Afterthought Cards

This business sells cards for the two to three weeks after the holiday for which they are intended.  The idea is that there are lots of people (mostly guys) out there who constantly forget to buy cards before a holiday.  This store is for them!  Afterthought Cards never sells cards before a holiday, but rather buys up the excess cards from mainstream card stores (probably at a discount since the holiday has occurred) for later sale.  Thus, our cards never point out that they are late; they function just like the real deal.

The National Catholic Register has published this excellent article.

We want to thank not only those men who gave up their retirement, and their well-deserved rest, to enter the priesthood as late vocations, but also — especially — those who as young men saw their whole life ahead of them and handed all of it to Christ.

“Thank You, Father”

It has been about a month since I last posted, so I thought it would be time for an update.  Things are going well for me at the cathedral.  My assignment this summer is certainly more low-key than last summer.  I have been doing various tasks around the parish, such as organizing the diocesan vestments and updating the alumni directory from our parish school with the past ten years worth of graduates.  Today was a bit of a crazy day since there was a special Mass at the cathedral for the vicar of clergy’s 25th anniversary of ordination.  Both Bishop Doran and our former bishop, Bishop O’Neal, were in attendance, which is what really made things more complicated (I was the assistant MC).

My thesis work has been progressing nicely.  I have not started doing research in full, but I have spent my time relearning Latin.  Since it is a Canon Law thesis, I need to be able to read the canons in Latin.  I had taken Latin for two semesters in grad school, but that was over three years ago now, and I had forgotten most of it.  I try to do a chapter in Wheelock’s a day, excepting Thursdays (my day off) and Sundays.  I should be finished with Wheelock’s before the summer is over, at which point I can start reading over the sources I have already found for my thesis.

The summer is really going by quickly.  It is hard to believe that July begins this week.  Before I know it, the summer will be over and I will be back at Kenrick for my Theology III year.

The last known survivor of the Titanic has died: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/05/31/titanic.last.survivor.obit/index.html

Some time ago I was reflecting on the fact that there aren’t too many groups of nuns these days who make things like the burse I ordered last summer. That’s when it occurred to me that I could found an order of nuns dedicated to making cool looking liturgical things. I would call them the Sisters of Perpetual Sewing. They would, of course, be cloistered since I’m figuring that being cloistered would make their work even more grace-filled.  The rule of the order would be based on that of St Benedict.  That way, the rule is already written and it saves time in organizing the order (plus St Benedict’s rule is awesome).  Their habit would also be Benedictine-based, and they would wear a chaplet of St Benedict.  Their habit would also include a sewing kit attached to it.  They will have perpetual adoration, and there will always be at least one sister sewing in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.  The convent would also have Mass exclusively in the Extraordinary Form.

It has been a while since I have posted any updates about seminary, so I thought now would be a good time.

I am now finished with my Theology II year at Kenrick.  The year went very well, and it went very fast.  It was also a bittersweet ending to the school year since two of the priests at the seminary will be moving on to other assignments.  One had been at the seminary for 3 years, and the other had been there for 22 years.  They will be missed very much.

I have had a couple of relaxing weeks off at home between then end of the school year and the beginning of my summer assignment.  This summer I am once again in Rockford, but this time I am at the cathedral.  I moved in last Thursday, and thus far it has been a good experience.  There are three priests living here at the rectory, two are assigned to the cathedral and the other is in residence for he works at the chancery.  Some of my duties include: opening the cathedral in the mornings (5:45 am on weekdays), helping setup for and serve the Masses, and various larger projects (I was organizing vestments yesterday).

One of my personal summer projects is to work on my thesis.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have chosen to write on a Canon Law topic, specifically the concept of formally leaving the Catholic Church.  This summer I need to work on refreshing myself with Latin since I will need to be able to read the Code of Canon Law in its official language.  I also want to work on reading some of the articles and other documents I have gathered in doing research.  If I have time, I would also like to do some more research, especially into the ecclesiastical aspects of my thesis topic.

As usual, I will also be helping with the Rockford vocations camps this summer.  Jeremiah Days, which is for guys grades 7-9, will be July 12-15, and First Call (grades 10+) will be August 2-5.  For both camps I am in charge of the initial setup as well as being the sacristan for the camp.  Offically my assignment at the cathedral ends on July 31, but that following week I will still be in Rockford working at First Call and then attending the seminarian retreat.  I will then have about 1 to 1.5 weeks off before returning to Kenrick to begin my Theology III year.

I meant to post on this some time ago, but for a variety of reasons it kept getting put off.  The upside is that now that the Notre Dame commencement ceremony has taken place, I can comment on things in their totality.

First, I want to be clear that I am very angry with the university for allowing President Obama the opportunity to speak at the commencement ceremony in addition to awarding him an honorary doctorate of law.  That being said, I also want to express my displeasure and disappointment with some of the attacks leveled against the university.  I think Matt of the Holy Whapping put it best:

For a lot of us, it was a bit like discovering our dear old mother had a drinking problem. Something must be done, but watching others gleefully taunting her was a bit hard to handle, as right as they might have been in the abstract to rebuke her. She is still someone’s mother, after all.

To be blunt, the name calling of the university (e.g. “Notre Shame”) is just downright juvenile.  You might as well add “Nanner, nanner, nanner” and be done with it.  It adds nothing constructive to the issue at hand.

In regards to the protests, I must commend the student groups, organized under ND Response, for their prayerful and constructive response to this decision by the university.  I firmly believe that the primary response should be with the students.  This is a matter of their university administration making a very poor decision.  Furthermore, the students have the best information about what the atmosphere is on campus as well as how a university works.  While outside groups wanting to protest is commendable, I believe the best they could have done is followed the students’ lead and joined with them rather than staging their own protests.  Third party groups, while they may be well-meaning, can be woefully ignorant about the university and end up setting back the work the students have accomplished with the administration.

In the end, of course, the awarding of President Obama with an honorary doctorate of law is a gross violation of the 2004 USCCB document “Catholics in Political Life”.  Aside from that, as Arizona State University said, what has the president done during his term in office to merit such an award?  His term is just beginning.  Unfortunately, what he has done is enact policies that are detrimental to the culture of life.  These policies violate the Natural Law, and as such should automatically disqualify someone from receiving any legal award, especially one from a supposedly Catholic university where the Natural Law should still be recognized and upheld.  A law is an ordinance of reason, and violations of the Natural Law are unreasonable.

The university tried to couch this decision by speaking of “dialogue” or “debate”.  I have problems in using the word debate in reference to abortion.  There is no debate on abortion — it is intrinsically evil.  A debate implies that there are two different approaches to an issue, each one valid, and we are trying to decide which is best.  We can debate the best way to reform the health care system, if at all.  We can debate the best ways to help mothers care for their children.  Regarding abortion though, even if the pro-abortion/pro-choice side makes what appears to be a more convincing argument in a “debate”, they are still wrong because abortion is intrinsically evil and contrary to the Natural Law, which is written on the heart of every person (even if they try will not admit it).  Dialogue might be a better word to use, but even that can be misconstrued.  I think these terminological concerns are particularly important in a society steeped in relativism where the prevalent idea is that I have my truth and you have your truth and never the twain shall meet.  The goal about talking with the opposing side regarding abortion is to convert their hearts and help them see the truth that it is human beings that are being killed.

Obama in his speech at commencement, as Bishop Finn pointed out, ended any real hope for dialogue when he described the positions on abortion as “irreconcilable”.  While he spoke about the opposing sides working together to try to decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies, his plan for that involves promotion of a contraceptive mentality.  So long as contraception is practiced mainstream in this country there will always be a push for abortion because it is viewed as the “fail-safe” should the contraception inevitably fail.

In this whole Notre Dame fiasco, there has been much focus on the negative aspects of Notre Dame.  I am telling you from experience that Notre Dame is not all bad.  There is a yearly Eucharistic Procession at which 600+ people have been attending the past few years.  There are something like 150 Masses that are said on campus each week.  Campus Ministry is heading in the right direction.  Right to Life is the largest student group on campus, and there are several hardcore Catholic groups on campus.  There is daily adoration on weekdays, and numerous opportunities for Confession throughout the week.  The Catholicism of Notre Dame is in her students.  Granted, some students live what would be considered the stereotypical college student lifestyle, but there are many good Catholic students who are on fire for their faith.  There are also many strong priests within the Congregation of Holy Cross.  This is where the future of the Catholicism at Notre Dame lies.  The University is not beyond redemption, and I firmly believe that this future redemption will come about through the grassroots witness of the Catholic students on campus.  While all these good aspects do not excuse the bad, they show that Notre Dame is not as far gone as some other so-called “Catholic” schools in this country.

I have no regrets about attending Notre Dame for my graduate studies.  If it had not been for my time at Notre Dame and the people that I met there, I highly doubt I would be in seminary right now.  I think that is a great witness to the good that is still possible at Our Lady’s School.

And so, on Sunday, surrounded by priests and all the panoply of Notre Dame, the smiling Caesar, thumb turned down on life, was engulfed in allegedly Catholic applause. Elsewhere on campus, faithful Catholics gathered and sent up prayers of reparation.

http://www.thecatholicthing.org/content/view/1602/2/

Does this mean it will be Islamic in name only?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520450,00.html

I’m a bit late in posting this, but here is an excellent article by Fr Raymond de Souza analyzing Notre Dame’s desire to bestow honors on Barack Obama:

http://www.ncregister.com/daily/glendon_declines_nd_honor