I was going to talk about something completely different today, but I have been felled by the same flu that has taken everyone else. Thanksgiving has been cancelled. Poor Josh has it worse than me though. He's been running a high fever all day. He may be 17, but he still likes his mama around when he's sick. I only seem to have a killer sore throat and a lot of fatigue. My chest hurts too even though I am not really coughing that much.
I'm about to curl up with a bowl of soup and a catalog that just came in today's mail, the Catholic Relief Services Fair Trade Fall/Winter 2012 Catalog. I am going to try to buy Christmas gifts from this organization. Check out the website!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
40 Days for the Poor - Day 5 - St. Vincent de Paul Society
We have been fighting a nasty flu that is slowly burning through our family. Yesterday, we couldn't quite make it to Mass at our regular parish which only has them in the morning. We decided to go to another parish which recently started a 5:30 Sunday evening Mass. It was quite crowded. It was a 'guitar' mass, but their folk group was a bit better than our parish's. Or maybe they were just different.
Anyway, after the Mass, someone representing the parish's chapter of St. Vincent de Paul Society got up to speak about the work they do for the poor. Click on the link to their website to find out more. The parish is going to have a Christmas Fair on the first weekend of Advent (Dec. 1 and 2). At this 'fair' people from the parish and local vendors will sell their goods. Listed in the bulletin were things like 'Amy's Rubs and Spices," 'Angela's Hand Crocheted Items.' Some people make jewelry, some others carve wood. They had one fairly famous Catholic artist who happens to live around here, who will be selling his works. Becky and I noticed that one of the vendors makes American Girl accessories and clothing. That caught her eye. Part of the proceeds these local artisans and crafters earn will go to the parish's St. Vincent de Paul Society chapter.
So Becky and I have a date to go shopping at the Christmas Fair there on the first weekend of Advent.
I'd write more but I am out of time!
Anyway, after the Mass, someone representing the parish's chapter of St. Vincent de Paul Society got up to speak about the work they do for the poor. Click on the link to their website to find out more. The parish is going to have a Christmas Fair on the first weekend of Advent (Dec. 1 and 2). At this 'fair' people from the parish and local vendors will sell their goods. Listed in the bulletin were things like 'Amy's Rubs and Spices," 'Angela's Hand Crocheted Items.' Some people make jewelry, some others carve wood. They had one fairly famous Catholic artist who happens to live around here, who will be selling his works. Becky and I noticed that one of the vendors makes American Girl accessories and clothing. That caught her eye. Part of the proceeds these local artisans and crafters earn will go to the parish's St. Vincent de Paul Society chapter.
So Becky and I have a date to go shopping at the Christmas Fair there on the first weekend of Advent.
I'd write more but I am out of time!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
40 Days for the Poor - Day 4 - Tithing
We as a family do not tithe. I wish we did, except I think it sounds scary. I've never had a conversation about this with my husband, the one who brings home the bacon, so I don't even know what he thinks about it. He does give very generously to various causes, but I don't think he thinks it through in terms of tithing, more like what you can claim for tax deductions. Maybe these posts will inspire me to talk to him about it. This is definitely an issue that needs to be explored.
My parish does tithe however. But tithing does not mean giving 10% to the poor as it originally did. They call it tithing but they only give 5%. That means 5% of any money coming into the parish (mostly through collections from its members) immediately gets designated to charities that the parish council has voted to support.
This aspect of my parish, along with its very active lay participation and its very transparent handling of all financial issues, are some of the reasons why I like attending there so much. The parish was founded right after Vatican II and the founding pastor set it up so that it very much reflected the best of those changes that came with the second Vatican Council.
There's a lot to dislike about my parish too. A lot of the groovier, looser interpretations of Vatican II took hold in various ways. (Though they are slowly being moved away from. Our current pastor who is a lovely, lovely person looks like an aging hippy with his longish hair and beard, but he is actually quite faithful in his approach). We've had various lay staff and volunteers who definitely pushed dissident views on abortion, contraception, women priests, etc. Our Religious Education directors for a very long time, both nice people on a personal level (one a sister and the other lay) definitely were more of the Call to Action variety type Catholics. It could get very tiresome to those parishioners who were irked by the disobedience and moves away from orthodox practices. However, the pastors we've had, while being very sympathetic to the emphasis on corporal works of mercy advocated in the name of social justice, didn't go overboard in support of dissident ideas. Over the years that I have been familiar with this parish, first eight years of meeting there in our homeschool co-op, and then eleven years now of being actual parishioners, I have known families who have left because it wasn't 'conservative' enough for them and I've known families who've left because it wasn't 'liberal' enough. This told me that it was a pretty good parish! Because Catholics aren't supposed to be conservative or liberal. They are just supposed to be Catholics.
I really think all parishes should be run the way St. Mark's is. I know when we give our weekly contribution, that some of it will go to support the homeless, the sick, the imprisoned, the disabled, the poor. I also know the rest of the money goes to pay for things like electricity and heat and new roofing or new carpets or computers or other repairs. It goes to do a lot of outreach for their excellent youth groups and scripture study and other social/evangelizing efforts. It pays our staff. It goes for books and mission trips and playground equipment. It goes for the mortgage which the parish is desperately trying to pay down to reduce its debt load. I don't have any problems giving to my church. No one is getting rich off the parishioners' contributions, but a wonderful, lively parish, full of love for both the Lord and the least of His brothers is being supported in very small part by the money we give.
My parish does tithe however. But tithing does not mean giving 10% to the poor as it originally did. They call it tithing but they only give 5%. That means 5% of any money coming into the parish (mostly through collections from its members) immediately gets designated to charities that the parish council has voted to support.
This aspect of my parish, along with its very active lay participation and its very transparent handling of all financial issues, are some of the reasons why I like attending there so much. The parish was founded right after Vatican II and the founding pastor set it up so that it very much reflected the best of those changes that came with the second Vatican Council.
There's a lot to dislike about my parish too. A lot of the groovier, looser interpretations of Vatican II took hold in various ways. (Though they are slowly being moved away from. Our current pastor who is a lovely, lovely person looks like an aging hippy with his longish hair and beard, but he is actually quite faithful in his approach). We've had various lay staff and volunteers who definitely pushed dissident views on abortion, contraception, women priests, etc. Our Religious Education directors for a very long time, both nice people on a personal level (one a sister and the other lay) definitely were more of the Call to Action variety type Catholics. It could get very tiresome to those parishioners who were irked by the disobedience and moves away from orthodox practices. However, the pastors we've had, while being very sympathetic to the emphasis on corporal works of mercy advocated in the name of social justice, didn't go overboard in support of dissident ideas. Over the years that I have been familiar with this parish, first eight years of meeting there in our homeschool co-op, and then eleven years now of being actual parishioners, I have known families who have left because it wasn't 'conservative' enough for them and I've known families who've left because it wasn't 'liberal' enough. This told me that it was a pretty good parish! Because Catholics aren't supposed to be conservative or liberal. They are just supposed to be Catholics.
I really think all parishes should be run the way St. Mark's is. I know when we give our weekly contribution, that some of it will go to support the homeless, the sick, the imprisoned, the disabled, the poor. I also know the rest of the money goes to pay for things like electricity and heat and new roofing or new carpets or computers or other repairs. It goes to do a lot of outreach for their excellent youth groups and scripture study and other social/evangelizing efforts. It pays our staff. It goes for books and mission trips and playground equipment. It goes for the mortgage which the parish is desperately trying to pay down to reduce its debt load. I don't have any problems giving to my church. No one is getting rich off the parishioners' contributions, but a wonderful, lively parish, full of love for both the Lord and the least of His brothers is being supported in very small part by the money we give.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Sinner - Book 49
Sinner; The Catholic Guy's Funny, Feeble Attempts to be a Faithful Catholic by Lino Rulli is hysterically funny and rings so true as Rulli honestly recounts the situations, temptations and thoughts that a contemporary person, trying to be a good Catholic, encounters every day.
It's a quick read and Rulli doesn't really wax theological much, but he does really believe in the teachings of the Catholic church, however ruefully, and he does try to live his life according to those principles. But, like many of us, he fails a lot. And he manages to make these failures very, very funny.
I had never heard of Lino Rulli until last week! When we bought our new mini-van it came with this free three month subscription to XM radio. I tried to fool around with it when we first got the car, but frankly I couldn't quite figure it out and wasn't too impressed. Right after the elections however, I was feeling a bit down and sort of rejected by my own fellow countrymen and therefore in need of some Catholic comradeship. And I also happened to find myself driving around a lot one day. This spurred me to try the XM feature once again and I found The Catholic Channel. There was this hysterically funny guy named Lino Rulli and a priest named Father Rob who basically are just two buddies cracking each other up and doing really silly things on the air. They had me hooting with laughter. I was hooked. I have listened every day for the past week and have just renewed my XM subscription for a year. When I found out that Lino Rulli had written a book, I immediately downloaded it on my Kindle. I thoroughly enjoyed it. What a likable, honest, clever and funny guy.
Two thumbs up!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
It's a quick read and Rulli doesn't really wax theological much, but he does really believe in the teachings of the Catholic church, however ruefully, and he does try to live his life according to those principles. But, like many of us, he fails a lot. And he manages to make these failures very, very funny.
I had never heard of Lino Rulli until last week! When we bought our new mini-van it came with this free three month subscription to XM radio. I tried to fool around with it when we first got the car, but frankly I couldn't quite figure it out and wasn't too impressed. Right after the elections however, I was feeling a bit down and sort of rejected by my own fellow countrymen and therefore in need of some Catholic comradeship. And I also happened to find myself driving around a lot one day. This spurred me to try the XM feature once again and I found The Catholic Channel. There was this hysterically funny guy named Lino Rulli and a priest named Father Rob who basically are just two buddies cracking each other up and doing really silly things on the air. They had me hooting with laughter. I was hooked. I have listened every day for the past week and have just renewed my XM subscription for a year. When I found out that Lino Rulli had written a book, I immediately downloaded it on my Kindle. I thoroughly enjoyed it. What a likable, honest, clever and funny guy.
Two thumbs up!
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
40 Days for the Poor - Day 3 - Canned Food Drives
This post was supposed to come with a photo of my daughter helping out with a local canned food drive with her American Heritage Girls Troop. She was supposed to go do this yesterday afternoon, but she is still recuperating from the doozy of a flu that has knocked her out for almost two weeks, so she didn't make it.
But anyway, canned food drives are an easy way to help out the local poor and homeless. And there are lots of opportunities.
Groups like American Heritage Girls, Boys Scouts, 4-H, etc often participate in these kinds of drives, so they make it fairly easy to remember to give to those less fortunate.
My parish actually does three things that involve collecting non-perishable food for community food banks. First of all, every Sunday they have a collection area in the narthex or lobby of our church. Every week in the bulletin, they publish what items the local community food bank, local homeless shelter or crisis pregnancy center needs. Then you are supposed to go out and pick up a couple of the items when shopping during the week, leave them in your car and then bring them in when you come for Sunday Mass. You'd think this would be as easy as pie. For years now, I've intended to make this a habit but I think I have only contributed to this once in the 10 years we've been attending this parish!!! Wait a minute, since I am thinking of this right now, I am going to go put some things in my car, so I can take them to Mass with me tomorrow.
Okay, I'm back.
Another thing my parish does, which is really moving, is at the end of Mass on Thanksgiving morning everyone is invited to drop food donations off on the altar. It is quite moving to see all these people, after participating in a Mass of thanksgiving, to bring their donations up to the altar and see the altar just covered with people's contributions. Children especially love to bring their offering up and I think it gives them a tiny sense of how beautiful giving can be.
My parish also does something each summer in conjunction with a couple of other parishes in our area. They have what they call a Junior High Work Camp. Kids who are rising 7th, 8th and 9th graders, participate in a 3.5 day 'workcamp.' Each child is assigned to a service team which has a specific service job to do. Some of the possible service jobs include helping the crisis pregnancy center clean out its garage which is chock full of donations; swimming with kids at a local program for the mentally disabled, weeding and lawn care for a nearby convent and also some of the elderly parishioners who need help, etc. It always includes a canned food drive. The kids go out and distribute flyers announcing their drive to the neighborhoods around the church building. Then two days later, they come around and collect. My son found it so gratifying to see how much people would give to strangers. I think that feeling of gratification helps children realize that there is joy in giving and that part of a Christian's life of faith is to always be mindful of and generous to those less fortunate. I think this forms a habit of charity.
Of course there are lots of food drives out there, in workplaces, schools or sponsored by various clubs. These are just the opportunities that play out in my particular family's life.
But anyway, canned food drives are an easy way to help out the local poor and homeless. And there are lots of opportunities.
Groups like American Heritage Girls, Boys Scouts, 4-H, etc often participate in these kinds of drives, so they make it fairly easy to remember to give to those less fortunate.
My parish actually does three things that involve collecting non-perishable food for community food banks. First of all, every Sunday they have a collection area in the narthex or lobby of our church. Every week in the bulletin, they publish what items the local community food bank, local homeless shelter or crisis pregnancy center needs. Then you are supposed to go out and pick up a couple of the items when shopping during the week, leave them in your car and then bring them in when you come for Sunday Mass. You'd think this would be as easy as pie. For years now, I've intended to make this a habit but I think I have only contributed to this once in the 10 years we've been attending this parish!!! Wait a minute, since I am thinking of this right now, I am going to go put some things in my car, so I can take them to Mass with me tomorrow.
Okay, I'm back.
Another thing my parish does, which is really moving, is at the end of Mass on Thanksgiving morning everyone is invited to drop food donations off on the altar. It is quite moving to see all these people, after participating in a Mass of thanksgiving, to bring their donations up to the altar and see the altar just covered with people's contributions. Children especially love to bring their offering up and I think it gives them a tiny sense of how beautiful giving can be.
My parish also does something each summer in conjunction with a couple of other parishes in our area. They have what they call a Junior High Work Camp. Kids who are rising 7th, 8th and 9th graders, participate in a 3.5 day 'workcamp.' Each child is assigned to a service team which has a specific service job to do. Some of the possible service jobs include helping the crisis pregnancy center clean out its garage which is chock full of donations; swimming with kids at a local program for the mentally disabled, weeding and lawn care for a nearby convent and also some of the elderly parishioners who need help, etc. It always includes a canned food drive. The kids go out and distribute flyers announcing their drive to the neighborhoods around the church building. Then two days later, they come around and collect. My son found it so gratifying to see how much people would give to strangers. I think that feeling of gratification helps children realize that there is joy in giving and that part of a Christian's life of faith is to always be mindful of and generous to those less fortunate. I think this forms a habit of charity.
Of course there are lots of food drives out there, in workplaces, schools or sponsored by various clubs. These are just the opportunities that play out in my particular family's life.
Friday, November 16, 2012
40 Days for the Poor - Day 2 - Free Rice
If you scroll down this blog a bit and look to the right side, you'll see the Free Rice icon there. Click on it and you can play the Free Rice game. This is a vocabulary/trivia game and every time you play free rice gets donated to hungry people around the planet. It is sponsored by the the World Food Programme. The money for the rice is donated by the different companies who get to display their ads at the bottom of the game page. Yesterday when I was last playing the game (studying up on my Latin vocabulary too!) I noticed ads from Cox, Gain detergent and American Girl Dolls.
I first saw this game several years ago on the Lapaz Home Learning blog that Theresa writes. I meant to get the icon and put it on my blog a long, long time ago but hesitated because I am horrible at navigating little things like that. Things that other people seem to do so easily on their blogs, stymies me to an embarrassing extent! However, just a couple of months ago I finally looked into it and it is so easy to participate in this Free Rice game that even I could figure it out. I checked out the World Food Programme and as far as I can tell it's legit. The World Food Programme is part of the United Nations and I know some of its policies are questionable, but this particular game looks like it is just about getting food to people, namely rice. It certainly is a very clever idea. Really, there is no reason why everyone can't be playing this Free Rice game, with as much time as we piddle away on the internet doing fairly mindless things, this not only feeds the hungry but sharpens up your own knowledge as well. It is ideal for unschoolers!
So try a little strewing and play Free Rice today!
I first saw this game several years ago on the Lapaz Home Learning blog that Theresa writes. I meant to get the icon and put it on my blog a long, long time ago but hesitated because I am horrible at navigating little things like that. Things that other people seem to do so easily on their blogs, stymies me to an embarrassing extent! However, just a couple of months ago I finally looked into it and it is so easy to participate in this Free Rice game that even I could figure it out. I checked out the World Food Programme and as far as I can tell it's legit. The World Food Programme is part of the United Nations and I know some of its policies are questionable, but this particular game looks like it is just about getting food to people, namely rice. It certainly is a very clever idea. Really, there is no reason why everyone can't be playing this Free Rice game, with as much time as we piddle away on the internet doing fairly mindless things, this not only feeds the hungry but sharpens up your own knowledge as well. It is ideal for unschoolers!
So try a little strewing and play Free Rice today!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
40 Days for the Poor - Day 1 - Operation Christmas Child
Lately, I have been doing some soul searching (I told my husband this and he replied: Did you find anything? LOL). The soul searching stems from reading a couple of books about people working with the poor. I felt very small and selfish when I looked into my own very materially blessed life and saw what a sloppy, half-hearted Christian I am when it comes to serving the least of my brothers. This feeling was further intensified by the election. I am worried about the slow economy. But mostly it seems to me that the pro-life movement has done itself a disservice by aligning so closely with a party and worldview that has the reputation of not really caring for the poor, the middle class or the immigrant, except when it comes to abortion. This may not be true (I know many very compassionate and active conservatives) but this is the image that's out there in the electorate's mind. I think it comes down to not being better Christians. If pro-lifers reflected Christ's love better, people would know us by His love. That's the true way to evangelize. Not by politicizing everything or being insulting or demonizing the other side. We have to speak the Truth in love.
Anyway, this made me want to be more intentional in my own attitude toward those in need of help. So I decided to take the 40 days before Christmas, the 40 days leading up to the birth of the Prince of Peace, and try to list and examine a bit, ways that I and other ordinary people can make helping the poor part of our daily lives.
Many people, I am sure, are much more advanced than I in doing this already. This is really me thinking out loud. Anyone who wants to add to this or give me advice and share reflections on this are most welcomed to!
Day 1 - My daughter is involved in the American Heritage Girls. She loves it; it is a program similar to Girl Scouts but it doesn't have the pro-choice/feminist slant to it that Girl Scouts seems to have taken on. It is also, like Boy Scouts, openly religious. Anyway, our troop does this program sponsored by Samaritan's Purse every year. It's called Operation Christmas Child. This is the week to drop off your filled boxes. I believe Monday, 11/19, is the last day to get the boxes to the drop sites. But it is an easy project to do. You simply find an old shoebox, fairly intact (not a big boot box, just a regular size), you go to a drugstore or Target or some such place and you fill it up with things a child would appreciate. We just did this, this week. Becky, being 11 years old, picked the category girl, 10-14. We filled the box with: 2 little plastic eggs of silly putty, 2 sets of cute stickers, a pack of nice gel pens, a little notebook, some emery boards and a bottle of pink nail polish, some Burt's Bees lip gloss and hand salve, a small hairbrush and comb, some gum, some tic tacs, a Christmas container of m&ms, some cool duct tape that had peace signs on it, a little calculator, and some hair ties and some headbands. It was fun picking these things out. Becky carefully wrapped the box in Christmas paper. I also included a check for $7 which covers shipping. You can include a note or card, which we didn't do because at the last minute we were rushed to get it to the troop leader.
That was it! Check out the website listed above (Samaritan's Purse) if you are interested in participating in this project.
UPDATE: A reader (thank you!) has informed me this particular charity, Samaritan's Purse, seems to evangelize against Catholics. That is, it goes into poor Catholic countries and using charity as a carrot, tries to convert Catholics to their own brand of Christianity. I've asked the leaders of our AHG Troop to look into it. They had asked about it apparently and were told it was not a problem, but we'll do further digging. Apparently, secular groups have a problem with the Samaritan's Purse as well because its charity work always seems to come with a evangelization price tag. And apparently Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son who runs the organization, has spoken out about the evils of Islam, making enemies on that front. So! This just goes to show you that trying to be loving and charitable is fraught with complexities. I think, this is especially so for Catholics, as I am. On the one hand you don't want to give to Christian groups that are trying to lure Catholics away from the one true faith. On the other hand secular charities often tie you into giving support to abortion and contraception inadvertently. It's a minefield out there!
Anyway, this made me want to be more intentional in my own attitude toward those in need of help. So I decided to take the 40 days before Christmas, the 40 days leading up to the birth of the Prince of Peace, and try to list and examine a bit, ways that I and other ordinary people can make helping the poor part of our daily lives.
Many people, I am sure, are much more advanced than I in doing this already. This is really me thinking out loud. Anyone who wants to add to this or give me advice and share reflections on this are most welcomed to!
Day 1 - My daughter is involved in the American Heritage Girls. She loves it; it is a program similar to Girl Scouts but it doesn't have the pro-choice/feminist slant to it that Girl Scouts seems to have taken on. It is also, like Boy Scouts, openly religious. Anyway, our troop does this program sponsored by Samaritan's Purse every year. It's called Operation Christmas Child. This is the week to drop off your filled boxes. I believe Monday, 11/19, is the last day to get the boxes to the drop sites. But it is an easy project to do. You simply find an old shoebox, fairly intact (not a big boot box, just a regular size), you go to a drugstore or Target or some such place and you fill it up with things a child would appreciate. We just did this, this week. Becky, being 11 years old, picked the category girl, 10-14. We filled the box with: 2 little plastic eggs of silly putty, 2 sets of cute stickers, a pack of nice gel pens, a little notebook, some emery boards and a bottle of pink nail polish, some Burt's Bees lip gloss and hand salve, a small hairbrush and comb, some gum, some tic tacs, a Christmas container of m&ms, some cool duct tape that had peace signs on it, a little calculator, and some hair ties and some headbands. It was fun picking these things out. Becky carefully wrapped the box in Christmas paper. I also included a check for $7 which covers shipping. You can include a note or card, which we didn't do because at the last minute we were rushed to get it to the troop leader.
That was it! Check out the website listed above (Samaritan's Purse) if you are interested in participating in this project.
UPDATE: A reader (thank you!) has informed me this particular charity, Samaritan's Purse, seems to evangelize against Catholics. That is, it goes into poor Catholic countries and using charity as a carrot, tries to convert Catholics to their own brand of Christianity. I've asked the leaders of our AHG Troop to look into it. They had asked about it apparently and were told it was not a problem, but we'll do further digging. Apparently, secular groups have a problem with the Samaritan's Purse as well because its charity work always seems to come with a evangelization price tag. And apparently Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son who runs the organization, has spoken out about the evils of Islam, making enemies on that front. So! This just goes to show you that trying to be loving and charitable is fraught with complexities. I think, this is especially so for Catholics, as I am. On the one hand you don't want to give to Christian groups that are trying to lure Catholics away from the one true faith. On the other hand secular charities often tie you into giving support to abortion and contraception inadvertently. It's a minefield out there!
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