The Dog Saint

There is NO WAY I can tell the story as well as Sister Mary Martha...

And no - there are no animals in heaven.

Feast of St. Matthew, September 21

St. Matthew is unique among the apostles in that he was not a fisherman. Or fisherperson. Or fisher, or what ever they call them these days. He was a tax collector for Herod Antipas. Not very well liked as a result of his profession (think of today's politicians), he still was there at the Ascension and the Resurrection. Think about that...

After he was called, he held a feast in Christ's honor. When Christ was asked why he would dine with a lowly tax collector, he said,“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew is the Patron Saint of tax collectors, bankers and accountants. And what I like most about him is that he gives me a chance to post another example of Caravaggio's work. In this painting, an angel surprises Matthew by asking him to pull his finger.

Stephen Hawking Says...

I am afraid of the dark.

A Reading From the Prophet...

Our Lutheran brothers have determined that if you....ummmm..."pass gas" while praying, you've broken your wudu.

I'm pretty sure they're Lutheran. I could be wrong.

Catholic Term of the Day

Transubstantiation - the changing of the bread and wine during the consecration into the Body and Blood of Christ, while all that is accessible to the senses remains the same.

And while I believe it (and if you don't, are you sure you're a Catholic?), this still kinda gives me the willies.

WAKA WAKA!

HEY! HEY!

St. Francis of Assisi...call your office.

Ring Them Bells! With a Bonus Term Of The Day!

Now THAT'S a BELL!

So St. John the Baptist Catholic Church is in trouble for ringing their bell at 7AM for the Angelus.Violates a noise ordinance, I guess. What I thought interesting was this:

"Aircraft, trains, and fireworks displays are exempt from the ordinance." I say the pastor ought to stock up on fireworks and fire those suckers up at 5AM.

Angelus - "The Angelus is a short practice of devotion in honour of the Incarnation repeated three times each day, morning, noon, and evening, at the sound of the bell. It consists essentially in the triple repetition of the Hail Mary..."

Fathers For Good

Fathers For Good is a Knights of Columbus initiative, apparently designed to make me feel like a failure.

Feast of St. Cloud, September 7

This guy had family issues.

Catholic Term of the Day

Zucchetto: A small round skullcap worn by prelates in the Catholic Church; white for the Pope, red for cardinals, purple for bishops, and black for abbots.

If you wear one, it's called a "Beanie".

C.I.N.O.

Catholic In Name Only. Public life is crawling with them. Nancy Pelosi, Dick Durbin, Ted Kennedy (R.I.P.)...

Pray for them if you want, but don't fawn over them, like the Catholic News Service does in this story about the President of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka. For instance, He endorses Obamacare, which provides taxpayer funding of abortions.

Blessed are the peacemakers...

"In Illinois, Trumka told UMW members to “kick the s**t out of every last” worker who crossed his picket lines, according to the Nashville (Ill.) News. And as the National Right to Work Foundation (pdf), the leading anti-forced unionism organization in the country, pointed out, other UMW coalfield strikes resulted in what one judge determined were “violent activities … organized, orchestrated and encouraged by the leadership of this union.”"

Is Notre Dame a Catholic University?

After inviting the most pro-abortion President in American history to speak at their graduation, Notre Dame has now (apparently) fired their Associate Vice-President of Residence Life for attending a pro-life rally. I think this would be more upsetting to me if I didn't believe that a school actually NEEDS an Associate Vice President of University Housing...

We'll Always Have Paris

Or maybe not.

Badger Catholics

We'll see how long this court decision lasts.

St. Valentine's Day, September 2

No, not THAT St. Valentine. This one was the 4th Bishop of Strasbourg, circa 500 A.D.. That's about all we know about him.

St. Augustine and the Devil

Michael Pacher was a Renaissance painter, and this one is oil on wood. I don't know what it means or why he painted it....but it's pretty cool!