'God or the Girl'

April fools' joke? I think not [Fox News]..

There is a TV show slated to begin airing on A&E this Easter Sunday that will document the lives of four young men who are discerning whether they are called to the priesthood or to the married life. It would seem that the title is misleading—according to many media sources and interviews with the young men themselves, this show is not so much about 'God' vs. 'Marriage,' but rather a genuine discernment process. One of the show's featured young men says:

"The title of the show is less than appealing to any faithful Catholic," said DeMatte. "It's not a decision between God or the girl. It's a decision between serving God through celibacy or serving God through married life. God is No. 1 no matter what. The title is simply to catch eyes." ( Read more...)

However, I don't think it is a good idea to document and commercialize a vocation story. It would be one thing if someone were to make a video or DVD for vocational discernment promotion (such as the one that we have [STL Office of Vocations] in our Archdiocese). But it's entirely different if the point is to sell television commercials. Perhaps this wasn't what the four young men had in mind, but I'm not too sure I would have approved of my vocation story being publicized on a prime-time TV show. But, what do you think? I only wish this were an April Fools' joke...

Justice for Immigrants

I was forwarded a link to the Justice for Immigrants website today, and it brings up a very important issue—should we, or should we not, offer assistance and citizenship to 'illegal immigrants?' According to Catholic teaching and Christian solidarity, the least we can do is provide them with corporal assistance (food, shelter, etc.). But there are forces at work in our government that might work to make it illegal for even a priest to give food to illegal immigrants under certain conditions, and try to make any 'undocumented' persons leave the country.

Please take a minute and read more about this issue—it has faced our nation many times before, and it is an important issue to familiarize yourself with.

[Updated] 'German-Irish-Italian' (and 'Other') Competition

[Update: I have posted pictures from the competition.]

Yesterday, the Cardinal Glennon College seminarians particiated in the annual 'international' festivities by competing and enjoying food prepared by the Italians. Needless to say, the stakes were high (especially with the Germans gloating about 'their Pope' and all that...), and the games were tough (Volleyball with a large inflatable, a spoon race, a relay race and a trivia quiz (one of the questions was, "Which of the seven dwarves in Snow White is drawn with only one tooth?" Answer: Dopey)), but the 'Italians/Other' team (the team I, a Dutchman/Irishman/German... with a little French thrown in the mix, was on) prevailed in the end.

I have taken many pictures of the event, but I have not yet had the time to organize them and post them on the Internet. I shall do so shortly (within a day or so), and I'll let you know when the pictures are online.

In other news, today was Laetare ("Rejoice") Sunday—the 4th and middle Sunday of Lent—and it is one of only two days during the year when priests are permitted to wear pink rose-colored vestments. Did your pastor 'think pink rose' today?

George Weigel Gives Speech at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary

Last night, George Weigel delivered the eleventh annual Peter Richard Kenrick Lecture. His speech was entitled "01 Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Future: A Global View." Weigel is well-known for his many Catholic writings, especially his biographical work on Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope. He spoke about many issues facing Pope Benedict XVI and our Church today, especially problems facing Europe (such as the rapidly declining birth rate and a lack of religious fervor), and presented ways we can work to overcome these problems.

I have posted pictures from the Kenrick Lecture on my Seminary Website. There is also an audio and video recording of the event, but I'm not sure if or when they will be released on the web...

An Update to the Site

I have been working on a few different things on my websites, and on updating some pictures on the Cardinal Glennon College website. You probably noticed the new navigation bar at the top of this page - I hope that it will serve to unify the websites under the " Life is a Prayer" umbrella better than my past attempts. In the next month, I will try to place that bar at the top of all the different websites I maintain.

Prayer and Fasting

An excellent article on CatholicExchange.com addresses the great grace-giving gifts we have during this Lenten season of prayer and fasting. Indeed, these two spiritual weapons are two of the greatest in a Catholic's arsenal against sin and the Devil. From the article:

Through fasting we can gain that freedom and a deeper spirituality, a greater hunger for God. It is a tool that helps us obtain a closer walk with God. Through God’s grace it has the power to break the effect of concupiscence — the tendency to sin — and brings our flesh under submission. Prayer and fasting are largely overlooked as weapons to conquer addictions. But if you are struggling with persistent sins such as lust or gluttony, fasting is an effective way to help you rid these sins from your life.

( Read more...)

Many Catholics are never taught about the importance and reasoning behind prayer and fasting. In our society, who would even think of denying themselves anything they wanted? If we have food, why not eat it? If we want to spend our time watching TV or browsing the web, why not do that? Lent is a retreat for Catholics—learn to pray (even if it be a simple prayer of faith) and learn to fast (from food and from other things... but be sure to take care of yourself!).

Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary (Transferred from Sunday)

Today is the solemnity of St. Joseph (husband of Mary, foster-father of Jesus). Since he is not only a great example for Catholic priesthood (he was probably the most devoted man (besides Jesus) ever to Jesus and to Mary!), but also one of my patron saints, I thought I'd offer his biography to anyone interested, as well as a picture:

I think it is sad how often Joseph, the man who devoted himself entirely to his family and is a wonderful example of everything a father should be, is overlooked by many Catholics (and non-Catholics). I always try to think of how he must've felt when the angel from God told him to accept Mary as his wife, even though she was already with child. What doubts might he have had? Would I have sacrificed my life for her and for Jesus as Joseph did? He offers strength and unity to all Christian families!

Back At It!

I've returned to the seminary, and I have a few blog items to report:

1. Blogburst in Memory of Terri Schiavo: Blogsforterri.com is hosting a 'blogburst' in memory of Terri Schiavo, who was starved to death during a period of 13 days, ending her life on March 31, 2005. Please pray for the repose of her soul, as well as for all those who were involved in the unjust killing of this woman.
   
2. New Macs can Run Windows XP: The new Intel Macs from Apple have been hacked to be able to run Windows XP. This, in my opinion is awesome news for Apple. I look forward to buying a new Mac sometime in the next two years and being able to run OS X and Windows natively - it will be a great help for multi-platform website testing (among other things)!
   
3. The Evil Squirrel: He has now figured out how to climb the bird feeder pole even with a slinky attached! I don't know what my parents will do next; the squirrel's already gnawed through half of one of the feeders' hangers. I fell over the fence yesterday trying to chase the little rodent, but could not stymie his efforts:

I've been 'digg-ed'

I glanced at my web stats today, and noticed my daily visitors for the week went through the roof on Monday, with over 8,000 unique visitors from digg.com (and 39,000 total on that day)! I'm surprised my .Mac account was able to take that load (there's supposedly a 3 GB/month transfer limit... I hope I don't surpass that this month). The article that was 'dugg' was titled ' how to make a cheap portable greenscreen;' I wrote the article for my Computer Support website. I hope my sites are still up at the end of this month ;-).

More Birds... and the Squirrel

I think it's going to be a great season for the Cardinals...

...both the baseball Cardinals and the flying kind alike! I just wonder why the male cardinals (the bright red ones) don't allow the female cardinals (the mostly greyish ones) more time on the feeders; it seems that the female hardly gets a few seeds before the male will fly in to get her off the feeder!

This morning, I noticed the squirrel was still able to get on the bird feeders—even with the slinky attached so it would slide down if trying to climb up! So I threw a tennis ball at it a few times (I hit it once), but it still came back. Early in the afternoon, I found that it jumped from one of the supports on our patio cover about five feet and landed on top of one of the feeders! Per my Mom's suggestion, I moved the feeders about five more feet into an open area in the yard. I have yet to see another one of the evil squirrels jumping on it...

Later on, I found a lazy morning dove pecking at himself and looking generally 'fat 'n plump' as usual:

Finally, I spotted a starling who doesn't quite understand the concept of 'little perch = little birds':

I love birding in my backyard! It's a fun way to spend a little time relaxing during spring break. I also love spring (it's my favorite season), and hope that the supposed snow coming to St. Louis on Monday misses us.

Finally, I would like to mention that DeathRoe.com is in the final stages of development and testing, and will be getting underway (and online) very soon! I'm excited to see what this site will hold for my generation (the generation that 'survived Roe v. Wade').

Culture Shock

Society says: "The Church is out of touch with society."

Jeff replies: "Society is out of touch with God."

You Know You're Catholic and You're Driving Too Fast When...

I received this in my email today - I thought it was worthy of posting here. (I'm not sure where it's from, but if anyone knows, I'll give credit where credit is due).

The Evil Squirrel

I'm not sure how Squirrels can do the things they do, whether it be jumping ten feet through the air from a roof to a bird feeder (at my Aunt's house) or Climbing up a .5" diameter metal pole to get to a bird feeder (at my house)... but I'd like to be able to do some of the acrobatics that they can do!

Upon arriving home from the Seminary, I noticed a particularly intrepid squirrel that will hang around the bird feeder in my backyard (the same one that I snapped a few nice pictures of during Christmas break), climbing up the pole, eating bird food, getting scared and jumping off (when I knock on the window), then climbing back up again.

I decided to grab my Canon PowerShot S2 IS, and I used the video mode to capture some of the action. Click on the picture to watch a 2 MB video file I made using iMovie.

Sacrifice and Sacrament - Paper on the Eucharist

I have posted the paper I wrote for my Liturgy and Sacraments class, entitled "A Key to the Eucharistic Sacrifice," on my Seminary Website. Click here to read the paper.

In this paper I originally wrote for my Liturgy and Sacraments class at Cardinal Glennon College, I write about the importance of the sacrificial and covenental aspects of the Eucharist, especially in light of what is written in Scott Hahn's The Lamb's Supper.

Spring Break Begins!

Today, the Cardinal Glennon College begins spring break week (we will have no SLU classes next week). Over the course of the next week, I'll be visiting the 'deep south' (Washington, MO—what did you expect? I'm from North County), recording more vocal tracks for the Priestie Boyz' upcoming album, Lost in Ecstasy, and spending some time relaxing and catching up on my reading.

If you know someone I could spend a little time praying for over break, let me know!

I will be posting a few more entries this weekend, as well as a paper I've been working on, dealing with the themes of Sacrifice, the Last Supper and Holy Mass.

The Cubicle: The Indestructible Office Space

I noticed this article about the history of the cubicle on Fortune's website, and thought it was interesting enough to post a link here. The cubicle's inventor tells us that he didn't intend for the cubicle to turn into a 'cubeville' ( Dilbert terminology), but rather a creative workspace. Little did he know!

New Radar Display on National Weather Service Website

Before going to bed, I typically check the weather forecast and radar image for the next day. Tonight I noticed the National Weather Service has radically improved the radar display (especially for the 'maps in motion' radar) on their website. It's worth a look - I like this radar much better than the Weather.com or AccuWeather.com radars, which are both full of ads and are sometimes too small.

But, you ask, "Why is he posting something about weather radar?" Well, let's just say I'm crazy about the weather, and I love checking up on what's happening in the atmosphere! (I'm even enrolled in a meteorology class this semester). Storms, clouds, the sun, the rain—all these weather-related things help to show the power and glory of God (in my humble opinion!).

Forty Hours Devotion at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary

Picture of exposition during 40 Hours at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary

This weekend, we have been participating in the 40 hours devotion at the Seminary. The Eucharist is exposed for 40 hours throughout the weekend (day and night), and reposed during Masses. In the United States, the 40 Hours Devotion has an interesting history:

"The first to hold [40 hours] devotions with any degree of regularity was Bishop John Nepomucene Neumann of Philadelphia. In 1857 Archbishop Patrick F. Kenrick obtained from Pius IX the modifications which are in use in the United States. A plenary indulgence is granted to all persons who, being truly contrite and having received the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, visit a church in which the exposition is held on one of the three days and pray there for the intentions of the Holy Father."

( Source)

*Note: The Archbishop Patrick F. Kenrick mentioned above is not the same as the ' Archbishop Kenrick' (Peter Richard Kenrick) who was in St. Louis - interestingly, though, they are brothers, and both immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in the first half of the 19th century.

Pope Gets an iPod

I was emailed this news story this morning. Perhaps I should visit Vatican Radio with my cassock and surplice on, and see if they do the same for me (then I could listen to the Vatican Radio podcast on the iPod)!

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A group of Vatican Radio employees gave Pope Benedict XVI a brand new iPod nano loaded with special Vatican Radio programming and classical music.

(Read more...)