McBlogging Again

Well, I am back to the regime of McBlogging. Except, at this one, there is no McCafe, which hurts. I am avoiding gluten bread and gluten fries (see other sites on this fact), therefore my choices are somewhat limited.

Vanilla shake with no cherry or whip-cream today. Sigh.

My favorite Mac was in St. Julian's, Malta. The one near Tyburn was cool as well, as one could stay and blog happily without bother.

If I do not answer notes or comments quickly, you all understand why.....Mac is not doing well, as people are eating healthier and the lack of gluten free items is a problem. Also, I have been in Mac were the staff is positively rude.

Interesting that there is an article today on the growing unpopularity of Mac.

With 36,000 outlets in over 100 countries, McDonald's has been under pressure from falling customer traffic and revenues for two years, due to a range of challenges including changing consumer tastes and more agile rivals with ostensibly healthier menus.
http://news.yahoo.com/sinking-us-sales-hit-mcdonalds-earnings-q1-131608168.html;_ylt=AwrC1ChB0DdVimYATF3QtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByZnU4cmNpBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM5BHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--

25% of Americans are eating gluten-free. GMOs have been poisoning us for years and now there is a backlash from the public. I have begun trying this when I can afford it, as I been having eating difficulties ONLY since returning to the States. ONLY!

Interesting... above statistic is from here...http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/18/dining/gluten-free-eating-appears-to-be-here-to-stay.html?_r=0

Wood in The Bread

Bloggers, including me, who are real in facing current situations, have taken flack. The greatest Catholic blogger, Fr. Z., also has those in his com box who simply are in denial about the pending crisis in Catholic life.

Jeremiah faced the same problem I do with telling people things will get bad very fast and most ignore or even trash me.

Jeremiah's own town people wanted to kill him as they were upset with his prophecies.

When someone is trying to help by bringing people back to God NOW, and those people respond by calling you names, go figure. I think too much GMO is wood in the bread....greed is a vice. Here is a site on real wood in bread. https://www.mainstreet.com/slideshow/10-brands-put-wood-their-food
and http://www.celestesbest.com/blog/wood-in-gluten-free-bread-dow-wellence-commercial-/9554d656-e625-5746-bd7f-53c1c86072d8

Jeremiah 11:18-20Douay-Rheims 

18 But thou, O Lord, hast shewn me, and I have known: then thou shewedst me their doings.

19 And I was as a meek lamb, that is carried to be a victim: and I knew not that they had devised counsels against me, saying: Let us put wood on his bread, and cut him off from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more.

20 But thou, O Lord of Sabaoth, who judgest justly, and triest the reins and hearts, let me see thy revenge on them: for to thee I have revealed my cause.

and...

Jeremiah 13 Douay-Rheims 

13 Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and get thee a linen girdle, and thou shalt put it about thy loins, and shalt not put it into water.

2 And I got a girdle accoding to the word of the Lord, and put it about my loins.

3 And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying:

4 Take the girdle which thou hast got, which is about thy loins, and arise, and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.

5 And I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me.

6 And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said to me: Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from thence the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there.

7 And I went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle out of the place where I had hid it: and behold the girdle was rotten, so that it was fit for no use.

8 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

9 Thus saith the Lord: after this manner will I make the pride of Juda, and the great pride of Jerusalem to rot.

10 This wicked people, that will not hear my words, and that walk in the perverseness of their heart, and have gone after strange gods to serve them, and to adore them: and they shall be as this girdle which is fit for no use.

11 For as the girdle sticketh close to the loins of a man, so have I brought close to me all of the house of Israel, and all the house of Juda, saith the Lord: that they might be my people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

12 Thou shalt speak therefore to them this word: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine, and they shall say to thee: Do we not know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?

13 And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings of the race of David that sit upon his throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. with drunkenness.

14 And I will scatter them every man from his brother, and fathers and sons in like manner, saith the Lord: I will not spare, and I will not pardon: nor will I have mercy, but to destroy them.

15 Hear ye, and give ear: Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken.

16 Give ye glory to the Lord your God, before it be dark, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains: you shall look for light, and he will turn it into the shadow of death, and into darkness.

17 But if you will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride: weeping it shall weep, and my eyes shall run down the tears, because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive.

18 Say to the king, and to the queen: Humble yourselves, sit down: for the crown of your glory is come down from your head.

19 The cities of the south are shut up, and there is none to open them: all Juda is carried away captive with an entire captivity.

20 Lift up your eyes, and see, you that come from the north: where is the flock that is given thee, thy beautiful cattle?

21 What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? for thou hast taught them against thee, and instructed them against thy own head: shall not sorrows lay hold on thee, as a woman in labour?

22 And if thou shalt say in thy heart: Why are these things come upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity, thy nakedness is discovered, the soles of thy feet are defiled.

23 If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots: you may also do well, when you have learned evil.

24 And I will scatter them as stubble, which is carried away by the wind in the desert.

25 This is thy lot, and the portion of thy measure from me, saith the Lord, because thou hast forgotten me, and hast trusted in falsehood.

26 Wherefore I have also bared my thighs against thy face, and thy shame hath appeared.

27 I have seen thy adulteries, and thy neighing, the wickedness of thy fornication: and thy abominations, upon the hills in the field. Woe to thee, Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean after me: how long yet?

Remember, John Mark, or Mark, the First Evangelist, left his loincloth in the hands of a temple soldier in the Garden of Gethsemane...symbol, perhaps, of the coming Passion and real deliverance of the People of God, who ignored Christ as the True Messiah..A good Jew would recall the Jeremiah passage reading this later on.

Mark 14:51-52Douay-Rheims

51 And a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and they laid hold on him.

52 But he, casting off the linen cloth, fled from them naked.

Landmark on This Blog

I am heading towards a landmark--10,000 posts.

The number with this one is 9,992.

All for the glory of God and for the Church, for you, Dear Readers.

Thoughts on my own birthday

St. Genevieve, Patroness of Paris from Wiki

When one is young, one does not think of age. At least I did not. When one is middle-aged, one begins to think of age, sometimes. I guess according to American standards, I am still middle-aged, but approaching the end of that category.

Where old age begins is an interesting question. I do not feel old.

My parents, who have been married 67 years today, are old. Dad is 91 and Mom 85 for a few more days, when she turns 86. Now, I think it is fair to say that they are old. They do not act old and spend many days having lunch at Panera's. They still live in the family home and are extremely independent.

I was born on their first wedding anniversary, thereby spoiling a good time. I was a month early, as most of us were in our family.  By the way, if one would buy 1949 Moet & Chandon Brut to celebrate my parent's anniversary and my birthday, one would have to go to Holland and put out about 400 Euros for the bottle. A Bollinger from the same year is much less expensive.

For my life, I am truly grateful. God has and is very good to me. My life has not been what I had anticipated or planned. I thought I would be married for a long time, continue my career as a college instructor in a domestic, stable life, taking care of my rose garden, creating a bird sanctuary, writing the great novel still in my head, writing more poetry, writing more dramas. painting with oils, acrylics and water colors and cooking for anyone who walked through the door. I was told I was not medically able to have children because of serious health issues, but God gave me a wonderful son, a gift almost miraculous, and for whom I am very grateful. Children change our lives for the better, absolutely. He changed my life.

Never did I intend to stay in the Midwest, as most Iowans leave after getting one of the best educations in the world, whether Catholic or secular. Emigration from Iowa is well-known. Having said that, two of my siblings live in state and one, like me, does not.

I am the oldest of eight, four of whom died. My sister Beth Ann, and an unnamed, but baptized boy, are in heaven. The other two are in God's mercy. Three brothers, all smarter and way more successful than I am, are younger, but we are all Boomers.

As I think of my life, I am happy in my friends. God has been generous in giving me wonderful Catholic friends of all ages, and wonderful non-Catholic friends of all ages. I treasure them all even though we may live thousands of miles apart. My friends are my family. Most of my friends are either much older than I am or much younger, which is interesting. I have only two friends about my age.

As those ancestors of mine lived to be very old, in their mid to late nineties. I have a good chance of being ancient as well. But, perhaps not. God alone knows our day of leaving this earth, and all we can do is be ready.

Today, I want to thank my Dear Readers for enriching my life in so many ways. I am more intelligent, happier, stronger, and hopefully, spiritually better, because of YOU.

When I started this blog, it was for a handful of students. Little did I imagine that readers from most countries in the world would find this blog.

Thank you! You deserve a piece of cake, but as I am not having any, just pretend. At home, we always got to choose our dessert for our birthday, and I always chose Boston Cream Pie, which my mother makes like a chef. So, here is our virtual dessert for the day.

And, happy feast of St. Genevieve, after whom I was almost named, but (imo, thank God), was not.

I cannot imagine being SupertradGen, but I do love France. St. Genevieve lived to be old, somewhere between 79 and 93. Her prayers saved Paris from Attila the Hun. Very cool.

My birthday pressie to myself is to turn on the electric-meter-heater-monster.

I share a birthday with J. R. R. Tolkien, Mel Gibson, Pola Negri, Sergio Leone, Stephen Stills, Michael Schumacher, (God heal him), and various others. There are many saints whose feast day is today, mostly martyrs, bishops, abbots, virgins, and one, Daniel of Padua, patron saint of women whose husbands are away at war-something to keep in mind in these troubled times. Several of the saints for January 3rd are either French or ended up in France, which is where I shall be sometime this month in order to celebrate Robbie Burns Night with some ex-pats! Of course, I shall tell you all about it, and about the haggis, which I actually like to eat.  I have made Cock-a-leekie soup many times myself, and I am looking forward to listening to the addressing of the haggis. Here is the text, translated, just in case you cannot wait until January 25th.

Fair and full is your honest, jolly face,
Great chieftain of the sausage race!
Above them all you take your place,
Stomach, tripe, or intestines:
Well are you worthy of a grace
As long as my arm.
The groaning trencher there you fill,
Your buttocks like a distant hill,
Your pin would help to mend a mill
In time of need,
While through your pores the dews distill
Like amber bead.
His knife see rustic Labour wipe,
And cut you up with ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like any ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm steaming, rich!
Then spoon for spoon, the stretch and strive:
Devil take the hindmost, on they drive,
Till all their well swollen bellies by-and-by
Are bent like drums;
Then old head of the table, most like to burst,
'The grace!' hums.
Is there that over his French ragout,
Or olio that would sicken a sow,
Or fricassee would make her vomit
With perfect disgust,
Looks down with sneering, scornful view
On such a dinner?
Poor devil! see him over his trash,
As feeble as a withered rush,
His thin legs a good whip-lash,
His fist a nut;
Through bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit.
But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his ample fist a blade,
He'll make it whistle;
And legs, and arms, and heads will cut off
Like the heads of thistles.
You powers, who make mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill of fare,
Old Scotland wants no watery stuff,
That splashes in small wooden dishes;
But if you wish her grateful prayer,
Give her [Scotland] a Haggis!

Perfection Series VIII Part XII Know your religion....

 A few bullet points from Raissa, from 1919:

• True prophecies need no dates or times, as God is outside of time and He sees all. Therefore, we should not get caught up in specifics, but in the message which God wants to convey-repentance.
• Raissa notes, in 1919, that the world has gone mad with consumerism, relativism, and determinism-her excellent discernment uses these very words. 
• She notes that civilization since the Renaissance, has moved away from seeing the city as the City of God, and therefore, men move farther away from God, towards money and comfort.
• The only thing which can save civilization and renew the Church, is "intelligence enlightened by faith". I feel totally justified in my own efforts on this blog to help Catholics think, and think like Catholics. To ignore the intellect is to doom us all to decay and more "madness", as Raissa notes.
• One must admit it will be the few who will pray and enter into a relationship with God, thereby renewing others. Such was the role of the saints, and such is our role, the role of the remnant.
• Raissa states that curiosity is NOT seeking the truth among students, and may I add, many Catholics who are adults. She writes, "The person who loves truth, seek to know the first causes, an ultimate knowledge beyond which one cannot go. ....I have always had the keenest desire to know the ultimate truths, not being able to base my life on uncertainties, not being willing to base it on feelings uncontrolled by reason."
• I could be writing that last paragraph ....and to all who follow emotion and experience rather than knowledge.
• Holiness increases true knowledge.
• Wisdom, proper to truth, leads to detachment.

She adds that man must go to meet God "by searching for truth" , which is why the Dark Night, I add, is so important, because only in that time of purification do we see ourselves as we really are.

Another thought from this section--she quotes Pascal; "Truth is so obscured in these days and falsehood so entrenched that unless one loves the truth once cannot recognize it."

I think of Pilate-asking "What is truth?" when Truth was standing right in from of him.

He could not see it as he did not love the truth.

Raissa writes this cry from the heart--"Know your religion, Catholics, know your greatness."

I have tried to teach all of you on this blog...to know your religion, know the truth, know your greatness. There is a deep pain in me when I realize that I have not been able to share truth with those I love the most. Such a sadness is part of the detachment God demands from me-to not be able to love those I love in truth, to be denied the opportunity to show these loved ones their own greatness.

to be continued...

A Good Blog To Read And A Great Article

http://www.onepeterfive.com/groveling-before-the-world-self-respect-and-the-new-evangelization/

If you remember, Jonathan was a guest writer on this blog a few years ago.

Writers on Writing

Now, I did teach some of G.K.Chesterton's essays when I taught at university a long time ago, but I never wanted to imitate his great and unique style. Writers have to cope with many issues when writing, and style is part of both training and temperament.

I want to share a short section from his book on Twelve Types. Many of you will know this book already. This section is about Robert Lewis Stevenson, who I consider a truly great writer.

Stevenson’s new biographer, however, cannot make any allowance for this deep-rooted poetry of mere sight and touch.  He is always imputing something to Stevenson as a crime which Stevenson really professed as an object.  He says of that glorious riot of horror, ‘The Destroying Angel,’ in ‘The Dynamiter,’ that it is ’highly fantastic and putting a strain on our credulity.’  This is rather like describing the travels of Baron Munchausen as ‘unconvincing.’  The whole story of ‘The Dynamiter’ is a kind of humorous nightmare, and even in that story ’The Destroying Angel’ is supposed to be an extravagant lie made up on the spur of the moment.  It is a dream within a dream, and to accuse it of improbability is like accusing the sky of being blue.  But Mr Baildon, whether from hasty reading or natural difference of taste, cannot in the least comprehend the rich and romantic irony of Stevenson’s London stories.  He actually says of that portentous monument of humour, Prince Florizel of Bohemia, that, ’though evidently admired by his creator, he is to me on the whole rather an irritating presence.’  From this we are almost driven to believe (though desperately and against our will) that Mr Baildon thinks that Prince Florizel is to be taken seriously, as if he were a man in real life.  For ourselves, Prince Florizel is almost our favourite character in fiction; but we willingly add the proviso that if we met him in real life we should kill him.

The fact is, that the whole mass of Stevenson’s spiritual and intellectual virtues have been partly frustrated by one additional virtue-that of artistic dexterity.  If he had chalked up his great message on a wall, like Walt Whitman, in large and straggling letters, it would have startled men like a blasphemy.  But he wrote his light-headed paradoxes in so flowing a copy-book hand that everyone supposed they must be copy-book sentiments.  He suffered from his versatility, not, as is loosely said, by not doing every department well enough, but by doing every department too well.  As child, cockney, pirate, or Puritan, his disguises were so good that most people could not see the same man under all.  It is an unjust fact that if a man can play the fiddle, give legal opinions, and black boots just tolerably, he is called an Admirable Crichton, but if he does all three thoroughly well, he is apt to be regarded, in the several departments, as a common fiddler, a common lawyer, and a common boot-black.  This is what has happened in the case of Stevenson.  If ‘Dr Jekyll,’ ’The Master of Ballantrae,’ ‘The Child’s Garden of Verses,’ and ‘Across the Plains’ had been each of them one shade less perfectly done than they were, everyone would have seen that they were all parts of the same message; but by succeeding in the proverbial miracle of being in five places at once, he has naturally convinced others that he was five different people.  But the real message of Stevenson was as simple as that of Mahomet, as moral as that of Dante, as confident as that of Whitman, and as practical as that of James Watt.

The conception which unites the whole varied work of Stevenson was that romance, or the vision of the possibilities of things, was far more important than mere occurrences:  that one was the soul of our life, the other the body, and that the soul was the precious thing.  The germ of all his stories lies in the idea that every landscape or scrap of scenery has a soul:  and that soul is a story.  Standing before a stunted orchard with a broken stone wall, we may know as a mere fact that no one has been through it but an elderly female cook.  But everything exists in the human soul:  that orchard grows in our own brain, and there it is the shrine and theatre of some strange chance between a girl and a ragged poet and a mad farmer.  Stevenson stands for the conception that ideas are the real incidents:  that our fancies are our adventures.  To think of a cow with wings is essentially to have met one.  And this is the reason for his wide diversities of narrative:  he had to make one story as rich as a ruby sunset, another as grey as a hoary monolith:  for the story was the soul, or rather the meaning, of the bodily vision.  It is quite inappropriate to judge ‘The Teller of Tales’ (as the Samoans called him) by the particular novels he wrote, as one would judge Mr George Moore by ‘Esther Waters.’  These novels were only the two or three of his soul’s adventures that he happened to tell.  But he died with a thousand stories in his heart.

How To Discern for Readers and Bloggers

There are so many good comments and posts at this time on line. But, there are more and more comments, posts and even blogs which are pushing false teaching about the Church and which are not leading readers to holiness, which is our job.

Catholic blogging in a ministry of love. I wrote about this before here. It takes just as much time and energy as preparing and giving an RCIA class. One must pray for one's readers and commentators.

How does one discern which blogs to read and study?

1) Does the blogger give sources which are Catholic and credible?

2) Does the blogger respect readers and commentators?

3) Does the blogger love Christ and His Church more than himself?

4) Does the blogger stay orthodox?

If a blogger continually quotes priests or nuns or others who are not orthodox, one may not catch the deceit.

Pray to be able to discern using the gift of wisdom given to you at Confirmation.

Look for both Faith and Reason. Not all voices are reasonable, or faithful.

This blogger loves the Church, and I am orthodox squeaky clean.

There are many excellent blogs out there which are orthodox. Do not waste time with those bloggers who do not love Holy Mother Church.  We must love the Church and feed those who are starving for the Truth.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/06/puerilis-institutio-est-mundi-renovatio.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/06/thoughts-on-blogging-and-silence.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/02/the-fever-of-blogging-roman-fever.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/02/when-does-virtual-community-become-real.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/08/a-repeated-post-for-my-fellow-bloggers.html

A blogger's vocation

My people perish for want of knowledge! – Hosea 4:6

A blogger may look on his or her efforts as part of the larger vocation of the new evangelization. I prefer to call it teaching. In addition, prayer, in fact, intense, even contemplative prayer, must be part of the call to lead the sheep to the Living Water, Who is Christ. Without the purification of the imagination and intellect, one merely does one's own thing and not God's. Purifying prayer and suffering must be behind each word.

St. Isidore of Seville, pray for us

Patron of geeks, the Internet, computer users, ITs, programmers, et al

And, boy, do we need prayers.

Happy Feast Day, Isidore. He is highlighted in my Doctors of the Church series this weekend, so look forward to those postings.










He lived in a time when the classical order of the world was being destroyed from within and without.

Is he important for us, or what?

The two main areas of readership tell me something

If one wants a view as to which countries have a thriving Catholic base, I can tell from my readership stats.

By far, the two continents with the most interest in my very Catholic blog are North America and Europe.

After those two continents, the third and fourth place may surprise you all.

Australia and India come in third and fourth.

This means to me that those who are conservative in their Catholicism, or those who want the real deal are from North America, Europe, Australia and India. Of course, these are not all English speaking areas.

Interesting. And fifth place? Malaysia. Truly interesting.

North America
Europe
Australia
India
Malaysia

Pray for those places, as the strong Catholics are learning, praying, reaching out.

Of course, this statistic is also based on who uses the Net and follows blogs.

I have people from every continent reading this blog, but these are the top five areas of hits.

I am hopeful. These numbers and places give me hope.

Pray for the Church Militant in these continents. The remnant is to be found there....

All for you...........

There are more than 2,000 posts on this blog.

All for you...

This is my daily valentine for you and for God.

I love the Church so much, Christ's Bride. I write for the Church and those thinking of joining the Church.

Love, read, study, learn, pray, act....from your sister in Christ an early valentine.

From last summer, but interesting none the less

Blogging.org

On Buried Loincloths

There has been, of late, too much grousing among some bloggers. Now, unless there is heresy, I think bloggers should rant and rave to their little old hearts' content. However, complaints or worse, misunderstandings, have become nasty.

I do not mind criticism, unless it is ad hominem, as that is really boring.

But, I do mind when the prophets and priests are being stoned, virtually.

I shall not go into detail, but there is a growing division among Catholic bloggers.

Now, I do not expect much from the liberals except complaints, but when so-called neo-con Catholics begin to throw the virtual stones at such as Voris, Fr. Z, and yes, little old me for being strong in the Faith and not compromising, well, I guess all I can say is that I am very glad to be in good company.

Recently, it was brought to my attention by a reader that some tweets against me were whizzing around twitterdom. I missed all of these, so I guess that is OK, and I shall not go out looking for such.

The anti-Voris camp has grown steadily and that group just does not get it that if Jeremiah were alive today, the complainers would absolutely HATE him.

So much for buried loincloths...

Unless those in the Church realize that there are many different types of gifts and that some people are prophets, who are supposed to stir up the conscience and cause a stir, well....

Jeremiah 131The LORD said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth; wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water.2I bought the loincloth, as the LORD commanded, and put it on.3A second time the word of the LORD came to me thus:4Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing, and go at once to the Perath; hide it there in a cleft of the rock.5Obedient to the LORD’s command, I went to the Perath and buried the loincloth.6After a long time, the LORD said to me: Go now to the Perath and fetch the loincloth which I told you to hide there.7So I went to the Perath, looked for the loincloth and took it from the place I had hidden it. But it was rotted, good for nothing!8Then the word came to me from the LORD:9Thus says the LORD: So also I will allow the pride of Judah to rot, the great pride of Jerusalem.10This wicked people who refuse to obey my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and follow other gods, serving and worshiping them, will be like this loincloth, good for nothing.11For, as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me—oracle of the LORD—to be my people, my fame, my praise, my glory. But they did not listen.

Friendship, love, logic and commitment-the stuff of bloggin

I am just one very small blogger. But, all of us together, and the great names, are working for Christ on line in this new evangelization.

Blogging for Christ and His Church is an act of love.

Kindness and faithfulness have met together,

  justice and peace have kissed.

Faithfulness has sprung from the earth,

  and justice has looked down from heaven.

Lauds

The exchange of information can become true communication, links ripen into friendships, and connections facilitate communion. If the networks are called to realize this great potential, the people involved in them must make an effort to be authentic since, in these spaces, it is not only ideas and information that are shared, but ultimately our very selves. 

The development of social networks calls for commitment: people are engaged in building relationships and making friends, in looking for answers to their questions and being entertained, but also in finding intellectual stimulation and sharing knowledge and know-how. The networks are increasingly becoming part of the very fabric of society, inasmuch as they bring people together on the basis of these fundamental needs. Social networks are thus nourished by aspirations rooted in the human heart.

The culture of social networks and the changes in the means and styles of communication pose demanding challenges to those who want to speak about truth and values

The development of social networks calls for commitment: people are engaged in building relationships and making friends, in looking for answers to their questions and being entertained, but also in finding intellectual stimulation and sharing knowledge and know-how. The networks are increasingly becoming part of the very fabric of society, inasmuch as they bring people together on the basis of these fundamental needs. Social networks are thus nourished by aspirations rooted in the human heart.

The culture of social networks and the changes in the means and styles of communication pose demanding challenges to those who want to speak about truth and values

Believers are increasingly aware that, unless the Good News is made known also in the digital world, it may be absent in the experience of many people for whom this existential space is important. The digital environment is not a parallel or purely virtual world, but is part of the daily experience of many people, especially the young. Social networks are the result of human interaction, but for their part they also reshape the dynamics of communication which builds relationships: a considered understanding of this environment is therefore the prerequisite for a significant presence there.

In the digital world there are social networks which offer our contemporaries opportunities for prayer, meditation and sharing the word of God. But these networks can also open the door to other dimensions of faith. Many people are actually discovering, precisely thanks to a contact initially made online, the importance of direct encounters, experiences of community and even pilgrimage, elements which are always important in the journey of faith. In our effort to make the Gospel present in the digital world, we can invite people to come together for prayer or liturgical celebrations in specific places such as churches and chapels. There should be no lack of coherence or unity in the expression of our faith and witness to the Gospel in whatever reality we are called to live, whether physical or digital. When we are present to others, in any way at all, we are called to make known the love of God to the furthest ends of the earth.

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20130124_47th-world-communications-day_en.html

 Pope Benedict XVI

Setting post records this weekend

It is snowing again. It is really cold outside. And, I have good internet access.

Taking advantage of the days here. Take your time and read all the posts from Friday slowly. Lots of good stuff.

It is so fun being a Catholic! Plus, I read all the Jane Austen novels yet again for the umpteenth time last year.

I need to go back to my journey through all the Dickens.

I have read several Dickens many times, and same with George Eliot. Reading is good. Writing is better.

The Lack of Catholic Identity in Europe and Blogging for the Catholic Community

Part I On Catholics and the Media

Having traveled in Europe during the past year, I am struck again and again by the lack of Catholic identity among families. Obviously, there are exceptions, such as the families of children which attend the Latin Mass on Sunday in two locations where I have been in Ireland. But, the lack of Catholic identity is a hole in the spirit which seems to be filled with another identity, which is not even European.

It is as if Europeans do not want to be Europeans. The youth wear clothes which look like any styles popular in any large city in the States. The most common tee-shirt, and I am not kidding, which seems popular, besides those with band logos, is the Che Guevara tee-shirt. I wish I had a euro for every time I have seen a young man or woman with a Che shirt. I wonder if these young people have actually read his biography, which I have.

The lack of identity is not merely superficial. It reflects the death of the soul of Europe and, indeed, the national identity of many nations. Language is not the only mark of national identity. But, there is an insidious, slow, chipping away of the family, wherein customs, habits, consciousness of person-hood develop. One notices even in small towns the lack of identity-partly because of the EU regulations which allow all EU nationalities to go and live in other countries and work, creating a pan-European identity. This pan-European identity seems chic, but it has a downside. This identity is not based on the Catholic Faith.  Two young Catholic men-each from two different European countries, told me recently that they have no one with whom to discuss the Faith in their communities. They rely on the Internet Catholic connections and blogs, which seem to be more important than one realizes at first.

For those of us who grew up with Fulton J. Sheen, for example, using the media for an encouragement of our Faith is not a new phenomenon. Resources such as the Catholic Encyclopedia online and other such study guides, including the Vatican website and other websites with the Encyclicals and teachings of the Church provide great sources of information-solid and true.

To be an adult Catholic, one must study the Faith. Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's famous quotation comes to mind: An ignorant Catholic is a Protestant.  Fulton J. Sheen repeated that truism. And, history shows us that the Catholic Church has always used the media of the day-letters, bulls, documents, etc. to pass on the Faith. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, for example, was widely published, as were pamphlets, such as St. Edmund Campion's tract on Catholicism- his "brag". Using the media of the day marks Catholicism. With the lack of Irish or Maltese identity, or Portuguese or Spanish, comes the lack of a Catholic identity. The Churches are full in Malta, Ireland and elsewhere, but the average Mass attender is older than I am, which is old.

The children from the Catholic schools do not attend daily Mass anywhere that I have seen, coming occasionally. This seems odd to me, as someone who grew up going to Catholic schools where daily Mass attendance was normal. In the States, I am familiar with many NAPCIS schools which have daily Mass, either joining the parish Mass, or having their own, if the schools are fortunate enough to have a chaplain.

The town where I am now literally is full of unemployed men in their twenties. They could be going to daily Mass, which would help them in many ways, I am sure. They lack the center of their being-their Catholic Faith, and the identity which would help them through life to become the person God created them to be.

Catholic media has become more important than ever. Catholics who want the Catholic identity watch Catholic television and such videos as The Vortex in places through-out the world. In my last blog, I had people in Indonesia and Australia, Russia, etc. reading about Catholic issues daily. This is true for most bloggers. The Internet at this moment in time is a key instrument for catechesis and evangelization.

The virtual Catholic community is an important resource for young people and the not-so-young. That we can share ideas and ideals gives many the identity and strength needed. Obviously, Catholic identity must be internalized and that is the job of the Catholic adult. But, until that happens, and perhaps even after that identity is solid and true, the Catholic virtual community remains essential.