Socialism in Catholic Social Teaching

I have read it all too often that Catholic Social Teaching is just socialism in religious garb.  I disagree.  Both those Catholics who insist on supporting socialist solutions to social problems AND those who would label Catholicism as socialism have based their positions on a flawed and selective reading of those Papal Encyclicals that make up the bulk of the documentation of Catholic doctrine. So I have made a selection of quotes from those documents.  These do not negate the admonition that as Christians we are to consider others needs and especially take care of those who cannot work such … Continue reading

Paul Ryan & Catholic Social Teaching

This morning my husband came in all excited by something he had read online.  While the reading online is not unusual, his excitement was indeed unusual. This left me with the task of doing my own reading online to catch up so as to have some clue about what had my unflappable husband so excited. I began where he told me to begin. I started out with Instapundit. I don’t think I actually figured out which article he meant for me to read, but I followed a link to a C-Span of Paul Ryan giving a speech about the budget … Continue reading

Ordinary Goodness: No Lettuce Salad

My husband loves salads.  The other day I had lots of nice roma tomatoes, half an onion, perhaps two teaspoonfuls of capers, a couple handfuls of calamata olives, part of an avocado, and perhaps two pounds of diced up nicely seasoned pot roast leftovers. I did not have any lettuce. Creating a salad from these ingredients to feed the hungry comes under the umbrella of my vocation. Writing about my no lettuce salad comes under that umbrella too. Here is how I tackled making my salad: For each person, I cut up two tomatoes, a little bit of onion, a … Continue reading

Catholic Conferences Galore!

August 28-31 is a cluster of Catholic Conferences in Arlington Texas. This is an opportunity for expanding one’s understanding of one’s vocation.  I blog and write, so this conference cluster that includes both the Catholic Writers’ Guild Conference and the Catholic New Media Conference is a rich opportunity. The Catholic Marketing Network (CMN) Trade Show begins with an education day on August 28, and the Trade Show floor closes at 1 PM on August 31(CMN Schedule). This is a business oriented conference and shares quite a few speakers with the CNMC. The Catholic New Media Conference (CNMC) begins August 29 … Continue reading

Mother Angelica’s Influence On My Writing

“You want to do something for the Lord…do it. Whatever you feel needs to be done, even though you’re shaking in your boots, you’re scared to death — take the first step forward. The grace comes with that one step and you get the grace as you step. Being afraid is not a problem; it’s doing nothing when you feel afraid.” — Mother Angelica Over at the National Catholic Reporter, Jennifer Fulwiler’s article on what she learned from Mother Angelica resonated with me. Years ago, my spiritual life had stalled.  The evangelical church I attended had invited a charismatic potential … Continue reading

Nine Very Good Posts and a Catholic Conference

The Chant Cafe had a marvelous post titled Doing Something About It rather than merely complaining about a problem. VERY GOOD.  In this case, it is about the music for Mass and the persons who are working hard to DO SOMETHING about the problem rather than just complaining about it.  In particular, I found the upcoming Words With Wings interesting and exciting.  I hope to get this when it comes out so that I can use it in my home school efforts. House Unseen, Life Unscripted, is a blog I very much enjoy so when I saw the article Why … Continue reading

Prayer Request

Attacks Growing Worse against Bishop Jenky for THIS SERMON. Pulpit Freedom is a 1st Amendment movement. Pray for our leaders; All our leaders. Dear Lord, please protect and support our Bishops, especially those singled out for their proclamation of TRUTH. Thank You for these men of courage and grace. Please have mercy on all the members of Your body and grant us more Bishops who will boldly stand for the teachings of Your Church.  Please defend Your bride. Amen. … Continue reading

HomeSchool and Parent Conference

I am disappointed that I was unable to attend the Catholic Home School Curriculum Fair this weekend as I had intended. This Fair is the work of Immaculate Heart of Mary Homeschool and Parent Conferences, and co-hosted by ARCH, and University of St. Thomas. (ARCH=Apostolate of Roman Catholic Homeschoolers which serves the diocese of Houston-Galveston) I am doubly unhappy about having missed two talks by Joseph Pearce whose books grace my shelves and whose work I find edifying. Oh well, one doesn’t get to choose when a stomach bug will come along to mess with one’s plans and I am … Continue reading

Bishop Jenky’s Incredible Homily

This is an INCREDIBLE HOMILY. I love the witness to the Truth of our Catholic Faith with which he begins: The disciples never expected the resurrection. The unanimous testimony of all four Gospels is that the terrible death of Jesus on the cross entirely dashed all their hopes about Jesus and about his message. He was dead, and that was the end of it. They looked for nothing more, and they expected nothing more…. And they were clearly terrified that his awful fate, at the hands of the Sanhedrin and the Romans, could easily become their awful fate. So they … Continue reading