2 Stories About Dead Catholic Army Chaplains

First, there is the story about the death of Chaplain (Major) Tim Vakoc. Fr. Tim Vakoc was an Army chaplain wounded in 2005 who finally died in 2005 from his wounds. Before his injury he wrote, "The safest place for me to be is in the center of God's will, and if that is in the line of fire, that is where I will be." May he rest in peace. Full story here.
The other story is about a possible miracle from Bl. Fr. Emil Kapaun's intercession
"The Congregation for the Causes of Saints is preparing to investigate an alleged miracle in Wichita, Kansas, where doctors are baffled by the unexplained recovery of a young man who had suffered a severe head injury in an accident that had broken his skull."
Maybe someday in our lifetimes their will be a Saint who served in the US Army. Many of the Church's saints have been Soldiers (St Ignatius of Loyola, St Sebastian, etc.)

New blog

I haven't posted here in quite a while. For those of you who still check this blog or follow it on some form of RSS, thank you. It is good to know that my rantings and ramblings have an audience.
I don't know when the next time will be when I post here, but I have begun another blog. Its going to be short stories that I write when I am so moved. I already have one short story posted.
The blog is Short Storey Mountain. The name is my homage to Father Thomas Merton. Please stop by and comment with your opinion of the story or criticisms.
Thanks again for reading.

LOL Saints Submission

LOL Saints posted one of my submissions. Its a post about St Sebastian, one of the patron saints of Soldiers.

PT uniform at Mass

The drought is over. I know that I haven't posted much lately. I need to start taking more time for myself to do these sort of things before I go crazy.
I have seen on other St Blogs where people have complained about attire at Mass. I have a similar rant, but with a somewhat different angle.
It drives me nuts to see Soldiers come to Mass wearing their PT uniforms. I understand that we are deployed and didn't bring our Sunday best, but there are 2 primary reasons a Soldier wears PTs: sleepwear and working out. So more than likely they either just rolled out of bed and walked to the chapel or Mass is worked around their workouts.
ACUs (the digital gray uniforms you see on the newscasts from Iraq/Afghanistan) aren't anything special but they are the only other clothes that Soldiers have over there. And they are certainly a more respectful outfit than your sleep/workout clothes.

Her First Piece of Chocolate Cake

She had her first birthday a short while ago. My wife, I'll use the code name Hephzibah, gave her chocolate for the first time.
Like you, I must be content with pictures.
Before...
And after...

A New Year and a New Catholic Carnival

I had thought about a Babylonian theme, but then I thought about it still being the Christmas season, with Epiphany and New Years not too far behind us. Babylon would have just been sad and kinda depressing. So I decided to categorize the week's posts with short prayers.

Blessed be Jesus in His angels and in His saints.
Daily Gratia has a post on Blessed Father Damien.
At Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering she is Aiming for Mary.
Father Tabb died in 1909. At View from the Core we see some of his poetry.
Chris gives us a post about his family at Sanctus Christopher (Great name btw!).
Astrid sent in a post about those who knew Jesus during his Earthly ministry.
Paul has a post on Samurai Saints.
Easter A. had a great post about the Holy Family.

There's a post at Ὁι Λόγοι regarding Christ's teaching to be in the world,
but not of it.

Blessed be Jesus true God and true Man.
Catholic Fire has a post this week responding to the claim that nothing is wrong with abortion. Remember Jesus Himself was once a fetus.
At A Catholic View there's post on Kennedy changing from pro-life to pro-abortion.
James Hahn reminds us to follow Christ's example and love our enemies.
Homeschool Goodies has a great post about the Gift of Friends.
Aggie Catholics has a post reminding us that Christ calls us to humble ourselves.
This, That and the Other has a review of Anne Rice's book The Road to Cana.
Christian Personal Finance submitted a post on 6 reasons to give more this year.


Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
At Christus Vincit there's a post with a New Year's resolution.
Catholic Land has another New Year's Resolution post.
Ebeth shares with us that BXVI reminds us not to be afraid of the new year.

Blessed be Jesus truly present in the Eucharist.
The Catholic Roundup posts this week on how attending Mass away from home deepens his sense of being part of the universal Church.
At Catholic Journeyman, Dave tells us how a Kennedy Assassination buff found the truth of Catholicism.
At Prepare for Mass there is a post about the Mass celebrated on the Epiphany of the Lord.

And lastly a plug for Adopt a Catholic Blog.

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.



And one late entry from Broken Alabaster entitled Word was Made Flesh.