2005 season continues its strange ways this morning when Vince made landfall in EUROPE still with tropical characteristics.

AT 5 AM EDT...0900Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION VINCE WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 37.2 NORTH... LONGITUDE 7.1 WEST OR ALONG THE
COAST OF SOUTHWESTERN SPAIN NEAR HUELVA. VINCE IS THE FIRST
TROPICAL CYCLONE ON RECORD TO MAKE LANDFALL IN SPAIN.

Strange indeed.

"Civilization in the best sense merely means the full authority of the human spirit over all externals. Barbarism means the worship of those externals in their crude and unconquered state. Barbarism is the worship of nature." - G.K. Chesterton: "All Things Considered"

More to come on this later (I hope)

The Lure of Saints: A Protestant Experience Of Catholic Tradition via Happy Catholic - given resurrgence in Protestant devotion to Mary, I cannot say I am surprised.
Church Leaders Unite in Opposition to Assisted Dying Bill
Scientists create GM mosquitoes to fight malaria and save thousands of lives via Catholic and Enjoying It!

And FINALLY ... some early thoughts about the Narnia film from a Catholic scriptwriter who has seen it:
Narnia: Deep Magic

Final Notes...
My blog has been acting up the past few weeks. It seems the RSS feed always works even when everything else doesn't. Hopefully we won't have to resort to that in the future.

The gross ignorance about Catholicism and the inability or desire to modify said ignorances was one of the most shocking things I encountered in my years as a Protestant. Many Protestant churches I attended did not display outward ignorance but some did, and on a level that was mind boggling.

Let me give a few examples

Catholics worship statues (1162, 2132), Mary (971) and the saints.
Catholics believe that Christ is re-sacrificed at each mass. (1545)
Catholics don't believe the bible. (105+) -- by recent example, this ignorance is even further hampered when mainstream press issues articles like this (via Catholic and Enjoying It!) further cementing ignorance and bias in the minds of the masses.

In each of these cases the teachings of the Church demonstrate that they are frequently misunderstood and often grossly misrepresented. The problem is, simply repeating the same falsehoods over and over about the Church wasn't going to miraculously make the assertions true. One must demonstrate that Catholics believe these things. According to the teachings of the Church, Catholics simply don't believe them. The explanation of these teachings is often met with violent opposition as if being wrong on this ONE point will somehow verify that the Catholic Church is right about everything. That logic, of course, doesn't follow, so why the violent opposition?

Is it really that hard to take a man or a religion, especially one with clear official teachings, at its own word? I found the answer in some settings to be overwhelmingly NO.

Another perplexing phenomenon I witnessed was objection to the Catholic Church over and above Episcopalianism. I couldn't understand the hatred towards the Catholic position but not towards Protestants who held similar positions. Everyone I knew was fine with C.S. Lewis holding to a doctrinal purgatory, or to the Orthodox for a post-life cleansing state but the Catholic doctrine was somehow wrong where the others were not. The feeling was; "At worst those folks were just wrong on one or two points" or "its not the same as purgatory". Catholics, however, were out in left field on everything for holding to the SAME DOCTRINES and, worse, giving them unbiblical names, which brings me to my final point. I cannot tell you how many times I read that because the word "papas" (pope) did not exist prior to the 4th century that Catholics didn't believe in the primacy of the bishop of Rome until AT LEAST that time. The problem is that there is historical evidence of actions demonstrating such authority prior to then. The same is true with the word "transubstantiation". The word came into use in the 12th or 13th century, but the historical doctrine of the Church has been in line with it since Christ uttered the words "This is my body". A better way I have seen this clarified is to point out that just because the word "car" did not come into regular use until the 1930's doesn't mean that there were not cars prior to 1930.

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" - William Shakespeare

What I saw were many bad arguments against the Catholic Church. If anything, these arguments drove me TOWARDS Rome. Catholic apologists always seemed more credible in defense of these doctrines because the hatred clearly seemed lacking on their side of the fence (this is not always the case). These were simple objections with rational yet frequently more verbose refutations.

The goal with opponents seemed to be collecting as much as possible to deal with the one error of Catholicism. Sadly, not the greatest level of discernment seems to have been employed. It seemed more to me that anything that could be piled on to make your book about the evils of Catholicism 700 pages instead of 80 pages was worth getting in on. After all, a larger book meant a BIGGER and BETTER case, right? It didn't really. It greatly undermined the case AGAINST the Church. I knew that in order to give the Catholic Church a fair shake I was going to have to sift through a sea of arguments based solely on hatred for the Church vs. those based on the actual teachings themselves. My own objections were based somewhat on many of these superfluous and lacking arguments but I knew there were some solid and more intellectually stimulating objections out there. Those were the ones I intended to either find explained or find sufficiently damaging to prevent my continued conversion to Catholicism.

This "straw man" aspect demonstrated itself over and over and was most obvious in the Protestant understanding of indulgences at the church I initially attended out of college. [next post]

Vatican Cardinal: Catholic Voters Can Never Be Justified in Voting for Pro-Abortion Politicians
Torture -- a bad thing
Mariaphobic Response Syndrome, Part I

Check out the stained glass on the right ... just scroll down some. I have added just two but I plan to add at least one more.

OK, I am getting tired of having to explain to folks why we got rid of our TV. The MAIN reason was for the health and well being of our children. Since we got rid of the TV, I have noticed the following behavior changes:

1. They play together more frequently and are able to stay occupied with creative activity longer.
2. They are calmer.
3. They are more interested in music, learning, EXERCISE.

I am sure my wife could expound on this more than I could but the fact is that the change has been welcome FOR ALL OF US. Also, with parenting, there is a significant temptation to give in to using the TV as a babysitter. THIS IS DANGEROUS ON SO MANY LEVELS. Some parents get to the point where pulling their TV away is so painful that they protect it like they do their own children. I know. I felt this way. However *I* want to raise my kids. I don't want the head honchos at PBS raising my kids.

The increase in attention span should be enough justification for such a wild and crazy move but it isn't. I mentioned this to a group of friends yesterday and it was like I sawed off an arm. Giving up TV shouldn't be such a radical thing. Its not like I am giving up food or water. I am exchanging TV time for more time with my family, more time to read, more time to blog and more time to engage my brain. I need that. Watching TV is like eating candy. If you do it too much your brain gets sick. If you rid candy from your diet entirely it is a very GOOD and healthy thing. If you rid TV from your diet entirely ... well ... you get the point.

Its not radical folks ... later I might even post some anti-TV rants to further justify this choice.

TTLB Ecosystem downgrade

I notice I have been downgraded to a Flippery Fish again. Oh well, my Slithering Reptile days were glorious. I stopped regularly posting for weeks on end and my blog got MORE popular. Maybe I should take that as a sign? Update: GOOD GRIEF ... In a matter of hours I was downgraded to a Slimy Mollusc. Must have been the TV rant.

Look up!!!! My wife made a fabu banner for me ...

Diversity

We went to a Maronite mass this past weekend and I was so impressed with the theology dripping throughout the mass. I wish I had access to it like I do the indult TLM at St. Agnes. I would have to drive 50 minutes to a Maronite Church in Lafayette or wait a year. I also love the Tridentine mass for very similar reasons. Furthermore I feel the Novus Ordo can be done in such a way to carry across vital truths about the faith.

Anyway, I mentioned this because I was going to rant at some point about the legitimate diversity of the rites within the Church and the false "diversity" presented by many folks who are determined to make sure those masses are the ONLY ones eliminated from the Church. I decided against it in favor of just appreciating the mass I attended this past weekend. NO RANT FOR YOU!!!

Science

Mars Global Surveyor: Mars For Press I am sure scientists won't say "global warming" because it undermines use of the phrase for purposes on Earth, but its kind of hard to start pointing out that it is happening on Mars when you are trying to point out that men are to blame for it on Earth.

Disclaimer: I am for responsible use of resources on this earth AND for development of technologies that minimize our impact on the earth. In fact, I think the "global warming" alarmists' basic goal is a good one. However, I am even more for responsible science on this earth. Truth is an important value to me. Propose a theory. CLEARLY label it as such and move forward with experimentation to show the premise is either true or false. More often than not I see statistics shoehorned into a premise labelled as "science". This is what science has become; a religion to some and thus a tool for those with an agenda. Statistics are NOT science. (page 11) The earth is getting warmer. I can buy that. The conclusion that we are to blame doesn't follow so easily. I just don't think we should be pushing "men are causing it" as a fact when we have evidence that it is happening on Mars without all of us nasty humans to muck it up.

NYC Unveils Hurricane Evacuation Plan - I am pumped by this. If there is ONE great thing that can come out of the tragedies of Katrina and Rita, it is making folks aware in other hurricane prone areas that a SOLID plan is necessary to save lives. New York City can be expected to be hit by 1.6 major hurricanes every 100 years. The last was in 1938. I don't buy that they are "overdue", after all the chances are slim in any given year but sooner or later it IS going to happen. Lets hope that the plan they are developing gets better funding and that it works well when it is needed.

Nerds

Fun Stuff (for any high bandwidth readers)
Bill Gates Goes to College - I am a nerd and this is funny nerd stuff.
The Shining - This is funny and utterly disturbing at the same time. It makes you wonder what kind of editing goes on in newsrooms ... Hmmmmm

IF IF IF

So IF Bush turns out to squander the best reason for voting FOR him over Democrat igmos like Kerry how many people are going to still keep buying the line from the Republicans that they are truly committed to the pro-life cause?

The promises ring hollower and hollower. There really is no point in feeding me a memo straight from the administration about all they HAVE done. I have seen it and I am not impressed. The rubber hits the road with these nominations and IF they turn out to maintain status quo, then NOTHING has been done. IF millions keep dying in abortion clinics in this nation, Republican pro-life voters will have continued to be duped into voting for Republicans on an issue that they have secretly already conceded can't be changed. Are Pro-lifers being USED by the Republicans? Think about it. As long as they can keep the public debate "open" and do nothing about it they will get votes on sheer emotion alone. MAYBE THATS ALL THEY CARE ABOUT.

IF things pan out as I fear, I will waste that vote for someone that has no chance of winning and sleep better knowing that the person I voted for really intended to change things in this country regarding life. Voting for people who are blatantly pro-death or voting for people who really have no incentive to solve the problem because it will erode their base just isn't the way to go about solving the abortion evil in this country.

Democrats aren't the lesser evil IF Republicans are not willing to DO what they SAY to their voters. I guess this is the age old problem we all have with politicians. Promises vs. Actions.

Maybe I will feel better tomorrow but there are my raw emotions on the matter ... Peace

We had ineffective small groups in our RCIA class and in the Alpha course I did as a Protestant. The problem is that most small groups fail to take into consideration a few basic ground rules regarding the majority of us who are uncomfortable in the setting until they get familiar with people. Small groups also require an effective group leader. I must admit that most leaders I have encountered are woeful at the task. This is true both in my Protestant background and in my Catholic background. The only effective small group I have ever been in was one that met on a continual basis over a series of years. It took time for the dynamic to develop and the dynamic was largely developed by a group leader PROFESSIONALLY TRAINED (i.e. college degree) in dealing with people. He realized developing the relationships in the group was necessary before anything worthwhile would come of the group. Still, for me being an introvert, the comfort level took months to materialize. I am not saying that a small group cannot function well without professional help but it takes time for an effective dynamic to develop between people. In some cases it might happen rather quickly. In others, it could take an uncomfortable period of months.

I have also been present in effective small groups where I was the odd guy out but it was clear to me that everyone else was getting something out of it. The common thread here is familiarity with the people. Everyone knew everyone else and the conversation flowed immediately to the topics at hand because Johnny had an idea where Sue was coming from by having at least a basic understanding of her life experience.

Relationships are more like plants growing from seeds. Its not like buying full grown trees and dropping them into the ground. That is why random small groups are irrirtating to me. You're expecting fruit to come from seeds. Nine times out of ten I know I am going to get a group leader who has no idea how to draw people into the conversation, thus I can look forward to 30 minutes or an hour of watching 15 people stare awkwardly at their watches. The time would be far better spent getting to know each other so that the next time the group meets the awkardness is lessened. Growth of the group is necessary before the real fruit is realized.

OK, I said I was going to avoid posting on hurricanes but I have to post a family update:

My in-laws got back to Beaumont and are leaving again. They said it is a ghost town and that many of the trees have been defoliated. They have no idea how long they will be gone from their homes. Prayers appreciated.

Also, review these two pictures to get an idea of how bad Hurricane Rita damage was at ground zero.

Holly Beach before


Holly Beach after


So don't let anyone tell you that Rita was a nothin' storm. Just because it wasn't Katrina doesn't mean it wasn't an incredibly bad storm.