Sports

I am so NOT a sports person. I'm just not. I was always the last picked for gym. They probably would have paid to have me traded to another team if they could.

But, I do enjoy the Olympics and am looking forward to watching the Winter Games during recovery from surgery. I'm also finding that I really enjoy "Extreme" Sports. (Watching them that is!) I watched a snow boarding race today and really got into it. Those guys (and ladies) really fly down that course. They all race together, which, I think, makes for a more exciting time.

I've discovered that the commercials aired during these sportscasts are much more creative and innovative than the cr*p they air during so-called "prime time". I can actually stand to keep the sound up and watch them.

Somehow, those extreme sports give me faith in the younger generation. They really take the term "go for it" to a whole new level.

Sports

I am so NOT a sports person. I'm just not. I was always the last picked for gym. They probably would have paid to have me traded to another team if they could.

But, I do enjoy the Olympics and am looking forward to watching the Winter Games during recovery from surgery. I'm also finding that I really enjoy "Extreme" Sports. (Watching them that is!) I watched a snow boarding race today and really got into it. Those guys (and ladies) really fly down that course. They all race together, which, I think, makes for a more exciting time.

I've discovered that the commercials aired during these sportscasts are much more creative and innovative than the cr*p they air during so-called "prime time". I can actually stand to keep the sound up and watch them.

Somehow, those extreme sports give me faith in the younger generation. They really take the term "go for it" to a whole new level.

The Pope coming to Baltimore!

Whispers in the Loggia reports that Pope Benedict is planning on visiting Baltimore as part of a U.S. trip next year. Exciting news!

The Pope coming to Baltimore!

Whispers in the Loggia reports that Pope Benedict is planning on visiting Baltimore as part of a U.S. trip next year. Exciting news!

Of Housecats and Comforters

I bought a new comforter for my bed today. That way I have a "new" bed to come home to after surgery. I bought it at the dollar store. No, it wasn't a dollar. It was one of those "fake" dollar stores that have "Dollar" in the name, but charge whatever they want. Why do they do this? Simple. To quote my late Grandmother, "People don't know what to charge for things anymore."

Anyway, I bought it in a nice dark color because we do have animals in the house. We *will*, however, be minus one housecat if either of them decide they want to claw up my new comforter.

Of Housecats and Comforters

I bought a new comforter for my bed today. That way I have a "new" bed to come home to after surgery. I bought it at the dollar store. No, it wasn't a dollar. It was one of those "fake" dollar stores that have "Dollar" in the name, but charge whatever they want. Why do they do this? Simple. To quote my late Grandmother, "People don't know what to charge for things anymore."

Anyway, I bought it in a nice dark color because we do have animals in the house. We *will*, however, be minus one housecat if either of them decide they want to claw up my new comforter.

What's wrong with Vatican II?

Some people who know me may occasionally wonder what I have against Vatican II. It's not Vatican II that I perceive as the problem. It is some peoples' interpretation of it. Or more likely, their *using* Vatican II as a means to mold the Church and her teachings as they see fit.

Pope Benedict, as Cardinal Ratzinger, said this of Vatican II:

"The Second Vatican Council has not been treated as a part of the entire living Tradition of the Church, but as an end of Tradition, a new start from zero. The truth is that this particular council defined no dogma at all, and deliberately chose to remain on a modest level, as a merely pastoral council; and yet many treat it as though it had made itself into a sort of superdogma which takes away the importance of all the rest."

Those who have treated the council as a "sort of superdogma which takes away the importance" of all that went before it are wrong. As Ratzinger said, this council defined no new dogma. To go against Church teaching in the name of the so-called "Spirit of Vatican II" is just a means of political double speak designed to superimpose one's own agenda onto the Church.

The crux of the problem is stated sucinctly by Brian Mershon who quotes Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb. in an interview. [Thanks to Recta Ratio for the link.]

"The majority of the Second Vatican Council fathers and the Popes never saw the council as discontinuous and as a rupture with the past. What happened, however, is there was a para-council of periti, of experts, who all dominated through the whole matrix of media representation of what was going on at the council. Because of that, there were horrible distortions in the popular imagination, including the clerical imagination, including the priests."

This "para-council" has done so much damage to so many people's faith and continues to do so. If left to themselves, they would gladly wipe away 2000 years of Church tradition to serve their own tastes and practices. They seem blind to the fact that this has already been done by others.

Henry VIII comes to mind...