Journeys of a Catholic Poster Girl

From NRO, via Time:

The Virgin Mary got support of a sort from two embattled females at Washington’s Catholic University last week. Ti-Grace Atkinson, mighty mouth of Women’s Liberation, told an audience of students, priests, nuns and laymen that in the Virgin Birth poor Mary had been more “used” than if her Son had been conceived normally. “I can’t let her say that!” yelled Patricia Buckley Bozell, the managing editor of a rightist Catholic magazine, Triumph, and sister of right-wing Columnist William Buckley and Senator James Buckley. To the podium stormed Patricia; she aimed a hefty slap at Ti-Grace, who managed to ward it off. Hustled outside, Pat shouted, “To hell with Catholic University!” then knelt to say the Rosary in protest, together with a group of students that included one of her ten children, Cathy, 19. Ti-Grace, considerably shaken, cut her speech short. “That face,” she said later, “I’ve seen it in so many churches—the hysteria, the desperation. I felt for her. It’s outrageous that it’s the women who are the sufferers.”

But I’m back! Sometimes I run into dry spells on this blog. I don’t just want to randomly write things–I want them to have some heft, you know? This isn’t the blog where I just mindlessly spill about my day (although I don’t really do that at the Bucket, either..)…

Anyway, here are some links/thoughts…

This is a great piece from Fr. Z on one of my favorite Saints, St. Gianna Molla. If I was getting confirmed today I would pick her. For those unfamiliar with her story, she was an Italian doctor who was diagnosed with a uterine tumor while pregnant, but she would not have a surgery that would remove it, since it would endanger her child’s life. Instead, St. Gianna gave birth to a healthy baby girl, even though St. Gianna died shortly after. The daughter became a doctor, like her mother.

Also from Fr. Z, the Pope’s address to Young People at Yonkers. This was the only speech of his I was able to hear live while he was in the US (since I do not have cable at my apartment, sigh…I could only watch snippets whilst I was at my parents). This was truly a remarkable speech.

Side note re: music. I can’t believe someone complained about the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” being sung when the Pope was welcomed at the White House.
1) The Pope asked for it!
2) It is said to be one of the Virgin Mary’s favorite hymns (as told by the visionaries at Medjuorgje–it’s on the tape “Sounds of Medjuorgje”, which my dad played over and over in the car when I was a kid).
3) (I think it was) The Army Choir sounds AWESOME when they sing this! When it was sung (twice!) at Reagan’s funeral, I just loved it. They do a fantastic job. Why shouldn’t we sing one of the best songs we have?
4) It’s a true, honest-to-God Americanhymn. Let’s give him the good stuff!

And I have to say, I loved watching GW with the pope. He has had so many Catholics on his advisory boards, working in his administration, etc.–and we can’t forget the appointments of Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justice Alito!

Why is it that…

Protestants have “Ave Maria” sung at their weddings?

Yes, it’s a lovely song. It’s sort of entered the standard wedding repetoire. But they do know what it’s saying, right? And that their churches completely reject what’s being sung?

Just curious.

Tony Blair becomes Catholic!
Mary and Jesus–too cute.

This is great, from Danielle:

Tomorrow (December is the feast of the Immaculate Conception and a holy day of obligation, even if it falls on a Saturday. As our own wonderful pastor told us last weekend: “No mental gymnastics. You go to Mass twice this weekend.”

how not to do it.

Seen on the sign of the Lutheran Church down the road from my parish:

REFORMATION SUNDAY

LOTS OF SPECIAL MUSIC!

Etc., etc. with times, and a mention of food.

OK, um, wow.

First off, why is there even Reformation Sunday? Yes, I know it’s “technically” the day their denominationw as founded. But basically it’s a slap in the face to Catholics, akin to saying, “boy are we glad we purified our church and separated from all those heretic losers!”   Can you imagine if Catholics celebrated something akin to that? The uproar would be incredible. 500 years after the fact it seems like we’d be sort of past this, right?

When I went to Capital (a technically “Lutheran” school), they always celebrated Reformation Sunday, and it made me think, “how ironic, given that half your student population is Catholic.”  For a religion that preaches love and brotherhood and tolerance and all that good stuff, this doesn’t seem like any of those things.

They went their way. We went ours. Can we move on?
As a side note: do any other Protestant denominations celebrate this? Or is it just the Lutherans?

Side note 2: I know it’s cliche, but seriously, my best friends are  Lutheran. One of them has a brother-in-law who is a Pastor. So it’s not like I don’t know any. And I’m sure that for many of them it’s not an “in your face” kind of thing. But it still bugs me that the denomination continues to have this. If you want to celebrate Martin Luther’s birthday, or whatever, go ahead. But do we need to have “Reformation Sunday”? Please.

Side note– the Assumption (August 15) is celebrated in the Lutheran Liturgical Calendar. Rather ironically, it’s listed as a “lesser festival.” I don’t know a whole lot about Luther, but one of the things I do know is that he kept his devotion to Mary his entire life. So the idea that the Mother of God is relegated to Christmas and a “lesser festival” is ironic.

( A quick web search revealed some Protestant papers trying to debunk the idea that Luther was devoted to Mary in a Catholic sense. The one paper I actually read actually contains several confirmations of Catholic Marian doctrine. So I think that there may be some misunderstandings vis a vis Catholic Mariology here. But I digress.)

Since October is the month of the Rosary, and Oct. 11 is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (followed closely on Oct. 13 by the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, where her messages were focused quite closely on the Rosary and the importance of its recitation), my church has decided to have rosary said after each Mass during the month of October. We also going to try to do this in May.

I have gone to our 10:15 Mass, which is usually the best attended. The first week, I led the recitation, and about 10 people were there. Not too bad. I’m not sure how many were there last week. For this, I don’t think it’s the  quantity of people that’s important. It’s the fact that we’re doing it at all. It was nice to be saying the rosary in a group, and it felt like we were bathing the church in our rhythmic prayers, helping to prepare the sanctuary, as  it were, for the next Mass. We were seated near the tabernacle, which added to the feeling.

I try to say the rosary daily, and normally I say it silently and alone. Saying it communally was, however, something I grew up with; occasionally we would say the family rosary, and Dad was a big fan of saying a decade or so in the car on the way to school or church.  The rosary has permeated my life and it’s an important devotion for me.

On top of saying it after Mass, my faith sharing group (FSG) has also been saying it at the end of our meetings this month.

It has been said that the rosary is “the weapon.” It is one of the most powerful prayers we have. If you don’t say the rosary regularly, or not at all, this would be a good month to consider doing so. Mother Teresa once wrote that when she was having spiritual difficulty, she would pick up her rosary and say it slowly and deliberately, until the pain had passed or lessened. It is a great way to increase meditation and reflect more deeply on the life of Christ and His Mother. It makes us realize that they truly experienced every human emotion, and know what we are going through here on earth.

Is driving an SUV a sin?

I once heard a priest give a sermon to this effect. Apparently it’s a sin because we’re  warming the globe! Oh my gosh!

But it got better.

And the kicker–

We shouldn’t be “one issue voters.” Oh, what’s that one issue? Abortion! Geez, one of the things the Church is absolutely adamant about should not figure into our voting decisions! Perhaps he’d like to talk to, um, the Pope, the Magesterium, the USCCB??? hmmm? because I think I remember someone saying something about how abortion is one of those bright-line things–you cannot condone something that is inherently evil, which abortion always is.

Sorry, but a candidate’s environmentally policy is a far, far, far way down my list of priorities. I’d like to save the babies first.

Now I know we are to be good stewards of the Earth. But “thou shalt not pollute” is not one of the 10 Commandments. “Thou Shalt Not Kill” is.

“My God, I choose all. I will not be a saint by halves.”

–St. Therese of Lisieux

St. Therese is my patron saint.

OK, so I’m not very original in my choices. She has been called the most popular saint of modern times, the “First Lieutenant” of Our Lady. Lots of people have been drawn to her and her “little way,” and I, as a fourteen year old considering saint options for Confirmation, was certainly not the first to feel this way.

But there are some nice parallels.

She entered the Carmel on my birthday–April 9. She died of TB–I was lucky enough not to have that fate, thank you. But, having had it (several times), I can relate to what she endured. She was about my age when she died. (I hope to outlive her. :))

If you perform a cursory study of her spirituality, it can seem very girly and soft and make it sound like Therese was a pretty simple girl, spiritually. It’s easy to imagine her life as a middle-class French girl, then moving into the convent, and it’s easy to think that she just sort of went along. It was easy for her to follow her “little way.”

But it wasn’t. She had long “dark nights,” attacks of scruples, a predisposition to depression. It was hard for her to be happy. And she got annoyed and irritated just like the rest of us. I find that comforting.

Her poetry is often enlightening, and L’historie d’ame (”Story of a Soul”) is invaluable. Theresian scholarship is deep, and it’s very easy to immerse yourself in the writings of, and about, this Doctor of the Church. Her Oblation to Merciful Love is particularly insightful.

So if you want to read more about her, try:

For kids (this is the book I read before my Confirmation)

A good primer

for family movie night (it’s very well done, and you can also find it at Target!)

For the house (I found a cheaper version at my diocesan bookstore)–this is the statue Therese kept in her family home, and that played a role in her miraculous healing when she was 11.
Also:

This is a great book about Celine, the sister Therese was closest to.

I took my annual vacation to NYC this year, which, of course, included Mass at St. Patrick’s yesterday at 10:15.

Now I have been to NYC before. I have been in St. Pat’s on New Year’s Eve (around 4:00ish) and have seen it packed with tourists snapping photos and generally creating a rather circus-like atmosphere for people who were actually there to pray. But it wasn’t time for Mass and it wasn’t a holy day (yet–January 1 is, in the US, since it is a Marian feast and Mary is the patroness of the United States). So I was prepared for a bit of hoopla.

This time it was different. First, I was going there for Mass. The 9:00 had just let out when we got there, and people were milling around, going up and down,t aking pictures, wandering up the main aisle to snap a few pictures of the altar and windows and then meandering back down. There’s even a gift shop in the church proper, which I wasn’t too keen on.

Around 9:50 or so my friend and I got seats. They were sort of in the middle on the left side, and there are TV monitors on some of the pillars now, so no matter where you are, you can see the priest/cantor/lector. The use of incense in the Mass was wonderful, as was the music, the choir, and the reverence shown by all who were ministers at the Mass (the altar boys, especially, could show ours a thing or two!).

So what bugged me? Well, first off, how NOISY is was in there before Mass actually began. I didn’t like the constant picture snapping. And it wasn’t just from tourists–it was from the congregation, too! I mean people in the pews, ostensibly preparing for Mass, are snapping photos! Hello! Not appropriate whilst one is trying to prepare for Mass.

The Mass itself was quieter, since the main aisles are closed so people cannot just wander. Communion was a bit disorienting, because you just sort of went up whenever you felt like it. There weren’t any ushers to dismiss the pews, which I think would’ve been a VAST improvement.

There just seemed to be a lack of reverence, which cannot be faulted on the priest or the ministers. It’s just that it’s sucha major tourist place that the tourists distract from everything.

On the plus side, people did seem to dress a lot better than I’ve seen of late. There were even a few little boys in suit coats.

I do not know how normal NYCers can pray there. I would go crazy.