Friday, November 30, 2012

Hooray for Senator Edward Kennedy's widow Vicki!

And her contempt for Question 2!

Dexter Duggan -- The Wanderer Catholic weekly. Thursday, November 22, 2012.

"Massachusetts Alliance Defeats Pro - Death Law"

 "...even such liberal Democrats as Vicki Kennedy, widow of Senator Edward Kennedy joined with others including moral  traditionalists to oppose the crass rejection of medical ethics ..."

Mrs. Kennedy speaks to the Cape Cod Times ...

"Most of us wish for a good and happy death with as little pain as possible, surrounded by loved ones, perhaps with a doctor and / or clergyman, too.

"But under Question 2, what you get instead is a prescription for up to 100 capsules, dispensed by a pharmacist, taken without medical supervision, followed by death, perhaps alone.

"That seems harsh and extreme to me ....:

Amen to those sentiments, Mrs. Kennedy! :)

Thursday, November 29, 2012

A rough and ready consensus appears to be that the real losers in the USA Presidential Election 2012 are the American Catholic Bishops!

As Ave Maria University's Father Orsi told an editor in the current issue of OSV -- the election results show us that most bishops have proven themselves to be so many "Toothless Tigers!"


Speaking for myself, we could also say the vast majority of bishops "have trivialized their teaching office into irrelevancy..." :)


Trying to make sense out of post - election stats!

Taken loosely from Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly. Sunday, November 25, 2012.

If the OSV staff has it right - - in the first place! :)

25% of voters in Presidential Election 2012 were Catholic.

Of those Catholics identified as White non - Hispanic:

59% voted for Romney.

41% voted for Obama.

Of those Catholics identified as Hispanic:

75% voted for Obama.

25% voted for Romney.

Well, o.k., amigos! :)

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

December 1. First Saturday.

December 2. First Sunday of Advent.

December 3. Feast Day of Saint Francis Xavier.

December 4. Feast Day of Saint John Damascene.
 
December 6. Feast Day of Saint Nicholas.

December 7. First Friday.

December 7. Feast Day of Saint Ambrose.

December 8. Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

December 9. Second Sunday of Advent.

"Where does the nation go from here?"

Good post - election editorial in Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly. Sunday, November 18, 2012.

Upshot? Too early to say!! :)


Monday, November 26, 2012

Even a one - man Altar Server Team shines at Deacon - less Saturday pm Mass.

Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Church.

Brackettville, Texas 78832.

Saturday. November 24, 2012. 5:30 pm Mass. TEAM Mr. Dante Luna.

Way to go, Dante! :)

On page 169 of the fine book -- The Heart of Newman -- Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman grapples with: 

The Omnipotence of God.

"When we confess God as Omnipotent only, we have gained but a half - knowledge of Him.

"His is an Omnipotence which can at the same time, swathe Itself in infirmity and can become captive of Its own creatures.

"He has,  if I may so speak, the incomprehensible power of even making Himself weak. 

"We must know Him by the Names, Emmanuel and Jesus, to know Him perfectly..." 

Way to go, Your Eminence! :)  

Dismal Drug War stats from Mexico's "National Commission of Human Rights"
 

Over the past six (6) years ...

Roughly 2.6 million arrests made.

But!

Only 1% -- or 26,000 -- actually jailed.

Plus!

46,015 persons killed.

24,091 more kidnapped and never accounted for.  

15,921 unidentified bodies left laying around.

1,421 bodies exhumed from clandestine burial sites.
 

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

As the masterful university professor that he most certainly is

Pope Benedict XVI shares the concept of Purgatory with our non - Catholic Christian brothers and sisters...

"I would go so far as to say that, if there was no Purgatory, then we would have to  invent it, for who would dare say, of himself, that he was able to stand directly before God?

"And yet we don't want to be, to use an image from Scripture, a pot that turned out wrong, that has to be thrown away; we want to be able to be put right.

"Purgatory basically means that God can put the pieces back together again.

"That he can cleanse us in such a way that we are able to be with him and can stand there in the fullness of life. 

"Purgatory strips off from one person what is unbearable and from another the inability to bear certain things, so that in each of them a pure heart is revealed, and we can see that we all belong together in one enormous symphony of being ..."  

Way to go, Holy Father! :)

From the Magnificat November 2009 / vol II, no. 9.

¡Mañana viene el gran mitote del guajalote! :)

Happy Thnaksgiving 2012 everyone!

Mass at 9:00a.m. tomorrow here in Brackettville, Texas 78821...

See you there! :)

Yet another Brackettville, Texas - 78832 -

Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Church CCD + H.S. Athletic personality on the go!

Sunday. November 18, 2012. 11:00a.m. Mass. LECTOR Ms. Selina Gerardo.

Way to go Selina! :)

EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA!

Pope's own newspaper backs Texas High School Cheerleaders' bid for Freedom of  Public Religious expression!

Way to go, Holy Father! :)

"The battle for religious freedom is fought on football fields, too..."

"L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, in an editorial about a group of Texas cheerleaders who are waging a court battle for the right to display banners with Bible verses at high school football games ..."

Way to go, everyone! :)

PS: And why not Brackett H.S., too?

Source: Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly, Sunday, November 11, 2012.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Congratulations to our Brackettville, Texas 78832, HS Tigrettes ...

...and such Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Parish CCD personalities as:

Ms. Phyllis Aguirre -- Girls Varsity Volleyball #12. "District 28A MVP."

Ms. Clarissa Valdez and all her teammates in Girls Varsity Cross Country Track, too!

Way to go, ladies! :)

Tip of the hat to the Kinney County Post

Editions of Thursday, November 15, 2012 and Thursday, November 1, 2012.

Kinney County, Texas: Feast of Sharing II!

Knowledgeable sources put the Turkey and Dressing meals served at last Saturday's community celebration as 700 on premises plus 100 home deliveries.

Folks, that's out of a county - wide population of roughly 2,800 ...

Way to go, everyone! :)

From MCs like Mr. Robert Aguirre and  Mr. Bob Martinez to such 7th grade basketball players as Mr. Carlos López who helped serve...

¡Todos somos familia...! :)


Monday, November 19, 2012

Southwest Texas, U.S.A.

Saint Mary Magdalen Catholic Church.

Brackettville, Texas 78832.

Even a one - person Altar Server Team makes all the difference at Deacon - less Saturday p.m. Mass!

Saturday. November 17, 2012. 5:30p.m. Mass. TEAM Ms. Brittany Castilla.

Way to go, Brittany! :)


Saturday's Kinney County, Texas' Annual "Feast of Sharing" viewed as a great success!

November 21. Feast Day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

November 22. Feast Day of Saint Cecilia.

November 23. Feast Day of Pope Saint Clement I.

November 23. Feast Day of Saint Columban.

November 23. Feast Day of  Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro.

November 24. Feast Day of Saint Andrew Dung - Lac and Companions.

November 25. Feast Day of Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe.

November 30. Feast Day of Saint Andrew.

"Jesus' life stands as a model of the transition from Homo sapiens to Homo universalis ...."

 George Weigel's commentary Crittir prayers and transhumanism. In the newspaper Today's Catholic. Friday, November 16, 2012.


Here is a snippet from the Canadian female theologian, Barbara Marx Hubbard, who, we're told!

"...was the designated keynote speaker at the August general assembly of the [American Catholic nuns'] Leadership Conference of Women Religious..."

Weigel's quote:

"... we do know that the story told in the Gospels is that Jesus' resurrection was a first demonstration of what I call the Post - human universal person ...

"We are told that he did not die.

"He made his transition, released his animal body, and reappeared in a new body at the next level of physicality to tell all of us that we would do what he did.

"Jesus' life stands as a model of the transition from Homo sapiens to Homo universalis ..." 

So, this helps explain things, you bet! :) 


"On the Assumption of Aunty's favorite Nephew into Heaven -- body and soul!!??" :)

Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI 

Introduction to Glib Christian Apostasy 101!!

From Today's Catholic. Thursday, November 16, 2012.
 
"I was at the funeral of a young man who had died tragically in a car accident.

"At the time of his death, on the surface, his relationship to his church and to some of its moral teachings was far from ideal.

"He was not attending church regularly, was living with his girlfriend outside of marriage, was not much concerned about [the] poor or the larger community -- and was, in simple terms, partying pretty hard.

"At the reception following the church service, one of his aunts said to me:  He was such a good person -- if I were running the gates of heaven, I would certainly let him in ...

"I assured her that, no doubt, God felt the same way, given that God's understanding and forgiveness infinitely surpasses our own ..."
 
Oh right on, Father Ron!! :)
 
xxxx yy cc uu vvv www ....

Friday, November 16, 2012

"Dale agua a éste ..." II

Piedras Negras Mexican News Radio -- La información sin fronteras ...

"Thursday. November 15, 2012. 5:57 p.m.  SEDENA [The Office of the Secretary of National Defense] announces yet another  escapee from last September's jailbreak captured here by the military yesterday afternoon.

"This brings the total to 30 escapees re - taken alive and 8 more shot dead ..."

Cool! That means there's only 95 +/- still running loose! :)


MEANWHILE, OVER THE PAST TWO WEEKS:


1) Mexico's military routinely shuts down all cell phone service within a certain radius of any ongoing local gun battle. 

Technology may come from either Israel or Uncle Sam, or who knows.

2) When quizzed as to the state of security in Piedras Negras, Bishop Alonso Gerardo Garza Treviño says flatly: "There is no security in Piedras Negras."

3) Official petroleum company (PEMEX) reports that in Piedras Negras itself -- consumption of gas at the pump has fallen by one million liters a month. 

The average consumer now buys 8 liters of gas at a time instead of 12 as formerly.

4) Priests are concerned over the rash of cancellations of such things as weddings and 15th birthday ceremonies due to peoples' fears of sky - rocketing violence.

5) School absenteeism on the first day following shoot outs is now running from 40% to 80%.

 6) Mexican Radio News reporters uneasily discuss the alleged potential for a new wave of cochebomba -- car bomb attacks -- only this time around focused on blowing up  PEMEX gasoline stations utilizing some kind of really whiz - bang computer software to trigger the disaster -- instead of now - obsolete cell phone technology ...

7) Spokes persons for Mexico's Social Security Administration say that while there are indeed retired Mexicans drawing down pensions equivalent of up to US $2,500 per month, the vast majority of retirees are lucky to be drawing US $250.00 per month... 

And so the list goes on ... :(
 

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Southwest Texas, U.S.A.

Frontier Baptist Church's Pastor,
Rev. Ned Sitzes' Marquee message...

Faithfully echoes Fatima's special ecumenical prayer of 1917.

From Portugal to Brackettville!

So what' s 95 years compared to Eternity?

Which is forever now ...?

Today's compact marquee version:

"Sin equals a Soul in need"
 

Fatima's original version, taught to the 3 little Portuguese kids:

"Oh my Jesus. Forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of Hell. And lead all souls into Heaven. Especially those most in need of Thy mercy ..."

 Way to go, Reverend! :)

Folks, it's like the late Rev. Father John Hardon, S.J. liked to remind us:

Catholic Christians need to shake loose from two limiting words in any Christian's vocabulary -- the two words chance and coincidence...

'Cause what we have here is is the Holy Trinity in action.

And you can't get any more evangelical than that .... :)

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Beloit, Kansas and Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church and School.

Population 3,800.

One-half Catholic.

Of which 40% show up for Sunday Mass.

Yet enough left over to support a steadily growing student enrollment which right now is around 150.

Grades PreK to 12.   

Upper Grades curriculum built around The Great Books.

Lauded by Kansas State Board of Education.

Tuition $700.00 per student per school year.

$2,000 max per family!

Snippets from an article by Paul Likoudis. The Wanderer. Thursday, November 8, 2012.

"So what can I say? Awesome stats, huh??"

Especially given the stat that 50% of American Catholic schools have reportedly "bitten the dust" in the last 40 years! :)
 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

November 15.  Feast Day of Saint Albert the Great.

November 16. Feast Day of Saint Margaret of Scotland.

November 16. Feast Day of Saint Gertrude.

November 17. Feast Day of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.

Texas Aggie football team's victory of 29 - 24 over Alabama last Sunday "exorcises" the curse of 1957:

When the mere rumor of Aggie Coach "Bear" Bryant's pending switch to Alabama reduced the Aggie's mid-season winning streak to a radioactive disaster!  


Way to go, Aggies! :)

"Dále agua a éste -- Give that guy a drink of water ..." :)

Violent shoot outs -- balaceras -- still raging in Piedras Negras, across from Eagle Pass, Texas!

From Mexican News Radio La información sin fronteras.

"Monday, November 12, 2012 -- yesterday afternoon there was a gun battle between soldados de la Marina -- soldiers of the Marine -- and suspected delinquents.  One suspect was killed outright. One vehicle totally destroyed by fire, presumably due to a direct hit from a grenade projectile. 

"No word as to which side fired it  ... 

"Deceased identified as one Fulano de Tal -- yet another escapee from the big local jail break last September ... "

Friday, November 09, 2012

Small Town USA

ELECTION RESULTS

Kinney County, Texas.

Where the Kinney County Ground Water Conservation District  race was both hot and polemical!


Two come - from - behind challengers in particular who swayed "us voters" successfully were:


Quiet, dedicated Mr. Matt Bland: "This time around!" wins with 771 votes to his incumbent opponent's 453.

Quietly determined Ms. Peggy Sue  Postell: wins with 633 votes to her opponent's 612.

Way to go, great people! :)

First meeting with new members was yesterday, Thursday, November 8, 2012, in the Kinney County Library Annex.

"Kinney County total votes cast:

"922 -- Early voting.

"531 -- Election Day

"1,453 voted out of 2,371 registered voters..."

Thanks to the Kinney County Post, Thursday, November 8, 2012.

And welcomed input from FCS' Mr. Robert Aguirre... 

Thursday, November 08, 2012

"ARBEIT MACHT FREI"

Auschwitz "early August 1941..."

The Death of Prisoner 16670 Saint Maximilian Kolbe ...

Who volunteered to take the place of Prisoner 5659.

In the NAZI's  infamous "Starvation Bunker..."

From the TFP magazine Crusade. November - December 2012. A snippet from Michael Gorre's article.


"Father Maximilian remained the sole conscious man after ten days of starvation.

"Imitating Our Lord Jesus Christ who stretched His arms forth to accept the Cross, Saint Maximilian stretched his emaciated arm towards the executioner who injected him with carbolic acid.

"It was August 4, 1941, the eve of the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven ..."

What a triumphant way for a good Christian to die! :)

November 9. Feast Day of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.

 November 10. Feast Day of Pope Saint Leo the Great.

November 12. Feast Day of Saint Josaphat.

November 13. Feast Day of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini.


Special Salute to California and Texas women veterans this coming Sunday, November 11, 2012.

According to the DAV California leads with roughly 180,000 women veterans.

Texas is second with roughly 160,000.

Way to go ladies! :)

"Quien no conoce a Dios, ante cualquier palo se le hinca..." II

The names stapled already to Saint Mary Magdalene's Catholic Church' Para - Liturgical Mitote Committee's  arbolito ñgangulereño will most likely  be ritually "sacrificed" in this year's inside paper trash burning mitote just before the 5:30pm Mass.

Saturday. December 1, 2012.


Brackettville, Texas 78832.

"Be there -- video camera in hand! -- or be square!" 

Then, upload to You Tube! :)


Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Así es mi pobre tierra ... :(

"Hidalgo County, Texas

"Hunting for toxic chemicals in Donna

"Residents still eating the fish..."

By Colin McDonald and Lynn Brezosky. San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS. Monday, November 5, 2012.

"Donna -- The source of the toxic chemicals in the fish of the Donna Canal and reservoir is still a mystery almost 20 years after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency started looking.

"But residents of the South Texas town of Donna are still eating the  fish laden  with PCBs despite  a ban and warning signs along the canal.

"The EPA is now overseeing its largest and most comprehensive search in the canal system for PCBs, or polychlorinated  biphenyls, cancer causing chemicals that were used in industrial equipment until they were banned.

"The Donna Canal carries water from the Rio Grande to irrigate farm fields and provide drinking water for Donna, a city of less than 16,000 residents in Hidalgo County.

"It is an EPA Superfund site, meaning it is one of the most hazardous, that has produced fish with the highest concentration of the toxic chemical ever found, according to the Texas Department  of State Health Services ..."

It was most likely the last Saturday in May of 1962 -- or the first Saturday in June! -- that my kind and understanding mother and father let me invite two great friends and fellow graduates of Saint Joseph's School  in Alamo, Texas 78216 -- to come to our rancho, then hike -- fishing poles in hand! -- to the nearby Donna Canal.

Luckily for us - - Ruben,  Chacho, Dennis and a bit later 7th. grader Gilberto -- nobody caught anything.

But man, we had us  a fine time! :)


From Ted Nugent's hilarious autobiography:

♪Bomb Iran!♫
♫Put'em in a can full of sand!♪

♪Bomb Iran!♫
♫Bomb Iran

Ted says this all took place during an audition he was holding in Dallas during  the 1980  Iranian Hostage Crises.

The idiot being auditioned belt out his cover of the Beach Boys' smash hit, Barbara Ann!

The idiot was doing just fine -- until he yanked out a real Tech - 9 loaded with live ammo -- and let fly! :) 

Sorry folks, but we've clowns now running both political parties more than ready to be idiots toward the Iranian government and people.

Ugly, senselessly stupid -- but true! :( 

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Good morning everyone! 

Election Day USA 2012

"Will the sun still rise tomorrow?"

Most likely! :)

Our Sunday Visitor's poll results on Pro - Abortion vs. Anti - Abortion Catholic voters:

Almost neck and neck! 

OSV issue of Sunday, November 4, 2012.

Monday, November 05, 2012

"Quien no conoce a Dios, ante cualquier palo se le hinca..." 

Oh, right on, buenos amigos mios mexicanos ... :)

"How I learned to quit worrying about next year's bombing of Iran....

"And instead learned to just love Father Antonio Moreno's more or less Christianized (ha! ha!) ñgangulero tree!"

Because, if nothing else!

This years version seems to have an almost Christmas sort of ambiance, much better than the original version we had here at Saint Mary Magdalene's Catholic Church, Brackettville, Texas 78832, in November 2008.

That years wind - up was a spectacular in front of the altar re - creation of a ñgangulero invocation of savage so - called Pan African Tribal Gods -- with Deacon Jimmy Bader's fired up BBQ Grill fulfilling the role of the ñganga -- at least in a secondary anthropological sense -- as the caldron of fiery sacrifice...

To make that ceremony seem even more like something condemned in the book Sober Intoxication of the Holy Spirit by Monsignor Raniero Cantalamessa (sp?) we were all compelled to stand up and dutifully mumble the Lord's Prayer and some version of the Litany of the Saints!

And at  the same time the flames leaped, sparked and crackled and the starter fluid stank, the priest leaning forward intently viewing the burning contents of the fiery caldron as he ritually stirred the flames. 

Inside the church.

In front of the altar....

Archbishop Gómez had already written us to say he'd referred all this to Father Tony Vilano, but!

Nada, nada, nada! :(

This year who knows?

Cardinal Newman makes it clear that the Church can adapt any such formal pagan worship mumbo - jumbo and Christianize it; let's hope Father Moreno can pull it off!

As he told us all Thursday night, Father knows first hand about being physically attacked by Satanically - occult manifestations - -- in his case a wild boar outside a remote Franciscan monastery in rural Italy! -- so we can most likely count on him not to let things go too far this year! :)


Last Saturday's deacon-less 5:30pm Mass well - served! 

Saturday. November 3, 2012. 5:30 p.m. Mass. TEAM Mr. Dante Luna and Mr. Justin Hidalgo.

Way to go, great people! :)

Southwest Texas Small Town Bright Lights: 

Friday Night Football!

Mason H.S. Cow Punchers trash our BHS Tigers by something like 47 - 6.

When they hit the dirt, the Punchers already had their team mojo up and running. 

Our Tigers obviously didn't ...

Thus, Bad Medicine...

End of the story! :)

Friday, November 02, 2012

All Saints Day 5:30 p.m. Mass at Saint Mary Magdalene's Catholic Church in Brackettville, Texas -- zip 78832 -- 

... Had a good turnout of some 120 - 150 faithful yesterday!

When scheduled servers went "missing in action," Mr. Adam "Charlie" Resendez jumped in to assist Fr. Tony Moreno and Deacon James Bader in the celebration of this important annual liturgy and Holy Day of Obligation!
  
Way to go everyone! :)

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Yahoo prophecy: President Obama will win if he continues to hold Ohio!! :) 

Plus side? 

More and more, local races will themselves become more and more: "something to behold!" 


At least in Small Town USA.

Why so?

Because of the common consensus that it's at the grassroots level that small - town America really rocks: County official races, City official races, School Board and Water Board races... 

And, believe it or not, that's where the real political "people power" resides! 

Four more years of President Obama will "do the trick!" :)