Random Notes

Have decided to answer question 45 (see post below) with the 'most cases' language suggested by Mr. Luse. I knew there were problems with our justice system as practiced-now I understand a little more why. It is very disheartening. It seems almost impossible to participate in a meaningful way in our justice system and in our political structures unless you compromise your conscience.

A few weeks ago I started receiving The Wanderer in my mailbox. I have not suscribed and there was no letter telling me about a trial period. (Perhaps it will come later?). I remember we got The Wanderer when I was growing up. One of the reasons why some were not surprised by either "the scandal" or the causes of the scancal is that The Wanderer has been reporting on this for years. I used to suscribe myself some years ago-but as with other periodicals, I just didn't have time to read everything coming in. James J. Drummey has a column "Catholic Replies" each week. Mr. Drummey's children went to school with my brothers and sisters in Norwood, MA. None of his kids were in my class. He has several books (CR Publications), especially his Catholicism and Ethics series with Fr. Paul Hayes are highly recommended (by me). So it is interesting to pick it up again after these years.

An article in the 3 November issue particularly caught my eye. "Whatever He Achieves on High Court...Bush Has Failed to Educate Nation on Pro-Life" by Dexter Duggan, reflects much of my thought on the matter. The President has the bully pulpit. He can lead and change hearts and minds as he does on other issues when he choses to do so-if he believes it is important. Most of his pro-life statements have been to the pro-lifers, not to the general public. ...

Finally today, here is a picture of Bethany, taken by my sister this summer. Wish I had an areil view to show off the whole property. Not too big and not too fancy, but it is home. (Requiem Press offices are on the 2nd floor to the left, as you face the house. )

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

Jury Duty

UPDATE (or further study): In the comment(s) on this post, TS makes the point that only question 45 should be asked. I share his disbelief and dismay about the other questions I have to answer. But back to question 45, I wonder about this too-and would appreciate the opinions of others. Mrs. Curley and I have been batting this back and forth all day.

Scenario: You are doctor (or a nurse) in a hospital. You walk by a room where a doctor is just about to perform an abortion. You clock him to prevent the abortion at that instant. You are arrested and charged with assault and battery. I am on the jury. The judge, in his instructions, says that no matter how you feel about abortion, the jury's job is to determine simply if the You, the defendant, is guilty of assault and battery. (Or would he instruct us to dermine simply whether YOU clocked the doctor or not-two different determinations). I, on the jury, say no criminal assault and battery took place as YOU were defending the unborn baby. The law says otherwise. Yet can I send someone to prison for doing what I think is right? And if I am predisposed to find YOU innocent in this case than my answer to Question 45 would be no and therefore am theoretically excluded from any jury service.

I note that judges themselves are not bound by this as they can be activisit in making law rather than interpreting law. So why can't juries do the same when unjust laws are being challenged?

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

I received summons for jury service on Friday in the mail. I have served on a traffic court jury once, but this is for the United States District Court of South Carolina-that is Federal Court. They ask you to fill out a questionaire and apologize in advance for its invasiveness. Not only are they invasive (what's that about a right to privacy???????-Ah Ha! only when it suits the forces of death....) Let's see what you all think of some of these questions:

17. What are your hobbies, special interests, recreational pastimes and other spare-time activities, including sports?

18. What magazines and newspapers do you regularly read?

20. What social, political, civic, religious, and other organizations do you belong to or are you assoicated with?

22. Have you displayed any bumper stickers on you automobile in the last twelve months? If yes, please list each bumper sticker.

There are also many questions about the kinds of jobs you, your spouse and your family members (father, mother, brothers, and sisters) have held, and about any criminal offenses committed by any family members. There are also several questions on whether you could be unbiased against different in numerous situations.

Question 45 is very interesting: Regardless of any opinion you may have concerning a particular law, would you be able to set aside your feelings and follow the law as stated by the judge?

This last questions brings up many thoughts. I seem to remember reading somewhere in the last 2 years or so a lengthy article or debate about how juries should be able to nullify unjust laws. This purpose of question 45 would seem to be asked in order to disqualify anyone who had this notion. Haven't decided exactly how to answer Question 45 yet-honestly, yes-but the exact wording....

How about the others? Is it just my imagination or do these questions have nothing to do with impartiality and everything to do with trying to predetermine a verdict by ruling out certain members of the public for jury duty? I mean really, how would raising chickens or making wooden cabinets, or playing football with my kids bear on my suitability for jury service? Would like to hear the thoughts of others. Perhaps someone from Southern Appeal would weigh in?

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

Land, Debt, etc.

My father (may his soul rest in peace) paid off the house mortgage in about 8 years. I remember I was in first or second grade at the time. He always paid cash for a new car. He had a credit card in later years only as modern travel dictated its necessity for car rentals, hotels, etc. We didn't have all the new gadgets. (I recall we didn't get a color TV until the mid-to-late eighties-after I was up and grown. The first time I watched the Wizard of Oz with my wife, she chuckled with amusement as I watched it for first time on a color TV. I had never known that half of it was in color, or how the reference to the "horse of a different color" played out.) But we were happy and comfortable.

Now Mrs. Curley and I can't claim the frugality that my parents had. We spent some years with a mortgage, two car payments, multiple credit card balances-the American Dream right? With all that, we still didn't rival our neighbors for material goods or new gadgets. With a large, growing family in this society, you either need a very high salary or extremely deep debt to have all those things. Yet bills always hung over our head, and caused anxiety and at times, discord in our marriage.

After hearing a friend with 11 children comment one day about his trust in God and tithing, Mrs. Curley and I decided to get out of debt, cut expenses, and increase our giving once and for all. We certainly did not do it all by ourselves, but I think (at least in this instance) we did a fairly good job of cooperating with the blessings God sent in those next 7-8 years that we worked on getting rid of our debt. By the time I lost my job 18 months ago, we still had a mortgage, but no other debt at all, plus some savings, and this with a daughter in college at the time. We didn't have everything which was 'expected' of us by friends and neighbors. (The very first expense to hit the cutting block had been cable TV. It was more symbolic at the time then substantial.)

Getting rid of the debt (even having the mortgage) gave us a real sense of freedom. Sometimes things were tight by our standards then (little did we know how tight things can really get....), but we were never happier.

When I lost my job, 18 months ago, we had little anxiety. The modest severence package seemed more of a Godsend than the loss of the job, a tragedy.

Mrs. Curley and I had been discussing moving to a small place in the country very seriously for 2-3 years. I had looked at a beautiful 18-acre farm and house (remnant of a 100+ acre dairy and potato farm) in northern (very North, 10 miles from Canada) NH several times. But we couldn't see our way to buying it. Now, with a little extra money in our pocket, and finally a plan (Requiem Press) we decided to look for a country place.

The small farm I had seen in NH was a little out of our reach, and by the way, I didn't know what I could really do with 18 acres and a still work a full-time job at Requiem Press. Personally I wouldn't mind being a small-scale farmer full-time, but here were the problems: 1. My learning curve, and thus fruits of my labor, would probably be too slow for the nutritional needs of the family (some would say this about Requiem Press too...); 2. I really do think that my God-given talents would not be best utilized as a farmer; and 3. I tend to believe you should not purchase more than you know what to do with. (this sometimes saves you some $$ too).

Thus we were looking for a place with 2-5 acres. 5 acres would allow us to have a cow or two. 2 acres would be too small for a cow, but chickens, rabbits, (maybe some goats) and a large garden would be acceptable for our needs. And this is what we eventually found. The house is more modest than we were used to. We had to part with many things to fit into the new house, [we still need to get rid of more-the "yard sale", (see below somewhere), didn't quite work out].

I guess my point is that greatly limitting or eliminating debt opens the door not only to financial freedom, but also being more open to God (The more stuff we have, the more time we spend taking care of that stuff-as opposed to taking care of our soul.) Having little or no debt of course doesn't necessarily mean financial troubles are over. You still have to pay taxes, electricity, heating fuel, etc every month-and thus you need an income to do so. But these expenses are more easily met. You can also better discern and follow you vocation if you are not hampered by the burden (both real-the necessity of paying, and psychological-anxiety) of much debt.

Agrarianism? I think there are benefits, listed on Bethune Catholic before and other places, to growing some (or all) of your own food, raising animals, and in general learning how to do things for yourself. Although I do not mean to say you should be "self-sufficient" and rely on no one else. Man is a social being. We need community and the help of others. (It is good for developing own humility and charity). But that is just the point. Our community should be smallish, so it can be very real-along the lines of Distributism and the principle of subsidiary.

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

117

117 was the number on the house I grew up in. It is also the number of unique visitors who stopped by Bethune Catholic yesterday-prompted no doubt by my article on CatholicExchange.com (here in case you missed it). Unfortunately I didn't have any profound thoughts posted here, so most won't be back.

I promise profound thoughts tomorrow....

I want to comment fully on this post - but won't do it in Jeff's comment box as it may prove lengthy. My thoughts should appear here tomorrow. They are already in my head-I just need to transfer them to the screen.

Have been blogging very lightly at Catholic Laity also. Hopefully we can find something relevant to say over there also in the morning.

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

This is the 6th anniversary of my father's death. I prayed at his side holding his hand as he passed from this life. He was a good man and passed the Faith to me - and thus also to my children. He grew up without a father, yet was model of what a father should be. I thank God for the tremendous gift He gave my family in my Dad.

DEUS, qui nos patrem et matrem honorare praecepisti: miserere clementer animae patris mei eiusque peccata dimitte : meque eum in aeternae claritatis gaudio fac videre. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

[O God, who hast commanded us to honor our father and mother: in Thy mercy have pity on the soul of my father and forgive him his trespasses; and make me to see him again in the joy of everlasting brightness. Amen.]

May he in rest in peace! Amen.

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

Tuesday Morning Notes...

Mrs. Curley arrived home safely last night. We are whole again at Bethany...

My latest article is appearing on CatholicExchange this morning, (originally published in Heart and Mind). It can be found here. (Interestingly enough, Russell Shaw (who's latest book is from Requiem Press) has an article on Catholic Exchange too this morning also.)

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant to them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

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

The Slaughter .... Part II

I can't believe I am writing this...but I am compelled. Last year we had the Slaughter...

Sunday we attended the 11:30 Mass at St. Catherines (good news-starting on the feast of Christ the King Mass will be at 10:00 AM) . After Mass we changed into hiking gear in the parish hall. We then stopped at the local cemetary to pray the souls in purgatory. Then off to Anderew Jackson State Park as predicted in my last post. While the Crawford trail was ho-hum (1 mile of forest, no challenges, but then again I had the young ones along), the museum and tour was well done. It was obvious the tour guide loves her work, especially with children. They tried on revolutionary war uniforms, shredded cinnamon, watched an authentic 200 year-old loom do its thing, etc. The primitive group campsite was the nicest I have seen. You can fish there (we didn't) too. All in all, a great outing.

We come home, and as I am asking where dogs are (they usually run to the pen gate as soon as we pull up, number 1 son exclaims that Sheba and Lady are out of the pen. I am asking how did they get out, and getting the reply, "The gate is wide open!". [Challenger of the Slaughter fame and Bunny (don't ask) are nowhere to be seen]

Then comes the shout, "The chickens!" I look over to the coop and the door is also wide open, and chicken carcusses are strewn everywhere. Eighteen dead, one alive but barely, and one missing. (Our older 6 chickens and rooster are secure in their coop as are the six chickens in the Chicken Tractor).

While I am sure all 4 dogs participated, I am even more certain that Challenger was the instigator. It was lucky he was absent just then.

The carcusses are stiff and not warm. They are mostly intact, just dead. I am angry, but this is partially my fault (as I will explain later), as well as a general breakdown in cooperation. Since the dog pen gate was wide open and carcusses are stiff and cold, I assume that this happend soon after we left this morning (also, the dogs tend to be very lazy once mid-day heat, it was 80 degrees today, sets in). So the chickens are a total loss-except the one still breathing. It is already getting dark and I have very hungry (soon to be cranky) little children. Immediately a plan suggests itself. I kill the wounded chicken and set two boys to plucking. I start digging graves. Third son puts a movie on for the youngest three. Plucking is not going well and darkness is fast approaching. Change of plans. Two plucking sons removed for grave digging. I get my knife and slit the skin on the chicken and start taking meat off the bird directly.

Meanwhile the missing chicken emerges from the woods. It is skittish, but otherwise seems fine. We lure the chicken with feed and grab her. She has lost a few feathers, but otherwise seems intact. Put her in the pen and we resume our respective chores. Finally chickens are buried (Deep enough to keep away the coyotes? Not sure. Two six feet deep holes each housing 10 or so chickens means they aren't really buried six feet deep. Will find out in the morning), and as much meat as I can salvage off the bird in the now near complete darkness. Make and eat dinner. Finally the two wayward dogs come home. Challenger looks away when I ask him about the chickens. (I didn't even mention the upset boys. They are upset at the dead chickens, missing dogs, and no doubt my anger over it all-especially my threats on Challenger and the others.)

Now what happened? First my blame. The door to the chicken coop in question was originally well-designed and secure. However in recent weeks some sagging had set in so that the latch didn't line up. I was aware of the problem, but we were simply propping a board against the gate to keep it shut-in other words, it would keep the chickens in, but wouldn't keep a determined dog out. I should have fixed the sagging door weeks ago. My fault.

The other blame. I originally assumed that whoever was the last out of the dog pen (the feed house is in the dog pen, so all three boys had gone in and out that morning to fill their respective chores of feeding the dogs, chickens and rabbits.) simply failed to latch the gate. In part this is true; but it appears that sometime in the last day or so the latch was slightly bent so that it did not latch securely. In the morning rush to feed the animals and get ready for Mass, the defect was not noticed. If the dogs, as they are wont to do, tried to shake the gate, it is likely the latch simply released. (We do have a secondary latch and I have been admonishing the boys that I often find it undone. But by itself, it would not have held the dogs anyway.) Thus the dogs got out. Challenger, who is the defacto leader, naturally went to the chicken coop, with I'm sure the others following closely, and was able to get the coop gate open. After that it was party time for the dogs.

I'm afraid my initial reactions did not reflect a good control of temper, but I have calmed down and we have discussed the situation. There clearly was enough blame to go around-it was a general breakdown of carrying out responsibility carefully with attention to details.

I am very upset by the loss. Our plan was to depend heavily on our own chicken and rabbit for meat this winter as well as getting eggs and hatching eggs to perpetuate our flock. When Mrs. Curley returns tonight we will have some things to discuss...I don't think it would be sacriligeous to say: the Lord giveth, the dogs taketh away-blessed be the name of the Lord!

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant to them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

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

Plumbing, Lady Bugs and Camping...

Spent a good part of the day doing plumbing and plumbing related work which was long overdue. Plumbing is not my specialty. I am generally handy but plumbing and I have never got along. With plumbing, I am usually satisfied if it works in the end-no matter how it looks. Mrs. Curley is always sceptical of my pipe, faucet, toilet repairs (although I have become quite an expert on toilets)-but she wasn't around today to critique my work. It will all be covered up by the time she returns on Monday.

After an exhausting day looking up from my back under cabinets, I stopped up in my office to check my email and found that I am infested with lady bugs. Son Connor told me, as he brought up the vacuum cleaner, that it is their migratory season. It may be, but why migrate to my office? Last year they did the same. Now every day or so for the next few weeks I will be vacuuming them up.

Tomorrow after Mass at St. Catherine's we will visit the nearby cemetary, (it is still in the octave of All Souls Day) and say some prayers. Then we will head up the road 8 miles or so to Andrew Jackson State Park for a picnic and a hike. The two trails are only a mile or so-perfect for the young ones and a warm-up for the older ones. I think there is also an old log cabin there and some other sites. We will check out the primitive "group" campsite also for a future trip. (At dinner young Thomas said that we were big enough to be a group all by ourselves. But I told him that we would get the 'Blue Knights' together for a reunion camping trip (we haven't had a meeting since we moved to Bethany.) I dislike the 'drive-up' campsites. I go camping for the quiet and solitude, (although the quiet part is hard with my crew. But I tell Mrs. Curley that their noise keeps the bears away), and also because some things just cannot be seen unless you spend a day or so hiking to them. The drive-up sites can be extremely noisy (people driving around honking horns at 9:00 at night looking for a campsite) and are often overrun with racoons. So usually we wouldn't go to a place like Andrew Jackson State Park. But we haven't gone camping in the longest time and we are all getting a little itchy for a campfire. And, the primitive group sites are usually more remote. Most of the best places in SC to go hiking an camping are 4 or 5 hours away now, and with gas prices as they are....

There is something special about saying the rosary around the campfire followed by some good songs and stories, (and a Guiness or two.) So we will check out their primitive site to see if it meets our minimum criteria.

The last two times we went camping was at Kings Mountain National Military Park (not the state park of the same name close by). The primitive site is a good 3+ mile hike if I recall correctly. But the forest there is ho-hum. Jones Gap is much better. The trail runs along the Middle Saluda River. There are a couple of spurs which have great waterfalls. The campsites are along the trail and right near the river. (Great for keeping Guiness cold and for falling asleep with the sound of running water.) From Jones Gap, you can hike across to Ceasar's Head State Park and see Raven Cliff Falls (photo in the previous link) from above the falls or across a ravine. Either way, it is the most scenic waterfall (and most photographed in SC. The trail to Raven Cliff is moderate, but can be a little long (especially on the way back) for younger ones. Table Rock is a strenuous hike, but the view from the top is spectacular and worth the trip. Here is a picture of the boys about 3/4 of the way up from a few years ago.

We have camped at the primitive group site at Congaree Swamp a number of times, but I really want to go farther in and camp near the river. The old cypress trees there are spectacular. You can camp anywhere at Congaree Swamp, but no open fires except at the group site, which is about a mile from the parking lot. The other place I want to go again (I went in college) is up near the Chattooga River. This is very quiet country. My favorite spot though is Mount Washington State Forest in Massachusetts (just on the border between MA, CT, and NY) It is also very quiet because the sites are along the trail, but several miles in. A cold river runs near the trail. I will never forget the night many years ago, my friend Tom and I hiked in after a rainy week and for the life of us couldn't start a fire with the wet wood (this would never happen now-my backwood skills are much better). We were cold and hungry. So I took our roll of toilet paper and placed a can of B&M beans on top of the roll and lit it. Those beans were the best I ever had. And, this was just enough to get our wood to light. I would love to take my boys up there some day...

(I remember our first "hike-in" camping trips when I carried all the food, and supplies and tents, and half the sleeping bags for three or four of us. Now I am a bit older (and heavier), but my boys can carry more of the load now.

We used to do just hot dogs and beans on these trips. But in recent years, we have added much to the menu: chicken (usually pre-cooked), barley, and corn (sub fish for the chicken on Fridays) mix; cornish hens, etc. We usually have oat meal for breakfast, (very hardy and doesn't take much time to cook or clean up when you want to break camp quickly.) We have started roaring fires in the pouring rain. We have learned a new skill or new way to cook in the backwoods on virtually every trip.

We've gone camping as a family twice. Once we hiked in the mile to the site at Congaree Swamp, (See picture-we are about to hike out in the morning. Most of those sleeping bags ended up on the top of my pack!) We even brought an old wind-up phonograph and one 78rpm record, (Don't Tell Me Your Worries When You're Lonesome by the Carlisle Brothers) with us. Mrs. Curley was up half the night listening for wild boar (no bears at Congaree). The other time was at Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park in Tennessee. This was a drive-up site and now Mrs. Curley knows why (noise, drunken neighbors wandering thru your site at 2:00 AM) I prefer remote, hike-in areas. People can be worse than wild boar and bears when you're camping.

Of course now at Bethany we can have our 'campfire' in the back yard. We have an area where we have have been developing a sort of firepit. It is over grown now, but it is time to get it back into shape for fires as the colder weather is here.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant to them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

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

A few updates...and tyrannicide

Mrs. Curley is out of town visiting number 1 daughter, so I have a little extra time to do some housekeeping here at Bethune Catholic. I added a couple links: Southern Appeal because they have been right there the Supreme Court nominations and recent court decisions, and Dappled Things because of entries like this:

"One of my own practices, and one that I recommend to others, is to consider what particular temptations and sins we commit in life. Whether our own particular recurring sin is judgmentalism, or wrath, or pride, or this or that sin of the flesh, there are souls in Purgatory even now undergoing their purification for precisely those sins. I like to pray for those particular souls, doing my part to help them through, in the hopes that they will return the favor for me once they bask in the light of God's perfect charity. We're all in this together, and Christ has knit us together in a way that not even death can break. Our compassion for the poor souls in Purgatory is mirrored by the hope we see in the victory of the vast multitudes of all the Saints -- among whose number are those who underwent every kind of trial imaginable, every sort of temptation conceivable, and in the end, by the grace of God, conquered."

Fr. Tucker also recently posted a link about tyrannicide, here . This is of interest (to me) because something I read some time ago in Dr. Warren Carroll's book on French Revolution (The Guillotine and the Cross, Christendom Press) about the 'age-old Catholic Doctrine' of justified tyrannicide :

"If it is clear that one man rules outside the law; that he rules by terror and killing which will continue indefinitely if he is not removed; that there is no peaceful or political or judicial way of removing him; and that there is good reason to believe that his removal will bring the regime of tyranny and oppression to an end, then it is moral to kill that man by any means available." (Klaus von Stauffenberg's attempt at killing Hitler is given as an example of justifiable tyrannicide.)

The 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia, (here) tends to take the view that that tyrannicide (for a tyrant by oppression) is contrary to natural law.

The Stars

Most people in South Carolina have not heard of Bethune. One of the comments we get asked when our friends have visited Bethany for the first time is "How did you ever find this place?"

So it is not with a little surprise I came across an article in the county newspaper which says that amatuer and semi-pro astronomers come to Bethune from hundreds of miles away because, "Bethune is blessed with the state's most reliable dark skies."

There you have it folks. Just one more reason to come visit us at Bethany....

And yes, one of the first amazements we had here was looking up at the night skies....

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

More All Saints, All Souls, and other notes...

I have a couple of pictures for you today. The first is my gang of "saints". It is amazing that none of these showed up with a black eye this year. Note the tonsures which were requested (now removed) by 3 of the boys.

The second picture is the family gravesite in Massachusetts, taken on our last visit to MA in August. We make it a point to say the rosary at my Dad's gravesite at least once during every visit, (now rare) to Massachusetts. My father and his mother are buried here. My brother John has been keeping the site up very nicely.

Other notes of interest ....

I think I jumped the gun the other day when I said the chickens were back to laying their quota of six a day. What happened is that the person responsible for egg-gathering has missed a day here and there, making the numbers seem larger that reality. Thus, I believe our hens will start heading for the pot this coming week.

Mrs. Curley is taking a rare trip this weekend to see number 1 daughter in the convent. Please pray for her safe trip and return.

Finally, we had a serious dog-fight here at Bethany yesterday morning. We have 4 dogs. Sheba, a black lab-husky mix who is about nine months old and Lady, a lab-basset hound mix, who is about 1.5 years old. Lady was getting the worst of it. We had to physically tear Sheba off Lady. It was not easy. Lady had some wounds and was slow moving all day. All four dogs share a very large pen (used to be a goat pen). Fortunately there are a few small kennels in the back of the pen where we have isolated Sheba. We really don't know what to do about the situation. Sheba generally is a friendly dog. She is selfish with food and does aggravate the other dogs because she still acts much like a puppy while the others are calmer and older. Sheba also is not very trainable. (She is a dog with ADD). But she has never caused trouble before. Lady has always been a good dog in every way. We don't know if we put Lady and Sheba back together what will happen if anything. Will there always be bully relaitonship? Will they fight again? Will they forget about it? Any advice or experience from others on this would be welcome.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant to them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

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

Feast of All Souls

Yesterday's All Saints Day party was a grand success. Several parishioners joined the homeschooling families for breakfast and the children's saints pageant after Mass-making this more of a parish community celebration. After the pageant and games (Mrs. Curley has come up with a wonderful 'corporeal works of mercy relay race' which is a huge success every year-or did she get it from a book? Regardless it is fun to run and fun to watch.), we all sat together and sang some hyms-a wonderful day.

Today is All Souls Day. The Curley's post an updated list of our departed loved ones in a prominent place every November on this day. This posting does bring a reality to the need of these prayers for the holy souls-because these are the souls of people we knew and loved and who may now be suffering for our lack of prayers.

I have oft repeated to my children that I want prayers and Masses for my soul when I die, (no cancer or humane society donations...). I have also taken the oldest ones aside and asked them to talk to the priest who will be celebrating my funeral Mass, to emphasize with him that I don't want any sermon or eulogy saying how I am now at peace in the bosom of our Lord. Please tell this priest, I plead, to preach on death, judgement, and especially purgatory.

Over at my other blog (Catholic Laity) ,[by the way, it is insane to try to keep current on 2-blogs. Those others who do it well I must admire], I have posted (most) of the introduction to Requiem Press' "Daily Prayers to the Church Suffering".

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.

Eternal rest grant to them O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

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

Happy All Saints Day! - quick notes

Am taking at least a half-day off today. After 9:00 AM Mass, we have brunch and All Saints Day celebration at St. Catherine's. The Curley's will be contributing a St. Columba, St. Alban, St. Bernadette, Saint Francis of Assisi, and two saints I haven't guessed yet. Three of the Curley "saints" of are monks or friars, and those three boys convinced me last night to give them a temporary tonsure to make their costumes more realistic. (Pictures will follow...)

Interesting that Jeff blogs here about the 'youth culture' and the Church. Amy Welborn comes back from a youth conference in Atlanta and blogs here and here and asks:

"In short, my questions about the current state of youth ministry can be reduced to one: I am not convinced that most current (read, for the past two decades) trends in Catholic youth ministry have the net effect of rooting young people in a faith that will take them through to mature Catholic faith. It is all very much about pandering to the Teen Moment, and frankly, the Teen Moment passes pretty quickly - usually by the end of the first semester of college. And, ironically, some of the most solid teens, faith-wise, are extremely skeptical of the Teen Moment from the get-go, and are turned off by it. This is not about music, activities, etc...it's about something deeper. In fact, it's not about what's there, but about what's missing. Which is, in short, an explicit connection to the bigger, wider deeper Church that is 2000 years old, wise, rich and is the Body of Christ, for them, right now."

Finally, Requiem Press' newest release-"Catholic Laity in the Mission of the Church" by Russell Shaw is available today for order. Chapter 7 is one of the best guides I have read on how to discern a vocation. (And remember our special offer on prayer books for the holy souls in purgatory expires tomorrow. This will be the last plug. We certainly appreciate those who bought some of these. It helped the Curley's through an extremely tight month, and more importantly, I'm sure will help some souls get to Heaven more quickly to celebrate this glorious feast day!)

From Bethany, joyous on this feast day of all the saints in Heaven....Oremus pro invicem!

Saturday's take...

As mentioned in Friday's post, we had scheduled a yard sale for Saturday. This is our first yard sale in Bethune, but we are experienced yard-salers. We have been doing it for years in many different places: small towns, cities, big towns. No matter where we are and what we have to sell, the take is always between $100 and $200. (It gets to the upper end if you have a big item like a working fridge that sells).

We did anticipate that the country may pose some different advertising problems, and that the population density was much thinner, but we tried some new advertising locations and techniques to better the odds. Our expectations weren't great, but we thought it possible to come close to the low end of our experience.

$9.10

Oh yes, we got rid of two kittens also.

Actually, this take wasn't so bad. Our immediate needs were two gallons of milk and a gallon or so of gas in the car we haul the trash to the dump in. So $9.10 covered it..."Give us this day our daily bread".

Saturday turned out to be very productive around Bethany, even if the yard sale wasn't. I have been under the weather for several days, low fever, throat, etc. (The sickness cost me a shrimping trip to Georgetown, SC this weekend with friends). Saturday in the warm sun I felf better, so I fixed up the doors to chicken coops and the dog/goat pen which were starting to droop and become unreliable. I also finished winterizing the rabbit cage area. Basically I put a wind break on two sides of the cages with some lumber we had hanging around. (Now they protected on 3 sides and roof. ) I still have to build a small shelter for the younger chickens as the nights are getting colder and their old house (a former dog house) is too small to house all of them now.

The chicken tractor is going well. We have 6 chickens in it and move it every few days. These chickens are bigger than the ones in the coop area. They get a larger variety of bugs and fresh grass/weeds every few days. I really need to build a second chicken tractor to get more benefit.

By the way, our older chickens are finally back on track. We had been getting only 1-3 eggs a day for two weeks now. (I think the problem started after we ran low on laying pellet feed and tried to sub other things for a couple days til we raised the cash for more feed.) We were getting ready to slaughter the six hens as the feed is too expensive to buy with no production. They must have heard the rumors because they are back on track. (An extra couple loads of table scraps probably didn't hurt either.)

Around here, running up to Halloween, the pumpkins are priced outrageously. (They aren't grown locally because of the soil). But starting tomorrow, they will be at huge discounts. Mrs. Curley will undoubtably come home with a dozen or more pumpkins bought at ridiculously low prices over the next few days. Then we will be delighting in pumpkin muffins and other similar items for breakfast over many of the fall and winter months. (In fact muffins of all varieties have become a particular specialty of Mrs. Curley.)

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

November draws near....

Update: Forgot to mention we are having a yard sale tomorrow to see if we can pay for some of that propone we need to heat Bethany. If you are in the area, stop buy (get it?)... And I have finally updated the Catholic Laity blog with a new post about the book, what's wrong with the world, st. blogs, etc. Check it out...

We had an early cold spell this week. Of course we were again unprepared. The propane tank was empty and I hadn't finished winterizing (replacing broken/missing window panes, putting up new curtain rods for heavier curtains, etc. and providing more shelter to some of the animals) It was worse last year. The cold spell was later, mid-November, but much more severe than this week.

Wednesday night we took a break from our regular CCD format as each child in the whole program (K-HS) met together to make a presentation on a saint in anticipation of the Holy Day next week. The parish will have an All Saints Day celebration on the 1st also; after the 9:00 AM Mass, there will be a breakfast, followed by costumed saint presentations by the homeschooled children of the parish.

There are discussions in various places recently about Catholic Land Use and Community (here and here and here.) I will weigh in simply on practical experience here. Growing up in a suburb of Boston and attending the parish school, the community was real I think. But this was before the trend to migrate around the country set in. The more migration (which I am guilty of) the less community, especially in those big surburban parishes (and larger urban parishes). We lived 10 years in Columbia and were members of St. Joseph's parish (~ 2,000 families). We have been at St. Catherine's (~200 families) for a little more than a year. Yet, in that short time I think we know more people and spend more time at the parish than we did at good St. Joseph's. Since there is only one Mass on Sundays, there is no rush to move people in and out of the parking lot. The kids say, "At St. Catherine's there is always a party going on!". For example, once a month we have a full dinner after Sunday Mass. After First Friday Mass we have a full breakfast. Our pastor is accessible and present at almost all functions. The parents and kids can get to know him very well. Bigger parishes with more money may have more "ministries", larger choirs, better organs, etc. , but I think the small country type parish helps you live your Catholicism better. The downside is that sometimes there is not the critical mass to get some projects done or start some apostolates. (We had a men's prayer group at St. Joseph's for example. 15 or so men meeting once a week 6:30 AM for the Liturgy of the Hours and discussion, the Mass. At St. Catherine's, because of the distance traveled and small number of families, it has been difficult to duplicate this type of group effort.)

Back to November... this article at CatholicExchange.com today will also help prepare for November, the month of the holy souls. (Note Requiem Press still has it holy souls prayer book on sale...).

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

Miers withdraws...

I am sure I am not the first with this, but haven't seen it elswhere. Funny, Mark Shea had a link yesterday which predicted what the reasons behind a withdrawal from the nominaiton process would be. He hit it right on the noggin. See it here .

Foxnews has the resignation letter but I had trouble linking to it....

Old books, Carthusians, Friends and blogs....

Several years ago, a friend of my parents was looking for a book: Sources of Renewal: The Fulfillment of Vatican II by Karol Wojtyla. This book was first printed in the US in 1980 after he became Pope. It was originally written in Polish, and I think before he became Pope.

Knowing I was accomplished at finding used books on the internet, they contacted me. It took several months. Finally (after several months) I located a copy and purchased it for $11.04 (this included a $5 shipping charge). I just looked today on my favorite used book sources (abe.com, bookfinder.com and alibris.com) and see numerous copies available, priced from $35 to well over $100.

I passed the book on so quickly, I didn't have time to read it. I was talking to Mr. Gallagher (the friend of my parents who requested the book) this summer. He said it was excellent and should be more widely available. I must take a look into getting a hold of another copy...

The headline feature article today at SeattleCatholic.com is about the Carthusian martyrs. These saints are very close to my heart. (I have more books on the Carthusian martyrs in particular and the English martyrs in general than one man should be allowed to own). (Note Requiem Press' very first release: Witnesses to the Holy Mass and other sermons has a chapter on these heroic men.)

Finally, (via Amy Welborn) I have found that a good friend of mine right here in SC is a new contributor to Right Reason. See his first post here. I will have to add this blog to my sidebar when I get the chance.

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

So little time...

For at least a couple weeks now I have wanted to post on my take on old earth/young earth. This is a topic which first came up at Hallowed Ground: here. It will have to wait as things are just too busy to put in the effort required. Related to this, I wanted to post about a book I have just about finished reading: "The Science Before Science" by Anthony Rizzi. (founder of the Institute for Advanced Physics)

There has been an interesting discussion here (Crowhill) about the 'feminizaton' of the church. I wanted to weigh in, but again, time prevents.

And back to Hallowed Ground, there is post on the phenomenon of the "Youth Culture and the Teenager" here. (Surprisingly, Jeff's post has generated no comments. I have a comment to make but have not had the opportunity to formulate it completely.)

Finally, I have been going through my number one daughter's college books which she left behind, (3 copies of Plato's Republic-did she keep losing them and have to buy extras or did she steal other peoples???-Any Christendom College readers, if you are missing your copy, let me know....), and have done profitable reading. The most recent book is "The 4 Temperments" by Rev. Conrad Hock. I want to post substantially on this, but again as time permits..... I will say this: In my time spent in industry I went to countless "leadership" programs-all of which identified the 4 personality types, although usually they were named after animials, (the beaver, the gazelle, the woodchuck, etc.). This particular booklet is only 55 pages, but really gives insight also into the spiritual dimension and problems encountered by each personality type: choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic. (I believe Sophia Institute Press has a more comprehensive treatment of these recently released.) After reading this booklet I learned several things. First, some of my the traits that I attributed to my own hard work and personal virtue I have been humbled to find are simply rooted in my personality type. However, I have also realized why some of my faults are so difficult to overcome (and practical helps to overcome them). More importantly, I have more insight into what makes my kids tick and what I can logically expect of them in different situations. Further, the booklet gives guides on how to train each personality type to fully develop the good traits and correct the bad traits. Of course it is not black and white as most of us have mixed temperments, yet one dominent. I would say this all is useful information (although you can't use it as a crutch - "That's just the way I am"! - or an excuse for lack of virtue) especially for a parent (or religious superior).

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

Monday morning

It is amazing how many weekends can get off the planned track with just one 'little' event. I was just going to make a quick trip to town to buy some nails, check the PO Box, and dump some trash. Since the youngest children were playing somewhere behind me, I decided to get to the road 'cross country'. I have done this many times, but always avoided the stump. This time I did not. (I recall many years ago my friend got his car stuck on a stump, but there were 5 or 6 of us around to lift him off.) My oldest son and I finally lifted it off with a lever (old telephone pole), with Mrs. Curley driving the car, but the whole effort side-tracked some of the other plans.

Under the 'call me a sucker' category.... I think I mentioned somewhere that we had inherited some cats with the property. Mother cat (Sandstone) had a litter of six recently (Oh yes, I posted about the death of one). We have a sign on the road adversting "Free Kittens". There have been no takers yet. But apparently someone thought we were seeking free kittens. While eating our Sunday dinner and older couple pulled into Bethany. I went out to greet them. They live less than a mile down the road. Apparently a cat and her kittens showed up on their porch that day. Later, the cat and most of the kittens were gone, but one. As they passed our house and saw the sign, they naturally wondered if their found stray could be one of ours. Of course it wasn't. They left reluctantly after a nice chat. I had told them their kitten was older than ours and probably Sandstone would not take to it trying to nurse off her. During dinner we discussed the stray and the fact that this older couple were probably ill-equipped and disinclined to take care of the kitten. (They certainly appeared sort of desparate. I could tell they were almost pleading with me to take the kitten.) So after dinner I took Matthew and we drove down to their house. Sure enough, they were very grateful for us to take the kitten off their hands. I don't know why I do such things.

Please offer a quick prayer today for our neighbor. It is the one year anniversary of losing his wife, (and pray for the soul of his deceased wife). I know for many people the one year period is difficult. In the weeks approaching the one year anniversary of my Dad's death, memories of that day intensified increasingly and painfully (in some ways more painfully than the actual event). But as the milestone passed, peace returned.

I announced Friday that my advance copies of Requiem Press' latest release would arrive. I was wrong. Some mix-up at the printer. They should arrive today.

Last Sunday I mentioned without detail Fr. Ladkou's homily on "Give to Ceasar...". Fr. Ladkou's main thrust was to re-examine Christ's last line, "Give to God what is God's". He asked "What is due to God?" Of course the answer is: Everything we have and are, our whole being. This Sunday our pastor Fr. John O'Holohan, SJ commented on yesterday's gospel: "you shall love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and with your whole mind." Both gospels deliver the same message...

Finally, check out this picture at Chesterton and Friends. I agree whole-heartedly with the caption on the picture. (How do you think we lifted that car off the stump....)

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

Here is an interesting article in this month's crisis Magazine on the "separation of church and state". I have read a handful of good articles on this subject over the past few years. I recall at least one on CatholicExchange.com. I looked for it this morning in the archives, but was unable to locate the one I was looking for. I did find this one however, which gives yet another take on 'separation'. Personally, I have always been amazed (maybe amazed is not the right word...) how the idea of separaton of church and state, as understood by the ACLU and many others can be gleemed from reading the Constitution - and even less if you research the thought of the founding fathers.

In a related vein, the idea of a Christian Liberty Party advances. Here is the preliminary discussion forum. So far there is 1 post and 230 people registered to the form. This forum may be one to watch.

Today we start winterizing the house. Last year winter swooped down on us unexpectedly. This year we had a touch of cold weather last week, so I won't delay. I have a few window panes to replace and some overall inspection to see where we can tighten the ship. Our only source of heat this year is propane. (Last year we used the wood stove also until we had a chimney fire. We had had the chimney inspected before ever using it and got the green light. Unfortunately as we found out, the sweep we had contracted either didn't inspect carefully or was incompetant. After the fire we got a different chimney sweep to inspect. He told us the chimney should have never been used. We were lucky because we had been using the wood stove heavily at night. But the long and the short of it is that we can't afford to get chimney fixed until Requiem Press have a bestseller or some other windfall.)

Today we are expecting to receive the advance copies of "Catholic Laity in the Mission of the Church", by Russell Shaw. You can read about the book here or buy it here.

Speaking of Requiem Press, a reminder that you all have a little more than a week to take advantage of the discounts on quantity purchases of the Daily Prayers for the Church Suffering booklets. My family thanks those who have purchased some of these in the last month. You don't know how much this has helped us bridge the gap in October so far.....

We unexpectedly ran out of chicken feed (laying pellets) last week. (The unnamed boy responsible for feeding and warning us of shortages, fell down on the job.) The hens went a day an half on corn and table scraps, and basically stopped laying eggs. (Recall this happened earlier in the year when we changed their diet.) It has almost been a week and the six hens are only back to 3 eggs a day (down from 6). Mrs. Curley and I are in agreement that they better get back to production or they will see the pot sooner than planned.

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

Peace, Parties, Gas, Fiction and more...

Good news here about my bishop taking a stand (via Mark Shea). (I wish the diocese would be this courageous now and dump the "VIRTUS/Protecting God's Children" program.

Proposal from the Synod (via Amy Welborn): Proposition 23 suggests moving the Sign of Peace in the Mass to immediately after the Prayers of the Faithful, hence before the Eucharistic Prayer, and also affirms existing rules that the priest is not to leave the sanctuary during the Sign of Peace.” [If we must have it (sign of peace) at all, by all means get it out of the Eucharistic Prayer.]

Jeff at Hallowed Ground cites this proposal from Steve Kellmeyer (Bridegroom Press) as a possible starting point to form a Christian Liberty Party and asks your thoughts.

I have a question: In my (many) years of experience I have seen gas prices fluctuate quite a bit. But rarely have I seen $0.20 jumps and declines overnight. Further, I never have seen gas prices within a local area (sometimes within a block or two) differ by $0.20-0.25 per gallon week after week. What is going on?

At People of the Book there is a discussion on why Catholic publishers shy away from "Catholic fiction". I made an intial comment, at least partially agreeing with the blog-host, (fiction takes different editing skills than non-fiction for one. I disagreed that publishers, at least myself, view fiction as simply entertainment. I realize fiction can have a great impact on one's spiritual life and search for God.), but I have more comments if I can find the time. I think part of the problem has to do with the specific mission of various Catholic publishers and how that relates to the specific fiction presented. Some Catholic publishers market more to Catholics who want to deepen their spiritual lives and knowledge. Some Catholic publishers do more of the apologetic type books-reaching out to fallen-away Catholics or non-Catholics. Fiction coming from these two different types of publishers would have a different look.

Finally, it is the feast of the North American Martyrs. As detailed last year, this is a more favored/celebrated feast of ours at Bethany. While we did not get to go to the Shrine in Auriesville this year, it turns out daughter Krystle did go with the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate earlier this month.

Sts. Isaac Jogues and John de Brebeuf and Companions - ora pro nobis!

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

A few notes...

I finally got around to putting a hit counter on Bethune Catholic. Before I got to see the totals for the first week, I happened along to visit this post at Hallowed Ground. When I looked at my numbers, they paled very considerably.... But I've only been at this a year. (Tomorrow is the birthday of Bethune Catholic.) And the good thing is, I don't have enough hits to have that pride problem....

We inherited 3 cats (they were really just kittens when we got here) with Bethany. The two males ran away. The remaining cat, hangs around and we do feed her. About 5 months ago she had a litter of 2 cats, (I was concerned, but figured we had some time). Well these kittens weren't even weaned when she had another litter of 6 kittens, this was about 5 weeks ago, but they are still tiny. We have "FREE KITTENS" sign out front-maybe if we charged money they would go faster. This morning one of the young kittens lay dead very near the nest. It was cold last night, so may be that was it. There were no other injuries. I am getting used to burying dead animals....

We have been posting pretty regularly at Catholic Laity. Check it out when you have time.

Finally, we have a birthday party here tomorrow (not for Bethune Catholic) for our youngest daughter, who turns 4. I am going to put a few hours of work in, but probably won't blog here.

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

Sunday...

We assisted at Mass in Columbia yesterday at Good Shepard Catholic Church. This is an Anglican-use parish (and the parish where the monthly Traditionaly Latin Mass takes place). Fr. Ladkou played football at Michigan years ago. He is one of the best homilests in the diocese. Yesterday he spoke of our being made in the image of God and how we are God's and are obliged to give our whole selves to Him. (He also made not so veiled references about the travesty of programs like "VIRTUS/Protecting God's Children" which I posted about here and here ).

After Mass we visited (for breakfast and lunch) our dear friends the Nyikos family. Their two older girls are close to our daughter Krystle. (One of the Nyikos girls did the artwork for Requiem Press' "Witnesses to the Holy Mass"). We missed Krystle as she and the older girls always got us singing around the piano. But we still had a wonderful time. We said the rosary together between lunch and desert. We have been blessed to know several families over the years with whom we occassionally or regularly have said the rosary with on Sundays. It is a wonderful and powerful event-both because the power of the family rosary as a prayer itself and the witness to the children of both families. Catholic community and culture are truly formed by such gatherings.

Saturday I finally separated the oldest doe from the two younger does. (So I still have one more separation to achieve.) In this case, I simply partitioned in the largest cage. We (oldest boys and myself) also made the cage suspension more permanent and robust. We took the coat hangers down and used some chain to suspend the cages. We also tied the four bottem corners of the cages to the corner posts of the shelter.

Before Saturday, the rabbit shelter simply consisted of four corner posts with a simple frame at the top of the posts. The cages were suspended from one beam. A tarp covered the top of the shelter and gave paritial covering to the sides. We added some structure to the sides and and an overhang in front of the shelter (still using only the tarp for the roof. We haven't finished, but we can simply add a few slates now to the side and the rabbits should have decent winter protection as well as providing some protection to the lucky boy feeding the rabbits. (I think a picture is called for to explain this - but don't hold your breath.)

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

Reminiscing...

As the first anniversary of Bethune Catholic approaches, Mrs. Curley and I were up last night (later than we should have been) reading some of the old posts. We both agree some of the early posts were better than what I generally put out now. Perhaps I had more time then....

Mrs. Curley and I had some good laughs too. This excerpt from February especially showed how much we had (and still have) to learn about this grand experiment:

"We got our first eggs today....In hindsight, we now know why the roosters have been grabbing the hens by the neck and jumping on them."

And this line from December:

"We were all wondering when the roosters would start cock-a-doodle-do-ing. I was of the school of thought that they had to be taught - and thus would give them some examples every time I passed by the coop. They are at about 9 weeks old and they have started fledgling efforts. I don't know if my efforts helped get them started, but ........"

(Come to think of it our new batch is over 9 weeks and they are not crowing. We either have all hens or I better get out there teaching them again... )

Here is another post which had us in stitches when we read it last night.

Of course there were also thoughtful posts on economics, martyrs, purgatory, agrarian life, etc.

I know most people don't go searching through the archives when they come across a new blog-(who has the time?)-but in looking back, I can see by the quality of these older posts that I spent more time composing articles for Bethune Catholic than I do now. Sometimes I find myself just trying to post a few things to keep it active instead of really preparing and thinking about my posts. Perhaps this is why you see many bloggers (and some of the best at that) taking short sabbaticals from their blog periodically.

But not to fear now. I have no hiatus in mind. Just some blog thinking going on here at Bethany.

From our small holding...

Oremus pro invicem!

Thursday Night

As I sit here contemplating which of the many things I should post about, my mind wanders to the cup of Instant Postum Mrs. Curley and I shared after dinner tonight. She was telling me how she spent the afternoon with rabbit manure squeezing between her fingers as she prepared the manure for rabbit manure tea (surely a rare delicacy-but not fit for human consumption.)

Which brings me to the Instant Postum. Sometime in my youth there was a coffee "shortage" and my Dad (may his soul rest in peace) refused to buy coffee at inflated prices. He saw on the grocery shelf this "Instant Postum" which he drank as a child. It is an instant coffee-like drink made from grains, but contains no caffeine. He never really went back to coffee. Some weeks ago I saw some Instant Postum in the store and bought it. It is a trifle expensive, so I don't drink it often, but it is the best coffee substitute I have ever had, and it makes you regular.

A couple notes of interest: Mr. Culbreath at Hallowed Ground is quitting the Republican Party and is looking for a true conservative alternative. His comment box seems to concur with him. And The Deliberate Agrarian is back from his short hiatus.

Oh yes, we had planted spinach in the fall garden but none have shown up. The radishes, while long delayed are finally coming up. We also have some cantaloupe or squash coming up and flourishing where we planted spinach!!!! We are wondering if these came from un-broken-down seeds from the compost we put in. We shall see... We also still have tomatoes, egg plant and green peppers coming off a few plants. We are fortunate for these late crops to continue.

Finally, over at that other 'fabulous' blog: Catholic Laity there are some excerpts from the latest session of the Synod of Bishops where some of the auditors, (some of whom are laity), made interventions. Some interesting reading...

From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...

Oremus pro invicem!

Origins...

Last night at CCD I was told by a student that he had learned from a Msgr. X (at a youth "retreat") that the creation story in Genesis was really a story the Israelites learned during the Babylon Captivity from their captors, and that they taught this story to their children with only one change: they inserted the name of their God in place of the Babylonian god.

How do I work against this? I would not doubt that it is possible the Babylonians had a similar creation account (after all we all descended from Adam and Eve and oral tradition was very much alive). In fact a similar creation account would tend to reinforce the veracity of the Genesis account .

As noted below somewhere, I have been in discussion in a couple places about creation and Genesis. (In fact I mean to get back to the discussion of old earth/new earth real soon, either at Hallowed Ground where it originated or here.)

But here is a situation where I am put in the position of having to contradict Msgr. X. This has got to be confusing and frustrating for the student. In the present case I tried to explain long-standing Church teaching and was able to cite passages from both Providentissimus Deus and Humani Generis (especially 38-39) (This is a great resource for papal documents.) Even so, I will have to go back to class next week with a handout explaining it all again with the quotes from the papal documents etc. to reinforce Church teaching.

These kids are very quick to pick up on disagreements and inconsistencies between teachers of the Faith.

A New Blog...

Not that I have enough time as it is for Bethune Catholic... but you may have noticed a new link right under the RequiemPress link on the sidebar. This: Catholic Laity, is my new blog - although technically it is a "Requiem Press" blog and not my personal one.

I will be posting here at Bethune Catholic just as often as I do now, but I will also be posting on the new blog, hopefully just as often. I am hoping that I can persuade some guest bloggers to help fill out the content of Catholic Laity. While the new blog is (truthfully) at least initially a way to publicize Russell Shaw's soon to be released (November 1st) title for Requiem Press (Catholic Laity in the Mission of the Church)- I am hoping that it will grow to something more important, that is an outlet to discuss lay apostolates, ways to sanctify our daily lives and to evangelize the culture.

Bethune Catholic will continue to document our life on the small holding (and how we survive-or don't), as well discuss anything else which comes to mind.

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

A friend sent me the following ..... I could not wait until November to post:

"The souls in Purgatory suffer intensely and are dependent upon us forhelp. We on earth can help them with our prayers, sacrifices and especiallyHoly Mass. And they will not forget us." - Francis Cardinal Arinze

Columbus and Scripture

Today is Columbus Day observed. So is it really Columbus day or not? One problem with moving holidays is that their cultural meaning is lost. Sure a long weekend is more covenient for family trips, but it also means that local celebrations are less attended and soon die. I like my Holy Days of Obligation celebrated on the Holy Day and my holidays not to be moved around for commericial gain.

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

Both Jimmy Akin (here) and Amy Welborn (here) comment briefly on comments on "The Gift of Scripture" (a document from the bishops from England and Wales). I haven't read the document, but saw comments on it by at Traditio et Radice. I weighed in-not because I want to defend, or agree, or disagree with what is written in "The Gift of Scripture" (recall I haven't read it), but because from the context presented, I couldn't understand the criticism.

I have friends who accuse me of always playing the devil's advocate-no matter what the topic. I am not sure that is true, but I do like a good discussion if only to flush out the truth. At the same time, I want an honest discussion; in other words, I want the argument to follow legitimate and rational lines and not get sidetracked by preconceptions or agendas, or personal attacks.

I am afraid I got sarcastic in my remarks here this morning. (Sarcasm does have its definite place - but you must careful with it - especially when you can't call it back.) In any case - it will be interesting to see where the discussion leads.

A similar discussion on the essence of Sacred Scripture has been spawned by Jeff's posting of the Traditionalist FAQ, see discussion here and here.

One question I have-which maybe I should ask over at Jeff's-would be: What is considered to be old earth theory and what is considered to be young earth theory (6000 years?)? As someone who has studied (as a physicist) these areas in the past I do have an interest and opinions on this.

Finally, (off subject) I shut off my office window unit (air conditioner) for the first time since early spring today. Maybe fall is really here!

From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...

Oremus pro invicem!

Update: "Protecting God's Children"...

Received this link via email yesterday from a friend. Maybe some other discerning and courageous bishops will read this and follow suit? I don't know who else may have already posted it, but here it is:.

http://www.sentinel.org/articles/2005-40/14234.html

To Make Sure We Really Protect Children, We Need Answers
By Bishop Robert Vasa

The next topic is one that I bring up only with great reluctance for I do not want to give any appearance whatsoever of being soft on my desire to assure the complete safety and protection of children. The Charter for the Protection of Children has been interpreted to include mandatory "safe-environment training" for all children of or connected with the Church. In the diocese, we have indicated that such training must be made available to all children under our supervision in our Catholic schools but have not taken on the nearly impossible task of assuming responsibility for every child in the diocese.

As a result of this discrepancy between a new interpretation of the charter and our diocesan policy, the annual charter audit will undoubtedly find the Diocese of Baker, and me as bishop, "Not in Compliance" and will issue a "Required Action," which I am prepared, at this point, to ignore. I say this not because I resist efforts to protect children, but rather precisely the opposite. There are a series of questions that I believe need to be answered before I could mandate such a diocesan-wide program of "safe-environment training."

A few such questions follow: Are such programs effective? Do such programs impose an unduly burdensome responsibility on very young children to protect themselves rather than insisting that parents take such training and take on the primary responsibility for protecting their children? Where do these programs come from? Is it true that Planned Parenthood has a hand or at least huge influence on many of them? Is it true that other groups, actively promoting early sexual activity for children, promote these programs in association with their own perverse agendas? Do such programs involve, even tangentially, the sexualization of children, which is precisely a part of the societal evil we are striving to combat? Does such a program invade the Church-guaranteed-right of parents over the education of their children in sexual matters? Do I have the right to mandate such programs and demand that parents sign a document proving that they choose to exercise their right not to have their child involved? Do such programs introduce children to sex-related issues at age-inappropriate times? Would such programs generate a fruitful spiritual harvest? Would unsatisfactory answers to any of the questions above give sufficient reason to resist such programs?

There are many concerned parents who have indicated to me that the answers to all of these questions are unsatisfactory. If this is true, do these multiple problematic answers provide sufficient reason to resist the charter interpretation? At very least, even the possible unsatisfactory answers to any of the questions above leaves me unwilling and possibly even unable to expose the children of the diocese to harm under the guise of trying to protect them from harm. I pray that, in this, I am neither wrong-headed nor wrong.

For holding to this conviction I and the diocese may be declared negligent, weighed and found wanting.

Heard at Mass this morning....

"God asks us to live in the present. We shouldn't dwell on the past, nor worry about the future. God's mercy will cover the past and God's providence will cover the future. Live in God's presence today."

And...

"Most people go to God with lists of needs and of prayers. They are saying, 'Hear Lord, your servant is speaking...'"

Happy Feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. (I wanted to post about this feast and Lepanto, but you might as well just go here to learn about it).

From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...

Oremus pro invicem!

Thursday Morning - Feast of St. Bruno

Will be very busy until next week, so I don't expect to post much. Although I have noticed that everytime I say that, something comes up I just can't keep silent about.

Referring to yesterday's lament, now I read in several places: here and here for example that Bush's "Trust me" message is that Miers is an Evangelical thus will be a conservative on the court. We shall see-but it still doesn't address the leadership issue. Bush should not have to resort to code words and stealth candidates to tell his base and whole country what he believes. We can win the abortion debate in this country (and therefore openly nominate qualified pro-life judges) if we had a leader as president who would use his bully pulpit to articulate the cause.

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Have you ever had lentils? Mrs. Curley has been making lentil soup occasionally for several years now. I usually avoided it when possible, not because I don't like lentils, but just because I never like to try new things to eat. This has been changing of late. With the exception of last week when my in-laws were in town we have been eating lentil everything! I have found them (to my surprise) quite tasty, and Mrs. Curley says they are a great substitute for meat. We have had lentil soup, lentil cassarole (rice, corn, lentils and ...) lentil etc. This week it has been lentils with barley and carrots - cooked once and served up in a variety of forms. The last bit of this Mrs. Curley very imaginatively formed into lentil burgers with melted mozzarilla cheese on top, which we had yesterday. Again, very good, but I would not mind having meat occasionally. (The new chickens won't be eating-size for another month or two, and we won't have rabbits to eat until February or so.)

What is my point with all this lentil talk? Here is where you can help: Please come visit us at Bethany because Mrs. Curley will make sure we have meat on the table, come hell or high water, when guests are here... in the alternative you can simply buy some books from Requiem Press! Recall our plea where you can take advantage of discounts on large quantities of prayer books for the holy souls in Purgatory. Of course you can buy any book we offer. (The meat lovers here will thank you!)

From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune....

Oremus pro invicem!

The longer you pretend something is real....

I remember being upset (outraged is more accurate) when Mr. Bush wouldn't allow Alan Keyes to speak at the Republican convention before the 2000 election. My Catholic Republican friends assured me that "Bush was a true believer-that he needed to make sure that he wasn't percieved as some anti-abortion extremist. But after he was elected-then I'd see his true colors."

Well we have seen his true colors over and over, and they are as I predicted. He throws a few bones, but when going gets tough he does not come down on our side. He is not a true-believer. He is a politician and a Republican before anything else. Hopefully my Catholic Republican friends are Catholic first....

My view of the latest Bush nomination for Supreme Court are better expressed by others: here and here (hat tip to Southern Appeal); and the posts at Southern Appeal on October 3rd expressing thoughts like these I lifted:

Even if Miers turns out to be the second coming of Scalia, which I doubt very much, the reasons and the process by which she was chosen will still have a negative impact on the legal side of the conservative movement. From here on out, judicial conservatives and academics will always be mindful that participation in the Federalist Society or the expression of strong opinions may very well be an automatic disqualifier for the federal bench. Better to keep quiet and avoid associating with those who have made their feelings known if you hope to go very far.

Such a development is not only bad for the conservative movement but for the health of the Republic as well. The process and reasons by which people in our Republic reach high office should be such that the people have a better than average chance of knowing what they are getting. We need to know where these nominees stand and what philosophy, if any, guides them. However, if the only people nominated to the highest court in the land are those who throughout their careers have successfully managed to hide their true beliefs and avoid associating with those who don’t then we will end up with a court of cowards and opportunists. I am not implying that Miers is a coward or an opportunist (I certainly hope she isn’t); only that a system that elevates stealth candidates favors such people and arms them with the advantage of anonymity, an advantage unavailable to those who are willing to take a stand for their convictions.

Our Republic deserved better.

Where do we go from here?

I would be remiss if I neglected to mention St. Francis of Assisi on his feast day-especially as my daughter has taken St. Francis' spirituality as her own (here). Personally, I was never much a fan of St. Francis-maybe because his image has been so often co-opted by leftists. But having recently read the biography of St. Francis by Chesterton and having read Augustine's Confessions (you may wonder at the connection-maybe later I will expound...), I think I am beginning to appreciate St. Francis all the more. He was not some nature-loving powder puff. His rule was so strict that the Vatican was very slow to approve it. (Few Franciscan monasteries and convents practice the strict rule of St. Francis' today!) St. Francis was a man who certainly loved all the good things in life and one day responded to the grace to seek out the Author of those things - and to give everything in praise and homage to this Author, the King of creation.

When my daughter was discerning her vocation and seeking out orders-she told me that the first thing she looked for were signs of the evangelic vow of poverty. Poverty is something most of us are afraid of. Most of us are used to certain levels of comfort and especially security, which we are afraid to give up. Living poverty by choice is an exercise in trust in God (or better put - a leap of faith).

St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us!

Tuesday morning ....

Yesterday we transplanted (from a pot) a Rose of Sharon given to us. We actually were given three of these. The other two go in today. We had one already just outside the kitchen window. These plants attract hummingbirds - which are truly fascinating to watch up-close.

We continue to move the chicken tractor, but we are slack about moving it each day. We average every other day or so. Unfortunately, the converted dog-pen-to-chicken tractor is really not up to all this moving. Invariably some part of the structure needs repair after each move.

Of course the chores keep piling up. We want to finish putting our fall crop in (spinach and radishes are already in) but there are other pressing needs also. I still have to build another two rabbit cages before the does start to get after each other (they are very territorial); a new chicken house is in the works; tree removal (see story below); house preparation for winter (we need to tighten up places, replace broken panes - especially with fuel costs rising), etc. We are also still getting green peppers and a few tomatoes off our summer crop.

The biggest lesson we have learned in gardening is probably that more manure is better. This past spring we had to buy all our manure from the local farm and garden center-which is not an efficient use of money. We had no compost to speak of. This year we have compost, we will have rabbit manure and rabbit manure tea, our chicken tractor, and if we keep our eyes open, will be able to find some free or virtually free cow or horse manure. So I think our garden should yield more abundantly this coming year.

I have been so busy, I have had little time to read others' blogs, but I thank all who have spread the word about our plea. We are not out of the woods yet ...

I promised last week to unveil the final version of the cover you all so graciously voted on. Here it is below:

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I am hoping to have some more news on related to this new title from Requiem Press later in the week....

From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...

Oremus pro invicem!

As we start a new week, just a reminder that All Souls Day is now exactly one month away. Spread devotion to praying for the holy souls in Purgatory by taking advantage of the discounts being offered on the prayer book pictured below: "Daily Prayers for the Church Suffering", (order here).

Trees and Rabbits

In my last post I mentioned that my father-in-law and I were taking down some trees. Grampy (as we call him) has taken down many, many trees at the house he and Nanny are having built in western Massachusetts. We have a few dead pines in our old goat pen (now the dog pen). One in particular was right next to our feed/garden shed at the edge of the pen and close to the rabbit cages. This pine was one of those 'double' trees (for want of a better or correct name). It has one large trunk, but splits into trunks about 4 feet off the ground. One of those trunks splits again into two trunks some 5 feet further up. The tree was only about 30-40 feet tall. Grampy had brought his chain saw and went to work. He decided to take each of the two main trunks down separately. It was harder work than we expected, partially because the tree had not been dead a long time. So while it was hard work, Grampy laid that first trunk down right where he wanted. The second trunk proved more difficult....

Grampy decided he would place the second trunk right on top of the first. For whatever reason-maybe the notch wasn't deep enough; maybe the cut on the backside wasn't high enough-the tree started coming down 180 degrees opposite of the intended fall. It pinched Grampy's saw and leaned, but didn't fall. The pinched saw was holding it up.

Up to this point, I had just been an observer, fetching gas when needed, or ice water, or yelling timber. Grampy wanted to save his saw (it was the best of the four he owns - unfortunately it was also the only one he brought). Of course he also didn't want to leave with the tree still standing. They had planned to leave that night for home. Now, it being mid-afternoon, these plans started to fade.

We tried numerous things, but lacked proper equipment. Our chains weren't long enough and our ropes not sturdy enough. Finally we decided to take a section of fence down and start in with the axe and a hammer and chisel. We worked for a couple hours at it with seemingly no progress. Finally we decided to replace the fence section (so the dogs could return to the pen) and retire to our cookout for the night.

Friday morning I sharpened my axe on the belt sander, and we went to work. (Now we were aiming to let the tree fall the direction it wanted to go.) We alternated with the axe and chisel for an hour or so til it finally came down. The sharpened axe had made a world of difference. Now it got interesting....

In the previous day's effort we had sunk an old telephone pole which was laying around our property into the ground near the rabbit cages. We had hooked rope and chain around the tree and to Grampy's truck; the pole acted as leverage point or 90 degree angle point for rope and chain before being hooked to Grampy's truck. This effort failed, but we left the pole in the ground. When tree came down, one of the limbs hit the top of the pole and snapped. Small sections hit the rabbit (doe) cage. The latch released and a doe got out. She hopped under the feed house after a narrow escape from one of our dogs. So instead of a triumphant tree-felling and high fives, now we were on our bellies trying to lure a rabbit out. After about 30-40 minutes the doe emerged and scampered right by Mrs. Curley who was holding a fishnet on a pole. I grabbed the net from her and we raceded around the property in hot pursuit. Finally, I lunged and got the net around the doe. (The doe squeaked and squealed - I never knew rabbits made any sound.)

While Grampy took a nap for his long drive home, I spent much of the rest of the day cutting the trunks with the (saved) chain saw. It is funny that the best part of the Nanny and Grampy's visit, for me, was probably that last day when they weren't even supposed to be here. I had never really worked with Grampy on any project like this. And while nothing we tried seemed to work out (due to lack of equipment - not lack of skill or imagination), in the end the job got done. It was fun-but my axe swinging body is suffering this morning.

From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...

Oremus pro invicem!

P.S. Don't forget our special on these books.