Post #300

I don't know why I chose 300 for a posting milestone. Its as good as any other hundred number.
Anyways here's a look back at some of my favorite posts:
Fr Corapi Facts
Athanasius Contra Mundum
Mary Poem
Catholic Carnival: St Joseph the Worker
St Joseph: A real Anti-Communist Hero
Top 5 Reasons I am Catholic
Peter's Barque

Another Catholic blogger meme

I got this meme from V for Victory

1. Do you attend the Traditional Latin Mass or the Novus Ordo? Usually the Novus Ordo

2. If you attend the TLM, how far do you drive to get there? About a block

3. If you had to apply a Catholic label to yourself, what would it be? Roman Catholic

4. Are you a comment junkie? I honestly don't comment as much as I used to.

5. Do you go back to read the comments on the blogs you’ve commented on? Yes, I am not one that always has to have the last word, but I like to add onto others's sentiments sometimes.

6. Have you ever left an anonymous comment on another blog? No, I would only do that if I was ashamed of what I put. If I am ashamed to put it though, its best to keep it to myself.

7. Which blogroll would you most like to be on? Definitely the Curt Jester

8. Which blog is the first one you check? Faith and Country then I usually check out Dominican Idaho or V for Victory

9. Have you met any other bloggers in person? I know a guy who used to have a blog, but alas I do not know any current bloggers. I'd like to meet the authors of Dominican Idaho, V for Victory and especially the Cavemen

10. What are you reading? Don't Tread on Me by H W Crocker III. He also wrote Triumph

Bonus Question! Has your site been banned by Spirit of Vatican II? If it has, who do you think Father Tim really is? I hadn't of the blog or its list of banned sites, but I am tempted to try for a banning.

I tag anyone who wants to be tagged.

Burnt Book Sale

Over at Dona Nobis Pacem, the author is having a book sale of sorts. You can buy the book and get the ashes along with a picture of it burning.
Hat tip to Dominican Idaho

Mount Angel Abbey

I found this great video of Mount Angel Abbey. The video cuts to different scenes from around Mount Angel Abbey while the monks sing the liturgy of the hours in the background.

Veggie Tales Catholic Carnival

The latest Catholic Carnival is up at Domestic Vocation.

3rd Episcopal Bishop Converting

It says a lot when a Church has bishops that are converting. Its not as though there is only one or only one this year. So far three Episcopal Bishops have swam or declared their intention to swim the Tiber.
From the Catholic News Agency:
Bishop Jeffrey Steenson of Rio Grande, New Mexico is expected to announce his decision on Monday, reported The Living Church.

"I believe that the Lord now calls me in this direction. It amazes me, after all of these years, what a radical journey of faith this must necessarily be. To some it seems foolish; to others disloyal; to others an abandonment," said the bishop in a statement prepared for the House of Bishops, which was meeting in New Orleans...
Bishop Steenson will be the third bishop of the Episcopal Church to become a Roman Catholic this year. Bishop Dan Herzog of Albany moved shortly after his retirement in January. Bishop Clarence C. Pope, retired Bishop of Fort Worth, returned to Roman Catholicism in August.

Idaho Seminarians 07

Please pray for our Idaho Seminarians:


Noel Albiter
Bishop Treinen House of Discernment and Formation
804 North 9th Street
Boise, ID 83702

Bill Busz
Sacred Heart School of Theology
PO Box 61
Hales Corners, WI 53130
Pre-Theology II

Jose Guadalupe Calderon
Conception Seminary
P.O. Box 502
College II

Johnnatan Florez Carmona
La Ceja
Antioquia, Colombia,
College III

Francisco Conterares
Bishop Treinen House of Discernment and Formation
804 North 9th Street
Boise, ID 83702

Camilo Garcia
St. Augustine's Catholic Center
628 S. Deakin Ave.
Moscow, ID 83843
Internship

Jaime Gil
Pontifical North American College
00120 Vatican City State
Europe,
Theology I

Francisco Godinez
Mt. Angel Seminary
P.O. Box 512
St. Benedict, OR 97373
Theology I

Jose De Jesus Gonzalez
Our Lady of the Valley
1122 W. Linden
Caldwell, ID 83605
Internship

Juan Manual Guzman
Bishop Treinen House of Discernment and Formation
804 North 9th Street
Boise, ID 83702

Chase Hasenoehrl
Pontifical North American College
00120 Vatican City State
Europe
Theology I

Alberto Herrea
Sacred Heart School of Theology
P.O. Box 61
Hales Corners, WI 53130
E.S.L.

Jorge Moises Mac
Bishop Treinen House of Discernment and Formation
804 North 9th Street
Boise, ID 83702

Mariusz Majewski
Mt. Angel Seminary
Aquinas Hall # 216
St. Benedict, OR 97373
Theology III

Jose Luis Martinez
Bishop Treinen House
804 N. 9th St.
Boise, ID 83702
E.S.L.

Jeff Mattern
Mt. Angel Seminary
Subiaco Hall #5, One Abbey Dr.
St. Benedict, OR 97373

Brian May
Bishop Treinen House
804 N. 9th St.
Boise, ID 83702
Theology I

José Ramirez
Mt. Angel Seminary
P.O. Box 513
St. Benedict, OR 97373
Theology I

Miguel Ramos
Sacred Heart Seminary
P.O. Box 61
Hales Corners, WI 53130
E.S.L.

Saul Reyes
Mt. Angel Seminary
P.O Box 574
St. Benedict, OR 97373
Theology III

Cirilo Sanchez
Mt. Angel Seminary
P.O. Box 521
St. Benedict, OR 97373
College II

Marcos Sanchez
Bishop Treinen House
804 N. 9th St.
Boise, ID 83702
E.S.L.

Adrian Vazquez
Mt. Angel Seminary
P.O. Box 529
St. Benedict, OR 97373
Theology III

Julio Vicente
Pontifical North American College
00120 Vatican City State
Europe
Theology III

Eladio Vieyra
Holy Rosary Parish
145 9th St.
Idaho Falls, ID 83404
Internship

Thomas Wolter
The American College of Louvain
Naamesestraat 100
B-300 Leuven, Belguim
Theology I

Catholic Chapel in Kabul

There is only one Catholic church in all of Afghanistan and its a chapel in the Italian Embassy compound. Here a picture from inside:

I found a great black and white picture of Fr. Felix de Jesus Rougier, M.Sp.S.
Hat Tip to Proyecto Rougier

Blog Feed

I just change my blog feed to http://feeds.feedburner.com/50daysafter
I am sorry if this caused any trouble.

First Trad Carnival

This coming Saturday will be the first Traditional Catholic Carnival at A Faithful Rebel.

Mission to Mongolia

Its always encourageing to read about the Catholic Church in former Communist nations. In a way its like reading about the triumph of the Early Christian Church over the Roman Empire.
I found this on asianews.it:

Joseph’s long struggle to build a church in his home town
Zuunmod’s 20 Catholics travel 60 kilometres every Sunday to the capital to attend mass. Now Joseph the carpenter is trying to convince the authorities to grant him and his community a permit to build a church in his home town. In the meantime he talks about his faith.

Ulaanbaatar (AsiaNews/UCAN) – Joseph chose his Catholic name because he does the same work that Jesus' father did, carpentry, but the 35-year-old man from Zuunmod, capital of Töv Aimag or Central Province, 60 kilometres south of Ulaanbaatar, is trying to convince local citizens' councils that Catholics need a church. At the same time he tries to explain what Christianity is all about...
In Zuunmod there are 20 baptised Catholics, half of them between the ages of 16 and 25. Five more community members are preparing for baptism next Easter.

We “always go to mass on Sundays, and there are others who would also like to go,” Joseph told UCA News. But “we do not have permission . . . [to carry out any] religious activity in our town yet.”

Still local Catholics meet once a week to discuss the Bible and pray, but since “we still do not have the permit, we do not speak about it, at all,” Joseph said.

Joseph the carpenter is convinced that Mongolians can easily understand Catholicism because of its similarity with traditional Mongolian values.
For example, the Ten Commandments bring to mind the Ten White Merits and Ten Black Sins that every Mongolian knows.
“I have a friend, an 86-year-old Buddhist monk. He understands many things about Christianity and loves the pope and (the Blessed) Mother Teresa,” he explained.

The Catholic Church is not banned in Mongolia but Catholics must apply to local citizens’ (bag), county (sum) and provincial (aimag) councils for a permit.

“Although it is harder, it is also a good thing,” Joseph said, “because this way people in a village do not see a church as something imposed upon them from above by the government, but have a say in whether they want a church in their village or not.” What is more, “we Catholics can share our faith with them and tell them about ourselves, and eliminate misunderstandings.”

Joseph spoke before the councils in March as part of his permit application. “Last time we passed both lower-level councils, and came up only one vote short in the provincial council. This time we passed the bag citizens' council with 56 of 87 votes in favour of our church. We trust in God and eventually hope to pass all three councils and have a church.”
According to Joseph, councillors who voted against the church gave various arguments, but most were based on lack of knowledge or some bad experience...
As the self-appointed chronicler of the local Catholic community and father of two young children, he is taking notes about everything.
“I always take notes of what is happening, because later our children will read it and see that we worked very hard for our church,” he said.
“When they grow up, the church will be big and strong, all ready for them, but they will have to know how it all came about, how much their parents worked and fought for it.”

They have three other churches, all in Ulan Baatar, including a yurt inspired cathedral. I hope they get a new church. I will keep them in my prayers.

Gondola ride from Venice to Vatican

I found this on ANSA.it:

Man rows gondola to St. Peter's
Gondolier 'tired but happy' after charity voyage
(ANSA) - Rome, September 19 - A Venetian man has rowed his gondola down to Rome to raise money for African children and kids with rare diseases around the world.

"I'm pretty tired but it was worth it," said professional gondolier Vittorio Orlo after his craft was hoisted into pride of place in St.Peter's Square ahead of a Wednesday audience with the pope.

Orlo, 43, took 17 days to steer his craft along the Adriatic coast from Venice before crossing Italy on a network of canals and rivers to the source of the Tiber on the borders between Tuscany and Lazio.

"From then on it was increasingly plain sailing as the river grew to give me an easy passage," Orlo said.

"And of course, there are very few craft on the river these days".

But the veteran gondolier said he had had "a few dodgy moments" while negotiating the choppy waters of the Adriatic.

The gondola is a flat-bottomed boat well-suited to Venice's canals but completely out of its depth in the open sea.

"I don't know what I would have done if the coast guard hadn't been shepherding me along," said the intrepid boatman.

Vatican sources said Orlo's feat was "an extraordinary initiative, an example of rare courage in the best of causes".

Funds raised by the charity will go towards helping poor children in the African country of Togo, as well as funding research at a Venice hospital that specialises in rare pediatric diseases.

Children suffering from some of those ailments were on hand with their families to see Orlo's gondola arrive.

Gibraltar Cathedral

Today I had a visitor to the blog from Gibraltar, so in his or her honor I decided to post a picture of the Gibraltar Cathedral, Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned.

Carnival

Catholic Carnival 137 is up.

More than writings

I read a conversion story a couple of weeks ago. I wish I could find that blog post again, but I really can't remember where I found it. Anyways... in the story, a woman related how she was struck by something her pastor (he was converting and she was talking to him about it) said to her about his reason for becoming a Catholic.
He told her, more or less, that Jesus gave us Himself and not a collection of writings. I gathered that what he meant was that Jesus didn't leave us with the Bible, but rather His body and blood in the Eucharist.
God has put things into writing before (think 10 commandments), but Jesus chose not write anything for His children. The Gospels and the other writings of the New Testament were written by early Christians after the death of Christ. Don't get me wrong. The NT is a great thing and it has been very instrumental in the salvation of countless souls, but Jesus left us with something much more personal and intimate.
At the Last Supper Jesus left us with the gift of His body and blood. Almost everyone of us has heard the question, "Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?". Accepting Him however is just a beginning. Jesus is waiting for us in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist we can accept Jesus with more that just words; we can take in His actual body into our own.
The hosts and wine consecrated at each Mass are part of the same Body that hung on the cross 2000 years ago. Jesus comes to us in a very real and physical way as well as the sanctifying grace. We are nourished body and soul by the Blessed Sacrament. Like a lover Christ waits for us to accept Him and His love.
God is Love and he left the gift of Love at the altar every day waiting, like always, for us to to love and accept Him who loved us first.

Tom Wolter the Chaplain Candidate

I found this story on CatholicMil.org:

Wolter: Marine to Study for priesthood in Diocese, Military

For the first time, the Diocese of Boise is entering into an agreement with the United States Military Archdiocese to educate a man for priesthood who will eventually serve some time as a military chaplain.
Tom Wolter, a Marine helicopter pilot who recently served in Iraq and assisted with humanitarian aid in Liberia, will enroll at Mt. Angel Seminary, St. Benedict, Ore., in January as an Idaho seminarian.
"What the Military Archdiocese does to encourage priests to help out in the military is to offer a co-sponsorship for seminarians," said Wolter, son of George and Margarite Wolter, Sacred Heart Parish, Boise. "The Military Archdiocese helps out with the costs of seminary. Then upon ordination, the individual serves three years in the home diocese and then owes three years back in the military. At the end of that service, the bishop for vocations for the Military Archdiocese and the diocese of origin dialogue to decided where the greatest need is at the time. They develop a working relationship."
Wolter, who attended St. Mary's School, Boise, and graduated from Bishop Kelly High School, Boise, in 1991, attended a year at Gonzaga University, Spokane, and then went on to the U.S. Navel Academy. He graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He went on to flight school and has served in a Marine squadron in North Carolina the last five years. He was deployed overseas twice. He has now resigned his commission and is with the Marine Corp Reserves.
While in North Carolina, he made up his mind to pursue priesthood. He contacted the Military Archdiocese and learned about the agreement that could be made with either a diocese or an order. Then he contacted Father Jairo Restrepo, Diocese of Boise vocation director, and Bishop Michael Driscoll.
"They supported everything I've done and encouraged me," he said. "Idaho is where I was raised, so I definitely wanted to come back here to work for our diocese. I've been with the military since 1992 and they have done a great deal for me over the years. I enjoythe lifestyle. I like their structure. I enjoy working with those serving in the military. They are very short on chaplains. Personally, I feel that I would like to return to the military for a time because I understand what those Marines go through and the military structure, and that would be very helpful for a chaplain.
It will take six and a half years for Wolter to complete his seminary training. After ordination, when he returns to the military after three years serving in the Diocese of lloise, he will go in as a Navy chaplain serving the Navy and Marines.
Woiters sees chaplains as a "necessity" is the military.
"Chaplains are much more that just a priest," he said. "They are there as 'force multipliers.' Chaplains offer an ability to assist and aid a commanding officer to be sure his Marines are being taken care of. The chaplains' work enables a unit to be closer and more effective. A good chaplain with a good commanding officer is what we call a 'force multiplier.' Chaplains are able to talk to individuals on a different plane than anyone else in the military. The chaplain can help military personnel work through their personal issues, problems and concerns in a different manner. That is why they are so important."

Tom has actually been a seminarian for a few years. He finished Pre-Theology at Mt Angel and he's now studying Theology at Louvein. He is also a Navy Ensign now, since all Marine Chaplains are actually Navy Chaplains attached to the Marine Corps. I knew him from my time as an Idaho Seminarian. He's a great guy and I look forward to his ordination.

Islamicization

I know that there is a lot of traffic in the blogosphere and media about the Islamicization of Europe. Its not a thought that I relish, however there is a silver lining to the dark cloud.
1. Brings the mission field to us.
Self-explanatory
2. It separates the wheat from the chaff.
Being Christian would no longer be a cavalier matter that people claim out of habit, convention or convenience. It would something special and something dear to be Christian as it is in Communist nations and it was in the Ancient Roman Empire.
3. Great saints always arise to meet such challenges.
Just as the Reformation gave us great saint such as St. Francis de Sales and the Babylonian Captivity gave us St. Catherine of Siena, hard times for the Church always bring great saints to the front. The Church would rise to the challenge and charge forward renewed with the energy of holy men and women.

Poll

I added a poll to the sidebar. In a month I will publish the results, so please participate. If I left out an artist please leave acomment here with the name.

St John the Evangelist Cathedral

Of course it would be wrong to show off Iceland's Cathedral without posting pictures the Cathedral in my home diocese, Boise. I had a good picture of the sanctuary, but I didn't like the Basque liturgical dancing in the picture.
This is St John the Evangelist Cathedral in Boise:

I have been told that the design was based on Notre Dame de Paris.

If the picture went a little more to the left you could see the Treinen House. Its a house of formation for seminarians, mostly for men who need to study English.

Iceland's Cathedral

H/T to Coo-ees from the Cloister

I happened upon their site and saw pictures of Iceland's one and only Cathedral. They went on about the history of the Catholic Church in Iceland and about the history of the Cathedral, but I just wanted to show the pictures. It looks like a cross between Gothic and glacier:


Igot the nighttime picture from wikipedia

Catholic Carnival 136

Every fight is a food fight when you're a cannibal.

all at once

Father Corapi can say 10 rosaries... all at the same time.

The Gospel Advances

From Asia News:

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) – Nepal’s Catholics no longer consider the Monarchy’s impositions on the Jesuits valid, now that the country is a secular State and that the king has lost his power. The bishop of Nepal speaks with AsiaNews about the situation of the Church and its’ initiatives.

The accord dates back to 1951 when the then king, Tribhuwan, invited the Society of Jesus to found the Saint Francis Xavier in Kathmandu, after almost two centuries of anti Christian prohibition. But the king only allowed education, forbidding any form of missionary activity and evangelization. A ban that was always respected by the Jesuits, who in 1984 founded a further three schools in the country. But now Nepal is no longer a Hindu monarchy and royal decrees are no longer law, so Catholics are once again free to carry out any type of activity.

I have always found myself drawn for no apparent reason to Catholic missionary activity in the former Communist nations of Asia.

Colossians 3:17

And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The Vandals take on WSU tomorrow. I believe in miracles. St Jude pray for us.

Pro-life Search RIP

As I was cruising the internet this morning, I finally found out what happened to Prolifesearch.com from a blog called Mama says...
The author there received an email from one of the founders of the site, from which I shall post excerpts here:

ProLifeSearch website is no more. Here's what happened:
... Sadly, the bottom line is that some of the
web developers we hired for this project left our employ and
changed all of the passwords to the site. This meant that for
months we could not access the site, change the site, or post any
new information on the site...
As we tried to force the new passwords from these developers, the
URL -- http://www.prolifesearch.com -- expired, and it seems some rock and
roll site was all too ready to snatch it up because of all the
traffic we created over the past 2 years.
Legally, the site now belongs to that organization. We have tried,
but we cannot get it back.

Capstone Missions blog

Capstone Missions, an organization based out of Idaho that donates money and labor to an orphanage in Tijuana, now has a blog up and running.
I first heard about them when St. Auggies organized an alternative spring break through these guys.

If I blog it...

As I was listening to the Air1 radio station the other day in my car, I heard the DJ mention a blog called If I blog It They Will Come. The name is taken from the famous catchphrase from the Kevin Costner movie, Field of Dreams: "If you build it they will come."
The raison d'etre for this blog was to get Kevin Costner to view the blog and send in a picture of himself viewing the blog. Well he did it and the first post on the blog has a picture of him by a computer with the blog very prominently seen. Well, what are they going to do now?

Idaho vs Cal Poly

13-20 I-D-A-H-O! IDAHO, IDAHO, GO, GO, GO!

Go Vandals!!!

Its football season again. And again I ask St Jude for his prayers for my beloved alma mater the University of Idaho.
I am a little late, our first game was last week against the USC Trojans. If you know anything about college football you can imagine how it ended and so I will spare everyone the details. And so I finish with the UI fight song:


Came a tribe from the North, brave and bold,
Bearing banners of Silver and Gold;
Tried and true to subdue all their foes!
Vandals! Vandals!

Go, Vandals, go,
Fight on with hearts true and bold.
Foes will fall before your Silver and your Gold
The victory cannot be withheld from thee;
So all bear down for Idaho,
Come on, old Vandals, go!

Nativity of Mary

Today is the Feast of the Nativity of Mary.

Fr Corapi Facts

I have posted on Chuck Norris facts here, but Faith and Country has Father Corapi facts:


Father Corapi does not know where you live, but he knows where you will die (in order to administer Viaticum...duh).

Every time Father Corapi says Mass, an angel gets its wings.

Father Corapi and God once shared a high-five. The wind that was created caused Hurricane Katrina.

Father Corapi, when he was in the military, once shot down an enemy plane by pointing his finger and shouting, "Bang!"

They say lightning never strikes the same place twice. Neither does Father Corapi. He doesn't have to.

"Abortion clinics, pornography stores...I would move my artillery into place and light 'em up! I would totally liquidate them...speaking metaphorically, of course"

The Soldier's Creed states, "surrender is not an option...except when Father Corapi is in town."

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. The only thing fear has to fear is Father Corapi.

Regardless of race, gender, location, or education level... at one point in your life you have underestimated Father Corapi. You will live just long enough to regret this.

"I am ready and willing to destroy my enemies in close and mortal combat."

Father Corapi's statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary wears combat boots.

Father Corapi's Rosary is made of spent .54 caliber bullet shells. No, really.

When Satan goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet to make sure Father Corapi isn't there.

An apple a day does not keep Father Corapi away. Only going to Mass and confession every day keeps Father Corapi away... sometimes.

Stay Alert and Sober

Paulcoholic had a great reflection on today's reading from 1 Thessalonians:

Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.

Those who sleep go to sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.

But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation.

For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him.

Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.

Catholic Carnival 135

This week's Catholic Carnival is up here.

Caption Contest

The results are in for the latest Caption Contest over at Ironic Catholic. Its me and KaleJ. Btw, both of us are Idaho bloggers, at least I still consider myself an Idaho blogger even though I am stationed in Fairbanks.