Today is President’s Day…
You can read about presidents in these posts…
Presidential Fun on Election Day
Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You on Inauguration Day
“I was almost late here today, but I had a very good taxi driver who brought me through the traffic jam. I was going to give him a very large tip and tell him to vote Democratic and then I remember some advice Senator Green had given me, so I gave him no tip at all and told him to vote Republican.”-John F. Kennedy
I have nothing new to say but wanted to acknowledge this day before bringing you to the
CB WIRE February 8 – 14, 2021
Monday February 8, 2021
Saint Jerome Emiliani; Saint Josephine Bakhita
Our dear Pope Francis starts off the week with lots of things to say about the world we live in.
In a few minutes on Sunday, the Pope deliverd a mini-social encyclical (cruxnow.com)
Once again praying from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square, despite rain and the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis on Sunday ticked off many of his core social concerns which include…
Making an appeal in favor of unaccompanied migrant minors, stranded on the border between Bosnia and Croatia, living in makeshift camps with freezing temperatures and no access to water or electricity.
That life is protected at every stage.
A prayer for victims of human trafficking . One in four of those enslaved today, including by forced marriages, are children.
The day of prayer is marked on the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, considered a patron saint for trafficking victims. Born in 1868 in Darfur, Sudan, she was kidnapped at the age of nine and sold into slavery, first in her country and later in Italy. She died in 1947 and was declared a saint by Pope St. John Paul II in 2000.
And finally, he has concern for the unraveling political situation in Myanmar. Instead of the military taking over our government, a bunch of angry citizens tried to overturn our election because like in Myanmar, it was thought their was wide spread voter fraud.
The military accuses Suu Kyi’s government of not investigating allegations of voter fraud in the November 2020 elections that her National League for Democracy won in a landslide. Observers say the military may have feared that Suu Kyi would use her supermajority in parliament to change the country’s constitution, which the army crafted to reserve several powers to itself.
A weird Qanon current belief is that the military is currently in control of the US and that Donald Trump will be reinstated on March 4.
On Monday Pope Francis told diplomats that a ‘right to life’ is a foundational human right. The pandemic forced us to confront two unavoidable dimensions of human existence: sickness and death. In doing so, it reminded us of the value of life, of every individual human life and its dignity, at every moment of its earthly pilgrimage, from conception in the womb until its natural end.”
Honest Commentary: Anyone who says that the Pope doesn’t care about Pro-Life issues and is the worst pope ever are really blinded by their own prejudice ideology against the pope and refuse to see the goodness of Christ overflowing in his governance as supreme pontiff. This applies to some very popular profile Catholic movers and shakers. Adherence to one’s tribe and political identity prevents these people from seeing God’s hand at work in places they think he shouldn’t be touching with them.
And to top off the Pope’s Monday, Pope Francis plays to visit an Iraqi cathedral burned by Islamic State.
Claudia Tenney, a pro-life politician declares victory in final 2020 House race.
Tuesday February 9, 2021
Trump’s 2nd Impeachment Trial Begins.
Will he be acquitted or will he have found guilty?
In COVID-19 News
A joint WHO-China investigation into the source of the outbreak is concluded. Experts find a Wuhan laboratory leak to be “extremely unlikely”, with a “natural reservoir” in bats being a more likely origin.
As slavery continues, a cardinal highlights St Josephine Bakhita
“The organised criminal networks, which profit ruthlessly through the sale of our brothers and sisters as slaves and no more than commodities to be exploited, are taking full advantage of this chaos: over 40 million trapped today in modern slavery. It is pitiable: a terrible wound in the flesh of humanity, indeed in the body of Christ,” Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster preached at a Mass on Feb. 8, St. Bakhita’s feast day.
In Off the Planet News
The UAE’s Hope spacecraft becomes the first Arabian mission to successfully enter orbit around Mars.
And a 8-Year-Old Calls Out NPR For Lack Of Dinosaur Stories : NPR
My name is Leo and I am 8 years old. I listen to All Things Considered in the car with mom. I listen a lot.
I never hear much about nature or dinosaurs or things like that. Maybe you should call your show Newsy things Considered, since I don’t get to hear about all the things. Or please talk more about dinosaurs and cool things.
Sincerely,
Leo
To remedy the situation, All Things Considered invited Leo to ask some questions about dinosaurs to Ashley Poust, a research associate at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Leo wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up.
This author is glad that this great injustice has been remedied. There are never enough dinosaur stories. For those who want a dinosaur fix you can watch Camp Cretaceous on Netflix. It is a another predictable offering from the Jurassic Park franchise with kid characters that do some unrealistic things that would have gotten them eaten from episode one. Yet… it was compelling enough for me to binge watch the whole series with my wife. Something about dinosaurs. Leo the 8 year old is a wise man at only 8, just like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. Here’s something to blow your mind.
And welcome a
NEW PATHEOS CATHOLIC BLOG
Cultural Tidbits by John Tuttle
The blog will focus on numerous topics, current and historical. Various topics will be examined either for their implications to Christian beliefs or, alternately, for the opportunity to be seen through the lens of a Catholic perspective.
Cultural Tidbits: An Introduction (FEBRUARY 9, 2021)
Checkout his first couple of posts…
How WandaVision Shows Us the Danger of Self-Deception
6 Movies with Christopher Plummer You Should Revisit
Wednesday February 10, 2021
Memorial Saint Scholastica
The Trial continues on…
Do you ever fear God won’t listen to your prayers because their too self-focused or not “holy enough” in their intent?
St. Scholastica offers a great perspective on this problem.
Billy Kangas, Scholastica – Boldness in Prayer (February 10, 2021) The Orant @ Patheos Catholic
This Wednesday seems to be a day where people are getting shut down.
First off
YouTube Deletes Pro-Life News Site’s Channel for Coronavirus ‘Misinformation’ (breitbart.com)
I Oppose Leftist Fascist Censorship (The Example of Lifesite News)
++++++++++++++++
Lifesite News is a detestable radical Catholic reactionary website that does, however, include great pro-life material amidst its wasteland of anti-papal nonsense and dangerous quasi-schismatic mindset (that I have refuted many times). In my work as an apologist, which includes aspects of “protecting the flock from dangerous influences”, I have urged people to avoid it like the plague.
But it should NOT have been banned from You Tube. Such censorship is outrageous and utterly contrary to the tradition of free speech in this country. My personal (orthodox Catholic) opinions of Lifesite News are utterly irrelevant to this observation.
You Tube is not simply a “private” enterprise (as my website is). It’s intended to be a massive platform for (theoretically) everyone to use (like in the old days: sheets of paper would be: anyone could write or draw anything on them).
But now it is choosing to censor and shut down ideas it disagrees with (very unlike myself; I interact with and demonstrate the errors of those I disagree with).
Dave Armstrong on FB.
Secondly
The Mandalorian’ s Gina Carano Will No Longer Part of Star Wars Following This Controversial Social Media Post (movieweb.com)
Here’s what she said…
“Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views.”
And finally, this commentary came out…
Of the many weapons in the toolkit of a group whose power is slipping, lynching is the most abhorrent. Emerging videos from the Capitol insurrection show a mob set for lynching. As a rough gallows was built by the rioters, others chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!” and they hunted for the vice president, for Nancy Pelosi, and for other lawmakers as well.
Jesse Wegman’s Jan. 17 commentary in The New York Times stopped just short of saying this was a lynching. Still, he noted these elements: the “violent ransacking of the Capitol by an overwhelmingly white mob,” a now “literal” assault on “the ideal of a multiracial democracy,” the mob’s “eagerness to destroy American democracy,” and the rioters as “inheritors of a long tradition of rebellion against a new world order.”
Jan. 6 was the political lynching of our multiracial democracy. It was all too close to being a successful lynching of others who did not support the Trump world order.
Alison M. Benders The Capitol riot was an attempt to lynch our democracy (Feb 10, 2021) National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org)
Thursday February 11, 2021
Our Lady of Lourdes
The impeachment trial continues to linger on…
Blessed Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes!
Consecration to Our Lady of Lourdes:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Virgin Immaculate, you appeared 18 times to Bernadette at the grotto in Lourdes to remind Christians of what the truths in the Gospel require of them. You call them to prayer, penance, the Eucharist and the life of the church. To answer your call more fully, I dedicate myself, through you, to your Son Jesus. Make me willing to accept what he said. By the fervor of my faith, by the conduct of my life in all its aspects, by my devotion to the sick, let me work with you in the comforting of those who suffer and in the reconciliation of people that the church may be one and there be peace in the world. All this I ask, confident that you, Our Lady, will fully answer my prayer. Blessed be the Holy and Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Amen.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!
St. Bernadette, pray for us!
COVID-defying nun toasts 117th birthday with wine and prayer | KSTP.com
Sister André is a retired nun who just beat Covid and turned 117.
Yes. I said 117.
She is believed to be the 2nd oldest person alive in the world.
Sister Andre is doing well and is feeling fine.
Just think of all this person has seen and done in almost a Century and a quarter.
And here is another inspiring nun to read about.
Generations of black Catholic women “fought against racism in order to answer God’s call in their lives.” said Dr. Shannen Dee Williams of Villanova University, at a virtual Wednesday event hosted by the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
The event was titled “The Real Sister Act: Why the Stories of U.S. Black Catholic Sisters Matter.” The 1992 film “Sister Act,” starring Whoopi Goldberg, highlighted the story of Sister Thea Bowman–one of three African-American sisters under consideration for canonization–who worked to combat racism within the Church.
Williams said on Wednesday that Bowman’s story is not accurately reflected on screen–evidence of ignorance of black Catholic history, both within the Church and in wider society.
“What does that say about Hollywood and its imagination, that in the hands of Hollywood, Sister Thea Bowman is not a nun, but a morally ambiguous black woman hiding from this white, married mobster boyfriend after he kills someone?” she said. “Thea spent the vast majority of her life as a nun.”
“There are many within our society and certainly within Hollywood that are not yet ready to grapple with the reality of black Catholic nuns in this nation,” she added. The hidden history of Black Catholic nuns in the U.S.
Fr. Pedro Opeka, 72, is a Vincentian priest from Argentina has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
He lives in Madagascar and is known for serving the poor and living on a landfill for more than three decades. He founded the Akamasoa humanitarian association in 1989 as a “solidarity movement to help the poorest of the poor” living on the site of a garbage dump.
“To experience Lent with love means caring for those who suffer or feel abandoned and fearful because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In these days of deep uncertainty about the future, let us keep in mind the Lord’s word to his Servant, ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you’ (Isaiah 43:1). In our charity, may we speak words of reassurance and help others to realize that God loves them as sons and daughters,”
LENT IS COMING
Pope Francis: ‘Experience Lent with love’ by caring for those affected by pandemic.
“To experience Lent with love means caring for those who suffer or feel abandoned and fearful because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In these days of deep uncertainty about the future, let us keep in mind the Lord’s word to his Servant, ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you’ (Isaiah 43:1). In our charity, may we speak words of reassurance and help others to realize that God loves them as sons and daughters.
Friday February 12, 2021
Yes the Trial is still going on…
The Beatification cause of Servant of God Guglielmo Giaquinta an Italian bishop known for ‘ordinary extraordinariness’ moves forward. He is founder of the Pro Sanctity Movement.
As Lent approaches we should all, including myself, take a hard look and lesson from our persecuted brothers and sisters. While we continue to whine about our first world problems and how life under our current president is not as bad as were making it out to be, our baptised siblings are literally dying and being denied freedom. We have a lot to learn this Lent from persecuted Christians, advocate says at Vatican
“Consider the many kidnapped priests and sisters in Africa, who are held for ransom by militias … We have much to learn from them. Are we helping them or are we maybe sitting on their cross? We have to know that they are ready to help us carry our cross with their life, prayer, and death. The example of those who would rather die than renounce their faith is unforgettable and very hard to comprehend.”- Marcela Szymanski an advocate for Aid to the Church in Need
The fact that a Petition is asking Amazon to avoid nudity in Lord of the Rings series does not strike confidence that the new makers of Tolkien’s work are going to give it the proper respect that Peter Jackson had for the series that he gave it.
“Irrespective of the authenticity of the rumours that Amazon plans to incorporate pornographic scenes into its adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, it was always apparent that giving a corporate secularist monster like Amazon the rights to produce adaptations of Tolkien’s work was like giving the Ring to Sauron.”-Joseph Pearce
This Week on Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World…
MYS141: In 1980, a massive granite monument was unveiled in a small Georgia town, bearing 10 principles for the future guidance of humanity. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss the Guidestones’ origin and purpose and the mysterious man who commissioned them. The Georgia Guidestones (Mystery Solved!) (sqpn.com)
Saturday February 13, 2021
Trump acquitted in second impeachment trial on charge of inciting Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Irish bishops decry bill to legalize euthanasia
Catholic leaders and human rights advocates have expressed concern over a bill that would legalize physician-assisted suicide in Ireland.
The Dying with Dignity 2020 bill has received opposition from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, as well as the Council for Life and the Consultative Group on Bioethics at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
Twins among those ordained priests in Uganda’s Kasese diocese.
Fr. Peter Katuramu Isingoma and Fr. Andrew Kato Katuramu
“At ordination, I felt great. To many, it was a mystery that twins were being ordained priests.
I knew that God had chosen us before we were born and like Peter and his brother Andrew, the disciples of Jesus that our parents named us after,
we had indeed been chosen to work with God’s people.”- Fr. Andrew
Sunday February 14, 2021
SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Valentine’s Day
When most people think of romantic love, a third-century skull crowned with flowers probably does not spring to mind — nor the story behind it.
But a visit to an unassuming Byzantine basilica in Rome might change that.
“One of the most important relics that you will find in this basilica is that of St. Valentine,” the church’s rector, Fr. Chihade Abboud, told EWTN News.
The Rome church where you can venerate St. Valentine’s skull
New Movies of the Week
Red Dot Netflix
Judas And The Black Messiah HBO Max
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things PrimeVideo
Deaths of the Week
Mary Wilson (March 6, 1944 – February 8, 2021) is founding member of The Supremes,
the most successful Motown act of the 1960s and the best-charting female group in U.S. chart history.
She also shares the same name as my oldest sister.
Larry Claxton Flynt Jr. November 1, 1942 – February 10, 2021) founder of porn magazine Hustler.
This death just became nationally public.
Brayden Andrew Smith September 6, 1996 – February 5, 2021
Brayden attained a lifelong dream as a five-time champion on the popular Jeopardy! television game show. His appearances were among the last hosted by Alex Trebek, and Brayden was hailed on social media as “Alex’s Last Great Champion.” He was looking forward to competing in the show’s Tournament of Champions.
Fr. Seraphim Michalenko 1930 – 2021
Hei s the world-renowned expert on the life and spirituality of St. Faustina — the man who smuggled photographic images of the pages of St. Faustina’s Diary out of Communist-occupied Poland in the 1970s and later documented her beatification and canonization miracles.
Quotes and Fun Posts of the Week
In talking about the reactions to Fr. Cole’s abortion video…
The reactions have just shown how much we needed this video,,,
We seems to love to send ‘sinners’ to hell than to win them for Christ,,,,
This should make us see that there is a lot of work to do within ourselves, and we need to do it now,,,Cletus Kaba
Here is Fr. Casey’s latest video where he talks about his life as a celibate Franciscan friar.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church echoes Aquinas, teaching that a public false statement about others, for instance, “takes on a particular gravity.” The logic is simple and sound: Private calumny speaks to those within earshot; public calumny speaks to the whole world.
John Clark Facebook, Aquinas and the Sins Of Free Speech| National Catholic Register (February 9, 2021) ncregister.com
Two of my fellow Patheos Catholic Bloggers
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