National NFP Awareness Week

The USCCB has declared July 21 - July 27, 2013 as "National NFP Awareness Week." NFP is Natural Family Planning. This year's theme is "Pro-woman, Pro-man, Pro-child."

The idea is to educate people about the very effective methods of natural family planning as well as what and why the Church teaches regarding love, sexuality, and parenting.

Here's the link to the program's page. It's full of information such as couples' stories, articles, Church teachings, listings of area resources, and more.

Poverty in America

My youngest daughter, Monica (4), is the sweetest little girl I know. Honestly.

However, she has "another side". It comes out when she doesn't get her way, or just doesn't get it fast enough. She is, well, high maintenance. Even our priests, who shower her with priestly love, are aware of this, and have "messed" with her about it from time to time. Of course, they know to wait until everything's "OK" first.

Yesterday, Monica was "hurrying" me about getting her lunch. When it wasn't going fast enough for her, she whined, "I'm starving!" "No, Monica", I insisted, "You may be hungry, but you are definitely not starving."

On my pin-board next to my computer, I have a picture of a little boy who, at the time the picture was taken, was starving. I keep it there to keep some perspective for myself; to remind me to be thankful for what I have and don't have, and to remind me that there are many in this world, in this country even, with real needs; needs, not just wants and desires.

Later, I noticed that the USCCB facebook page posted that January is "Poverty Awareness Month". I am going to be honest. When I first clicked to go to the daily calendar provided, I winced a bit, noticing that this was part of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, an organization within the USCCB that has not always properly vetted the organizations it works with and contributes to.

But first, I do believe that much has been done and is being done to "correct" this. Next, looking over the calendar, I think this is a great way to educate my family (myself included) about what poverty in the United States really looks like, and some ways to help that we might not have thought about before.

The calendar includes a suggestion or bit of information along with a link for each day in January. Yesterday's  spot stated:

Take the Poverty Tour to see what life is like for a family of four living at the poverty line in the United States. Then share the Poverty Tour on Facebook!

I hope you will check it out. Heres the link again:


JANUARY 2013: POVERTY AWARENESS MONTH

Can I Just Stay Home on Election Day?

Disclaimer: Not an endorsement of the website noted

Back in August, I entered several posts about the need to prayerfully weigh the choices we have in electing public officials and the need to enter the voting booth with a properly formed conscience. I also entered several posts indicating that we have some particularly poor choices this year for those of us who believe that it is important for our elected officials to promote Christian morals and principles.

While I stand firmly behind all that I have written, as we draw closer to the presidential election, I feel compelled to make a few things clear, and I'll tell you why.

When I entered those posts, I had three very close friends contact me offline, or rather, in the "real world". Each of them had different concerns, but I was actually very happy to think that my friends were challenged by what I wrote.

Well, can't I just avoid evil by not voting?

Two of the questions hinged on the actual choice of candidates, and I will lightly touch on that a bit later in this post. But the other question was about whether we should just stay home, not vote, and avoid voting for any less-than-desirable choices. Those of you who know me well, know that I try to avoid giving absolute advice unless I am absolute in my understanding and conviction.

Quick disclaimer: Opinion and absolute voice are far from the same.

So here, you go, and I say this with love: No, you cannot avoid evil by staying home.

"Responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation." -- Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (USCCB)

Ugggg!!! So what now?

Well, you will still need to do your own homework. Whether you are Catholic or not, I believe that the resources provided by the Catholic bishops are quite good and should aid in responsible discerning.

Here is a link to the full version of the bishops' Forming Consciences For Faithful Citizenship.

Here is a link to their flyer The Challenge of Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.

So what's a donkey to do?

Even though I did not intend to ever publicly state how I am going to vote, I will do so if for no other reason than to avoid confusion. We had enough of that in 2008. However, as I said earlier, I will only lightly touch on this. I've done my homework and discernment, you should too.

I am going to cast my vote for Romney. Although I do not believe that he is a Christian in the sense of what I believe to be a Christian, I do believe that he espouses to the values and morality that are much more in line with Christianity than does President Obama. Romney is the only viable choice of candidates with a legitimate chance of defeating Obama.
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Breast Beat Down? Not Quite What You Think

Some Catholic practices may seem odd to non-Catholics, but have become foreign for some Catholics as well.  Take the breast striking for instance. Striking the breast is not some form of self-flagellation or breast beat down.

Our parish is blessed to have a very young, newly ordained priest assigned to us for a couple of months now.

Yesterday at Mass, he reminded the congregation that during the Confiteor, the rubrics in The Order of Mass state we strike out breast during the words "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault" (mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa").

The USCCB commentary on The Order of Mass states

"During the Confiteor, the faithful should “strike their breast” while saying, “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.” This prescribed “striking” is a symbolic tapping of the chest with a clenched fist over one’s heart, signifying remorse. This is part of the beauty of our Catholic liturgy – sacramental words are complemented by sacramental actions. This action also recalls the penitent tax collector in Luke, chapter 18, who “beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’”

I actually like an older explanation even better. St. Augustine, speaking of striking the breast said

"What does this mean except that you wish to bring to light what is concealed in the breast, and by this act to cleanse your hidden sins?"

Maybe I was hard on CRS and the USCCB, but I am not smart enough to say I was wrong yet

On Tuesday I posted regarding funds donated by CRS to CARE.  I based the post on an article by Michelle Bauman of Catholic News Agency.

Yesterday, I noticed on Twitter that @CRSnews was making an effort to respond to the criticism, continuing to defend its contribution to CARE.  Engaging in the "tweeting", I was told by @CRSnews to read a statement by John Haas (stressing "in his own words") of the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBS), which did an ethical analyses of the grant for CRS.  Although helpful, I did not (and still do not) believe that the statement was a ringing endorsement of the transaction(s) in question.

In fact, in John Haas' "own words";

The NCBC concluded that great care was taken by CRS to see that funds were used only for the purposes designated, i.e., assisting the poor, the malnourished, and the starving.  

However, there is another dimension to the Principle of Material Cooperation: the consideration of the risk of scandal. Even if cooperation with an evildoer to achieve some great good were morally legitimate it still could not be done if the action of the Catholic would lead others to believe that the Catholic Church were indifferent to the evil, such as, for example, contraception.

He goes on to say that some clarifications were made to the CRS Mission Statement and concluded with "CRS obviously assumes the responsibility for the grants which it awards."

Later, I was directed by someone (whose opinion on such matters I respect) to review an article by Brandon Vogt (no known relation).

While I had already seen the documentation which Brandon presented in the article, he certainly offered a thorough review of such.

I strongly encourage you to read his article and the comments and follow-ups as well.

However, I am personally still having a hard time buying the whole fungibility argument. Maybe CARE can't transfer funding directly, but the analogy given (in Brandon's article)of the $10 to the street guy who uses the money for alcohol instead of food does not seem fit (in my opinion).

A more accurate analogy would seem to be someone (CARE) who receives $10 in food stamps. They use the $10 food stamps for food. However, now they have this $10 that someone else gave them. They were trying to decide if they would use the $10 (or some of it) on food and the rest on alcohol. Now they don't have to make the choice. They can have both.

Maybe I'm too dumb for my own good, but it sure does not smell good when the bishops are fighting Obama on a comparable subject.

If you are smart enough to convince me that there's no way receiving funds from CRS helped CARE in other areas, please take a shot.  Really.  I would love to make my wife happy and admit publicly that I was wrong.

Hey USCCB!, You can't ride two horses with one...

It was recently discovered that Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the official overseas relief agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has participated in funding CARE.  CARE is an international humanitarian organization which provides relief in developing nations.

Great!  However, they also provide contraception and early-abortion-inducing drugs!

In an article by Catholic News Agency, CRS defends its funding of CARE, and states that it “always has taken very seriously decisions we make about the groups with which we collaborate or form partnerships to ensure that we are not violating the Church teachings.”

CRS further defends its funding of CARE by stating that there was "little to no risk" that funds it donated would be used for purposes other than what it intended.

NOT good enough!  If CARE has $100 that they can use toward food or abortion, and CRS gives them another $100, CRS just gave CARE the means to provide abortion.  Hello!!!???

Paraphrasing the Church's teaching, "It is ... an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances (environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply their context. ... One may not do evil so that good may result from it." (1)

I know, I know.  "These days you can't avoid indirectly participating in such activities."  This is not like you or me shopping at some store that donates to an organization that in turn donates to another.

The Catholic Bishops are in a fight, to say the least, against the immoral and unjust Obama / HHS mandate.  They teach (rightly so) against some of what CARE provides via (however indirect) CRS funding.  And who funds CRS?  Yep, faithful Catholics.  It's hard to purport a position when there is evidence to the contrary.

It's time for the Bishops to stop allowing funds, given in good conscience, to be used for immoral activities.  Its time for them to do their homework, stop relying on third party information, and to avoid these continuous "egg-faced" embarrassments.

(1) Catechism of the Catholic Church 1756