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One time in high school, my teacher had to put me out into the hallway to cool off after I'd gotten in a heated debate with a classmate over whether or not we should be allowed to burn the American flag. Her flippant attitude about the topic and her lack of gratitude seared me with righteous anger. Standing out in the hallway that day, I realized that passion for what is good will always be met with selfish, indifferent attitudes. Then in college, many times, I would be the only person standing in defense of Christian conservative beliefs. It never failed, though, that after class people would come up to me and tell me that they agreed with me. They just lacked the courage to speak up. I learned in college that courage is a virtue for a reason--it's hard to live out. Virtues require effort and sacrifice. Today, we mourn and honor those that lost their lives on 9-11 and we, also, mourn the loss of a courageous man, Charlie Kirk. For far too long, we've been told to tamp down our passion as patriots for our country. For far too long, we've been told to just be door-mat Christians. For far too long, we've allowed cowards to tell us that standing for what is right makes us _________________(enter a derogatory label). I'm just sick to death of it all and I'm angry. The tide must turn and we need courageous, passionate people to step up. I'm a proud American. I'm an unapologetic Christian. I'm a conservative who knows that there is right and there is wrong and it's not that hard to figure out which is which. In honor of those Americans that lost their lives for being American and for Charlie Kirk, who lost his life for being a Christian conservative, we need to step up our game. The angry and sadness you feel, channel that into being a great American citizen. Channel it into going to church and knowing and living out your Faith. Channel it into conserving your traditional family, your heritage, and the truth. We seriously owe it to those that we remember today, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingAfter visiting St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in NYC, my husband, son, and I took a walk in the nearby park--Fort Tyron Park. We found a quaint cafe to have lunch in and afterwards went to explore the rest of the park. We came to an enchanting area with stone nooks to read in, yellow leaves were falling, and we could look out over the Hudson River. This four-seasons gal drank it in. Have I ever told you about how I'm not a desert dweller? Anyway... All my life, I've heard people talk about the Palisades, but I was too lazy to figure out what they were. However, I have finally learned. The Palisades are the shear bluffs that line the Hudson River on the New Jersey side. Rockefeller purchased this land long ago to keep it from being developed and eventually donated the land to the state of New Jersey. Today, it is a park with lots of hiking trails. So, as we were looking over at the Palisades (yes, there are some in California, too), we noticed a big building up on the top. You can see it in the picture--the orange-ish building. My husband and I were curious as to what it is, so we looked it up. Well, it's the Holy Name Medical Center and it has the Sister Claire Tynan School of Nursing there. It's a very prestigious nursing school. The plot thickens, though. As you all may remember, I was born in a Catholic hospital--St. Joseph's in Wichita. It was founded by The Sisters of Saint Joseph. Recently, I found out my paternal grandfather was born in a hospital in his small southeastern Kansas town and, it too, was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Well, I'll give you one guess as to what order Sister Clair Tynan belonged to. That's right! She belonged to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. Just another example of how St. Joseph has been ever present in my life lately. Even the building I'm staring at across the Hudson River has a connection. Hope you enjoyed that history lesson, Catholic Pilgrims. Our Catholic Faith is everywhere. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Wednesday.
Continue ReadingHappy Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother! On Saturday, a young man private messaged me to debate the Catholic practice of praying to the Saints. By his own admission, he'd never met a Catholic before, but he continually attempted to tell me what Catholics believe. His understanding of praying to the Saints was the typical, ignorant belief that we are practicing necromancy. Anyway, I asked him lots of questions, sent him an article that I wrote on the praying to the Saints, and debated with him in a civil way. Time and again, he would ask me a question that was addressed in my article and I would say, "Have you read the article yet?" His answer was always, "No, it's too long." I reminded him that he told me from the outset that he was interested in finding the truth and "if you are searching for truth, then read things people offer you. Finding truth takes patience and effort. Don't be lazy and just come at people and not be willing to listen." He ignored what I said and just started in with jumping around from issue to issue, not really considering what I was saying. Then, at one point, he got frustrated and went with this line of attack, "Mary was a mere human woman, yeah Jesus was her son but that makes her no different than any other person." Let's take that in one more time: "Jesus was her son but that makes her no different than any other person." This is the kind of ridiculous thing that gets said when you are intensely bent on being anti-Catholic. No other person on earth has ever been the Mother of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. That makes her different beyond all imagination and because of her singularly unique role, we should give her honor and our love. Happy Birthday to Our Blessed Mother Mary, Catholic Pilgrims. May we always give Our Lord's Mother right praise and honor.
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