Congratulations...

The Sisters of the Gospel of Life have welcomed a new Postulant: Sr. Amanda (in the middle), who was formally received into the Community on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

I love to give the Sisters as much blogging coverage as I can, because they really do the most amazing work with the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative, helping to save hundreds of babies from being aborted. Now that Sr. Amanda has joined them, hopefully their blog, Twitter and Facebook presence will increase...

(Heheheheheheheh)

BTW, if you want to support the work of the Sisters, there is a PayPal donation button on their blog, you can send items for the new mums and babies to 106 Dixon Avenue, Glasgow, G42 8EL, UK, (Amazon, Argos, Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco and Ocado all do baby stuff, and they even deliver...) and, most of all, you can PRAY for the success of their work and for the Community!

Once again, many congratulations to the Sisters, and to Sr. Amanda: ad multos annos!

Blogging Lite...

The start of the Autumn school term is a frenetic affair at the best of times, and I am already snowed under with lesson plans, practical equipment requisitions, piles of books to be marked and worksheets to design and photocopy...

Blogging will be somewhat sporadic over the next week or so...

You Couldn't Make This Up...

...well, not without everyone thinking you were several sandwiches short of a picnic.

Paulinus has just pointed out that the proposed change in the law which would allow assisted suicide is nearing completion... just as International Suicide Prevention Awareness Week draws to a close.

This Beggars Belief... (In More Ways Than One!)

I was in a good mood this evening. Tired, but content. I thought I'd treat myself to a small glass of wine while checking the blogs, as a form of relaxation before doing a little lesson planning for tomorrow.

And then I saw THIS.

Now, I'm no Einstein (too blonde!) ... but the implication that I love to worship Our Lord at services of Adoration and Benediction purely because I am illiterate and poorly educated is one I find rather offensive.

I will freely admit that I do not fully understand the Mystery which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but this is despite its availability in the vernacular. I do know that my Lord and my God condescends to become truly present at the Consecration at Mass... and therefore, the opportunity to adore Him for an hour or so is something of which I would wish to take advantage.

It seems blindingly obvious to me that if one truly believes in the Real Presence, one would be more eager to attend a personal audience with Jesus and receive His Blessing in Benediction, not less.

Perhaps Fr. O'Brien is misguidedly under the impression that anything pre-Vatican II is childish and immature, and that we don't need to do stuff like that any more, because we are more adult in our faith.

I would humbly suggest that he reads Matthew 18:3. For my part, I will echo Fr. Z's response (with one addition) -

Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
Blessed be the name of Jesus.
Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.

Blessed be His Most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be Saint Joseph, her spouse most chaste.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His Saints.

And now, being in a perfectly foul mood, I may have to consume the remainder of that bottle of wine...

UPDATE: I've decided that the priest in question should be renamed Fr. McBraindead...

The New Penalty For Cell Phones In Church...?

This made me chuckle...

Twitch of the mantilla to the Catholic Mom in Hawaii.

Of course, it's not as funny as the (possibly true) story I heard about the priest at Sunday Mass who, on hearing a mobile phone go off during his sermon, looked sharply at the culprit and said,

"Well, go on and answer it... and ask them why they're not here at church..."

New Blog On The Block...

Fr. Stephen Wang has started a new blog - called Bridges and Tangents, it's well worth a visit.

Fr. Stephen is a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Westminster, London. He also happens to be the brother of Mary, a friend of mine, but that has nothing to do with why I'm publicising his blog (actually, I'm shamelessly name-dropping!!)

However, Fr. Stephen is a very clever chap, as proved by the fact that he is Dean of Studies at Allen Hall seminary, where he also teaches philosophy and theology. His latest book is Aquinas and Sartre: On Freedom, Personal Identity, and the Possibility of Happiness.