… and these Thy gifts …

I have no words of my own, as my heart is still too full to speak, but I echo Jennifer’s:

So I don’t understand, but I will hope right along with you. I will have faith, the same faith I’ve always had, not a new one brought about by this one human man. I will teach my children to pray. I will teach my children to cherish and protect the newest of lives and those that are not so new, but just as precious. I will teach them to conserve, starting with our own backyard and our own consumption. I will educate my children. I will teach them to love one another [snip]. My family and I will financially support those in the world who live in poverty, just as we always have.

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More than anything this election, this is what truly saddens me.

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The End of Feminism from Genevieve Kineke, author of The Authentic Catholic Woman

More Catholic than the Pope … it’s almost funny.

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Sounds like kids bickering, doesn’t it? Quite familiar with that here in our home… however, this time it’s

Biden and Pelosi vs. the US Bishops.

I don’t get it. Church teaching is church teaching. There are things that are non-negs. This is one of them. You either follow the Magisterium or you’re basically your own pope. Why are they insisting that they’re right on this one? Reminds me of the arguments some people have made. I don’t know why people cling to the Catholic name when they could just renounce Catholicism (not that we want them to, but that they COULD if they really wanted to) so they don’t have to follow its teachings….

The one good thing I can see about this, is that things are brought to light that may not have been brought to light had this not happened. Perhaps other people are benefiting from the very vocal response from the Bishops. Perhaps people who have wondered before about why the Church teaches what She teaches, or what it all means, or how Catholics should really think and act are now getting quite an education. Maybe Biden and Pelosi are the catalysts for something bigger coming…. For a long time it’s been disheartening just how many people don’t get what the Catholic Church is all about. And many of them hate what they don’t know. The biggest blessing that could come out of this IMO is that people who didn’t know before may now have a greater understanding of why we believe what we believe. Whether that brings them to the fold or not is up to God’s grace, but I for one am happy that there’s clarification. Surely something good will come out of this.

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Chapter 1 Vocabulary list for Migi, 9:

Portuguese
armory
entertaining
magistrate
beautiful
laughter
doublet
fierce
flourishing
Saracens
ancestor
possessions
murmured
accounts
cathedral
question
courtyard
roused
attention
deceived

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I’ve just been away for a few days from my reader, and now I’m back there is a ton of catch-up reading to do.

Thank you for your prayers, everyone. The ER trip yesterday was short and sweet (3 1/2 hours, including waiting time!) — thank goodness I was not confined; just given 2 bags of fluids and sugar to give me a boost, and 2 prescriptions that already have helped tremendously. I’m still experiencing nausea, but more tolerable than the past 5 days. At least I’m able to fight it off better. It also helps that my fabulous mom is here to help out.

So anyway, enough about me… I’m here to share some links:

For Aisa, who I believe is still reading Fabiola:
from Tea at Trianon

Why Men Don’t Court Women Anymore
Comment: Southern men (US, I mean) and properly-trained Filipinos — seem to be the last remaining bastion of chivalry. I am very thankful courtship was still very much alive when dh courted me, or at least in our generation it seemed that way. In our small group of friends which included 3 other Filipino men, ALL of them courted their would-be wives. Maybe one of these days I’ll write how it was to be courted Filipino-style in modern-day America.

I am so tempted to print out copies of this and leave them anonymously all over our Parish…. (on dressing modestly for Mass)

When do we get one of these here in Ohio? Methinks a looooong while, as it’s a bit too progressive here. My response to the complainers: What, don’t you have enough anti-life pharmacies to begrudge the pro-life folks their own??? It’s not like you couldn’t drive down a few blocks to the nearest one. From what I can tell online, Chantilly, VA isn’t exactly the boondocks.

So many great crafty ideas!!! I followed the link from Kim who originally got it from Amy. Now that I have hope of having more than a few minutes each day of feeling good enough to drive and go around, a trip to Michael’s to finally stock up on summer crafty things should be just the thing to combat the kids’ summer boredom. (Tho’ not Aisa’s, who’s hoping to finish all her requirements to graduate from high school in August!!)

LOL. I clicked because I thought it was a recipe — Domenico Bettinelli is a fellow foodie — and I’m looking for some salads to round up Aisa’s graduation party menu in a few months. I got a cute story instead :).

He also wonders if one can copyright a recipe. Since this is an issue several Filipino food bloggers have had to contend with including myself — too many that we even had to put up a one-time blogging event to call attention to the problem back in ‘05 — I put in my .02.

Oh, so, so true. (on clutter)

Why Communion on the Tongue?

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Disclaimer: I know this is a controversial post. I am not looking to begin a debate about any of the issues. I am simply compiling these links and excerpts within to present the facts to my daughter, who is at the aqe (17) where she needs to think more deeply on these things. The conscience of a Catholic is between him/her and God. However, as a Catholic parent it is my duty to help form my children’s consciences. However they use their consciences when the time comes is up to them. I will not be in the voting booth.

Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion — General Principles
by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Important points:

From #1. The practice of indiscriminately presenting oneself to receive Holy Communion, merely as a consequence of being present at Mass, is an abuse that must be corrected.

Reverence for the Eucharist is paramount. This is Jesus that we receive at the altar. It is not some wafer that we partake of without looking at our worthiness to do so. We should be coming to the altar with clean hearts and clean souls, knowing that we are in full communion with Christ and His Church.

From #2. This cooperation can never be justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it.

This answers your question about some of your friends’ beliefs, Ais. We can respect and tolerate everyone’s beliefs. We do not have the right to force our opinions on them. But that doesn’t mean we express this respect and tolerance by going against what is the very grain of OUR belief. We cannot vote based on respect for someone else’s concept of freedom.

Everyone has the right to drive a car, provided they’ve got a license. That doesn’t mean we should all be free to run over people anytime we want to. With freedom comes responsibility. True freedom only comes when we operate within the rules. Freedom on the highway doesn’t mean you can drive any direction at any speed you choose. Freedom means following the rules, making it safe for everyone and not just a select few.

From #3. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.

Dad and I don’t agree on the war. He doesn’t agree with the Pope 100% on this matter, but that doesn’t make Daddy a bad Catholic. However, on the issue of abortion, we do not (cannot, will not) go against the teachings of the Church. The Church is unequivocal about abortion and euthanasia being an EVIL, and rightly so. God giveth and God taketh away. We have no right to put an ending to what the Author of Life has penned. It is not our story to tell.

A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.

Now you get to compare Obama and McCain’s voting record. (pdf file)

We were talking about the “lesser of two evils” question. Here’s an excerpt from another LifeSite article (Can Catholics Who Vote for Obama Still Receive Communion?) that speaks to this:

As Bishop Rene Henry Gracida, of Corpus Christi Texas, explained in September 2004: “Consider the case of a Catholic voter who must choose between three candidates: Kerry, who is completely for abortion on demand, Bush, who is in favor of very limited abortion, i.e., in favor of greatly restricting abortion and Peroutka, a candidate who is completely against abortion but who is universally recognized as being unelectable. The Catholic can vote for Peroutka, but that will probably only help ensure the election of Kerry. Therefore the Catholic voter has a proportionate reason to vote for Bush, since his vote might help to ensure the defeat of Kerry and might result in the saving of some innocent human lives.”

I think the answer is quite clear.

Additional info:

Something that may be useful to you if you decide to write a paper on Planned Parenthood and Margaret Sanger: Margaret Sanger would have loved Barack Obama by Clenard Childress (a non-Catholic, BTW)

And an article that tackles why some Catholics support Obama: Roman Catholics for Obama ‘08 by Paul Kengor

Lastly, don’t forget this: Obama’s Abortion Bombshell: Unrestricted Abortion Over Wishes of Individual States a Priority for Presidency

09/21/08, Edited to add:
Is it a sin to vote?

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