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origin of the Orans position

There is a great article over at the keys are mightier that addresses the origin of the Orans (praying) position and when it is appropriately used during Mass.  This one of those confusing practices that seem to be different at every parish.  Do we hold our hands in prayer?  Do we have our hands stretched out in front of us?  or do we hold hands with the people beside us?   And how do I explain to my kids why Dad does it one way while they do it different at their Catholic school Masses?

I hope that this article will help clear things up for all of us.  Until then I will continue to keep my hands folded in prayer with my eyes facing forward.  If you make eye contact, you have to hold hands.  I think it is an unwritten rule. :)

Wal-Mart Says “Happy Holidays”…again

Apparently Wal-Mart and Sam’s Clubs are gearing up for another successful Christmas ( I mean holiday) season. They are getting their in-house publication ready to roll urging folks to “plan ahead for the holidays.”


Read more about the story at the conservative voice.

Friend of Religion??

A recent poll showed that the G.O.P is losing ground as being thought of as a friend of religion. Catholics are one group where the decline was greatest; around 14%. The Democratic party also suffers from the perception that they are no friend to religion; but that is not a new finding. This article, along with a “Moral Principles for Catholic Voters” statement released by the Kansas Catholic Bishops gave me the inspiration for this post.

They stressed the importance that Catholics not only realize their right and duty to vote but also of being informed voters who make their decisions based on moral principles. “…guidelines are intended for educational purposes only. We do not intend to endorse or oppose any particular candidate, political party, or political action committee.” This was included to emphasize that the statement is not instructing the faithful to support or oppose any particular candidate but providing the moral principles to be employed by Catholics in making their decisions as voters.

It is easy to say, “I’ll vote Republican because the Democrats are pro-abortion” or “I’ll vote Democrat because the Republicans are just out to help the rich.” The point that the Bishops’ are trying to get across are that it is the responsibility of each Catholic voter to be informed and to know what each candidate stands for.

Do your research. Asks questions. Demand answers.

The Rich get Richer…

Same story, different day. The New York Times has a story suggesting that there ahas been an increase of insider trading leading up to mergers. Analysis of the mergers in the last 12 months revealed that stock of 41% of the companies receiving bids saw abnormal trading in the days and weeks leading up to the announcement. Sounds kind of suspicious!

Why is the article on this blog? One of the principles of Catholic Social Justice is “Economic Justice”. No one is allowed to amass excessive wealth when others lack the basic necessities of life.

It is sometimes argued that this type of insider trading is a victimless crime, i.e. that Martha Stewart got in trouble for doing the same thing that goes on everyday. Unfortunately that is probably true. But that doesn’t make it right. It doesn’t work when my kids use that excuse; it shouldn’t work for a white-collar criminal either. It is a reality that if someone is making money off of this information; someone is else is losing money because they do not have the information.

Additionally, many of these mega-mergers result in folks losing their jobs, benefits, etc. Here lies the key to the issue. One individual is using information that is only had by a few to make a profit when others are going to be negatively impacted by not having access to the same information.

a 1st for Columbia

Columbia has their first legal abortion since it was approved in May. The new law permits the procedure under three conditions, if the mother’s life is in danger, if the fetus is badly deformed or if the pregnancy results from rape. An 11 year old girl who was raped by here step-father the first to have an abortion.

Please join me in praying for this young girl that she may get the help that she needs to get through this suffering. May she get past the hurt caused by her stepfather and the pain that she will sufffer when she realizes what was done to her child.

Bad for Babies, Bad for Women, Bad for America

The FDA ruled Thursday that women 18 and older may buy the “morning-after” pill without a prescription.

This development is bad for women and bad for their babies. At a time when we should be supporting women, we are instead telling them that it is ok to take the short cut out. We are actually encouraging them to do it. Instead of women having to go to a trained professional for guidance at a very stress time, we are sending them out into the street to make a decision based purely on emotion.

Do I think Plan B is any better with a prescription? No, but requiring a prescription ensures that the young women is in a more protective setting to sort through her emotions and make the right decision.

Also, by only requiring a prescription for girls 17 and younger, we are placing them into situations where they can be pressured or forced into taking the “Plan-B” by a partner 18 or older. Possibly even by a perpetrator of sexual abuse.

I think we can do a better job of supporting these young women than Plan-B.

Planned Parenthood School of Medicine

Yale School of Medicine requires abortion training for all ob/gyn residents. They have to complete two four-week rotations with PPC for training in abortion techniques such as vacuum suction, medical abortions, and other “family planning” services in a program entitled Family Planning/Ambulatory Surgery.

Stem Cell Billionaires – still looking to buy the fountain of youth

Forbes magazine has an article listing who the billionaires are that are bank rolling the stem cell industry in this country. Guess they think that if they have enough money that they can buy immortality. The article lists several of the larger supporters of the research in this country. Some names you will recognize and others you will not.

    • Eli Broad, the founder of builder KB Home, gave $25 million in February to the University of Southern California to erect a stem-cell building.
    • Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire and Republican mayor of New York, has promised $100 million to fund stem-cell and other biotech research at Johns Hopkins University.
    • Andy Grove, founder of Intel, gave a $5 million gift to the stem-cell lab at University of California, San Francisco.
    • Ray Dolby, inventor of the Dolby sound system, gave $16 million to the same stem-cell lab at University of California as Mr. Grove.
    • Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, has given almost $4 million to various embryonic stem-cell research projects.

    How much of your money have these folks made today?

Where do we draw the line?

A young women in China has chronicled her experience having an abortion and ending the life of her 6 month old fetus because he had a harelip. She could not stand the thought of her baby having to mumble and stutter the way her niece had and experiencing the humiliation.

I guess we have come a long road down the wrong path if we are to the point where it is better to end one’s life rather than subject them to some difficulty speaking and the accompanying humiliation. Let’s back up for a minute. We are going to punish and end the life of someone so that they won’t be humiliated? What about the folks who try to humiliate them? Who is more at fault? The who is humiliated for having trouble speaking or the one who should be admiring the “stutterer” who is working to overcome his/her difficulties?

Where do we the line? How much humiliation should one be expect to endure at the hands of the ignorant before we are obliged to kill them to keep them from ever being embarrassed again. While we are talking about speech, let’s starting thinking about the other four senses…..

State of Emergency or Buchanan over-reacting??

“As Rome passed away, so the West is passing away, from the same causes and in much the same way,” Mr. Buchanan writes. “What the Danube and Rhine were to Rome, the Rio Grande and Mediterranean are to America and Europe, the frontiers of a civilization no longer defended.”

…a civilization no longer defended?? …Conquest of America?? I think Pat is getting to be a little paranoid. I agree that there needs to be some immediate changes in our immagration policy. We need to know who is coming to our country and that thay are going to be in a position to support themselves once they are here. However, slamming the door shut because we don’t know the right answer will not solve the problem. As long as there are jobs and opportunities in the United States that are not available elsewhere, we are going to have people coming to the US; both legally and illegally. Hopefully after the mid-term elections, common sense will prevail and possible solutions to this problem will be offered by all sides and resolution can be implemented. The window of opportunity is small as the presidential campaign will be kicking off in early 2007. Once that starts, we can be assured of nothing to fix the problem until at least 2009.

We need to be realistic. As a husband and a father, it is my responsibility to provide for my family. If that means I have to leave the country to do that, that is what I would do. As a father, I only want the best for my children and for them to have the opportunities that I may not have had. If that means that they have to leave my side and move away, be it across the country or across the boarder, I will miss them but wish them only the best.

Why would expect anything less from another father?

Jason knows best!!

Here are some words from Jason in Wichita, Kansas about giving Sunday back to God. How many times have you went back to work on Monday exhausted because you ran (or worked) all weekend? If you are like me, plenty of times. With 7 kids, it seems like we always have something going on. We always say that we are going to slow down and but it doesn’t seem to happen. I think that maybe we all should takes Jason’s advice and “examine your own life and try to take this stand”.

Thanks for the reminder, Jason.
God Bless!

What is he thinking?

President Bush expressed support for the Plan B abortion pill at a press conference this morning. When asked about his choice for FDA commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach and how he feels about Plan B in general, President Bush replied, “I believe that Plan B ought to be — ought to require a prescription for minors, is what I believe. And I support Andy’s decision.”

Ok, so it is alright to use this pill to abort your baby as long as you have a prescription??

The President’s statement this morning are inconsistent with his recent veto of extending taxpayer funding for embryonic stem cell research. Hopefully the president will realize that whether you call it stem cell research, Plan B or any other stealth term for abortion, it is the same end result for the unborn baby.

(more)

They’re Lying; It’s Cloning

You can get this bumper sticker from Kansas City Catholic. Visit the site to see how.

It's Cloning

Update: More stem cell research support in the heartland.

Kansas City Catholic and Open Book both have recent post on the effort in Missouri to push state funding of embryonic stem cell research. Living in Kansas, I get to see the commercials pushing the initative. It is a pretty slick campaign that makes it seem like a great thing without any consequences to the embryos that are dystroyed by the research. The one that I saw tonight feature former Senator Jack Danforth, an ordained Episcopal priest, urging people to vote yes and that this was a great thing for Missouri. One of many things that really bother me about this is the hope that they are giving to so many people. Of course it would be great to have a magic cure for ourselves or a loved one but let’s not trick people into voting in favor of this initative by giving false hope.

Although, Kansas currently does not have an initative up the ballot this fall, a sister organization has been established in Kansas to push for the same funding and research. It is being funded by many of the same individuals and organizations. I wrote a post about it in this blog back on May 23rd.

Update: San Francisco City Government

This is an update to a post from March 23rd on a resolution that was passed by the city government of San Francisco.

The Catholic League is suing the board of supervisors for passing the resolution describing the directive from Cardinal Levada as “hateful and discriminatory rhetoric”. The Catholic League states that the resolution conveys an official disapproval of the Catholic religion.

The case goes to District Court on October 2nd. Stay tuned.