Article I just read

I am pissed off. Sorry for my language but seriously I am very upset. NewsWeek has published an article in this Months issue written by Lisa Miller. The front of the magazine has a very large picture of the Blessed Mother on it, and underneath the picture it reads, "What Would Mary Do?" Under that it outlines the article as "How Women Can Save The Catholic Church From It's Sin's". I picked up the magazine not previewing the article before I bought it because the title had me roped in enough already. I sat down and stared reading. Four paragraphs into it I was frantically underlining sentences and quotes with anger and ferocity at the words I was reading. The article is not about what you think it would be from the title. I was hoping to read something that exposes the good that women do in the Church every single day but instead I was plagued with the condemnations on the Hierarchy of the Church not accepting women, and not allowing them to be a part of the Holy Mother Church. One quote says: " And though nuns dramatically outnumber Priest's worldwide, they are mostly so invisible that when a group of them speaks up, as they did recently on health-care reform, everyone takes notice." Now how can you go from saying that women are not accepted into the life of serving Christ and not accepted into the Church to putting a statement like that in the same article stating the obvious thing that any educated Catholic would know that women play a huge role in the Church. Lets take for example their main focus in this article. The Holy Mother Mary! Come on now you fools. If women weren't accepted into the Church as you say that they aren't then why is one of our most important figures in the life of Jesus a woman. If us Catholics were so against women don't you think that somewhere in the history of the Church which stems back thousand's and thousand's of years wouldn't somewhere it have been said that Mary is not that important? NO! For the entire time the Catholic Church has been around the SAME EXACT stance on Mary has been taken by all faithful Men and WOMEN. Mary is regarded as the Mother of our Savior, Jesus Christ. She brought our King into this world through her womb the same exact way that all of us were brought into this world. Humble and poor our King was raised by a woman with the same genetic makeup of the women sitting next to you every single day. But of course we don't like women being involved in our Church.
Now the article isn't only about the fact that women are not allowed to be members of the Clergy in the Church due to sexual discrimination by the Hierarchy, or as one puts it " the male-dominated atmosphere of the Roman Catholic Church which creates a hothouse for sexual predators...". Of course followed by this "(The perpetrators in a few of the recent European cases have been women)" It is also saying (in nicer words) if the Church would stop being so hard headed and stubborn and allow women to be involved in higher levels of the church the odds of the sexual scandals would drop dramatically. Not true. Women are in the Church just as much as men and the fact is that people can be corrupt. Look at our Law Enforcement in some states. I mean seriously. If you think that people that hold a high ranking political, professional, or Religious title can not be come victims to corruption you are wrong. What about the Police Officers and the Chief's of police who are involved in drug rings? Protecting the bad guys on the streets because they work for them by supplying them with a supplemental income made by the massive amount of money that is involved in drug dealing based on one simple fact. If a cop sells drugs they will lose their job. But it is okay and swept under the rug when the very people that protect us and our families are offering protection to criminals just so they can have the benefits of the illegal drug market. I am not trying to say that corruption, when in the Church is better than street corruption. What I am trying to say here is that it happens everywhere. We are human. We are ALL children of God. Before men are Ordained Priest's they are Men. After they are ordained they are still men, men with a calling to serve the Lord with everything they do. They are still men. It sucks to say but corruption happens. And when it happens in a place like the Catholic Church it is just more fuel for the medias frenzied fire against Catholics.
"the men who run the Catholic Church have willfully ignored one of the great achievements of the modern age: the integration of women in the workforce and public life."... "In the U.S., 60 percent of Sunday massgoers are women: thus most of the contributors to the collection plate-$6 billion a year- are made by women. And yet the presence of women anywhere within the institutional power structure is virtually nil." The case is this, it is not determined by the annual donation amount of either sex who can and who cannot be Ordained into the Priesthood. That was decided the day Jesus told his Apostles that they would carry out his work and when he laid his hand on Peter. Read Matthew 16:18. I guess one of the things that upset me the most about this article is the fact that it is saying that because we as Catholics refuse to let women be apart of the Church is the main cause why we have the problems we are having right now. I will quote this one last thing. "Researchers believe, in fact, that rates of abuse within the church probably compare with those of other denominations - and of youth organizations, schools and families. It's frighteningly high. Surveys indicate that one out of three girls experienced an unwanted sexual approach from an adult before the age 18". This helps drive home my point. They want to blame the Catholic Church for anything they can. So when something happens it is blown up, they tell the people that it is the first time and place that something like this has ever happened and Catholics are at fault. That quote right there shows, That even though it is happening inside of the Catholic Church, it is also happening outside of the Catholic Church. It is happening in other Churches of other beliefs. It is happening at school where you leave your child for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Worst of all, It is happening in our own homes... Lets focus on the other stories of the same nature. Lets get off of our down with Catholicism high horse and open our eyes. It happens all over the world. Lets start by solving the problem itself instead of trying to rid the planet of the place where it occurred...

How?

I think I feel you calling me. I do not know though. So many things pull me in so many different ways. I have found life outside of you, but you are still there. Still calling me to you. Christ please make me more aware of the ways you are trying to bring me to you. I feel like I am concoiously unconcious...

Hello?

Have you seen the movie "Billy Madison"? If you have remember the scene where they are on the field trip to the old west place and that old lady is giving the kids a tour and talking about the most random and oddball stuff and stops in the middle of her sentence and asks, "Is anyone even listening to me?" Ha ha ha. I feel like that old woman with this blog. Someone comment or something and let me know you are out there to give me more motivation to write on here so I know I am not just doing this for my own health please!

Fresh start

I think it is very interesting to look at life in general, and then look at life within the Church and compare the two. Lets take debt and sin and compare them. Debt in life can be a burden for some. Sin in life is also a burden. How do we get rid of these two things in life and in the Church? Lets say your $20,000+ in debt. Now, you can start trying to pay off these debts and try to get caught up on all of the things you owe money on and work your hardest at getting it all eliminated. This is going to be a long and hard road ahead of you as $20,000+ is A LOT of money and will be hard to pay back in full while supporting yourself and a family if you have one? What is one way you can wipe out all of your debt and start over again fresh? Bankruptcy? Not the best way to handle money problems because it leaves a very very bad mark on your credit and it will haunt you for years to come. But, if this is the path that you chose to handle these problems, then it wipes everything clean and you start over all brand new. What is a way in the Church that we can get rid of all of our sin's and get a clean slate with God? The Sacrament of Confession. We go confess our sin's and explain what we did and admit that we are ashamed of our actions and we want, and more importantly NEED forgiveness. Now, bankruptcy and Confession are completely and entirely two different things and I know this, and in no way am trying to say they are the same. I am simply trying to work the Grace's and Blessings of the Church into te routine of everyday life and show that it is not that hard to get a hold of and grasp the teachings of the Church, and let me tell you, If I can figure this stuff out and understand it and embrace it, ANYONE can. Think of your life. The troubles you face and the day to day nonsense we come across and try to make parables for yourself to bring the Holy Mother Church into perspective and make your faith much easier to understand and apply, and much more fruitful for you.

Church Signs... Good or Silly?

I always read the saying's and things that Church's put up on their sign for the passing traffic to read. I saw one the other day that I did not agree with. Simply because I felt it was misleading... The board read "The narrow path to Heaven is always open." Now to me this is not correct. the path to Heaven IS always open. But I strongly disagree that the path is in any way "Narrow". With all of the redemptive options Christ gives us to get to Heaven the path is Wide like an empty California Highway. I cant imagine thinking that the path to Heaven is narrow and complicated. Christ gives us so many opportunities to get to the Kingdom of Heaven it is overwhelming. Think about it... With the Sacraments alone. Confession, The Eucharist, Mass... Then there are the things that we can do voluntarily that bring us closer to Christ and make our relationship With him so much stronger. for instance: Adoration, The Rosary (this of course being with the intercession of our Blessed Virgin Mary to help us grow closer to him) stations of the Cross, Devotions. I mean the list goes on. I am just giving ideas of a few things we can do. Now, I also thought of the fact that this saying was in fact on a protestant church board. Meaning a lot of the pathways that we as Catholics have leading us closer to Christ are not there for the people who are attending this Church. Which then leads to another point. If your Church is teaching that the path to Heaven is "Narrow" and it is in some way difficult to get in, and the Catholic church, The FIRST church, Built on Peter our first Pope, Disciple of Jesus himself is teaching that there are many ways to make your journey to Christ and Heaven much easier... why would you stay at the church that is telling you and trying to make it sound so difficult to get there!? It makes no sense to me! But then again I guess I have just been blessed with my beliefs and have never been to close to any beliefs of a protestant church to understand them... I don't know. Its like this, If you can go to a store, and pay less for your stuff and get ten time's as much as you would from the store right next door, why continue to pay more, struggle with things and get less result's? Not much sense in it is there?

Something I read today and liked a lot

'Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart, and bless me, my family, my home, and my friends, in Jesus' name. Amen.'.. It is very short and simple and It covers a lot. Short little prayers that sum up a lot, easy to remeber and useful in many situations are very helpful to me. Sometimes when you are praying and run out of things to say, sometimes you can throw little one's like that in and then take a whole different approach to your prayer and start thinking, talking and relating with God on different thoughts. Just thought I would share that with you and hope you like it.

I still love this video