We've had so many grandchildren enjoying their cousins this summer...

...it seems appropriate to reflect on this mystery of the rosary and to thank the Lord for the blessing of family and the delight the cousins take in one another. We are saying good-bye to our daughter today and relishing the memory of all the fun and laughter of visiting families, the celebration of three birthdays, the smiles, the memories from the past, the night prayers (not to mention night swimming), and all the joy that life can bring even in the midst of a evil culture.

Fr. Tom Collins: Racist Planned Parenthood Happily Slaughters Hispanic Babies!

I offer the observations below for your consideration:More Hispanics were killed by Planned Parenthood abortionists on August 3rd than were killed at the El Paso Wal-Mart that day. But Catholic pro-abortion politicians publicly and repeatedly assert that one can support the continuing slaughter of Hispanics in the womb and still be a faithful Catholic. Thus they seem to be saying that it was not the slaughter of innocent Hispanics that was wrong, but rather where and how they were being slaughtered.

"Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste!" How Long, O, Lord?

If there's one thing ingrained in the liberal heart (It often isn't love -- except love of money and power.) it's Saul Alinsky's principle to never let a serious crisis go to waste. Alinsky didn't put it quite that way. That was left to his philosophical descendent, Rahm Emmanuel, who often seems to be channeling Alinsky.

Children being children

The Church and entire world seem to be on the verge of blowing up so I decided to watch a few YouTube videos to take my mind off everything and discovered the following videos of children just being children. So pure, so innocent, so funny. Enjoy.

The little blonde girl (2nd from the left) does her own hilarious 

thing up there as she discovers something on the stage floor.

From Dale Ahlquist: G.K. Chesterton Should be Numbered Among the Saints

G.K. Chesterton Should Be Numbered Among the Saints Statement from Dale Ahlquist, President, Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (August 5, 2019 – Feast of Our Lady of the Snows) On August 1, 2019, at the 38th Annual Chesterton Conference, held this year in Kansas City, I read to the 500 attendees the following letter from Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton, England, a man who has always shown me the greatest kindness and respect:

Monday Morning Musings: Three Articles that Caught my Eye!

Gilbert and Frances Chesterton

I'm pretty eclectic in my reading and, as I took a look at this morning's headlines and read back issues The Wanderer these articles caught my eye.

First -- on Chesterton -- since I went to our local Chesterton group meeting on Saturday

A few days ago, the bishop of Northampton, Peter Doyle, released a letter explaining his decision not to open a cause for sainthood for Chesterton. Among the reasons he gave was that Chesterton was anti-semitic. It's a ridiculous charge, but these days if one says a single word of criticism against Israel or Zionism or anything related to Judaism, one is often smeared with the accusation. The same thing happens with other nonsense in the culture. If you oppose killing babies you're a misogynist who hates women. If you oppose same-sex marriage you're a hate-filled homophobe. Like Jesus said, if you follow Him the world will hate you!

Sunday Meditation: Dial Heaven's 911 Hotline to Pray for Women Considering Abortion and their Babies!

Pro-Life warriors pray and offer help outside Manhattan's Planned Parenthood abortion mill
named for infamous eugenicist Margaret Sanger. 

In their "News Notes" section for July 25th, The Wanderer included an item on Planned Parenthood's recent firing of their president, Dr. Leana Wen. It included this quote from Liberty Counsel's Chairman, Mat Staver:

Topsy and Tuptim Ask if the Synod is a Bridge Too Far!

The Shenandoah Valley seen from Int. 81

Topsy and Tuptim travel to Natural Bridge and Safari Land to celebrate the twenty year anniversary of their friendship and finish reflecting on the Pan-Amazon Instrumentum Laboris. On the ride down, Route 81 they begin by discussing Part 3, chapter 4.

Tuptim: (Who's driving...) Did you know that Interstate 81 has a reputation as one of the most scenic interstates in the country? I love the Shenandoah Valley! It's so pastoral with all the farmland...and the mountains on either side. This year, with all the rain everything is sooooo green. Oh...look at the sheep. Aren't they sweet?

Social Justice: What is it Anyway?

Is this the path to social justice?

Ah...so much to study, so little time. I've been wanting to research "social justice" for a long time. It's become the mantra of liberals who seem to define it as open borders, abortion on demand without apology as a civil right, and "free" everything from health care to college. Social justice is social-ism in their vocabulary, government-enforced redistribution of income to make everybody an equal comrade.

Liberals always talk about taxing the rich, but end up robbing the pockets of the middle class to achieve their goals. As my dad used to say, "There just aren't enough rich people!" The real target must be the massive middle. And, of course, capitalism in their book, by nature, is evil, which it certainly can be when it exploits workers making them wage slaves. But socialism does exactly the same thing by its nature! The worker is nothing but a mere creature of the state, a cog in the government machine.

But what is social justice...really?

The War on Men in the Church: Where have all the Young Men Gone?

Where have all the young men gone?
Certainly not to the Knights of Columbus!

Remember the anti-war song, Where Have All the Flowers Gone? I read an article at Crisis Magazine this morning, No Parish for Real Men, that made me think of it and the war in the Church.

The song asks, "Where have all the young men gone?" Catholics could well ask that question of their bishops. The attack on the faith doesn't just involve an attack on doctrine, the liturgy, reverence, etc. It's an attack on manhood.

In my own parish, most of the lectors, cantors, and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist are women. We don't have altar girls, thank God, but adult men seem to have disappeared from most parish roles outside the Knights of Columbus. And even that organization looks more and more like a refuge for the geriatric set. In Europe the pews are empty except for old women fingering their rosaries. Thank God for grandmothers, but our boys need male role models vigorously defending the faith. There's a man crisis in the Church and that translates to a Catholic crisis in the family. [Read more here.]