WobLog

Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary (and former Fox News Sunday host) Tony Snow learned that his cancer has returned and has spread to his liver. Please pray for Tony and also for his wife and three children.

Tony Snow has always impressed me. While recognizing that we live in a fallen world, he is able to maintain a hopeful and positive outlook on life. This attitude helped him in his first battle with cancer two years ago, and will help him in his new battle. He's a great role model for how we can be engaged in the battle of ideas without losing our humanity, and I hope he can beat this cancer and continue to provide that example for years to come. Please pray for him.

Posted by Don Roberts at 6:35 AM | Permalink

Marie Bellet's Ordinary Time is her second CD, and like the first, it is a gem.

The title song (video) is guaranteed to mist the eyes of any parent. At the beginning of the song, the singer focuses on how difficult it is to have young children and all the things she'll be able to do once the kids are grown. ("But for now I trip on the backpacks in the hallway. Scrub the crayon from the wall that marks this ordinary time.") The clincher comes at the end as she admits that some day her heart will "leap to find one backpack in the hallway." It is something we all know. Children don't stay small forever. But Marie knows how to make it really hit home.

What I Wouldn't Give showcases something common in Marie Bellet's music. She likes to take a phrase, use it, and then change the meaning. The phrase in this song is "What I wouldn't give." The song is about a couple who is struggling to stay together, and she sings several times, "What I wouldn't give to see those silly eyes, daring me to laugh, no, I never realized. There would come a day, so serious and small. What I wouldn't give is what's hurt me most of all." It just stops me in my tracks to hear the reversal of the phrase. It goes from something that's a passing desire to a realization that "what I wouldn't give" is what is destroying her marriage.

The Man of the House helps me to remember that following Christ is always worth it. The song begins by reflecting on the selfishness and sinfullness of man. "They wandered into the "New Age/Self Help" section and lost ten years chasing self-absorbed perfection. What else could they do in a world gone wild? That looks for hope in horoscopes, then kills the unborn child?" The second verse contains more gloom, but then the chorus restores right reason. "But the man of the house was waiting for them at the door. Noble and wise, he exposes their lies on the floor. And he fights the good fight 'cause there's wrong and there's right. There are things worth losing for." I absolutely love that line. "There are things worth losing for." God does not make us responsible for "winning" the battles, only for fighting them.

If you like the sound of what I've written, tune into the sound of what Marie Bellet wrote for this CD!

Posted by Lisa Roberts at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

... to set the California Assembly straight on AB 16 and AB 374 (links to Lisa's previous posts).

Honestly, what's not to like about this picture?

Posted by Don Roberts at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That wacky and dangerous California Assembly is at it again with AB 16. This time they are attempting to usurp parental rights by requiring that all girls entering 6th grade show proof of having received the new HPV vaccine that purports to protect women from cervical cancer contracted via the HPV virus.

Several issues need to be highlighted here. First, the HPV vaccine has only been approved last year. No long term studies have been done, so no one reallly knows what long term effects might crop up, possibly even fertility effects.

Second, one of the creators of the vaccine, Dr. Diane M. Harper, has stated that the vaccine wasn't created for use by younger women. She basically said that to administer this vaccine to every 6th grader would essentially be a "great big public health experiment." I don't know about you, but I don't want my daughter used as a guinea pig.

Third, HPV, the major cause of cervical cancer, is only caught by sexual contact. This is not something, one hopes, that a child could pick up in a classroom! To force parents to vaccinate their children against a sexually transmitted disease is to disregard parents' values and beliefs. For an excellent analysis of this, please check out Fr. Euteneuer's recent article Dictatorship of Choice.

Now, some people will add here that, as with other required vaccines, parents can sign a form to legally opt out of receiving this vaccine. While this is true, thank goodness, it obscures the fact that very few parents know this, and AB 16 would specifically remove the normal parental notification of this fact. This really demonstates how little faith legislators place in parents' ability to discern what is best for their own children. Parents must be manipulated and forced into doing the "right" thing. And it forces California's children to become guinea pigs is a massive public health experiment.

There are more issues. A minimum of three $120 shots would be required, who will pay for this mandate? The vaccine is about 70% effective in adults, will the vaccine encourage sexual activity and actually increase the cases of cervical cancer in young women, particularly if the vaccine ends up being less effective for girls? However, what I've mentioned here ought to be enough to make the case against AB 16.

If you live in California, please call your legislator and voice your opposition to AB 16.

Posted by Lisa Roberts at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today marks two weeks that I've been sick with a cold. Actually, sometime last week it turned into bronchitis, so I guess technically, it's not just a cold anymore. By midweek last week, I was getting pretty tired of being sick and went to the doctor. He gave me something for my cough that allowed me to finally get some sleep at night and something for the bronchitis. I'm slowly getting better, and I actually put in a short day at work today.

Unfortunately, two weeks is a long time for a family to have a sick Daddy hanging around: they all succumbed (first Alex, then Sarah, and just this past weekend, Lisa). Since Lisa had dodged the bullet for so long, I was really hoping that she wouldn't get sick, too. No such luck.

Just say a prayer that nobody else ends up with as bad a case as I had.

Posted by Don Roberts at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation (Is. 66:10,11). I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord (Is. 66:10,11).

Today, the Fourth Sunday of Lent ("Laetare Sunday," from the first word of the Introit, or Opening Prayer), marks the half-way point during our penitential journey in preparation for the joy of Easter. We pause to reflect on the Lord's coming glory. For one Sunday, vestments change (rose instead of penitential violet), polyphony returns, and flowers return to the altar. I think the Church uses this Sunday, in part, to remind us that even in times of darkness, God is with us. He is our source of consolation and of joy. He is the source of our redemption.

Posted by Don Roberts at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This just in:

MINNEAPOLIS - A North Pole expedition meant to bring attention to global warming was called off after one of the explorers got frostbite. The explorers, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, on Saturday called off what was intended to be a 530-mile trek across the Arctic Ocean after Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold temperatures drained the batteries in some of their electronic equipment.

H/T John J. Miller at the Corner.

Posted by Don Roberts at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dr. Philip Blosser reflects on the challenges faced by Protestant coverts to the Catholic faith:

These [Protestant converts] are generally souls who come from backgrounds already well-rooted in evangelical Christianity, in a life of Bible reading, prayer, and personal relationship with God. When these souls discover the truth about the Catholic Church, they fall in love with her. They are thrilled when they finally come, at least on some level, to apprehend the Catholic vision of the Church and to see and and understand her glory -- "ever ancient, ever new." They love the Church that spans the ages, the Church of St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Newman, Pope John Paul, Pope Benedict XVI. They love the moral courage of the Church, which stands like an adamantine bulwark against the evils of abortion, pornography, and relativism. They love the magnificent beauty of her ancient European cathedrals, her basilicas, her paintings and sculptures, her Gregorian chant and polyphony (readily accessible in any music store). They love her theology, which they encounter in the writings of great doctors and theologians of the Church. They love her incarnational vision of life, which they encounter in the writings of numerous Catholic novelists.

But then they join a local Catholic parish ...

The process usually begins with a desert experience called RCIA (Rite for the Christian Initiation of Adults) -- a series of meetings and classes in which they are treated more like preschoolers than intelligent adults, spoon fed pathological doses of hand-holding and introspection, and treated to ample quantities of shared feelings. If they survive that, they're welcomed into an Amchurch parish, whose music is Haugan and Haas, whose homilies are psychology tips from Dr. Phil, whose art and architecture is a combination of bog Bauhaus and degenerate Art Deco, and whose members never read traditional Catholic authors but whose discussion groups can't stop talking about Richard Rohr, Thomas Groome, Anthony Tambasco, Sr. Joan Chittister, Andrew Sullivan, and John Dominic Crossan.

Some will protest that you can't tailor a parish to the narrow needs of a few converts seeking "smells and bells" and the Church Fathers; if you do, you run the risk of losing the majority of the people in the pews. I disagree. Today, many Catholic parishes in the U.S. (most, in my experience) forsake "bells and smells" for "Barney the Dinosaur"-inspired liturgy, substitute happy-clappy "Haagen-dazs" tunes (music by Marty Haugen and David Haas) for centuries of Catholic music, and preach pop psychology rather than two-millenia of theological reflection from the Doctors of the Church — all because "that stuff turns people off." If a parish has to give up the deposit of the faith for fear of losing the people in the pews, does it really have them to begin with?

H/T Shawn Tribe

Posted by Don Roberts at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This exchange sure makes you wonder.

One should question the pastoral prudence of confronting Hannity publicly and directly about his views on birth control (Did the priest first try contacting Sean privately? Did he speak to Sean's pastor or another priest personally acquainted with Sean to try to deliver the message more effectively? Who knows?) Nevertheless, Sean handled the encounter with an inexcusable string of cheap shots. Too bad...

H/T Amy Welborn

P.S. As a commenter at Amy's blog pointed out. The answer to Sean's question about abortion vs. contraception is, "the lesser of two evils is still evil."

Posted by Don Roberts at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Take the test.

My results:

Maybe I'm in the wrong line of work...

Posted by Don Roberts at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Over at the New Liturgical Movement, Shawn Tribe notes that the Redemptoris Mater Chapel, used by the Holy Father for his Advent and Lenten retreats, has undergone a subtle shift under the papacy of Benedict XVI. As originally planned during the papacy of John Paul II, the Chapel had a fairly modern and austere arrangement of its altar and ambo. Shawn shows, through a series of photos, that the Chapel's current altar arrangement suggests celebration of the sacred liturgy ad orientem (with the priest and the people both facing in the same direction — toward the "East," i.e. the "Rising Son").

Posted by Don Roberts at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're all busy, but we can't afford to be complacent. If you haven't called your California State Assembly member, please do so now! AB 374 is another attempt to legalize physician-assisted suicide, and it must be stopped. For more info on this latest attack on life, check out my earlier post on the topic.

Posted by Lisa Roberts at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Sunday evening, Lisa, the kids, and I attended the 1962 Indult High Mass at the Oratory of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Santa Clara. The Oratory was erected in January 2007 by His Excellency, the Most Reverend Patrick J. McGrath, Bishop of San Jose. Our friend Fr. Michael Wiener of the Institute of Christ the King serves as Rector, in addition to his duties as Episcopal Delegate for the Latin Rite in the neighboring Diocese of Oakland (where we live).

The faithful in the South Bay have received a great blessing, and their efforts to sustain the Mass of Ages are bearing fruit. Those in attendance at the Sunday evening High Mass were predominantly young people and families with no memory of the traditional Latin Rite from the time prior to the reforms of the Missal of 1970. The Gregorian Schola, though only four in number, led us ably in Mass XVII. The faithful did their part, strongly singing the responses for the Ordinary of the Mass.

Although they are — for now at least — a small community, the faithful at the Oratory made us feel very welcome as visitors. As more Catholics in the South Bay learn about the Oratory, I can foresee a time when they will outgrow their present Chapel and find themselves looking for a larger Church. Deo gratias!

Posted by Don Roberts at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)