Saint Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Brackettville, Texas 78832.

Welcomed Chicago - based visiting Augustinian missionary priest Father Christopher C. Steinle, OSA this weekend!

Saturday, April 20, 2013. 5:30pm Altar - server less English Mass.

Celebrant -- Father Christopher C. Steinle.

Deacon of the Mass -- Rev. Mr. James Bader.

Homilist -- Father Steinle: "The coming world - wide persecutions of Christians -- American Catholics' turn coming very soon, too!"

EMHCs -- Mrs. Jamie Ballew and Mr. Jim Burns.

Lector -- Ms. Carole Whitworth.

Before - Mass 5 - Decade Rosary Leader -- Mr. George Nicolai.

Ushers -- Mr. George Nicolai and Mr. Faustino Sandoval.

Choir Director -- Mrs. Lynn McNew.

Way to go great and wonderful people! :)

From Inside The Vatican -- April 2013 issue!

A snippet dealing with the topic of:

"Our Lady of Africa" 

We're told her shrine in Algiers is just as popular with Muslims as it is with Christians.

The author even claims the Muslims call Our Lady Lola Miriam -- Bestower of favors.... 

Interesting! :)

May 1. Feast Day of Saint Joseph the Worker -- San José el Obrero.

April 23. Feast Day of Saint George, Martyr -- San Jorge - Mártir

April 23. Feast Day of Saint Adalbert -- Bishop and Martyr -- San Adalberto - Obispo and Mártir

April 24. Feast Day of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen - Priest and Martyr -- San Fidel de Sigmaringen -- Sacerdote y Mártir

April 25. Feast Day of Saint Mark - Evangelist -- San Marcos - Evangelista

April 28. Fifth Sunday of Easter -- Quinto domingo de Pascua

April 29. Feast Day of Saint Catherine of Siena - Virgin and Doctor of the Church -- Santa Catarina de Siena - virgin y doctora de la  Iglesia
 

April 30. Feast Day of Pope Saint Pius V Papa San Pio V

Rare bird calling this morning in Brackettville, Texas 78832.

While still in early morning gloom, around 6:40 a.m or so!

"Chuck Will's Widow! Chuck Will's Widow!" :)

PS Nope! NOT listed in Peterson's Field Guide to Western Birds. :)

UK's David Cameron catching flack!

American TFP's Crusade magazine for May / June 2013:

"The New Henry VIII"
 
"In one of the largest joint letters ever written, 1,054 British priests and thirteen bishops and other Catholic leaders warned that their prime minister, David Cameron has become a modern - day Henry VIII because he shares the same desires to redefine marriage..." 

Their sound bite:

"Henry VIII could have been forgiven for adultery but he didn't want to do that.

"He wanted to control and redefine what was a marriage and what wasn't ..."

Thus ...

"The letter condemns Cameron's push for the legalization of hate crime laws and homosexual marriage as  severely restricting the ability of Catholics to teach the truth about marriage in their schools, charitable institutions or places of worship ..."

Wow! Interesting, huh? :)

Brackettville, Texas High School zip 78832.

Three more Class of 2013 ready to fly away! 

More graduates -- among them Doña Elvia Estrada's favorite Tigrette baseball - playing granddaughter -- la asesina con bate ... :)

Congratulations to Ms. Phyllis Aguirre, Ms. Jasmine Peña and Mr. Juan C. Ramos.

Good luck, great young people! :)

Thanks to the Kinney County Post. Thursday, April 18, 2013.
 

RIP Sister in law Martha Lozano Morony -- who died peacefully at the family's Del Rio ranchito Wednesday evening.

Father Clay Hunt III  had already come and administered the appropriate last rites of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Rosary this Sunday evening at 8:00pm at Saint Joseph's Catholic Church in Del Rio, Texas -- 78842.

Funeral Mass at 10.00am Monday morning likewise at Saint Joseph's.

From the American TFP's magazine Crusade. May / June issue 2013.

"U.S. criminals favor gun control"

"Research conducted by Professors James Wright and Peter Rossi, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, points to the armed citizen as possibly the most effective deterrent to crime in the nation.

"They questioned 1,874 felons serving time in  prisons and found: 

"81% agreed that the smart criminal will try to find out if a potential victim is armed.

"74% felt that burglars avoided occupied dwellings for fear of being shot.

"57% of handgun predators had encountered armed citizens. 

"40% did not commit a specific crime for fear that the victim was armed.

"34% of handgun predators were scared off or shot at by armed victims.

"57% felt that the typical criminal feared being shot by citizens more than he feared being shot by police.

"88% of criminals agreed with this statement A criminal who wants a handgun is going to get one..."

Thanks guys, for all your professional input! :)

Southwest Texas U.S.A. 78832.

Kinney County.

Brackettville and Spofford.

We just found out maybe 30 to 45 minutes ago, know what I mean?

That yesterday, we lost a longtime best friend, and for me personally?

More than just a longtime best friend.

Era también mi primo -- Señor Eddie Solis.

"'Ole Number 24..."

RIP -- Primo mio... :(

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

Saint Mary Magdalen Catholic Church.

Brackettville, Texas 78832.

Saturday, April 13, 2013. 5:30p.m. English Mass.

Celebrant -- Father Antonio Moreno.

Homilist -- Father Moreno. Most likely John 21, where Peter says to his six fellow disciples  something like "I am going fishing..." Father carefully explained the Biblical significance of the number seven in the Jewish religion, among other very interesting things!

Altar Server TEAM -- Mr. Justin Hidalgo. 

Transport - Team MOM -- Patti.

Extraordinary Ministers -- K  of C Mr. John Carlson + Mr. Jim Burns +  a nice young lady, too!

Lector -- yet another nice young lady! :)

Usher Team -- Mr. George Nicolai + Mr. Jim Burns.

Before - Mass 5 - Decade Rosary Leader -- Mr. George Nicolai.

Choir Director -- Mrs. Leticia Carter.

Way to go, great and wonderful people, keep up the good work! :)  
 

Terrible Tragedy for Brackettville, Texas 78832:

Four members of the Koontz family had their lives casually snuffed - out late Saturday night, as they were returning to Brackettville from a UIL competition in San Antonio.

A deeply committed loving mother and father and two beautiful daughters. 

By a wrong - way driving drunk commercial truck driver.

What a terrible waste!

And the youngest child posing Easter Sunday morning in her Easter best solemnly gazing at the camera as she clutches her Easter basket -- an Easter basket as nearly big as she is.

How are her grief - stricken aunts and uncles going to be able to explain to her "Honey, we're sorry, but your mommy and daddy and two big sisters are gone  ... ?"  :(

Brilliant and controversial Raymond de Souza's latest Roman Catholic evangelical sizzler:

"How Simon knew Jesus was the son of God"
 
Slightly edited conclusive  snippets from his original  in The Wanderer. Thursday, April 11, 2013.

"Abraham was the man in the Old Testament whose name was changed by God the Father.

"He received a great  mission implicit in his new name: Father of many nations.

"Peter is the man in the New Testament whose name was changed by God the Son.

"He, too, received a great mission implicit in his new name: the Rock, the foundation of the Church of Christ.

"Thus, Peter is the man chosen by God the Father to make an explicit revelation about the nature of God the Son.

"He was made a prophet in the real sense of the word..."

Way to go, Señor!

Salute to  Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie!

His superb Literary Masterpiece is still our "best friend" -- especially in Medieval Roman Catholic field anthropology! --  going on 34 years now.

Whether in modern French original as Montaillou village occitan de 1294 à 1324 or in English translation as Montaillou the promised land of error. 

Believe you me: thanks to the methodology in Montaillou we had no problem in spotting similarities between Occitanian France 700 years ago and Roman Catholic Brackettville today, where a sort of neo - Albigensianism still has a firm grip!   

Which makes "us" the same sort of remote, rural so - called gnostic - fantasy enclave, believe it or not!

After all: "Quien no conoce a Dios, ante cualquier palo se le hinca..."  :)

Southwest Texas U.S.A.

Brackett High School Seniors -- Class of 2013 -- ready to say adios to Brackettville -- zip code 78832.

Congratulations to Ms. Marissa Villareal, Ms. Calli Campos and Ms. Selina Gerardo.

Good luck ladies, you've earned it!   :)

Thanks to the Kinney County Post. Thursday, April 11, 2013. 

This just in as of last night's Mexican News  Radio Información sin fronteras evening broadcast:

"Major General so and so of the Seventh Military Zone has suddenly announced this very afternoon that  he's detaching 500 elite combat troops of the thus and such Mechanized Cavalry Regiment from their more or less routine occupation duty at Chetumal, Quintana Roo -- and rushing them literally across country in a 24 - hour race  to Saltillo, Coahuila..."

The report adds that these urgently requested reinforcements for Northern Coahuila State will be in Saltillo this afternoon -- and will then receive their orders for further immediate deployment ...
 

Dr. Timothy O'Donnell, President of Christendom College thumbs his nose at fellow Catholic University CEOs! :) 

"There's no doubt about it: we're losing the culture war..."

Snippets from a recent fundraising letter ...

"Look no further than  our nation's Catholic colleges and universities.


"Am I exaggerating?

"Sadly, no.

"Here's a sampling of some recent events on U.S. Catholic campuses:

"Sex Positive Week, sponsored by university feminist and homosexual groups.

"A talk called Relationships Beyond Monogamy, presented by a pornographic film director.

"Color of Queer Film Series, featuring a movie about a male police officer who seduces a 12 - year - old boy.

"Transgender Awareness Week, during which students were encouraged to come to class in gender - bending outfits.

"How is this possible?

"[M]ost Catholic schools aren't really Catholic anymore.

"And while there are several reasons for that, one of the most significant has been overlooked: the corrupting effects of federal government subsidies.

"It began in 1965, when LBJ's Omnibus Education Act made millions of federal dollars available to Catholic colleges -- in exchange, you might say, for their souls ...

"Every Catholic college, that is, except one..."

Way to go, Señor! :)

Christendom College

www.christendom.edu

Saint Mary Magdalen Catholic Church.

Brackettville, Texas 78832.

Spring Festival is Sunday, April 14, 2013.

Fine selection of BBQ Plates:

Cabrito.*

Brisket. 

Chicken.

$$ Raffle $$ prizes, too!


"B there or B square!" :)

*Goat Meat!

Sunday April 21, 2013.

Will be the Forty - sixth Anniversary of the Vietnam War's US Marine Fox Co. Second Battalion First Marine Regiment ...

... vs. at least a battalion  of the Third NVA/PAVN Regiment. 

At the village of Binh Son I.

Thereby kicking -- off Operation Union I*

"We lost!" :(

Let's just say that:

Launching a frontal assault with 8 rifle squads reinforced with weapons attachments against a dug - in enemy was a Custer - class example of "how not to do things!"

The result?

33 KIA and 56 WIA.

*Wikipedia does a good job on all this, you bet! :)

Crazy weather in Southwest Texas U.S.A.

Tuesday afternoon's high in Eagle Pass -- 104F

Tuesday's high in Del Rio -- 102F

Tuesday's high in Brackettville -- 95F

Brackettville's current Wednesday reading at 10:00 am -- a chilly 55F. !! Brrr...!! :)

With a cold, moist wind blowing from out of the North! :)

April 11. Feast Day of Saint Stanislaus - Bishop and Martyr -- San Estanislao - Obispo y Mártir.

April 13. Feast Day of Pope Saint Martin I -- Martyr -- Papa San Martín I - Mártir.

April 14. Third Sunday of Easter -- Tercero Domingo de Pascua.

"Gay marriage cases in hands of  high court...

"Conventional wisdom is that the justices  are split [4 to 4] with Justice Kennedy holding the tie - breaking  swing vote when rulings come down in June ..."

Snippets from Russell Shaw's article in Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly.

Sunday, April 14, 2013.


Cool! Let's just see what happens, huh? :)

Last Saturday's 5:30 Mass a well - supported Liturgical Celebration!

Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Church.

Brackettville, Texas 78832.

Saturday, April 6, 2013. 5:30 pm English Mass.

Celebrant -- Father Antonio Moreno.

Deacon of the Mass -- The Reverend Mr. James Bader.

Homilist -- Deacon Jimmy: "Easter hasn't just come and gone. Easter has come to stay! When Jesus says to [Doubting] Thomas -- Blessed are they who have not seen yet have believed -- He was speaking to each one of us of an inspirational  truth. We will never see the Risen Christ in this life, yet Jesus is blessing us for still believing in Him...."

Altar Server TEAM -- Mr. Justin Hidalgo and Ms. Brittany Castilla.

Servers' Mom - Transport TEAM -- Patti and Frances.

Extraordinary Ministers --  Mrs. Julia C. Terrazas and Mr. Jim Burns.

Lector -- Ms. Patti Hidalgo.

Before - Mass 5 - Decade Rosary Leader -- Mr. George Nicolai.

Usher TEAM -- Mr. George Nicolai and Mr. Jim Burns.

Choir Director -- Mrs. Leticia Carter.

Way to go great and wonderful people! :)  
 

American Catholic Mass Readings for Sunday, April 7, 2013.

Acts 5:12-16.
Psalms 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24.
Revelations 1:9-11A, 12-13, 17-19.
John 20:19-31.

Nashville, Tennessee's Southern Baptist Convention Headquarters Bureacrats ...

vs. the Vatican's Curia Bureaucrats.

Who has the most muscle? :)

"What is the Curia?"

By Monsignor Owen F. Campion. Associate Editor of Our Sunday Visitor  Newsweekly. Sunday, April 7, 2013.

"The [curial] offices in Rome are made up of priests, nuns and lay people, helping the Pope govern the Church.

"The presumption that enormous numbers of priests and nuns work in the Vatican, running a vast empire, especially amused me when I was a priest in Nashville, Tennessee, which is the administrative headquarters of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"Baptists often criticize the Catholic Church for being excessively, even tyrannically, centralized, top heavy with an immense clerical bureaucracy in which everyone lives off the fat of the land.

"More than a few Baptists were surprise  to learn that their headquarters hired more than twice as many employees as the Vatican had on its payroll..."

Way to go, Padre! :) 

Mexican News Radio -- Información sin fronteras -- public - service election adds for July 2013:

"Lo que hace grande un pais es la participación de su gente..."

"What makes a country great is the participation of its people [in the electoral process]" 

Luego, un coro de jovencitos nos canta:

"♫¡A votar -- este siete de julio -- Everybody go vote -- this coming July 7th!♪" 

Southwest Texas, USA 78832.

In a largely unpopulated  + vast and still - emerging corner of the developing Third World...

Three more Brackettville High School  Class of 2013 students  are ready to escape to the Planet Earth!

Congratulations to:

Ms. Selene Talamantes, Mr. Ryan Clark and Mr. Charlie Resendez.

Good luck, everyone! :)

Thanks to the Kinney County Post. Thursday, April 4, 2013. 

Another nice sunny morning  in Brackettville, Texas 78832:

55 F.

Chilly -- yet sunny! -- Thursday morning in Brackettville, Texas 78832.

46 F.

Believe it or not! 


April 4. Thursday within the Octave of Easter -- Jueves de la Octava de Pascua.

April 5. Friday within the Octave of Easter -- Viernes de la Octava de Pascua.

First Friday -- Viernes Primero

April 6. Saturday within the Octave of Easter -- Sábado de la Octava de Pascua.

First Saturday -- Sábado Primero.

April 7. Second Sunday of Easter -- Divine Mercy Sunday -- Domingo de la Divina Misericordia.

April 8. Feast Day of the Annunciation of the Lord -- La Annunciación del Señor.

Cool to read the lyrical commentary by ex - San Diego, California MCRD DI Marine Gunnery Sergeant Dale Hatten -- of Recruit Platoon 1025 fame! --

-- immortalized by us -- in some such online classic as "The (allegedly!) Mother - fixated Bright Boys of the Summer of Nineteen Sixty - six " --

on how his one little 'ole 81 mm Mortar Platoon -- Jimminy Christmas! as he assures us! -- cranked off 11,000 rounds in support of the Marines attacking those world - class NVA / PAVN dug - in combat troops at the Battle of Hue City --

First class fighting men described elsewhere as big, tough guys five foot - ten, six  foot etc...

Communist Tet Offensive January - February 1968.

Viet Nam War.

D*mn fine gentleman and scholar, you bet!

It's all in that fantastic 2011 edition of  The Soldiers' Story...

Which is based in turn on the History Channel version of October 1998 that we referred to in our story online -- where we saw Gunny Hatten live!

Easter Sunday's 10:00 a.m. Deacon - less Mass still well - served and fabulously attended! 

Saint Mary Magdalene Catholic Church -- Brackettville, Texas 78832.

Three adults formally admitted to our Church.

One young lady made her First Holy Communion.

Roughly 300 of us in attendance.

Celebrant -- Father Antonio Moreno.

Homilist -- Father Moreno.

Altar Servers -- Mr. Moses Hernandez, Jr. + Mr. Justin Hidalgo + Ms. Brittany Castilla + Ms. Jackie Pacheco.

Transport Team Moms -- Chica, Patti, Frances, Maria.

Extraordinary Minsters -- K. of C. Mr. Ricardo Rangel, Mrs. Dahlia Rangel and K. of C. Mr. Paul Fernandez.

Designated Lector - Ms. Rebecca Rangel.

Designated Before - Mass 5 - decade Rosary Leader -- Ms.  Patti Hidalgo.

Senior Usher -Team Members -- K. of C. Mr. Jack Boxell, Mr. Tony Frerich, and Mr. Alf Peña.

Choir Director -- Mrs. Lynn McNew.

Way to go great and outstanding good people! :)

Brackettville, Texas USA - 78832.

Three more BHS Class of 2013 Seniors ready to
graduate!

Congratulations to:

Ms. Meghan Flores, Ms. Alexis Guartuche and Mr. Austin Pettet.

Way to go good people, good luck! :)

Tip of the 'ole cacucha to: The Kinney County Post -- Thursday, March 28, 2013.

April 1. Monday within the Octave of Easter -- Lunes de la Octava de Pascua.

April 2. Tuesday within the Octave of Easter -- Martes de la Octava de Pascua.

April 3. Wednesday within the Octave of Easter -- Miércoles de la Octava de Pascua.