Groom of Ecclesia.



When people would ask a seminarian friend of mine if he was dating anyone he would answer, "Yes. Her name is Ecclesia." His name is Kim Schreck from the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh, and he has a website that could be interesting to anyone considering the priesthood. He is attending the Pontifical North American College in Rome, and was ordained a deacon in October. He will be ordained to the priesthood this summer in Pittsburgh. Check it out and maybe send him an email to say you are praying for him.

"Come, let us climb the mountain of the Lord."

This passage from Isaiah, which was read not once but twice in this morning's divine office, is very fitting for this day and the tragic death of one of the climbers stranded on Mt. Hood in Oregon. We continue to pray for the safety of the remaining climbers, and we pray for the soul of Kelly James who has just taken an even greater journey than climbing Mt. Hood.

"In days to come, The mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it;

Many peoples shall come and say: 'Come, let us climb the LORD'S mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.'"

- Isaiah 2:2-3

She is so shady it's disgusting.

Click the link and you can watch Hillary Clinton's appearance on the Today Show this morning. It is aggravating to just listen to her. She dodged questions left and right, especially questions about running for president, about which she continues to say she has not made up her mind. Despite the question dodging, the most despicable and ridiculous thing she said is that the gauge she uses to decide on issues is how that issue will help our children. This just makes my skin crawl. How can anyone not see the contradiction between this and being pro-abortion?

Both of the polls they showed this morning said that currently she is not a front runner for the presidency or even the democratic nomination. Let's just hope and pray that she doesn't get into the White House.

Men and women are different? I never would have guessed!

The Today Show this morning seemed very proud of what they considered to be a groundbreaking discovery: Research shows gender affects how our brains work.

I think anyone who considers this a major discovery would be blown away by Theology of the Body. Do they think the only difference between men and women is body parts? Seeing articles like this gives me a new perspective on the importance of the Pope John Paul's work. I guess I take for granted that I recognize the "language of the body" and that men and women are different to their very cores.

To me it is easy to see how lacking this understanding could lead to many errors about what someone believes about the human person and especially sexuality. Maybe this "groundbreaking discovery" can open some eyes that never would have been opened otherwise. Hey, we can always hope and pray for that anyway right?

What American accent do you have?

See. Not all southerners talk like hicks!

Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.

Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

What do you mean there is no discipline?!!!

Mark Foley received no discipline for his "sexual advances to former teenage pages". The speaker of the house, Dennis Hastert, who knew about it but did nothing, received no discipline. What would the reaction have been if Foley had been a priest and Hastert had been a bishop?

My problem is not that Catholics, especially clergy, are held to a higher standard. We should be held to a higher standard, because, if anyone should know better than to sin, we should (CCC 598). All I wish is that the rest of the world, those who hold us to that standard, realized it.

Rest in peace, J.B. Hunt.



No he is not just a truck. Johnnie Bryan Hunt is also a man, and he died yesterday at the age of 79. Hunt had been in critical condition since December 2nd, when he slipped on some ice and hit his head. This is a bigger deal to me than to most people, because the J.B. Hunt trucking company, the largest trucking company in the U.S., is based in my area of Arkansas. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said about Hunt, "Every night in our state, families sit down to dinner and have the security of a good job because of J.B. We have lost a true friend and leader and most of all, a sincere Christian gentleman."

Besides providing jobs for so many people in our state, he also gave millions to charities and schools. He would also carry around a clip full of $100's that he would give to anyone who looked like they needed food.

Say some prayers for a man who is hopefully now with the Savior whom he lived for.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

Razorback awards



If you live in Arkansas, you are a University of Arkansas Razorback fan. This year our football team had a better than expected season, although it hasn't ended on such a high note. However there is something to be proud of, and that is Darren McFadden. For all of you who don't have the privilege of being from Arkansas, you probably don't realize just how amazing he is on the football field, because you don't get to see him too often. It is your loss though, because he just won the Doak Walker award as the best running back in the country. He is also one of the three finalists for one of the most coveted trophies in all of sports, the Heisman. Although Troy Smith from Ohio State deserves to win this one, we are still pretty proud of him around here. Look out next year. After all he is only a sophomore.

Joseph is the man!

I got to see the Nativity Story last night. It was not without its questionable moments – it seemed like the filmmakers did not believe that Mary was without sin – but it was certainly not lacking in truth, beauty, and, goodness.

There was one part in the movie that I honestly have never really considered in the way that the movie opened to me, and that is the faith of Joseph. My favorite part of the movie was seeing the reaction that the people of Nazareth had to Mary being pregnant out of wedlock. The part that I had never considered was that when Joseph decided to accept Mary, he was also accepting that people would think he was the father of the child and also guilty of premarital sex. We know that Joseph is only the adoptive father of Jesus, but the people of Nazareth didn’t. They went from thinking that Mary was unchaste to thinking that Joseph was too. Joseph had to give his “fiat” to that ridicule also. To me, this was beautiful. It showed Joseph’s great love for his wife, for Jesus, and above all for his God. This love and dedication of Joseph was very strong throughout the rest of the movie also. To me it is the organizing structure for telling the whole story, and I found it to be a very interesting and moving perspective.

I expected this movie to be very devoted to Mary and Jesus, and to portray them in the glory that they deserve. I was not expecting the same focus on Joseph, but I was very pleased with it. Seeing his example in this way is a great source of strength for myself, and I feel it would be for any husband and father.

Why did God bother with penguins anyway?

My wife and I watched March of the Penguins this weekend, and I thought it was very good. If you haven’t seen it, it is about the 70 mile journey emperor penguins make each year to breed. I doubt that this was its purpose, but it is a good analogy for the self-sacrifice that is required in marriage to have a family.

One question that I asked though is, why did God even create these penguins? If God has a purpose for all he does (which he does), then what is his purpose for penguins? There they are, living in what is seemingly the most uninhabitable climate on the planet, and I can’t see any way in which human life would be worse if they were not there. Buy yet God has a plan for having them there. I am sure a biologist would be appalled and have a wonderful explanation for their existence, but until they send me a nasty email, I guess I’ll be in the dark.

An answer that I have come up with though, helps me to understand and appreciate the providence of our God. Say that there was a couple struggling to adjust to married life. Maybe they are trying to balance how to raise a child and build a family and not go crazy. Now say this couple watched this movie, and it fostered a renewed dedication to family and service to each other. Wouldn’t that be all the reason God would need to put penguins on this earth? When I consider God’s abounding love for each and every one of us, I think that sounds reasonable. I believe God would go to the ends of the earth to improve the life of any individual he has ever created. After all he would have died on the Cross to save even one of us. In that perspective, creating a bunch of penguins just to help one person, doesn’t seem that extreme at all.

Did you know we use human tissue from aborted babies to make vaccines?

"We all know that medicine belongs in babies, babies don't belong in medicine!

So the FDA has recently opened a forum in which consumers and medical professionals can voice their opposition to the use of aborted fetal and embryonic cell lines in vaccines. Some common ones that currently use these cells are chicken pox and rubella. This forum expires on December 28th, 2006."

- Shrine of the Holy Whapping

I did not know this, and when I heard it I did not believe it. That is until I saw the actual docket against it on the FDA website:

"Docket: 2006D-0383 - Draft Guidance for Industry: Characterization and qualification of Cell Substrate and Other Biological Starting Materials for the Production of Viral Vaccines"

To add a comment to the docket click here. This really seems too bizarre and horrific to believe, but there it is. I guess the battle for the unborn has mroe levels than I could ever imagine. Pray!

This must be the slowest blog in the blogosphere!

Yes, we realize that our posting have become few and far between, and we thank you for sticking with us. Steve claims to be busy with law school or something like that, and uses that as an excuse for not posting. I actually am busy trying to raise a child and lead both him and 47 religion students closer to Christ.

One of our goals has been to revamp the style of the blog, so that it doesn't look so much like 87 million other blogs out there. This progress has also has gotten slowed.

Anyway, we are still on the journey with you striving for Christ, so keep checking in. Pray for us that we may leave behind our lukewarm blogging ways, and maybe one day we will return to our glorious form of old!