Veritas

Just as the Jews participate in the Passover, so Jesus is sacrificed in the Mass.  It is real.  True.

Keep the Internet Open

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

We need your help! Please contact your Senators and Representative (by clicking on the link below) and tell them not to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn the FCC’s open Internet rules. Individuals, educational and religious organizations and non-profits must have the same access to the Internet as others. 

Last year, in response to complaints that cable and telephone companies which offer Internet access were blocking access to some Internet sites, the Federal Communications Commission issued rules to encourage an "open Internet."  Those rules prevent these broadband providers from blocking access to online content, discriminating among their customers, and restricting online speech.  This week, members of the House of Representatives plan to introduce a proposal to invoke a little-used law to strip the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of its authority to protect the open Internet.  This proposed action would leave religious speech on the Internet subject to control by telephone and cable companies, with no recourse.

The Internet has become essential for conversations on matters of faith. It is also quickly becoming the preferred way for people to access services from church entities, continuing education and other means to improve their lives. As commercial television and radio are narrowing churches’ access to the commercial airwaves, the Internet is sometimes the only way for religious organizations to provide programming to individuals.

The actual bill moving through Congress is happening pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (CRA).  The CRA allows Congress to overturn regulations passed by federal agencies.  In this case, the bill would overturn the FCC’s recently announced Net Neutrality regulations.  Importantly, the CRA does not just overturn the existing regulations.  It also prevents an agency from passing future regulations on the same topic (basically so an agency can’t just change a word and re-issue the regulations). 

For more information and help writing to your senators and representatives go to the USCCB link.

The Brown Pelican

You see the bird in this picture?  Sorry it's the best I could do.  I only have a point and shoot camera.  But the beak looks long and is pointing down.  It is a long beak.  You can't see it's throat, however.  It is large but not full of course because it's in flight.  It's wing span is wide.  This is the brown pelican, which is the national bird of Sint Maarten.  It nests at Fort Amsterdam.  I was so enthralled with them that I climbed up to the fort twice; once in a tour group, and another day, I brought my husband there.

The bird is on the Sint Maarten coat of arms.  You can't see it very well, but it's on the very top of the crest.  The Sint Martin flag is the third one--the farthest.

Related articles

• St. Maarten Nature Foundation launches Brown Pelican Project (greenantilles.com)

The Sint Maarten Cure

This picture is a little misleading.  This  dock with a little hut is in the middle of the bay. It's not attached to the land.  Sint Maarten is known for it's beautiful diving opportunities and that's what this dock is for.  It's a bar.  Divers can dock there and go in for a drink.

We had a wonderful vacation.  I knew it was going to be good because we saw a rainbow through the window port in the airplane flying to Sint Maarten.

And I figured out what's been spraining my back.  It's low chairs.  The exertion of getting out of low chairs and beds puts a sprain on my back.  I didn't go swimming (I just walked the beach.) in the ocean because there was a bit of an undertow, and the exertion of hiking my body out of the water might re-injure my back.  The resort's lounge chairs killed me.  Laying on a beach blanket was out of the question.  The same is true for jet skiing and horse back riding.  I could stand and walk.

Actually the best seat for me (because it was high) was a bar stool.  

Did I tell you I acquired a taste for mango coolattas.

Sint Maarten

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Well, it was like this.  I was having a really, really, bad week.  It started with my brother's death.  Then we had a blizzard; the governor called a state emergency.  I hurt my back shoveling.  A day latter, another snow storm.  Work was becoming v-e-r-y stressful.  I re-strained my back.

So hubby took me away. 

You see, this year is our 40th wedding anniversay.  (Yeah, we stuck it out.) :-p

But our anniversay is in July--but I needed it NOW! 

We've been in Sint Maarten for a week.     More postings on this vac/second honeymoon coming...

That's where I've been.  And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Media on the Media

Fr. Frank Hoffman (Fr. Rocky)

I just listened to Father Rocky give a talk on the media.  He was talking about the influence the media has.  How it can sway people.  Sure, just look at how we mimic Hollywood.  Young people want to look and be like the glamorous celebrities that they think are so cool.  And you don't have to be young to be influenced.  I've heard it said, that if all things are equal, the tallest candidate will win.

Father Rocky is the executive director of Relevant Radio.   He places the utmost importance on radio.  He keeps saying that people listen to the radio all the time, especially when they're stuck in traffic.  I'm not so sure.  I know I don't.  I listen to audio books.  I've seen my kids listen to CDs or plug in their ipods.  Once in awhile, I'll put on the radio for the news or weather.  But I've never seen my kids do that.  In fact, the minute they hear a talking voice, they switch.

Next are billboards.  While people are stuck in traffic, they'll read billboards.  Again, I don't agree.  It's rare that I'm stuck in traffic.  I go out of my way to avoid traffic.  I'll ride the "T" or commuter rail.  I hate traffic and avoid it.  Although, while traveling, I admit I am attracted to billboards.

Guess what the poor people who can't afford to buy radio stations or billboard advertising, can do to evangelize.  We can use Facebook.  Yes, Facebook can evangelize.  I think the value of Facebook besides social connection is to alert people to events.  I've made FB friends with like minded people and enjoy the short discussions we've had.  In fact, at the March for Life, I bumped into my FB friend Michael Liccione, at Central Staion. A train station in Washington DC!!!!   Au Bon Pain!  How coincidental is that?  Never met him before--just saw his pix on FB.

But Father Rocky never mentioned blogs.  :-(

My list of media includes, newsletters, blogs, Facebook, and letters to editors in newspapers.  What else?

Married Saints Too

Last time I talked about St. Anna-Maria and Domenico Taigi.  In this post I'd like to write about Venerable Pierre and Juliette Toussaint.

Pierre Toussaint is the patron saint of hairdressers because that was his occupation.  I wonder if he's the patron of women with alopecia.  He should be because at the time Pierre was hairdressing, men and women wore wigs.  He dressed their hair.

He actually was born a slave in Haiti.  He was lucky to have a good man as a master, who not only taught Pierre how to read and write but also his catechism.  Pierre grew in the Catholic Faith, as his master instructed him.  When the family moved to New York, the household went too; that included Pierre.

Pierre's master, Jean Berard apprenticed him to a hairdresser and that's where Pierre learned the trade.  Pierre was a natural, both because of his personality and also he had a talent.  It seemed he had an eye for what worked where, whether it was hair, dress, or a room in a house.  He became known and was popular.  When the master, Berard died, Pierre took care of his widow until she died.  Upon Mrs. Berard's death, Pierre was freed from slavery.

As a free man, and working for himself, he became wealthy.  He did work hard and had a substantial clientele, and he made enough money to be not only generous to others, but also to invest money in several ventures.  Eventually, Pierre married Noel Gaston.  She was only 15 and a slave, so he bought her.  Then he freed her and asked her to marry him.  She was perfect for Pierre.  They believed and thought alike.  The two of them were devoted Catholics.

Between the two of them, they helped many.  They turned their home into a shelter for orphans, a credit bureau, an employment agency, and a hostel for the poor.  Pierre even contributed to the construction of Old Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

They never had any children themselves, but they did adopt his niece when her mother, Pierre's sister, died.  They loved and cared for this child as their own and  were heartbroken when she died at 14.

Pierre was to outlive his beloved wife.  Noel died a couple of years before Pierre in 1851.  He died in 1853.  It was edifying to read of this successful, and holy, black man in this time period of history.  That he could make it, was certainly a testimony to the grace of God.

h/t Fr. Thomas Kevin Kraft, OP