I love Daniel Craig

...because I'm a good Catholic.

Pictured: 

What Jesus wants for us

Rosary

starting the procession

Trial run of mobile blogging

This post will be a test for my new mobile blogging app on my G1. I am on my way to the Marian Rosary Procession on campus, so I will also be testing pictures.

The Interwebz is back! And it's a Feast Day...

Since last Friday, I have been without internet in my dorm room. If you're a college student, you will understand how devastating that kind of problem is. If you're not, you will probably think I have an addiction. I don't. I just take FarmVille very seriously.

My guardian angels must have been looking out for me because the internet has decided to come back to Marian Hall!

And of course, today is the feast of the Archangels - St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael.

As you may or may not know, the Archangel is only one of the nine choirs of angels, the others including:

Seraphim
Cherubim
Thrones
Dominions
Virtues
Powers
Principalities
and Regular Angels

Each play their own role in the Kingdom of God, but the Archangels have the distinction of being the leading angels when it comes to revealing God's plan in salvation history.

They also announce critical events - like the Apocalypse and whatnot.

15 Abortions

If you talk to any pro-choice person, at some point in the conversation you will here this line:

"It's a very difficult choice. No woman WANTS to get an abortion. No woman LIKES abortion."

Unfortunately, if you look at the case of Irene Vilar, the above statement is absolutely false.

In one of the most tragic news stories that I stumbled upon today (thanks, again, to YouTube), this woman I named above has suffered through 15 - yes 15 - separate abortions. Although statistics show that once a woman does have one abortion she is more likely to have another one (I think that number is about 45%), it is still hard to believe that a woman could actually go through that torturous ordeal more than once. Why did she do it? According to her autobiography:

She "needed another self-injury to get high."

Yes, because of this woman's disturbing childhood (a suicidal mother and two heroin addicted brothers) and abusive relationship, she was forced into this manic abortion state. Her husband was very stern when it came to having children by stating repeatedly that children ruined his sexual desire. Self-centered much? Of course she was forced to take birth control pills but as she became more and more addicted to abortion, she intentionally started skipping months. All of this occurred in the past 16 years, meaning this woman had abortions scheduled annually. Yikes.

I believe that instead of judging her or praising her (depending on what side of the abortion debate you stand), we should all just pray for her. It seems like she is far beyond any human intervention on the matter and given the troubling history of mental and social problems in her family, she may be unreachable for a very long time. It certainly is a shame that no one had reached out to help her sooner.

I have not read her book and I am not going to. Why? It's not because I am intolerant. It's not because I am judging her. I would love to get to know more of her story. However, this statement on her official website is why I cannot:

" 'Impossible Motherhood' is committed to eliminating the stigma of abortion by creating new ways to talk about abortion honestly and publicly."

All I can say is, may God help her and her family. I am going to the Tomb of the Unborn here at Franciscan tomorrow to pray for the 15 children that have lost their lives.

Mutant Robots from Outer space!!

... well ok, not from outer space.

In a recent interview, Dr. Ray Kurzweil dropped the news that he believes humans will become immortal in 20 years. How is this possible, you might ask?

We will become robots. DUH.

Or to put it in Dr. Kurzweil's term, "cyborgs."

I found the article about this prediction here at Telegraph.co.uk. I assume it's going to spark some interesting debates about bioethics and end of life issues. Not to mention the problem science is having playing God.

Here are some key sentences from the article:

"I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogramme our bodies' stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever."


"Virtual sex will become commonplace." 


"So we can look forward to a world where humans become cyborgs, with artificial limbs and organs."

Dr. Kurzweil is talking about immortality based around technological advancements that would replace and "improve" on the human body. Effectively this is saying,

"Dear God,

Anything you can do, we can do better. We can do better anything better than you.

In your face,

Humanity"

It doesn't sound like a very nice statement, does it? I think the whole venture into "improving the human body" will lead to incredibly dangerous ramifications.

Come on, Dr. Kurweil, haven't you read any Michael Crichton?

American Universities

Being a student of higher learning, after my catechetics class, I went on YouTube. Although YouTube has a lot of really sketchy and ill-produced videos, there are some gems that can be found.

Today I discovered Steven Crowder. In a recent video, he went on campus to UC Berkeley (you know, the one with all the hippies) and uncovered what has happened to education in the hands of liberal professors.

The video highlights the failings of misinformation, revisionist history, and propaganda - all favorites of socialist, communist, and totalitarian governments. Oh, and also a big favorite among the liberal professors that make up 35% of all university professors.

Watch the video and see why its so crucial that American children learn REAL American history, before they get to the stage of mindlessly following anyone who calls themselves an "intellectual."

The Daily Show Gets it Right?

Since my mother is leading the New Orleans Tea Party, I hear about ACORN from time to time. to time. to time....

It gets mentioned a lot.

BUT FOR GOOD REASON.

So it's not news that they are a very corrupt organization that uses all our tax money for evil. Just about anyone involved in politics has seen at least one clip from Fox News unravelling all that. Most notably, a few weeks ago, the story broke about ACORN helping a man jump start his underage prostitution ring.

Wait, sorry, sorry, his "performance art" ring. My bad.

What may be news to a lot of Tea Party members, Fox News watchers, and Catholics is Jon Stewart's (the host of the Daily Show on Comedy Central) reaction. I was actually pleased.

Watch the September 15 show here.

In this show, Jon Stewart does nothing to defend ACORN (which I would have expected), but instead does what he does best - makes fun of them. AND he proves that Fox News is the only news network out there reliably showing what ACORN is doing to our community.

A+ to Jon Stewart.

Not a Good Start to the Weekend

News blurb from Culture War:


A recognized pro-life activist was shot and killed outside of a Michigan high school. 


His soul, his family and the soul and family of the murderer are in my prayers - they should be in yours too.

Week in Review

Since the school year is still in its beginning stage, a lot of clubs and organizations on campus have been hosting preliminary and educational meetings to welcome new students (and newly interested students) into their ranks. Of the many, I decided to attend two: Students for Life and College Republicans.

I think it might be the same club.

Ok, so there are some differences but central to each is the culture of life movement. I haven't been on campus very long, but I feel as if these two clubs probably work together a lot (along with Democrats for Life).

So really, the hard part is trying to choose which club I want to be the most active in. As one of four or five active members of the Students for Life club back in Mobile, I feel a special calling to be a leader here as well. The only problem? The ENTIRE CAMPUS is in Students for Life here. How would a transfer sophomore, not belonging to any households, really get any recognition at all? I could join core team, but some of their commitments conflict with my class schedule. So it looks like participation in Students for Life will be limited to prayers outside the abortion clinic in Pittsburgh.

At least it's a little more than what I accomplished in Mobile - although our few members were certainly strong enough to hold that club together and keep it as a recognized voice in Mobile (if not only with the 40 Days for Life people...)

So maybe College Republicans?

They do a lot of pro-life work - usually in conjunction with Students for Life - and they have cake on Ronald Reagan's birthday!

Also, I want to make sure I will go with them to protest the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh! My mother would be proud.

Is there a Tea Party in Ohio?

A Little Laughter

Sunday...

It happens to all of us.

{postsecret}

Our Lady of Prompt Succor

Hasten to Help Us!

Today marks the 4th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall and subsequent destruction New Orleans.

The city is in considerately better shape now, although many places still bare the scar of the storm. However, with time, they have moved from painful reminders to bittersweet memories of a strange and turbulent time in the Crescent City. But even after all of these years, its impossible to forget the images, smells, and feelings from that day. It's still possible to hear the deafening quiet I came back to a few weeks after the storm - when many people were still away in Houston or Atlanta. It's still possible to recall that awful scent from the very depths of Satan's lair that is the refrigerator left alone without power for a month. (Don't open it, I beg you!) And it's still possible to visualize the National Guardsmen and HUVs rolling down the streets of Mid-City.

New Orleans as it was and as it is will always remain a unique place. Even to this day, as I am stowed away in middle-of-nowhere, Ohio, people still come to talk to me about the storm and what its like to live in the most interesting city on Earth.

Oh and GO SAINTS!

Ministry Fair

Last night the Franciscan University of Steubenville hosted their annual ministry fair. The fair consisted of multiple departments of ministry including chapel, evangelization, outreach, and mission trips.

I arrived about 20 minutes early and already the JC Williams Campus Center was packed with students and presentations. I was immediately attracted to the mission trip set up in the Atrium. What really caught my eye was the advertisement for the mission trip to New Orleans, my sweet hometown. We were listed right along with Belize and Jamaica. Nice. Of course I signed up. The trip goes down to New Orleans during Spring Break, so even if I do not go with Franciscan, I am going to be in the area anyway. Maybe I'll just stop by.

I was the first one to sign up for more information about that trip, but hopefully a lot more people were interested. Although the area has seen vast improvement since 2005, there are many neighborhoods and people still looking for a little extra assistance. It never hurts. After witnessing the insurance fiasco at my summer job at the law firm, I can still see the need present.

Apart from the mission trips, the chapel ministries tables were swamped. It was near impossible to get anywhere close to the Eucharistic Minister sign up with fighting a few people off. (Or distracting them with free root beer floats.) Of course, with its popularity comes a series of hoops to weed a few people out - including a mini-reflection paper and such. If I ever get around to filling that out, I can start trying to participate in the very active and popular chapel ministry program here at Steubenville.

Although I haven't seen any of the previous ministry fairs, I would comment that it seemed to be quite a success. By 7:45 it was hard to move throughout the campus center - each floor was packed! I like to like it was because of the eagerness of holy people looking to serve the Lord, but it could have been because of the free root beer floats too.

Back in the Saddle Again

Ok, so I decided to take a summer break from blogging. Even though you would think that summer allowed more time to do unpractical and unimportant things, my summer did not. I finished working at the law firm about two weeks before the vacation would end so that I would have time to see the friends that I had missed all last year and during the summer. I also needed to take some time to start packing so I could go to....

Franciscan University of Steubenville!

I have finally made it into the wilds of Ohio! Although technically I moved in on Thursday, I did not figure out how to work the internet until late last night. This required numerous treks (really, treks, there are so many hills!) back and forth from my room to the campus center and to the RAs office. But alas, I have found the internet and can start blogging again!

Classes haven't started up yet, but that will change come Tuesday. Right now, I am stuck going through yet another Orientation. Orientations - they have their goods and their bads. Some parts seem repetitive and unnecessary, but other aspects I have found are quite helpful. Franciscan has organized small groups within the dorm buildings to meet nightly and go over the day. I am happy to say that these small groups are a great improvement over the most awkward small group of all time I had to endure at SHC. Who's idea was it to put my gay ex-boyfriend in the same group as me? Who? Not cool, Jesuits.

I am living in Marian Hall this year, which is the oldest and hottest dorm on campus. Seriously, there is no air conditioner or coke products in the vending machine. Ohio, what is going on?

The room is small, but sweet. The place is full of possibilities for feminine bonding. Although some of the rules seem a bit strict for me (no boys except during open hours, but only with the door open!) but at the same time, I understand where they are going with them. (Feminine community, once again). That should be interesting - and challenging for when my boyfriend comes to visit me from Mobile in October. Will he even be allowed to do the actual visiting part? I guess that will just take careful planning.

I shall post pictures of my dorm room shortly, to give everyone a feel for what Marian Hall is like. At first I was a little disappointed, but I think the mold is growing on me.

(Just kidding - there is no mold...just moths.)