7 Quick Takes Friday (set #66)

7 Quick Takes Friday

This week: For Greater Glory opened to rave reviews. One pastor’s good catechetical work in his parish. Recruiting young women to the consecrated life. Do evangelicals need to confess their sins to a priest? Father Andrew Kemberling speaks from the heart on the threat of socialism. The Wisconsin victory for sanity, fairness and justice. Another happy puppy.

— 1 —

For Greater Glory opened in theaters last Friday to rave reviews. Not by the professional mainstream media reviewers, but by every person I know who has seen it. The movie tells the story of massive persecution of the Church in Mexico in the 1920s. Despite all of the atrocities and numerous martyrs, this attack on religious freedom is not well known. Many have commented on the parallels in the Cristiada’s early period to what we are seeing right now in America.

— 2 —

Father Greg Markey, pastor at St. Mary Catholic Church in Norwalk, CT, has been working to reverse the so-called “spirit” of Vatican II changes in his parish. As I have noted many times (particularly here and here), these are not changes called for or even mentioned in Vatican II but undertaken in its name none-the-less. They are not changes without cost in catechesis, sacredness, reverence, vocations and more. IMHO, correcting this a critical part of the new evangelization. Check-out their parish FAQ page on the liturgy:

  • Why is the liturgy a top priority for St. Mary Church?
  • Why does St. Mary Church have the Traditional Latin Mass?
  • Why does St. Mary Church offer the Mass facing east?
  • Why does St. Mary’s reserve altar serving to boys alone?
  • Why should I consider receiving Communion on the tongue?
  • Why do we use Incense in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?
  • How can St. Padre Pio help us better understand the Mass?
  • How should you dress for Mass in the summer?
  • Cardinal George and Liturgical Reform
  • Why don’t we use extraordinary (Eucharistic) ministers very often here at St. Mary’s?

St. Mary offers Holy Mass in both the ordinary and extraordinary forms.

— 3 —

Why would a woman become a consecrated sister? Imagine Sisters is “a web and campus-based movement that aims to inspire the imaginations of young women to consider the beautiful call to consecrated life as a sister.”

Spotted by Marcel

— 4 —

Do evangelicals need to confess their sins to a priest? If you are evangelical and the words “of course not” have just popped into your head…   not so fast! Brantly Millegan, an evangelical convert, answers that question very well in a thought provoking blog post. The question is not evangelical specific at all but Brantly knows his audience. Check-out Why evangelicals need to confess their sins to a priest, too.

— 5 —

Father Andrew Kemberling, pastor of St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Centennial, CO was invited recently to give the invocation at their state Republican convention. He spoke of religious liberty and the danger socialism represents to our democracy. Blunt, powerful and to the point:

— 6 —

Very blue Wisconsin had been sinking fast under years of mismanagement and political pandering. In 2010, Scott Walker was elected and dramatically turned it around, in part by reigning in wild excesses granted to public sector unions. Since then, hysteria in the left has been growing – fed by the media and funded by tens of millions from out-of-state unions. A recall election was held on Tuesday. Every dirty trick, every conceivable allegation, and every possible distortion tried. Time tested liberal tactics that have usually worked.

Not this time. The money was more than matched and both sides of the story were heard. Walker handily beat the same opponent he beat before, now by a larger margin. A sizable (38%) of union members themselves voted for him. It is a victory for sanity, fairness and justice. If he survives…   there have been numerous death threats, violent union rallies and talk of riots.

UPDATE: Two informative pieces on this topic appeared in Catholic Exchange – Linda Chavez’ Big Lesson for Labor in Wisconsin Election and Pat Buchanan’s The Bell Tolls for the Government Unions.

— 7 —

Another happy puppy:

This beagle was only a puppy when his soldier left 6 months ago. This video was spotted by Deacon Greg. Elizabeth Scalia noted of it:

There is nothing like the unconditional love of a dog, and nothing like its fierceness when you need it’s protection. It will lay down its life to keep you safe, and when you come home after being away, it does not harass you; it does not shake a finger at you; it does not hold you at arms length until you prove yourself; it simply loves you with all the love it has within, and weeps with joy for your return. It’s the Prodigal Son story, only with an intensity the parable can only hint at.


Some random thoughts or bits of information are worthy of sharing but don’t warrant their own full post. This idea was started by Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary to address this blogging need. So, some Fridays I too participate when I have accumulated 7 worthy items. Thank you Jen for hosting this project!


Comments

  1. #2 Great Catechesis! My pastor and associate pastor often write things like this in our bulletins, but they are never collected in one place. Maybe that would be a good idea for our website.

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