Friday, December 28

I forgot to mention that today is the Feastday of the Holy Innocents, the children murdered by Herod as he sought to kill the rumored Messiah. Here is a photo from El Salvador of a quiet scene in a church honoring the Innocents. Remember our Innocents, killed by abortion, neglected and abused by parents. Take a moment, if you have it, to just offer a prayer for a girl or young woman in your town who is struggling with the crisis of an unexpected pregnancy. You may not know her, but believe there is one - on your block, in your neighborhood, perhaps in your family, unbeknownst to you. Pray for her, that she may listen to the voice in her conscience calling her to life. Pray for us, that we may be a people who welcome life.
The Archdiocese of Boston is offering a lower-cost alternative to cremation. It's a good idea, and is an example of what the Church can do well when it sees disturbing trends: provide alternatives. Provide alternatives for women and girls in unexpected pregnancies. Provide alternatives to religious-hostile government schools. Provide alternatives to profit-centered health care. (well....maybe we need some work on that one). About the only thing for which the Church has not succeeded in providing attractive alternatives is media. Catholics still get most of their news about religion from secular sources, most of which do a spectacularly clueless job.

Update: The one Catholic figure who has done a good job with media, Mother Angelica, is in the hospital in critical condition

Here's a piece about a phenomenon that makes me squirm - and worse. All those plays featuring Catholic nuns as either the objects of mockery, satire or "gentle fun," (like Nunsense). I think they do nothing more than play on stereotypes and lazy thinking about Catholicism, and I don't know why religious sisters don't rise up in arms against them.
Brief Joseph update: We have a tooth! You can feel it better than you can see it, but it's definitely there. He's also started sitting up on his own, going from his stomach to his side and right on up without a second thought.