Tolerance?

Atheist files complaint over Pennsylvania restaurant’s discount for churchgoers - The Washington Post

Simply amazing...  The intolerance and illogical ideas of some people truly amazes me...

Here's a clue, this restaurant is not discriminating of segregating based on religion.  Anyone can go online, do a quick search and print out a bulletin regardless of their religious belief or lack thereof.  They will take any bulletin, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Catholic.  I'd guess that they'll even take the bulletin from John Wolff's Church of Atheist" that he prints out from his home computer...

Now, if they start demanding a profession of faith, and proof that you are actually a practicing Catholic and denying all other faiths service or discounts, maybe we'll have something to discuss...  But considering that our equal rights protections don't permit discrimination based on age, yet senior discounts are unchallenged... well...  I think this 80 year old protests too much.  And his claims of desiring tolerance while being so intolerant speaks volumes...

"This town needs an enema!"

OK, more than this town, this entire nation.  Particularly the media.  While filling my coffee at work this morning a co-worker (who was on vacation all last week) and I were talking about what we did last week.  My attending a "Fortnight for Freedom" service on the Fourth led to a broader discussion of the "Fortnight" and the general movement to protest the HHS mandate.

"Looking for love in all the wrong places..."

Healing through the Divine Mercy

Fr. Longenecker shared some wonderful thoughts on what ails all of us and the answer to our ills, the Divine Mercy and Infinite Love of God.  I think many, if not all, of us struggle with feelings of loneliness, being unloved, or feeling betrayed or abandoned.  We were all created with a desire for love and belonging to another.  We created desiring union with God, our Creator.  But, we end up confused, wanting the love of a particular man or woman, wanting to feel validated for our beauty, our intellect, our skill at one thing or another, or expecting to be rewarded for our good deeds in a particular manner.  So much so that we become oblivious to the love that is actually there or become hooked on the residual effects of love or attention received in a particular manner.

Waiting in line for Confession

Well, I missed Mass last weekend.  I could give you the who, what, when, why, where and how, but that would likely lead to rationalization, some thinking I'm scrupulous, others thinking I'm trying to rationalize and justify my choice.  But, really all that matters is I missed Mass and I went to confession and God has forgiven me, anyway, that's not what I'm intending to talk about today.  No, what I'm intending to talk about is some of my thoughts while I was standing in line waiting for the priest to enter the confessional and begin hearing confessions.

Struggling with Church Doctrine? Go to Confession! | Matins Musings

Struggling with Church Doctrine? Go to Confession! | Matins Musings

A good message for all Catholics.

An Interesting Perspective on Sex and Our Culture

The McDonaldization of Sex 1 (Sex and Christianity 10)

The above is the first in a four part (more to come?) series regarding the largely unforeseen (Pope Pius XI clearly saw the looming consequences) and rarely discussed ramifications of contraception, legalized abortion, and the sexual revolution on our society as a whole.  I'm sure many will have no problem dismissing the perspective, but I'd hazard a guess that there is a bit of denial, shame and/or guilt coupled with a subconscious refusal to take an honest look at one's own culpability for how those feelings.

As a father of two daughters and a son, this makes me seriously consider what lies in store for them.  My daughters have already reached their teenage years.  And while I grew up in a time when worrying about how boys might treat your daughters was a real concern, I look at our society today and can't help but see that the risk is far greater now.  I think about the sexual content of TV, billboards, magazines and in public conversation 30 years ago and contrast that with today.  30 years ago we had slid a long ways from the days of "I Love Lucy" , "Dick Van Dyke" and "Ozzie & Harriet", but today?  Material that would have been R rated and only in theaters is now showing up in prime time shows that are framed to lure families and kids into watching, without any care taken to restrict access.  People converse publicly, in earshot of kids about sexual acts and use language that would have been inappropriate in any social context.  And everything points to sex as being just a disposable form of cheap entertainment and little more.

Read the series.  Honestly contemplate the reality it is describing.

UPDATE:  Looks like the series isn't finished, the 5th in the series was posted this week:  http://www.patheos.com//Catholic/McDonaldization-of-Sex-5-Tim-Muldoon-07-05-2012.html

Cooperating with the Will of God

Was reading Mark Shea today, and he had this quote from C.S. Lewis:

Can we believe that God ever modifies His action in response to the suggestions of man? For infinite wisdom does not need telling what is best, and infinite goodness needs no urging to do it. But neither does God need any of those things that are done by finite agents, whether living or inanimate. He could, if He chose, repair our bodies miraculously without food; or give us food without the aid of farmers, bakers, and butchers; or knowledge without the aid of learned men; or convert the heathen without missionaries. Instead, He allows soils and weather and animals and the muscles, minds, and wills of men to cooperate in the execution of His will. 'God,' says Pascal, 'instituted prayer in order to lend to His creatures the dignity of causality.' But it is not only prayer; whenever we act at all, He lends us that dignity. It is not really stranger, nor less strange, that my prayers should affect the course of events than that my other actions should do so.  They have not advised or changed God's mind — that is, His over-all purpose. But that purpose will be realized in different ways according to the actions, including the prayers, of His creatures.

For He seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye. He allows us to neglect what He would have us do, or to fail. Perhaps we do not fully realize the problem, so to call it, of enabling finite free wills to co-exist with Omnipotence. It seems to involve at every moment almost a sort of divine abdication. We are not mere recipients or spectators. We are either privileged to share in the game or compelled to collaborate in the work, "to wield our little tridents." Is this amazing process simply Creation going on before our eyes? This is how (no light matter) God makes something — indeed, makes gods — out of nothing.

Profound thinking from a great mind.

Mark used this as part of a discussion of the importance of Mary in Catholic theology and it is a great way of approaching any meditation on Mary.  But, it's also amazing to contemplate how much God desires a relationship with each of us, how much He loves us, how much He cares for us, and the ways He is always attempting to show and communicate His love and desire for us...

The Secular Case Against Gay Marriage - The Tech

The Secular Case Against Gay Marriage - The Tech

I've frequently offered my secular case against same-sex unions, this is a well written piece that parallels the argument I find quite compelling...

Early on it hits on the key question, what is the public interest in the institution that justifies the cost?

Hard Sayings Of The Old Testament

Hard Sayings Of The Old Testament

Was recently discussing the difficulties of the Old Testament with a friend that is somewhere between agnostic and atheist.  Was quite thankful to have this as a resource in addressing his questions about God ordering the killing of entire cultures...

Confused culture

Our culture is so confused.  We deny logic, truth, and reality and are blind to even that reality.  We do our darnedest to separate actions from their consequences, to damaging results.

Consider: