Clean out time. Perhaps one or more of these links will interest you folks:
At Rome of the West – a great blog dedicated to documenting the historcial life of the Roman Catholic Church in St. Louis – a post on a gorgeous renovation of a church near downtown. I love the color tones and the fact that the walls of the sanctuary have been decoratively painted – in muted, yet meaningful designs. Aside from everything else, the one factor that consistently irks me about the interiors of contemporary churches is the absence of color. When there’s a lot of wood, it compensates, but still…enough of the white walls and white statuary!
(Yeah, yeah…Neoclassical.. etc., etc..etc… Still want some color.)
The University of Dallas runs three great study abroad programs for high school students – Thomas More in England and Latin in Rome and Shakespeare in Italy. My son David participated in the More program several years ago, and enjoyed it very much – it is a study program, with papers and such, and successful completion gets you a bit of college credit, in addition to everything else. They have a few more spots and the application deadline is drawing close. So check it out.
Fr. Ben Hawley, SJ, whom I met the other night in Philly, and whose name escaped me when I first posted, has written with the links to his blogs:
www.thegoodnewsofchrist.blogspot.com: my first blog – an experiment – based on experience with catholics over 40: posts on my own conversion, my experience of finding the Lord in my life, and brief, personalized explanations on matters of faith: The Good News of Our Lord Jesus Christ, “But Mass is so Boring!” – Parts 1 – 5, etc.
www.livingtheeucharist.blogspot.com: a series of nine posts explaining the experience of Jesus of Nazareth, who is God Incarnate, in his Passion, Death and Resurrection in partnership with the Father as he/they break the power of sin and death – “dying you destroyed our death/rising you restored our life” – so that we can be freed of our own sin and sin done to us and so be freed for fuller and more abundant life – “By your cross and resurrection you have set us free…”
http://didyoufindgodtoday.blogspot.com: short posts on how I find the Lord in my own experience.
TMatt’s latest column looks at the way Opus Dei has handled the media attention of recent years.
Regina Doman has a post on the rules for sword-fighting in her house.
Love to Be Catholic is a new site you should check out:
CATHOLICI SUMUS is a non-profit Catholic organization formed to help bring about the late Pope John Paul II’s vision of a new springtime for the Church. Our name is Latin for "We are Catholic." We are advocates for the Catholic Faith. In doing so, our goal is to help bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus.
INNOVATE – That’s how we plan to share our message. Our first initiative is to sell one million wristbands with the Latin phrase Periucundum Est Catholicum Esse. That translates to: "It’s cool to be Catholic!" All profits from the sale of these wristbands will go to support our mission and the Church.
EVANGELIZE – It is our hope that these wristbands will become a way for Catholics to evangelize. Wearing the bracelet makes a statement. More importantly, every time someone inquires about the purple (the color of penance) band on a friend’s wrist it opens the door for dialogue. This can be a welcoming opportunity and unassuming way for people to talk about their Catholic faith.
IMAGINE – One million Catholics wearing these wristbands, leading to millions of daily opportunities to share the faith!
Struggling Alone: Ryan Anderson has a powerful piece in the Feb. First Things (the contents of which is all online now – the February issue, I mean), in which he details the struggle of a friend of his dealing with same-sex attraction – including the obstacles to finding the kind of help he wants and knows he needs.
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