Friday, March 19th
Feasts and Fasts
Anyone know what the Church rule on Feast days that overlap with days of fasting or abstinence is? I'd love to see either a Catechism or Canon law reference. It does seem odd to be fasting on a feast day doesn't it? Until I see definitive proof otherwise, I'm going to play it the safe way. 
kencraw on 03.19.04 @ 12:51 PM PST [link]
Thoughts on today's Gospel reading
Today is The Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary. If you came to this site today (March 19th), you can see that the colors for the site have changed from the Lenten Violet to the Feast Day white. We celebrate this Feast every March 19th.
Who is Joseph? What do we know about him? Today's Gospel reading is the majority of what we know about him from scripture. While it doesn't seem like very much, it does give a very good picture of the kind of man he was. He was honorable. He was a man of morals. But more than that, he was a man who would follow God where ever he led. When the angel told him to marry Mary and to honor her, he did exactly that. Think of how hard that would be for all of us. You just found out your spouse is having a child that is not your own. How easy would it be to follow God's commands if they told you to be faithful to that marriage?
kencraw on 03.19.04 @ 12:49 PM PST [link]
Quote of the Day
"behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins."
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home."
-Matthew 1:20-21,24 from today's Gospel reading
kencraw on 03.19.04 @ 12:32 PM PST [link]
Thursday, March 18th
Great American Think-Off
Thanks to Greg over at crowhill.net, I've been working on a essay for this years Great American Think-Off. This year's question is: Should same-sex marriages be prohibited?
The only other rule is that the essay must be 750 words or less. I additionally restricted myself to not making a religious or bible based argument and also took the advice from former winners to include personal examples from my life. So here's your chance to rip apart an essay of mine! Bleed away with the red ink and let me know what you think of my preliminary entry (which is currently EXACTLY 750 words and is due by April 1st):
We live in a country that has mixed together both religious marriage and civil marriage into one institution. This isn’t the case in other countries. My wife’s Mexican friends had two marriage ceremonies when they got married. First, about six months before they ‘got married’ they had a civil ceremony. They had a short ceremony and a small party with family and friends. Six months later they got married in the Catholic Church and their ‘real’ marriage began.
But that’s not how we get married in the United States. We’ve co-mingled the concepts of a religious and a civil marriage. We’ve forgotten that the goals and privileges of the two are separate. While religions are committed to helping their members live good moral lives and promote marriage as a means to accomplish that, society has a very practical reason for supporting marriage.
Society is a very pragmatic institution. Society only gives benefits to people when those people bear practical fruit. For society, the practical reason for supporting marriage is not love, but because marriages create families.
Families are the means by which society creates children and raises them to be good members of society. Those children are the future of society. As such, the marital role of creating and raising children is quite obviously a very important role in society and a very pragmatic one at that. This is the means by which a marriage can fulfill its societal role and earn the benefits that society is willing to give it.
So it logically follows that those who fulfill this very important and pragmatic responsibility, deserve the benefits of marriage. Who are these couples?
I had some friends growing up who were a male same-sex couple that adopted a young boy who had been badly abused by his biological parents. My friends cared for him even though it was difficult. They extended their love to a boy that most couples could not. While most couples were insisting on adopting an infant, this couple was willing to have a deep parental love for a child who was not the perfect baby we all hope for. They raised that young boy to become a well adjust young man who will soon be a good productive member of society.
My parents, on the other hand, got divorced when I was 12. When they got divorced, our family struggled. Their inability to successfully keep their marriage together had a profound and lasting impact on both my brother and me. Yet my parents’ obligation to raise my brother and me of course did not die with the death of their marriage. No, they continued to be our parents and we as a divided family struggled to overcome the difficulties of that situation. They struggled just like my friends struggled to raise their adopted son. Yet they have helped both my brother and I to become good members of society.
It would seem, that using the rational of raising children as the criteria for marriage, that both my parents, even while separated, and my friends deserved the benefits of marriage. Both were providing that very important role in society. But we naturally accept that my parents no longer deserved the benefits of marriage, while we struggle to decide if same-sex couples deserve the benefits.
So who deserves the benefits of marriage? The answer is only those who live up to the high ideal that marriage calls us to: To come together to be in a life giving, life lasting union and to raise the children who may result from that union. Only a heterosexual couple can participate in that kind of a union because a same-sex couple is unable to have a life giving union.
I don’t think anyone would argue that in an ideal world, the best people to raise a child are its biological parents. We as society want to encourage this ideal and we have created the benefits of marriage for those who are willing to live up to that ideal. Those who attempt to be in this kind of a union and fail, those who create life without the union, and those who are in a union that can not create life, are not living up to the ideal. This ideal, of a life giving, life lasting union, is the heart of marriage and it should not be compromised to give the same benefits to anyone who is picking up the pieces when people fall from this ideal that best benefits society.
kencraw on 03.18.04 @ 02:40 PM PST [link]
Quote of the Day
Dr: “How are you feeling?”
Grace: “Good! Happy. Of course I’m happy.”
Dr: “Good.”
Grace: “What else am I going to be?”
Dr: “Well, we all have our days.”
Grace: “I don’t feel like I should have ‘days’. I should be happy just to be alive. And I am! I’m alive because someone else is dead. I should just shut up and be happy, right?”
-Grace (played by Minnie Driver) talking about her heart surgery with her doctor in the movie 'Return to Me'
kencraw on 03.18.04 @ 01:41 PM PST [link]
Wednesday, March 17th
Another Baptism realization
This morning when I took Gregory to Mass an additional blessing occured to me in regards to his recent Baptism: He's now officially a member of The Church. No one can ever take that away from him. How cool is that! 
kencraw on 03.17.04 @ 01:12 PM PST [link]
On the topic of St. Patricks day
For those of you who make it to the blog on St. Patricks day, you'll notice that the color of the blog has changed from violet to white (although it has some yellow in it). That's because Saints days are celebrated with white unless they were a martyr when it is celebrated with red.
So here's my question: Should I abandon the 'liturgically correct' color of white and change it to be 'ordinary green' because St. Patricks day is celebrated with green in the secular world, or leave it the 'liturgically correct' white? All opinions are welcome. In other words, let me know you read my blog by commenting on this one!
kencraw on 03.17.04 @ 01:10 PM PST [link]
Happy St. Patricks day!
I hope everyone has a good St. Patricks day. And a Holy one at that. I was thinking this morning about how the traditional celebrations of St. Patricks day have been morphed into something nearly demonic.
At the university I attended, they no longer have spring break over Holy Week, they now align it with St. Patricks day. Why? Because they don't want the partying to interfere with school. How horrible is that! At least for today we need a new bumper sticker. It's not WWJD it's WWSPD. I'm sure he wouldn't be happy with what his feast day has become.
kencraw on 03.17.04 @ 01:05 PM PST [link]
Quote of the Day
Sorry, I have to change today's to be this one:
"Patrick the sinner, an unlearned man to be sure.... None should ever say that it was my ignorance that accomplished any small thing,..it was the gift of God."
-St. Patrick
kencraw on 03.17.04 @ 01:01 PM PST [link]
Tuesday, March 16th
Vatican seminars on a roll!
Yet another good topic for our Church to be focused on: life support and brain deadness. See the Zenit article on the subject.
Originally when the Terri Schavo case errupted in Florida I was unsure what I thought. I knew that I believed that "advanced" life support like lung pumps and heart stimulators (or whatever their called) or other similar devices that their removal will result in the immediate death of the patient, were not morally required (although permissible). But I was unsure of the feeding tube.
Now having thought about it, prayed about it and listened to the cousil of The Church, I've come to believe that keeping a feeding tube from a person is just as unjust as letting a person die of starvation on the street. Inside both of those people there is a body that yearns for food and is unable to provide it for themselves. We are called as Christians to provide it for them.
kencraw on 03.16.04 @ 03:07 PM PST [link]
Studies on the effects of gay parenting on children
Here is a fairly unbiased article about the research that has been done to determine what effects gay parents (good and bad) have on the children they are raising. At the end the author reveals that she is a proponent of gay marriage and although if I had to guess I would have guessed correctly about her biases before she revealed that, I have to appaud her for writing a fair article.
The basic point is that to date, we don't have any scientifically reliable studies to look at.
The thing that was written between the lines that I think is very important is that there is a large disagreement in our society about what the goal for our children is. While some think the goal is to make them more open to new ideas and leaving behind their traditions (including their religions at least in their current form) others think we need to be giving them a strong sense of right and wrong and moral and immoral while clinging to their traditions.
If we ever get more reliable data on what impact gay parents have on the children they raise, I think there is a large possibility that both sides will think the data supports their position.
kencraw on 03.16.04 @ 02:38 PM PST [link]
Quote of the Day
"Lord, may the food you have fed me with help me to feed my son."
-My prayer as I leave communion when I am holding my son, Gregory (7 months old)
kencraw on 03.16.04 @ 11:40 AM PST [link]
Monday, March 15th
REALLY bad political comic
Check out this political comic strip. That is horribly unjust! It is unjust to nuns, to Mel, and the Catholicism.
Have you ever noticed that there is a strong tendancy in political comic creators towards really strong hatreds? I know that they have to be very sensational and make caricatures of everyone, but why must their images be so filled with hate? Luckily not all, or even most, creators have this tendancy. Nevertheless it seems to be a "minority trend" within that group. I wonder why.
kencraw on 03.15.04 @ 06:01 PM PST [link]
Pope John Paul II has third longest Papacy in history
Pope John Paul II has been the Pope for over 25 years. That's a long time! I was only 3 years old when he was elected. Here's the Zenit article on the subject.
I remember about 5 years ago, I was reading a book that had a biography of every Pope from St. Peter to John Paul II. They didn't count St. Peter when they said that Pope Pius IX was Pope for 30 years. At the time I did some quick calculations and determine that John Paul II would have the longest Papacy in history sometime in 1999...
Oops! 
No, that made him a decade away from having the longest Papacy in history. And to think some University gave me a degree in Engineering. I can't even add right.
kencraw on 03.15.04 @ 05:30 PM PST [link]
And speaking of elections
In Spain they hold their elections over the weekend. That got me to thinking (uh oh!). Why in God's name is Tuesday the sacred day of elections in the US? It would seem to me that having them on a day where more people are easily able to get to the polls would help voter turnout. If we had them on Sunday so as to avoid the Jewish Sabath and is the same day as the Christian day of rest (at least in principle) I bet voter turnout would be far better. I know for me, I was taking care of my Son from 7 AM to 11 AM and went straight to work from that point until the polls closed during our recent primary. It made squeezing in the time to vote difficult. For people who aren't that dedicated to the idea of voting, that'll keep them from the polls for sure.
kencraw on 03.15.04 @ 02:19 PM PST [link]
Terrorism and elections
I'm sure everyone has read the news that there was a horrible terrorist attack in Spain last week and that it immediately preceded this past weekend's election and that it completely turned the results around.
One would wonder, what would a successful (or not) attack on the US within the last week or so in the US Presidential election have on the outcome?
kencraw on 03.15.04 @ 02:14 PM PST [link]
The Vatican speaks on "The Passion"
Of course we all know about the now 'un-official' comment that the Pope most likely made about "The Passion" movie: "It is as it was". Now, in response to pressure from some Jewish groups, The Vatican has made an announcement about the movie's critics regarding anit-Semitism.
The basic point is simple. "The Passion" is very true to the Gospel accounts and as The Church we don't see them as anti-Semetic. Or to quote from the article: "If such a story were anti-Semitic, it would pose a problem for the Judeo-Christian dialogue, because it would be like saying that the Gospels are not historical," he said. "One must realize the seriousness of these affirmations."
Here is the Zenit article on the subject.
kencraw on 03.15.04 @ 11:47 AM PST [link]
Speaking of Sunday's Gospel reading
For the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sunday's Lent, their is a choice for the readings between the readings from year A and the readings for the current year (year C this year). Our parish, because we have an active RCIA program always picks the year A option because of the 3 scrutinies that the Catechumens have during Lent (called Purification and Enlightenment for the RCIA) are centered around the readings for year A.
In any case, the Gospel reading of year A for Sunday of the 3rd week of Lent (yesterday) is the story of the woman at the well. This morning when I attended daily Mass, even though the reading was entirely different, it struck me how special it was that the Gospel reading of the day when Gregory was Baptized was the one of the most appropropriate ones for a Baptism:
"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
kencraw on 03.15.04 @ 10:05 AM PST [link]
My son was Baptized yesterday
Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend including my normal Sunday reading and reflection. My weekend was spent preparing for, participating in and celebrating my son Gregory's (my first child) Baptism. It was such a wonderful experience and it sure seemed like it meant a lot to Gregory as well as he was in an incredibly peaceful mood for the rest of the day.
I want to explicitely thank Gregory's new godparents Todd and Kelley. They were so great yesterday and are clearly very committed to being good godparents. May God bless them in all they do.
kencraw on 03.15.04 @ 09:44 AM PST [link]
Quote of the Day
Rabbi Jake: “Jews want their Rabbis to be the type of Jews they don’t have the time to be.”
Father Brian: “Yeah, and Catholics want their Priests to be the type of people they don’t have the discipline to be."
-Rabbi Jake (played by Ben Stiller) and Father Brian (played by Edward Norton) discussing their faiths in 'Keeping the Faith'
kencraw on 03.15.04 @ 09:37 AM PST [link]
