…Oddly enough, it came from a judge too. A judge ruled that a state law removing city employee residency requirements applies to Cleveland city employees. This seems like a common sense freedom to me. You should be able to live where you want. Forcing people to live in a city (especially one with lots of crime and other problems) just because they work there strikes me as wrongheaded. Bravo Judge Peter Corrigan!
Mark Shea has written an excellent blog entry entitled Cautionary Tales, which summarizes the importance of Protestants becoming Catholic because they believe in the Catholic Truth, not because they simply want to escape the _____ (liberalism, lack of authority, denominationalism, etc) of Protestantism. Those may be good reasons to explore Catholicism, but certainly not convert. This article should be required reading in all RCIA classes. Here are some excerpts from Marks’ piece:
One of the things that often worries me about converts to the Catholic
faith, especially from Protestantism, is that some of them seem to me
to be still basically Protestant. They are sometimes becoming Catholic,
not because they have concluded that the Church is the trustworthy
sacrament of redemption given to the world by Christ and guided by the
Holy Spirit, but because they are fed up with Protestantism and are
leaving it and joining the Catholic–in *protest*.
And:
The main counsel I give anybody coming in to the Church is that "faith"
means "you stay." The Catholic Church is and always has been the vessel
of salvation for the *world*. That means that most of the people you
meet are going to be *ordinary*–like you and me.
Read the entire essay…lots of wisdom here.
Hat tip: Chad
Catholic Converts is a blog devoted to the blogs, stories, and other information associated with the numerous Catholic converts on the net. Check it out!
Tomorrow is the start of Lent with the Church holiday of Ash Wednesday. For those interested in adding readings of the Church Fathers to your Lenten discipline, my brother and I created last year (with help from Chad Toney) the Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan. We now have two versions:
Church Fathers Lenten Plan: Complete
Church Fathers Lenten Plan: Lite
The primary difference between the two is the amount of daily reading.
Have a blessed Ash Wednesday and a blessed Lent!
Carmel is coming tomorrow and it’s a one way ticket! Please keep her (and me) in your prayers as we travel. The wedding is coming up soon (March 10th), so we could use a few prayers for that as well.
On another note, I can barely walk! Since I was snowed in, I decided to jump rope for an hour yesterday instead of going to the YMCA. It was murder on my hamstrings and calves and today I’ve been walking with a limp. How embarrassing.
But, I’m happy because Carmel is coming!
Crisis Magazine has issued a fascinating study on the vitality of Catholic dioceses in the USA:
The State of the Catholic Church in America Diocese by Diocese (contains a .pdf file)
I generally have avoided linking to or addressing Anglican disputes. But since it seems that a lot is going on, I figured one link to the current primates gathering wouldn’t hurt:
Today we actually had a snow day (as opposed to a "cold" day). And boy, did we get clobbered! It was an incredible burst of blizzard activity. In fact, the word "blizzard" even appeared on The Weather Channel’s report for my area. I’ve mainly had cabin fever though. The road were too bad to use and most places were closed anyway. I did manage to get a few photos:
This is my pile of snow from constant plowings. Keep in mind that metal thing on the far right is a flagpole.
A view from my freshly plowed driveway.
Icicles from my garage
John Edwards hires two bloggers who live in the realm of the angry left, including spouting the necessary anti-Catholic bigotry. Mind you, I know and respect many liberals, but I can’t understand the fierce hatred that comes from some liberals in the name of their causes. I’m not saying conservatives aren’t grumpy or angry, but when conservatives do and say stupid, bigoted things, they are expected to express remorse and feel guilty (e.g. Mel Gibson). I probably wouldn’t have voted for Edwards anyway in the general election if he were to win, but now I never will. You can’t win the angry liberal vote and keep your average American.
Secretary Gates tells us that Iraqi insurgent bombs can be traced to Iran. Is the administration searching for a 21st century Gulf of Tonkin Incident?
There seems to be evidence that the folks who championed the current war in Iraq now have Iran in their sights.
Kyrie eleison
I have a new entry up at Per Christum called Biblical Criticism and This Catholic.
I don’t normally do these posts, but since it’s yet another "cold" day off from work, I figured I’d give it a shot. And since Carmel got me an mp3 player, I am now out of the stone age! Here’s what I’ve been listening to:
Sam’s Town- The Killers
Midnight Show- The Killers
Mr. Brightside (Thin White Duke Mix)- The Killers
Bling (Confessions of a King)- The Killers
Yes, lately it’s been all The Killers. I really like them. They take me back to the 70s/80s with a lot of U2 mixed in. For me, that’s good.
I’ve added a couple new blogs to the blogroll. Both are former Protestants who are becoming Catholic. Check them out:
Meandering Home (Kacy)
Paleocrat_etc (Jeremiah)
Here are two photos I took from of my backyard. The first is literally from the door. I used filters to catch different perspectives on the cold day with snow (click for bigger images).
It used to be for adults, but now more and more young people are getting stomach surgery. Ok, the title says "children" but these seem to mainly be teens, which isn’t quite as shocking as, say, a 6 year old getting the surgery.
I don’t really know what to think about this. As someone who has struggled in the past with issues of weight (although I don’t think I’ve ever really been "obese") I can definitely see the side of the teens. For example, there’s this part:
Crystal Kasprowicz, of St. James, N.Y., said
she lost 100 pounds from her 250-pound frame after having the band
installed at age 17. Before
the procedure, Kasprowicz said she took medication for a rapid
heartbeat and was showing signs of developing diabetes. Every effort
she made to stop getting bigger failed. Dieting didn’t work, she said.
Her heart problems made it hard to exercise. Even walking up stairs was
a challenge.Now, she’s off the heart drugs. Her blood-sugar levels are in check. She also feels better about herself. "I’m a totally different person," she said.
This young lady was clearly an adult medical disaster waiting to happen. Now, she is much healthier and can actually feel good about herself. Yeah, I know I’m not usually into "self esteem" too much, but having been around teens a lot I can tell you that self esteem matters (just so it doesn’t turn into pride or self-centeredness).
Then there’s the other side of the coin, which I also find persuasive:
"I don’t think altering the human digestive
tract is a solution to the problem of excess weight," said Joanne
Ikeda, a nutritionist emeritus at the University of California,
Berkeley. "It’s one of these quick-fixes that isn’t a fix at all." Doctors, she said, still know relatively little about the long-term effects of such operations on the very young.
Stomach surgery does seem really extreme to me,
especially for kids. I’ve always personally been able to lose weight
through diet and exercise. Admittedly, these are extreme cases, but I
can see the risk factor.I’m not really sure where
I would come down on this issue. Maybe, I’d see it as a case by case
issue. Anyone (if anyone still reads this blog) care to chime in?
