What would Mary read?

Dymphna posted this lovely picture of Mary on the feast day of St. Joachim and Ann. It got me thinking about a Facebook discussion on the Twilight series that grew out of my oldest daughter posting Fr. Euteneuer's critical article, Vampire Logic. Father is no fan of the series. In fact, he says, " I don't hesitate to tell people that I am totally disgusted with the new fad sweeping over our youth culture these days." He has a lot of good reasons and I recommend you read them.

I admit I haven't seen any of the films, but I did read the first book after I found it on the bedside table in my granddaughter's room when we visited last year. It was basically a weird teen romance with a lot of heavy breathing and a "hero" who sleeps with his girlfriend but never has sex with her for fear he might be overcome and kill her. She, on the other hand, thinks being turned into a vampire is worth it so she can live with her lover forever even though vampires have no souls. I got tired of the heavy breathing and Bella being continuously overcome in Edward's presence. Frankly, the book is boring. Maybe the sequels are more interesting, although why a bunch of moms are swooning over this teen series is beyond me and I completely agree with Fr. Euteneuer's criticism. 

Evil symbols, like dragons, serpents, and vampires etc. are powerful. Think of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. There is no confusion about evil being evil. The dragon, the ringwraiths, the goblins, the trolls...all the creatures of the dark and dank arouse terror.

But now we have this remaking of the vampire into (I can't help laughing) a vegetarian who no longer has to fear the dark. He shines in the light like diamonds. Of course, from a farmer's point of view these "vegetarians" would be about as welcome as a coyote or a wolf. But a vampire heartthrob? I've seen the trailers for the movies and the posters. The guys playing the vampires look metrosexual and certainly not very manly. I wonder if that's part of their appeal.They are so empathetic with women, they're like soulmates.No need to work at a real male-female relationship that takes effort if you have a vampire around. On the other hand, the vampire can be the ultimate "bad boy," part of whose appeal is his lack of respectibility in normal society. Sort of a James Dean with fangs.

Pardon me for throwing cold water on this. (All the adult women swooning over Edward Cullen, particularly Catholic moms, could use a cold shower.) But I do have one question. What would Mary think?

Potpourri of interesting articles.

Preacher outside abortion clinic climbs into tree to avoid cops

How to Fight the Gay Agenda: Pro-Family Group Organizes Three-Day Conference

Democrats Fail to Stop Filibuster Against DISCLOSE Act Pro-Life Groups Oppose

 Catholic college revives medieval-style guilds, explores merger

A Speech Every American High School Principal Should Give

The Les Femmes Spring Newsletter is online at www.lesfemmes-thetruth.org

After struggling with some computer problems my webmaster has the Spring issue of the Les Femmes newsletter on line at the website. I'm posting the lead article here as well. Pray for the solid Catholic schools around the country. There aren't many and Trinity definitely isn't one of them. May the faithful schools prosper and may schools like Trinity fade into obscurity.

Trinity: the Catholic School Pat McGuire Killed


by Mary Ann Kreitzer

In February, the Washington Post Magazine (WPM) carried a puff piece on Trinity University in Washington, D.C. praising its president, Patricia McGuire, as “The Devoted” with a subheading describing her thus: “She spent her life transforming Trinity. So where does Pat McGuire – and the university she rebuilt – go from here?”1 In general the article described McGuire’s commitment to Trinity and her role in empowering women (pro-abortion feminist women like Trinity graduates Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Kathleen Sebelius, former governor of Kansas and currently the Secretary of Health and Human Services; and Maggie Williams, former chief of staff for first lady Hillary Clinton. Trinity has lionized these women as they advanced liberalism and the democrat party.) The author called McGuire “the soul” of Trinity, and he apparently meant it as high praise. But, in fact, McGuire has presided over the demise of a once great Catholic institution that has lost her soul. Trinity once inspired women to be defenders and champions of the Catholic faith. No more.
I know. My mother graduated from Trinity in 1939 with a warrior’s heart. She raised ten children, six of them girls, passing on a strong sense of personal responsibility for practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. And her education at Trinity, along with her upbringing, played an important part in developing her moral conscience. She loved the doctrines of the Church that valued life from its first beginnings. She embraced the Church’s exhortation to a life of virtue and resistance to the seven deadly sins that lead one on the path to hell. She had a strong social conscience rooted in Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical, Rerum Novarum. Sadly, the Trinity that fostered that holy devotion to the truth in my mom is long gone and McGuire helped destroy her.

McDonald's Shills for the Gay Lifestyle: Boycott the Burgers

I not only have problems with the ad below (Who does McDonald's think will be buying their happy meals in the future - all the little children produced through sodomy?). I also have problems with Bill O'Reilly who champions homosexual adoption and now throws out the bogus 10% figure as though it's fact. Homosexuals represent more like 2-3% although with all the homosexual propaganda and recruitment in the schools the larger number may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's interesting the ad isn't running here -- yet. I guess Americans culture hasn't reached the level of depravity as the French. For more info see Americans for Truth. TAKE ACTION: You can write McDonald's HERE or call 1-800-244-6227; or write: McDonald's Corporation, Attn: Jim Skinner and Don Thompson, 2111 McDonald's Dr., Oak Brook, IL 60523.

You can read the email I sent McDonalds below the video.




Dear Mr. Thompson:

I've been aware for sometime that McDonald's promotes Planned Parenthood and other anti-family organizations. But your promotion of homosexual youth is the last straw! When I saw the French ad on YouTube I knew I'd eaten my last quarter pounder with cheese! I love your frappes, but the only ones I'll drink in the future will be "bought" with the free coupons that come in the mail. I won't spend a nickle at your counter or takeout window.

As for my 19 grandchildren, I'll be taking them to other fast food restaurants and by-passing the Happy Meals. And where do you think the kids who eat your Happy Meals come from anyway - sodomy?

I put out a Catholic newsletter and write a blog that gets between 200 and 400 hits a day. I'm urging my readers to make the McDonald's connection of the golden arches with homosexual activity. That should kill anyone's appetite!

Italian gay priests and their wild nights

An Italian magazine has exposed the antics of three gay priests who play priest by day, but play with gay prostitutes by night. How many homosexuals are in the priesthood leading double lives? The priesthood can be a comfortable closet. No one questions your same-sex friendships. You can cozy up to wealthy elderly parishioners who offer you free use of their vacation homes and time shares. You can go off on "retreats" to Las Vegas and Key West. Yes, the homosexual priest of the lie can live comfortably embezzling parish money to support his other life. Visit Bishop Loverde, Where is Fr. James Haley? for more on this breaking story.

Would you rather be a monkey wrench or a window pane?

I love reading Fulton Sheen. His Life of Christ and his autobiography, Treasure in Clay, are filled with what I call "aha moments" that shimmer with truth, almost breathtaking in their simplicity. Reading each book, I often had to stop and ponder. I often returned to a sentence or paragraph a second or even third time, because it so moved me I could not go on without taking at least a few moments to reflect further.

Today, looking for a citation, I stumbled on FultonSheen.com which I've added to my list of Catholic websites on the sidebar. What a treasure! Already, I've run off several essays to tuck into my adoration bag to read in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Let me give you a taste from the beginning of his book The Sacraments on A Divine Sense of Humor: 

No one can ever understand the sacraments unless he has what might be called a "divine sense of humor." A person is said to have a sense of humor if he can "see through" things; one lacks a sense of humor if he cannot "see through" things. No one has ever laughed at a pun who did not see in the one word a twofold meaning. To materialists this world is opaque like a curtain; nothing can be seen through it. A mountain is just a mountain, a sunset just a sunset; but to poets, artists, and saints, the world is transparent like a window pane—it tells of something beyond; for example, a mountain tells of the Power of God, the sunset of His Beauty, and the snowflake of His Purity.

When the Lord Incarnate walked this earth, He brought to it what might be called a "divine sense of humor." There is only one thing that He took seriously, and that was the soul. He said: "What exchange shall a man give for his soul?" Everything else was a tell-tale of something else. Sheep and goats, wine bottles and patches on clothing, camels and eyes of needles, the lightning flash and the red of the sunset sky, the fisherman's nets and Caesar's coin, chalices and rich men's gates—all of these were turned into parables and made to tell the story of the Kingdom of God.

Our Lord had a divine sense of humor, because He revealed that the universe was sacramental. A sacrament, in a very broad sense of the term, combines two elements: one visible, the other invisible—one that can be seen, or tasted, or touched, or heard; the other unseen to the eyes of the flesh. There is, however, some kind of relation or significance between the two. A spoken word is a kind of sacrament, because there is something material or audible about it; there is also something spiritual about it, namely, its meaning. A horse can hear a funny story just as well as a man. It is conceivable that the horse may hear the words better than the man and at the end of the story the man may laugh, but the horse will never give a horse laugh. The reason is that the horse gets only the material side of the "sacrament," namely, the sound; but the man gets the invisible or the spiritual side, namely, the meaning.

A handshake is a kind of sacrament, because there is something seen and felt, namely, the clasping of hands; but there is something mysterious and unseen, namely, the communication of friendship. A kiss is a kind of sacrament: the physical side of it is present if one kisses one's own hand, but the spiritual side of it is missing because there is no sign of affection for another. One of the reasons why a stolen kiss is often resented is that it is not sacramental; it has the carnal side without a spiritual side; that is, the willingness to exchange a mark of esteem or affection.

This book on the sacraments is written because men live in a world that has become entirely too serious. Gold is gold, nuclear warfare is nuclear warfare, dust is dust, money is money. No significance or meaning is seen in the things that make a sound to the ear, or a sight to the eye. In a world without a divine sense of humor, architecture loses decoration and people lose courtesy in their relationships with one another.

When civilization was permeated with a happier philosophy, when things were seen as signs of outward expression of the unseen, architecture was enhanced with a thousand decorations: a pelican feeding her young from her own veins symbolized the sacrifice of Christ; the gargoyle peering from behind a pillar in a cathedral reminded us that temptations are to be found even in the most holy places. Our Lord, on the occasion of His planned entrance into Jerusalem, said that if men withheld their praise of Him, "the very stones would cry out," which they did as, later, they burst into Gothic Cathedrals.

Now the stones are silent, for modern man no longer believes in another world; they have no story to tell, no meaning to convey, no truth to illustrate. When faith in the spiritual is lost, architecture has nothing to symbolize; similarly when men lose the conviction of the immortal soul, there is a decline in the respect for the human. Man without a soul is a thing; something to be used, not something to be reverenced. He becomes "functional" like a building, or a monkey wrench, or a wheel. The courtesies, the amenities, the urbanities, the gentility that one mortal ought to have for another are neglected once man is no longer seen as bearing within himself the Divine Image. Courtesy is not a condescension of a superior to an inferior, or a patronizing interest in another's affairs; it is the homage of the heart to the sacredness of human worth. Courtesy is born of holiness, as ornamentation is born of the sense of the holy. Let us see if ornamentation returns to architecture, if courtesy also returns to human manners; for by one and the same stroke, men will have lost their dull seriousness, and will begin to live in a sacramental universe with a divine sense of humor.

Do Your Homework Instead of Spouting the Party Line of the Liberal Culture

I lurk and occasionally comment on a Catholic mom's board where I'm sure I'm the oldest person. Almost all the women are young enough to be my daughters. So I'm definitely the granny of the group. The women are very interesting and the conversation is generally respectful. Many are well-versed in the faith. The purpose of the board is for a group of faithful Catholic moms to support and encourage one another in the authentic faith. There are some great discussions on Church teaching about the hard issues, like birth control and divorce.

Occasionally an antagonistic cafeteria Catholic who wants to attack the Church pops in, but she usually won't stay for long. The board accepts searchers seeking to learn and understand, but will respond pretty quickly when someone shifts to attack mode. (I.e., "I think for myself and make my own decisions rather than act like a mindless drone listening to a bunch of men in skirts!" will get some sharp and astute replies along with a little admonishment and invitation to go to another board where she'll feel more comfortable.) I love it!

But every now and then a comment is thrown in that shows how much the hate-the-Church secular culture has influenced the young. One of those comments was posted on a thread discussing the differences between the Tridentine Mass and the Novus Ordo which branched out into abuses, liturgical music, the nature of beauty, Church architecture, the meaning of priesthood, lay "ministers", etc. One young woman commenting on abuses threw out an offhand statement about how she doesn't pay much attention to the abuses, after all they've always happened in the Church and then gave the examples of the Crusades and the Inquisition. I heaved a sigh and wrote a response.

Why do young people believe this nonsense? Because it's been repeated so often by liberals who attack the Church for its bloody violence but hold up Mau and Che Guevara as heroes, men who butchered their own countrymen without qualm. The entire Spanish Inquisition executed about 2500. Che Guevara, Fidel Castro's henchman, personally murdered tens of thousands and Mau killed millions. Here's a typical Guevara quote: "We reject any peaceful approach. Violence is inevitable. To establish Socialism rivers of blood must flow!" And he acted literally on that belief, personally giving the coup de grace to many executed prisoners.

Of course, comparing the sadistic violence of socialist revolutionaries doesn't justify other violence. Like our mom's told us, "Two wrongs never make a right." But were the Crusades wrong? Certainly not the First Crusade called by Pope Urban II (1096-1099) to take back the Holy Land and repel the invasion of the Muslim Turks who threatened to overrun Europe. It was a defensive action to protect the Christians lands. Think of the peasants of Europe facing the scimitars of the Muslim warriors. I sure would have liked to see an army defending my home. Not to mention the fact that, had the First Crusade failed, we would all be saying our prayers on rugs facing Mecca.

It's high time people stopped throwing out "facts" about historical events they know nothing about. Get  Warren Carroll's History of Christendom and use it as a reference. Then when someone makes an ignorant statement about a historical event, check the facts and be prepared to gently correct them. Those who are ignorant of historical reality, are easily duped. The Church is under attack by atheists like Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Philip Pullman (The Golden Compass), and faux Christians like Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code). Their attacks on Christianity are ignorant, but in our dumbed-down culture many swallow their sweet tasting hemlock and let it poison their faith. Fight back with the truth.