This week: Carmina Burana as Carl Orff never envisioned it (this is a hoot). The nature of marriage (apparently most people have no clue). Infanticide, not a bridge too far for Planned Parenthood. A Planned Parenthood in Delaware streams seriously injured patients to local hospitals. They also do not like this to be noticed. New protections for life in Spain (not what you might hope). PETA vs. Planned Parenthood, who kills the most?

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Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana has been re-imagined as an Ode to Sleep Deprived Parents. The Sydney Symphony ran a “Say it with Carmina” contest and selected this entry. You will recognize the tune and love the lyrics:

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The nature of marriage, a reminder for those who have forgotten…

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A lobbyist for Planned Parenthood has testified before the Florida legislature to promote “post birth abortion” (a/k/a infanticide). What is really amazing, is that some people *still* think this organization is all about women’s health.

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On the issue of killing people, do not assume that PP harms only babies. Every woman who undergoes the violence of abortion suffers long-term mental and physical consequences. Some suffer immediate trauma, such as these 2 incidents at the *same* Planned Parenthood abortuary in Delaware within 10 days of each other:

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Incidents, such as the above, occur all the time and tarnish the false image Planned Parenthood tries to project. I expect that they will build future facilities with fully enclosed ambulance bays in order to conceal the loading of victims. Until then, they will just have to improvise:

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In a bold move, Spain has enacted a new law to protect life from the moment of conception and ban fetal experimentation. Before you rejoice, this law protecting life applies only to monkeys. Humans, alas, are not afforded these same protections. It must be a matter of priority. Catholic Lane has the story: Planet of the Apes.

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Speaking of monkey business, Matthew Archbold noticed that PETA kills 90% of those entrusted to its care. This is shocking to those who believed that their focus was life, not death. The interesting part is (depending on how you look at the numbers – a quibble only of degree) that PP does the same thing, but worse. “Planned Parenthood is kicking PETA’s a$$ when it comes to killing those whom it claims to defend.” See Matt’s piece PETA Takes Heat, Planned Parenthood Keeps on Keepin’ On.

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!

This week: A video wrap-up of the conclave, starting with the very best overview video. Then, a more detailed one. When the doors to the Sistine Chapel were closed. When the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist heard of white smoke. A beautiful photo essay. Dublin’s tribute to Benedict XVI. A love story.

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This is a beautiful video from CatholicVote produced by GrassRoots Films from footage provided by Rome Reports on the election of Pope Francis. It is one to keep.

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Another very good video on the conclave:

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The start of the conclave. Extra omnes is Latin for “everyone out” (Cardinal Electors only).

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The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist were recording their debut album when news of white smoke reached them. It was time to drop everything:

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A beautiful photo essay covering the election of Pope Francis is at TotallyCoolPix. These are professional (copyrighted) photos from Reuters photographers.

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Here is another tribute video to Benedict XVI from the Archdiocese of Dublin:

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A love story:

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!

This week: The latest issue of New Evangelists Monthly is now out. Getting the Sistine Chapel ready. Hopes for the next pope. Struggling with forgiveness. Piers Morgan (professed Catholic) discusses the Church with atheist Penn Jillette. Battling winter (and losing). News from the Convert Journal tech desk.

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Issue #3, March 2013, of New Evangelists Monthly is now out! Over 60 faithful Catholic bloggers have contributed their very best pieces from February. Read about a lifetime’s lesson on lying and love, authenticity, baby spacing / longing, Benedict and Bilbo Baggins, Catholic otherness, coexist and temptation, conversion snippets, convicted again, cursing, embracing vocations, envy, families and sacrificial giving, fasting, haunting voices of the past, how to pray, is TARDIS Eucharistic?, it worked, John R. Cash, joyful motherhood, 20 Lenten penances, 40 Lenten activities for kids, libidinistic or religious, marching for marriage, my body isn’t broken, no Vatican III coming, not missed via sobriety, penance primer, “poor me” complex, remembering Papa, silence, singles myth #5, Sister Cecilia Maria, soul improvement, successful blogging, syllabus of errors, the small Church, tilapia and vocation of motherhood!

This monthly “meta-magazine” showcases Catholicism from theology to family life and “everything in between.” Enjoy it now at NewEvangelists.org.

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In the Sistine Chapel, much work is underway in preparation for the conclave. This is not a matter of just bringing in some chairs!

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Young adults offer their hopes for the next pope:

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I have noticed more questions lately about forgiveness. It is a very good topic for Lenten reflection since Our Lord and Savior died so that our sins may be forgiven. I wrote about this almost 3 years ago (wow, has it been that long?) in The burden of hate. Father John Bartunek addresses this question well in this interview with Dan Burke:

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CNN brings in a dedicated atheist to discuss the Church with a professed Catholic. The Catholic takes a beating at the hands of the atheist.

On the Catholic side is uber-liberal, Catholic dissident Piers Morgan, so you can probably guess the apparent strength of his (1) faith, (2) obedience and (3) catechesis. On the atheist side there is Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller). Morgan should know when to stop calling himself Catholic when a decidedly non-Catholic does a darn good job explaining the faith to him:

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How is your winter going? Here in the Atlanta area we have had our cold days, but nothing like that which some people face:

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From the Convert Journal tech desk: Nvidia has released a new graphics card that is essentially a small supercomputer. Specs: 2,688 single precision cores, 896 double precision cores, managed by 14 streaming multiprocessors, 224 texture units, 48 ROP units, all built out of 7.1 billion transistors. This thing delivers 4.5 teraflops (single precision; 1.3 double) all by itself.

While out of my league, it is considered cheap at $1,000 for what it delivers. When I started in the computer world working for Data General in the mid-70’s, our mini-computers had 4k (16-bit “words”) of core memory. You could SEE each memory bit.

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!

This week: A tribute to Pope Benedict and his final moments at the Vatican. More on how the papal election, including how some non-Catholic / anti-Catholic folks see it. The security of the papal election. The fundamental option BS, addressed bluntly by Cardinal Arinze. An excellent homily at a funeral Mass. The Dome of Home reopens. We are all certain to perish as we fall off the fiscal cliff, right?

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The See of Peter is sede vacante. Life Teen produced this video tribute to Pope (now Emeritus) Benedict XVI:

As our Holy Father left the Vatican for the final time as Pope:

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Recently I featured aspect several videos on the papal election process (here and here). Father Z has come across 2 more. First (with some minor errors) is this one – more-or-less serious:

Second, this one reflecting on the media / anti-Catholic view (produced by Lutherans, no less – they actually “get it”):

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How secure is the papal election? CNN asked Bruce Schneier to review the process. Bruce is a security expert whom I have followed for years. His conclusion: very secure. He concludes “when an election process is left to develop over the course of a couple of thousand years, you end up with something surprisingly good.” When we learn of the new pope, we can be confident that at least 2/3 of the cardinals voted for him without any “irregularities” effecting the outcome.

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My BS antenna goes up whenever I hear the Universalist “everyone is saved” (or nearly everyone) line. I think that it is false and very harmful (see: Is Hell empty?).

Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, was asked to comment on the fundamental option view of mortal sin. In essence, it suggests that it is very difficult (almost impossible) to commit a mortal sin. This hogwash was condemned in 1975 in Persona Humana. Cardinal Arinze does not mince words when asked about it:

Update: Father Z also comments on this video here.

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Monsignor Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington gave this excellent homily at a funeral Mass a few years ago.

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Near Liverpool, England is the Shrine Church of Ss. Peter, Paul & Philomena (a/k/a The Dome of Home). It was closed in 2008 citing its large size and operating cost. Last March it was reopened in the care of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. This video shows this beautiful church built in 1935:

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Question: if someone offered to pay $1 each and every second toward the national debt ($16,500,000,000,000), how long would it take until it is paid-off? Answer: 505 THOUSAND YEARS.

OK, that is a really long time and we must cut back our out-of-control spending. But the congress is driving us over a fiscal cliff by allowing the radical, deep cuts across the board. Necessary services will be crippled by reducing them to a shadow of their current sizes. This is an emergency of the largest proportions. Drastic action is called for. Right??? Right???

That is all you have heard from one party and their public relations apparatus (the media). Yes, you should be outraged but not because there are significant cuts but because there ARE NOT and what little is happening is making them go berserk. This does not give much hope for any actual spending control. The so-called cuts are in the rate of growth only and are small at that. George Mason University produced this graph showing the actual “impact” of the sequester (again, on spending growth):

Catholic Lane provides the explanation in Meet Mr. and Mrs. Sequester. Read it and learn the truth.

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!

This week: Two good resources on the process of choosing the next pope. Interviews with seminarians in Rome. Scott Hahn talks about the 40 days of Lent. After 40 years of Roe, there are survivors. A breakthrough in college evangelism. Three Italian boys sing. In Tel Aviv one motorist broke the law, retroactively.

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Marcel found two more good resources on the process of choosing the next pope. The first is this excellent interactive walk-through of the process from Vatican Insider. The second is this video:

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The Catholic News Service interviews seminarians from the Pontifical North American College in Rome on Pope Benedict’s resignation and the challenges for his successor.

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Scott Hahn talks about the 40 days of Lent:

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Picking-up on the 40 day theme, the latest 40 Days for Life has just begun. As you know, we have now been in 40 years of darkness since the US Supreme Court said “no” to life. In a very real sense, everyone under 40 in the US is an abortion survivor in that their mother could have legally killed them in her womb. Here are stories of some who survived in spite of an attempt to abort them:

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A breakthrough in college evangelism…

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A couple of Italian kids (16 years old) can sing:

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This is interesting. A Tel Aviv motorist has her car towed and a $350 fine for parking in a handicap space. Deserved?

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!