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 Are Homeschooled Kids so Annoying by the same author, I just had to read it and was quite glad I did. I like her take on the freedom home school permits to those kids whose interests, creativity and general uniqueness gets them harassed at regular school and how this home school freedom benefits them into adulthood. LIKE!
Planned Parenthood Celebration Jolted by Abortion Survivor by Ted Harvey is an uplifting story of people doing the right thing and acting as scripture tells us, “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves.” [Matthew 10:16] My eyes filled with tears as I read this moving story. THIS is a moment worthy of the great Saint Thomas More. I pray for our legislators who work to make this country a good place for ALL of us, not just a few.
Evangelical leader Chuck Colson has passed away and Powerline had this blog article about him. He was instrumental in the Manhattan Project and other ministries. Here is a look at an archival footnote involving Chuck Colson before “Colson’s mid-life conversion to Christianity sparked a radical life change that lasted the remainder of his life.” from the wikipedia via a comment. His change of life due to conversion to Christ is an example of just how much God can change anyone willing to receive God’s grace. He changed his choices and reached for virtue and service to Jesus Christ. No, he was not a Catholic and I did not agree with some of his theology, but he did some good work. May he rest in peace.
Women and Guns is another topic of interest to me. I like tools; guns are a tool that can be used for self defense against a larger and more aggressive attacker. Will More Women Gun Owners Change the Face of Second Amendment Advocacy? is an article on the topic of women and guns. There are links from there to other articles on the same topic.
Over at the Integrated Catholic Life there is a good post about answering the Five Common Protestant Objections to the Sacrament of Confession. The author did a good job.
Granola Catholic has some good stuff to say about how Kids Need Playtime. I totally AGREE. It is very important for kids to have playtime. I loved the picture of her child in the dog crate. To a kid, ANY space like that is perfect for imaginative play. We adults are OK when it is a cardboard box or a table with a blanket hanging down, but get rather uptight at a child adopting a dog crate. I’ve seen kids use dog crates before and they seemed to get a LOT of play value out of a dog crate (oh the uses we used to find for the kennels my Dad built for our dogs fabulous memories of my childhood play). Kids see possibilities where grownups often only see a cage.
Mother Earth News has a nice Inexpensive mini-green house that might do well for summers at high elevation with cool climate or winters in a warmer climate to grow nice veggies for the salad lover. I like the size because it isn’t intimidating.
Introverts are often marginalized by our cultural inclination to prefer extroverts. In Praise of Introverts and Depressives begins with Samuel Johnson who was highly admired but inclined to depression and continues with commentary about the value of introverts to society. An old college chum, an introvert, wondered as he shared this article that if introverts were more valued in the Church would there be the issues of young people leaving the Church? I thought it interesting and well worth recommending. Personally, there is a book referenced in the second part of the article that I will buy very very soon. I also found the idea of application to church issues in reflecting on this article intriguing. The author of the book I want is the gal in this video:
CONFERENCES! Catholic New Media (blogging!), Catholic Writer’s Guild (all sorts of Catholic writers) and Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show (Business oriented, publishing, gifts, other Catholic businesses) are all happening together this fall! I’m all a-twitter about this opportunity and most likely will sign up for two of the conferences so I can pick and choose among all the speakers. If you are Catholic, write, blog, or wish to run a successful Catholic business, this conference and trade show might be a good career move.