July 28, 2009
A member of my family has recently been a victim of a violent crime. All of a sudden the ground opens up and everything I have ever believed or thought I knew comes into the sharpest focus. The theoretical debates on the Catholic blogosphere about just violence versus pacifism are no longer theory to me. As my family attempts to comprehend what has happened, and sift through the overwhelming emotions that occurs when an innocent person suffers from someone else’s evil choice, my Faith is no longer intellectual. It is a Faith that calls me to embody the very words of Scripture.
I believe that the reason most of us have yearned for a path of “just violence” is for one reason only. We hate pain. Pain can come from being the innocent receiver of violence, or for me and most of my family members, the pain comes from watching an innocent suffer. Both types of pain are excruciating. The pain can so overwhelm that one finds that breathing, eating, sleeping, living a full life utterly impossible. Emotional and spiritual pain causes physical pain. I find that my body can barely move because of weeks of tight, clenched muscles.
I decided early on not to dull the pain with any medicine or alcohol because the member who suffered violence didn’t have that chance. If she couldn’t have it, neither could I. It was a choice of solidarity. But I was drowning. I was drowning in my hatred. Hatred for the person who caused such pain. My desire for vengeance I could taste. Vengeance and hatred have a flavor. It is a bitter, vomit, bile type flavor. It was in this state that I turned to Scripture for my relief, any relief. A promise of Justice is what I wanted. I yearned for the Divine Justice. Read the rest of this entry »
11 Comments | 
Prayer, Radical Catholic Mom, Real Presence, Solidarity, Suffering | 
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Posted by radicalcatholicmom
April 23, 2009
My husband and I recently inspired by Thomas Dubay’s “Happy Are You Poor: The Simple Life and Finding Spiritual Life” decided to downsize our home by buying a much smaller condo. Things are a little tight as we ready our house for the market and we finance the other home.
I don’t know about you, but when things are tight the temptation to decrease donations is always present. Last week I was so tempted to not put that check in the church basket. But the thought crossed my mind: “You cannot be more generous than God.” My fear was that there wouldn’t be enough to cover our bills. But going on faith in what we pray every single morning in the Divine Office, I decided to trust that God would indeed provide.
So yesterday when I went to my mail box I noticed an envelope that looked like there was money inside. When opened it was a surprise $1,000 check, with the “we are so sorry we didn’t send this money to you earlier” note. The money was for some service my husband had done awhile back. We hadn’t realized there was money involved. The job was done months ago and the check was indeed late. But just in time according to God’s Divine Plan.
7 Comments | Faith, Family, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
April 22, 2009
I wrote a practical post on my blog today on how females may make a significant change in their lives and save money and decrease waste by buying more eco-friendly feminine hygiene products.
While I am quite aware most of our readers are male, I have no doubt that many are married to women and might be interested in ways to save money, especially in a tight economy.
Comments Off | Environmentalism, Family, Feminism, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
April 16, 2009
It is odd, but it seems that anyone who is a stay at home parent rarely fits the name. I don’t know many of us who stay at home. It seems we live in our vehicles as we drive from one event to the next. And if a family has more than one kiddo involved in school plus one other activity, it is pretty normal for the parent to spend most of the day in the car.
Now that my daughter is in preschool, I know the above is true for me. And I constantly found myself dashing between events, stressed out trying to make it to places on time.
So, I decided to pray the Rosary in the vehicle. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | Driving, Faith, Family, Little Way, Peace, Prayer, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
March 19, 2009
I received an invitation a couple of weeks ago from Alaskan blogger Tea N.Crumpet from Stress Management. She wanted to know if I was game for a “crazy Lenten act.” And I was. She asked if I would accompany her to the local homeless shelter and wash peoples’ feet. Without hesitation, I said “Sign me up!” I knew nothing about who was sponsoring it and why they were organizing this event. I assumed it was a Lenten service or something.
It was Tuesday night during family prayer that I all of a sudden became nervous. Would I be able to do this? How would the people feel about having their feet washed? Then I checked my email right before going to bed and TNC informed me her kiddo needed emergency dental surgery the next day so she would not be able to come. I really wondered, “could I do this by myself?” I already had my dad picking up Big Girl from pre-school. I had it all scheduled. So I went. Read the rest of this entry »
7 Comments | Catholic Social Teaching, Health Care, Healthcare, Poverty, Radical Catholic Mom | Tagged: Homelessness | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
March 8, 2009
Last night my husband & I had the opportunity to have a beautiful couple to our home for dinner. We didn’t really know or even speak with this couple until last night. So how did they end up at our table with us?
I know them via my sister and she has shared their story with me so I was familiar with them, but didn’t quite know them. We have also seen them around at many different Church functions within the Archdiocese of Anchorage. We kept bumping into them.
The woman has been fighting a battle over an unjust situation at work, which I only knew about because my sister had told me about it. My husband & I had been praying for a long time for this couple and their situation since we have the battle scars from our own work place fight.
Well, the woman kept crossing my mind. I kept feeling the need to contact her, to give her a phone call or send her an email, but I kept forgetting to do so. Finally one day I was driving and she crossed my mind again and it finally hit me: this need to talk with her is from the Holy Spirit (for Samuel it was 3 times being called, this woman had been on my mind for at least a month!). Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Faith, Prayer, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
March 5, 2009
(This was first posted on my personal blog)
I have been thinking a lot lately about spiritual blindness especially after my January retreat experience. There is so much more that I have not completely told you and I think it is because I am grappling with how to communicate it and also, for myself, trying to understand what it all means.
For me, the most humbling realization from my Encounter was that everything that I thought I knew I really didn’t. I learned my judgment is just plain wrong. Beginning with the Sister who I thought was off for over 6 years. I thought she was one of those kooky, non-habited nuns and I didn’t want anything to do with her. And in only a few, very short, seconds in prayer, the Lord revealed her to me and showed me WHY she is so odd. And I had to call her and apologize. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by radicalcatholicmom
February 28, 2009
If we wonder why, despite the millions of us who follow Christ, the world has not long ago been converted, we need not look far for one solution. We are not perceived as men on fire. We look too much like everyone else. We appear to be compromisers, people who say that they believe in everlasting life but actually live as though this life is the only one we have.
–Thomas Dubay. The Simple Life and Spiritual Freedom. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press , 1981), 73.
3 Comments | Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
February 23, 2009
I think all first time parents realize that the world as they have known it will never be the same after the birth of their new little one. Suddenly you see the world in a new way.
Three and a half years into my role as “mommy,” my life has taken a turn that I would NEVER have imagined.
Prior to my daughter, I could have cared less about clothes and fashion. Don’t get me wrong. I look presentable, but fashion has never been something I have ever cared about. Give me jeans and a t and Iam good to go. So imagine my utter surprise when at the lovely age of 1 my daughter was THRILLED to enter a shoe department. We thought it was cute. “How funny! A one year old loves shoes.” She would empty out the shoes and try and put them on her feet. We thought it was a stage. She was 1 after all. By age two, she was putting delightful outfits together . . . for me! And everyone couldn’t help but notice, she did a really good job. She has an eye. So by age three, I actually consult my daughter before I leave for a night out with my husband. When I went out for World Wide Marriage Encounter’s World Marriage Day Dinner (how’s that for a title?) my daughter told me “Uh, no mommy. The skirt? Doesn’t work.” And the thing is, she was right! Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments | Art, Beauty, Children, Radical Catholic Mom, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
February 9, 2009
Many of you use Netflix or some other video company to watch movies. Awhile back, I ordered a movie on St. Teresa of Avila that Spanish TV made on her. It turned out to be fantastic. It really brought her to life. So I decided to order more movies on the Saints.
I knew very little of St. John Bosco so I ordered the movie. It is 3 1/2 hours long and worth every minute. What an incredible human being. The movie is Saint John Bosco: Mission to Love. I can only strongly encourage everyone to watch it and get to know this incredible man and the other saints who worked with him.
The issues Bosco fought against then in Italy are the same issues we are dealing with now: capital punishment, juvenile detention, the role of the prison system: is it supposed to be restorative or should it merely protect society, sweatshops, freedom, revolution, the role of the Church in secular society. Bosco is the founder of the Salesians in honor of St. Frances de Sales. Read the rest of this entry »
7 Comments | Radical Catholic Mom, Saints | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
February 9, 2009
Terrible news mounts as the body count rises.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for Australia and for all those who died.
5 Comments | Prayer, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
February 3, 2009
Millard Fuller, a self-made millionaire who sold off all of his wealth and committed himself to Biblical poverty, and later founded Habitat for Humanity, has died at the age of 74.
St. Mary, Pray for him.
Comments Off | Catholic Social Teaching, Charity, Habitat for Humanity, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
January 26, 2009
The book is No Greater Love: The Lives and Times of Hispanic Soldiers by Freddie Valenzuela and Jason Lemons. For full disclosure, Jason Lemons reads my blog and thought that this book would be right up my alley because my Mexican husband is a retired Army NCO. He was right. The book is up my alley and I have hesitated writing on it because I have so much to say about it.
I recommend this book for anyone who is in anyway related to the military because this book is one you will truly understand and appreciate. Freddie not only writes about his experience, but his wife and daughter also contribute to it. This book is made for all military families, not just Hispanic ones. This book is also crucial for those who love Military History and US History, as well as those who study Mexican-American History. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Books, Culture of Death, El Salvador, Indigenous People, Latin America, Liberation Theology, Martyrdom, Patriotism, Radical Catholic Mom, militarism | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
January 23, 2009
Obama,Obama. Read it here.
Keep praying.
65 Comments | Abortion, Culture of Death, Human Rights, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
January 8, 2009
I was originally going to respond in the comments, but I think my personal experience is very relevant to this conversation so I thought I would make a response to Blackadder’s piece.
In the Fall of 2000, I was asked by my employer, Caritas de Costa Rica, to teach human rights classes to migrant workers on a Dole Banana Plantation in Eastern Costa Rica. I was thrilled to be given such an important task and wondered why “I” had been chosen. I was told that the primarily Indian, undocumented, Nicaraguan workers, spoke Spanish as a second language and since my Spanish was so poor and simple, I would be better understood than the more sophisticated Spanish of my co-workers, lol!
When I said “yes,” I had ZERO idea what I was saying “yes” to in reality. I didn’t realize that the classes were illegal, according to Dole, and that just by attending workers would not only lose their job, but like other sweatshops, the workers were provided with “free” housing and food along with their work, so to be fired meant losing everything. Read the rest of this entry »
94 Comments | Capitalism, Catholic Social Teaching, Charity, Culture of Death, Human Rights, Living Wage, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
January 6, 2009
In Spanish, we celebrate el dia de los magos, or Epiphany as the Church calls it. In many parts of the Catholic world, today is when presents are exchanged and the parties commence.
In my home, I made my favorite dessert, tres leches, to have after a special dinner. Trying to keep it Liturgical in the home.
4 Comments | Family, Liturgical Year, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
December 24, 2008
I know it is Christmas Eve, but the day for me is only going to get crazier so I will not have time.
I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!
God is Good.
2 Comments | Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
December 19, 2008
I am reading a book that Katerina did a write up on awhile back. Happy Are You Poor by Thomas Dubay. Fabulous, fabulous book!
It focuses on Gospel Poverty and looks into it. Let’s just say that hubby and I are reading it out loud to each other at night and reviewing our life and how we live. It is a book I recommend for every single follower of Christ. This book is so thought provoking that I will be focusing on some quotes. It is perfect for Advent and to prepare for Christmas and the Second Coming.
This book is loaded with Scripture and then the Saints and what they lived and taught. So there is no wriggle room for the reader so it can be . . . quite uncomfortable. This book places us from the perspective of the rich young man who asks Jesus what he has to do to have eternal life. And Jesus replies “There is one thing further you must do. Sell all you have and give to the poor. You will have a treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” (Luke 18:22) And we know the story. The man cannot. And Jesus comments “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18: 24-25).
Happy Are You Poor explores why wealth and faith are so incompatible. And for wealthy Christians? This book really challenges what most of us work so hard for. Our cars. Our homes. Things to fill our home.
Factual poverty embraced in faith does something to a person in the deep resources of his being. It matures him, develops him, makes him receptive to what the Lord Jesus is about. It is not merely a superficial ability to parrot words about the dire straits of the third and fourth worlds, to proclaim with an abundance of rhetoric but with no follow through in life (pg56). Read the rest of this entry »
4 Comments | Bible, Books, Faith, Poverty, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
December 19, 2008
One of the perks of being sick for a week and then having a chiquita sick for a little more time, is you get to think. A lot.
So as Christmas cards have begun to arrive I cannot help but notice many of the beautiful and different renditions of the birth of Christ. Most of the cards have the Renaissance images of Jesus, Mary, Joseph. And most of them have them dressed in fine beautiful, flowing robes.
The Renaissance artists were dressing the Holy Family in the clothes and fashions of the day. I cannot help but wonder what a modern day 2008 image of Jesus/Mary and Joseph dressed in today’s latest fashions would look like. First, I imagine that today’s believers would be absolutely scandalized over the images. Second, I imagine it would be quite jarring to imagine Mary/Jesus/Joseph in today’s world looking very much like us. Would we want to put the Holy Family image on our Christmas cards?
I am not an artist, but I would be really interested to see what the best artists today could come up with in a modern imitation of the Renaissance exploration.
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Posted by radicalcatholicmom
December 12, 2008
I have been contemplating this Advent an event that happened two years ago. And I am not sure why two years later it has been on my mind, but it has.
This post on Mark Shea’s about Karl Keating’s reflection on the military jet that devastated a Christian man’s life brought my own experience to mind.
That plane flew over my home a few seconds before it plowed into Mr. Yoon’s. Had it remained airborne just a few seconds longer, it would have crashed onto vacant land. Had it crashed a few seconds earlier than it did, I might not be around to write this or anything else.
I have been granted a reprieve. Mr. Yoon has been granted a purgatory.
The ways of the Lord continue to be mysterious.
One day I was driving home from the gym and I entered the left turn lane to go home. There were two turning lanes and I always use the one on the outer right. This day, though, I entered my usual lane when all of a sudden I had a deep urge to get in the other lane. I resisted at first and then I thought, “Hey, change is good.” We sat there waiting for the light to turn green when another car took the spot where I had been. A bright red truck. When the light turned green, the lane next to me went faster. As he entered the intersection, a white truck going 80 mph slammed into him with full force. I sat there, blocked by the carnage, and stunned, knowing that red truck should have been me.
Thankfully, no was killed, but they were severely injured.
To this day I cannot help but wonder, why was I saved from that? And more, why did someone else have to suffer it? I do feel my Guardian Angel stepped in to help me, why didn’t that man’s Guardian Angel help him? Was his injury the cause for a later reconnect with his Faith? Did it make him lose his Faith?
I know there are no easy answers to these types of questions.
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Posted by radicalcatholicmom
December 12, 2008
Just in time yet for a Christmas present under the tree, I recommend the book Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire: The Encounter that Changed Her Life and Can Change Your Own by Joseph Langford.
Fr. Joseph is the priest who with Mother Teresa co-founded the Missionaries of Charity Fathers. Thus, he knows her well and has a unique authority to tell her story, one that went untold for a very long time.
Anyone who has ever read about Mother Teresa or watched movies on her, or who has actually met her, will know that no matter where she built a chapel there were always two fixtures: Jesus Crucified and the words “I thirst” directly next to the crucifix. I must say, over the years I have read about her, I always wondered why, of all the words she could have chosen, she chose “I thirst.”
Fr. Joseph explains why in the brilliant, reflective, spiritually charged, yet easy to read book, about why a Sister of Loretto one day on an every day train ride, changed her life forever. According to Fr, Mother Teresa told him that she had a mystical experience with God. Jesus invited Mother Teresa to experience his deep, unending Thirst for humanity. He let her experience his deep yearning and Love he has for each one of us. A love that he fulfills on the Cross in his simple words of “I Thirst.” Those words are not just about a bodily need, but as Mother Teresa discovers, Christ’s need for His Spouse, His people.
The book is an explanation of why Mother felt like she only had one choice but to reveal for the rest of her life to others how much God loved them. He especially called her to the ones who MOST felt rejected by God because of their pain, their suffering, their poverty, the ugliness that surrounded them.
I have not yet read Mother Teresa’s diary, but to me, this book explains not only why Mother Teresa lived as heroically as she did, but also why she experienced the deep darkness–the spiritual desert– in the form she did. She not only had the vision of the Trinity’s Divine Eternal Thirst for our love, but she LIVED the Divine bodily Thirst. Her life was the prophetic, living out, of that Desert Thirst in both forms.
Buy this book. Give it to someone in need of Love. Buy one for yourself and let Jesus’ “I Thirst” challenge you.
2 Comments | Books, Culture of Life, Faith, Radical Catholic Mom, Saints | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
December 10, 2008
This story from CNN caught my attention last night and I have pondering about it ever since.
This gentleman, a newly arrived Korean immigrant, lost his two baby daughters, his wife and his mother-in-law when the military plane crashed into his home. And his response? He asks for prayers for the pilot because of the guilt the pilot may carry forever.
Could any of us do the same if we were in the same situation?
Let us keep both men in our prayers.
5 Comments | Prayer, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
December 8, 2008
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Holy Day of Obligation for us.
I didn’t know that St. Catherine Laboure who was shown the image on the left, known as the Miraculous Medal, was a Daughter of Charity. The same order as Sister Mary Peter and two other really great Sisters stationed in Anchorage.
The doctrine that is written on the Medal is the doctrine that we celebrate today. The Immaculate Conception is NOT when Mary conceived Jesus as popular culture always assumes. For instance when someone is pregnant and the father is unknown many times people will say “Maybe its another immaculate conception.” This is completely wrong. The Immaculate Conception celebrates Mary’s conception because she was protected from Original Sin.
5 Comments | Church Doctrine, Radical Catholic Mom, Saints, Salvation History | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
December 5, 2008
Last night I watched one of the most powerful movies ever! Ever! It captures the Church teaching on war and what war does to people better than many other war movies.
In Spanish, it is called Casas de Carton, in English, Innocent Voices. It is a 2004 movie that features Latino screen writer and actor Oscar Torres’s life story about growing up in El Salvador in the mid 80s during the viscious civil war. What makes this movie so beautiful and terrible at the same time, is that it is told from the perspective of an 11 year old boy . It opens with a group of little boys being marched in the rain at gun point. The narrator wonder why the soldiers want to kill them. Then the scene fades away to tell the story of how this group of boys are arrested by soldiers.
The movie contrasts the child’s innocence with the brutality of war. Torres, or Chava as they call him, grows up in the slum where the desperately poor people of Latin America languish. But what is so heartening is to see normal family life unfold amidst the squalor. Then the night arrives and the children have to hunker down under the bed as the bullets fly between the guerrillas and the Salvadoran Army. From a mother’s perspective, I had a very difficult time watching it, and then you realize that this is someone’s real life story. This is what happened to civilians. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments Off | Peace, Poverty, Radical Catholic Mom, Terrorism, The State, war | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
November 17, 2008
I report that my college friend Susan Shaughnessy, age 30, passed away today. Susan devoted her life to life issues, whether by loving the unborn, caring for the homeless addict, or later working for the John Paul II Institute at Catholic University of America.
God bless her! And please pray for her parents, her brother, her boyfriend and her very many friends all over the world.
6 Comments | Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
November 10, 2008
Today is a Blog Action Day for Bloggers around the world to focus the spot light on the refugee crisis. Many of you are my regular readers and have been following the story of my adopted refugee family that I am sponsoring so to speak via Catholic Social Services here in Anchorage.
To follow my family’s story and read about them you may go the following links:
Mary: The Bridge Between Cultures
The Refugee Family: Their Story Unfolds
In Her Element
A Cultural Slam
Sunday Chaos and Surprises
Update on “My” Refugee Family
Today, though, I want to talk about the growing crisis situation in Northeastern Congo. My refugee mother has her pregnant daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren in that mess. She has been on the phone non-stop with relatives in Uganda and Rwanda trying to get a hold of her daughter and family. No one has been able to find her daughter and grandchildren. You can imagine the hell the Mom is living right now. She can barely function due to worry. So today I am calling my local Red Cross to see if we can register her daughter’s family’s info so that IF her daughter makes it to a refugee camp then we can connect them.
My family’s story is merely one amongst literally millions of displaced people. Sudan. Congo. Iraq. War causes most refugee situations.
Please keep refugees in your prayers. And remember to look for them in your local community and do what you can to be Jesus to them.
Click here for a good resource from the USCCB.
2 Comments | Catholic Social Teaching, Darfur, Human Rights, Hunger, Iraq War, Local Church, Pro-Life, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
November 8, 2008
I made frijoles for Big Girl yesterday morning. Here is our conversation:
Me: (standing in the kitchen, yelling out to my daughter in the dining room). “Babe, do you like your frijoles?”
Pause
Big Girl: “Are you speaking to me or Chucho?” Reminder: Chucho is the family dog.
2 Comments | Family, Humor, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
November 3, 2008
I have hesitated writing this post because of what I know will be the vitriol and hand wringing that has accompanied my post on my personal blog. A look around the Catholic blogosphere for a moment is a clue why many Catholic Obama supporters are, well, keeping their mouths shut. We go to Church every Sunday. We are involved in our Parish life. We are active in the pro-life movement. We have family prayer time. But we cannot in good conscience vote for McCain.
My decision to not vote for McCain is even more shocking because I helped Sarah Palin in her bid for Governor of AK. I stood outside on a street corner with my baby strapped to my back in a pouring rain to wave signs. My mommy group was stunned to hear that I won’t vote the McCain/Palin ticket.
It is hard to convey logically why I cannot vote for McCain. So I will only say the reason I will be voting for Obama is for two reasons. First, because I don’t believe the propaganda of the right. You got me twice! Twice. Not anymore. They have lost ALL credibility with their support of the last 8 years. Second, I am voting for him because I feel a near panic attack coming on when I think of the chance that McCain could be our President for four years.
I am sorry it is not more logical. I am sorry it isn’t well thought out. But I think it is important for so many Catholic McCain apologists to know this may not be logical. It may be that our fear, based on a Bush Republican reign, so overwhelms that we will vote “anybody but the Republicans.”
And telling me I will go to hell because of all the dead babies Obama will directly murder? Sigh.
91 Comments | Election, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
October 28, 2008
Folks, doctors still aren’t quite sure why Susan is as ill as she is, but she is now breathing on her own and her reflexes are improving!!
Her friends and family are overwhelmed by the prayers people are praying for her! They ask two things: 1) Have Masses said and 2) Susan has a deep devotion to Pope JPII. Please ask for his intercession for her recovery.
Thank you! Prayers do indeed work and her breathing on her own is truly miraculous!
Note: ANY reader who makes a nasty political comment on a prayer request will be banned. Completely unacceptable behavior. We are a Catholic Community and there is a time for praying and time for debating. This is a time for prayer!
7 Comments | Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
October 23, 2008
From the numbers of emails flooding my in-box on my personal blog, I know I am not the only Catholic struggling this election season. One person sent me Bishop Herman’s statement about not voting for a pro-abortion politician.
He urged Catholics not to treat the unborn as the neglectful rich man treated Lazarus in the biblical parable.
“Judgment Day is on its way,” the bishop wrote in the St. Louis Review. “We cannot stop it. We don’t know when it will come, but just as surely as the sun rises daily, the Son of Man will come when we least expect.”
I wonder, is it only people killed by surgical/medicinal abortion? Or those killed by artificial contraception? Or those killed by in-vitro fertilization? Or those killed by embryonic stem cell research? The Bishops keep talking about abortion, but considering the numbers of American using hormonal contraceptions and the numbers of abortions caused by them, one would think the Bishops would not want us to vote for those politicians who want and protect birth control.
I will assume the Bishops DO mean what they say, and that ANY politician who supports ANY abortion or activity that causes abortion should not be supported.
Could someone please tell me which candidate falls under that category? I know of none. We know that NOT voting is an acceptable option. Does this mean, then, that Catholic must remove themselves from the electorate?
37 Comments | Abortion, Contraception, Politics, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
October 17, 2008
This morning, though it is a crisp 22 degrees outside, I joined a friend and her three little ones outside of our State’s largest abortion clinic. Together, we prayed the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy to intercede for those mothers, babies, doctors, and nurses who all are impacted by abortion.
Why were we there? We are participating in 40 Days for Life, the nationwide call to prayer and fasting for 40 days outside of our local abortion clinics. To date, according to reports from around the country, 268 children have been saved. Prayer can break through even the darkest moment of despair and move hearts towards the good.
It has been a long time since I have been outside an abortion clinic and I am glad that it is prayer that brought me there today. Protests are one thing, but prayer? Prayer is what we desperately need!
I always hate standing outside these death clinics because I feel like we (we being society) have seriously screwed up. How is it that a mom feels her only choice is to kill her child? How did we all get to this point where a doctor chooses to kill his patient?
40 Days ends November 2nd. I encourage those who have not participated to do so. One, it is easy to put life and death issues out of our mind until we stand and watch women being dropped off by their husbands/boyfriends for a meeting with death. And two, prayer can never hurt. Ever. In most cities, it is a 24 hour vigil so if you cannot make it during the day time, no worries. Go after work. Only have 30 minutes? Go! Only can do weekends? Do it!
5 Comments | Abortion, Nonviolence, Prayer, Pro-Life, Radical Catholic Mom | Permalink
Posted by radicalcatholicmom
October 14, 2008
I recently returned home from a two week stay in Washington caring for my 87 year old Grandmother. I hadn’t seen her in about three years though we speak on the phone weekly. I knew she has Alzheimer’s but it was one thing to know it and quite another thing to experience it.
Statistically people over 65 years of age are at high risk for Alzheimer’s. 50% of those 85 years of age and older will have Alzheimer’s, thus most of us will have a loved one who has this terrible disease. A dear friend of mine’s father had early onset of the disease–meaning he had it before he was 65 years old–and it was my experience via her that helped me to know what to do with my Grandmother. Still, even when you have the information, I have found that it doesn’t prepare a person for the emotional side effects of Alzheimer’s, both from the family members and from the victim of it.
Grandma has always been the grandmotherly figure. She always doted on us when we were little and loved it when we would fly down and stay with them. She loved making breakfast, lunch and dinner for us and enjoyed doing things for us. So it was difficult to watch my Grandmother not know how to dress herself. It took her 30 minutes to figure out how to put one foot in a sock. What a role reversal to dress her and undress her and prepare her for bed. I had never dealt with dentures and hearing aids before, yet in two weeks time I became an expert in changing batteries, removing dentures, cleaning them. The worst part for both of us is that it upset my Grandma that I had to do it for her. She hated that she couldn’t do it and she felt so helpless and frustrated. I tried to tell her that it was a privilege for me to help her just a tiny bit (only 2 weeks out of a whole year!) but she wouldn’t hear it. Read the rest of this entry »
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