New Heifer

Our heifer freshened yesterday. She had a heifer. Our older Jersey (light cow in pic) is due to freshen in a few months.

What to do with all this wealth?

Oremus pro invicem!

I have been reading ...

The Shadow of His Wings by Fr. Gereon Goldman, OFM. It is a fast moving and inspirational read.

At one point, Fr. Gereon is in a prisoner of war camp and observes:

And who is praying? An inquiry revealed that hardly five percent would admit that they prayed; those who prayed did so from force of habit, and their prayers were mostly the prayers of children. For most of the men, prayer was a burden or merely a habit; in any case, it was an unpleasant thing, and for a man and a soldier it was considered an embarrassing occupation.

 

And isn't this the case and a fundamental problem of our society?

 

Fr. Gereon goes on:

 

That this (prayer) is not merely something for women and children, but that first and foremost it is for the man, the head of the family ..... (emphasis added)

 

And isn't this the fundamental solution to the problems and "innovations" we are seeing in our society?

 

I was reminded today of Thomas Jefferson's statement:

 

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

 

It is my contention that we are now "any other." Men must lead; lead their own prayer lives; lead their family in their prayer life; and thus lead the country to God.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

 

I tell you, Dr. Anthony Esolen can write; and of course it isn't just style. What he writes always has substance, clearly articulated. Try this: 

Most lately, in Obergefell v. Hodges, Kennedy has insisted that “the opportunity to marry is integral to human dignity,” and that “excluding gay and lesbian couples from marriage demeans the dignity of these couples.” ...

 

Suppose the man whom women leave cold takes up residence with another man. Well, across the street live a middle-aged man and his autistic brother. They love one another, and will be together till death parts them. But theirs is not a marriage. It is a good thing, but we do them no injustice to say that they are not married, regardless of how deep their love is, or how pleasant they are to their neighbors, or how nicely they trim their flower garden.

 

What distinguishes the love of the brothers from the love of the homosexual man and his friend? Is it that the latter perform acts of sodomy, while the former do not? Is the membrum virile then the instrument that delivers that dignity which warms the cockles of Kennedy’s heart? Let us think about this for a moment. What does the sodomy add? Why should we value sodomy as such? Why should we value it so highly that for its sake we will overturn millennia of human experience, the social structure of our civilization, and the last tottering guardrails against judicial supremacy?

 

Read the whole thing here.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

 

I feel rich

Yesterday we got up early to beat the heat and slaughtered a hog. A big hog, but not as big as the one on my sidebar. This morning we got up early and butchered said hog. We have been pork poor for a couple months (which is another story.)

 

Now with a freezer full of pork, I feel suddenly rich!

 

(We were tempted to butcher the hog inside because Mrs. Curley is away, but reason prevailed and we butchered outside in the early morning light.)

 

Deo Gratias!

Update: Ham and bacon curing.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Hope!

 Behold, the time is coming, nay, has already come, when you are to be scattered, each of you taking his own path, and to leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.  I have said this to you, so that in me you may find peace. In the world, you will only find tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world. John 16:32-33

Make your children see this one ....

... and it is good to see with your spouse too.  Make Way for Tomorrow

We borrowed it from the library the other day, and (in my Dad's words) it is "a drippy movie"-that is no one will have dry eyes after this one.

The review to which I linked says of marriage:

Our lives appear to us as a story: a story that we tell ourselves about our past, act out in the present and script for ourselves into the future. To share one’s life with someone, then, is to embark on a daring creative venture in shared storytelling. To marry is to say: Let us make of our two lives one story, a story that I will tell to you and you will tell to me. Telling and retelling that story — reminiscing about shared experiences, especially the happy or funny ones — is one of the secrets of happy couples ...

Another one to read ....

Pope Francis Needs Distributism

Oremus pro invicem!

Truth and Reality - GONE!

“At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” Justice Anthony Kennedy (Casey decision – also quoted in Lawrence decision, and certainly alluded to in the DOMA decision)

“What is Truth?” – Pontius Pilot

The new standard of Justice Kennedy is the old standard of Pontius Pilot, who, if you recall, crucified our Lord!

This is why we are now to call men who think they are women, women? same-sex couples who think they are married, married? white people who think they are African American, black? people who can’t decide what they are, they, or zir, or hir, or non-binary or …..?

If I think I am President of the United States, do I get to be the President? (And do other people have to accept my concept of my own reality?)

If I think I am the husband of the woman down the street, do I get to be her husband? (ditto here.) Note to wife: I have no desire to be anyone’s husband but yours!

If I identify myself as a horse, does that make me a horse, and does it require others to treat me like a horse? (Do I really want to be treated like a horse?)

Where is mankind (er, humankind, er they-kind) heading? Can’t everyone see this is just so much nonsense? A child (before the re-education that is now taking place) would certainly see this as nonsense.

Wikipedia (that standard of all fact!) gives the definition of gender identity as: a person's private sense and subjective experience of their own gender. This is generally described as one's private sense of being a man or a woman, consisting primarily of the acceptance of membership into a category of people: male or female.

What????

One dictionary defines identity as: the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.

Another defines identity as: a) sameness of essential or generic character in different instances. b) sameness in all that constitutes the objective reality of a thing.

Get that: “the objective reality of a thing. – not someone’s own perspective of a thing.

Of course, standby for a change in definitions based upon the new reality of no reality.

Am I forseeing a time that the only fact or reality will be the prison cell for those who actually reject the nonsense and hold on to truth?

Oremus pro invicem! (Really!)

The Father's Vocation

Every Saturday night when we do Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours, we read:

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

It occurred to me that this is surely a prescription for the vocation of father. First, there is the universal call to holiness: Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

 

Then there is the call of the father on how to raise his children: Drill them into your children.

 

Then the father as spiritual head of the family: Speak of them at home ...

 

And finally, the father as the domestic church's face to the world: and abroad ...

 

Of course there is nothing here specific about a father's vocation as husband, but we can go to St. Paul for that ....

Oremus pro invicem!

Work

Work done:

Work to do:

(I think my brother and family are coming at the end of this week - maybe they can help!)

Oremus pro invicem!

Garden

We got a late start this year because of my work schedule and 4-5 weeks without a drop of rain. The chickens kept eating my corn so I found a new place to plant. But the lack of rain means we may get little if any. However, finally okra, cantaloupe, zucchini, and pumpkins are up, but way behind (except the pumpkins which are right on time.)

We are however getting green beans.

And I found the first Roma Tomatoes on our vines.

God is always good!

Oremus pro invicem!

read it!

how-to-identify-a-healthy-culture

We try to do some of this in our own humble way. - Oremus pro invicem!

My dad would have been 95 today had he not passed in 1999. I can't believe it has been 16 years. I still miss him. Here he is with my mother (still going strong) back in the late 50's.

 

May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.

 

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Prep for the hog roast/graduation

Here some pictures from last nights' hog roast prep. Matthew graduates today. He is headed for Holy Trinity Seminary and University of Dallas for the diocese of Charleston. In order, we have Matthew dispatching the hog and then Connor and Thomas who wanted to pose with it. Oremus pro invicem!

I was in New England picking up my son after he completed his sophomore year at Northeast Catholic College two weekends ago. My youngest daughter made the trip with me. She hadn't been north in 8 years, and, I discovered, had some misconceptions about the Northeast. For example, she didn't think there were ANY rural areas-just congestion and city. We both found the rural East coast very beautiful. Sometimes it makes me long for the region of my youth.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

End of School, Graduation, Work, Plans, Vacation

Mrs. Curley and I had a unique opportunity to spend the weekend at Surfside (near Myrtle Beach). Although it was the last weekend of Biker Rally Week and therefore VERY NOISY and trafficy, we had a great time on the beach, talking, playing cribbage and all that stuff. Once again going to Mass away from home is always a tricky business, but we survive. Back home I have work, and wood, and planting to do.

Stuck in traffic on the way home, we fell to technology and took a "selfie", sort of reminiscent of the photo booth we went to on our honeymoon at Cocoa Beach-although I have many more grays now.

Number 3 son, Matthew is graduating from high school (our school) this weekend. We are very proud of him. You can catch is music on YouTube. He is a talented farmer and (I think) songwriter. But as of now, these things are on hold. He will be attending University of Dallas in the Fall majoring in Philosophy (do you know what that means?-if you don't, I will tell in a future post.)

Glad the Technical College semester is over, but am teaching 2 classes in the summer semester. I am enjoying my 2 weeks off. This morning cutting and splitting wood. This afternoon, some planting (albeit late.)

 

Oremus pro invicem!

A job with the pigs

Warning-pictures below may be upsetting to some people .....

That's my Thomas with his handiwork. Friday evening we went over to help a friend slaughter their hogs. After the first was knocked unconscious, I was about to climb over the short fence to stick the pig, but my friend warned the electric fence was still on! Thomas didn't hesitate, he hopped the fence, sat right on the pig, which though knocked out was thrashing, and stuck that pig. Then he repeated it a few minutes later for the second.

We had these pigs skinned and butchered in 3 hours and 45 minutes-and that included a 30 minute dinner break. Thomas did a great job.

Oremus pro invicem!

Books, CD's, and worms (not bookworms!)

My family came back from a library sale last week with a couple items for me. One was a book The Accidental Pope by Ray Flynn (Catholic, former mayor of Boston and ex-Ambassador to the Holy See.) The other was a book on CD for my long commutes entitled The Third Secret.

 

Both books have similarities: the prominence of the apparitions at Fatima; a Vatican secretary of state who has papal aspirations and is rigid; the promise of "big" changes in the Church, and the issue of priestly celibacy plays strongly in both.

 

I haven't finished The Accidental Pope, so I don't know what "big" changes might be in store. So far it simply a good-natured, but unlikely tale. But I have finished The Third Secret and have a few things to say about it.

 

First, The Third Secret gets some information about the Church very wrong. First the author continually confuses doctrine, dogma, Tradition, and Church discipline. For example, priestly celibacy is presented repeatedly as dogma. Papal infallibility is constantly presented to go much further than reality (at one point the fictional pope remarks that anything he says is infallible.)

 

Even with these faults, the book goes along as a thriller without too much doctrinal controversy for at least the first 3/4's or even more-although towards the climax there are hints that I won't be pleased when all is said and done-what an understatement.

 

The plot is that part of the Third Secret of Fatima was stolen out of the Papal reserva by an aid of Paul VI, who is now the Vatican secretary of state. The book centers around what the secret is. Finally at the very end we find out and also discover that the 10th secret of Medjugorje is identical to the missing part of the Third Secret of Fatima. And what is this secret?

 

The missing "Third Secret" is that it is God's wish, expressed directly by the Blessed Virgin Mary (I hesitate to write this as it is so scandalous) that priestly celibacy is wrong, papal infallibility is not true, that abortion is okay and the choice only of a woman, and that homosexual marriage and relations are pleasing to God ("any kind of love is good if it makes you happy").

 

I can't believe I wasted my time with such rubbish!

*************************

Now to the worms. I was asked below how I worm my pigs. Here is the brief tale. I try to worm my pigs as naturally as possible. This consists of putting garlic powder in their food every few months unless I see a real lack of weight gain, and then I do it more often. In the fall I give them every raw pumpkin seed I am not saving for replanting. Both garlic powder and raw pumpkin seeds are great natural wormers. If I see a real problem after worming naturally, I will use some fenbendazole in the form of pellets mixed with their feed. Since starting with natural wormers a few years ago, I don't think I have chemically wormed more than once or twice.

So now you know.

Oremus pro invicem!

Really?

I got a catalog in the mail today from "The Catholic Company". I couldn't believe this:



 
The plush First Communion bear is a cuddly way to commemorate a young child's reception of the Sacrament of Holy Communion. The small bear comes with a miniature bible containing the scripture quote from John 14:6, “I am the way and truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

 

 

 

Did you get that? It could be interpreted that the BEAR is "the way, the truth and the life". Obviously, most (99.99%) seeing this won't take it this way, but either way, this is just silly!

 

Oremus pro invicem!

New pigs!

Woke up yesterday morning to find that Sam had farrowed her litter. It looks like 8, which is a low for her, but not to worry. We aren't a high production operation! They are big, almost equal the length of the 3-week old pigs of Betsy's litter. Here is the first picture-better ones should come later. (some are under that hay.)

 

 

A comment below about what I am (economically/politically) is too long to answer in a comment box, so I give below a brief (and incomplete) outline. Here goes (most of this has been posted here at sometime in the last 10+ years) ....

I guess you could call me a Distributist, however the name is misleading to some-thinking that it is some kind of socialism, which if most definitely isn’t. Distributism condemns both socialism and unfettered capitalism, in that both big government and big business are ultimately bad for families, local communities, and traditional values, and argues for an economic structure based on the widespread ownership of wealth via strong local economies.

If you ever have a chance to read Catholicism Protestantism and Capitalism by Anmintore Fanfani you may come away with the idea (as I did) that Capitalism has to eventually become Socialism in the final analysis, as the Government has to eventually highly regulate everything to protect the interests of big business. The regulations become so burdensome that the government is the only entity which has the resources to support such a regulated structure. Thus the government has to begin consolidating industries under itself. (Eventually this too will collapse under its own weight.) This is trending in America today-slowly but surely. 

In America we value the ownership of private property. This has become to mean that we own our own home. But few of us really do, as many have found out in recent years (and with property taxes and inheritance taxes, even if you “own” your home, really you are leasing it from the government). 

Ownership of private property also should mean that we own the means to production. The goal should be that as many as possible of the citizens should be owners of property-real property, that is, the means of production: ownership in land, in buildings and equipment, in farms, factories, mines, in commercial enterprises, and in machinery. Workers themselves (Note Well, NOT a socialist or communist government “in the name of workers”)  should own the means of production instead being the tools of production.

Our economic system has come to a point where workers are merely tools for greater profit, to be acquired or discarded as the quarterly numbers dictate. Workers have a dignity which is not respected by too many corporations. Corporations must remember that they exist not just for profits but to provide fulfilling work and wages for their workers.

Increasingly big companies simply use their employees as commodities (even professionals) to be used up and tossed out. Workers often don’t have dignity and respect. Large companies often squeeze and squeeze the benefits and continually do more with less workers. Some of these large companies (effectively subsidized by government policies) only offer part time work so they don’t even have to give benefits.

Politically, I believe in subsidiarity; that is governance should be done at the most local level possible. The role of the government should be in service of man, or if you will, in service of the family. Increasingly central control, whether it be in business, education, or government, robs man of freedom and self-determination. Government in recent years acts more in the service of commerce than in the service of man.

Both major parties favor entitlements: Democrats for the poor; Republicans for the rich in the form of tax breaks and corporate deals and subsidies (think agriculture and roads)-the latter which enrich the owners of the means to production. Government handouts insult the dignity of man, at both ends of the spectrum. 

So we need a system which encourages family unity and encourages the widest distribution of the means of production. These are complementary goals. 

Much more to flesh out, but this is a starting point.

Oremus pro invicem!

Reading ....

Tractatus de Societate by Nathan Freeman.

Quotes to come .....

Update: Just to clarify, the title is in Latin, but the book is in English!

Oremus pro invicem!

Roads in SC

So everyone agrees that the roads in SC are in a state of major disrepair. Governor Nikki Haley proposes that we raise money for the roads by raising the gasoline tax (Of course no one will notice because gas prices are so low!). But Governor Haley insists that any tax increase is offset by a tax cut of the income tax.

Two questions for the Governor:

1. Doesn't it mean we already have $$$ for roads if you are offsetting taxes?

2. Doesn't a raise in the gas tax affect everyone equally, but cutting the income tax help everyone EXCEPT the working poor, who drive to work, but pay little in income tax?

Just asking ......

Oremus pro invicem! 

Those boys!

This morning I had a lot to prepare for class and I had a car with a broken upper radiator hose and needing a new thermostat.

 

I started working on it, but was frustrated that this car with 243K miles on it had never had its thermostat replaced, and thus the original thermostat was staked in.

 

With much to do, I called my boys to finish taking out the hose and then grinding off the stakes.

 

When this was done, I went back out and guided them in replacing the thermostat; they did the hose.

I am proud of them. What responsible and skilled young men I have.

Oremus pro invicem!

Now reading ...

... Paul Thigpen's Final Thoughts of Catholic Saints & Sinners.

This one struck me:

Sir Everard Digby(1578-1606) was an English Catholic convert who was hung, drawn and quartered for his part in a plot to blow up Parliament and overthrow King James I, who persecuted Catholics. When the executioner cut out his heart, and held it up saying, "Here is the heart of a traitor", Digby managed to summon up the strength to respond "Thou liest"

God's Training for us

I am into the last book I got for Christmas: Finding God's Will for You by St. Francis DeSales (Sophia).

Many good quotes, but here is this mornings:

Although the difficulties, temptations, and different events that occur in the course of carrying out our plan may cause us some uncertainty as to whether we have chosen well, still we must remain firm and not consider all such things. ... furthermore we do not know if God wills us to be trained in consolation or in desolation .....

On this feast of St. Joseph, Oremus pro invicem!

Spring Break

It has been a busy few weeks. Last week Connor was on Spring Break from Northeast Catholic College. We also had friends visiting for a few days. We took the opportunity to put our bull down (hoping he had already bred both Mabel and the heifer). We had steaks last Saturday night and it felt distinctly like a non-Lenten meal. (We aged the loin in our refrigerator and hung the rest of the beef in a friend's walk-in refrigerator.)

 

Usually by March I have most of the wood we need for the next winter at least on the property, if not cut, split, and stacked. This year I hadn't even started. But on February 28th, [again with the help of visiting friends-quite possibly they won't be back as we worked them the whole time they were here :)] we cut 4 truckloads of wood from a neighbor's downed trees.

 

This week I am on spring break from my 4-day a week teaching job at the local technical college. More cutting firewood from another neighbor, a little splitting, fence-building (we have a sow due to farrow and needed a new farrowing pen), and some garden tilling. I am hoping to put at least part of the spring garden in today.

 

We also finished butchering the beef yesterday in our friend's cold room.

 

I haven't done this much physical work since the semester started. It makes me yearn for more physical work and less teaching/desk time. But at the same time I have just agreed to teach 2 summer courses.

 

My body is sore with muscles not used to all this activity. But it feels so good.

 

God has provided us another winter with free firewood, beautiful weather this week, great friends, and everything else we need.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Requiem Press

I haven't mentioned Requiem Press in some time - mostly because we are no longer publishing. I still get author inquiries from time to time - more query letters in a year than books sold these days, however.

 

The only reason I mention it at all is because we still have inventory left on a few titles. I haven't pushed them much, but a couple times a year someone finds the website and orders a book or inquires about a book which we've sold out of.

 

The remaining books in inventory each sell and ship for a combined price of $5 - no hidden costs. And if you want a whole bunch of any one title, I will work out a better deal.

 

Titles left are available at the link above or on the sidebar. (The image is of one of our first books - we have plenty of these!)

 

Readers of this blog have been extremely supportive of this effort when we were an ongoing business, roughly from 2004 to about 2008-2010. I still have a few books I'd love to publish in print or electronically, but the family, the homestead and paying work take up so much time.

 

I am working sporadically on two of my own titles-one dealing with the slaughter and butcher of hogs, and the other stories from our life on the homestead (many of these related or alluded to in the archives of this blog.) No doubt I will announce it here first if either comes to fruition.  

 

Now back to regular programming .....

Oremus pro invicem!

The Yield of the Land

Last night I came home to this:

This loin came from a 145 pig we put down on the feast of Cyril and Methodius. So the loin isn't as big as usual. It was sliced open and stuffed with sausage. On the outside (being bacon-poor this week), Mrs. Curley took a couple slices off a ham we had just finished brining and dressed the loin with them.

It was delicious. One shouldn't enjoy such meals during Lent. (Of course if I was a Melkite, I couldn't.)

Oremus pro invicem!

Today's Present

This morning "Betsy" gave birth to 10 piglets. This was her first litter and a mistake. She wasn't supposed to be bred, but the boar scaled fences and defied my wishes. In any event, here she is with her pigs.

Constant stories in the news about self-indulgence in America and the West: legalizing marijuana the the businessmen licking their lips, LBGT...xylmnop.... everywhere, recent movie releases which celebrate exploitation of women and gratuitous pleasure.

 

On the other side of the world, Christians being martyred and kidnapped. War ravages.

 

Nero fiddles as Rome burns?

 

A not so modest proposal: Christians are fleeing the Middle East, the Holy Land. What if 10,000 or 20,000 Western Christians sold their belongings and moved enmass to formerly or presently Christian-occupied areas in the Holy Land. We wouldn't be an army, except an spiritual army bringing prayers, hope, and solidarity.

 

Yes I know there are problems (which I can enumerate) with such a proposal, but how can we personally (at personal sacrifice) show solidarity with these Christians who are suffering?

 

Lord have mercy on us!

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Nap time

Sunday when we got home from Mass, inside the house was in the 50's. I wasn't feeling real well. Someone started a fire in the stove, but I just needed a nap. So I bundled up on the living room couch and the kids did their part and gave me more insulation - see below.

Apparently someone thought is worth recording. It was a goooood nap!

Since then we have all been down with some kind of bug. Due to the freezing rain Monday night, fortunately my Technical college canceled my evening classes on Monday and all classes on Tuesday. Much needed down time here. Back to work today as we begin Lent.

Oremus pro invicem!

Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching

As indicated in a previous post, most reviews I have seen of Anthony Esolen's book Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching (Sophia Institute Press ) have been extremely positive. There was one exception which I also noted. After finishing the book, I am convinced that the negative reviewer either didn't read the entire book or was so looking for certain information outside the scope of the book, that he missed the point.

 

Many who write about Catholic Social Teaching (CST) are seeking to promote a specific interpretation of CST, i.e. Distributism, agrarianism, relief of the poor, criticism of (or justification of) capitalism, or justification of the welfare state.

 

But Dr. Esolen is starting back at the beginning. He draws heavily not just from Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, but many of his other writings on marriage, the family, and the Eucharist. This is not to say that Pope Leo XIII's writings are the beginning of CST. Dr. Esolen argues that CST has a long tradition-going back to Christ in the Church. Pope Leo is taking the time to restate it and flesh it out in the light of a world in political and industrial revolution.

 

Dr. Esolen does not propose an economic "third way" between Capitalism and Socialism, but defines the right relations between man and God, the family, community, employer/employee, and the State.

 

Thus, the economy (in the right sense) is concerned with the family not industry and investors. The State (in right relation) is in service to the family, not a policeman of the family.

 

Before I began reading the book, the word in the title "Reclaiming" misled me to think I was going to read a detailed plan to apply CST. Instead, I got a better understanding what CST actually is. Thus the "Reclaiming" is a reclaiming of our understanding of CST. It is not a political or economic (in the commonly understood sense) agenda. However, it is a plan in the sense that a true understanding of CST should inform our response. 

And in the final analysis, Dr. Esolen does give a plan-the same plan which is the solution to all our individual and world problems-Christ, especially Christ in the most Holy Eucharist.

 

Highly recommended! Thanks Dr. Esolen for this effort.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

 

 

 

So what did I do ....

 .... on this feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (and of course St. Valentine)?

 

The same thing I did on my last wedding anniversary - butchered a hog!

 

I also cooked up a bunch of sausage, made some head cheese, and worked on taxes.

Oremus pro invicem!

Manalive!

Just finished listening to Chesterton's Manalive. I was telling Mrs. Curley about it, but she thought the man who broke all conventions but kept the Commandments was silly. Yet......

 

I could see the profit of leaving on a journey East (or West) around the world just to find my home again. And I could see the profit of recourting my wife over and over.

 

May be I am a romantic, or may be Manalive is a man's book?

Oremus pro invicem!

Unresistable grace

For Christmas, my wife and daughter downloaded a bunch of books and stories from Libra Vox for me to listen to on my travels. (Each day have at least a 60+ mile commute each way.) Right now I am listening to Chesterton's Manalive. So, I decided I would pray the rosary on my last leg home. Usually I start it at the blinking light in Kershaw. However I was enjoying the book so much, I was seriously contemplating skipping the rosary (just this once-right!) for Chesterton. But he (Chesterton) would have none of it.

Just as I approached the blinking light and eased to a stop, came the words out of the speaker from Manalive:

Then he sat staring rather foolishly at the rude lantern of lead and coloured glass that hangs over my door. It is old, but of no value; my grandmother gave it to me long ago: she was devout, and it happens that the glass is painted with a crude picture of Bethlehem and the Wise Men and the Star. He seemed so mesmerized with the transparent glow of Our Lady's blue gown and the big gold star behind, that he led me also to look at the thing, which I had not done for fourteen years.  (emphasis added)

I couldn't resist the grace, turned off the CD, and began the rosary.

 

Oremus pro invicem! 

Even more from EBW

"There is no doubt about it, the basic satisfaction in farming is manure ...."

More from EB White

E.B. White tells another truth (paraphrased): Farming is 20% agriculture and 80% fixing things that break!

Mr. Austin Ruse has an article at Crisis Magazine last week where he tries to make the case for pro-life Catholics not just continuing to support the GOP vs. switching to the Democratic party, but that we have a home in the GOP. However, given only those two choices, GOP seems to have diminishing returns for pro-lifers. For years many have suspected the GOP (in general) keeps with the pro-life rhetoric in order to garner votes and then does nothing to change to the light of the unborn. Witness two weeks ago when the Republicans couldn’t gather enough votes in a Congress they control to pass a pro-life bill outlawing most abortions after 20 weeks if pregnancy.

I have read Mr. Ruse’s argument over and over by others, and while I don’t agree with it, I can understand why many Catholics will continue to support the GOP for the reasons Mr. Ruse gives.

However, what I don’t understand is Mr. Ruse’s attack on Distributists who (in general) do not advocate supporting the Democratic Party. Mr. Ruse starts his close with the following diatribe:

As for Catholic Social Teaching, the cudgel this group likes to beat us with, who says Catholic Social Teaching requires us to follow the policy prescriptions of the hard left? ……

This makes no sense to me. Most of the people I know who are concerned by the GOP’s lack of understanding of Catholic Social teaching would definitely not support the Democratic party no matter the failings of the GOP, and would also argue that the  policy proscriptions of the hard left don’t follow the Catholic prescription of subsidiarity.

Finally, he decides to start throwing insults instead of making a coherent conclusion:

While we’re at it, let’s get the Federal government out of the land business. The Feds own a third of all US land, up to half and more of many western states. Let’s have a modern day land-rush for all those Distributists out there who are just itching to fish, farm or make cheese—though one suspects they’ll stay exactly where they are, blogging and adjunct teaching.

As a Distributist, a blogger, and an Adjunct for a technical college who doesn’t just itch to work a homestead but actually does, I suppose I could take offense, as could many others.  May be Mr. Ruse has someone in particular in mind, but he uses a broad brush – exactly what he criticizes in those who criticize the GOP’s commitment to life issues. (I suppose the adjunct remark is to imply the adjuncts are just not good/smart/etc enough to get another job?)

Perhaps it isn’t the time for a third party to rise and take the place of the GOP or the Democratic Party as many of my ilk would like, but it is clear that increasingly neither party has a coherent vision compatible with primary life issues (abortion, contraception, euthanasia) or secondary life issues (subsidiarity, economy, poverty, social teaching, war, etc.)

From my view, both major parties seem more interested in staying in power than anything else. That is why they won’t vote on controversial issues near an election. This is why they come out against policies they supported previously based on the support or opposition of the opposing party. It is about power.

A case could be made to continue to support the GOP, but saying that Catholics have a HOME in the GOP, as Mr. Ruse trues to argue, seems to be stretching it. Mr. Ruse becomes even less convincing when he decides to take broadsides at people he clearly knows very little about. (And Mr. Ruse should recall that the likely biggest 2-3 contributors to the next GOP presidential nominee will likely be pro-same sex marriage as they were in the last election.) I would argue that a stronger case could be made to support neither party. The GOP would either have to re-evaluate and re-up their pro-life commitment or be regulated to a secondary party. (Of course the argument that we then would be stuck with very a majority of anti-life Democrats until the GOP decided to change would be a compelling argument against this course.)

I guess this is why it is said that politics makes strange bedfellows. This is why, I suspect, many want to stay out of the bed these days!

Oremus pro invicem!

From "One Man's Meat"

I don't know whether I came to the country to live the simple life; but I am now engaged in a life vastly more complex than anything the city has to offer. -E.B. White

Horseshoes

Took some time Saturday afternoon to break out the horseshoes we got for Christmas. After a couple days of rain, it was a welcome sunny afternoon.

Many of our kids had never tossed horseshoes, or had tossed rarely. It was interesting to see the amazing progress in an hour of tossing them. Only three ringers in the hour, but I think we all had fun.

 

Finally, for supper Saturday we had one of my favorites: slow-cooked (albeit not on the grill) pork shoulder with Boston baked beans and hot brown bread-smothered in butter (and milk.) It doesn't get much better. Mrs. Curley was out of town (she doesn't like the beans or bread-the more for the rest of us!)

 

 

 

Oremus pro invicem!

All the stuff I have been reading

I mentioned I have been reading Anthony Esolen's excellent book: Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching. What I didn't know is that Mr. Esolen relies almost exclusively on many of Pope Leo XIII's writings-not just Rerum Novarum. Although I haven't finished yet (I got sidetracked on some other books), I have read 2 reviews of the book. One positive: at Front Porch Republic. This one in fact mentions one of my other all-time favorites: John Senior's Restoration of Christian Culture.

The second: at Solidarity Hall is critical saying:

Unfortunately, Esolen’s reclaiming of what we call now the life issues, including marriage, under the heading of CST includes practically no discussion of the issues of justice, equity and the guidelines for a political economy. In the somewhat maddening fashion of many culture warriors on the right, Esolen recuses himself from these “technical” issues, as though an ignorance of credit default swaps meant we laypeople simply could not comment on structural inequality or its role in creating a permanent underclass. As a result, this book on CST contains almost no consideration of the very issues on which most readers turn to CST for guidance—for example, human solidarity, the nature of work, the living wage or the common good.

I am about 80% through the book and don't agree with the critical assessment. Certainly Mr. Esolen does not present a comprehensive economic plan or so-called "Third Way", but a careful reading will reveal why. Mr. Esolen does (as the reviewer states) claim ignorance of detailed economics, but more importantly Mr. Esolen defines economy in terms of the family, not in terms of capitalism, socialism, distributism or the like.

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I was also given the novel Christopher by David Athley (Sophia Institute Press) for Christmas. After reading some many chapters I looked up some reviews of the book. It is either loved (enthusiastically) or hated. (4-5 stars or 1 stars.) Unfortunately I am of the latter and don't know if I will finish it. Perhaps I am unsophisticated. I could never understand Flannery O'Connor, but liked Edwin O'Connor (The Last Hurrah). I also  usually tend toward thrillers or mysteries in my fiction likes. Coming of age stories and the like usually can't hold my interest.

 

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Finally, my sister just sent me a used copy of E.B. White's One Man's Meat, which is a collection of magazine articles he wrote over a three to four year period. This is just after he quit the New Yorker and moved to a seaside farm in Maine. I have never read anything by White (although I have seen a movie rendition of Charlotte's Web.) It is interesting in that it gives one a glimpse of life during the pre-war years (I am at 1939 now, only 25% in.)

 

 

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Finally, (and having nothing to do with books-well may be the Great Books), have you heard of the new Catholic college: Northeast Catholic College in New Hampshire. It is an outgrowth of the College of St. Mary Magdalen. My son is there and is happy with the changes. Check it out!

 

Oremus pro invicem!