For Shame, for Shame, Notre Dame

And double shame for the bishops who met in Baltimore this week. When will you free us from the scourge of bad university presidents and wolfish bishops, Lord?

First Notre Dame

Is there anything shameful the administration at Notre Dame won't do? They gave Barack Obama, the most pro-abortion, divisive, bigoted president in history (Am I exaggerating?) an honorary law degree and the privilege of being their 2009 commencement speaker. Obama's entourage met a crowd of protesters including a friend of mine who was arrested and had to spend the next year traveling back and forth from Texas to deal with the draconian tactics used against those arrested some of whom weren't even on campus. President John Jenkins, the baby-faced villain of that debacle is gone, but Notre Dame continues on its pathetic and anti-Catholic trajectory.

They Have Dethroned the Queen of Heaven

Note: The recent release by the CDF of the document Mater Populi Fidelis was a shock to all Catholics who love the Mother of God and recognize her exalted and unique role as Queen of Heaven and Earth, God's "twelve star general" as Fr. Norman Weslin (Baby Father Doe) used to describe her. 

According to the new and debased CDF under the tutelage of kissing expert, Cardinal Fernandez, Mary must be reduced and submerged. (To make the faith more acceptable to Protestants?). Their document dethrones her and throws millennia of Marian tradition on the ash heap of Church history. TheVatican treated Pachamama with more respect than Our Lady. 

Boycott the CCHD Collection along with Other Thoughts for Thursday

• The CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development) collection is coming up. This is the fraudulent pocket picking of pew sitters to divert Catholic contributions to groups that lobby for liberal Democrats and support abortion, contraception, and sodomy. Check out the Lepanto Institute report and see how the collection funds intrinsic evils. Don't give a plug nickle; do put in a note that you will not be supporting the parish until they issue an apology for passing the basket to enable evil. I made the video above 16 years ago. Nothing much has changed at the CCHD except it's worse than ever. It's way past time to eliminate that group for good. Add prayers and penance to your boycott. 

Look Up And See! And Then Give Thanks.

Writing an "I'm thankful" message on the holiday tablecloth.

Thanksgiving approaches. For many it's just a day of gluttony: food for the belly and football for the eyes -- two f words. Throw in a third -- no not that one -- fun. For many that's the meaning of life. Find all the fun you can in food, frolicking and you know what.

Do You Try to Avoid Bioengineered Food Products?

I don't know about you, but I'm a label reader at the grocery store. I avoid bioengineered food products, other gmo foods, high fructose corn syrup, and most seed oils. Since most canned soups fall into the bioengineered ingredients no-no list, I've begun making most of my own soups. 

Celery soup is a staple in a number of recipes I make regularly. Cheesy potatoes occupies a regular place on the Sunday brunch table and it calls for a can of cream of chicken soup. I always used celery soup instead. Now I make my own. I also like tomato soup and used to gourmet-up canned soup with tomato chunks, basil, wine, and some other herbs. Now I make it from scratch. 

"To Have and To Hold from this Day Forward"

I recently read an article about the need for couples to make their relationship a top priority, especially when family life gets hectic and demanding. I couldn't agree more. A husband and wife are married to each other, not to their children. Of course the offspring are important, but, as the saying goes, "The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother; the best thing a mother can do for her children is to love their father." And love doesn't just happen; it needs to be cultivated.

Guest Post: Fr. Tom Collins Shares His Views on Mary as Co-Redemptrix Part B

 Editor's note: See the first part of this article here. Keep in mind as you read this that God made man not only to be an individual made in His image and likeness, but to live in relationship with others. "It is not good for the man to be alone." [Genesis 2:18] The poet, John Donne, put it another way. "No man is an island." We are meant to be in a covenant relationship with God first and foremost, but also to be in relationship with our fellow man, the second great commandment.

The understanding of integral man as a covenantal being helps to bring into focus the profound spirit of self-abnegation (kenosis) to which God the Son committed Himself in the sacred mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption (It needs to be emphasized here that the Incarnation and Redemption are sacred mysteries, and not merely sacred historical events. As mysteries, they continue to engage and transform humanity throughout all of history). If God originally created man as a covenantal being, then the mystery of the Incarnation would require that God the Son take to Himself a covenantal human nature. In such a nature, the work of redemption is a covenantal mission and ministry. (It should be noted that this covenantal human nature, which God the Son embraced, was in stark contrast to the more aloof and hermetically-sealed type of spirituality embraced by many of the Pharisees) And it is shared in such a way that both Jesus and His beloved disciples participate in the struggles, sufferings, frustrations and glorification involved in the mystery of human redemption from the power of sin. 

Can we hope that the government will actually re-open?

Let's hope the obstructionists don't throw more roadblocks up to open the government. Lots of people want to travel for Thanksgiving. Right now air travel is iffy at best. I talked to one of my granddaughters who talked about a recent travel trip that ended in a five hour delay getting home. Multiply that exponentially for the biggest travel days of the year around Thankdsgiving. Note that for some reason after the six minute mark, the video repeats the speaker's statement. Pray for an end to all the nonsense.

Guest Post: Fr. Tom Collins Shares His Views on Mary as Co-Redemptrix Part A

Editor's note. Father's article is challenging but well worth reading. When I read a challenging article I ask the Holy Spirit for understanding. I've highlighted some of the unfamiliar terms Father uses and linked them to definitions. May we all grow in wisdom by immersing ourselves in the truths of the faith. A big thank you to Fr. Collins for his articles. Because of it's length, I've divided this post into two.

Part I

THE ORIGINAL BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN GENESIS AS THE BASIS FOR DECLARING THE DOCTRINE OF MARY AS CO-REDEMPTRIX

By Fr. Tom Collins

Basic premises for these reflections:

1) Only Jesus is God incarnate - both as Person and Mystery.

2) Being and action are the same in God. He does not just love, He is love. Therefore Jesus' saving act is His saving being. Covenant is not only what Christ does, it is also intrinsically Who He is.

Words, words, words! "Abundant word do not yield abundant wisdom!"

Yesterday, I mentioned an article by Chloe Mastour at Chronicles. I'm re-reading it this morning because I think it's so important. It exposes a serious problem in our society -- humanity's submission to shallow consensus thinking. We saw it during COVID. How many people actually did the research on what was essentially an experimental therapy that we see now damaged the immune system and crossed the brain/blood barrier to wreak havoc on the population. [That statement will no doubt get me censored by the Blogger blathering fact checkers. So I'm posting at Substack where people can provide evidence without the facts being labeled misleading and a violation of B's woke guidelines.]

Conservatism Amid the Signal Flood