Flashing Again!

Flash Mob strikes again!

At MIT.  It was an Open House and about 150 students and faculty opened up and strutted their stuff.

Let Us Pray

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• Do you know that today is our country's 60th annual National Day of Prayer?  What a country!  A day set aside for people to pray for our country is wicked awesome.  Imagine, from "sea to shining sea," millions of people will unite in prayer.  This year's theme is, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," Psalm 91:2.  
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• I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.

Are you looking for help to learn how to pray?  There is a Presidential Prayer Team, you know.  Join them in what and how to pray.  There's never a lack for intentions.  Personally, I pray for divine guidance for  our national leaders.  I pray for all the people in my country to be given the grace of religious piety.  I pray for healing for all those hurting.  All this I ask through Jesus Christ, my Lord.

Related articles

• National Day of Prayer 2011 (ronmaxson.wordpress.com)
• National Day of Prayer is Constitutional (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
• -The President's 'National Day of Prayer' 2011 Proclamation (answersforthefaith.com)
• President Obama Declares May 5 National Day of Prayer (FULL TEXT - WATCH LIVE) (blippitt.com)

Jesus Would Blog

Serious Dominican taken by Phil Ewing

In reading all the posts that I can regarding the Vatican Blog Fest, I had to smile at Zenit's summary: Vatican Stresses Importance of Catholic Bloggers.  Near the end of the article a few quotes from the participants were listed.  I like what Francois Jeanne-Beylot said, "If Christ came to preach today, he would not go up a mountain or get into a boat, but he would go to Twitter or open a blog."

Related articles

• Bloggers and the Vatican (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
• Vatican blogger meeting says no to copyright, yes to lifting content (go.theregister.com)
• Vatican gathering of bloggers hailed as a success (catholicnewsagency.com)
• Why the Church Needs Bloggers (frstephensmuts.wordpress.com)
• Vatican blogging meeting - Blogging advice from Fr. Roderick Vonhogen (osvdailytake.com)

Catholic Manga Artist

Let me introduce Denita.  She is an artist who loves manga-style drawing and who is also a practicing Roman Catholic. This means that she likes clean manga and anime and will draw nor publish no other. 

She states, "The main thing I'll start with on this blog is share some of my artwork; many will be Catholic subjects drawn and/or painted in the manga style. I may add a few traditional Catholic prayers and devotions later on as well. I'm a HUGE cat lover, even though I can't keep a cat where I currently live(bummer)."  From her first post.

 Enjoy!

Related articles

• Manga (amairgin.wordpress.com)

Framing Faith

My grandparents came from the “old country.”  That’s how they referred to Lithuania.  They left behind their family, country, friends, village, home, and everything else familiar--but not their faith.  In this “new country,” they gravitated to their own kind.  This Lithuanian community clustered around their parish church.  Their parish priest became their interpreter, confidant, advisor…their Father.  The Church building became a safe place of refuge.  That Church spire, or cross, or bell, was visible proof that they were “OK.” This was home here in America.  They gave a portion of their wages to build their Church.  And they were proud of it.  Yes, proud of their parish Church.  There, their favorite saints were displayed, familiar hymns, stained glass, and of course, the exact same Mass that was celebrated in the “old country,” and everywhere else in the world where Catholicism exists.  This was the type of parish, and world, I grew up in. 

Looking at, and reading Framing Faith brought back so many memories and emotions.  Even though Framing Faith is about ten churches that are closing in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and my remembrances are from Massachusetts, I can empathize.  When I think of all the sacraments, prayers, funerals, as well as missions, processions, and…..life, I am thankful that the Lakawanna Historical Society, Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority, Ivana Pavelka, Sarah Piccini, and all the students, and others, understood.  Churches are more than history, architecture, and places of worship.  They are stories of human lives.  This book, Framing Faith attempts to convey that story.  They did quite a commendable work. 

St. Mary of the Assumption, River Street, Scranton  -----  Irish then German

St. John the Evangelist, Pittston Avenue, Scranton  -----  Irish

Holy Family, N. Washington Ave. & E. Gibson Street, Scranton -----  Slovak, Multi-National

St. Joseph, North Main Avenue, Scranton  -----  Lithuanian

Immaculate Conception, Church Street, Taylor  -----  German/Irish

St. John The Baptist, North Main Avenue, Taylor -----  Slovak

St. Mary of Czestochowa, Greenwood Avenue, Scranton  ----- Polish

Sacred Heart of Jesus, Hudson Street, Mayfield  -----  Polish, Multi-National

St. Michael, Vine Street, Old Forge  -----  Polish

St.  Anthony of Padua, Wood Street, Scranton  -----  Italian

I imagine the closing of these churches brought about a mixture of emotions.  The parishioners somehow dealt with “letting go.”  However, “sacrifice” is part of Catholicism.  Many of them were brought up with “offering it up.”  Not that that helps, but they knew the concept.  These people, whose grandparents were so hard working, were also practical, by nature.  They could see the obvious: declining parishioners, shortage of priests, and needs not being met. 

These closed churches have Framing Faith as a memorial.  That’s a blessing!  Framing Faith by Sarah Piccini is a pictorial history of these 10 parishes.  http://framingfaith.blogspot.com/search/label/About%20the%20Book  It is a fine tribute to the hardworking parishioners.  Ivana  Pavelka is the photographer.  The pictures are spectacular.  This is a PICTORIAL history and the pictures are works of art.

 I enjoyed the book because it brought back memories of my own grandparents.  I would think that the people in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania would love and keep this book as a keepsake from history.  It’s a history of life in these ethnic parishes in the twentieth century---their history---our history---universal Catholic history. 

On the right is a picture of a Lithuanian Wayside Cross.  This is from St. Joseph’s Church in Scranton, PA., but it is a typical Lithuanian Cross.  You may say, where’s the cross?  But the cross starts with a post that may be marking direction, where someone died, a battle, a memorial to an event, etc.  On that post will be a cross covered with a small roof for protection.  There will be other ornamental statues or symbolic decorations.  You may consider the entire post a shrine, but this is typical of what is known as a Lithuanian Wayside Cross.  You can see the cross is under the small roof on the top.  Under the larger roof is a saint, probably Saint Joseph since this is the name of the church.  This Lithuanian Wayside Cross is my favorite picture in Framing Faith.

Franciscans and Dominicans

Brother Tonto, O.P. was doing the yard work around the priory.  Brother Diotrophes, o.s.f., saw Brother Tonto mowing the lawn.  When Brother Tonto finished the lawn, Brother Diotrophes crossed the street and asked Brother Tonto if he could borrow his lawn mower to mow the lawn around the Franciscan friary.

"Of course, Neighbor", said Brother Tonto, and Brother Diotrophes pushed the mower across the street.

Later, Brother Tonto saw that the Franciscan was yanking and pulling on the engine starter rope.  Br. Tonto watched for awhile and went over and asked Br. Diotrophes, "What's wrong?"

Br. Diotrophes cried out, "I can't get this mower started, what's wrong?"

Br. Tonto calmly told the him, "You have to cuss it."

Indignant, the Franciscan friar said, "Now you listen here, I am a Franciscan and if I ever did cuss, and I'm not saying I have, I've put all those words behind me, and I've forgotten what to say."

Brother Tonto smiled as he walked away, saying, "Keep on pulling on that chain and it'll all come back to ya."

Catholics Know How to Celebrate

Image via Wikipedia

The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate was beautiful.  But the beatification ceremony of Pope John Paul II was spectacular!  I was flipping from CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and  EWTN, not wanting to miss anything.  The ceremony and pomp were awesome.  Rome and cities all around the world cheered and applauded JPII's beatification--this is the second step to possible sainthood.  Now that JPII is beatified, he may be considered a holy man.  He is now designated as Blessed Pope John Paul II.