CCRNO rulz!

Thank you for sending me my 3 free copies of the NCRegister…I submitted my paid subscription yesterday.

As Editor, I want to thank you, in particular, for the two articles on Fr. Schall’s last lecture at Georgetown as well as the interview with Cardinal George.  Both of them were wonderfully enriching to me.

I also want to encourage you to keep a Chestertonian joie de vivre in the Register…It is the secret to long-term success.

John

“For the Church, also, this hasn’t been an easy year. Catholics have been grappling with some daunting challenges.”
You’ve got that right, Jeanette!
Sometimes we need to put things in perspective and get back to basics. One key “basic” is to remember why the Church exists. She was established by Christ Himself to be the conduit through which the two deepest longings of the human heart can be realized: 1. True forgiveness of sins, and 2. Eternal life in Heaven.
It doesn’t get any better than that! What an amazing blessing (and at the same time, what an amazing responsibility).
God bless!
http://www.MerryCatholic.com

I wish you and the staff of the NCRegister a blessed and successful New Year. Thank you for publishing excellent articles that inform on all aspects of our Catholic faith worldwide. May I second John McCarthy’s encouragement of the tone you set.

I was married many, many yrs. ago

I was married more than 60 yrs. ago and have all those many yrs to acknowledge how little I knew back then. I tell the one daughter, when she doesn’t really want any advice for her problems, I have lived a long life, didn’t live it in a vacuum, made many mistakes,  had lots of experience, and have a good memory!
The one thing I have recently been given privelege to:  Most of us live less than 100 yrs.-bodily,  but our souls live an eternity.  We all must go through a crucifixtion just as Christ did but ours will be little by little. (He told the holy women on the way to His crucifixtion, “don’t cry for me but for yourselves and your children”  we are some of those children) This is a time of choosing for us. Do we want to accept our crucifixtion and live within the Lord’s guidelines with it?  Or do we want to run from it by killing our unwanted child,  choosing euthanasia over the pain of suffering with a condition or disease, stealing for the glitters of this world, or even our needs, adulterous desires etc.etc.
If all people would realize this is a time for choosing ,  heaven or hell,  they would act differently, I’m sure.  Why don’t our “shepherds” make that more clear to their flock?  Have they not seen this choice clearly?
PLEASE GOD   ENLIGHTEN YOUR “SHEEP”!

Go get ‘em, Jenny!!!

Wow!  This really HAS been a big year for you.  Congratulations on your summer wedding. :) My husband and I just celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary three days ago.  We would have keeled over on the altar if we’d known that in 27 years we would be pregnant with our ninth, and closer in age with our first, than our first is with his new brother.  Being Catholic is a beautiful adventure!
.
How blessed you are to have such a wonderful and diverse staff.  Your writers are so different in style and character, but all share a beautiful desire to serve God.  They have great minds. I like how they are from all over, and bring different experience to the table.  The one thing that they all share in common, even when writing about some of the most deplorable subjects, is Christian *Hope*.  This is so important in this world we live in today.
.
I will leave you with the powerful quote I opened to this morning from the intro to The Forge: 
“Happiness in Heaven is for those who know how to be happy on earth” (1005).  “Happiness is the reward Jesus Christ promised his followers; to be happy here, with a relative happiness, and to rejoice fully hereafter in the eternal life.”

God bless you Anna Lisa.  We had our 8th when I was mid forties.  He is just as much a blessing as the oldest who was born in our “youth”.  God is so good.  May he keep on blessing your family with many graces for your openness to His gift of children as we have been.

And Jeannette, thanks for your insights and leadership.  I love the Register.  Would that every Catholic home subscribed.  Then maybe there would not be so much ignorance among so many of the Catholic U. S. population.

You laud Archbishop Aquila’s affection for Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is certainly admirable, and one we should look up him for that.  But, on the other hand, it is important to note that he (not only he, but other Bishops and priests as well) lead people to alcohol while “discussing religion” via alcohol ministries like “Theology on Tap”, which destroy much of what is gained through glorifying the Holy Mother of God. 

It’s a shame the Church promotes alcohol as if it was inconsequential.  It is not.  As a powerful psychoactive drug, it extinguishes the light of virtuous, clear thinking when making moral decisions, leading to sexual exploitation and rape of boys, girls, men, and women.  It sanctions (and sanctifies) risky sexual behaviors leading to HIV, abortions and contraception practices.  It destroys livers and brain cells and causes birth defects (is teratogenic).  It is a precursor to cancer, crime and brutality, deadly accidents, shootings and stabbings.  Because it suppresses the central nervous system, it impairs sensory and motor function, slows cognition, and can lead to stupefaction, unconsciousness, and death.  Unfortunately, since wallets easily come open for buzzed drinkers, it may be an incentive for those involved in finance to enhance its access and exploit them. 

The Church’s drinking problem is at the forefront of its disastrous demise (you’re really out of touch if you think there isn’t one).  Because it is so addictive, those involved won’t even admit there is a problem.  But just look at the back of your bulletin.  Look at the announcements to meet up with the Bishop, parishioners, and clergy at the bar downtown over drinks and “happy hour”.  At the first Year of Faith talk at our parish, the priest joked that we should have spiked the punch.  (There were a few nervous laughs and many sideways glances, as if a disturbing incident was being recalled.)  Come to think of it, the priest had difficulty communicating during that meeting, and now I’m wondering why. 

As a prominent Catholic media outlet, why not start a campaign to change things?  I’ll bet there were fine wines and liquors at every dinner for those Church meetings you describe, weren’t there?  On New Year’s Day, Mary will be in tearful angst because of the condition of so many Catholics at Mass (those who are able to make it).  Many a priest and parishioner with a sick headache will vomit before Mass (hopefully not during) and worry about diarrhea after drinking all night long.  They’re lucky if that’s all they have to worry about. 

Why not start down the path toward healthy minds and bodies that favor God, that the Holy Mother of God will not have to cry over?  It’s time for change in what the Church promotes - alcohol should never be one of them.  Let’s make Our Lady of Guadalupe’s day holy. 

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

In respect to the Blessed Virgin Mary:  Do most Christians realize that when she gave her consent (fiat) to the Angel Gabriel, that she effectively was signing her own death warrant?  An unmarried woman in that culture delivering a baby was proof positive of adultery, and the Mosaic Law prescribed death by stoning for that offense.  Mary had to trust that God would protect her; and she was taking a big leap of faith.
This may be why God has used her as a messenger of His mercy in recent centuries.
Note also the Wedding Feast at Cana (John 2: 1-11).  Jesus grants favors when being asked by His mother.
TeaPot562

To Carrie Nation, er, I mean, Linda Nelson:
You must be really upset at that ol’ boozer, St. Paul, who told Timothy, “Have a little wine for the sake of your stomach” (1 Tim 5:23).
And I can’t imagine how angry you must be at Jesus, who turned gallons of water into terrific wine (not grape juice!) at the wedding feast at Cana (John 2).
Is alcohol abuse a major problem in our society? You betcha! And I ought to know, since I’m a recovering alcoholic. (Exactly 28 years sober as of tonight!) 
Does the Catholic Church promote problem drinking? I’ve never seen it. The way you describe our Church sounds more like the “Animal House” movie.
When I abused alcohol as a youth, it had NOTHING to do with my local parish. In fact, if I had spent more time at the local parish rather than the local tavern, I would’ve been a lot better off.
“Be of good cheer!” (John 16:33)
http://www.MerryCatholic.com

“And He saw that it was very good”-all things in moderation, including guns and alcohol. If you want to rail against something purely evil, make it contraception, the most costly scourge in both blood and treasure ever visited upon mankind.

Re: Another view of where we’re going, and a suggestion of where we need to go.
Why did Catholic voters elect Barack Obama for a second term after he had effectively declared war on the Catholic Church during his first term? The easy, albeit painful, answer is that those voters have a skewed vision of the Church. How is it that professed Catholics know so little? There’s an easy answer to that question, too: Catholic schools at all levels have failed.
What is not easy to grasp is that the failure of Catholic education is not something that happened suddenly following Vatican II, even though the problem did indeed increase when discontents seized control of the Catholic school system in the name of the council. The Church had an ongoing problem long before the council was convened, however, as was clearly indicated by the very presence of discontents waiting to pounce.
In fact, Vatican II was, and remains, the cure for many problems if the full message of its documents become widely known. But the hijackers were blinded to the council’s message by their vision of the Church, which vision could hardly have been more flawed. The vast majority of the laity then either ignored the whole mess or followed like sheep, with a remaining small minority reacting to the hijackers instead of taking control and initiating the reforms the council had directed. While we were battling each other, the enemy was marching through the gates unopposed.
Nearly everyone’s vision of the Church, Catholic and non-catholic alike, includes a hierarchy and its lieutenants hovering like birds over masses of faceless lay people huddled in prayer. The truth is that the laity is the Church, too. In fact, the laity is 99.9 percent of the Church. Unfortunately, it resembles a rag-tag army unwilling and unfit to follow anyone, much less follow a hierarchy under siege. The laity, which metaphorically makes up the non-coms in the drama, need to help on a practical level.
In the following discussion, I will attempt to reveal a practical truth that can become a useful weapon in the fight and to encourage the American Catholic laity to arm themselves with it.
As I imagine most thoughtful people know, the True Faith is essentially separate from culture even though politics, social attitudes, and other secular practices always “reflect” a particular belief system. That practicing the True Faith on a spiritual level nourishes the spirit is unquestionable. That culture provides for our existence in our everyday lives on earth, however, escapes many of the faithful, who see little importance in it.
We use the phrase secular culture without taking the time to examine the reason for the adjective in that phrase. If we did think about it, we would realize that the adjective is superfluous because all cultures are de facto secular, meaning that all cultures include an identification of acceptable social and political actions, along with day-to-day methods of personal interaction. In other words, every culture is in its own way secular by nature. Even social practices and shared responsibilities within religious orders take on a “company culture” character with historical secular practices as a backdrop. Secular culture is, in fact, a necessary part of every human person’s life.
Secular religion, however, is something entirely different, and it is prone to evil, or at least, history has always shown it to have been so inclined. That is to say, distinctions need to be made between right actions and those actions sanctioned by any given set of cultural practices in any given time or place. We must begin to use the term secular religion to identify those cultures that fail to honor this distinction. If we wish to evangelize effectively, we need also to clarify this point, first in our own minds and then in conversations with those unaware that our America has drifted into a loosely defined, but nonetheless dangerous, secular religion, signaling a de facto violation of the Exclusion Clause of the First Amendment.
If we can agree that a true culture’s essence is always secular, then we can also agree that none of the world’s political problems are born of conflicts between religion and culture. Of course, many of our greatest political and social woes result from a clash between religions, some of which wear the mask of culture. The most stunning current example is, of course, the secular religion that has diminished Christian influence in Europe and now grips the United States. Those who oppose President Obama and his ill-conceived programs have yet to make use of the following truth: every human person, including the professed agnostic or atheist, has a belief system – and a belief system is, de facto, a religion.
The very notion of human life without religion is a delusion. Christopher Dawson knew it. Vincent Miceli knew it. Blessed John Paul II knew it. Pope Benedict XVI knows it. And when the U.S. Supreme Court finally discovers it and correctly applies the “Establishment Clause” in accordance with it, the winds will shift. However, that can only happen when the Catholic laity, a sleeping giant (emphasis on “sleeping” – or maybe drugged is a better word), wakes up and becomes a political and social force. We cannot wait for the clergy to wake us up. Indeed, for the past 60 or so years, large numbers of the clergy have instead been singing a soothing lullaby. Renewal in the Church is needed. It can, it must, and it will happen. But I predict that it will not happen until clerical and lay positions are properly differentiated. The Pope recently said that we need to reverse the trend of laicizing the clergy and clericalizing the laity. Is anybody listening?
The first goal of the laity is to organize itself and to marshal its efforts to constantly hammer away at a single theme. That theme is that America has become the purveyor of a secular religion posing as a culture. This secular religion has its own hierarchy, consisting of the vast majority of educators, media bosses, entertainment gurus, and social commentators, all preaching a single faith. We habitually call it liberalism. We must stop using this word to refer to that phenomenon. It is anything but liberalism. Like all theocrats everywhere, purveyors of the American secular religion root out, ridicule, ostracize, and marginalize all dissenters. If the Catholic laity does not soon get into the fray with its intellectual artillery blazing, a denial of the principles upon which America was founded will disappear, and the Catholic voice in America will be silenced.
If, on the other hand, the Catholic laity and other like-minded Christians unite in opposition to this secular religion, the 21st century can still become the one in which the American Catholic laity finally grows to adulthood as one body. As we thank God that the Deposit of Faith remains secure, we, the laity, should take the Council seriously, and do our primary job, which is not to emulate the clergy in order to become ersatz clerics ourselves. Our primary job is to influence secular culture in a workman-like way.
To carry out that mission we are going to have to mount a maximum effort rather than continue the way we have gone about it in the past (that is, those who went about it at all). We need specific-goals, not haphazard, hit-or-miss actions. We need an organized plan based a full understanding of the job. At present, no organization exists to take up this challenge.
Don’t wait for the clergy to start a lay organization. They have their jobs, too. Don’t write to me. I’m an 80-year-old man looking after a disabled wife, and I count getting the laundry done every week as a major victory. There must be plenty of you young bucks out there who can take charge, and if you’re one of them, get started. Take responsibility. Educate yourself and others. Start at the parish level. The secular religious press makes fun of the Tea Party, but political conservatives have the right idea, at least from an organizational perspective. We need to establish a Christian voting block, and that is going to take education, time, money, and most of all, organization.

Read my earlier post. This is a time for choosing where we want to spend our ETERNITY. We only live less than 100yrs -most of us. It’s to weed out those who are not worthy of living in heaven so those who do live in heaven will have only the worthy to live with. My heaven won’t be with a liar or adulterer!
Those who cannot handle all the evils of the world -won’t be there.
The Amish don’t let people drive, use electricity etc.etc. I tell them , it’s not what you use—-it’s HOW you use it. The same with alcohol or any other aspect of this world .  How about being bilimic? Shall we ban food??!!!
PLEASE GOD   ENLIGHTEN YOUR “SHEEP”!

“It’s to weed out those who are not worthy of living in heaven”

So, everybody then?

“My heaven won’t be with a liar or adulterer!”

Heaven isn’t yours.

C Edward Collins, you said, “In fact, Vatican II was, and remains, the cure for many problems if the full message of its documents become widely known”.

What were the many problems and what ARE the cures?  Can you list both, please.

Where are we going?  See the YouTube message given by this priest.
“Saju George, S.J. - The Dancing Jesuit - Performance & Interview”

Hey Linda -
“The Church Promotes alcohol” ?  Not much of a case to be made that this is really occurring in the institutional Church.  Of course,  Christ did change the water into wine at that Cana wedding reception to keep the event going!

For those of you who support the Church’s policy of promoting alcohol use, you may recall that doctors only a few years ago prescribed tobacco for health reasons - to pregnant women.  Now, they say drinking, too, has “health benefits”.  But the benefits are the same for wine as they are for Strychnine-laced grape juice.  All “benefits” are from the grape juice - the poison is from the alcohol drug.  Alcohol is a by-product of cell metabolism, similar to urine, only more poisonous. 

A drug that causes birth defects that the Holy Virgin recommends?  No, thank you.  There is something very wrong with the logic here.  Birth defects means that it changes the DNA - not just in pregnant women.  The addictive properties of alcohol lead to many excuses, which we are seeing right here on this page, including the fact that Bishops are using it to draw people to bars “to discuss religion”.  And quoting the Bible to support drinking is a common excuse.  How many of you eat pork? 

Like I said, alcohol is a powerful psychoactive drug.  It extinguishes the light of virtuous, clear thinking when making moral decisions, leading to sexual exploitation and rape of boys, girls, men, and women.  It sanctions (and sanctifies) risky sexual behaviors leading to HIV, abortions and contraception practices.  It destroys livers and brain cells and causes birth defects (is teratogenic).  It is a precursor to cancer, crime and brutality, deadly accidents, shootings and stabbings.  These are established facts.  And you are saying the Holy Virgin promotes this?  Perhaps the effects I’ve just listed have already hurt you. 

The next time you call people names who are against drinking, think again who you are speaking for.  It is not Christ.  I am giving you a warning that something is wrong.  The Church needs to listen very carefully to small voices.  I am not going to shout any louder.

Catholics need to be a sign of contradiction just by their actions alone.  Grievously, Catholics are not reminded that birth controlling violates the Ten Commandments as well as abortions and divorces.  Forming one’s own conscience is now encouraged without reference to Magisterial Teachings that never err on matters of faith and morals. 
    There are many individual popes, gods and goddesses, collaborating and worshipping with non Catholics, women dressing as men and taking over men’s responsibilities and jobs.

Alcohol does not lead to any of the consequences you list, Linda.  The abuse of alcohol does, however.  So the Church wisely speaks out against the abuse of alcohol and rightly calls it a sin.  You make wild leaps, however, and say things that the Church does not say, making you the de facto Pope of your own teetotaling uberChurch.

adolfo.  Sorry to hear you are one of those who calls non-drinkers names.  As a drinker, I’d guess you are willing to take any risks with alcohol, just so you can say you are a drinker and not a “de facto Pope of your own teetotaling uberChurch”.  All alcohol is poisonous, no matter how little.  I would not want to take any risks of offending God by drinking poison.  God gave me my body and it is His temple.

I am fortunate to have been born on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.