An Aid To Memory

You are Kip Dynamite and you love technology.

Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
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Confraternity: a voluntary association of the clergy or laity established under Church authority. Now referred to as "Associations of the Faithful."

Basically, it is nice to associate with others who share a common spirituality. Now, keep in mind, confraternities are not church factions or parties. They are associations of people who share common goals or spiritualities within the Church. For instance, there are confraternities devoted to the promotion of the Latin Mass, the rosary, and the one I am in, the Confraternity of our Lady of Consolation. The requirements of this confraternity? Simply make an effort to live out one’s baptismal vows more fully.

Confraternities have many spiritual benefits, like having masses and prayers offered up on behalf of members regularly. Plus, it is always nice to have others pray for you and pray for others regularly. Also, you get some nice certificates and doo-dads related to the confraternity! I have posted photos of the enrollment documents for the Confraternity of Our Lady of Consolation here.

…when two of your favorite musicians have blogs? Roger McGuinn, former lead singer of the Byrds, has the Roger McGuinn Blog. Barry McGuire, a singer most well known for his work with the New Christy Minstrels and his #1 1960s hit "Eve of Destruction", has Barry’s weblog.

Both musicians have been very influential in my life. When I discovered "oldies" back in 1994 as a 15 year old, I drifted toward the folkier sound of McGuire and others. I was certainly out-of-place listening to the Byrds, P.F. Sloan, Bob Dylan, Joe South, Bob Lind, and Barry McGuire at that time, when most teens were listening to Nirvana or Boyz 2 Men. I can still listen to these artists, and they always sound fresh.

What a nice surprise it was to find out that both McGuire and McGuinn are now Christians. Barry has been a Christian since the early 1970s (and has worked with Terry Talbot, whose brother is the praised Catholic musician John Michael Talbot), and Roger since the late 1970s. Jonathan and I have a Byrds page set up, and I have compiled a Discography of Barry McGuire. Thanks for having blogs guys!

Barry is on the left (as pictured in the 1960s)
Roger on the right (from http://www.reveries.com)

Yes, Halloween, the eve of All Saints Day, is coming! If you don’t believe me, just look around at all the Halloween tack going up. Pumpkin lights. Dracula Inflatables. Homemade scarecrows. I love them all. I must admit, I like things a little tacky (I am Catholic, aren’t I?). I have a wall above my TV where I place a decoration every season that cost me no more than a dollar. It’s my way of saving money, and allowing a little bit of tack in the house.

Jennifer’s mom bought me a nice little Halloween House, which I photographed (left). I don’t consider it too tacky I guess. Just so you know, the house is next to a birdhouse decoration, and a few McDonald’s Monopoly pieces I have yet to find a place for.

I was playing around with the camera’s macro features, and I took a photo of a crucifix that I got at a dollar store. It turned out to be pretty nice.

Yes, behind Jesus is a scandisk adapter and a pack of Trident. Hey, like I said, it was initially a test shot. Ok, maybe there is a message here. Jesus takes on all of our burdens, even those of ordinary, modern life. The crucifix at my desk is simply positioned among modern things. Jesus bears common burdens, and he bears modern burdens. Thank God.

Jonathan has blogged about our recent trip to the Our Lady of Consolation Shrine in Carey, Ohio. I have been there 4 times now, and consider it a second spiritual home so-to-speak. I am even a member of their confraternity.

The trip was fairly long; neither Jonathan nor I live too close to Carey. We of course began by getting some Speedway coffee. I mixed a little mint chocolate chip cappuccino in with the Colombian coffee. Then we drove in the rain most of the way. By the time we reached Carey, the rain had stopped. The sky was still overcast, as can be seen in the photo to the left.

When we arrived, we stopped at the bookstore. I didn’t buy anything, because I just paid for a nice digital camera. Then we went to confession. The priest was, in my opinion, a great confessor. After this, we walked to the Our Lady of Consolation park, where I took the image to the left of Mary and Jesus. This image is the statue at the top of a dome in the center of the park. The statue is a good 70-100 feet in the air. I had to use zoom to get in this close.

Next we returned to the Church and began our prayers. We prayed the rosary in the lower level of the Basilica. The parish, especially the lower level, smells very good because of the number of candles there. I haven’t prayed the rosary in awhile, mainly because the Liturgy of the Hours is my devotion of choice. However, it was nice to pray it that day, and it was appropriate because I was visiting a Marian shrine. Below, there are many altars, including the All Souls altar (right photo) and an altar with Jesus buried (left).

After this, we went to Mass in the Basilica. It was beautiful. The music and setting reminded me of the way Catholic Mass should be, and used to be universally. It was a fitting way to end yet another pilgrimage. For even more details visit Jonathan’s entry.

On a side note, autumn is breaking out all over right now. In about a week or two, it will be at its most beautiful. I took the photo to the right at the Carey park, showing that Fall is on its way!

The official site is www.olcshrine.com

According to a sneak preview of the upcoming English translation of the Mass, the liturgy is going to be more faithful to the Latin. This is good news, because the current English translation is theologically weak and undignified in its language compared to the Latin original. Read the article and take a look at some of the changes. One example of change is:

"and with you" is returning to "and with your spirit." A minor point? Yes, but theologically and in terms of language dignity, the new response says more than the former.

Another example of change for the better is the Confiteor. The new translation reads, "I have sinned greatly in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault." This is much closer to the Latin than the current translation.

Among lovers of liturgy the American Catholic Mass has been a topic of derision in recent years. It looks like things are looking up. I can’t wait to pray this Mass.

Thanks to The Seventh Age for the link to the story.

A study by two prominent Democratic strategists suggests what I have been saying all along, which is that if the Democrats are ever going to win the presidency they have to return to the center and abandon the fantasy that appealing to the far left "base" in their party is the way to go. The 2004 election proved that this belief has disastrous results. High voter turnout and an angry and energized base still resulted in a John Kerry loss.

Let’s face it. There hasn’t been a non-Southern Democrat elected to the presidency since JFK. In other words, since the sexual and cultural revolution took hold, Americans have only elected Democrats who either are moderate or have a conservative look and feel to them because of their Southern credentials. Clinton is an excellent example. He was centrist, tough on crime, and commonsense on welfare reform and other issues. With Clinton, you did not get the feeling you were dealing with an out-of-touch academic (and this is not "anti-intellectualism"; I am an academic myself). While Clinton was more liberal on the abortion issue than America-at-large, he was mostly a centrist, and very popular and effective because of it, despite his women problems.

A centrist Democrat could win the presidency in a heartbeat in 2008. A pro-life Democrat who would deal with our oil crisis in an effective way (in other words, not with the "band-aid" joke that is the current energy bill), while being tough on crime and terror (without invading sovereign nations who have nothing to do with our security) would tear up in the polls. The problem is that the Democratic party has become like many Universities: controlled by those who are out-of-touch with reality, yet are unwilling to bring themselves back into reality. It leaves many of us effectively without a party. Many Catholics don’t exactly love the Republican party, but then again, we always find ourselves saying, "but we can’t vote Democrat under the current circumstances either." Maybe this new report will be a reality check.

I recently have started an Online Photo Collection. I hope to regularly add photos to it. It is a creative outlet of sorts. Here are the two photos I have up now. The first is one of my cats outside. The other is another cat of mine inside. I am using a Kodak X7590 Digital Camera for these two photos. Let me tell you, taking photos of cats is work. They either turn the opposite way you want or walk towards you too quickly.

This is what I see when I go to work many mornings. Soon it will be too dark to see such a beautiful scene. I took this with the school’s digital camera, a 3MP Sony camera. I took it while moving, through glass, so it turned out pretty nice considering the conditions.

This photo was taken under the same situation with the same camera. It is scenes like this that make me glad I live in a fairly rural area.