Kasia October 30th, 2007
No, really. Click here - Stephanie created a digital ofrenda of my and TBS’ paternal grandparents for us. The story on it is true – they were incredibly in love. The ofrenda really makes that come alive for me in a way it hadn’t really before.
Dziękuje bardzo, Stephanie – it’s beautiful.
Kasia October 30th, 2007
Some of you may have heard about a movie coming out soon that is loosely based on Phillip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. You may have also heard that the actual series of books Pullman wrote is anti-Christian. This appears to be true. (I say “appears” because I haven’t read the books myself, but all available evidence supports the assertion).
Rather than giving Pullman and his likeminded fans the satisfaction (not to mention the publicity) of declaring his books to be some sort of dreaded menace to Christianity (after all, if the Faith were as brittle as that, it would have collapsed centuries ago), my intentions are simple and twofold. First, I think it’s worth telling people who might have been unaware of the fact that the books are anti-Christian. That allows for a) an informed decision on the part of the consumer, and b) an awareness of the underlying message of the books. (From what I’ve heard so far, the film has largely excised the anti-Christian parts, presumably in a bid to increase its potential audience.)
Second, I think it’s worth looking at the opinions of someone I respect who has actually read the books. I recommend Dr. Mabuse’s review of the series. You’ll note that the creative semi-expletive (not kid-safe!) in the title very concisely summarizes what she thinks of Pullman’s efforts, but her critique is strictly literary (and looks pretty sound to me).
Do with this information as you see fit. I certainly don’t plan to see The Golden Compass, and I don’t have plans to read the books either. I think outright boycotts often give something more publicity than it deserves, but I certainly wouldn’t blame a Christian parent for choosing not to take their kids to see it.
Kasia October 29th, 2007
It isn’t much before bedtime, but I don’t feel like plunging any more deeply into my checkbook tonight, so a quick recap of the 2007 Catholic Women’s Conference…
This was my third conference. I know, I only entered the Church at Easter! But The Big Seester has been sneakily trying to convert me for a long time, and each of the previous years she played up one or another of the speakers as someone I just COULD. NOT. MISS. And in fairness, each of them was excellent. Two years ago it was Pia de Solenni, whose book I’m still waiting for publication on…(ahem…move it along, Dr. de Solenni! just kidding). Last year it was Dr. Alice von Hildebrand. And this year, quite apart from my now actually being Catholic, Immaculée Ilibagiza was speaking. Yes, that’s right. The woman who survived the Rwandan genocide by spending 91 days in a three-foot by four-foot bathroom with seven other women and praying the Rosary nearly the whole time (occasionally interspersing the Divine Mercy chaplet).
She was excellent. It’s really an incredible story, and if you haven’t already read her book Left to Tell, I highly recommend it.
But apart from Immaculée, the other speakers were very good too. Bishop Flores started the day, and apart from Immaculée’s his was the talk I heard the most of. It was really excellent. Then Sister Prudence Allen, who is the force behind the ENDOW program, spoke; I missed at least half of her talk, but what I heard was very interesting. And then Dr. Patricia Cooney-Hathaway spoke, but unfortunately I missed all but about five minutes of her talk. Oh well – I was able to get all of the talks but Immaculée’s on CD, so I’ll be listening to them later and perhaps commenting on them in more depth.
But here’s what a big blog-dork I am…one of the high points of the day for me was that, thanks to Catholic Cricket’s wife Heather S., I actually got to meet Heather Price! (Yes, they’re two different Heathers. I know more…) She writes one of my favorite blogs (I can only categorize it as “everyday exceptionality”, even though I really dislike oxymorons), and if you haven’t looked at it before, I highly recommend it.
I love getting to meet in person the people I interact with online. 
Oh – and a funny story about meeting her…I was telling The Canuck what a great time I’d had at the conference, and I was trying to explain to him who exactly it was that I’d met and how. He’s not the blog junkie that I am. So I was trying to explain who the Heather is that introduced us, and somehow I completely forgot that they’ve met in person on at least one occasion, probably a couple. I’m like that. Anyway, so I’m going through trying to explain who she is, and he said “Oh – Mrs. Kheldar!”
ROFL. Yes, sweetie – Mrs. Kheldar.
He’s exactly right about who she is, of course; it just really tickled my funny bone how he’d filed her in his memory bank. I guess that’s one of the hazards of meeting people after you’ve known them under pseudonyms – he remembers her husband by the alias he used to use to comment, rather than by his actual name.
So Heather S., I regret to inform you that you are also known as Mrs. Kheldar. I hope that’s OK…
Kasia October 29th, 2007
FYI, State of Mississippi and wronged ex-husband: women aren’t property. ‘Nuff said.
FYI, Mr. and Mrs. “We didn’t do anything wrong”: you don’t exactly have the moral high ground here. And complaining about how the publicity is adversely affecting your children is pretty weak, seeing as you’re the ones appealing. Man up, for lack of a better term, and accept the consequences of your actions. If you think the law is unjust, then fine. Appeal. It’s your right. But then don’t complain about the publicity.
Kasia October 28th, 2007
Deo gratias that, as far as I’ve heard, there has been a minimum of human life lost in the California wildfires. And Deo gratias in particular that Stephanie and her family are all right, and that our friends at Catholic Answers seem to be all right as well.
Stephanie put up a post about folks who have been speculating about whether the wildfires were divine retribution for the general moral decay in California, and/or some specific legislation that was recently passed there. And then yesterday at the Women’s Conference, the reading at Mass hit me hard about that. I thought, “I have to post on this. Even if I don’t get to post anything else this weekend, I have to touch on this.”
At that time some people who were present there told him [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Luke 13:1-5)
The reading went on to the parable of the barren fig tree (through verse 9, if you’re keeping track at home). Now, the Clam is not a Biblical scholar by any means. In fact, I recently realized that my B.A. in political science is essentially a bachelor’s in putting my faith in princes. I’ve got a long way to go on Scripture and theology. But…
It looks to me like Our Lord is really trying to hammer home to the people he’s talking to that just because bad things happen, doesn’t mean the person they happen to is a bigger sinner than anyone else. And that’s borne out elsewhere in the Scriptures as well, of course: look at Job. Heavens, look at Jesus Himself! He was betrayed by a trusted friend, beaten, humiliated, and after all that suffered a horrific death. And He was sinless!
I expect there is a lot more to this Scripture than I’m getting out of it. But ultimately it comes down to this for me: I know I’m a big sinner. We all are, of course, but it’s my sins I know most intimately, and I can assure you that I’m a heck of a long way from holiness. I have trouble believing that the folks out in California who lost their homes are bigger sinners than I am. Certainly they can’t all be.
So rather than an opportunity to say “See?! See?! God’s taking revenge on California,” I think this is an opportunity for me to remember that I need to repent. It’s as an opportunity to remember that storing up treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break in and steal (and fires destroy), should not be my goal. Because all this will pass away, but the Lord is eternal.
OK, I know. Pollyanna. I’ll shut up now. :-p
It’s past my bedtime, so no chance here to talk about the wonderful time I had at the Women’s Conference, or how I met one of my favorite bloggers IN PERSON (how exciting is that?), or anything else. Hopefully I’ll have a chance tomorrow to talk about those things…
Kasia October 26th, 2007
I’m dead serious – I’m going to talk about things like bras and underpants. So if you are (a) easily embarrassed, (b) male, or (c) both of the above, I strongly suggest you not continue. However, men, if your wife or girlfriend would like to read it to offer some suggestions, she’s more than welcome to. (You are certainly welcome to read it yourself, but I strongly advise you to consider whether you really ought to. And it’s not sexy in the least, at least I sure don’t think so, so pervs, don’t let that be an incentive.) Continue Reading »
Kasia October 26th, 2007
OK. A friend of mine who shall remain nameless for the time being (because I didn’t seek her permission to post on this, though I think she’d be OK with it) said something to me earlier today that just had me in stitches. So I thought, “I just HAVE to blog on this!”
Apparently she and her family went to a different parish for what was supposed to be a teen-friendly Mass. They didn’t choose it because of the teen theme, but simply because it fit their schedule that particular Sunday. She referred to it as “Jazz Hour with Jesus” because the music was extraordinarily jazzy and nontraditional, even by teen Mass standards. I mean complete with rhythm on the drumset cymbal. “Te-tet-teteh…”
Then came the Alleluia. The way she tried to imitate it, I do not even have words for. It was sort of soul/jazz/something else.
Her reaction? Well, she said, you sort of HAD to sing; after all, it was the Alleluia! But the whole time she’s thinking, “No, no, NO! Jesus doesn’t like this!!!”
I have to say, it’s never occurred to me before to reckon whether the Lord likes a particular style of music, but it wouldn’t surprise me if He didn’t like that particular Mass setting…
Kasia October 25th, 2007
St. Andrew Parish was robbed. Among other things, the thieves took the tabernacle, including the Eucharist inside.
I know times are hard, and a lot of people are desperate. And I’m forcing myself to assume that this was done by desperate people, not professional thieves. But for the love of Heaven, bring back the tabernacle. Collect the reward, if you need money.
Please.
Kasia October 22nd, 2007
My friend and fellow neophyte Jill got a call from the Volunteers of America. They were going to be in her neighborhood picking up donations, and wanted to know if she had anything to donate. Jill, being both smart and a conscientious new Catholic, asked some friends if they knew anything about VOA.
All I knew about them going in was that they take car donations and sell the cars. One of my cousins bought her car from them, and it’s no great shakes from what I hear, but I don’t think that’s VOA’s fault. For one thing, people who donate their used cars instead of selling them often do so because the car’s a headache and a money pit, and they know they’ll get more in a tax deduction than they would from a buyer. For another thing, she didn’t do any research about the reliability of the car’s make, model and year. I believe her exact words were “This is my decision, and I don’t have time to research the market.”
Anyway. So I, being a Web research geek, hopped online to see if I could find anything. I’ve found very little so far that tells me anything meaningful. I did get a red flag when I saw that their HIV/AIDS work includes “prevention” but didn’t say through what means. And they’re very vague about who they are: they say they’re “faith-based” but you have to hunt through their site to even find out that they mean Christian. Forget about finding out if they’re affiliated with a particular denomination. And while their executive board’s bios are very well done, I can’t find any record of the members I Googled having made any statement one way or another on, say, abortion or birth control. Which is their prerogative, and I’m certainly happy that there appear to be at least a couple of high-profile people whose opinions on everything I don’t know…but before I suggest that someone donate to an organization, I like to know if they’re, oh let’s say for example, partnering with Planned Parenthood or something.
Jill has decided, wisely I think, to skip them for the time being. However, now my interest is piqued. Does anyone out there know anything about this group’s history, priorities, and compatibility with Catholic teaching? Inquiring neophyte minds want to know…
Kasia October 22nd, 2007
I hope some of you will join me in praying for the endangered residents of a large chunk of Southern California, particularly the Richers (Stephanie of The Digital Hairshirt and her family). I pray for the safety of the residents, for the fires to be contained, and for generosity toward those who lose their homes to the fires.
Stephanie, I know Santa Ana’s in the region they say is affected. When you are able, please drop a comment and let us know you’re all right.
