The Village

Earlier this week it was my birthday. I was in Columbia on some errands for work and suddenly remembered that I get a free video rental on my birthday from Hollywood video. I hadn't rented a video since we moved to Bethany, (there was a Mr. Video in town, but it closed shortly after we moved here). So I popped over to the video store and picked up two videos (only one was free): The Village and Master & Commander. Both had been recommended by my oldest daughter over a year ago.

Last night we watched The Village.

[Warning-spoilers ahead] This is a physcological suspense thriller. What is actually going on in the movie is unclear at first-it gradually is revealed to the viewer. Basically, this is it: A group of people (the elders) dealing with various violent tradgedies in their own lives -each of which took a loved one, decide to retreat from the world and build a community in the middle of a huge 'wildlife preserve'. This way they can preserve their children from violence and keep them innocent. They don't allow anyone to leave, and the elders control them and keep them on the preserve (their children-many of whom also now have children) by fabricating a story about a monstrous people who live in the woods surrounding the retreat. (Periodically one of the "elders" dress up as one of these monsters for a sighting to prove their existence. They have fabricated a whole way of life and rituals based on the fabricated monstrous people to make it all seem real). Of course, the retreat doesn't work as planned, violent tradgedy strikes in the heart of the community, and the elders must decide whether to continue the experiment or not, and at what cost.

This movie does promote several interesting lines of discussions. How much can one really and effectively (disregarding whether it is right or not) retreat from the world? How much can one actually (how much should one) protect the innocence of their children? Is this kind of total retreat from the world a failure to trust in God? (And a rejection of the mission to evangelize the world?) At what cost does one retreat from the world? (note in the movie the retreat had to be controlled by lies.)

I think most these questions are correctly answered by not going to extremes one way or another, (Aristotle's moderation.) Yet even here, one person's mean is another's extreme.

Maybe more on this later if we discuss some of these ideas at home. (Tonight-Master & Commander-yipee!)

Mother's Day...

By the way, Giving Up Stealing ... For Lent! makes a great Mother's Day (or Father's Day) gift. These stories will lift any mother's heart with laughter, but will help her realize that the shenanigans of her offspring will not always result in hardened criminals: kill them with love; teach them the Faith, and with God's grace (don't forget to pray) chances are they'll be at the wedding banquet in Heaven with you someday.

(BTW, Check out our blog-ad at Bettnet.com .)

Someone must have posted about this in the past....

In a recent issue of The Wanderer, I came across reference to this : (Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas). I was 'singing' some of these parodies to Mrs. Curley and daughter last night as they got ready for bed. Hilarious. Here's a sample:

Here in this place, a bad song is starting,
Now will the altar turn into a stage.
All that is holy is slowly departing,
Making a way for the coming New Age.

Gather us in, though we are like captives.
But to miss Mass on Sunday, that would be wrong.
But Lord hear our plea, regarding M. Haugen:
Give him the courage to put down that bong.

and another:

Here in this church the choir is droning;
"Gather Us In" is our entrance song.
Chanted this slow, it sounds more like groaning;
I notice no one is singing along.
"Gather Us In" is sung every Sunday;
"Gather Us In" is sung every Mass.
Give us a break and sing something different,
"Gather Us In" gets old really fast.

(My punishment will be that 'Gather us in' will be played not once, but as entrance and recessional on Sunday....

Two Good ones...

... this morning on CatholicExchange: First on writing: you must read widely and deeply to be a writer. It is a good reminder as sometimes I start to read only one type of book for long periods. I also make my children take breaks from series to read other types of books so they won't get lazy in their reading.

Second is the George Weigel's review of "The Truce of 1968". This is an episode which had disasterous results for the Church in America-still being felt today. (Students of history, take note.)

Finally, I haven't posted on my other blog for some days-but break the silence today-albeit briefly....

Now back to the books...

A few changes...

You might notice that the sidebar has changed a bit. I decided to put the RequiemPress books on the sidebar. The books themselves aren't 'clickable', but you can order them or see their description by clicking the RequiemPress link above them. Eventually I will have them all up there, but this is a start.

At the same time I have greatly reduced the number of amazon links. I will leave up those books I have posted about, plus a few others from time to time. I hope to post about at least one book I have read each week, and will post the Amazon link to it at that time.

Now I won't have to scroll down so far to get to my own links.

The Wandering Moon has an interesting post up on the need in our culture for ever and ever greater "Wows" for entertainment. It reminds me of a book I read some years ago entitled "The Cardinal". The book follows a young American priest from ordination to his first conclave as a Cardinal. In one episode, this priest has just returned to America from several years serving at the Vatican. It is in the midst of the prosperous 1920's. He is amazed at the crazniess in society. The same thing is happening as now, but perhaps then it was on a more innocent scale. People are carrying out crazier and crazier stunts to satisfy their craving to be entertained. Their leisure time (which is increased due to the prosperity) -instead of being used to deepen their relationship with family, friends and most importantly with the Lord, is used for those things which can never fully satisfy...

And Mr. Culbreath writes about goat's hair in his cereal, among other things....

Resolutions...

People make resolutions to change their lives, typically on the New Year, but why not on other anniversaries? Resolutions on issues regarding your marriage on your wedding anniversary? Resolutions on changing your life on your birthday? Resolutions on your relations with children (or parents) on their birthdays? Resolutions on improving your spiritual life on the anniversary of your Baptism (if known)?

Many spiritual directors may say that every time you spend time in meditation you should walk away with a resolution (even if it be small and simple and limited to that day).

From Furrow No. 167:

Make up the time you have lost resting on the laurels of your self-complacency, and thinking what a good person you are, as if it were enough to keep going, without stealing or killing.

Speed up the pace of your piety and your work: you still have such a long way to go: Live happily with everyone even those who annoy you, and make an effort to love-to serve!-those whom you despised before.

Isn't this so true? We take a step forward (or so we think) in our piety. In self-congratualtion we decide we need to rest a bit, because all that hard work (that in reality God did) makes us deserve a little rest. But as St. Augustine said, if you are not going forward, you are sliding backward.

Agriculture Report

Spent an hour or so yesterday tilling the garden and mixing compost in. Will probably spend another hour or so out there today. This week Mrs. Curley will be planting cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, zuccinni, cantaloupe, and ...(Oh yes, green pepers).

We've been eating the spinach for a some weeks now. It is not uncommon for us to have a spinach and turnip green salad. (Spinach right from the garden tastes so different from the canned spinach or frozen spinach.) However, the spinach is about done. It doesn't like the hot weather. The lettuce is thriving and has been contributing (along with radish greens) to the salads also. We also have onions coming up. I think the herbs are coming up-but I get confused on which and what these are.

Mrs. Curley planted more flowers and rose of sharon and other things this year-really sprucing up the outside landscape.

The fruit trees (we inherited plum, peach, pear and apple trees-most are either too young to bear fruit or only bore a handfull of fruit last year. The exception, one peach tree is mature and yields some great white peaches.) are looking healthier this year. Although I can't imagine the apple trees are really going to do much here in the sandhills region of SC. But we'll see...

The rabbits: the last doe pulled out a lot of fur a few days ago, but never gave birth. Time to re-mate them. (Also about time to get some more chickens here. )

Test worked

This is a test....

While I wrote 2 posts yesterday, neither showed up. And now my blog seems to be gone entirely. So I am just writing a test post to see what happens ....

Short Notes...

My youngest son asked me this weekend if you had to fall in love to get married. He is young (6), so while I briefly mentioned arranged marriages, especially for royalty during years past, I admitted that, yes, falling in love was the usual path. He then asked if I was still in love with Mrs. Curley. I replied that yes I was. His response? "Oh, I thought ended when you had the first kid."

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The first reading Acts in this Sunday's liturgy reminded me I haven't yet posted my thoughts on Deus Caritas Est! Maybe I will get to it this week as I am anxious to get it down on 'paper' before I lose my thoughts.

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Gas prices may quickly curtail my side career as newspaper route driver. Most weeks I do 1-2 days. Last week I did 5 days as my 'boss' had surgery. The car (which is a piece of junk on its last legs anyway) is not taking the strain too well, and with gas prices taking off, my profit decrease is directly proportional.

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Another quote from the same young son as above. As a preface, we talk much more about my work around the house and at the dinner table than we ever did when I worked in industry. Thus I assume some of this overheard conversation is the source of the quote, but who knows how these little minds connect their dots?

"Dad, do you know why Requiem Press has so many problems?"

"No, son, why?"

"Because Dad, you keep messing things up!" (He wasn't being fresh and there was no disrespect intended.)

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On that note, I have some things to "mess up" today. From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...Oremus pro invicem!

Chicken Strut Update

We set up our craft tables bright and early Saturday morning on Route 1 in Bethune, near the corner near where the parade would pass and where the Colgate Country Showdown would be held. Both Route 1 and Main Street were blocked off for about 4 blocks.

Just before the parade was to start, it started to rain. We covered our tables with a tarp and retreated to the van as the rain got harder. Finally it was coming down in buckets-but they ran the parade anyway: police cars, several fire engines, the colors, 3 or 4 floats with no one on them. It took all of 7 minutes or so, if that. Then the rain let up and the sun came out. It stayed out until about 3:30 and then started raining again.

The craft booth.... I'll post pictures when they come in. The wreaths we had out were beautiful. We many favorable comments on the walking sticks made by myself and my oldest son. (Although there were several "What are these for?" too.) But let me just say that it was a food and balloon crowd.

Number 2 son was teaching Oragami to all-comers. He had more customers than the rest of us.

However, we met and talked to many local people whom we had seen but never met before. We saw the parade zoom by, antique cars, and the highlight of the weekend, the tractor pull.

It was the first time at a carnival for all but the oldest. Only locals were there as the 'Chicken Strut' doesn't really start til today. So it wasn't crowded-we have few locals.

The ferris wheel was a bit more than a ferris wheel, it was called the 'Sky Diver' and cars rotated in two directions. Two sons bravely and confidently went. They didn't undertand what they were in for....

Mrs. Curley talked to a kiddie ride operator for quite a while (in an effort to distract him from stopping the ride). This man has worked carnivals for 18 years. He is friendly but also lonely. (And he wasn't distracted much).

A man running a booth (pop a balloon with a dart and get prize) tried to get Mrs. Curley to play. I was lagging behind with 4 of the kids, Mrs. Curley had 3. He called her over and said, "3 darts for 2$-but I will give you a deal. How many kids do you have?" She replied, "7". The expression on his face changed. Mrs. Curley followed up with, "That sort of changes your deal right?". He nodded as Mrs. Curley moved on.

I noticed our local (and lone) police officer checking out the games. The basketball rims were 'non-regulation' as noted in the small print, but just big enough for the ball to slip through as Chief confirmed before moving on to the ring toss games.

I think it was a magical night for some of the kids. They each got two rides. (Somehow young Thomas Becket sneaked a third).

Now back to work....

From the Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...Oremus pro invicem!

The Chicken Strut

Just got off the phone with the co-ordinator for the Bethune Chicken Strut. There will be a parade; rodeo; the Colgate Country Showdown will be here; a DJ and live band will take turns play for the dancing crownds in the streets; a carnival; a tractor pull; an antique car show; and of course arts and crafts vendors (including us).

The lady I talked to told me that she walked down to see the carnival being set up last night because it has been many years since a ferris wheel has been seen in Bethune.

If you're in the area come on down. We will be selling wooden toys, walking sticks, wreaths, and other things near a long maroon van.

Vatican II and the Culture of Dissent

At Crisis Magazine (available online from the Feb/Mar '06 issue in the archives), from Russell Shaw:

The election of Pope Benedict XVI was a serious blow to the culture of dissent. As far back as the early 1970s, Joseph Ratzinger knew that some of his theological colleagues from the Vatican II days no longer took the documents of the council as “the point of reference for Catholic theology.” Instead, they had decided that the council’s teaching had to be “surpassed” in order to bring about the changes they sought.

Neither then nor now has Benedict XVI shared that view. Speaking to the cardinals the morning after his election as pope, he declared it to be his “decided will” that the implementation of the Second Vatican Council continue. “The conciliar documents have not lost their timeliness,” he added significantly.

Take them off the shelf and see for yourself.

I confess...

I was a bit nervous for the radio interview yesterday. My tongue is not so quick. I am much better with time to think. But overall, I think it went okay. I had fun. I was able to listen to Alan Keyes who was on ahead of me. I certainly would like to see him run for President again. He is the only candidate we hear who talks about the most important issues facing this country in an articulate fashion.

I recall some years ago going to the Embassy Suites in Columbia to see the Republican candidates for President. Pat Buchanan was the first speaker. He said he was delighted to be on just ahead of Alan Keyes, instead of after him; the last time he spoke, he came on just after Alan Keyes and Mr. Keyes was so good he had "burned the paint off the wall" with his speech-a hard act to follow. I guess I was in that unenviable position last night.

Welcome Kentucky!

I really enjoyed speaking with Paul Clemons on WLCR 1040 AM this afternoon. If you heard me there and are checking out the blog, take a look below and in the archives. Topics vary from our trials and tribulations in raising chickens to more inspired subjects like the sacrament of confession.

If you take Paul Clemons advice and want to get your hands on a copy of "He Leadeth Me" (Ignatius Press), you can get it from Amazon.com at one of the sidebar links. You can read excerpts in my posts below.

And of course if you are interesed in RequiemPress , we have a link right up there on the top, to the right.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hey, I just remembered that RequiemPress is 2 years old today!

Happy Birthday!

On the Air...

It appears I will be doing radio interview for WLCR (1040 AM) out of Louisville, KY at about 5:20-6:00. (I follow Alan Keyes on the Paul Clemens show.)

What will I talk about? Maybe a little about this; or maybe a little about RequiemPress ; and maybe a little about Bethany, or maybe about blogging. We'll see.

Anyway, if you're in the area, listen in. I'll stop by here later and tell y'all how it came off.

Celebrating the seasons

Every year during Advent, the discussion comes up when to start celebrating Christmas. Our Protestant brethren start celebrating Christmas immediately after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately many Catholics have taken on this Protestant part of the American culture to one extent or another. All the Christmas parties are in Advent-seldom during Christmas.

It occurred to me this week that one way to illustrate the folly of celebrating Christmas during Advent was to look at Lent and Easter in the same way. For example:

Should we give out Easter baskets on Palm Sunday? on Ash Wednesday? When should we start greeting each other with "He is risen!"? Good Friday? Holy Thursday?

Certainly Lent is a more intense penitential season as the feast of Easter is the greater one. However, these questions do illustrate how ridiculous it is to mix up your seasons. Easter is all the more joyous went Lent is truly sacrificial. People are tired of celebrating Christmas by the time the celebration should be really starting.

I'll try to remember to pull this out of my bag of tricks come Advent 2006.

HE IS RISEN!