By all appearances, what I attended yesterday was Mass. There were some people in the pews. Words were eloquently spoken. The host was validly consecrated. Yes, it was Mass. And yet, I left hungry, ravenous, for the Word.

Yesterday I was traveling and attended Mass at a Church other than our lovely Dominican parish. I recognize, that I am spoiled, being fed by the Order of Preachers. But our lay faithful of every parish have a need for the true Word, not the pleasantries to be found any Sunday at any non-denominational Church.

We are a church in crisis. Our lukewarm brethren need to know that we are the One, True, Church. That the Eucharist holds us. “Where else would I go, Lord?”

Yesterday was a children’s Mass. Jesus loved the little children at a time when children were considered a burden one must train to someday become a useful adult. He loved, nurtured, and valued them. He chastised the apostles that one’s faith must be like a child.

So why do some churches insist upon watering down the Word for our next generation of fired-up Catholics? How could it possibly be ok to routinely leave out the second reading? I suppose the goal is to make the Mass shorter. But that second reading each week is to give us the roadmap to apply our faith to our daily life. To endure and shine in a world which tries to strip us of our beliefs.

I thought perhaps my mind had wandered and I had missed the second reading, so I asked the pastor after Mass. He said that indeed, they do not read the second reading at Children’s Mass.

He called the children up to the steps of the altar to sit, while he turned he turned his back to those in the pews, to directly address the children in his homily. His watered down, meatless homily. Believe me, I’m fine with a priest facing the tabernacle, away from the pews, to worship our Lord, together with the faithful. This was altogether different.

Yes, he was engaging.  His speaking style was fantastic. He walked among the pews, turned around, asked the parents questions, but it was a vegetarian meal. Something about Jesus being great. We’re called upon not to be great but to serve. Sounds ok. But what was the example to serve? Raid your parents pantry, get some hot cocoa and put it in the church’s food collection. For real.

No mention of sacrifice. No mention of acting in the image of God. No mention of small acts of sacrifice, such as serving your brother dessert before yourself. Just disconnected talk about the homeless. Feeding the homeless is certainly important to discuss, but these kids also need a personal connection to the unique sacrifice  upon which we are called. That sacrifice is why we are Catholic when we could easily be anything else.

In this age of technological invasiveness we need to be able to attend Mass and receive calm, peaceful guidance from our Lord, in addition to worshipping Him with our every fiber. Priests, it is incumbent upon you to feed us. 

If “your” Mass consists is a wonderful example of engaging speech, but does not call upon our souls to sacrifice for our Lord, you missed the point of why we are Catholic.

These pews are emptying because we can find engaging Christian rhetoric anywhere. We are Catholic because He literally feeds us and we can get this food nowhere but here. Priests, your rhetoric is not special. If your watered down rhetoric is all we get, the lukewarm will leave. All that is likely keeping them here is a sense of familial duty. “My parents raised me Catholic, so I’ll raise my kids Catholic. We’ll attend on Sundays. Good enough”. That may work for one generation, not two.

If your fear of offending those in the pews with true Catholic teaching, like gnawing on the body of our Lord, outweighs your sense of duty to bring them to Heaven, you have failed.  People can get lectured about charitable donations anywhere. People can even get fired up about Lord anywhere. Only at the Catholic Church can we receive the flesh our Lord and call to sacrifice this world to follow Him. It is not an easy call, one which many priests with pews of lukewarm Catholics avoid. Why risk driving them away? Because, priests, they are leaving anyway.

Feed us.

I’m a mother of seven, and a Catholic. I have a good understanding of arguments surrounding abortion, religious and otherwise. I’ve been listening to women grandstand about their reproductive rights, and I’m convinced these women actually have zero interest in helping other women nor provide real choice. Here’s why…

In case you are unfamiliar, the above paragraph is a parody of a popular recent post written by a Mormon mom of 6, purportedly to convince pro lifers that they have got it all wrong. As a self-proclaimed practicing Mormon (whom most people would assume was pro-life), she tries to convince pro life people that we simply misunderstand the situation.

The real discussion, she says, should be about “unwanted” pregnancies. Her theory, is that “unwanted” pregnancies are 100% always caused by men, therefore castration for causing “unwanted pregnancies” would be a good solution.

Pro choice people across the internet have latched onto this post as a way to educate their well-intentioned, but misguided friends. See, she’s Mormon, she even has six kids, and she gets it!

I am not representative of the entire Catholic Church, any more than she is representative of the entire Mormon Church, but I would like to attempt something almost bigger than formal communications between the Vatican and Salt Lake City.

Let’s have a real discussion about abortion

Her post includes one small sentence “For those of you who consider abortion to be murder…”

Yet that is why we’re out there at clinics. We don’t stand there in the snow and rain because we like it. We go because it is wrong to kill unborn children. I bold that section because that is, in fact, how the new CEO of Planned Parenthood referred to them (3:40 into the linked video).

Since 1973 the conversation has been forced away from the actual procedure, to emotional justifications for “choice”. Women across the country talk about their rights, about their choices, but never about the procedure itself.

Let’s have a true discussion of abortion. Not the ancillary issues, not the justifications, not the one-off cases. Let’s discuss abortion itself, with love, honesty, and compassion.

For years I was pro-choice. I went to marches. I avidly argued a woman’s right to choose. My belief in the right to abortion surpassed my belief in God. It was far more vital to human society to retain the right to abortion than to evangelize.

I later found out that almost a dozen of my friends had had abortions, yet not one had told me beforehand. “Why?” I asked one of them. “Simple. You would have tried to talk me out of it.” “What are you TALKING about???” I demanded. “In all your talk about women’s rights, I’ve never once heard you mention one situation in which you thought it was ok for someone to actually get an abortion. You defended their right, but never thought it was ok,” she replied. That just floored me. But I ignored it.

In college, while in debate society, I tried to participate in a debate on abortion and ran into an immediate problem. We couldn’t debate it. You can’t hold a debate until you agree on the topic. I wanted to debate rights; the other person wanted to debate death. Two different discussions. The great divide.

It wasn’t until my mid twenties, when I was considering entering the Catholic Church and was directly challenged “when do you think it’s ok for a woman to kill her child?” that I had to face the fact that I’d never asked myself that question.

Agree to the terms of discussion – Abortion itself

When you try to discuss abortion with anyone who calls themselves pro-choice, you immediately run into the euphemism problem.

The pro choice movement is dishonest with its own followers about their motivations, which leaves them unable to have a rational discussion about the topic. They change the topic to be about women’s rights in order to play on the emotions of their followers, while avoiding the topic of the maceration of infants sleeping in their mother’s wombs.

Telling everyone that mandating castration for men who cause unwanted pregnancies will just draw attention from the elephant in the room – abortion.

It will cause everyone to argue the minutiae of anatomy and unexpected pregnancies, rather than the real problem. The argument has been won because in actuality the argument has not begun.

Here is what we are discussing. This is Abortion.

Again. This is not a discussion about rights. If we’re really to discuss abortion. we will discuss the procedure itself. What you see in the video is the procedure.

Don’t like the fancy editing? The United States Congress considered Dr. Levatino (the creator of that video) enough of an expert to request his testimony. Here is the  raw video from Congress.

This is immediately where most discussions end. I find that most people think abortion is only legal when the baby is “just a clump of cells”. They don’t want to face the facts that Roe v. Wade made it legal all three trimesters. Doe v Bolton made it legal for any reason. The day before its birth a baby can legally be aborted in our nation in some states.

It’s uncomfortable to discuss the procedure because, let’s face it, it’s horrific. When framed as a “right” or a matter of “choice”, it’s far easier to steer the conversation.

What happens at a Clinic

The Mormon mom’s article is written as if she thinks we’re standing out there wagging our fingers at hapless girls who “got knocked up.” Does she understand what abortion actually is?

Does she understand that the girls walking into that clinic are rarely demanding their rights?

Does she understand that many of them are dragged in there against their will? Pretty ironic to have “choice warriors” defending the practice.

Like the wife whose husband dragged her in yelling, “That ultrasound said it was a girl. I told her NO more girls.” Or the mother who dragged her daughter in there saying “I don’t want no f’kng n’ga grandbaby.” As the girl was bawling and clutching her stomach.

But it’s all about CHOICE right?

Choice is such a sad word to use. And such a lie. What goes on in that building is not a choice. It’s death. It’s a blood slurry of baby parts. A child safely nestled in its mother’s womb, often with heart beating, has its arms viciously torn off, then its legs. Then it gets chopped up small enough in-utero to be vacuumed out through a small tube.

Presenting this as an argument about unwanted pregnancy completely avoids the discussion of what happens to the child. Of course we should discuss unexpected pregnancies as a separate topic.

Just like “choice”.

For real, let’s talk about abortion. I challenge all “pro choice” readers of this article… watch either of the videos about the procedure. Really watch it. Tell me, in what circumstances is it ok to violently tear the arms and legs off a child?

In my next post, we’ll go ahead and talk about choice.

Meatloaf

1 1/2 lb. fatty ground beef

1 1/2 lb. ground pork

2 eggs lightly beaten

1/4 c. onions

1 Tbsp salt

1/2 tsp (or lots more) pepper

1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp celery salt

2 c beef broth

1 c almond flour

4 oz cream cheese

bacon

Sauce

1 Tbsp butter

3 slices bacon

1/2 c cut mushrooms

1 big fat onion

worcestershire

almond flour

salt pepper

Beef better than bouillon

1 Tbsp bourbon

1 tsp brown sugar

 

Stick all the meatloaf ingredients, except for bacon, in kitchen aid, turn it on and walk away. Add about a cup of almond flour, I eyeball it. Then stick the meatloaf mixture in a cast iron skillet and cover with slices of bacon. Cook at 420 in the oven while making sauce.

Cut a few pieces of bacon into tiny pieces and brown in a skillet. Then add onion on medium flame and brown for about 5 minutes. Add cut mushrooms. Turn heat to low and let it roast for about half an hour. Then add 1 Tbsp butter and about 4 Tbsp flour, whisk to make a roux. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix about 1 tsp Beef better than Bouillon and 2 cups hot water. Add to mixture. Add worcestershire to taste. I used about 2 1/2 Tbsp. Add bourbon and brown sugar.

When sauce is done, pour on top of meatloaf and keep cooking another 15 min or so. It should be very juicy and maybe a bit pink.

The first time I ask them to do something, it’s probably in a nice tone of voice. The second time, probably a bit less so. After that, all bets are off.

Rationally, I know the flies/honey thing, but man, the anger burns bright when they just. won’t. listen.

So, here’s what’s been working lately. I get down on their level and calmly, but firmly, state the minimal requirements for us both to get out of the room alive.

It takes every ounce of patience to refrain from throttling them, but I do it. I give them the space to decide to either ignore me and face agreed upon consequences, or do what is needed to maintain family harmony.

I feel the hurt well up inside when they either ignore or mock, but somehow I manage to not explode.

Imagine then, the patience needed for Our Father to witness us mock and ignore him.We agreed in a sacramental bond to love, honor, and obey Him, and yet… he sits there lonely on Sunday mornings as we ignore Him. Maybe, if He’s lucky, we grudgingly make an appearance on Sunday mornings, wearing whatever flip-flops and shorts were next to the bed. Or maybe we decide instead that much-needed, sleep, grocery shopping, kid’s sports are far more important than a promise made when we were too young to know what we were signing up for.

So we mock and ignore. We’re too mature for those childish beliefs. We know better than the Father who created us. We break the commandments and ignore He exists. Imagine the patience He must have…

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Time Warp Trio
  • Oh Say I Can’t See
  • 2095
  • The Not So Jolly Roger
  • The Good, Bad, and Goofy
  • Buffalo Bill
  • See You Later Gladiator
  • Knights of the Kitchen Table
  • The Wild Crazy Da Vinci
  • Marco Polo
• Roland Wright – Brand New Paige
• Robin Hood and Little John
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Year of Columbus 1492 by Genevieve Foster
• Usborne Vikings
• Usborne Children’s Book of Art
• Eyewitness Book Castle
• Saint Joan of Arc by
• Buffalo Bill by D’Aulaire
• I’d be Your Hero
• Little Grunt and the Big Egg
• Saint Nicolas
• The Miracles of Jesus by Tomie de Paola
• Whaling Days
• Little Smoke
• Usborne Explorers
• George Washington by Genevieve Foster
• Francis Knight of Assissi
• Vision Books
  • Saint Philip of the Joyous Heart
  • Saint Isaac and the Indians
  • Saint Dominic and the Rosary
  • Saint John Bosco and Saint Dominic Savio
  • Saint Francis of the Seven Seas
  • Father Marquette
  • Saint Thomas Aquinas
• Danny The Champion of the World
• The Oregon Trail
• Clara Barton
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• The Call of the Wild by Jack London
• Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
• Swiss Family Robinson
• Daniel Boone
• Jim Bridger
• Black Beauty
• Peter Pan
• Charlotte’s Web
• Stuart Little
• Boxcar Children
• Pippi Longstocking
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Iliad
• Gilgamesh

To Be Read

• Bard of Avon
• Artie and the Princess
• Andrew Jackson by Genevieve Foster
• Ben Franklin
• The Whippng boy by Fleishman
• The Indian and his Horse
• St. Thomas Aquinas – Fr. Tom book
• Pollyanna
• Kidnapped by Robert Lewis Stevenson
• Heidi
• Adventures of Don Quixote
• Justin Morgan had a Horse
• The White Stag
• Wagons Over the Mountains
• Jane Eyre
• Les Miserables
• Twelfth Night
• Hellen Keller

God said: You shall conceive a son

Sarah said: Ha!

And then she waited. And waited. She started second guessing what God meant. “Oh, surely, He meant with my servant.” Rather than listening and waiting, she strayed from His intended path. God is so forgiving that He made it all right in the end. She laughed at Him, strayed, and still He gave her a son.

I get it. God whispers to me all the time. I think I need more than a whisper though. A swift slap upside the head might get my attention. He does that sometimes too.

I laugh at God all the time; usually it’s after one of those surprising slaps. I laugh and think, “Yeah, that’s right. I’m not the one in charge.” Sometimes I laugh at what he’s asking me to do. C’mon God, I seriously have a lot on my plate. 6 kids, full time job plus full time teaching the kids.

Yet He wants more. He wants all of me devoted to Him. Ok then, God. How about some rest? I’ll sit down and pray. It’ll be nice.

Nope. You can pray while you stand. You can pray while cook. You can pray while you work. You can pray in the middle of a temper tantrum. You’d better pray then! Pray while you are challenged and busy. You serve Me when you serve others. Get back to work!

Ok, but how about a little rest? Time for God to make a funny joke again. You want rest? How about maternity leave, for a few days. He’s funny alright.