CatholicFatherOf2

It has been a long time.

2009-03-16T12:03:00.002-04:00

It has been a long time since I have updated this blog. I am planning on updating it soon with a few more book reviews.

My Dear Young Friends

2006-12-05T14:01:00.000-05:00

My son just made his Confirmation. About a month or so ago, my wife and I where trying to decide what to get him as a gift. We didn’t want to just give him something secular. We wanted to give him something meaningful to make this special sacrament something he would remember. My wife had heard about a book for young people that had something to do with Pope John Paul II. We did a little searching on the web and we found “My Dear Young Friends” edited by John Vitek. We ordered the book and luckily it arrived in advance of his Confirmation. It was late on the day of his Confirmation when we gave him his presents. Our son was about to go to bed when we gave him the book. He looked disappointed. All of his friends were getting “good” gifts like money and video games and all he got was a “lousy” book. We then gave him a video game and, as we expected, his face lit up. That night is when the magic happened. He is allowed to read in bed before he goes to sleep, so he decided to read a couple of pages of the book. Well, the quotes caught his attention and he ended up reading all 52 quotes before he finally fell asleep. The next day he told me that he liked the book and had put in bookmarks for all of his favorite quotes. He also told me that starting in January he is going to read a reflection a week and try to put the recommended actions into practice. Well, my son is 12 and come January we will see how much he actually follows through on his promise. I for one am going to keep my fingers crossed and say a few prayers. However, his comments certainly act as a pretty good recommendation for the book and so far it looks like getting him the book was one of my wife’s best ideas.

The book contains 52 weekly reflections for young people. Each reflection is broken down into 5 parts. They include a quote from Pope John Paul II, something to think about related to the quote, some recommended action to take, a short prayer and an interesting fact about Pope John Paul II. Here are a couple of my son’s favorite quotes.

“What must I do? What must I do to inherit eternal life? What must I do so that my life may have full value and meaning? The youth of each one of you, dear friends, is a treasury that is manifested precisely in these questions.”
“To be truly free does not at all mean doing everything that pleases me or doing what I want to do. . . . To be truly free means to use one’s own freedom for what is a true good.”
“Little by little you recognize the ‘talent’ or ‘talents’ which each of you has, and you begin to use them in a creative way, you begin to increase them.”
“Be in this world bearers of Christian faith and hope by living love every day. Be faithful witnesses of the Risen Christ, never turn back before the obstacles that present themselves on the paths of you lives. I am counting on you. On your youthful energy and your dedication to Christ.”

Fortune Cookies

2006-12-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

Our lives have been very busy lately and we seem to be eating a lot of take-out Chinese food. Along with the food we always get fortune cookies. I received 2 interesting fortunes. “The saints are the sinners who keep on trying” and “The best exercise for the heart is to reach down and help someone up”. Both of these messages sounded very familiar. So, I decided to Google them. Of course there were many hits for both quotes. The first one seemed to be mostly attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson. The second quote looked like a slight variation of a quote attributed to Jesse Jackson “Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up.” I have no way of knowing if both gentlemen are the first to come up with the ideas in the quotes or if they read them in a fortune cookie. What I do know is that both messages should be very meaningful to all of us in our every day lives.

Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey To Catholicism

2006-12-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

I think I first heard "Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey To Catholicism" by Scott and Kimberly Hahn while listening to the Rosary Army Podcast. I wasn’t sure I would read it at first. I had just read a number of books that covered the topic of conversions and apologetics and I was thinking about reading more about the history of the early church. I just picked it up to give a quick once over when it arrived in the mail, but when I read the following quote “In truth, the journey began as a detective story, but soon it became more like a horror story, until it finally ended up as a great romance story…” on the first page of the introduction. I was so intrigued that I started reading the rest of the book.

The book is about 182 pages long and broken up into 9 chapters. The book covers the lives of Scott and Kimberly from before the time they meet each other until they meet Pope John Paul II. The format of the book is very interesting because each chapter covers the events of their lives first from his points of view and then from hers. I like the book because it doesn’t sugar coat any of their trials and tribulations. It deals with the issues about how their conversion almost destroyed their marriage and isolated them from their families, but in then end made their love even stronger. It is a great story and yet it teaches a lot about the Catholic faith. My favorite quote from the book paraphrased here is “Either the Catholic Church professes the Truth or it is insidious”. Needless to say they decide that it professes the truth.

I would recommend this book to anyone inside our outside of the Catholic church that wants to know more about the church and its teachings or anyone that might want to get inside the head of someone converting to Catholicism. However, the book does stand on its own as a wonderful story about love.

Amazing Grace For Fathers

2006-11-30T19:44:00.000-05:00

While, I haven’t posted in quite a while I have still been reading a lot. I finished “Amazing Grace For Fathers” by Jeff Cavins, Matthew Pinto, Mark and Patti Armstrong. It is another book in the Amazing Grace Series. I have read most of them but this one touched me directly. The book is around 290 pages and it is filled with 75 wonderful stories. The book is broken down into 7 chapters each covering different topics. The chapters include A Father’s Love, A Father’s Strength, A Father’s Faithfulness, A Father’s Humor, A Father’s Wisdom, A Father’s Character and A Father’s Hope.

One story is one gentleman’s reinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 13. I am sure most of you are familiar with this passage about Love/Charity. The book is worth reading for this one story alone. Here is a small taste of that story. “When I was a child, I thought like a child, cherishing each moment when I took my daddy’s hand. When I became a father, I recaptured that moment each time my little girl her daddy’s hand.”

There is another story written by Mark Armstrong himself. It is called “Cost Versus Value”. It talks about how much in dollars it costs to raise a child from birth to age 18. By the end of the story you will think it is worth any amount.

Here is another story by an anonymous contributor that is very short but very meaningful. “One night a father overheard his son pray, “Dear God, make me the kind of man my daddy is.” Later that night, the father prayed, “Dear God, make me the kind of man my son wants me to be.” The book even includes a short story about Team Hoyt, an amazing father and son team. I highly recommend this book for all fathers even though it will make them laugh and cry.

101 Inspirational Stories of the Rosary

2006-11-09T15:03:00.000-05:00

I purchased this book before I started making rosaries, but I never read it. I am not 100% sure, but I think I first heard about the Rosary Army and making rosaries when listening to an episode of the Catholic Insider. It is another SQPN podcast. Hearing about the Rosary Army is what convinced me to make Rosaries. Their motto of “Make them, pray them and give them away” just seemed natural. The funny thing is I am not even sure if I ever prayed a rosary before making one. I know I have had a rosary since I made my first communion as a child and I still have it thanks to my mother. I even have one in most of my cars, placed their by my father. I began to read this book a little while after I started going to the Rosary Army forums looking for advice about how to teach my CCD/PREP class how to make rosaries. I have yet to tackle this task, but after reading the forums I am a lot more confident that we will be successful. 101 Inspirational Stories of the Rosary was compiled and produced by Sister Patricia Proctor, OSC. The book is about 211 pages long. It is filled with wonder stories about how praying the rosary has affected the lives of people just like you and I. The stories are filled with many “small” miracles. The stories are truly inspirational. The book also contains many quotes from Saints and famous people about the rosary as well as many prayers to our Mother Mary. One of the best parts about the book is its appendices. They provide a lot of information about the Rosary including its history, mysteries, how to make one and how to pray one. If you have any doubts about the Rosary this is a great book to read.

"Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today."

– Saint Padre Pio

Pope John Paul II: His Essential Wisdom

2006-11-06T11:30:00.000-05:00

I found this book while browsing at Barnes & Noble. It is a small digest size hard back containing 117 pages of quotes from Pope John Paul II. It was edited by Carol Kelly-Gangi. The quotes are divided into a quite a few topics including peace in the world, suffering and death, and the modern world. The quotes are very inspirational and many will make sense to young people. It appears that this book is still available used and new at Amazon.com. Here are a few choice quotes. I tried to get a link to the original source where possible.

“A mother’s presence in the family, so critical to the stability and growth of that basic unit of society, should instead be recognized, applauded and supported in every possible way. By the same token society needs to call husbands and fathers to their family responsibilities, and ought to strive for a situation in which they will not be forced by economic circumstances to move away from the home in search of work.” - Papal Message on Women’s Conference, 1995.
“God calls every person, and his voice makes itself heard even in the hearts of children: he calls people to live in marriage or to be priests; he calls them to consecrated life or perhaps to work in the missions… Who can say? Pray, dear boys and girls, that you will find out what your calling is, and that you will follow it generously.” - Letter of the Pope to Children, 1994.
“Death itself is anything but an event without hope. It is the door which opens wide on eternity and, for those who live in Christ, an experience of participation in the mystery of his Death and Resurrection.” - Evangelium Vitae, 1995.
“What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust.” - On visiting the imprisoned Mehmet Ali Agca, who wounded the Pope in a 1981 assassination attempt, as reported in Time, January, 1984.

- Pope John Paul II

Mother Teresa: Her Essential Wisdom

2006-11-05T10:58:00.000-05:00

I seem to browse the book in Barnes & Noble quite often and lucky for them I almost always seem to find a book or two that look good. Well, on one of those trips, I came across the book “Mother Teresa: Her Essential Wisdom” edited by Carol Kelly-Gangi. The book has nothing but quotes from Mother Teresa. The quotes are broken down into a couple of dozen categories including love, charity, family life, religion and many more. The words that came from her mouth are truly inspirational but quite often very difficult to live up to. I have listed a few here just to wet your appetite. The book is a small digest sized hard back and is about 134 pages of brilliance. Unfortunately, the book seems to be out of print. I did find some copies available at Amazon.com, but I don't know how long they will last. Just do a search on the web and I am sure you will find many books filled with her wisdom.

“Bring love into your homes. If you truly love God, start loving your son or your daughter and your spouse. And the elderly, where are they? In nursing homes! Why are they not with you? And where is the retarded child? In an institution! Why is he not with you? That child, young mothers and fathers, is a gift from God.”
“Often we Christians constitute the worst obstacle for those who try to become closer to Christ; we often preach a gospel we do not live. This is the principle reason why people of the world don’t believe.”
“There is only one God and he is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic.”
“Abortion destroys the image of God. It is the most terrible plague in our society, the greatest killer of love and peace. The little children still unborn have been created for bigger things: to love and be loved.”

- Mother Teresa

Podcast Reviews

2006-11-04T21:56:00.000-05:00

Here is a nice list of the podcasts that I have reviewed in my blog. Some have been mentioned more than once, but here are the ones that offer the most information. Just click on the links to go to the post that discusses them. Of course, if you want to know more go right to their web sites. You should go there any way. You won’t be disappointed.

Catholic Family Podcast - WebSite

Catholic: Under The Hood - Website

The Daily Breakfast (Something extra to keep in touch.) - Website

The Daily Breakfast (Memo from God.) - Website

Sunday Sunday Sunday - Website

The Saint Cast - Website

Rosary Army - Website

For an extra special treat visit SQPN where you will find both Catholic and entertaining podcasts.

If you are looking for a podcast on a subject that interests you try search with Itunes or at Podcast Alley.

Please remember that you don't need an IPOD to listen to podcasts. You can use Itunes or many other software programs and listen right on you computer.

Book Reviews

2006-11-03T21:31:00.000-05:00

Some one asked me how to easily find out what books I have reviewed. Well, I couldn’t give them a good way. So, I decided to post just for that. I will make sure to link this post on the right hand side for future reference. I will also try to keep it updated as I do more reviews. To see one of my mini reviews, just click on any title that interests you.

The Catholic Verses

The Mass Of The Early Christians

What Catholic really Believe

The Fathers of the Church

Not Your Average Joe

Saintly Advice

Amazing Grace For Married Couples

By What Authority

Did Adam And Eve Have Belly Buttons?

Did Jesus Have A Last Name?

No Wonder They Call It The Real Presence

Catholicism For Dummies

The Da Vinci Hoax

Cracking The Da Vinci Code

Shower Of Heavenly Roses

St. Katherine Drexel

101 Inspirational Stories Of The Rosary

Pope John Paul II: His Essential Wisdom

Mother Teresa: Her Essential Wisdom

The Catholic Verses

2006-11-02T19:59:00.000-05:00

It took me a while, but I finally finished this reading “The Catholic Verses: 95 Bible Passages That Confound Protestants” by Dave Armstrong. The book is broken up into 16 chapters and is about 225 pages. The book is down in an interesting format. It presents a topic like The Church is the “Pillar of the Truth”. It then provides a bible passage or passages to support the statement. Then it provides what I would describe as a miniature debate on the validity of the assertion. It presents many opposing opinions and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of each opinion. It includes quotes from some very influential Christians including Martin Luther, John Calvin and many other Christian writers and apologists. The author is clearly very knowledgeable and a good debater. I learned a tremendous amount about Luther and Calvin. Much more than I have learned in similar books that I have read. The book covers a wide range of very controversial topics that divide Christianity. I am very glad I read this book. However, I have some reservations about this book. In my opinion, it often has an attitude that sounds like the author is gloating about the impenetrability of his defense of Catholicism and making fun of opposing views. I certainly would not recommend this book to my non Catholic Christian friends without first warning them about this attitude. However, his arguments are sound and easy to follow. I was just not thrilled with the presentation at times.

Halloween Safety

2006-10-30T20:32:00.000-05:00

Halloween is upon us. Here are some sites that will help you get your children through it safely.

If you would like to understand more about the Christian roots of Halloween here is a good place to start.

Voting, Political Advertising and Elections

2006-10-30T20:25:00.000-05:00

The elections are coming up next Tuesday and I am already sick of all the political ads. The sad part is that the ads don’t seem to help anyone. Most of the ads are full of “lies, damned lies and statistics” (Thank you Mark Twain). The truth is stretched so far and thin that the ads no longer have any value. If you want to check the veracity of an ad go to FactCheck.org. I am sure you will be happy with the site and thoroughly disgusted with the political advertising. However, don’t let this stop you from voting. The most important thing you do as a citizen is vote. If you would like to know the Catholic position on your civic responsibilities click here. If you don’t vote and you get stuck with lousy representation it is your own fault. Of course there is no guarantee that you will get great representation either, but it is the only chance you have. To use another quote, Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried (Thank you Sir Winston Churchill). With all that said, how do you decide for whom to cast your vote? I can’t tell you who to vote for, but I can help you determine what issues should be important to a Catholic. You can easily do a web search and find out for yourself or you can start here or here. Whether you agree with the position in the referenced links or not get out there and vote like you life and freedom depends on it because someday it will and that someday is today.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research

2006-10-28T11:04:00.000-04:00

Some one in my immediate family has diabetes. My father had Parkinson’s disease. There are a number of scientists that believe that embryonic stem cell research may lead to cures for these awful diseases. From a Catholic point of view I can not support any embryonic stem cell research. From a personal point of view, how can I not want to support research that could lead to a cure? This has created a moral dilemma for my family and me. For the past several years we have raised money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation during their annual Walk for the Cure. However, they are taking up a position that endorses this type of research. Because of this, we will not be walking or raising money this year. I do want to make one thing clear. I think the JDRF is a wonderful organization that is trying to make the lives of millions better. I just don’t agree with their current research position.

One thing I have recently discovered is that not a lot of current treatment has resulted in embryonic stem cell research, but a significant number of treatments have come from adult stem cell research. Read here for more details. While this doesn’t really say what the future will bring, it does make me more comfortable with my current position on the subject.

I find myself wondering, if a cure came from or required embryonic stem cells, would we take advantage of the cure? I am not sure I could answer that question. I think I would have to leave it up to the family member that it could possibly cure. I know it would require a lot of prayer. In the mean time, I will continue to do more research on the subject and pray that a cure or advancement in treatment comes from other research.

For more information about the Catholic perspective on medical ethics, click here.

How should we spend our money to get the best return on investment.

2006-10-27T22:48:00.000-04:00

No one has an unlimited supply of money. Well, except maybe Mr. Gates. So we all struggle with where to spend our money, especially where our children are concerned. I am going to unscientifically compare 3 ways to spend money sports league, music lessons and game console. Here is how I broke down the cost for a years worth of fun.

Basketball League: I used The Sports Authority for these prices.
Lifetime 1221 Pro Court 44 Inch Portable Basketball System $189
Wilson NCAA Junior Performance Rubber Basketball (27.0) $9.99
League fee for my son this year including shirt $65
I am not counting sneakers because he needs them for gym anyway.
Total cost = $263.99

Music Lessons: I used my personal experience with my son for these prices.
Drum kit including snare drum and bells including all stands $300.00
Free lessons in school $0
Sticks and books $40
Total cost = $340

Video Game Console: I used my personal experience with my son for this as well. Although I haven't actually spent any money on this yet.
Wii game console w/ free game $249
Extra controller including all options $69
Games $50 X 1 = $50
Total cost = $368

Not surprisingly they are all close in cost. I am sure it could be argued that my costs are not very realistic, but for my point it doesn’t really matter.

Now let’s look at the return on our investment. From basketball we get good exercise, lessons about team work and fair play, and for a few we get a chance at a college scholarship and even more remotely a career. From Music lessons we get music, lessons about team work and fair play, and for a few we get a chance at a college scholarship and even more remotely a career. From a game console, we get good hand to eye coordination and lessons about team work and fair play.

I am sure my assessment is not even close to anything scientific. However, I could find a tremendous amount of information about the benefits of sports and music for young people on the web. The overwhelming evidence points to them both being very good for children of all ages and adults. The outlook for video games is not so good. Most of the information, available on the web about video games, points to them having a negative impact on the health and well being of children. But don’t take my word for it, search the web and see for yourself.

I am not suggesting that we should not buy video games for our children. What I am saying is that if we have to make choices about where to spend our money, some investments are better than others.

Here are some resources to help you look more closely into the benefits of sports, music and video games.

Movie Reviews and More!

2006-10-25T22:54:00.000-04:00

There are many places to get movies reviews. You can find them in local papers and many web sites. They all seem to be from a secular point of view. I recently stumbled across another place, the Catholic News Service. They host movies reviews done by the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops Office for Film and Broadcasting. Each movie review contains a brief summary and USCCB rating along with the MPAA rating. It may even have a comment about language or violence in the film. You can read more about the USCCB ratings here. I have even listed them below. While I find it helpful to go to sites like Rotten Tomatoes for quality ratings, I found the USCCB ratings to be more helpful than the MPAA ratings when trying to decide if I should allow my children to see the movie or not. The USCCB site has ratings on more than just movies. You may even want to check out the Catholic News Services or the USCCB sites if you have never seen them. I am sure some of the material will open your eyes.

USCCB classifications:

(United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)

* A-I — general patronage

* A-II — adults and adolescents

* A-III — adults

* A-IV — adults, with reservations (this indicates films that, while not morally offensive in themselves, are not for casual viewing because they require some analysis and explanation in order to avoid false impressions and interpretations)

* L — limited adult audiences, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling (replaced A-IV classification Nov. 1, 2003)

* O — morally offensive

DSL vs. Dialup – How can DSL cost less?

2006-10-24T20:34:00.000-04:00

I never thought it would happen, but it now seems that DSL is cheaper than dial up Internet access in a lot of markets. My frugal friend discovered this and finally decided to get DSL. He called the vendor and they sent him out a consumer install kit. He put the installation CD in his PC and it told him he needed a network interface card. He was surprised because the vendor never told him he needed a NIC. He called the vendor for help and they said they new what was wrong and they sent him a new installation CD. They also told him he could use one of his existing USB ports. When the new CD arrived, he put it in his machine and he got the same message. A bit discouraged he asked me if I could help. Having installed quite a few of these setups for other people I agreed to help him after my CDD class last Tuesday night. When I got to his house I put in the new CD. It came up with the same message for me. I then looked at the fine details of the message and it said that the NIC was required for Windows 98 and in a few other cases. My friend said no one at the vendor had asked him what operating system he was running or told him what hardware was required for Windows 98. This didn’t surprise me at all. Well, since I didn’t bring a NIC with me, I decided to just upgrade him to Windows 98 Second Edition and set up a time to install the NIC at a later date. When I finished the upgrade we did have a little trouble getting his modem to work again. Windows kept asking for the drivers for one modem but it really needed them for a different modem. Eventually everything was working and I went home.

We decided to complete the setup last night. I brought a few things with me from some of my old machines including the NIC and some memory. I installed the NIC and memory in no time, but when I put in the new install CD his machine locked up. I rebooted and tried again with the same results. I decided to try the old CD and it seemed to work. When we had almost completed the install we got an error message. I stopped the install and tried again receiving the same error. So, I decided to call the vendor’s support line. The support technician seemed to be a little confused when I gave her the error message. Eventually she told me it was a problem with the PC and I needed to contact my PC vendor for support. Well, what she said didn’t ring true to me. So, I put a DSL router in between the NIC and the vendors DSL modem. I was able to talk to the router from the PC so it wasn’t a hardware issue on the PC side. However, I was not able to get the router to connect through the modem. I told her what I discovered and again she seemed confused. I was beginning to think she didn’t have a clue as to what I was talking about. She then asked me to do a few things on the computer. However, she kept giving me commands that don’t work on Windows 98, but do work on newer versions of Windows. I explained to her about the commands and she really seemed flustered. I then asked to speak to a supervisor and that even upset her more. She finally told me she would transfer me to a supervisor. I was put on hold for more than 45 minutes. When I finally got to the supervisor, I explained what was going on and he seemed to understand. He asked me a few questions and then I heard a click. Yes, he hung up on us. I waited a few minutes. They are supposed to call you back if you get disconnected. At least that is why they claim they ask the number you are calling from and not just the number you are calling about. When I didn’t hear back in a few minutes I called them back. When I finally got through to a technician I explained to her what just happened. She apologized and got me to a new supervisor. He was very helpful and knowledgeable. It turns out that the new CD won’t work with Windows 98 and the old CD won’t work with the new DSL modem they supplied. With his help we got everything working without the router in a matter of a few minutes. We then changed the settings in the modem to work with the router and installed the router. We even tested his new email. We probably spent less than 15 minutes on the phone with the new supervisor. We had already spent more than 3 hours with the other technicians. He also explained to me that it was the first technicians first day on the job and apologized. I installed Firefox and Avast anti virus on my friend’s machine and called it night. Then it hit me. I finally figured out how they got DSL to be as cheap as dial up. It was because the used the money they saved on training their first level support people to lower the cost of the service.

In closing, I would like to offer some advice about internet connections. Windows 98 is no longer being supported. Use a firewall or newer a supported operating system or you could become the target of a hacker. It would be better to do both. Use antivirus software or you will get viruses or worse. There are many good free software packages available on the internet. Just use Google to search for them. Backup any important data you have on your machine on a regular basis. Your machine will not last forever. Sooner or later they almost all break and the backups will come in handy. Lastly, watch what your children do on the internet . Never let young children use the internet unsupervised. There are many software packages that can help, but nothing is better than direct supervision.

Unpopular Decision – Good Choice

2006-10-22T20:38:00.000-04:00

My son is involved in his school musical. A group of the students in the musical planned on going to the movies today. My son wanted to go. When we got all of the details about the movie we decided to no let him go. As you can imagine he was not thrilled. Most of the children going are a year or 2 older than my son. The movie they picked was Employee of The Month. I went to RottenTomatoes.com to check out the movie. Not only was it rated PG-13 (for crude and sexual humor, and language), but it only got a 21%. That came from 56 of the 71 reviews saying it was a bad movie. We did offer him an alternative. We asked him if the other kids wanted to go see Flicka instead. Of course they turned down his suggestion. So, we told him if he wanted we could all go see Flicka instead. It is rated PG (for some mild language). It also got a 55% rating meaning 31 of the 56 reviews said it was good. The movie is a contemporary movie adaptation of Mary O'Hara's beloved novel My Friend Flicka. Well, my son took me up on my offer. We even invited one of his friends. It turns out that the movie was pretty good as both of my children and my son's friend said the movie was good. I even enjoyed the movie. I wasn't happy about the $7 popcorn or the $4.50 small soda, but that is another story. It turns out that our unpopular decision was a good choice.

The Mass of the Early Christians

2006-10-20T11:43:00.000-04:00

I have read another book, The Fathers of the Church, by Mike Aquilina. It inspired me to learn more about the early fathers and how they impacted the Mass. I have just completed the book and I was not disappointed. The book is broken up into 3 parts: How the Mass Began, The Testimony of Witnesses and The Mass of the Early Christians. The book is about 217 pages and many biblical references and excerpted English translations of many ancient texts. The second part is a little difficult for me to follow, but it was made a little easier by my earlier reading of Aquilina’s other book about the Church Fathers.

The first part is about what the Mass was like in general and discusses is origin. The second part, which makes up the vast majority of the book, go into detail about all of the documents and testimony that give us incite into what the Mass was like. It talks about the New Testament, the Didache, and the writing of many Saints. It also uses many others sources including, oddly enough, heretical and legendary texts that actually give us insight into what the Mass was like and support the writings of other more “recognized” sources. It also talks about who was and who was not allowed to attend which parts of the Mass and why. The last part is what I found most intriguing. It gives a short second person account of what it must have been like to be a Christian and attend a Mass in the early years while persecutions still occurred on a regular basis. This account becomes more meaningful after reading the previous parts of the book that are used to make the details of this account accurate. This account gave me a tremendous new respect for the people that suffered to keep the faith alive and available to us today.

Special Post for Fathers and Sons

2006-10-19T18:58:00.000-04:00

As of 10/4 there have been more than 300 murders in Philadelphia. A baby was victim 300. A man from New York was 301. And a 17-year-old teenager was victim 302. On 10/17 a 25 year old was shot and on 10/18 a 21 year old was shot in the neighborhood where I grew up. There are so many it is hard to keep track of the number. Why am I bringing this up? I am bringing this up because I believe that if more fathers played a more active role in the lives of their children this atrocity would not happen.

I ran across a YouTube video today about Dick & Rick Hoyt. Who are they? Their story is inspirational and amazing. This is from their web site. “Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America. It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk.” This is the story of a man who accepted his son as the gift he was. He didn't let his son's disability stand in their way. Here is the link to the video about them.

I think that if more fathers and sons put the kind of effort into their relationship that Dick and Rick have, the number of murders in Philadelphia would be closer to zero. What do you think? How much effort do you make? Do you go to their sporting events? Do you go to their school events including parent teacher events? Do you take them to Church or other religious services? Do you watch what they watch on TV? Do you give them limits? Do you listen to the music they listen to? Do your play their video games? Do you listen to them? Do you put in enough effort into your relationship with you children to make a difference? Do you set a good enough example for your son(s) that they will do the same? Are you being a real man?

Choir Confirmation Practice

2006-10-18T22:12:00.000-04:00

Our parish choir was rehearsing for Confirmation. Approximately 129 children from our parish, including my son, make it at the end of November. We are singing most of the same music as last year with a few changes. In case I haven’t mentioned it before, I sing tenor along with my friends Al and Nancy. Yes, Nancy is a woman. The sad part is that she is a better singer than both Al and I. I will be one of the cantors for the song that the children will sing. It is called “I Say Yes My Lord”. I am really looking forward to this. I will also be playing the drum set for some of the songs. It is one of the rare occasions that we use a drum set during a mass that is not just for teens. There will also be a couple of guitars, trumpets, flutes, piano/organ and maybe even a violin for the actual Confirmation service.

During the practice, I started my 10^th noted twine Rosary. I will probably finish it tonight or tomorrow. I gave one of my completed Rosaries to the Aunt of our choir Director. It was navy blue with a silver crucifix. I hope she likes it. I am getting better at making them. I was actually singing while making the one tonight. If you want to know more about making Rosaries go to the Rosary Army website. I can’t begin to tell you how rewarding it is.

Catholic Family Podcast

2006-10-17T23:04:00.000-04:00

Do you ever wonder what life is like in other Catholic families? Are you looking for a podcast that your young children can listen to? Maybe you are tired of all the negative things you hear about Christianity in the media? If you answer yes to any of these questions you might find the answer in the Catholic Family Podcast. According to the host of the podcast it is about, “Four kids, three dogs, seven cats, four goats, 23 cows, one rabbit, a hamster, and a bird - what more could you ask for? The house is full and so are our hearts. The Catholic Family Podcast is a family-safe podcast about family life with a sprinkling of Catholic teaching thrown in for good measure. Our show is published every week on Sunday.” I have been listening to it for a while now and I always find it heartwarming and entertaining. I especially like the children’s book reviews done by the children. But be forewarned, they have a habit of spoiling the stories during the enthusiastic reviews. They have had some episodes that you may want to review before letting you children listen, especially the ones that deal with Natural Family Planning. I am sure their position on most hot topics would be considered “right wing”, but I would call it more of a Faith and Family first position. The episodes don’t come across as carefully planned productions. They remind me more of having dinner with my own family. Give it a try, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

The Da Vinci Code

2006-10-16T19:15:00.000-04:00

I am guessing this is old news to a lot of people. But I never really understood the big deal about the book The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It was just a work of fiction, just like any other. Just out of curiosity I order the book The Da Vince Hoax: Exposing the Errors in the Da Vinci Code by Carl E. Olson and Sandra Miesel. The book came with a free booklet called Cracking The Da Vinci Code by Jimmy Akin. When I finished reading both I began to understand. Why would Catholics or Christians in general care that much about a work of fiction? A couple of reasons immediately come to mind. First, if the book is true, then all of Christianity is a farce. Secondly, during interviews and on websites the writer of the book seems to deliberately try and lead people to believe that this work of fiction is more fact than fiction. Lastly, the fictional events that take place only in the boo are being talked about and being treated as if they really occurred and it is giving people a false picture of Catholicism and all of Christianity.

The booklet Cracking The Da Vince Code is about 36 pages. It is broken up into three sections.

1. The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction?

2. What the Da Vinci Code Claims.

3. Responding to Fans of The Da Vinci Code.

It gave me enough information to understand what all the fuss was about and to peak my curiosity. Was what the Jimmy Akin was saying really true? When I finished The Da Vinci Hoax I had my answer. The Da Vinci Hoax is over 300 pages of well referenced material. It goes into so much depth and covers so many issues with Dan Brown’s book. If you want to know all the details about all the issue then reading The Da Vinci Hoax is a good way to go. If you just have a casual interest, then try Cracking the Da Vinci Code.

There is another good way to find out more information about the book. You can listen to The Da Vinci Cast hosted by Hosted by Fr. Bill Holtzinger. It is another fine podcast that you can find at SQPN. It is broken down into 4 parts that are each about 30 minutes long.

Chosen 300

2006-10-15T09:09:00.000-04:00

I went to feed the homeless yesterday. It must be over 2 years already since I first started. I was looking for something to do, maybe a service project of some sort. Something to show my children that life wasn’t all about taking and that giving should be an important part of our life. I received a call from my friend Barry. He asked me if I wanted to go “feed the homeless” with him and our friend Terri. I thought this might be the answer. So, I agreed to go with him. We meet at his Church, the Upper Dublin Lutheran Church. We meet up with maybe 20 other people. We packed up his and a few other cars and we left. When we arrived at the mission at 11^th & Spring Garden Sts in Philadelphia, we set up the tables and food. Someone was playing a drum set along with some Christian music while the guests came in and where seated. We all sang a couple songs. There was a reading from the bible followed by a short homily. We then all gave thanks and then the feeding began. My job was to hand out sodas. It was actually a lot more work than I thought it would be. I ended up working up a pretty good sweat. However, I really enjoyed myself. The guests were not what I quite what I expected. I had gone to school in center city for 6 years and I live in Philadelphia for most of my life. So, seeing homeless people was not new to me. The guests were not what I expected them to be. I am not sure what I expected, but they were all kind and respectful. A lot seemed sad and bashful. I tried to speak to each and everyone as they came through the line. I did my best to make choosing a soda a pleasant experience. I don’t really know what they thought, but I did get some of them to smile and respond. I can’t really say if they got any benefit out of my 10 second conversation. What I can tell you is that it was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I am sure that I got way more out of it than I ever expected.

Since then my friend Al, another Catholic like myself, has joined us. And our friend Tom, a Quaker, has joined us when needed. Barry’s church does it the second Saturday of every month. I am sort of a backup for when more hands are needed. I have not done it every month since then, but I have made most of them. My wife and children have all participated on occasion. The motto seems to be “If our efforts have helped the life of one person, it has all been worth the effort”. I am not sure I will ever know if we have been truly successful, but I can tell you that, I have received more from doing this than I could ever put in. If you have never helped out in a situation like this, go ahead and take a chance. Your life will never be the same.

You may wonder why I mention the different religions of the people involved. I think there is something special to be noted here. There are many different denominations of Churches in the, 29 I think, that make up the churches that support the Chosen 300 Ministries. In our little group alone there are at least 3 different religions involved, all working together to do something good. I think this is a good sign. What do you think?

Shower of Heavenly Roses

2006-10-14T09:53:00.000-04:00

On mother’s day of this year (2006), we took my son to Villanova University to receive an academic award. It was rather cold that day. We got lost on our way back to the car. Since school was already out for the summer there where very few people to be found. We eventually ran into a young man loading up his car. We asked him for directions. The directions he gave us seemed reasonable, but after a minute or two I thought we where on our way to another dead end. Just to be sure we kept on going. Eventually we got to a break in the building and we could turn towards the road. Just as we turned we ran into at least a half dozen large rose bushes. They where all covered with beautiful pink roses. It was kind of unusual to see roses in doing so well in such cold weather. I can only guess that they where doing okay because the spot got a lot of sun and all of the bushes where up against the large stone building of the campus. Oddly enough, the roses looked exactly like the ones pictured on the front of the book I had just finished reading a couple of days earlier.

The book is called Shower of Heavenly Roses – Stories of the intercession of St. Therese of Lisieux by Elizabeth Ficocelli. The book is about 200 pages of wonderful stories. There must be over 50 stories about how praying to St Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, had helped people. The stories are grouped into 6 chapters dealing with topics including healing, peace, love and more. I was very moved by many of the stories. The book will not help you gain much insight into how, at 9 years old, Therese knew she wanted to become a Carmelite nun, but you will be uplifted by the tremendous amount of love in the stories. If you will read the book you will understand why I mentioned the story about the flowers at Villanova in the beginning of this post.

St. Katherine Drexel – Friend of the Oppressed

2006-10-13T09:46:00.000-04:00

My Daughter chose Katherine as her confirmation name, so it made me a little curious about the life of this local U.S Saint. I found St. Katherine Drexel – Friend of the Oppressed by Ellen Tarry. Most of the books I have read about Saints spend more time on their words and deeds than on their lives. This is not that sort of book. It is completely about her life and family. It gave me wonderful look into how she lived before her missionary work. After reading the book I felt like I not only knew her, but I could understand how she became such a wonderful person. The book is about 155 or so pages. It talks a lot about how she found her vocation. The book left me in awe of how she could give up so much and then completely give herself away to others. I don’t want to give up too much about this book, because it is a wonderful story and worth taking the time to read.

My parents had taken my daughter to visit the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in Bensalem. They were not really sure where to enter the facility and they actually went to the wrong entrance. The sister that answered the door was very helpful and compassionate to my daughter. They even gave her a tour of the private portion of their facilities. They were so kind to my daughter and gave her a small 2^nd class relic. They are certainly living up to the high standards of their founder.

What Catholics Really Believe

2006-10-12T15:31:00.000-04:00

I always seem to run into people that have many misconceptions about Catholicism. Many of the people use these misconceptions to condemn the Catholic faith and they speak as if they are espousing factual information. Worse yet, many Catholics I run into, have some of the same misconceptions. While I am by no means any kind of expert about the Catholic faith, I often feel compelled to try and undo this misconception or explain what Catholic Doctrine really says. To do this accurately without being preachy or offensive is not easy. So, I keep reading more about the subject. Each book I have read has given me more and easier to understand examples to use when explaining what is really going on.

There are many books written about what Catholics really believe. I just finished reading What Catholics Really Believe: 52 Answers to Common Misconceptions About the Catholic Faith by Karl Keating. The book is broken down into 8 chapters. Each one deals with a different group of misconceptions in the form of questions and answers. For example, the first is about the Church and it teaching authority. The last one is about the spirit world and superstitions. The book starts out with a 10 question quiz. I must admit that I didn’t get all of the questions right. I guess I still have a lot of learning to do. Most answers contain many biblical references to enable further study. The bibliography contains where each answer came from. While, I liked the book and I learned a lot, it is very direct and the answers don’t pull any punches

Catholic: Under the Hood

2006-10-11T22:06:00.000-04:00

It is funny what motivates people to do things. About 18 months ago I read very little about my faith. Then I had agreed to assist someone else, with much more experience than I, teach 6^th grade CCD. All of a sudden I felt that I need to learn more about my faith to become a better teacher. I had gone to CCD as a child and I had attended RCIA classes along with my wife when she converted to Catholicism. I wasn't required to attend the classes, but I wanted to show my support for my wife's decision with more than just words. The rest of my Catholic education came from attending mass, some bible study in college and mostly from what my parents had instilled in all of their children as they raised us.

I have spent the last year and one half reading as much as I can about the faith. This has been helpful and rewarding, but kind of impersonal. I have done a few other things to get it to feel more personal. One has been to get more involved with the activities of my parish. The second has been to listen and subscribe to Catholic podcasts. I have many of them in the links section of my blog. There is one that stands out among the rest as far as explaining about the faith is concerned. It is called Catholic: Under the Hood. The podcast is by Seraphim Beshoner. He is a Third Order Franciscan of the Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. His podcast is very informative and sometimes it is even fun. He goes into a lot of detail on the topics he covers. He is very responsive to questions. I posted a question about blessings and he responded in episode #83. He even discusses current rumors about the Catholic Church and tries to give you the straight scoop. He isn't preachy or judgmental. Whether you are Catholic and trying to improve your knowledge of the faith or just someone interested in what Catholics believe, it is a good place to get answers and learn more.

Can anyone make all seven sacraments?

2006-10-10T21:06:00.000-04:00

This question was asked in our CCD class. The answer is yes. Many Catholics make 6 during their life time. They include Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Marriage and Anointing of the Sick. The missing one is Holy Orders. Since Catholic Priests do not marry, most people think you can only make Marriage or Holy Orders. However, it is possible for a man to become a Deacon while married. If his wife should precede him in death, he can then make Holy Orders. I am not sure if there are any other situations, but I can’t think of any. Can you? Leave me a comment if you can.

Not Your Average Joe

2006-10-09T22:56:00.000-04:00

Not Your Average Joe: The Real St. Joseph and the Tools for Real Manhood in the Home, the Church and the World is written by Rick Sarkisian, PH.D. I can't remember exactly when I read this book, but it was sometime around last spring. I was talking to my wife about all the books I have read lately. She said that this book seems to have had more of an impact on me than most of the others. She described it as my becoming more patient, tolerant and understanding. To affect this kind of change it must be quite an amazing book. While I don't attribute that much to this one book, I do think it has had an impact on me.

In today's day and age a lot is expected of fathers. Many demands are placed on them and the pressure is great to provide more and more for their families. The problem I see is what constitutes "the more". We don't need more things. Most of us don't really need the things that we already have. We often don't even appreciate them. Often times we are blind to the most precious things that we do have.

Sarkisian's book is about 85 pages. It is broken into 3 parts - The Man, The Call and The Mission. Each section within the parts describes some attribute, action or mission of St. Joseph. He then shows us how we should use those examples to behave in our own lives. There are many examples from his life and the lives of others about behaving more like Joseph. He really holds up St. Joseph as an example of what real men should be and need to be to become better fathers, Christians and people. In his conclusion, he confesses that he wrote the book to remind, encourage and motivate him to be more like the man that God wants him to be.

There are a number of valuable references in the appendices including scriptural references, prayers and information about St. Joseph. The book is not written for an audience of scholars and theologians. It is written for men of every walk of life. My wife highly recommends the book for all fathers, husbands and those men who have or are about to become fathers or husbands.

Saintly Advice

2006-10-08T18:57:00.000-04:00

I was in Barnes & Noble just looking around one day and I spotted the book “Saintly Advice”, A Prayer for Every Problem by Staff of The Philip Lief Group, Inc. (Produced by), Judith Capodanno (Editor). It is a list of Patron Saints their prayers, Feast Days, a little story about each Saint and some of their prayers. It is by no means an exhaustive reference. Most of the Saints in the book have a picture of some kind along with them. After reading the book, I realized that a couple of Saints had caught my attention. The first was St. Dympna who is the Patron Saint of Family Happiness. Her Feast Day is May 15^th. There are many other Saints listed in the book. The table of contents lists the saint by the Patronages and the appendix lists them by their Feats Day’s. The book is about 191 pages. While the book is nice for reference, I would not recommend it for young children as it covers a lot of adult topics. The stories are direct and don’t pull any punches about the hardships the Saint endured either.

The reason that I am bringing this up today is because it is my Son’s birthday. We had invited a number of his friends over for a sleepover. We didn’t think much about inviting my son’s cousins because they live so far away. As luck would have it, my brother and his family were going to be in the area the day of the party. When I realized this, I asked him if his children could come. I thought it was a good idea because his son would have fun at the party and his daughter, my God Daughter, could have some fun playing with my daughter. As it turns out, inviting them was the best part of the party and weekend. We were able to have lunch together as a family on Saturday and Sunday. I think someone must have been praying to St. Dympna on our behalf to make this happen.

Amazing Grace For Married Couples

2006-10-06T21:00:00.000-04:00

Anyone reading this blog will discover that I have been reading a lot of books lately. I just finished another book, “Amazing Grace for Married Couples”, by Jeff Cavins, Matthew Pinto & Patti Armstrong. The book is about 12 chapters long. Each chapter is about a different couple whose marriage seems to start out wonderful. All of the couples run into trouble for one reason or another. In all of the marriages one or both of the partners struggle to keep the marriage together only to get to a point where they feel that they have failed. Some of the chapters are from the husband’s point of view and some are told from the wife’s point of view. At least one story is told once from each perspective. All of the couples eventually manage to pull themselves back together with an even stronger commitment then they had before their problems arose. In the end they all feel good about what has happened. A number of the couples end up helping other couples avoid the same issues. All of the stories are true and all of the marriages are ultimately saved, according to the couples, by getting God more involved in their marriage. I am sure that many couples will be able to identify with the problems the couples endured. Some of the stories will really tug on your heart string. I really like and agree with the books message. The book is a very quick read and I had a hard time putting it down once I started reading. The book is part of the “Amazing Grace Series” all published by Ascension Press. I have read a few of the other books in the series and I liked them all.

By What Authority

2006-10-05T16:23:00.000-04:00

In my last post, I was originally going to talk about Mark Shea’s book, “By What Authority: An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition” However, when I was thinking about what to write, I realized that if I hadn’t recently read 2 other books, this book would not have meant as much to me. The first book “The Fathers of the Church” really helped tie together what Shea was talking about in Chapter 8 - Circles and Lines. The second book is not actually a single work, but a collections of works by C.S. Lewis titled “The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics”. The books contained in this collection are referenced a couple of times in Shea’s book. Without the background, that these two books provided, I think I would have missed out on some of the ideas that Shea was talking about in his book.

Shea’s book describes his journey from “Scripture Alone” to accepting “Sacred Tradition”. You get to follow along with him as he researches and discovers his answers. The book is very logical in its approach and well footnoted and researched. He uses many original sources as reference for what he uses in his arguments. Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, it is easy to follow and understand the steps that he takes. While covering many difficult and emotional topics, the book is not judgmental and his opinions are not forced on you. The book is humorous at some points and very light hearted. The book is about 192 pages including the index. It is probably in the top 5 religious/spiritual books that I have read. I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to understand why Catholics believe that “Sacred Tradition occupies a central role in Divine Revelation”.

The Fathers of the Church

2006-10-04T21:10:00.000-04:00

I just finished another book today. I was going to talk about it a little here, but when I started to write about it, I kept thinking about another book. I kept thinking about how it was good that I read The Fathers of the Church, by Mike Aquilina, first. I hadn't read much about my faith until about 18 months ago and this was the first book I read about the people who guarded and preserved the body of the church during the first few hundred years. People like Origen, St. Jerome, St. Polycarp and many others where names that meant very little to me. I had no idea about the struggles they went through and how most of them where martyred. If you would like to learn more about these great men, the first Christian teachers, and get some insight into the struggles of the early church this book is a great start. Maybe tomorrow, I will talk about the other book.

Something Extra to Keep in Touch

2006-10-03T16:04:00.000-04:00

I promised in my last post to talk about the second extra thing I did to keep in touch during the week. I actually pray every Friday between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM for a few minutes. I do this to pray along with people that are involved in a Eucharist Adoration at Fr. Roderick Vonhögen’s parish in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. You can learn more about this by listening to the Daily Breakfast Podcast #136. It makes me feel better to know I am part of this even thought I can’t leave work or actually be in Jesus’ presence. The Daily Breakfast is a wonderful podcast. If you have never listened to it, you should drop everything you are doing and go listen now. It is spiritual, entertaining and educational. Tell Fr. Roderick that I sent you.

Today's Readings

2006-10-02T20:33:00.000-04:00

With my schedule, I never make it to mass on any day other than Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. However, there are 2 extra things I like to do to keep in touch during the week. The first is I have Today's Readings on my Google Home Page. The site provides a great service. It makes it easy for me to read them while I am at work right before or right after lunch. It keeps me in touch even when I am at work and it gives me a few minutes of peace. The feed is provided by AZ Coyote, but the readings come from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In my next post I will talk about the second “extra thing”.

Saint John Joseph of the Cross

2006-10-01T14:39:00.000-04:00

At my parish, the children make their confirmation in sixth grade. My son is making his this year and he is in my class. They are all required to do a report on a saint. It can be the one they have chosen for their confirmation name or it can be any saint they admire. My son was going to use St. Pio, but since he is the class patron saint, he has now chosen St. John Joseph of the Cross. In some ways he is similar to St. Pio, they both had ecstasies and where reported to have bi-located and levitated. However, I think he chose him because his own birth name was John Joseph. While helping my son with the report, I did uncover a quote from him that I really liked. He is reported to have said the following while tapping his forehead, “How do you think that with a bone only three fingers high we should understand the meanings of the designs of God?” It makes me feel a lot better about scripture that I don’t understand. I also found a nice site for children called The Holy Spirit Interactive Kids Zone. You should check it out if you have some time.

I finished my seventh rosary last night. I gave the last two that I made to our transitional Deacon. He is going to give them to people that he teaches how to pray the rosary.

Memo From God - Daily Breakfast #35

2006-09-30T10:39:00.000-04:00

I am now sick. My daughter was sick last week and is still recovering. My son is getting sick. It is only a matter of time before my wife catches the same virus. I can hear her clearing her throat as I type this. The only one who won’t get sick is probably the dog. The school year is now in full swing and our schedules our completely full. With all of the things we are involved in we don’t have time to be sick. While I admit, there are probably many people out there with much busier schedules and greater commitments our schedule seems daunting. This situation reminds me of something I first heard on the Daily Breakfast podcast. It is a memo from God. Father Roderick Vonhögen first played it on DB#35. I think he received this meditation from Sister Janet. I have shared it with many people now. It has been so helpful to me and the people I have shared it with, that I am going to included it here in its entirety. I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.

MEMO FROM GOD

To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: THE BOSS
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE

I am God. Today I will be handling all of your problems. Please
remember that I do not need your help.

If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle,
do not attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something
for God to do) box. All situations will be resolved, but in My time,
not yours.

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by
worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are
present in your life now.

If you find yourself stuck in traffic; Don't despair. There are people
in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; Think of the man who has been out
of work for years.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person
who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; Think of the woman
in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed
her children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance;
Think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that
walk.

Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; Think of the cancer
patient in chemotherapy who wishes she had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all
about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who
didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness,
ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be worse.
You could be one of them!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

2006-09-29T10:04:00.000-04:00

I found a new podcast. It is a new one from LifeTeen.com. It is a quick explanation of the upcoming Sunday readings. It is geared towards teems. If you don’t have a Life Teen service at your parish or would like to help your teenagers get more from the readings and homily it is a great resource. It is only a few minutes long and is produced weekly. The introductory music is a bit loud, but it sure does get your attention. I have subscribed to it and I am going to use it to discuss with my own children. I may also use it with my PREP class if the readings are relevant to what we are doing in class. Check it out if you have the time. Besides, won’t it be nice to have something on their IPODS that is truly good for them? While you are there you may want to check out the rest of their website. There is a lot of useful material and interesting things for teens.

Young Shepherds

2006-09-28T18:12:00.000-04:00

Wednesday night was this first night for the parish children’s choir. They are called the Young Shepherds. The children are from both the parish school and the CCD/PREP program. Kids in 3^rd through 8^th grade can participate. Some older children assist out in various ways. It is amazing how wonderful they sound. My son sings and plays percussion including the xylophone. Any number of children play percussion and a young girl also plays the bells. We also have children that play the clarinet and the saxophone. The woman that runs the choir is just wonderful with the children. She has so much patience and love for them. I hang out and offer my assistance with percussion and anything else they might need. On this night I started making my sixth Rosary. After the kids choir I stay around for the adult choir. I actually sing. I finished the Rosary when I got home.

Star Wars Lego II

2006-09-27T18:41:00.000-04:00

Monday night my son and I beat Star Wars Lego II. It is a great game and is rated E10. There is violence, if you consider shooting Lego characters with a Lego guns that blows them into little Lego pieces. There is no bad language or any dialogue at all. There are many funny outtakes from the movies done with the Lego characters. The most fun part of the game is the co-op mode. This is where you team up to beat the game. It is nice in that you have to work together to win. You can shoot each other by accident or on purpose and that adds a little fun as well. I don't usually let my son play video games on school nights, but I just couldn't resist. I wanted to finish the game as much as he did. It was really nice to do something fun together. Even though we have beaten the game there is a lot more to do to be completely finished. We played the game on PS 2, but it is available on other platforms as well. I highly recommend the game. Especially if you want to have some great parent/child fun.

The Saint Cast

2006-09-26T20:57:00.000-04:00

Tonight was our first class for CCD for the year. A couple of weeks ago each catechist drew a saint name out of a hat to be the class patron saint. I was lucky enough to pick Saint Pio. He was my father’s favorite. My wife picked Saint Frances Cabrini. We will be learning about our saints throughout the year. While there are many resources on the internet to learn about saints, there is one that I would recommend. It is the Saint Cast by Paul Camarata. He creates a weekly podcast about saints. His first podcast back in May was about Saint Pio, also known as Padre Pio. I brought the podcast with me to class with the intention of playing part of it for the class. The first class is always very busy and we ran out of time before I could play it for the class. Hopefully, we will be able to get it in next week.

Answering Kids Questions About Catholicism

2006-09-25T15:24:00.000-04:00

Last year when I began team teaching CCD/PREP I went looking for some books that would help me answer some of the questions the kids where asking. I found 2 really good books. Both of them are by Matthew J. Pinto. The first is "Did Adam & Eve Have Belly Buttons?" and the second is "Did Jesus have a last name?" I found both books to be very interesting and very sound in their answers. I have used them to help answer questions in class and questions my own children have asked. Here are some of my favorite questions.

How can we pray the Rosary and think it is a good thing if Jesus condemned repetitious prayer in Matthew 6:7?
How can the pope be totally infallible? If he is, why does he not win the Lottery?
If Jesus was Jewish, why are we Catholic?

All of the questions in the book were actually asked by children. Their first name and ages are actually listed in the books. I guess if you want to find out the answers you will have to read the books. I am sure you won't be disappointed.

The Real Presence and Teaching CCD/PREP

2006-09-24T11:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I finished reading the book “No Wonder They Call it The Real Presence” by David Pearson. The book is about how Eucharistic Adoration has changed the lives of a number of people. The book is in an interview format and is about 175 pages. The thing I found most interesting about the book was how even when presented with great adversity the people in the book grew closer to God. I would recommend the book.

This morning a friend called me and some how we got to the subject of teaching CCD. She said that she wanted to help at her church somehow but was afraid that she wasn’t knowledgeable enough. I told her that she could start by offering to assist someone else who was teaching a class already. Then while doing this she could read the course book and a few other books to catch up on the doctrine. I also recommended a few books to get her started. The first book I recommended was "Catholicism for Dummies". Then I said she could read "Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart" for some inspiration. Both books are wonderful and have helped me learn more about my own faith. I recommended the Compendium and the Catechism of the Church as reference. I really hope you gets involved. I am sure she would do a great job.

The Rosary Army

2006-09-23T11:59:00.000-04:00

Today I finished making my fourth rosary. I can't begin to tell you the joy I have received from doing this. If you have never done it, you should give it a try. You can find everything you need at the Rosary Army. They have places to purchase materials, directions on how to make them and directions on how to pray them. They also have a wonderful podcast that deals with many issues surrounding their mission and life as a Catholic Family. They will even give you a free rosary for the asking. If you make them, you can even send them back to the Rosary Army and they will give them away for you. I was surprised at the number of people who want rosaries. Once people found out I was making them, the requests came in quickly. Now I am trying to get more people involved in making them. My first one took me more than 2 hours and it was terrible, but it was made with a lot of love. I would recommend watching the video on their site. It helped me get better. Each one I make is better than the last. I am quite pleased with how they turn out now. I have ordered enough material to make 50 more. I am planning on teaching my CCD class how to make them and how to pray them the second half of the year. It would be nice if we could then give them away, but I am guessing the children will want to keep them for themselves.

Why am I doing this?

2006-09-21T12:01:00.000-04:00

I love technology and I love my faith. I am not sure why anyone would ever be interested in what I have to say, but in the slight chance that it might inspire or help someone, I will give it a go.