Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year, Everyone!!

Adios, 2007!!

Three Christmass Masses combined attendance = 410 for 2007 !!

On Christmas Eve, 2007 and Christmas Day, 2007, a total of roughly 410 parishioners attended Catholic Mass at St. Mary Magdalen's Catholic Church in Brackettville, Texas.

This is out of a potential recruiting base of roughly 1,200 Kinney County Catholics, whether current or ex.

Our Youth Groups Pageants, at both the 7 pm and 11 pm Christmas Masses were superb!

Three Deacon Communion Services = 280 - 300 Combined Total Attendance.

Not bad!

Saturday, December 29 and Sunday, December 30, 2007.

St. Mary Magdalene's Catholic Church in Brackettville, Texas.

Krazy Chickens' Ms. Natasha Smith home for the holidays!

First semester away in college and already she has a dynamite GPA.

Congratulations Natasha....!!

Your mama Debbie and everybody is proud of you...

"Brackett High's Jerry DeHoyos, Jr., Rings Church Bells!!"

"Yesterday, December 30, 2007, Mr. Jerry DeHoyos succesfully passed his basic training as an auxiliary bell ringer at St. Mary Magdalene's Catholic Church in Brackettville, Texas.

"His proud parents, Jerry and Janie, plus big brother and little sister got to hear him do it, too, for all they were inside at the time.

"As did the officiating Deacons present, the Rev. Mr. James Bader and the Rev. Dr. Joseph Goebel.

"Jerry gave his all in ringing the obligatory Thirty Double Clangs of exactly 60 individual pulls on the fraying rope, minutes before the start of the 10:00 a.m. Sunday Communion service

"He's now qualified to do it any time he's asked to, or otherwise so inclined."

Source: What's Happen'in Nowadays in 'Ole Brackettville, December 31, 2007 edition.

"Mandy Lee Harris, former student at Brackett ISD"

She's in the Navy now!

And yet another Brackett ISD Lady Alumni is headed for the United States Air Force!!

The Brackett News, Thursday, issues of Deember 20 and December 27, 2007.

www.thebrackettnews.com

Serving the communities of Brackettville, Fort Clark Springs, Spofford and Kinney County, Texas.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

President Plutarco es parco Elias Calles' whimsical legacy:

His biznieto -- or great grandson -- José Antonio !!

"The Cadillac of cattle was a Japanese import to Texas"

Adapted from the San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS, Wednesday, December 26, 2007. By John MacCormack. SA EXPRESS - NEWS staff writer. Front page.

PHOTO CAPTION:

"José Antonio Elias Calles, president of the HeartBrand Beef Co., brought three bulls and eight cows from Japan to start his heard[sic!] of Akaushi cattle on a ranch near Harwood."

Then:

"Americans drove Akaushi herd through a legal loophole."

"HARWOOD -- Years after some wily Americans had slipped a small herd of coveted Akaushi cattle out of Japan thorugh a tiny export loophle, José Antonio Elias Calles ran into one of their former owners in that country."

As Señor Calles tells us, the man had a message:

"He said at one point he had thought about coming to the United States and killing these people who had stolen our children."

Señor Calles is now, at age 44, the very man "who now manages the only herd of Akaushi outside Japan." He explains the Japanese love for these animals this way:

"They call these animals their children because they have such an important place in their society.

"They have a powerful mystique for the Japanese."

As reporter MacCormack explains:

"Calles, 44, [is] the great - grandson of Plutarco Elias Calles, the fomer Mexican president.

"Born in Mexico and educated in the United States, Calles has studied Japanese cattle and beef for almost two decades."

Online headlines re Benazir Bhutto's Death are indeed grim...

Although the news doesn't seem to be in this mornings San Antonio EXPRES - NEWS yet (Thursday, December 27, 2007).

The net results of all this may well be truely tragic.

The immediate prospect of tens -- if not hundreds of thousands -- of Pakistanis armed to the teeth and howling for revenge, mixing it up in a real witches brew with other thousands of Osama Bin Ladin's folk in a country with a stock pile of nuclear weapons, just might be nasty indeed, and for all concerned, the U.S.A. included.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Brackettville old timers Mr. Clay Hunt and Mr. Jeffrey Glen Tipps among those returning for Holidays!

"Colonia ministry changing lives one at a time"

Adapted from Today's Catholic, December 21, 2007, page 5.

"Deacon Jerry and Mary Campa of St. Mary Magdalen Church in San Antonio are founders of Feed My Sheep Ministry, who assist the poor living in colonias in Piedras Negras, Mexico, thorugh monthy visits and donations of food and materials.

"The following is an account of the group's most recent trip to the border earlier this month on Dec. 1."

www.satodayscatholic.org

(Just click on "In this issue." )

Friday, December 21, 2007

"Cazan y matan a tres militares en Torreón"

"Uno de los elementos castrenses participó en la detención de los cuatro reporteros en Monclova en agosto pasado."

CORTESIA / LA OPINION MILENO - Zócalo / Torreón. Miércoles 19 de diciembre de 2007.

www.zocalo.com.mx

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Former Society of Mary priest blows it all off!

He goes charismatic!!

Father Robert (Bob) Hogan, BBD, "is one of the founding members of a new charismatic and Marian religious community called The Brothers of the Beloved Disciple.

"He was formerly a member of the Society of Mary."

www.nsc-chariscenter.org/about_members.htm

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all Marine FMF units deployed to any and all war zones!!

Semper Fi !!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Colonel Edward Danowitz, USMC, Ret., still going strong!!

In this years holiday message Colonel Danowitz shares this with us:

"It was great to hear from you.

"It is a great honor to hear from the Marines with whom I served from 1942 to 1972, especially you Nam CAP Marines.

"I'm glad that you are proud of your service in the Corps and I am proud to have served with you."

Same here, Colonel! Semper Fi!!

And that includes all you guys from old Fox two - one -- a.k.a. "The Big Outfit" of Hill 185 - Nui Loc Son fame, like Harry Morris and Tom Singleton, plus today's Marines, like Brackettville's "Izzy" Muniz and all the rest:

The Corps is all about Tradition; Tradition is all about the Corps.

Monday, December 17, 2007

"La derogación de los votos secretos de los Legionarios"

Fuente: Comentario del Sr. Licenciado Bernardo Barranco V., La Jornada, miércoles 1 de diciembre 2007.

"El Papa ha derogado dos votos privados d elos Legionarios de Cristo, precisamente los que sirviron a lo ssuperiores de esta congregación religiosa par aproptegerse de posibles denuncias.

"Fuentes de agencias noticiosas señalan que son medidas paralelas a la sanción disciplinaria impuesta en 2006 a Marcial Maciel por abusos sexuales.

"El papa Benedicto XVI habría solicitado personalmente la cancelación de dos votos privados que profesaban los seminaristas y sacerdotes de los Legionarios de Cristo.

"Se trata de juramentos que aseguraban el secreto y hermetismo de la orden, relacionadas con la vida interna: la primera impedía toda clase de crítica de los miembros hacia los superiores y sus decisiones, mientras la segunda prohibía a los religiosos desear cargos en la misma.

"El mimso [Padre] Maciel explica al periodista Jesús Colina el significado de los votos privados:

Se pronuncian cuando se pronuncian los votos que son más comunes en las congregaciones y órdenes, es decir, la pobreza, la castidad y la obediencia.

Aparte de estos tres votos tenemos el voto de la caridad y el de humildad.

El voto de la caridad quiere salvaguardar y respetar al máximo con nuestras palabras y actitudes, a nuestros hermanos en la congregación y especialmente a nuestros superiores.

Por él, el religioso se compromete a no criticar los actos del superior delante de aquel que no puede resolver determinado problema o conflicto.

"Y el voto de la humildad es no desear ni procurar ningún cargo en la misma; expone [Padre] Maciel:

La llamos humildad porque esta actitud de servicio requiere un ocntinuo control de la apetencias naturales a figurar, a sobresalir, a conquistar puestos a base de zancadillas y de intrigas.

Luego, se lo pone el autor de este comentario una fuente: Mi vida es Cristo, Logos Press, 2003, pp. 110 - 111.

Key witness compelled to go missing in developing Brackettville case??!!

The way this guy suddenly turns up "missing" does seem at least a little bit iffy, to put it mildly! Or at least his timing does...

Fact number one: The last time I spoke with him was the night of the first Thursday of the month, let's say December 6, o.k.?

After the video show at the old St. Mary Magdalene Church Rectory he takes off through the same door as one of the 6th grade teachers does.

I went home by going out the other door.

From that point forward, he disappears off the face of the earth so far as our usual Wednesday night and Thursday night group meetings and Saturday pm Masses go.

Boom!

Just like that.

Fact number two: By no later than that same Thursday, December 6, 2007, if not actually day earlier, there would have been a morning delivery of USPO Special Delivery to the office of Archbishop José Gomez. The packet would not only have contained a copy of a letter faxed to Archbishop Pietro Sambi at his office in Washington D.C., it would also have contained a hand written list with two(2) names and (1) phone number, the latter ending in 9971.

a) One name is that of our "disappeared friend."
b) One name is that of a member of the Kinney County Sheriff Departments' County Jail Ministry Team, or whatever it's called, who is more than likely up to his ears in this case.
c) Archbishop Gomez's point of view was given verbally to us second hand, roughly as follows:

"Butt - out, o.k.? Let the Diocese handle the matter. Fr. Tony Vilano has been assigned the case. If and when Father Tony Vilano choses to do so, he may in fact give you a call, I don't really know."

Working hypothesis:

Given the hypothetical for instance that the "missing person" -- so to speak -- is suffering the beginnings of a nuclear meltdown phase of a severe mental health crisis potentially leading to a conclusive and terminal degree of violence and bloodshed perpetrated against himself and up to perhaps as many as three(3) people in Val Verde County, I'd like to suggest that Kinney County's hardworking and dedicated Sheriff "Buddy" Burgess might be concerned at not being brought up to date on the situation.

And if, nonetheless, one of Archbishop José Gomez's own priests has in fact been so criminally rash as to have told -- whether directly or indirectly -- this missing person to:

"Go get lost, amigo! And above all, be sure and keep your mouth shut about Deacon so and so [unless the Deacon himself was so stupid as to do all this on his own] there in Brackettville -- blah, blah , blah--

"After all the Archbishop and his staff are more than likely facing rumours among other priests of two(2) more major sex cases set to blow up in 2008, so you see?

"He doesn't need your little two - bit problems, too.... "

Should this so - called "Typical Catholic Diocese Blow - off Hypothesis" someday turn out to be true, and later proves to have played a pivotal role in triggering some incident of simple unvarnished murder and mayhem, it's going to look bad afterwards if nothing has been done to prevent it, right?

Right!

Sheriff "Buddy" Burgess telephone:

(830) 563 - 2788

Thanks, public - spirited Mr. or Ms. A. Nominous! Heh, heh, heh!! :)

Saturday, December 15, 2007

San Antonio's Fr. David Garcia loses!

To pro - Vatican Archbishop José Gomez.

Less than a month since Fr. David Garcia was trying his best to strut, pout and shove it out for what he thought was an adoring press, we read in the San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS (Friday, December 14, 2007) that this same mover and shaker among the anti - Pope Benedict XVI revolutionaries has been giving his marching orders.

From being the Big Wheel at San Fernando Cathedral, he's been told he'll be "retired" from his pastoral duties -- at age 58 and not at age 75! -- to be "promoted" to the make - believe post of super - custodian of the San Antonio Missions, there to live out is days under the watchful eye of the U.S. Park Service.

It was barely amonth ago that he was telling everyone of how he was going to have a Big Party in the Cathedral on Thanksgivening Day, which he did.

Rest assured, he left Jesus Christ very much out of it.

Cool, so far as it goes, at least to him, but since his former mentor, retired Archbishop Patricio Flores, has recently chewed through his own leash, escaped his own handlers and was caught running amok two hundred miles away, Fr. David Garcia -- this "Revolutioanry of the Masses" -- has support these days from nobody.

Period.

Even the press has turned on him.

As they have on Flores.

About time!

"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to:

UTEP's Student Publications' Staff !!"

Kathleen Flores, Veronica Gonzalez, Mia Cortez, Isabel Castillo, and last but not least, Maricela R. Luna.

¡Ora, UTEP! ¡Ora, MEChA! ¡Adelante, DESTINO!

And all this includes all of you dozens of up and coming professionals, including Iraqi War Veterans, both male and female, who are in the process of getting that all - important final touch at UTEP -- leaving aside temporarily the problems caused you by the silk - clad thugs and hoods, likewise both male and female, running it -- before setting out to conquer the Big Bad World of Reality in the Pubishing Business.

"Hats off to cancer patient, Andres Peña, age 18"

Andres has two aunts, his Aunt Martha and his Aunt Rebecca, plus his grandmother "Mena" Peña, all right here in Brackettville, although he's from the Houston area and was attending university studies in Alabama when diagnosed with cancer early in the Fall 2007 semester.

During this painful and surely terribly frightening episode in his young life, Andres kept a blog of what he had to deal with on a day to day basis.

Anyone wanting to know what a tale of raw courage is all about has only to click on his blog:

www.andrespena4.blogspot.com .

Friday, December 14, 2007

"Sleep becomes concern during finals"

¡Ora, UTEP! ¡Ora, MEChA! ¡Adelante, DESTINO!

By Kathryn Holly, The UTEP Prospector, December 4, 2007.

"As finals approach, students are spending more time pulling all - nighters to pack in extra study time, but research from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests college students are not getting enough sleep, which can negatively impact their grades."

www.utepprospector.com

Wow! Hey, like you know???....

"6th grader chosen for Region 20 Christmas card"

By Allison Taylor, Managing Editor, The Brackett News. Thursday, December 13, 2007.

www.thebrackettnews.com

"The Brackett ISD Board of Trustees held a Regular Meeting on Monday, December 10, in the Central Office board room.

"Sixth Grader Hernan Talamantes, son of Jesus and Juanita Talamantes, was recognized for winning the Education Service Center (ESC), Region 20, first annual christmas card contest.

"Dr. Terry Smith, of ESC, Region 20, presented Talamantes with a certificate for winning first place.

"Grades 3 through 6 have been taking art classes taught by Intermediate Art Teacher Sandra Tate.

"Talamantes' art work will be featured on Region 20's 2007 Christmas card."

Way to go, Hernan ....!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS Cary Clack:

"Black icon helps Hillary"

"Of melanin and malarkey"

Tuesday, December 11, 2007.

Clack quotes Andrew Young as saying: "Bill (Clinton) is every bit as black as Barack [Obama].

"He has probably gone out with more black women than Barack.

"The great Toni Morrison started all of this when she wrote that Bill Clinton was our first black president, and Clinton has played into it so much he probably believes it.

"Any day now he'll be claiming to be the author of Black Like Me.

"Perhaps, with James Brown now dead, they're ready to make it official and name Bill Clinton as his successor to the title of Soul Brother No1."



"Missing retired Archbishop Flores found safe in Ozona"

by Michelle Roberts, Associated Press Writer, Dec.2, 2007, 10:49 AM.

www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5372157.html

Denver's Archbishop Chaput:

"Sympathy for the devil: thoughts on The Golden Compass"

www.archden.org/dcr//news.php?e=450&s=2&a=9476

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

"Atrocities were comitted by both sides...."

General Chuck Yeager, pages 62 - 63.

"Atrocities were comitted by both sides.

"That fall [most likely of 1944] our fighter group recived orders from the Eighth Air Force to stage a maximum effort.

"Our seventy - five Mustangs were asigned an area of fifty miles by fifty miles inside Germany and ordered to strafe anything that moved.

"The object was to demoralize the German population.

"Nobody asked our opinion about whether were were actually demoralizing the survivors or maybe enraging them to stage their own maximum effort in behalf of the Nazi war effort.

"We weren't asked how we felt about zapping people.

"It was a miserable, dirty mision, but we all took off on time and did it.

"If it occurred to anyone to refuse to participate (nobody refused, as I recall) that person would have probably have been court - martialed.

"I remember sitting next to [his buddy] Bochkay at the briefing and whispering to him: If we're gonna to do things like this, we sure as hell better make sure we're on the winning side.

"That's still my view.

"We were ordered to commit an atrocity, pure and simple...."



Tuesday, December 11, 2007

"YEAGER!" This book Rocks...!!

"An Autobiography by General Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos"

A real fine read....

Monday, December 10, 2007

"...se lo llevaron para Ojinaga... ¿se lo llevaron para Acuña?"

Is the ongoing civil war in the American Catholic Church really turning nasty?

Read blog entries below!

"Any similarity between Uvalde's Padre Luna case, and El Paso's Padre Fabian case??"

As many of us know -- or in yours truly's case at least have heard -- Uvalde's Padre Pedro Luna was "up there" in the ranks of the Charismatic Movement; he made enemies among other members of the clergy; now we're told he's in Mexico.

El Paso's St.Patrick Cathedral's Padre Vicario Fabian Marquez, as I've witnessed for myself -- who knew him well -- was subject to public fits, hysterics and visions related to satanic matter and an enthusiastic booster of Teens ACTS Retreats and Medjugorje. Now it seems, he too, is in Mexico.

So what's going on here??

"So why did the Cathedral's Vicar Disappear??"

The real - life St. Patrick's Cathedral, El Paso, Texas Mystery!

An unhappily - for - him wildly enthusiastic supporter of Medjugorje discovers, too late perhaps....?

... That his enemies were real verdugos.

The bizarre case of the Rev. Fr. Fabian Marquez, former Vicar and Elementary School Principal at St. Patrick's Cathedral, El Paso, Bishop Armando Ochoa and Fr. Rick Mattey presiding.

The hand written letter is dated December 3, 2007, and says in part: "Pobrecito el Padre Fabian se lo llevaron para Ojinaga y esta muy pero muy triste, reza por el"

Friday, December 07, 2007

"Season of Lights celebrates 16 years"

By Victor Santana - Melgoza, The UTEP Prospector, November 27, 2007.

"Enjoyed by hundreds every year, the Season of Lights celebration at UTEP has become a staple of El Paso's holidays.

"For many, the event is the official kick off to the holiday season, as lights strung around the center of campus are lit."

www.utepprospector.com

"Eran los mejores tiempos, eran los peores tiempos..."



Fuente: Historia De Dos Ciudades, en Obras Selectas de Charles Dickens (España, 2004?), Libro Primero, "Devuelta a la vidada," Capítulo I.

"Eran los mejores tiempos, eran los peores tiempos, era la era de la sabiduría, era la era de la insensatez, era la época de la creencia, era la época de la incredulidad, era la estación de la luz, era la primavera de la eseranza, era el invierno de la desesperación, nosotros no teníamos nada ante nosotros, estábamos yendo todos directamente al cielo, estábamos yendo directamente por otro camino: resumiendo, la época se parecía en su existencia recibida, para bien o para mal, en el grado superlativo de comparación solamente."

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

"Site change sought for attorney's trial"

Source: San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS, Thursday 29, 2007.

"Attorney Mary S. Roberts, whose husband, [Attorney] Ted H. Roberts, was convicted on charges of stealing thousands of dollars from men with whom she had affairs, is asking that her theft trial be moved out of Bexar County because she doesn't believe she will get a fair shake here."

Hummm .. so that's how the world's two oldest professions -- hookers and lawyers -- can really get it all together and jam, huh?