Watermark Youth Group

Dying Only To Be Reborn Again

2009-12-22T22:59:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that some of you who follow this blog have noticed the lack of activity in the recent months. You may have thought to yourself, "There they go, starting a blog with high aspirations, but now it's fallen by the wayside. Typical..."

Or maybe not.

Yes, we are shutting this blog down. However, we have been planning something even more awesomer than you were possibly imagining. A shiny new blog AND a new website, all in one! Now an out-of-date blog and an out-of-date website can happen in one place! Well, hopefully not. The goal of this newly designed website is to leverage technology as a means for assisting the building of our community. We want to strive, as Pope Benedict says in his message for the 43rd World Communications Day, "to bring the witness of [our] faith to the digital world."

So without further ado, hold on to your butts since it's time to update your bookmarks and all that jazz:

http://sjccc.org/groups/watermark

For rss feeds like Google Reader and the like, you can subscribe to:

http://sjccc.org/groups/watermark/feed/

See you there.

Assisi, Italy

2009-11-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Since nobody has posted for here for way toooo long, I will put up a few pictures I took when I went to Italy.

This church here is the Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi (Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi). There is so much history here, I don't know where to begin. First of all, Assisi is the birthplace of St. Francis, and he is buried inside this church, but this church wasn't even around when St. Francis was alive. Before St. Francis died he told his brothers to bury him at the edge of the cliff of Assisi, where criminals were executed. The land was so barren and bleak that nobody wanted to go near it. It used to be called Hell's hill but now with the church built, it is called Paradise hill. The first foundation stone was laid by Pope Gregory IX, the day right after St. Francis was canonized (7/16/1228).

It is also the mother church of the Franciscan Friars.

Inside the lower church is the tomb of St. Francis - sober and humble, to reflect St. Francis' life of poverty

Next time I'll post a picture of Santa Maria degli Angeli, which is just down the hill from this basilica. It is an even more awesome place because

1) it is where St. Francis actually died (and lived)

2) there is a bed of roses without thorns because ...

3) it was actually built to accomodate pilgrims who visit the "Porziuncola" - a TINY TINY chapel inside that is only big enough to fit 15 ppl or so... what's so special about it?!

Waving gooodbye to Assisi from our car

[Watermark] Boom Sizzle Reminder

2009-09-24T19:18:00.001-07:00

Hi Watermark!

Just a friendly reminder that Boom Sizzle continues on this week:

Who: You and any high schooler you would like to invite

What: Boom Sizzle (a night of worship, games, and Bible Study)

When: 7:30PM - 10:00PM, Saturday Night

Where: St. Clare's Lower Church

Please e-mail patrick.ku (at) alumni.usc.edu with any questions.

--
Watermark Youth Group (est 1993)
San Jose Chinese Catholic Community
Website: http://www.sjccc.org/groups/watermark/
Blog: http://watermarkyouth.blogspot.com

If you'd like to be removed from our mailing list, please reply to this mail with REMOVE in the subject field.

The Butterfly Circus

2009-09-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

If you liked Bella, this is well worth a watch as well. Except this one is free. Just visit here.

First 2009-2010 Watermark Boom Sizzle!

2009-09-11T22:57:00.001-07:00

Though summer is over, Boom Sizzle(TM) is back and in full force!

As usual, for the first one of the year, we go big and do it potluck style.

All high schoolers are invited to come and join in on the fun.

Parents are invited as well. We will be having a separate Parents Meeting

during the course of the festivities.

To recap:

Who: You!

What: First Watermark Boom Sizzle of 2009-2010

When: Saturday, 9/19 from 6:30PM - 10:00PM

Where: St. Clare's Lower Church

Food Assignments:

YAGs - Main Dish/Salad

Seniors - Main Dish

Juniors - Appetizers

Sophomores - Desserts

Freshmen - Drinks

Hope to see you all there!

Do we seek to know God?

2009-09-08T03:04:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in Mass and while listening to the homily heard something that made you just sit back and say "whoa"? I just had to share something very simple yet so real that it is a serious challenge to all of us, especially when we find ourselves on religious "cruise-control".

In addressing a chapel full of students coming to Mass for the first time for the school year, the priest said this- "If in our daily lives we choose to put such little time into prayer and so much into distraction, when we finally turn to God in our time of great need, will we be surprised to discover that we do not know Him?"

San Jose Earthquakes Soccer Outing

2009-08-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

Watermark Soccer Fans:

The Diocese is sponsoring a night of Faith & Fellowship to go see the San Jose Earthquakes take on the Colorado Rapids @ Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara University. After the game, there is a special event sponsored by the Diocese where you can meet some of the players.

The event is on Friday, September 18 @ 8PM. Tickets are $25 / person.

We plan on meeting first at St. Clares and then take the short walk to Buck Shaw Stadium.

If interested or if you have any questions, please let Jonathan Lin (jonathanlin2 (at) gmail.com) know by Sunday, September 6. Once on the list, please make sure to bring $25 (make checks payable to SJCCC) and a signed permission slip (if under 18) on the day of.

Camping 2009

2009-07-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

It's time to bust out the tents and spend the weekend roughin' it at Watermark Camping 2009!

Who: All high schoolers (including incoming freshmen) and YAGs

What: Watermark Camping 2009

When: Friday, August 7 to Sunday, August 9

We will meet at 4:00PM on Friday in the St. Clare's parking lot
We will be back to St. Clare's on Sunday in time for 3:00PM Mass

Where: Manresa State Beach (1445 San Andreas Rd, Watsonville, CA 95076)

The cost of this weekend is $20 (please make checks payable to "SJCCC") and there are only 32 spots available. Register now to guarantee a spot! Download permission slips here and make sure to indicate what equipment you can lend. Please turn forms in to Pat and direct any questions to him as well (patrick.ku (at) alumni.usc.edu).

Summer Book Study

2009-07-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

Here are the final details for the Summer Book Study.

This study is open to all Watermarkers (High School, College, Young Adult)
We will be meeting for three Tuesday's (7/14, 7/21, 7/28) from 7:30PM - 9:00PM in the St. Clare's Lower Church (location subject to change).
We will be learning more about the Mass by reading The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth by Scott Hahn
Discussions will be led by Fr. Paul Mariani.
You can purchase the book at most major book stores or online at your favorite online retailer

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lambs-Supper-Mass-Heaven-Earth/dp/0385496591/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246510441&sr=1-1

The book is divided into three parts. Your homework assignment for the first session is to read the first part.
Please bring the book, note taking materials, and your Bible to each session.

If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Rhetoric, Logic, and Persuasion

2009-06-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

As a Catholic, sometimes we find ourselves having to explain a lot of things to people. More often than not, it tends to lead to an argument.

This article draws a pretty good distinction between a fight and an argument, and ways to appeal to someone's logos, ethos, and pathos. If we are very logical people, sometimes it is impossible to argue with someone who is completely emotional. It's not because they're stupid, but because we might not say something that resonates with them. The article uses kids as examples, but I don't see the big difference if they replaced children with adults.

Check it out! :)

http://www.figarospeech.com/teach-a-kid-to-argue/

Notre Dame commencement wasn't isolated

2009-06-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

Two articles and it's funny that they both "intersected" so to speak, at the Notre Dame commencement that President Obama spoke at.

First article: A great article about how it got to that point and the state of the majority of "Catholic" universities and colleges in our nation. While reading this article, keep in mind a few posts back about the agenda of the "billionaire's club" and what they want to put their money towards. Also note that another name for the Society of Jesus is Jesuit. Assistant General is like their vice president. Congregation of the Holy Cross is the order "running" Notre Dame. America is a Jesuit magazine.

Second Article: Yes, it's our President again! It's funny because if you think about it, it seems like he's redefining morality and ethics for himself. If he doesn't like what he hears, fire the people that said it and hire new ones that tell you what you want to hear. He says the now-former bioethics council will be replaced by one that offers more "practical policy options." As suggested in the article, I'd suggest you guys look at the website of the former council before they take it down and see all the accomplishments of this council and how practical they were for policy!! Also, try and keep an eye on who he puts in this new council, since it's probably not going to be big news at all.

Linking these two articles together, it's actually really scary. President Obama has quite of few "Catholics" around him that's he's appointed. Unfortunately, they SEEM to be "Catholics" who agree with many of his views and stances that are in direct contradiction to the Catholic Church, something like those colleges and universities. I'm sure it's trickled down to some of the high schools too now.

The other side of contraception

2009-06-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

I read this article and I found it really interesting, especially for the Chinese-American-I-have-to-get-ahead mentality. Looking back on my own educational experience, the emphasis was always on technical arts (how to make money) rather than development of real relationships and even less so on who I am. And of course almost nothing at all about my relationship to God (I admit I don't remember anything from my years in CCD, which is largely my own fault). Anyway, I find the article's findings very true here in San Antonio since there are large numbers of single mothers that aren't teens (lots of the undergrads at school). But, assuming sexual activity to be about the same between San Antonio and Bay Area, and the same level of contraception use, what does that say about the number of abortions we have in the Bay Area?

Anyway, here's the article.

The Foolishness of the Godless?

2009-06-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

So a while back Colin's post on the Sacramento Seminarians blog got me to start reading the Bible in a year.

Ok, so I'm a few days behind already but that's not the point. I've been having a lot of discussions with some of my anti-theist friends recently, and oftentimes what the debate of the existence of God ends up coming down to is not really rational argumentation and logic, but rather simple belief; it is hard for me to see people so easily deny the true hope, joy, and life that comes from faith, and it is hard for many atheists to see people so hopeful and joyful from what they consider a delusion.

But one of the things that has been impressed on me very deeply is that the modern atheist thinks that he is being novel in his belief. Atheists believe that atheism is on a rise because they are finally asking questions that have never been asked, that people are finally thinking in ways they have never thought before. In fact, it is only the hubris of modern society that is driving the secular revolution. In fact, it is people's ignorance that gives modern atheists like Hitchens and Dawkins any ground at all- they must count on the fact that people do not realize their "new" challenges are the same issues faced (and answered) by Christians since ancient times. Whether it be accusations of plagiarism from other faiths (Mithras, Egyptian, etc.) or what they consider "unanswerable" proofs of God's non-existence (God does not heal all people, amputees, the Bible is racist and sexist, the existence and problem of evil, etc.) rest assured that these challenges are not new. Society today thinks that religion is stupid and irrational, and that it has never thought about these questions and therefore has no answer. Our modern society does not know or has forgotten that our saints rank amongst the greatest thinkers of all time, and they in no way shirk or avoid these questions.

Don't let society push you around; don't be trumped by pop amateur philosophers like Hitchens and Dawkins (one is a journalist, the other a biologist), let the lion that is the teachings of the Church out of its cage. Go read St. Augustine's City of God (or at least parts of it, it is super long), read St. Thomas Aquinas or Blaise Pascal (mathematician, physicist, and, surprise: Catholic apologist). Realize that the Church is not irrational, it is not solely emotion and experience based; rather it unites faith and reason to elevate both to their designed purpose. There are reasons for faith. Don't let anyone tell you there aren't.

The reason why I was thinking about all this is because my Scripture reading was, aptly, from the Book of Wisdom. The modern atheist thinks that finally modern people can come to terms with God's nonexistence- they are finally enlightened enough to be at peace with this "fact", free from the superstition that grips the religious. Is this new, is this novel?

Compare the words of the modern atheist to these ancient words from the Book of Wisdom:

"But the godless call for Death with deed and word,
counting him friend, they wear themselves out for him;
with him they make a pact,
worthy as they are to belong to him.

And this is the false argument they use,
'Our life is short and dreary,
there is no remedy when our end comes,
no one is known to have come back from Hades.
We came into being by chance
and afterwards shall be as though we had never been.
The breath in our nostrils is a puff of smoke,
reason a spark from the beating of our hearts;
extinguish this and the body turns to ashes,
and the spirit melts away like the yielding air.
In time, our name will be forgotten,
nobody will remember what we have done;
our life will pass away like wisps of cloud,
dissolving like the mist
that the sun's rays drive away
and that its heat dispels.
For our days are the passing of a shadow,
our end is without return,
the seal is affixed and nobody comes back.

'Come then, let us enjoy the good things of today,
let us use created things with the zest of youth:
take our fill of the dearest wines and perfumes,
on no account forgo the flowers of spring
but crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither,
no meadow excluded from our orgy;
let us leave the signs of our revelry everywhere,
since this is our portion, this our lot!

'As for the upright man who is poor, let us oppress him;
let us not spare the widow,
nor respect old age, white-haired with many years.
Let our might be the yardstick of right,
since weakness argues its own futility.
Let us lay traps for the upright man, since he annoys us
and opposes our way of life,
reproaches us for our sins against the Law,
and accuses us of sins against our upbringing.
He claims to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child of the Lord.
We see him as a reproof to our way of thinking,
the very sight of him weighs our spirits down;
for his kind of life is not like other people's,
and his ways are quite different.
In his opinion we are counterfeit;
he avoids our ways as he would filth;
he proclaims the final end of the upright as blessed
and boasts of having God for his father.
Let us see if what he says is true,
and test him to see what sort of end he will have.
For if the upright man is God's son, God will help him
and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.
Let us test him with cruelty and with torture,
and thus explore this gentleness of his
and put his patience to the test.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death
since God will rescue him- or so he claims.'"

-Wisdom 1:16-2:20

Why does God not simply save us all? Why did He not save His own begotten Son? God's love and justice is greater than ours, more than we can imagine, more than this world can offer. People who do not see with the eyes of faith will try and test us, but we who do see with the eyes of faith see beyond this ephemeral world. We see a world that is not a freak occurence but one with a purpose; we see that our reason is a gift, not merely the emergent property of our biological existence and neuron firing; we see people who are not mere passing matter but who are destined for glory. We see a world not governed by happenstance and relativity but by eternal Truth.

Holy Spirit, guide us in Your wisdom. Amen, alleluia.

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong

2009-06-10T14:52:00.001-07:00

I found this on my friend's facebook page, where she received 386 "thumbs up" from random people. When I read it, I had to take a breather after the 3rd point... but, I thought I would post this because it's a good representation of what thoughts are out there. To their credit, some of these are actually true, albeit sarcastically written. This just shows how much work we have to do! :)

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage Is "Wrong"

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Brittany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans

No Freedom of Speech at UCLA

2009-06-08T00:36:00.001-07:00

"A professor at the government-funded University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) has prohibited a graduating student from saying "I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" in her own graduation speech.

Christina Popa has posted the proof emails on her Facebook page, showing how other students are permitted to have their speeches read aloud at a pre-graduation ceremony, and Christina would also be allowed, but only if she didn't mention Jesus.

Instead, UCLA Biology Professor Dr. Pamela Hurley deliberately censored Christina's proposed speech, and emailed back to Christina saying: "UCLA is a public university where the doctrine of separation of church and state is observed," and the professor proposed a censored version of Christina's proposed speech, deleting any reference to Jesus Christ.

When Christina objected, Dr. Hurley threatened, "If you prefer, Christina, I can read none of what you wrote. I am very sorry that this is a problem for you."

Christina Popa has consulted attorneys but is not yet available for public comment."

Full Article

I think this is a bit nuts. But this event, if anything, just points to the mentality some people have today when it comes to religion, and more so Christianity. We cannot say the word Jesus because it will offend someone or somehow be illegal. NUTS!

Mama says no to aborting her baby...

2009-06-06T15:01:00.000-07:00

Check out this video. The crazy but awesome thing is CNN actually aired this video. :)

Demographic Winter

2009-06-04T07:56:00.001-07:00

Alright, I have been posting a bit. But what else can I do during finals, study?

Someone recently sent me this link for a new documentary on overpopulation. Check out the trailer.

It's well worth your time. :)

LGBT Pride Month...

2009-06-03T00:48:00.001-07:00

What, you didn't know?

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

___________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 1, 2009

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

I would be very interested to know if this has been mentioned in public schools yet. Obviously it's the end of the year but I just have to wonder. Anyone heard anything?

3 Simple Ways to Repeal Prop 8...

2009-06-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

Coming straight out of Gay.com, there is a short article on how to overturn Prop. 8. I think it is always wise to listen to the opposition so you know where they are coming from and maybe even find some point for dialogue. But honestly, I have my doubts here.

They have strong methods (fundraising, donating time, and reaching out to Christians) workin in their advantage to overturn Prop. 8 but we have the same ones we have as well. There is just one difference. We, without sounding arrogant, have the truth in this debate. But first a quote from this article I find incredibly interesting in that is reveals what is in store.

"There are three types of Christians. One group is liberal and supports our quest for equality. It is embedded in their faith—we have their vote. Another group is so consumed by fear and hate that they would not embrace gay rights if Jesus himself descended from heaven waving a rainbow flag and sporting a disco ball for a halo—we will never have their vote. A third group, and perhaps the largest, are good and decent people who strive to be more loving, fair-minded and compassionate, but have been fed lies about homosexuality— their votes are up for grabs. In the past we have ignored this group of Christians assuming that they are just like Pat Roberson and James Dobson.

All of us know good people who are misinformed about homosexuality. Maybe it is a family member, a coworker or a neighbor. By talking calmly and respectfully, many of these people will change their views and more importantly, their votes. Not a day goes by that I don’t receive an email from someone who has read my book Hearts & Minds: Talking to Christians about Homosexuality. Inevitably, they have been able to win a friend or family member over by knowing the facts, speaking the truth, and demonstrating deference and respect.

We won’t be able to convince everyone to vote for equality by 2010, but the good news is we don’t have to. Prop 8 passed by less than 5% in 2008. If each member of the LGBT community can convince one person to change their vote, we will easily win in 2010!"

The funny thing is she talks about speaking to people respectfully yet she starts namecalling. A certain group of Christians are "so consumed by fear and hate". Yikes, that does not sound respectful. In fact, I think this is what makes gay marriage rallies often quite hate-filled in the first place. They demonize their opponents. We can fall into the same danger though...

I would be quite willing to talk to gay marriage supporters but I will never change my stance on gay marriage. Does that make be someone filled with fear and hate? Does that make you someone like that? Tough options. The reality is that to oppose gay marriage requires true compassion and love. It points out to them that this lifestyle is not and cannot be approved by society. You care for them by speaking the truth in love. Gay marriage cannot help them and it will not help anyone else. Traditional marriage, between man and woman, builds and strengthens society. They have children, they educate them, and facilitate the continued growth of people who are well formed. Gay marriage is ultimately self-centered, not oriented towards giving life nor stabilizing society, but is simply directed towards whatever the individual desires. That's not how society works. Society it ultimately called to cultivate virtue, not vice. Not selfishness but selflessness. Think about how society would operate without virtue. More corruption, more crime, more violence, need I go on?

In fact, a scary sign of this self-centeredness is that our birth rate without immigrants is below the level of sustaining our population. We, like much of Europe, are shrinking. This is a sign of the decline of a society. Why, because as your population decreases, you have no people left. And in fact, there is a point where decline in population cannot be reversed. Much of Europe is on the brink. We don't notice in the U.S. because of immigrants. But come to Rome and it's scary how few children you see. Why is this? Contraception, another form of self-centeredness that says, don't let me be inconvenienced by children.

Just some thoughts...

Prolife common ground with Obama Administration?

2009-05-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

This just aired on Thurs night (5/28/2009) and I randomly stumbled upon it on CSPAN (which I don't normally watch at all!)

It's a public exchange of views (not really a debate) at Catholic University of America with the topic: “The Obama Administration and the Sanctity of Human Life: Is There a Common Ground on Life Issues? What is the Right Response by ‘Pro-Life” Citizens?”

It's interesting since one of the presenters is Dr. Doug Kmiec who argued publicly and strongly that faithful Catholics can vote for Obama in the last election and is seen here still generally supportive of Obama and his administration. Both presenters are Catholic lawyers and professors and even though it's not a debate, it's interesting to see both sides articulated so clearly before each other. Take a look, it's only about an hour. And yes, this matters for you still in high school because you SHOULD be voting in the next presidential election in 4 years! And Catholic or not, as residents of the US, we're all under the administration of President Obama.

Catholic University School of Law presentation

Agenda of the Billionaire Club...

2009-05-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

I hope you guys have recently heard that a number of the world's billionaires (Oprah, Gates, Buffet, Soros, Bloomberg, etc.) had a gathering in which they talked about uniting under one major umbrella cause. Any guess what this cause might be? Well overpopulation of course. In fact, they want to pool their resources to force contraception and abortion on more people in order to lower the population and thereby give better lives to more people. Obviously this is under the wonderful title of "changing their habits" and providing "better reproductive healthcare".

It's sad to realize what we are up against in defending the dignity of the human person and human sexuality. We're up against people with billions of dollars who think they have the wisdom to know how to best use their money for the common good. I think some of the comments from this article are worth reading so I've posted them below.

Population control is another word for enslaving those that the rich feel are "not good enough". Their view of the perfect world is just having a select few left on earth to tend to their needs but no so many people that would crowd out the beaches when they want to vacation there. This is selfish

Chessie, Baltimore, USA

Real poverty as Mother Teresa said, is that someone must die so that you may live as you want. Who gives these people the right to make these decisions?

taad, Louisville, usa

Bush was mocked for his promotion of abstinence in Africa. But it worked. Teach young people that they have dignity and do not need to sleep with the first person who shows them affection. This reduces unwanted pregnancies and also the spread of AIDS.

Javier, Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Population growth does not cause poverty, greed does. We have a crisis of morality in our world, not overpopulation. The arrogance of these billionaires is discusting. Its the mindset of China where women are forced to kill their babies and of Hitler who considered some human life undesireable.

Prisca, GR, US

AMDG.

A Moment of Good News

2009-05-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

This is a press release from the Pacific Justice Institute. More on them here. By the way, they may even be a help to you either now or in the future. They will defend pro bono and specifically work on cases where religious rights, parental rights, and civil liberties are being violated.

San Francisco, CA – By a 6-1 vote, the California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8, the voter-approved measure that rejected the court's declaration last summer that gay marriage was required by the state's constitution. The court also held, though, that the estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages performed between last June and November will continue to be valid.

Attorney Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, commented, "Today’s decision is a victory for democracy and a victory for the civil rights of clergy, county clerks and Californians across the political spectrum who did not want to be forced by the government to approve of same-sex marriage." Pacific Justice Institute filed several briefs with the California Supreme Court in support of Proposition 8.

Dacus added that the battle for traditional marriage is just beginning, stating, "The bully tactics and intimidation used by the gay-rights lobby during the Prop. 8 campaign showed us that they will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. As we relish today’s victory, there are already efforts underway to place other initiatives on the ballot to repeal Prop. 8. We must remain vigilant in order to preserve constitutional common sense."

PJI attorneys caution that it may take more litigation over several years to determine the extent to which private individuals, businesses and churches must recognize same-sex "marriages" entered into before Prop. 8 was adopted.

I have heard that part of the reason this was not overturned by the court is they have a desire to respect the initiative process in California where citizens can place propositions on the ballot after collecting a certain number of signatures. So this was not done because the justices actually believe gay marriage is wrong.

But nevertheless, there is hope. We have lots of work to do. We need to work to educate our friends, relatives, and those we do not even know so they can help in the defense of marriage and realize that the defense of traditional marriage is for the good of all people. We must realize that people simply do not understand that our defense of traditional marriage is not simply for some religious whim or for our own self-satisfaction, but for the good of all. We must find ways to communicate it and to do so effectively. AMDG.

Holy Sportsmanship?

2009-05-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

Since it was just March Madness not too long ago and we (not me!) are constantly watching games on TV, reading espn.com, I thought this article was a VERY INTERESTING comparison between secular sports teams and seminarian ones. Did you know our late Pope John Paul II was a soccer goalie?

Anyway, read this article! Our friendly seminarian Colin is on the team and I'm going to go watch this game in Rome that they are talking about!!

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15979

"Explaining the North American team’s name of the Martyrs, one seminarian said: "Even when we lose, we win."

Cool huh.

Letters to Arthur: Indulgences

2009-05-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

This might be helpful for some in understanding indulgences: (Pat came up with the title)

Alright guys, just jotting down my thoughts on this, it's not very organized, sorry about that :P But it's long, sorry about that too!! But I hope it helps to clear some stuff up!

To understand indulgences, we have to understand the Sacrament that it is tied to: Reconciliation also known as the Sacrament of Penance. To understand that Sacrament, we have to understand Sacraments in general (what they are, what they do, etc.) and sin.

I’ll cover briefly sin, Sacraments in general, then the Sacrament of Penance and then we’ll dive into indulgences.

Sin we know is anything that is a turning away from God, in our thoughts, words, and actions. To have any sin keeps us away from God because He is perfect. From both the Bible as well as our own experiences, we know that sin not only keeps us away from God, but also from each other (other people, especially the ones we love the most). We see this in the original Fall between Adam and Eve, and then with Cain, Lot and his wife, etc which is a unnatural (as God meant us to be) way of relating to other creatures. So there is a twofold effect of sin: First, especially grave sin keeps us away from God so much so that we may even be denied eternal life. Second, sin also gives us unhealthy attachments to creatures (from inanimate objects to other human beings, to even angels rather, usually demons). I like to think of it like if you do something wrong, you are: 1. guilty, and 2: suffer the consequences. Scott Hahn has the example of if you drove your car into someone’s home. God’s forgiveness is so great, He doesn’t just forgive you, He asks you to be in His family and adopt you. My addition to that is, okay you’re now an heir and a part of the family that’s living in the house, but the house has a huge hole where your car ran into that still needs to be fixed. That’s the consequence.

The other thing to keep in mind about sin is that since God is all good and perfect, every sin offends not only the person or persons we sin against, but we sin against God as well. (another way to think about the double effect of sin).

Sacraments briefly are just outward signs of inward grace that effect (actually make happen) what they symbolize. The Sacrament of Penance of Reconciliation then is God forgiving a person. The priest then stands in the person of Christ as it’s Christ that forgives the penitent through the priest. (This does NOT mean this is the ONLY way God forgives sins, but it’s the normal way Jesus instituted because God is not limited by the methods He chose to use to interact with us, but we have to keep in mind He CHOSE to do it that way). So when the Christ forgives us through the priest, our guilt is taken away. We are no longer guilty of the sins we committed, because of Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary. However, we live in time and space and we have consequences. The consequences of sin is not JUST the act of the sin (like the hole in the house you ran your car into), but also that sins effect on ourselves! We know from experience that the more we sin, the easier it is to sin next time. Which leads inevitably to the “hardness of hearts” that Jesus seems to really dislike. That’s one way of looking at what’s termed “temporal punishment” of sin, that not only do we ourselves have to deal with, but those around us and especially those we love and love us. Versus “eternal punishment” which is from the guilt of the sin itself. That’s why when we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation the priest declares that we are forgiven and then gives us a “penance.” An act to remit the temporal effects of the sin. For example, if you stole 10 bucks from your mom, your penance could be to give it back. For most sins, these sorts of actions are impractical, many times impossible (like you stole 10 bucks, but you spent it on candy which you ate). So prayers or other devout acts are prescribed so that we are less attached in the unhealthy way that the sin causes to us by drawing to God and asking for His help. The act of trying to repair our relationships with those we’ve wronged is called “satisfaction” which is usually also included in the penances.

I hope we won’t have to go over the Biblical references about the above info. There is also the aspect of the salvific role of the Church in our lives. Since we are “sensual” people, we learn, interact, etc. in and through our senses. (This is one of the reasons for Sacraments) It makes sense then that Christ chose to proclaim the Good News to people and bring people to eternal life through the Church, although we know it’s not the ONLY way God can do those things.

Now, indulgences. Indulgences are for those sins where the temporal punishment was not complete. They can be for ourselves as well as for those who’ve died. Since we know that God is perfect and to be in His presence eternally means we must be perfect, without any sin and without any “stains” of sins (attachments to any sin). So that means when we die, there must be a purgatory where these attachments to sin that weren’t purified in our lives must be purified. In our lives, even when we receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation we forget some lesser sins but the forgiveness is for ALL our sins we’ve committed so far. So there may be some temporal punishments that weren’t worked on in our life that would need to be purified of after we die.

So we see how indulgences benefit us in a very real temporal (lessens the “time” in purgatory) and spiritual way (conforms our lives and ourselves to be more like Christ). A good reference would be Eph 17-24, where we have real actions prescribed by Christ’s Church to “put away” the old and “put on the new self.” Formally speaking though, there is no such thing as time in purgatory because purgatory is after our lives on earth and so is in the eternal, which cannot be measured in time because it is what some philosophers and theologians call “aeviternal” or infinite in one direction. (Whereas eternal is infinite in both directions so only God is eternal, no beginning and no end). But we speak of purgatory in time because we live in time for now and it’s hard to imagine otherwise.

But there’s the issue of indulgences benefiting those that have already departed. This goes into the whole “treasury” of the merits of Christ. But from what Paul said, Col. 1:24, we can “fill up” our merits to Christ’s, adding up the merits. And so we can gain indulgences for those who’ve past and are in purgatory.

The bad wrap indulgences have was the "sale" of them in the old days. This was understandable because if your penance was to donate some money, it could easily become something like "donating extra money this month can be counted as an indulgence." and so this can be interpreted as "buying your way out of purgatory." Was this abused? of course! the priests and even bishops are human, especially when money is needed for good purposes or sometimes even not so good purposes (personal greed of a priest of bishop). And with publicity like this NY Times article, we can see that not only is the general public not aware of what an indulgence is, but so is the average Catholic! (which is really sad). But it indeed is a grave sin to actually “sell” an indulgence or any other holy article (blessed things, or Sacraments and sacramentals) for profit, which is considered Simony after Simon the magician from the Gospels. But the abuse of these things, including indulgences does not make the teaching invalid.

Okay, this is long enough and I’m sure reading all this is some form of “purgatory” :P Anyway, these are just my thoughts based off the Compendium (PAT, you have a copy of this!! Start reading it!! Hahaha) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Here are the quotes and references for more reading if you’re interested below. I’ll also give you the link for the indulgence I’m actually planning to obtain for my grandma who just past away a few days before this Easter. I would also recommend, (I should have put this at the top before you read this) stuff from Scott Hahn, who’s WAY more Biblical than I.

Links below:

Compendium 312: Indulgences are the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven. The faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains the indulgence under prescribed conditions for either himself of the departed. Indulgences are granted through the ministry of the Church for which, as the dispenser of grace of redemption, distributes the treasury of the merits of Christ and the Saints.

Ref: CCC1471-1479, CCC 1498, section on Sacrament of Penance right above that section

Scott Hahn phone interview about Indulgences

If you REALLY want to get Biblical with Scott Hahn, but it’s pricey :P

Declaration of a special indulgence in honor of St. Paul on what would be his 2000^th birthday!!

Denial of Communion?

2009-05-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/may/09050613.html

Is the denial of communion an unfair political statement, a "weapon" used to threaten people to get back in line? Read this guys, it is short and offers very interesting insight into why the Holy Father (and canon law) says that Catholics who publicly oppose the Church's moral teachings are to be denied communion and why a particular Archbishop believes it is within his rights to still offer it.

As much as my heart has been inspired by what I have seen as a gradual awakening of US Catholics to the real threats to life and family that permeate our nation, it still really saddens me to see a leader of our Church deciding to do this. He opposes not only the explicit instruction of the Holy Father, but in some ways has completely forgotten his duty to uphold the sanctity and holiness of the Sacrament. Far too often do we see this; for the sake of "inclusion" and "tolerance" we betray the very truths of our faith. Has Archbishop Wuerl forgotten that we as Catholics are obligated to refrain from the Eucharist when we are in grave objective states of sin? Generally the minister does not know our states of conscience, but if the case arises in which a person publicly and undeniably opposes the moral teachings of the Church, how can they freely be admitted to communion? Is it not the minister's duty to remind them that they should refrain from the Sacrament until their sin is remitted if the minister is so obviously and clearly aware of the sin? We learned this in like grade school catechism; that an Archbishop would blatantly and publicly rebel against this very straightforward teaching about conditions to receive communion confuses me and frankly makes me sad.

Catholic "State of the Union"

2009-05-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading a talk given by Archbishop Burke at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. I'm calling it the State of the Union Catholic style. He does an amazing job analyzing the Catholic Church in America today, the problems and challenges we face, and the only way to overcome. Anyways, if you have about 10 minutes or so, it is well worth a read. Here are some of his first words:

I come to you, this morning, with the deepest concern for our nation. I come to you, not as someone who stands outside of our nation but as a citizen who, with you as fellow citizens, takes responsibility for the state of our nation and, therefore, cannot remain indifferent and inactive about what most concerns the good of us all, especially those among us who are small, weak and defenseless...

Must See Video

2009-05-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

I will not even comment on this video. Just watch!

Vocations - Fishers of Men

2009-05-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

Vocation Sunday (4th Sunday of Easter) was this past weekend. Often times, we think that discerning the vocation for our lives is just discerning whether or not to be clergy (namely a priest/ nun) or a layperson. That discussion usually takes place in our heads and basically amounts to, "I like girls," or, "I like boys," and that's that ;). Hopefully we all learned from this past Sunday's joint CM class that vocations is about the importance of learning to hear God's voice in our lives and that it's about living out of that relationship in its specificity and uniqueness for our lives.

For the guys, Joe Kim brought that home for us and clarified where the discernment for the priesthood plays a part in that. We watched "Fishers of Men" which is a video that was put out by the USCCB. With so much scandal coming to light in the recent years, Catholic priests have gotten a bad rap. This video really captures the essence and brings us back to the heart of the priesthood in an extremely compelling way.

I know I'm going out on a limb here seeing how hard it is to get you guys to talk in class, but what are your thoughts?

One Alumni Responds to ND

2009-05-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Many of you guys know of the recent news that our president, Barack Obama, has been invited to speak at the commencement at Notre Dame, one of the many Catholic universities across our nation, and receive an honorary degree. You may or may not also know that this invitation has been condemned by over 50 bishops of the United States as contrary to the Catholic identity of Notre Dame. Why? Because our President is pro-abortion and increasingly pushing policies that destroy innocent human life. I will not get into all of those policies at the moment. Point being, to honor someone who is pro-abortion and contributing to the death of so many innocent babies, is contradictory to any Catholic institution and the Catholic faith. The USCCB clarified this in a document entitled Catholics in Political Life. Here is the important text:

The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.

Anyways, with that background, I give you the words of an alumnus of Notre Dame that I think ring with clarity in explaining why this invitation where Catholics are taking their stand (By the way, I picked this up from American Papist).

For many members of the Notre Dame Class of 2009, the uproar surrounding the university’s decision to honor Barack Obama with this year’s commencement address, and to bestow on him a doctorate of laws, has provoked strong feelings about what the ensuing conflict will mean for their graduation.

I know how they feel. Ten years ago, my heart was filled with similar conflicts as we came closer to the day of my own Notre Dame commencement and my commissioning as an officer in the United States Army.

You see, I was three months pregnant."

Full Article

Swine Flu

2009-04-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This post probably won't contain very much CM-worthy content (read: no official Catholic Church teaching or commentary). These are just random thoughts =).

As some of you know, this year's annual Watermark Tijuana trip has been officially canceled. It was partly due to the Mexican drug wars and partly due to the outbreak of swine flu, among other things. If you've been following the news, you're probably aware of the mild hysteria that has broken out regarding swine flu (it's even reached the Bay Area!). Now I like being safe and healthy as much as the next guy, but sometimes I'm surprised at the level of fear that breaks out at these sort of things. I mean I can definitely empathize as I'm a little paranoid about my nagging cough right now and people probably shouldn't cough and sneeze in their hands only to touch each other and hm...maybe I shouldn't have eaten those slightly discolored pork jiao zi last night...and um...where was I going with this?

Oh yah! This fear of the spread of infectious disease always makes me think of two reactions I've seen in certain parts of the Mass at SJCCC - holding hands during the Lord's Prayer and drinking from the cup during communion. I realize that holding hands during the Lord's Prayer isn't a liturgical mandate and only came into practice post-Vatican II, but prior to the SARS outbreak, I had never been to a Mass at SJCCC where we didn't hold hands. I also remember being in a Union (Family) Mass where it was announced that we were not going to hold hands in order to calm fears of spreading diseases. In addition, last week, it was announced during Union Mass that we were not going to be receiving from the cup that week. I know that hands are probably one of the grimiest parts of the body and that everyone sharing from the same cup can cause some germaphobic qualms, but sometimes I get this weird tension that it's pushing us further into ourselves and into more isolation. Perhaps I'm just a product of my upbringing and really enjoy the connectedness and communion I feel with the entire assembly during the Lord's Prayer when our hands are joined as we prepare for the True Communion with Christ. And I always think, shouldn't the Blood of Christ have some sort of self-healing properties like soap or something? Sure, there are germs left on the chalice from each person's lips touching it, but I imagine the Blood of Christ just washing it away just like it washes away our sins...

Anyhow, do yourself a favor and check to see if you have swine flu:
http://doihaveswineflu.org

...

Haha, I kid, I kid.

Interesting article on SFGat

2009-04-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/22/national/a084243D45.DTL

This was a super interesting article I read today about a liberal Brown Univ. student who transferred to a conservative Christian university for a semester as an undercover student to write a book on his experiences.

Courage

2009-04-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

I dunno if you guys have heard this random story about the Miss USA competition. Miss California got up and she was asked the question, "What do you think about gay marriage?" And she responded, "In my country, and in my family, I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman."

Talk about courage. She came in as first runner-up. That question probably cost her the crown. And now she is getting torn up in the media. But I think this is a beautiful example of standing up with courage for what you know is true. She did not compromise. She did not act 'tolerantly'. She said what she knew was right and she did it with charity.

I think she's a good modern day example of what we are called to do, especially in place where our message of truth, our faith, is least likely to find fertile ground - like high school. Have courage...

[Sandwich Run] Another Poem by Monsoon

2009-04-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

Here is another poem by Monsoon. (Please note that these are his personal reflections and do not necessarily reflect the views of Watermark)

178. ()

I found God in solitude. I found God in myself.

Lost, deep in my own mind – somewhere between abstract concoctions

Deeper thoughts

An' loose wires

Life and Death meet, the same person at the same time.

Evolution, consistency is what I desire
Everyday the sun will rise

Everyday, I access and manifest

Daily conversations with the most high

Any Being can see Ja is in my eye…

My will to live, literally keeps the planet alive

literally allows the planet to provide

1 Life, 1 conscious mind

I am a monkey, I am a bird, I am a fish, I am all and I am the wind in the sky.

The foundation, the language, the sex – Man, woman, and child

I found God in solitude. I found God in myself.

Eliminate the unnecessary, no mask, no fronts and what do you have left ?

Truth hurts, yet real is what we imagine

, go to the light seek me for protection

, in darkness there is no discretion

, _____ is the most imposing weapon

I found God in solitude. I found God in myself.

The man in the mirror, society at its best
The ugliest, most grotesque of people
Ignorance at its finest
Greed is rampant, and unconditional Love

Cannot comprehend complete understanding

Gratitude, appreciation, giving thanks…

Created in a womb, dead to the world
Space that changes shape is reincarnated, recycled Earth

From dust we come, Live Life, then back to the dirt

I found God in solitude. I found God in myself.

In a mirror, in a reflection, in the eyes of everyone else.

God touches me, every moment

God fills me with every breath

God moves me with every step

God Loved me when I woke up this morning

I looked for God an God found me, at the moment I went looking

A blessed instant searching over tree and under mountains

A journey to the great beyond, and back again. A time alone with nothing.

While at the same time, simply everything.

It was the crossroads that offered me anything.

Religion is *******. Humbleness and Love came together and created something.

His-story and hers…Solitude and herbs.

Satisfaction and happiness.

Companionship and acceptance

I found God in solitude. I found God in myself.
Unbreakable, my mind knows no limit

, My body I maximize it, opportunity I use them
Other Beings, procreation

, Negativity, I shun it and Lessons, I learn them

To cleanse myself, meditation

To live I breathe fresh oxygen

I have done this

I have found God in solitude. I have found God in myself.

I have found God it is not a secret.

Listening and sharing, the Power of Being.

L.O.V.E., appreciate the little things.

Do what you can, and in return expect nothing.

The 4 agreements and desire, let your heart be filled with it…

God provides if you need it.

Truth live it.

Be true to yourself.
Commitment, don’t be scared of it…

Confidence is belief in self.

God there is no end to this…

I have found God in solitude. I have found God in Myself.

Constantly evolving, ever changing. Space…filled or empty.

An abortion after a century of waiting. Fire created…

By using 2 sticks being rubbed together by technology.

Money, oil, weed, charity

Thought, contemplation and pure choice

The gentle rise of the chest when breathing

Then, this moment, what ever the future brings. **** Destiny.

Thought plus conviction equals manifesting.

God walks the planet and is here.

God is speaking and God is listening.

God did all of this the moment I snapped my fingers ----

----SNAP----

[Sandwich Run] A Poem by Monsoon Alexander Newman

2009-04-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

Monsoon Alexander Newman was a homeless man we met at People's Park in Berkeley when Watermark made a Sandwich Run. He was a gifted poet and shared a few of his poems with us.

155. 1 Wish

A moonbeam lites the path to what I want…

more than anything else, more than everything an’ nothing put together

only who can grant wishes, who can I trust?

More than Creation

More than Death

More than the Life given by the Sun

What I want Time can’t pay for

Freedom, Spiritual awakenings, moments with no one.

Higher an’ higher, farther than any dream.

More real than reality.

No kisses or instructions. Savage. I’m willing to give anything.

My Life, my sanity, every single capability

every single possibility. Any chance to succeed

I’d turn myself in…

For just this 1 wish…

The air I breathe. My last breath. Heat

Food

Water

an' Shelter

My manhood, my reason for Being.

Happiness, an all emotional stability…

An’ things You can’t even begin to comprehend.

My car, my job, every single hair on my head that is curly.

My eyes so I can’t see

My heart so I can’t feel

What I want, if need I will kill

For just this 1 wish…

My nose an’ I cannot smell

My hands – I can’t feel or touch anything that isn’t right here.

I’d give my 3rd eye or even my health, stock options

all my money an’ wealth

Intuition an’ reasoning I want this more than whatever Hope can bring.

I desire this because I’ve heard Truth sing.

Realization for what I need

God give it to me on bended knee…

For just this 1 wish…

I wish, I wish…to breathe, be relived and cry freely.

[Guest Post] The Fort - A Retreat Reflection

2009-04-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

(The following is a short story that was written by a Watermarker as a personal reflection based off of their experiences at the Watermark retreat. It is definitely worth the read. Would you consider sharing your own reflection?)

The Fort

It was quite strange that only in the serene wilderness of the park I was able to see my own fortress from a fresh position. I was astonished by the majestic structure. A series of towers mounted atop the concrete walls, with artillerymen guarding the batteries. It was surrounded by a moat, and the drawbridge was raised. So proudly it stood.

The trees rustled in the cool breeze. It was night time, and the sky was particularly starry, yet I watched over the fortress with a great degree of clarity. Eagerly I scrutinized its structure from the inside out in an attempt to find myself. Naturally, I saw me pacing back and forth inside my commanding chamber. Amused, I observed more closely my comical self. Something else caught my attention, however. Something was happening, far away from the fort.

Jesus walked on undauntedly with a sense of mission, despite the whips of His persecutors and the derisions of the crowd. A large cross was balancing on his shoulder. His face was bloodied, for he was wearing a wreath of thorns, His clothing was scanty, for they had torn off his gowns, His knees were scraped, for he had collapsed under the burden of the cross, and his feet were blistered, for He had walked on the road of suffering.

The scene inside the fort could betray its seemingly impregnable exterior. The soldiers’ barracks were littered with remnants of narcotic drugs, empty liquor barrels, or obscene matters. The soldiers were constantly prone to materialistic lust. Because of the lack of discipline, they were incompetent when defending against the siege of Satan the Tempter. However, the soldiers were surprisingly capable of resisting any attacks from the call to change. For this reason, I sat in my quarter with the illusion of peace.

Inside of my tiny commanding chamber, there was a copy of the holy bible, sealed by dust, placed on my desk. Fixed on the wall of the room were a crucifix and a stone tablet on which engraved the words from the song Amazing Love, a song I deeply enjoyed.

I’m forgiven, because you were forsaken

I’m accepted, you were condemned

I’m alive and well, your spirit is within me

Because you died and rose again.

Amazing love, how can it be?

That you my king would die for me

Amazing love, I know it’s true

It’s my joy to honor you.

In all I do I honor you.

A messenger knocked on my door frantically, calling in an urgent voice, “Commander, He’s here! He’s here!” I opened the door and inquired, “Who’s here?” He replied, “Jesus Christ.” My heart skipped a beat. I rushed to a watch tower with the messenger tailed behind me and looked, and, sure enough, He was there, standing across the moat, a wreath on his head and a cross on his shoulder. I panicked. I yearned for Him, yet I did not want him here, for mine is a fort of sins and shame, a fort which had ignored His callings. I swirled around and stormed back to my room, leaving the messenger in bewilderment.

Behind the securely locked door I sat and stared at the crucifix and the stone tablet on the wall. I wondered. Why are You here? Why me? Why did you suffer for us? I understood that suffering does have a redemptive quality. History and even psychoanalysis had proven that. But you suffered not for Your own redemption, but for us, the whole of humanity. You suffered to give us a gift. I knew that You selflessly loved us, and bore that crushing burden of love, but what have we sinners done to deserve the gift of Your holy agape. How could it be that you, my king, would suffer for me?

It amazed me and puzzled me to think that only through the road of suffering Jesus was able to reach our heart to give us the gift whether we wish to receive it or not. If He knocked on the door and we refused to answer, He waited patiently outside until the hour when we are finally ready to open the door of our heart and receive the gift, and He, our Lord, would offer us the gift with no less sincerity. How could it be?

I contemplated the words on the stone tablet, then I read it out, eventually singing it with my heart. Am I ready to accept him, the King who died for us? Maybe, maybe not. But I knew what I had to do. The option was so manifest that other options virtually ceased to exist. I gave what I truly hope would be my final commands: disable the defenses, drop the weapons, lower the draw bridge, withdraw the flag, and for those who are without discipline, evacuate the fort at once.

With wild anticipation I proceeded. Was Jesus going to condemn me for the much belated command? Was he going to first denounce me as a hypocrite? Or was he simply going to bestow the blessings of his gift on me? Do I deserve the gift?

This is the mystery. Why does he love us? Because He created us. Why did he create us? Because of his selfless love. Why does he love us?

Ah, that is the mystery.

I knelt down in front of Him, who, in spite of the wreath and the onerous cross, still stood with unwavering patience. I held His legs. “My King, my Lord, don’t leave me,” I cried.

Pray for Fr. Rick

2009-04-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

(From the Chair Board of SJCCC)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Recently, doctors have discovered that Fr. Rick, our pastor of the St. Clare Parish, has prostate cancer. He wrote an article, titled as "What to avoid when you have cancer", on the bulletin flyer of last week. While holding complete faith and trust to God, he requests our prayer to him as "God's will be done". The article expresses his deeper appreciation of what the experience may bring us a greater solidarity as a human family, let's extend our prayer for a full recovery of his health.

God Bless,
SJCCC Chair Board

For those of you who do not know Fr. Rick, that might be because it is quite a busy job pastoring all the different communities who call St. Clare's Parish home. However, Watermark has been blessed immensely by his tireless work behind the scenes. I highly recommend you read his article and definitely join me in praying for his recovery.

The Failure of the Condom...

2009-04-07T14:23:00.001-07:00

The pope has been attacked by the media and even foreign governments for saying condoms are not the solution to the AIDS epidemic. But a number of people have come out supporting the pope including Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. But check out this article by someone from Nigeria. Here is just a small quote.

"A few days ago, The Lancet, a leading British medical journal which regularly pontificates about public health, slammed the Pope for making “a false scientific statement that could be devastating to the health of millions of people”. I wonder if the editor of The Lancet has ever visited rural areas of Nigeria or South Africa. If he did, he would begin to see why fighting AIDS with condoms is like extinguishing a fire with petrol...

...If condoms are so effective why is HIV still on the increase in Africa? One factor is certainly that people with condoms are emboldened to take more risks. Part of the counseling of people living with AIDS is “try not to spread it” -- in a word, to live abstinence. But before they got the disease they were told “hey, no need to curtail your libido, just use condoms.” If personal control is not achieved before contracting HIV/AIDS it is often impossible afterwards. I overhead a chilling conversation once of a boy planning to sleep with a girl. “What if she has AIDS?” his friend asked. “Well then, I have seven years to live and I will enjoy myself to the limit,” he replied...

...The West is addicted to technology as a substitute for free will and moral effort. If you eat too much, you get gastric banding surgery. If you’re depressed, you take Prozac. If you’re a smoker, you wear nicotine patches. Here in Africa, this fantasy has collided with the reality of the AIDS crisis. There is no technology to tame sexual desire. There is only self-restraint and faithfulness to your partner. These will eventually rein in AIDS; condoms won’t."

[Guest Post] Population vs Environment

2009-04-06T22:16:00.000-07:00

(This is a guest post by Rosemary who wrote this short essay for her AP Environmental Sciences class. Feel free to discuss!)

The problem of population and the environment is a ubiquitous struggle that seems to be unfeasible. This is because the negative effects are in a continuous cycle, in which the population weakens the environment, and at other times the environment causes the increase in population. The question of which subject is more of a priority is solely based on the individual; however any person would agree that both matters are of important interest because they affect us very heavily. Through the environmental forum provided by ASB and the movie Slum Dog Millionaire, I have seen and discussed the contradicting areas with peers of my age.
In my personal opinion, life should always be the first priority and it should always be protected. After attending the forum, I felt disappointed about our society. At least ten girls said that we, as humans, are so prone to having sex that we should just do it. Are we just animals that don’t have enough self dignity to have power over our physical desires? If we treat having sex as just an itch that we have to scratch, this is what causes the problems of environmental declining and also unfortunate STD’s. If everyone had the right mindset about what it means to have sex, then diseases like AIDS, HIV, and STDs would never have been an epidemic. What does it say about our society that HIV/AIDS is an epidemic? Although it is true that the increase in population is harming the environment, cutting off population, using contraceptives, and increasing abortion is completely illogical and unreasonable. Sebastian Schmieg, who looks at green issues and news stories from the political, business, technological, and social perspectives, writes: “After all, saving the planet is far more important than saving an ‘unwanted’ human child, ... At least, we now know the price of a human life: something that we used to think was priceless.” I completely agree with the satirical Schmieg; when have we started looking the habitat that was created for people, as something more important than people? If we regard the environment as more important than population, we have the sense that it would be better if humanity disappeared altogether or shrank to far more “reasonable” proportions than if we choked our planet in carbon, which would have the same result anyway: humanity’s extinction. But is it better for us to be extinct faster with our green planet still bio-diverse and beautiful, than for us to drag the planet down with us? Sure, population is growing far too rapidly for our planet to hold, but increasing contraceptives is not the solution. A suggestion given at the forum describes a financial incentive that encourages smaller families. I can imagine this simple and strong method to be very successful. In conclusion, I have learned a lot about the environmental issues that an increase of population causes, and I believe the solution to this problem must be treated with integrity and morality, and not with what is more convenient. Let’s stop cleaning up spider-webs and kill the spider.

Prayer for Our Country

2009-04-04T01:17:00.001-07:00

If you guys have been keeping tabs on the news in the states, you'll realize there have been five violent mass shootings in the last month. NY just yesterday where 14 people in all have died. Another 11 died in Alabama. In Oakland we lost four cops and a gunman. The murder-suicide in Santa Clara left another 6 dead. And then there is also the gunman who shot through a nursing home killing 8. 44 people dead.

These horrible deaths have to make us question the state of our society and our culture. What is going on?

Pray for these people, the repose of their souls, the consolation of their families, and for our country as a whole. And then pray for yourself. I think much of what we can do is rooted in ourselves. When we begin to live in the image which God made us and Christ showed us, we will change our families, our friends, our society, and the world.

AMDG.

What Will Heaven Be Like?

2009-03-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

Instead of answering this question, I'm gonna defer to my homie Peter Kreeft =P.

In this article, he thoughtfully reflects on 35 frequently asked questions about eternity and as usual, I feel that he does a very satisfying job in a concise and accessible manner.

Though it's a pretty easy and fun read, I've included some of my favorite lines for the lazy. Think of them as cliff notes.

I think God wants us to use our reason and also our imagination (for why should we neglect any God-given faculty) to explore the treasure of tantalizing hints in Scripture.

Just as Jesus on Earth loved each person differently and specially—he did not love John as he loved Peter, because John was not Peter—so we are designed to love people specially. There is no reason why this specialness should be removed, rather than added to, in eternity.

Only God sees and judges hearts, not just acts, and God will use every possible means to save us. Perhaps many of those means are unknown and unsuspected by us. No one dare limit the mercy, the cleverness, or the power of God.

We will be as we are now: equal in worth and dignity, equal in being loved by God. But will we be equal in the sense of the same? God forbid! One of the chief pleasures of this life, as of the next, is the mutual sharing of different excellences, the pleasure of looking up to someone who is better than we are at something and learning from him or her. The resentment expressed in saying, "I'm just as good as you are" is hellish, not heavenly. (By the way, that is one sentence that always means the opposite of what it says. No one who says it believes it.)

Space contains us, confines us, defines us. But we can transform space into place by humanizing it, spiritualizing it. A house becomes a home, a space becomes a place, by our living in it. Heaven will be both as intimate and as unconfining as our spirits want.

I suspect that from the viewpoint of Heaven we will truly say that Earth was part of Heaven, Heaven's womb. But you cannot get there by rocket, only by faith and death, just as the fetus cannot get into the world outside the womb except by birth.

"Freedom to sin" is a contradiction in terms, like "freedom to be enslaved." Free choice is only the means to true freedom, "the freedom of the sons of God," liberty. In heaven we will not sin because we will not want to. We will freely choose never to sin, just as now great mathematicians do not make elementary mistakes, though they have the power to do so. In Heaven we will see the attractiveness of goodness and of God so clearly, and the ugliness and stupidity of sin so clearly, that there will be no possible motive to sin.

Is it escapist for a baby to wonder about life outside the womb? It is escapist if, and only if, Heaven is a lie. Those who call Heaven "escapism" are presupposing atheism.

The early roads that led to California were well cared for; the ones that led nowhere were abandoned. If Earth is the road to Heaven, we will care for it. If it leads nowhere, we will not. Historically, it is those who have believed most strongly in Heaven who have made the greatest difference to Earth, beginning with Christ himself.

What we do know is that Christ the Savior is not only a 33-year-old, 6-foot-high Jewish man, but also the eternal God, the Logos that enlightens every individual (John 1:9). Thus everyone has a fair chance to accept him or reject him, whether implicitly (for all light of truth and goodness is from him) or explicitly. We are not saved by how explicit our knowledge is; we are saved by him. Faith is the glue that holds him fast (or, more accurately, the glue by which he holds us fast, for faith is also his gift).

Follow-up to Abortion CM Class

2009-03-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

I received a follow-up question this past Sunday in Post-Confirmation CM class regarding something that was briefly touched upon during Jean Young's all high school class on 3/15. The question I received which hopefully I paraphrased correctly was:

One thing that Jean said was that the only legal (morally) form of abortion is when the mother's life is in danger. Could you talk more about that?

Because Jean is much wiser than I am, I decided to punt to her =). Here's her response:

First of all, there is a difference between legal vs moral. Abortion is currently legal but it is never moral. The Catholic Church does however permit what is called an indirect abortion. A direct abortion is a direct killing of the embryo/fetus and it is considered as a means in itself or as a means to an end. It is a willful attack on human life and is gravely wrong. An indirect abortion is the unintended killing of an embryo/fetus. It is the evacuation of a fetus which cannot survive outside the womb and the death of the fetus is not the intended or directly willed result but rather a secondary side effect.

For example, if a mother has cervical cancer and the uterus with a baby in it has to be removed or it will kill the mother, the procedure is allowed because there was no intention to harm the baby. The intention was to remove the organ in order to save a woman's life. Another example is if the embryo implanted in the mother's fallopian tube instead of the uterus and would result in the death of the mother, the fallopian tube can be removed. The removal of the tube does result in the death of the fetus but it happened indirectly. The death of the fetus was not the primary intention of the procedure.

Pope Pius XII summarizes the concept of an indirect abortion saying:

"Deliberately we have always used the expression 'direct attempt on the life of an innocent person,' 'direct killing.' Because if, for example, the saving of the life of the future mother, independently of her pregnant condition, should urgently require a surgical act or other therapeutic treatment which would have as an accessory consequence, in no way desired or intended, but inevitable, the death of the fetus, such an act could no longer be called a direct attempt on an innocent life. Under these conditions the operation can be lawful, like other similar medical interventions granted always that a good of high worth is concerned, such as life, and that it is not possible to postpone the operation until after the birth of the child, nor to have recourse to other efficacious remedies."

Having said all of this, it is also very important to note that the Catholic Church does not teach that the mother's life is more valuable than a baby's life. Ideally, everything should be done to preserve both the life of the mother and the child. Pope Pius XII makes this point clear when he states:

"Never and in no case has the Church taught that the life of the child must be preferred to that of the mother. It is erroneous to put the question with this alternative: either the life of the child or that of the mother. No, neither the life of the mother nor that of the child can be subjected to an act of direct suppression. In the one case as in the other, there can be but one obligation: to make every effort to save the lives of both, of the mother and of the child.

It is one of the finest and most noble aspirations of the medical profession to search continually for new means of ensuring the life of both mother and child. But if, notwithstanding all the progress of science, there still remain, and will remain in the future, cases in which one must reckon with the death of the mother, when the mother wills to bring to birth the life that is within her and not destroy it in violation of the command of God - Thou shalt not kill - nothing else remains for the man, who will make every effort till the very last moment to help and save, but to bow respectfully before the laws of nature and the dispositions of divine Providence."
Pius XII, Allocution to Large Families, November 26, 1951. (15)

The Church does acknowledge that there are situations where sadly either the life of the mother or the baby will be lost but those situations are very rare. It is an extremely rare occurrence where a mother is put in a situation where she has to choose between her life and the baby's life. Many Catholic theologians have given this topic much thought and some may have differing views but the official stance of the Catholic Church is that indirect abortions are morally permissible when the death of the fetus is an unintended consequence of an action intended to save the mother's life.

Hope that helps!

The Pope doesn't get it, Part 2

2009-03-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this as a comment on Cathy's post with that Time article, but I think this deserves it's own post. Some scientists and studies that actually show condom promotion in Africa isn't all it's cracked up to be and too many people, especially here in the US are mislead. In fact, condom promotion has made the AIDs epidemic even worse in countries where US (and other international) money have been poured into.

"Harvard Researcher agrees with Pope on condoms in Africa"
Thanks to Peter Liao!

I have heard of the Red project where companies donate money to "help fight AIDs in Africa." I haven't seen it around, but I'd be REALLY wary of it before contributing. There are already a number of UN and other organizations (I think USAID as well) that's already dumped millions of dollars worth of condoms to Africa already. Not to say we should be afraid to donate to worthy causes, but make sure they're truly worthy in what they aim to do (ends) as well as HOW they want to do them (means). Or else we may actually be making the problem worse.

Modern Exorcism

2009-03-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

I found this cool article on a journalist who follows along in the training and ministry of modern day exorcists. He addresses his own doubts and the doubts of others while explaining what really cannot be explained. Check it out.

Pope Benedict Doesn't Get it?

2009-03-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

Recently, many social commentators said Pope Benedict is "not in touch with reality" because during his tour in Africa he said the problem of HIV/AIDS cannot be resolved with the distribution of condoms. In fact, he mentioned that condom use will increase the problem of HIV/AIDS, not decrease.

People were outraged by his statement, as many notable organizations including the UN, are strong advoates of condom distribution in Africa. Commentators even went so far as comparing Pope Benedict's bodyguards to condoms.

"...The pope has to know that murder is against God's will. He has to believe that every person has the choice to be a moral and upstanding person. Yet not everyone abides by those religious views, and his security is there to prevent him from being harmed...."

Thoughts???

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/18/martin.condoms/index.html

Science's "rightful" place??

2009-03-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hey Mr. President (or anyone else that can help clarify for me),

Please explain what is REALLY meant by what you said about "restoring science to its rightful place" when you lifted the ban on embryonic stem cell research put in place by the former President. How come the other part of your executive order didn't make the news? (<--READ THIS LINK!!) Yeah, the one that undid the order by the former President that WOULD HAVE given more funds to adult stem cell research! Which up to now is ALREADY effective in a bunch of different therapies.
But of course, news about how an experimental embryonic stem cell therapy only caused the death of a little boy doesn't deter what you see as scientific progress, but actually the solution is just to throw more money at it! Yes, that would create more jobs, but how would these jobs compare to those jobs of the people that were in charge of Guantanamo Bay that you want closed? These jobs won't torture people, only kill them. And there's something different about these victims compared to those that are/were at Guantanamo Bay.

So please tell me, are you REALLY trying to help the citizens whom you are supposed to represent? Oh, and by the way, those fetuses that are going to die because of embryonic stem cell research will die on U.S. soil, which would make them U.S. citizens, wouldn't they?

And my first question: Where exactly IS the rightful place for science to you Mr. President?

U.S. Citizen,
Henry

Persecution...

2009-03-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

As you guys all know, proposition 8, the defense of marriage act, passed in November and is currently being debated in the Supreme Court over whether it can be voided. I won't get into the technicalities of it all because it's too much legal stuff for me. But early indications are it might stand up. Meanwhile there is a new move to pass a proposition that would eliminate marriage altogether.

But meanwhile, if you haven't heard, those who have given money for the campaign are under assault. I assume you have already heard of churches being vandalized but I also know personally of a family that runs a creamery that has received death threats. Those in favor of proposition 8 have tried to keep the names of those who have donated private because of these threats to safety. Yet peoples' names have been released. Most recently, there has been a website put together that shows the place of residence of all the people who donated for the proposition 8 campaign.

Now why would they do that?

It's simply another attempt at intimidation and may possibly lead to real violence against people who are standing up for their right to free speech and more so an expression of the dignity of the family. The media does not cover this so are you keeping yourself informed? Do you know? And what are you doing? Because maybe you're next. Will you be willing to stand up for your faith, defend marriage or the dignity of the human person, when you might receive a death threat or worse? I'm not trying to scare you but simply point to the present situation in our society, most especially here in California. To be Catholic, to stand up for what you believe in, will not be easy. In fact, it may try you, test you, and bring you to the point of deciding between money, friends, and respect, and Jesus Christ.

I pray for your courage and strength, especially those in high school, and please pray for mine as well. We need the Holy Spirit more and more.

Please pray for these people who are so readily to throw aside tolerance and respect for others when it serves their own purpose and pray for the state of California that we may always be ready to preserve the state of marriage. Pray for all those involved. AMDG.

Sin Sucks

2009-03-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

I just came across this article where a 9 year old who was pregnant with twins had an abortion. She was supposedly raped by her step-father. I've reproduced the article at the bottom.

I don't really know what to say about this other than sin really sucks. How do you even begin to approach a situation like this? Sure, you never want to take a life by abortion because through meditation on the scripture (with the help of the Church), we know that every child is a gift from God even if conceived by rape, invitro-fertilization, etc. At the same time, a 9 year old body is likely to have a hard time gestating twins and her life is just as precious. Furthermore, this decision is actually a product of consequence from the (allegedly) sinful actions of the girl's step-father. And so it goes.

To me, this problem goes away if the step-father was able to receive full healing for his lust which is why I continue to seek out Christ's healing power and transformation. However, we live in a broken world and so we find ourselves with these pro-life/pro-choice debate fringe cases.

Brazil: 9-Year-Old Has Abortion Despite Church's Objections

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 5, 2009

ABORTION A 9-year-old girl who was carrying twins, and whose stepfather is suspected of raping her, underwent an abortion on Wednesday despite complaints from Brazil’s Roman Catholic Church. The stepfather has been jailed since last week, the police said. Abortion is illegal in Brazil, the country with the most Roman Catholics, but judges can make exceptions if the mother’s life is in danger or the fetus has no chance of survival. Fatima Maia, director of the public university hospital where the abortion was performed, said the pregnancy, which was in its 15th week, posed a serious risk to the girl, who weighs 80 pounds. But Marcio Miranda, a lawyer for the Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife in northeastern Brazil, said the girl should have carried the twins to term and had a Caesarean section. “It’s the law of God: Do not kill,” he said in comments reported by the newspaper O Globo.

We can never partner with evil to do good. So what do we do here?

High School Retreat

2009-03-04T21:59:00.000-08:00

It's time for our annual high school retreat!

REGISTRATION:

You can download permission slips here.

The cost of the retreat is $130. Checks can be made payable to "SJCCC."

Checks and permission slips must be turned in to Pat or your friendly neighborhood CM teacher by Sunday, March 15.

WHO:

All high schoolers are invited whether they are a regular attender of Watermark or not. This retreat is MANDATORY for current Confirmation students as the Confirmation Panel will be a part of the retreat for them. There are only 35 spaces available so register ASAP.

WHAT:

This year, our retreat will be led by our very own, Fr. Olivera! The theme of this year's retreat is: The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God in the Mystery of Christ and the Church. The retreat will be led by our very own, Fr. Olivera who also happened to do his doctorate in Mariology.

WHEN:

Friday, 3/27 4:30PM - Sunday, 3/29 1:00PM

We will be returning to St. Clare's by 2:30PM for English Mass.

(There WILL be CM class after mass. Yes, you guys are hardcore.)

WHERE:

Redwood Christian Park

15000 Two Bar Road

Boulder Creek, CA 95006

HOW (do we get there?): Students are encouraged to find their own ride to RCP and to carpool. If you need a ride, a small group of people will be meeting at 4:00PM on Friday to carpool/caravan over. Please send an e-mail here to be a part of that group.

Please do not let financial hardship keep you from coming to the retreat. There are scholarships available which will be handled on a case-by-case basis. These requests and any other questions about the retreat can be directed to Pat.

Hope to see you all there!!

New tech, new fasts!

2009-03-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

Has anyone thought of this as a fast for Lent?

short article

I think it's actually a good idea, especially where the txting isn't necessary. What do you guys think? It'd be easy for me, but I know some people live day to day and have huge conversations just on txt, which astounds me....

Fasting according to the Pope

2009-02-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

Our Holy Father recently, well actually I think it was a couple months ago, put out a Lenten message that focused in on the role of fasting during Lent. It's a good read but just in case you're doubting, here is but a taste of the goodness.

"From what I have said thus far, it seems abundantly clear that fasting represents an important ascetical practice, a spiritual arm to do battle against every possible disordered attachment to ourselves. Freely chosen detachment from the pleasure of food and other material goods helps the disciple of Christ to control the appetites of nature, weakened by original sin, whose negative effects impact the entire human person. Quite opportunely, an ancient hymn of the Lenten liturgy exhorts: “Utamur ergo parcius, / verbis cibis et potibus, / somno, iocis et arctius / perstemus in custodia – Let us use sparingly words, food and drink, sleep and amusements. May we be more alert in the custody of our senses.”

Dear brothers and sisters, it is good to see how the ultimate goal of fasting is to help each one of us, as the Servant of God Pope John Paul II wrote, to make the complete gift of self to God (cf. Encyclical Veritatis splendor, 21).

So check it out. It's too good to miss. Also I recommend this article if you want to read more on fasting. :)

And for a bit of humor. Scroll down on this link to the second or third picture which has the pope. :)

AMDG

Ash Wednesday

2009-02-25T09:31:00.000-08:00

"Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself."
--Leo Tolstoy

It's Ash Wednesday ya'll. Lent is upon us. I'll be honest and say that this season in the liturgical calendar always bring great anticipation, but at the same time, a bit of dread. On the surface level, I'm always excited about the prospect of seeing all the other strangers with ashes on their forehead which reminds me of the communion of saints, but at the same time there's a bit of fear associated with being pegged as "the practicing Catholic" in an extremely liberal work environment (though it can make for some adventurous conversations). On a deeper level, I'm excited for the opportunity to grow deeper in faith and draw closer to God, but I'm not looking forward to self-sacrifice it will require of myself because well...it's painful.

But through the years, I've found that the Lenten sacrifice and other spiritual disciplines are exactly what I need to keep the spiritual channel open and my heart attuned to God. I discovered this when my attitude towards Lenten fasting changed from something that I was supposed to do to something that kept bringing me back to God depending on His graces to be able to help me get through my current bout with temptation. I've learned that it's not the fasting or the discipline that saves you or even makes you a holy person, but it strips down the walls and distractions that are in my life and heightens my desire, awareness, and love of God. It's a way of dying to myself so that I can rise with Christ.

So what are my Lenten commitments?

My sacrificial commitment is to drive the speed limit in order to teach myself to grow in love and live a less hurried and people-pleasing/judging life.

My prayer commitment is to pray the rosary every day in addition to my daily devotionals in order to experience the riches of devotion to Mary.

What are you going to commit to for Lent?
Let's hear 'em in the comments.

[Announcements] Tahoe Retreat and Tijuana 2009

2009-02-23T22:34:00.000-08:00

Tahoe Retreat:

Theme: Back to the Future

Dates: June 15 - 19, 2009

Total Cost : $300* ( include s $100 deposit )

Price Includes:

• Bus Transportation

• Lodging

• 11 Meals ( all except lunch Monday and Fr iday )

• T-Shirt & Group Photo

* Scholarships are available. Please contact your youth minister for more details.

Download applications here.

Tijuana 2009:

To all High School students,

We have plenty of spaces still available for the 2009 TJ missions trip this summer. The cost for a high school student is $395. Deadline for applications are due by March 1st, 2009 to Hannah Wu. If you know any friends that want to go, or if your parents would like to go, that would be great. The cost for the adults are $195. Please let either Hannah Wu, Fei-Wen Deng Ah-Yi or Angely Chen Ah-Yi know before March 1st on whether or not you plan on going on this trip. Everyone who has gone on this trip has had amazing experiences while being down there, so don't be left out of this great experience. Please download a copy of the registration form. There will be extra copies of the form on Sunday March 1st after Mass, but copies will be limited then. So please, we need lots of people to go on this trip so that we can make it one of the best mission trips of the summer. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Michael Wu
TJ Core Team Member

Schooled by a 12 year old

2009-02-18T17:44:00.000-08:00

Some Catholic blogs have been discussing this news story about a 12 year-old girl who wins a public middle school speech contest speaking against abortion. She was strongly discouraged by her teachers to speak about this topic and was not declared the winner at first after causing a "big disagreement" among the judges.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOR1wUqvJS4)

I don't know about ya'll, but I think she killed it (pun and hip-ness intended - I've been watching too much ABDC). What was I doing when I was in 7th grade? Definitely not that. She schooled me. Maybe we can bring her in as a guest CM teacher.

[Sandwich Run] A Personal Reflection

2009-02-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

(Guest post by Brandon Fu)

On Valentine's day, most people are more concerned about their dates and themselves, instead of the homeless and the poor, whom most view with varying levels of disapproval, however, the group, LTS (Lead to Serve), part of WaterMark, went to feed these people on Valentine's day. This activity is called the “Sandwich Run” where we made sandwiches and then gave them out for free to those homeless and poor.

The homeless and poor are often thought by society as people who don't try in their jobs, that they “deserved” it, that if they just went and got a job, they would get what they need, what they want. The thing is this is not the case, we, the society, are just treating these people like animals, as well as the fact that it goes into an infinite cycle that they are poor and don't have a job, but because they don't have a house and other things, they cannot getting a job, thus staying poor. This image of the poor is very wrong. When we went out there to those at Berkley, some had rich personalities.

During this trip we made those sandwiches at Berkley, and then, at 1 PM, we split into three groups and then went to People's park and its surrounding area to pass out the sandwiches. I was put into group two and we went to the surrounding areas to pass them out. Near the end of our route, mine was one of the only sandwich bags left, so I went and gave it to one man. This man was very interesting. When I gave the bag to him, he said with broken speech, “Can you say a prayer (for) me”. At first, I couldn't understand, so he got the others in my group and one of them understood, Edward. After we found out what he said, we prayed for him and went on our way. When we got back to the park, I went and had interesting conversations with the ones at the park.

The interesting things about this trip, was that before we even went on the trip, is that we went to mass, and the daily gospel reading was Mark, Chapter 8, verses 14-21. In this passage, Jesus preformed the miracle of feeding five thousand people. This is interesting, as that same day, we went and gave “bread” to about 80 (?) people. In addition, during the briefing, we were told the safety tips and the fact that society looks down on the homeless, and that the homeless weren't treated well, which coincides with that day's (Saturday) Bible Study passage (and the Sunday's Gospel), of Jesus healing the Leper, whom is, in a way, treated very much like the homeless right now in this timeperiod.

[Sandwich Run] Realize the Reality

2009-02-16T18:29:00.000-08:00

(Guest post by Daniel Fu)

This world is full of prejudice. There are judgments about any kind of people who are different, whether it is a variation of skin color, of where you are from, or of how you live your life. These are pre-judgments are caused by almost everyone around you; friends and peers, elders, and even teachers and authorities. One important group of people attacked by prejudice is the homeless.

Many times, the homeless are thought to be disrespectful, dumb, and dirty. They are often treated like animals, although they should not be. During this experience of the LTS sandwich run, all these prejudices were shattered and disappeared. I met a tall African-American man named Alexander. He was much more knowledgeable than I had expected him to be. He carried around a backpack, containing a dictionary, thesaurus, many pencils and pens, a notebook, and a binder stocked full with pages. In the notebook were his poems in work, which he created in his free time. In the binder was all of his inspiration, his important documents, and many poems and pictures. He had Rosemary read out one of the poems he read, and it was the most amazing poem I’ve ever read. It made me realize many truths of reality.

In this one day, I learned how amazing of a person that anyone can be, no matter where they are from, what they do for a living, what they look like, or anything else. Prejudice is an illusion, and you just need someone to open your eyes and you will realize the reality.

Indulgences

2009-02-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

The number one most e-mailed article right now on the New York Times is called "For Catholics, a Door to Absolution Is Reopened" (you might need to register to read the whole thing, but don't worry, it's free).

There are lots of things to be said about indulgences and the article itself. Here is one take on it from Fr. Z. The text includes the original article along with Fr. Z's emphasis and commentary.

What are your thoughts/experiences on indulgences?

Live Birth Abortion

2009-02-07T02:36:00.000-08:00

Guys, I'm going to be honest, this makes me absolutely sick. This article explains how an abortion went wrong in 2006 and it resulted in a live birth. The clinic staff through the baby in a bag and put it in the trash and left it to die. They just recently took away the abortion doctor's license and are investigating whether to file charges. But get this, the woman who had the abortion is filing a lawsuit because ...

"she witnessed the murder of her daughter" and said she "sustained severe emotional distress, shock and psychic trauma which have resulted in discernible bodily injury."

"This is not about a pot of gold," said Tom Pennekamp, her attorney. "What this is about is right and wrong and making a statement, making sure it doesn't happen to other young women."

She realized that this was murder, hopefully. And hopefully she can find some peace in this horrible incident. But does everyone else? Do the district attorney's not get this, that a murder took place? And isn't this statement by the attorney, scary, making sure this doesn't happen to other young women? Well what about the child left in a trash can! It's scary that this baby, innocent child, is not viewed as valuable, as a human life.

This is why the abortion culture is so sick and twisted. Once you deny the right to life at one stage, it does not take a lot of logical steps to discover that a life born accidentally doesn't really have the right to life either. Yikes. Let's pray for the mother, all those involved in the abortion and killing of this child, and for the repose of this poor child.

AMDG.

Green Guru says having more than 2 kids will destroy planet...

2009-02-01T08:02:00.000-08:00

Article in full

"Porritt, who has two children, intends to persuade environmental pressure groups to make population a focus of campaigning.

“Many organizations think it is not part of their business. My mission with the Friends of the Earth and the Greenpeaces of this world is to say: ‘You are betraying the interests of your members by refusing to address population issues and you are doing it for the wrong reasons because you think it is too controversial,” he said.

Porritt, a former chairman of the Green party, says the government must improve family planning, even if it means shifting money from curing illness to increasing contraception and abortion."

This is pretty scary if you think about it. He thinks having children is one of the main problems in the fight against global warming. I think children are the last problem we have. If fact, they are the hope of the future.

And the last words scare even more. He would even justify spending money on contraception and abortion INSTEAD of curing illnesses. Talk about a backwards mentality about life. It also seems like a really materialist version of the world. Life is a commodity that eats up resources so we need to limit it. But the reality is, life is the most valuable thing we have! Ok, this is kind of rambling. Any thoughts? :)

A Conversation with Peter Kreeft

2009-01-31T16:06:00.000-08:00

I was really touched by this interview with Peter Kreeft. Some of you might recognize that name as the author of many of the books that we young adults recommend you to read.

As usual, Kreeft is extremely thoughtful and accessible at the same time. Sure, you might have to set aside 10 minutes to read it, but it's definitely worth it. I love how he doesn't always answer the questions posed to him in its immediacy, but takes time to look behind the assumptions. If you don't have time to read all of it, make sure to check out his response to the questions about cafeteria Catholics, reconciling the Church's teachings with personal beliefs, hook-up culture, and gay marriage.

Freedom of Choice Act

2009-01-22T15:16:00.000-08:00

For those of you who had been keeping up with the Presidential election or you listened to Fr. Engel's homily this past Sunday, the Freedom of Choice Act has been a big mark against President Obama from the pro-life point of view. Some common (and sometimes overly-simplistic) implications of this bill are that it codifies Roe v Wade into law, will abolish every state and federal limitation on abortion, and even more instigative, will force Catholic hospitals and health-care workers to perform abortions or else risk being shut down or fired.

While there may be elements of truth in those implications, I'm sure things are more complicated than that. I've found that it's all too easy to accept the over-generalized, sometimes fantastical statements we hear because let's face it, we all like a little drama (gossip!) and it seems to make the world make a little more sense with a minimum amount of effort. Diving in to a little more detail is always tough, but I think it makes for a less polarized world.

If you're interested in learning more about FOCA, I came across this article that I feel does a thorough (at least for the lay person) job evaluating what it is and what it isn't. Sure, it's coming from a pro-life perspective, but it digs deeper into what the text is actually saying, not unlike what we do with the inductive method at Bible Study. The middle portion gets a little technical, but if you can get through it, it makes the final summary that much stronger:

Ultimately, the bill should be seen less as a serious attempt at lawmaking than as abortion-war propaganda dressed up as legislation. It’s noteworthy that from a purely political perspective, FOCA is useful to both prolife and prochoice activists. The bill helps prochoicers ward off any perceived threat to the right to abortion-even as, in its ominous shadows, prolifers see new threats to unborn life, and mobilize accordingly.

Go learn.

Walk For Life - Jan 24th!

2009-01-13T11:01:00.000-08:00

The annual west coast Walk for Life will be on January 24 this year! Who wants to go? We'll set up carpool...

It has taken me a great amount of time to finally understand the value of life. In college, I was pro-life only because it's what the Church believes in. Now that I am older, I've come to experience that life is truly the foundation of everything. We are God's loving design, even before we are physically born. To see so many people regard babies as "property of a woman's body," is the utmost contempt for everything our Faith stands for.

48,000,000 babies have died since abortion became legal in America. In San Francisco alone, there has been more abortions than live births recently.

This is not simply a walk. You will be standing up for all the innocent victims who have died as a result of ignorance and poor legislation. You will be promoting the joy and happiness that flows from a culture of life. However, you will no doubt experience animosity from pro-choicers, and you will feel the hatred they have for the just. You will get to peer into the eyes of those who reject God's love, and realize they are victims as well. Through God's grace, we can love what God loves, but there are those who do not yet see. You can walk to offer penance for them.

Post here if you want to go! :) Click here for details on time/events.

Ted Bundy's Moment of Clarity

2009-01-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

As some of you may remember, Ted Bundy was the highest profile American serial killer in centuries. Bundy murdered as many 50 young women, of which he only confessed to 30. He was extremely bright, went to UW, law school, and even managed to escaped twice from prison. What caused his killing rampage? Right before his execution in 1989, he confessed to a psychologist...

Ted: I grew up in a wonderful home with two dedicated and loving parents, as one of 5 brothers and sisters. We, as children, were the focus of my parent’s lives. We regularly attended church. My parents did not drink or smoke or gamble. There was no physical abuse or fighting in the home. I’m not saying it was “Leave it to Beaver”, but it was a fine, solid Christian home. I hope no one will try to take the easy way out of this and accuse my family of contributing to this. I know, and I’m trying to tell you as honestly as I know how, what happened.

As a young boy of 12 or 13, I encountered, outside the home, in the local grocery and drug stores, soft core pornography. Young boys explore the sideways and byways of their neighborhoods, and in our neighborhood, people would dump the garbage. From time to time, we would come across books of a harder nature - more graphic. This also included detective magazines, etc., and I want to emphasize this. The most damaging kind of pornography - and I’m
talking from hard, real, personal experience - is that that involves violence and sexual violence. The wedding of those two forces - as I know only too well - brings about behavior that is too terrible to describe.

Here's the rest. It is probably the most bone-chilling yet fascinating interviews I've read! He's also very introspective and it seems that God's grace has somehow reached him in the end...

Through this article it is evident that sins, whether big or small can worsen if we don't exercise control. We may begin with what we think of as "small" sins - like not attending mass weekly, then monthly, then yearly. Or, having one cigarette a day, to two, to half a pack. Cheating on a test once and getting away with it, then twice, then depending on cheat sheets.

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance."

Proverbs 29

2008-12-22T23:12:00.000-08:00

If a wise man disputes with a fool,
he may rage or laugh but can have no peace. ~ Proverbs 29:9

This verse made me think of all the different debates going on in American society right now, particularly the gay marriage vs matrimony and pro-life vs pro-choice debate. For some reason, I took "wise man" and "fool" to be from the perspective of the "wise man."

For example, a "wise" Christian disputing with a relativistic pro-gay marriage and/or pro-choice believer might consider them to be a fool because how can they not see God's greatness and goodness? On the flip side, a "wise" post-modern, liberal, and enlightened person disputing a blind faith, religion enforcing yes-on-prop-8 and pro-life monotheistic believer might consider them to be a fool as well because their religion is clouding their ability to see clearly and being able to act on the inclusion they so loudly tout.

Without getting into the debates, I find it to be my experience that if a "wise man" is in the act of disputing AND if he sees the one he is disputing with as a fool, there is no peace to be had. Regardless of which side you're on, I find that it is easy to rage against the other side ("How can they not see what we believe?? ARGHHHH!") or to just laugh ("Ha Ha. They're so stupid that they think they know everything when really they don't!"). Either way, at the end of the day there's no peace.

Something seems so wrong about that. How do you approach these disputes such that at the end of the day, you can walk away with peace? Where does Jesus fit in with all of that?

Proverbs: A General Thought

2008-12-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but if you're anything like me, sometimes, the various proverbs found in Proverbs can be a little hard to relate to. The writer paints everything in only black and white, but how many of us know that life always seems to be more shades of gray. The writer says the wicked will [something negative that seems really appalling] and that the good/just will [something really positive that we all tentatively want].

I say "tentatively" because I think that many of us find it hard to categorize ourselves as "good/just" and so, though we like the promise, we're sort of scared to claim it for ourselves. At the same time, I have a hard time thinking of myself as "wicked" and so I don't categorize myself there either.

Result: "Oooh, smart guy, that Solomon, but doesn't really apply to me. NEXT."

Maybe as an exercise that's less violent to our self-image, let's try and not be so dismissive and think about the ways in which we SOMETIMES experience the honor when we are humble of spirit and the ways in which we SOMETIMES experience humiliation from our pride. We're all trying to find our way. We're not all there yet, but we're also not NOT all there yet either =P.

Proverbs 18

2008-12-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

The fool takes no delight in understanding,
but rather in displaying what he thinks. ~ Proverbs 18:2

I was struck by this verse because sometimes, it's really important for me to display what I think. Sometimes I need to display what I think by getting the last word in or other times I do it because I want people to see how much I know. The author is pretty smart because in both cases, the display is more about asserting myself than trying to understand the situation or the other parties involved. Both of these can be deadly in a romantic relationship...

The words of a talebearer are like dainty morsels
that sink into one's inmost being. ~ Proverbs 18:8

Haha, this sounded like a positive thing when I first read it, but then I realized that I wasn't sure what talebearer means. According to the free dictionary, talebearer means: "One who spreads malicious stories or gossip." So then malicious stories and gossip are like dainty morsels that sink into one's inmost being? Yikes! From experience, I agree with that. I think that's one of the reason why gossip is often described as "juicy." It's so tempting to want to hear and then when we hear it, it can be sort of pleasurable, which is probably why it's so tough to curb. Gossip can be positive ("oooh, did you know that this person is dating that person?") or mostly negative ("omg, did you see what she wore today? it's so like last season and i was like o_O"). ...

One of the reasons I think it sinks so deep is because it hits at the core of who we are, but in a way that betrays how God wants us to be. The pleasure comes from comparing ourselves to others and we are comforted because at least we're not that bad or at least other people are like that too. It also gives us a semblance of power and control because we're "in the know." If we realize these things, then we must beware the talebearer's words because they're like that extra cupcake when you're on a diet.

He who finds a wife finds happiness;
it is a favor he receives from the LORD. ~ Proverbs 18:22

I thought of celibate priests first when I read this. But then I realized that this applies to them too! They marry the Church! And they have TONS of spiritual children! w00t! Colin, care to elaborate?

Proverbs 13

2008-12-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

How's everyone been doing with their Winter Break Commitment so far? What has been good about it? What's been a struggle? Have you been learning anything about God or yourself? Please feel free to share in the comments.

If you've missed a day or two already, DON'T WORRY! Just pick it right back up and keep pressing on. The danger can be that we feel like God is waiting for us to mess up and when we do, it's almost like God is going to smite us with a lightning bolt or something. This can manifest itself in the guilt we feel and then our desire just to shrug it off and stop doing it. I believe that God cares more about our perseverance in pursuing Him than each act of reading the Bible and/or praying by itself. Keep going! You gotz this.

From the fruit of his words a man eats good things ~ Proverbs 13:2

This verse perplexed me at first read since it's kinda confusing. With some more reflection, I had to break it down into parts and figure out what exactly I don't understand about it. What does "fruit of his words" mean and how is it a good thing that a man eats it? Well, "fruit of his words" implies that the man's words bore fruit. I've seen this when other people have taught, encouraged, or affirmed me and as a result I was uplifted - able to grow in my faith and love other people better. My response to these people's words were fruit. So in keeping with this analogy, the people who loved me by their words were able to see the fruit in my life and as a result they were uplifted as well. That is a good thing indeed.

He who guards his mouth protects his life;
to open wide one's lips brings downfall ~ Proverbs 13:3

Sometimes it's not helpful to just say whatever's on your mind. I've been hurt and I've hurt people because I opened wide my lips and didn't consider how my words would affect others around me. I said it just to say it in order to make myself feel better.

The soul of the sluggard craves in vain,
but the diligent soul is amply satisfied ~ Proverbs 13:4

The "craves in vain" part sticks out to me here. A "sluggard" is someone who is lazy and doesn't give their due diligence. As a result, they desire a lot of things, but it is often in vain, because they never get it. It is interesting that this Proverb is saying that diligence satisfies the soul. I always have to remember that when I want God to work and be present in my life, I can't just sit around waiting for a voice to come out of the clouds. Part of the satisfaction of the soul is to be able to partner with God - ie. we have to work too. Let's not be that partner in the group project that does nothing, but expects to get an A. We all know how annoying that is =P.

Wealth quickly gotten dwindles away,
but amassed little by little, it grows ~ Proverbs 13:11

This, to me, is sound financial advice, particularly by observation and experience. In terms of material wealth, lots of us have wished to win the lottery. However, there are lots of case studies that follow lottery winners and they end up even worse off. This author of this Proverb also seems to have a good understanding of the power of compound interest. To me, this also makes sense spiritually since we often want to give God everything (to gain the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven) and so at retreats or something we write Him a check for a million dollars, but then on the way home, our check bounces. True wealth - spiritual wealth - is also amassed by gaining it little by little. One way to do that, is this little commitment here ;).

A wicked messenger brings on disaster,
but a trustworthy envoy is a healing remedy ~ Proverbs 13:17

This verse also strikes me as similar to verse 3. It seems hard to relate to at first because when I think of messengers and envoys, I think about the ancient times when to communicate with people, you would send messengers ahead of you. This doesn't seem to have an immediate parallel in modern times, but thinking more about it, I often am a messenger when I choose to share or speak something into someone else's life. Whether it's to let them know that their words/actions hurt me or even to let them know that the things they are doing could be harmful, it's very clear that I could either be a wicked messenger bringing on disaster or a healing, trustworthy envoy. Do I speak out in a way that's filled with impatience, judgment, or vengeance? Or am I trustworthy with their feelings and speak out of introspection and love to bring healing?

How is Jesus made?

2008-12-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

Hm...I guess the title is a bit misleading. I'm sure you all know that the communion wafer is technically not Jesus yet before the consecration, but below is an interesting article about one company which basically has a monopoly on the altar bread business.

Every now and then I've stopped and wondered how we ended up with these really neatly shaped wafers with a cross in the middle. Most of the time, I just receive it, let it fill me up, but never bother to think about the accidents (physical traits, including chemical properties) themselves. It's funny that recently, I've heard critiques about these communion wafers and how they are barely bread like. Some people have even said that it takes more faith for them to believe that it's actually bread than the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ. =P

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2008/11/30/breaded_bliss/?page=full

Serious Christmas gifts

2008-12-01T23:37:00.000-08:00

Don't mean to interrupt the Proverbs posts but just wanted to post up an article that seemed pretty absurd when you read the other two:

Strange gift cards for Christmas

and a week without abortion for a Russian city
I think the last paragraph could be seen as a warning for our country, especially when you can give gift cards to a loved one for a gift "that they really need." Interesting too how how from Theology of the Body we see that the man and woman is a gift to each other and in their giving they receive a child as a gift from God, here we have "gifts" that actually steal from God and from both the man and woman.

and then consider the number one cause of death in Spain

Who's in for WYD 2011 MADRID? :) If WYD in Spain were any later, the pilgrims might outnumber the youth in the whole of the country!!

Proverbs 4

2008-11-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

(click here if you missed the introduction to this series)

The beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom. ~ Proverbs 4:7

I cracked up when read that. It's like, "Gee thanks, Solomon. How much do i owe you for that one?" Haha, but interestingly, my experience has many times over confirmed that it's as simple as that. The interesting thing about the Kingdom of God is that you have to go and seek it out. It is the exception, not the rule when God makes Himself as plain as a rubber chicken smacking you in the forehead. We must go and find it like the pearl of great price.

With closest custody, guard your heart,
for in it are the sources of life. ~ Proverbs 4:23

I thought this was pretty profound. Lately, I've been realizing how much junk I take in from the world. It's crazy because there are so many permutations of what you can take in. I take in frustatingly false messages from the media, but also lies from other people, even those closest to me. How easy is it to believe that we're not good enough or that we have to be better? It's not like people are saying or even meaning these things per se, but it's interesting how what we believe about ourselves affects the way we take things in. I think that when this verse tells us to guard our hearts, it means not only from others, but ourselves as well. For those of us who are confirmed, we have the certainty of knowing that the Holy Spirit is fully sealed inside our hearts. Let's make sure we don't let any enemies of that get in.

On another note, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have so much to be thankful for. As always, I'm thankful for the tangible things in my life like close family, great health, deep friendships, and the fact that I am not lacking any of life's necessities, including a fatty Thanksgiving meal. However, when these realizations are placed next to the reality that there are so many people in the world that lack some or even all of these things, it leaves me in a bit of a quandary. There's a sense of feeling so lucky (and by "lucky," I hope I mean blessed), but at the same time, feelings of guilt might easily emerge. How can I enjoy such comforts in life while so many are suffering? It's like, maybe I should just fast from the Thanksgiving meal in order to stand in solidarity with these brothers and sisters? In the past, I may have seriously considered this, but as I've learned from Proverbs to "get wisdom," I've found peace and softness of heart in situations like these. Though doing a fast might seem admirable, there's a way in which it comes from a hard heart of taking these burdens onto our own shoulders, not to mention the fracturing of family and friends coming together. I have found that when seeking after God (aka my homie Wisdom) in all aspects of my life, working towards social justice permeates my life in other ways, but leaves me with the peace of knowing that God is ultimately in control and that his yoke is easy, his burden light. This leaves me with the freedom to enjoy all that God has given me in a way that's not insulting to Him (telling Him that I'm not worthy), and allows me to fully receive these awesome gifts that our loving Father in heaven has so joyfully given me.

Excuse me, I'ma go and enjoy me some turkey action.

Proverbs 3

2008-11-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

Oh boy. This stuff is too good. I could write pages about some of these verses, but I'll try to keep it short.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
on your own intelligence rely not;
In all your ways be mindful of him,
and he will make straight your paths. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

This is a lot of people's favorite verse. This is the type of verse that you tape to your bathroom mirror, on your laptop, or any other place where you might need this frequent reminder. However, it's funny how often we like to grab on to the promise without meeting the requirement. We tell ourselves that God will make straight our paths and go along our merry way without trusting the Lord with all our heart and in all our ways being mindful of Him.

What does it mean when someone tells us to trust them? It usually means that either the circumstances are shaky or that you are wavering. I know that as a Christian, I often am told to just "trust God." But when it comes down to it, I'm not sure I trust God like I trust my car to get me from point A to point B or my computer to turn on when I press the power button (though in reality, the likelihood of failure for both of these things is much higher than God). A lot of times when it comes to trusting in God, I find myself having a "just in case" folder in which if God doesn't come through, it's okay because at least I have a backup plan. When I come to my senses though, I realize just how dumb that is. What does it say about who I believe God to be if I feel like I have to help Him out in case He can't come through? In fact, it should be more like, "God, you better be real because if this falls apart, I'm screwed! I don't have a plan B."

And what does it mean to be “mindful of him”? From the Greek, it means “to know, to perceive, find, distinguish.” Often times, we tell God of our plan and then ask Him to bless us. I’m always reminded of that celebrity who wins an award for something and though they seem more well known for the debaucherous life they live, they make sure to, “thank God for making all of this happen.” This is where I start talking to the TV, but let’s not go there. It’s helpful to remind myself that I do this in many ways myself. I need to know, perceive, and distinguish God more deeply in my moment-to-moment life.

Proverbs 1

2008-11-24T11:49:00.000-08:00

(Click here if you missed the introduction to this series)

Proverbs is always an interesting book for me to get into. At first read, some parts of it are absolute genius and the other parts feel downright offensive. It is important to understand that the entire purpose of this book is to teach wisdom as stated in the first sentence.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and instruction fools despise. ~ Proverbs 1:4

This verse is often quoted and to me, rightly so. There's so much in here, but it is often overlooked. What I find abstract about this verse is the phrase, "the fear of the LORD." I think it's because I either get confused by the word "fear" or I non-critically take in this "Christian lingo" phrase due to overuse. However, as some of you may have noticed in your Bible's footnotes, "the fear of the LORD" refers to reverential fear and respect for God on account of his sovereignty, goodness and justice toward men. If we understand it like this, then we realize that it's not a fear where we need to be terrified that God is going to smite us for every little wrong thing we do, but rather a humility before the Lord which acknowledges that He is God and we are not. I think this is huge because many of us live, whether we admit it or not, like we are our own God. We might acknowledge God with our lips, but our actions and our thoughts all give the impression that we are in control and that we must make things happen.

How then is this the beginning of knowledge?

The only way to learn something is to be open to learning it. It's as simple as that. The beauty is, then, that if we don't see God as God (omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient), then our hearts won't be open to hearing/learning what He has to say. It seems that many of us lack enough affirmation/love/security in our lives that we spend a big part of it trying to assert ourselves and convince others that we've got it figured out or we know what we're doing (or maybe it's just me). But what this does is that it effectively makes ourselves God and our hearts become hard, no longer open and teachable. I have found in my life that when I am in awe of God and the fact that He would send His only Son to die on the cross for me, it is then when I become open to making changes in my life and as a result, I gain wisdom. This then snowballs into being able to make wiser future decisions and creates opportunities to be able to pass that on to others. Funny how that works...

Post-Con Winter Break commitment

2008-11-24T09:25:00.000-08:00

For the next two months or so, we will be having a series of posts off of the Post-Confirmation class' Winter Break commitment. There are three parts to this commitment which the entire class has committed to doing every day until the next CM class (January 11, 2009):

1. Reading a chapter of Proverbs
2. Praying for something they would like God to do in their life
3. Praying for something or someone else

We have been learning and realizing that being Catholic is not just about going to Mass, Bible Study, CM, etc. In fact, in order to have the expression of our Catholic faith move from being a collection of "have-to's" to the more joyful journey of "want-to's," we must take responsibility for our own faith and like the Wise Bridesmaids, have our own oil. In order to get oil, we must develop a discipline of prayer and spending time with God. After all, how can you call a relationship a friendship if you don't spend any time with that person? The goal of the commitment is to focus on our own transformation and then from the overflow, reflect God's love to others (in this case, through prayer). Everyone is welcome to join us.

The goal of this series (entitled "Proverbs") is to provide encouragement, but also share some of the brief thoughts I have while I go through Proverbs with ya'll. Feel free to share your own by commenting.

Hopefully many of you (post-con students) have already followed through today, but if not, one thing that will be really helpful for you to figure out today is to choose and solidify the time when you will be praying. This will be crucial for the longevity of your commitment.

I know God is excited to chill with us.

Who You Are When No One's Looking

2008-11-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

I've never been one to really follow golf, but this yahoo blog post caught my eye.

JP Hayes is a professional golfer who basically disqualified himself from a year of exempt status for the entire 2009 PGA season because he was honest enough to admit that he mistakenly broke a few rules regarding ball use. What is crazy and a bit unnerving is that he could have easily gotten away with it and if no one raised a big stink about it, people may not have cared. Hayes is a golfer who has already pulled in $7 million of career income and so as the blogger writes, "Knowing you're taking yourself out of the running for a year of career stability and wealth takes some serious situational ethics." In an age where professional athletes are so vilified for being selfish, egotistical cheaters, an athlete who stands up for the integrity of his sport, but more importantly, his personal integrity is quite refreshing. It's gotta be that this guy lives for something more important than money and comfort because if that was his top priority, my guess is that he would have taken a chance just to let things "slide" or else just blame his caddy, which he didn't.

How often do we let things "slide" in our personal life? Things that we know are "technically wrong," but no one would really care about, seem to be the toughest things to work out (read: illegal downloading, cheating, speeding??). I'm not saying these are mortal sins or anything (I couldn't even if I wanted to), but it makes me wonder how much clearer we would be able to hear Jesus speaking to us without all this rationalization, get-ahead attitude junk muddying up the waters.

What is "Lead To Serve (LTS)"?

2008-11-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

Hey Watermark!

This post is to inform you about Lead To Serve (LTS). So basically, there are two parts to LTS. The first is the "leaders" aspect of LTS. This will be a group of high schoolers who are interested in creating, preparing, and leading service activities in our local and bigger community. The physical commitment of the group is to meet consistently (amount of meetings per month is yet to be decided), and to come to all service events. As we have said repeatedly in our many announcements, the biggest goal of LTS is to create an awesome Kids For Christ (KFC) event! The planning of this event, and the fundraisers leading up to this event, will be created by the LTS leaders. This is only one of the many service opportunities that will be created this year. If you are interested in being a part of leading LTS, please email: LTSO@googlegroups.com. We will be having a meeting to talk go into further details and to talk about the commitment. The group will be solidified the week after the meeting. So email us! It'll be LOTS of fun!(:

The second part of LTS is the service aspect, which is less of a commitment and more participating. This group will be the body of LTS, and the physical helping hands of the service group. The only commitment is to participate or serve in as many activities as possible. This group is aimed towards those who might not necessarily have as much time to contribute, but still want to serve the community and have fun being a part of what LTS will plan. As an example of what the second group may do, is leading or volunteering at Kids For Christ. There will be many opportunities to participate, have fun, and be active in our events. If you are interested in being a part of this group, you do not need to email us; we will let you know of the upcoming activities during watermark!

So if you are looking to lead FUN and beneficial group to better our community, PLEASE email us so that we may let you know about the upcoming meeting of those who are interested.

Thanks!
-LTS
Rosemary, Hannah, Derek, Alan

Is Obama Apocalyptic?

2008-11-17T12:14:00.000-08:00

HEY! I'm not necessarily saying that. But an American cardinal is...

"...His Eminence James Francis Cardinal Stafford criticized President-elect Barack Obama as “aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic,“ and said he campaigned on an “extremist anti-life platform,” Thursday night in Keane Auditorium during his lecture “Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II: Being True in Body and Soul."

“Because man is a sacred element of secular life,” Stafford remarked, “man should not be held to a supreme power of state, and a person’s life cannot ultimately be controlled by government.

"For the next few years, Gethsemane will not be marginal. We will know that garden,” Stafford said, comparing America’s future with Obama as president to Jesus’ agony in the garden. “On November 4, 2008, America suffered a cultural earthquake.”

The lecture, hosted by the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, pertained to Humanae Vitae, a papal encyclical written by Pope Paul VI in 1968 and celebrating its 40 anniversary this year.

Stafford also spoke about the decline of a respect for human life and the need for Catholics to return to the original values of marriage and human dignity. “If 1968 was the year of America’s ‘suicide attempt,’ 2008 is the year of America’s exhaustion,” said Stafford, an American Cardinal and Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary for the Tribunal of the Holy See.

“In the intervening 40 years since Humanae Vitae, the United States has been thrown upon ruins.” This destruction and America’s decline is largely in part due to the Supreme Court’s decisions in the life-issue cases of 1973, specifically Roe v. Wade. Stafford asserted these cases undermined respect for human life in the United States."

Logic and reason

2008-11-14T01:22:00.000-08:00

I read this today and was BLOWN away..it's from the personal conversion story of author and former atheist John C. Wright. Apparently, he said something like if the Vulcans had a church it'd be the Catholic Church...hahaha, yes, I confess, I'm a bit of a trekkie :P Anyway, here's what actually blew me away:

" I take the logical process of philosophy very seriously, and I am impatient with anyone who is not a rigorous and trained thinker. Reason is the tool men use to determine if their statements about reality are valid: there is no other. Those who do not or cannot reason are little better than slaves, because their lives are controlled by the ideas of other men, ideas they have not examined."

Hmm, is it any wonder why we see people talking and acting like what they see/hear on TV and the only place we learn logic in our schools is maybe a section of a chapter in our geometry class?! That's why the TV ads cost so much!!
yeah, that's right, he said slaves! the other parts are awesome too: check it out!

Why Believe in a god?

2008-11-12T05:23:00.000-08:00

Interestingly enough, there is a new ad campaign being put out by the American Humanist Association (code word for atheists - usually) that questions God's existence going on in D.C. Though they say it is aimed at agnostics, atheists, and the like who feel lonely during this time of year, they also admit they "we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people's minds." Sounds like a bit of an attack to me. Rational thinking is part of the Catholic faith. In fact, it is the irrational man who fails to see that God does exist. The evidence is everywhere. Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Creation, Love, desire for Happiness, Joy, Peace, and on and on. All of this is not simply the result of some kind of godless evolutionary process. Someone...put some THOUGHT into this. But look at the statement they use.

"Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake."

What's the problem? Well what is the good? Is the good defending the dignity of the human person? Sure many would say. Well does that include the unborn child or the elderly? And we're back at the debate during this past election cycle. It's a nonsensical statement. You cannot run a society based on doing "good" when what is good is questioned so often today. This is part of the reason our society is struggling to survive. We don't know what the good is. We have become selfish and immoral and we don't realize it. Why, because we've defined the good as something that is truly evil. The good must be grounded in something objective, something that does not change....ergo...God (because, for the philosopher, even natural law comes from God).

There is another catch phrase that was used in London. Check this one out.

"There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

This one is just as funny. I think I would be worrying a lot more if this was all I had. 60 or 70 years if I am healthy. That's it? Why this life? It's filled with sickness, suffering, violence, and then death. Talk about a shaft. This is why an atheist philosopher so easily summed up the truly rational atheist position...when and how should I kill myself. Because if life is simply this life, it will be a whole lot less miserable if you kill yourself now than wait for tomorrow. But obviously God does exist. And He ultimately gives meaning to our lives. There is no true joy without God. This is going to be an interesting Christmas season... :)

Jane Roe's Change of Heart (Roe v. Wade)

2008-11-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

I just found out that Fr. Frank Pavone (from EWTN) converted "Jane Roe" from Roe v. Wade to Catholicism and now she is a pro-life advocate!! How awesome is that? God's grace is so empowering!

For those of you who don't know Roe v. Wade, it is a U.S. supreme court case that resulted in the overturning of anti-abortion laws in the U.S. Esentially, the decision overturned all state and federal laws outlawing or restricting abortion that were inconsistent with its holdings. It was a landmark case in which Jane Roe sued the state of Texas for violation of the constitutional right to privacy for not allowing her an abortion after she was raped. Consequently, the court decided that, "a mother may abort her pregnancy for any reason, up until the point at which the fetus becomes ‘viable.’" The Court defined viable as being "potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid."

Here's the link to the 'Jane Roe' video. http://www.justonejudge.com/ Click on the Norma McCorvey video, or see below:

Norma McCorvey became a member of the pro-life movement in 1995; she now supports making abortion illegal. In 1998, she testified to Congress:

“It was my pseudonym, Jane Roe, which had been used to create the "right" to abortion out of legal thin air. But Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee never told me that what I was signing would allow women to come up to me 15, 20 years later and say, "Thank you for allowing me to have my five or six abortions. Without you, it wouldn't have been possible." Sarah never mentioned women using abortions as a form of birth control. We talked about truly desperate and needy women, not women already wearing maternity clothes."

Genes Explain Everything

2008-11-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

John Cleese is an awesome comedic actor and here he parodies those who over-emphasize the role of genes and how they explain human behavior. Funny stuff =).

Personally, I believe genes definitely play a key role, but boiling who we are down to strictly nature or nurture is overly simplistic and denies the dignity of who we are as humans and how God created us. Dr. Francis S. Collins (a key leader in the Human Genome Project), in the context of a study of the link between sexual orientation and identical twins, suggests that, "whatever genes are involved represent predispositions, not predeterminations." Aside from the scientific nature of the study, from a purely experiential level, I feel like that strikes a nice balance between nature vs nurture. We all have God's goodness stamped in the very fabric of our bodies, but at the same time, we all have a tendency toward intrinsic moral evils like lust, anger, malice, etc (read: original sin). Ultimately, as we live out our Catholic faith, it requires collaboration of the individual and God's grace to fully become the person God created us to be.

Still hope yet in CA

2008-11-04T00:02:00.000-08:00

I woulda been one of those dancing guys! I wanna be a part of that!

Render Unto Caesar

2008-10-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

Off of last week's Gospel/Bible Study passage, I found a transcript of an interesting homily on it over at Catholics in the Public Square. You can read it here.

Some quotes I liked:

The Herodians got their tax. Jesus didn’t say not to pay it. It’s Caesar’s image on the coin anyway. But then the Pharisees fail to trap Jesus as well because of the second part of what he said: “Render unto… God what belongs to God.”Out of all creation what uniquely bears the image of God? The human person bears the image of God.

And so because it is God’s image that each human soul bears, each person then has the obligation to give himself or herself back to God. And this higher obligation is a duty to which even Caesar himself is held, whether he believes so or not. Everything that we do then must be in the context of love and service of God. Even the way that we render to Caesar what is Caesar’s should be in harmony with our love and service of God.

I would like to quote Dr. Peter Kreeft, a well-known professor at Boston College , who used a poignant example at a recent talk he gave. “Adolph Hitler gave the people a lot of good things: a sense of self-worth, hope, solidarity, community, optimism, meaningful work, and national pride. He cut unemployment. He was responsible for the autobahns and the Volkswagens. He eliminated starvation, almost all private crime, and most poverty. The people freely elected him and loved him until he started losing military battles. But this egomaniacal tyrant started the world’s worst war and hated, enslaved and murdered six million of God’s Chosen People.”...Hitler denied millions of persons the very right to life, which is the foundation of all other rights, including liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Postsecret

2008-10-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how many of you follow postsecret, but it is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.

Here's one I found cool.

Update on Seminarian who...

2008-10-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

...left professional soccer to become a priest!

I think this story is pretty darn sweet. It's done up by ESPN and it actually portrays typical seminary life. It's fun, it's intense, it forms you, but it's also a lot of fun. :)

Today's Power Women

2008-10-24T16:53:00.001-07:00

This is a clip from NBC on Today's "Power Women."

It argues that gender-neutral policies are the best way to advance women's careers. Women are paid 79 cents on the dollar compared to men because it's the woman's own making. They enourage women to build a new arsenal of skills to "mitigate their more feminine tendencies."

Are we really "socialized differently"? Or simply different by creation?

which side are we on?

2008-10-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

From this NEWSWEEK ARTICLE, it seems there's a line not between Dems and Reps, nor Catholics and non-Catholics, but between prominent Catholics themselves within the Catholic Church! But the line seems to be between the bishops and some theologians and politicians!

I think it's a very well written and thought-out article by George Weigel who also wrote the late John Paul II's biography, Witness to Hope (I HIGHLY recommend EVERYONE to read it).

I don't mean to be all political AGAIN on this blog, but it IS George WEIGEL!!!!

Roman Catholics for Obama '08!

2008-10-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a pretty cool reflection from an Archbishop who helped campaign for non-pro-life candidates in the past....WAY past! He's also the one that has often been quoted to say that it's okay for Catholics to vote for pro-choice candidates IF it's not specifically for their pro-choice stance. Check it out!

Text

ALSO: a really well reasoned video on Prop 8 (3 parts):

Here's the LINK to the original

Persecuted Christians today!

2008-10-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

I never realized it was so close already!!

Article

non-Christian thoughts on Prop 8

2008-09-30T23:46:00.001-07:00

This is from Sandy, a YAG that's not baptized, looking at it on a non-religious level.

What's in a name?

This November California voters are being asked to DEFINE what marriage is. Proposition 8 defines marriage as 'only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California'.

The current ballot is titled, "Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act", originally titled, "Protect Marriage Act". (Side note: Proponents of 8 wanted the original title, but you can read more to find out why: http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_8_%282008%29)

The origins of marriage

The marriage tradition dates back to the beginning of mankind. Its role in all cultures has financial and conjugal implications as the husband and wife is seen as a family unit (one household), and has the expectation of bearing children. And generally, marriage is seen as a positive ceremony in societies.

Marriage exists in virtually every known human society. . . . At least since the beginning of recorded history, in all the flourishing varieties of human cultures documented by anthropologists, marriage has been a universal human institution. As a virtually universal human idea, marriage is about the reproduction of children, families, and society. . . . marriage across societies is a publicly acknowledged and supported sexual union which creates kinship obligations and sharing of resources between men, women, and the children that their sexual union may produce."

WILLIAM J. DOHERTY, WILLIAM A. GALSTON, NORVAL D.GLENN, JOHN

GOTTMAN ET AL., WHY MARRIAGE MATTERS: TWENTY-ONE CONCLUSIONS FROM THE

SOCIAL SCIENCES 8-9 (Institute for American Values) (2002)

Historical Legal Perspective

In a society where the man was the breadwinner, and the wife was at home to care for the children, marriage laws were historically created because of the husband's responsibilities to support his wife and children.

As a result, it was never the will of the government to define what marriage was. The government's role in governing its people was to deter and protect spouses, mainly the women and children, from potential financial/economic hardships. In fact, until recently, no one ever questioned what marriage was.

'Legal preferences for marriage are justified by the underlying purposes of marriage: to regulate the sexual relationships that produce children in order to (a) discourage men and women from having children in fragmented families and (b) encourage the creation of children under the conditions in which they are most likely to flourish, and pose the least burdens to the community.'

Modern Times

Today, we are being asked to redefine marriage to be beyond what has been distinctively reserved for a man and a woman. We've been told that anyone who supports prop8 is being unfair and taking away the rights for all. But, we've already established in California since 2000, that civil union partnerships get the same rights as married couples- meaning, same-sex unions already get the same financial benefits as marriage.

Unfortunately, it's not enough for the same-sex communities to get the same tangible rights. 'Marriage in the United States is a civil union; but a civil union, as it has come to be called, is not marriage,' said Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry

'It is a proposed hypothetical legal mechanism, since it doesn't exist in most places, to give some of the protections but also withhold something precious from gay people. There's no good reason to do that.' (source WIKI on civil unions)

However, if there is 'something precious' being held back, what is it? Are they asking government to give them a nod for having such a different relationship? If we assume the role of government is to protect and not infringe on people's personal beliefs (separation of church and state), how is this "precious" recognition protecting and not infringing? If anything, it's asking (popular) government to extend and redefine an ancient institution that has been around in all parts of the world since the beginning of mankind. Are Californians really representative of the entire world? One might sarcastically say "yes", and try to compare this definition alteration to ending or abolishing something like slavery - in the name of civil rights!

However, one must recall slavery and genocide were government condoned systems – and just like the way the government tried to regulate the lives of its inhabitants, attempting to change the definition of a universally accepted institution would be likened to saying someone is " THREE FIFTHS OF A PERSON ". Sound familiar? It was in once written (by popular sentiment at the time) that blacks were not full persons. If man could believe another human to only be part human, it shouldn't be shocking opponents of prop8 claim a "right" is being taken away, even though the intangible right to define marriage was never available to "give" in the first place.

Future Precedence

So, what's wrong with trying to preserve the definition? Why should we even bother to protect the definition?

For the Social Good

Population – We already know that disrupting the natural growth of societies via population control (e.g. China, Japan, and Europe) is not sustainable nor even makes financial sense long term. And we know, same-sex couples can't sustain humanity.

Once a population has disconnected marriage and childbearing, and the norms supporting marriage as a procreative union have weakened or disappeared, there is little political leaders can do to improve the situation for young families without creating enormous resistance.

[Practically speaking] Coming up with the necessary resources to keep pension promises becomes a central preoccupation. Even as Europe begins to dwindle, "European governments were for the most part ignoring the problem, 'In practical terms nothing has been done, or just very, very marginally,'" said Dr. Carlo De Benedetti, an Italian financier who created a foundation to study the effects of aging in Europe.74

Thomas Fuller, Low Birth Rates Pose Challenge for Europe: The

Depopulation Bomb, INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, December 12 2002 at 1.

Separation of Church and State

We are going to be legally reprimanded if we teach children that marriage is between a man and women. This has dire consequences for private schools and perhaps even home schooling- parents will not be able to dictate morals to their children. The government will have even more control in our lives.

"...because public schools are already required to teach the role of marriage in society as part of the curriculum, schools will now be required to teach students that gay marriage is the same as traditional marriage, starting with kindergarteners. By saying that a marriage is between "any two persons" rather than between a man and a woman, the Court decision has opened the door to any kind of "marriage." (sounce protectmarriage.com)

Opening the flood gates for legitimizing other unions

I need not add more.

Bishops can er in teachings?

2008-09-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

This article is interesting.

It shows that bishops not in communion with the Pope can make errors in faith and morals! As was demonstrated by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the highest Church authority in Canada for Canadians. And no, it's not because they're Canadians! Even though it was authoritatively given by the rightful shepherds of Canada, it was made in error.

So in 1968, after Pope Paul VI issued Humae Vitae, an encyclical that had authority over the Universal Church that made the final definitive statement on the morality of the use of contraception (if you don't know what it said, basically: artificial contraception is intrinsically evil), the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops got together for a Plenary meeting and issued a statement called now the Winnipeg statement, and in it contained parts (paragraphs 17, 25, 26, 34) that spoke quite contrary to the clear teaching in Humanae Vitae . The statement itself along with highlights.

And now, after 40 years, we can take a look back at the aftermath and the prophecies that Pope Paul VI predicted a whole generation ago. The Canadian Catholic Church has had to recover and even supercede the original Winnipeg statement with one on the 40th anniversary of the prophetic Humanae Vitae.

Read the article!

Modern day genocide?

2008-09-30T00:10:00.000-07:00

I think that's the main question, right?

Pat, don't read the subtitles! practice your espanol!

Let's get political

2008-09-29T00:24:00.000-07:00

yeah (from www.catholicvote.com)

And some bad news: Google has turned it's back on it's unofficial slogan "don't be evil." Is it even POSSIBLE to boycott Google??

Google comes out against traditional marriage

Reflections from South Africa

2008-09-26T13:45:00.001-07:00

Many of you know I was in South Africa this past summer volunteering at the children's hospital and it was amazing. It's been about a month since I got back and finally finished my reflection so I thought I would share it with all of you.

~~~~~~~~~

My time spent in South Africa this past summer still seems surreal, like time had stopped and I stepped into someone else’s life. So much so that when I returned I expected it to still be July and was surprised to realize it was almost September. Looking back it is so clear that God was doing miraculous things in the middle of it all. A year and a half ago, despite having turned my ROTC summer programs’ application in late, I found myself as one of the 16 cadets in South Africa. It was during that Cultural Immersion program that I walked through the halls of the Red Cross Children’s Hospital for the first time and felt my heart being tugged by the children we encountered, their smiles, the curiosity in their eyes, their longing for interaction, and realized I wanted to return as a volunteer. I kept in touch with the volunteer’s coordinator at the hospital and she recommended a few volunteers placement programs. I got in contact with them, expressing my desire to work at the children’s hospital, started looking at airfare, and did some calculations and soon realized finance would be a problem. I was a little disappointed but was unwilling to give up on it completely. A few months later it was suggested that I fundraise for it. I was a little skeptical but did as suggested and wrote a letter and sent it to everyone I knew. Soon enough, the money started coming in. I was amazed at their generosity, and so grateful. Slowly, the reality of returning became more and more real.

Everything seemed very familiar when I got off the airplane and drove through Cape Town. Given I was not staying at the luxurious hotel we stayed at the summer before, it made no difference. I was just excited to be back.

I was under the impression that this was the only hospital dedicated to pediatric care in South Africa but during the mini-orientation at the hospital I found out that it was actually the only children’s hospital in all of sub-Saharan Africa. For many children this was the last referral so naturally there were a lot of really sick kids. As a volunteer, our job was to play and interact with the children. Every morning we were assigned to a ward and we would fill a cart of toys, crayons, and books from the toy room and head off to our wards. The hospital cared for children from birth to twelve years of age. The babies were tiny, many of them hooked up to machines with tubes everywhere. In the tracheotomy ward, children had tubes in their necks, metal rods coming out of their jaws, and in the burns unit many toddlers were bandaged from head to toe with only their eyes, nose and mouth visible. After you get past all of that, which did not take long because of their enthusiasm and energy, you realize that they are still children; they need interaction, attention, and love. They want to play, they want to run down the halls, and they have a sparkle in their eyes that warms your heart. It was easy for me to never think about the sickness any particular child had as long as I still made them laugh or smile. The questions that ran through my head were not, “What does this child have?” or “What’s wrong with that one?” but rather “How do I make him smile?”, “What does this child want to do?”, “What toy would he like?” and “How do I take his mind off of his condition and being here?” When it all boils down to it, our job as volunteers was to make these children forget where they were.

During my time spent there, I saw a lot that made me smile, that made me angry, that made me want to cry my eyes out. I was able to see the political and social issues of not just South Africa, but of Africa as a whole through these children. I saw first hand how decisions of corrupt governments, limited resources, lack of education, and actions of those in power eventually trickles down to the most vulnerable. I was fortunate enough to tag along with the doctors as they did their ward rounds one day. I remember looking at each child sleeping in their beds connected to all the different machines and hearing the doctors discuss all their current conditions and future treatments. The reality of just how sick these children were hit me hard. There were lots children with fetal alcohol syndrome and when I first realized that the instinct was to be angry. This was a direct result from bad decisions made by the mother and it just did not seem fair that any child should suffer the way they do because of it. But at the same time I found it hard to be angry with them. They lack sex education and many of them only get their periods every four months because of malnutrition that they sometimes do not know they are pregnant until much later. It is just one of the many sad realities I encountered. Many children did not have parents or family at their bedsides. I can only speculate where they might be or what situations would prevent them from being there. It was those children that demanded the most of our attention. One particular little girl stole my heart; her name was Laetticia. She was only 6 or 7 months old and the most precious little thing. I walked into the burn unit that particular day and found her lying wide awake in her bed. The moment I looked at her, she started giggling and laughing in a way that penetrated my heart; I could not help but be drawn to her. I noticed the scars on her thighs and legs but like the other children I did not dwell too long on the why’s and how’s that landed her here. It was only later that I found out from another volunteer that she was there because of a urine burn. I was shocked and appalled. She was obviously left for a long time in order for her urine to leave the scars that she had. It broke my heart completely. Not once did I see a visitor at her bedside but every time I was there, she always brought a smile to my face. It was devastating to know that she was not the only child without anyone there for them. I could not help but wonder what would happen to these children after they left the hospital.

On the contrary, I also saw so many moms and dads that stayed restlessly at their child’s bed side. The exhaustion that was etched in their faces and postures was obvious but the love that I saw in their eyes made me realize what true love meant. God’s love shone through so brightly in that dim place from these dedicated parents. One little boy cried every time his father got out of his arm’s reach; he had been fussing all day. I walked over to see if there was anything I could do, maybe bring him a train or bear. I could tell the father was exhausted. He took off his apron and cap and said to me, “I haven’t slept for four days. I need to take a break.” There was a sense of defeat and exhaustion in his voice. I nodded at him understandingly and he walked out as his son screamed at the top of his lungs. I realized then that we, the volunteers, were not only there for the children but also there to serve these bedside-parents who would do anything to be there for their children, as Jesus Christ is.

I had a lot of people ask me, “Isn’t it hard to see the children like that all the time? How do you deal with it?” They are sick, some of them really sick, some are abandoned, some would never live a life without medication and hospital visits, some probably even only had a few more hours to live. But to me, these children are the lucky ones. Yes, hospitals are a cruel place for kids to be, but at least they are getting the help the need, one of the best in almost all of Africa. And most of all, these children were given a chance at life. Whatever difficulties the mothers had to overcome, whatever influences they had, whatever life was throwing at them, they had their child. That is beautiful in itself. No matter how sick the children are, they are lucky to have been given a chance to fight for their lives and that is more than the millions of children that are aborted every year get. In a country where “safe abortions” are advertised everywhere and condoms dispensed for free at train stations, these children are definitely the lucky ones. People call me optimistic and it might be true. But I know it comes from my faith, a faith that only became personal to me not long ago. It comes from learning to trust that God has a plan for everything, in knowing that God is love, truth and hope.

God is good. God is love. That was made so clear to me on this trip. I am so grateful for having been given, by God through the wonderful people who supported me both spiritually and financially, this chance to serve the most vulnerable of His children. In the process I witnessed His love and compassion outpoured and felt His love sinking deeper into the core of my being. Words cannot describe that feeling, of being taken over so completely by His love and grace, of the warmth that is felt deep in my soul, and a void I did not know I had filled with His love and presence. I still find myself asking Him why He is so good to me and loves me so much. I heard the answer clearly from Him a few months ago but such unconditional love is still hard for me to comprehend; but it is a little easier now.

Another video

2008-09-23T00:57:00.000-07:00

Dude, PAT! I was so enchanted by the video I closed the browser and forgot I wanted to post a video...not as entertaining though :( I got this from Peter...pretty interesting...I think one of the "four horsemen" of atheism debating?

http://www.isi.org/lectures/flvplayer/lectureplayer.aspx?file=v000187_cicero_102207.flv

sorry guys, not sure how to embed :P

We'll be singing this song on Saturday...

2008-09-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

Just kidding... =)

can't. look. away.

Oprah...yeah..

2008-09-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

I got this letter from Jimmy Akin from Catholic Answers the other day. Given it's a fundraising letter but it's interesting..and if you think about it..true.

~~~~~~~
Is This Woman Leading Souls
AWAY FROM CHRIST?

Diva, Dupe, or Devil?

You decide. Please read on...

Dear Friend of Catholic Answers,

Karl Keating asked me to write you this letter to alert you to a serious spiritual threat.

My name is Jimmy Akin, and I’m the director of apologetics and evangelization for Catholic Answers. If you know my personal story, you know that I am a convert to the Catholic faith from Evangelicalism. What you may not know is that before I was an Evangelical, I was a New Ager.

That’s right. When I was young and impressionable, before my religious convictions matured, I was a follower of the New Age Movement and its bizarre beliefs regarding reincarnation, astrology, clairvoyance, psychic healing, Atlantis, “Earth changes,” automatic writing, “Christ consciousness,” and all that stuff.

But I grew out of it.

By God’s grace, I was led to embrace the Christian faith . . . and then the fullness of the Christian faith in the Catholic Church.

Unfortunately, many people are still trapped in the New Age Movement, and now it is more dangerous than ever.

Why?

Because it has a new “high priestess”—one with tens of millions of followers who hang on her every word.

It’s hard to believe that one of the most well-known, most popular, and most influential women in the world is also one of the most dangerous because of what she’s teaching to millions of unsuspecting people every single day.

She’s Oprah Winfrey. You know her as a wildly successful TV talk show host; you’ve seen her equally successful woman’s magazine, “O,” at the checkout stand in the supermarket; you may have heard her popular radio program.

But if you are like many people, you’ve assumed that she’s just been pumping out the same kind of confessional TV talk show pablum, pop psychology, and feel-good self-affirmation that you find on so many other programs.

If that’s what you think, you haven’t seen her show in years.

Oprah has totally transformed herself and her media empire. She is no longer just a microphone-toting interviewer of tearful guests and cheering audiences. Believe it or not, she has become . . . a spiritual icon.

In its article, “The Church of O,” Christianity Today reports:

Oprah Winfrey has become one of the most influential spiritual leaders in America . . .

To her audience of more than 22 million mostly female viewers, she has become a postmodern priestess—an icon of church-free spirituality.

Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the Pope.

Even if you don’t watch her TV talk show or listen to her radio show or read her magazine, you or someone you love will be affected by what she’s passing off as “spirituality” these days.

Because of her, New Age teachings are being pitched to millions of our fellow Catholics—many of whom are being taken in by the mega-popular Oprah Winfrey and her promotion of three key books in the New Age Movement: The Secret . . . A New Earth . . . and A Course in Miracles.

Again, if you haven’t heard of these books, you probably don’t subject yourself to watching the Oprah Winfrey Show. But the teachings contained in them—particularly A Course in Miracles—are very dangerous because they are the opposite of real Christianity. And yet . . .

They Claim to Come from Christ Himself!

I’m serious!

Let’s start with A Course in Miracles. It’s a foundational book of today’s New Age Movement—and it’s one that Oprah Winfrey is promoting so religiously on her show.

It’s a 1,249-page, 3-volume set that was written in the 1970’s by a woman named Helen Schucman—a psychologist from Columbia University.

She claimed (with absolutely no proof, of course) that she “heard a Voice” that she identified as Jesus. He spoke to her and dictated this entire book. He used his “inside voice”—that is, only Miss Schucman could hear him—and she merely “scribed” everything he said, in her own brand of “shorthand” code that only she could read, of course—and she later dictated that to another writer.

It took her seven years to write A Course in Miracles (Jesus speaks slowly, I suppose)—but even when she was finished with it, she curiously wanted to “re-write” the whole thing!

The bizarre (and dangerous) claim behind this book is that it is “divine revelation.” In fact, its proponents claim that it’s a “Third Testament” that should be included with the Bible.

The set has been popular for decades. When I was a New Ager, I saw it all the time on the shelves of the (then small, now huge) New Age section in the bookstores. But now the course has been carried to new heights of popularity.

Oprah Winfrey, who already had a long history of promoting New Age ideas via the guests she featured on her show, has locked onto A Course in
Miracles and chosen to do a 365-day, non-stop “lesson a day” program that would present it to her millions of fans.

What does A Course in Miracles teach? “Revelations” from “Jesus” such as . . .

• There is no such thing as sin.
• Evil, pain, suffering, and sickness are all illusions.
• Since man never sinned, he has no need of salvation.
• A slain Christ “has no meaning” and so we should not cling “to the old, rugged cross.”
• The name of Jesus Christ is a symbol “of all the gods to which you pray.”
• To recognize God is to recognize yourself.

A well-informed Christian would never accept any of these blasphemous and heretical notions, of course. But they are at the core of A Course in Miracles. And Oprah herself isn’t afraid to make a direct assault on Christianity. Here’s what she told her audience:

“I don’t believe that Jesus came to start Christianity. What Jesus said is much deeper than . . . how the church interprets it.”

“The old way is, the hierarchy has the authority. Church authorities tell you how to worship in church and how to behave outside of church. The new spirituality is that you are your own best authority. As you work to know and love yourself, you discover how to live a more spiritual life.”

Oprah also promotes another New Age guru by the name of Eckhart Tolle, author of the best-selling book A New Earth.
He, too, denies fundamental tenets of Christianity—even though he quotes Jesus more than any other “teacher” in his books. He says . . .

“Never personalize Christ. Don’t make Christ into a form identity. Avatars, divine mothers, enlightened masters, the very few that are real, are not special as persons.”

Tolle also pushes the New Age nonsense that you are God.

“The Truth is inseparable from who you are. Yes, you are the Truth. If you look for it elsewhere, you will be deceived every time. The very Being that you are is Truth.”

“There can be no subject-object relationship here, no duality, no you-and-God.”

What did Oprah say to all this?

She calls her work with him perhaps the most important and exciting thing she has ever done.

You see, this past spring she hosted 10 Monday-night “Web seminars” with him (over the Internet). As many as one million people watched these “webinars” live, and 27 million more downloaded them afterward.

It was described as one of the largest single events in Internet history.

So, what does all of this have to do with you? It’s very simple. The bottom line (and the reason I’m writing to you about this subject) is this . . .

Oprah Winfrey and Her “New Age Gurus”
Are Deceiving Tens of Millions of People
And Leading Them Away from Christ.

And that, as you might suspect, includes our fellow Catholics—good people who don’t know their faith as they ought . . . and who were never given the benefit of a good catechesis.

Enter Catholic Answers, with our mission to defend the faith and the faithful by spreading the truth and vanquishing lies.

Now that Oprah has become such a prolific New Age/anti-Christian propagandist, we have a duty to expose her and her “guru” guests so that we can rescue Catholics from this dangerous ideology . . . and prevent further damage being done to future audiences.

That won’t be an easy task. But . . . we have a new and unique weapon with which to fight the lies that are being sold as “the new spirituality”—the lies that purport to come from Jesus himself, but which sound like they come from the serpent in the Garden of Eden!

Our new weapon is a fascinating 3-hour interview with Sharon Lee Giganti—a former New Age teacher who went through a dramatic realization that the ideas and principles of the New Age Movement are actually dangerous and can have deadly consequences in people’s lives.

Sharon Lee told her story on Catholic Answers Live, where I interviewed her about her experiences in the New Age Movement and how she got out of it.

In my years as an apologist, I’ve heard many compelling stories, but I was amazed at Sharon Lee Giganti’s.

You see, two people that Sharon Lee knew died . . . because of the very same kind of things that Oprah is promoting.

It was enough to shock Sharon Lee back into the Catholic faith and to give her the drive to spread the word about how dangerous and life-threatening these teachings are.

I can’t tell her story here. To do it justice, you really need to hear it for yourself, which you can when we send you a special 3-CD set containing the unedited interviews from the radio show.

We’ll send you this set in return for your tax-deductible gift to Catholic Answers—which will help us get this set into the hands of Catholics who urgently need to hear what Sharon Lee has to say.

Donate now to this urgent cause.

Alarmingly, the ideas behind the New Age Movement are (and have been for some time) creeping into Catholic parishes all across the country. They’re disguised in various forms—often as “meditation” or “self-awareness” workshops.

Among Catholics are many who were duped by Oprah Winfrey into purchasing the runaway bestseller The Secret by Rhonda Byrne—which, by the way, contained absolutely no secrets.

Instead, it’s chock full of the 19th century hogwash known as “The Law of Attraction”—which gratuitously claims that you can change your life merely through positive thoughts, which will then cause unexplained “vibrations” that “travel throughout the universe” and magically result in good things happening to you, any time you want. The universe is at your command!

For instance, The Secret has the audacity to claim that if you’re feeling physically ill, just ignore it! Don’t give your illness any attention. Don’t even talk about it to anyone—presumably, not even a doctor! And if anyone tells you about his illness, change the subject immediately and think happy-happy thoughts so it will all go away.

I know you must be shaking your head in disbelief. But I’m not making this up. Back when I was a New Ager, we were taught to “visualize” whatever we wanted to happen—and if we visualized hard enough then it magically would!

Unfortunately, with the incredible influence that Oprah has over her daytime-TV audience, people are believing this nonsense. By the millions!

The Secret also tells you that if you want to be unbelievably wealthy, just imagine it and it will all come true! For example, in the chapter called “The Secret to Money,” we’re told, “Visualize checks in the mail.” (I’m not kidding.)

Elsewhere, we’re told, “Like Aladdin’s Genie, the law of attraction grants our every command.”

It’s sad, but people are now believing that this is how you’re supposed to “relate” to God. “God” is actually you. You control the universe through your thoughts.

Gullible people everywhere (and they are everywhere) can be seen tossing aside their Christian beliefs and acting like they are God because of Oprah Winfrey’s non-stop promotion of the bizarre (and anti-Christian) ideas contained in the books I’ve mentioned above. She’s become the high priestess of the New Age.

I could go on for several more pages about the unbelievable nonsense that’s passing itself off as true “spirituality” thanks to the New Age Movement promoted by Oprah.

But instead, I’ll let Sharon Lee Giganti give you the scoop when you listen to her eye-opening and riveting story, which gives the crucial background on all these movements . . . who their key players are . . . what they believe in . . . what their fallacies are . . . and, most importantly, how these dangerous ideas affect people’s lives in disastrous ways.

Ideas have consequences. The worse the idea, the worse the consequences.

Believing that “you are God” is perhaps the worst idea ever sold to the masses!

Won’t you please help us get Sharon Lee Giganti’s eye-opening CD set distributed to all the people who so desperately need it?

Start by clicking here with your donation of just $35, and we’ll send you a copy of the CD set that you can listen to and share with friends and family.

If you know of people at work, at home, in your parish, or in your circle of friends who have been taken in by The Secret or A New Earth or A Course in Miracles or any of these other books that Oprah has promoted to millions of people, you owe it to them to share this CD and ask them to listen to Sharon Lee’s story.

Now that she’s come back to the Catholic faith, it’s Sharon Lee’s mission to warn others about the spiritual dangers being sold by Oprah Winfrey and her New Age gurus.

It’s our mission, too. But we need your help. So please donate now with your tax-deductible gift of $35 or more so we can send you the CD set as our “thank you.”

You’ll be fascinated by what you’ll learn from listening to this set.

You’ll learn how the New Age gurus . . .

• Deny reality
• Reject logic and reason
• Promote delusional thinking
• Encourage self-centeredness
• Push people over the edge
• Dismiss sin and evil
• Pretend to be God
• And much more

Bottom line? This New Age nonsense takes advantage of people who are emotionally vulnerable, weak, and gullible.

It’s a subversion of the Christian faith. It’s the original “you can be like God” lie sold to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And as Christians
we must fight back.

I feel strongly about this because I myself was once trapped by the lies of the New Age Movement. Millions of people still are, and it is up to us to help them. Sharon Lee Giganti's new 3-CD set is an ideal tool to help educate and inform people about the dangers of the New Age. Won't you join us in the effort to liberate souls from its deadly clutches?

Sincerely in the real Christ,

Jimmy Akin
Director of Apologetics and Evangelization

P.S. I can’t tell you how startling and information-packed our 3-CD interview with Sharon Lee Giganti is. I was amazed at what she had to say.
The set is our gift to you for your donation of $35 or more.

Keep watch. Be vigilant. The New Age ideas being pushed by Oprah cannot be easily dismissed. They’re building steam and gaining ground—even among our fellow Catholics.

They must be fought and exposed to the true light—the Light of the World.

consistent philosophy

2008-09-09T01:30:00.001-07:00

An awesome article by an atheist pro-choice philosopher.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-sartwell2-2008sep02,0,4543933.story

He's logical and consistent. That's the first step in dialogue!

Pro-Life Videos

2008-09-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

Check these out. These are videos put together by different people as part of a contest to explain why the parental notification bill up for a vote in California in November should pass. Some of them are pretty darn good. Some of them...so so. :)

Me in the News...

2008-09-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

Well not really. But this article indirectly refers to me. The seminary I recently left the states to enter here in Rome is welcoming the largest class of seminarians in 40 plus years. All together we are 61 new seminarians from across the states. So I thought that was pretty amazing. That does not mean we are in anyway out of the vocations drought of the past 40 some years but it does show the Holy Spirit is stirring up men to become priests. On another note, my old seminary, which many of you visited, St. Patrick's Seminary, is full this year. They took in 26 new men. So good news abounds but we'll need a lot more.

There we are. This is not the official picture so some guys were not ready for it. Can you find me?

On that note, I thought I would mention a blog I recently helped start for the Diocese of Sacramento which discusses vocation stuff like vocation stories, the lives of seminarians, seminary life, discernment, events, and so on. It's only going to get better so you may want to check it out. It isn't simply for people interested in the Diocese of Sacramento or the priesthood but is a good tool to have around. The website is: http://www.sactownseminarians.com/ . Feel free to check it out.

How do you pray?

2008-09-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hopefully not like this:

It's funny/sad how this is often the case though. Sometimes, my prayer times look like this and before I know it, I find myself wondering why I don't feel so close to Jesus anymore.

Why do you think it's so hard to listen in prayer?

Separation of Church and State?? Really??

2008-08-27T00:08:00.000-07:00

On the flip side (or actually on the SAME side as the hate-mail-writing-fellow-human-being-condemning Christians) here's a public figure who's unashamed of her (and I mean literally, in the possessive sense "HER very own version of") Catholicism completely misrepresenting our faith and confusing the public even more.... I just hope the public listens to the Bishops (who actually have teaching authority) and not a politician, even IF she is the speaker of the house.

I'm SO ANGRY!!!!

http://zenit.org/article-23474?l=english

HELLO?! "Since the FIRST century..." !!!!!

The Dems REALLY need to live up to what they're supposed to stand for and represent the unrepresented like they did back in the civil rights movement, but this time, for the MOST unrepresented!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPZCXcTwZPY&feature=related

Can humans ever really separate Church and State that definitively??

"The task of witness is not easy. There are many today who claim that God should be left on the sidelines, and that religion and faith, while fine for individuals, should either be excluded from the public forum altogether or included only in the pursuit of limited pragmatic goals. This secularist vision seeks to explain human life and shape society with little or no reference to the Creator. It presents itself as neutral, impartial and inclusive of everyone. But in reality, like every ideology, secularism imposes a world-view. If God is irrelevant to public life, then society will be shaped in a godless image. When God is eclipsed, our ability to recognize the natural order, purpose, and the “good” begins to wane. What was ostensibly promoted as human ingenuity soon manifests itself as folly, greed and selfish exploitation. And so we have become more and more aware of our need for humility before the delicate complexity of God’s world."
Pope Benedict XVI, Message at welcoming celebration at WYD2008, Sydney, 17, July, 2008.

And what's a "godless image"? If Heaven is eternity with God, then what's it called when we fashion a world that's "godless"?? And who's church would something like that be called?
Is that going too far? hmmmm.....