Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!

Innocence

There is absolutely no reason why kindergartners need to know about AIDS. There is absolutely no reason any child younger than fifth grade needs to know about anything to do with sex. No fifth grader needs to have any idea what a condom is. But the public schools of New York State are telling them about these things. Children have a very limited number of years to be children as it is. Why are we making that time even shorter?
Prominent politicians, authors, movie stars, etc. seem to have no problem foisting adult problems and responsibilities on very young children. People like Phillip Pullman, author of the atheist book series His Dark Materials (the first installment of which has recently been made into the anti-catholic movie The Golden Compass) are quoted as saying things such as "We don't seem to know how to view children." However as the Catholic League states "He should speak for himself. For example, when a children's book was released that portrayed a teenage girl who morphs into a fornicating dog, Pullman objected to the book's critics - not the book." (p.s. this guy hates Winnie the Pooh. How do you hate Winnie the Pooh??? Anyone who hates Winnie the Pooh obviously hates children and is not to be trusted.)
But worse even than the influence of famous people is that of educators, who have day-to-day contact with young children. These educators seem to share Mr. Pullman's views as evidenced by the fact that they have instituted the idea of teaching kindergartners about AIDS, of teaching fifth graders how to use condoms, etc.
There's a great line in the song Innocence by Sarah Buxton where she says "The one thing I can't get back is the one thing I miss . . . it's that young-girl, wide-eyed, first love, one time innocence". If you have the choice to keep your innocence or lose it, I am begging you to keep it. You will regret it later if you lose it. Your first kiss should be a magical moment not a make out session. You don't need to know what certain things are. I guarantee you can live without knowing.
And do those of us who are desperately trying to maintain our innocence a favor: if you have the urge to tell us something that you know we don't want to hear: SHUT UP!

No Rush

So there's this singer who I love, Josh Turner, and he has a song called No Rush. He's basically talking to his girlfriend about how they should just take things slow. One of the lines says "Ain't this world turnin baby, fast enough". In the United States, and especially in New York, we do everything in a hurry. We need an answer now, we need a decision now, we need this to work now. I'm guilty of it too. But we've let this mentality seep into every aspect of our lives including some of the most important decisions we'll ever make, like who we're gonna marry. If you understand marriage, and take it seriously, then it's kind of a big deal. You are stuck with this person for life. So shouldn't you take some time to think about it and make sure you're choosing the right person? My mom always told me "18 months". You should date for at least 18 months before getting married. Because this gives you time to get to know this person and make sure you'll be able to live with them. I saw a marriage fall apart because the people involved didn't take the time to see if it could really work, and a lot of people were hurt when things ended.
I was talking to Mr.Lemieux the other day and he said to me "Promise me that you won't get married freshman or sophomore year in college". Cuz alot of people rush into marriage and then realize that they don't actually like each other.
You have to take some time to get to know yourself before you try to give yourself to another person. Enjoy the single life for a while. Travel the world. Write a book. Start a blog. Whatever. You have your whole life to be married, you have only a few precious years to be single. Enjoy them. Then, once you've gotten to know who you are, start learning who someone else is. Only then should you get married.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

I hate when people say I'm Catholic but they don't act at all Catholic. This reminds me of the Bible verse from Matthew 3:9 where St. John the Baptist says to the Pharisees and Sadducees "And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father. For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham."
Basically the Pharisees and Sadducees thought that just because they were "children of Abraham" they could get away with anything. Alot of Catholics seem to think that too. I hate to burst your bubble but anyone can say that they're Catholic, what matters is if you act like it. If all you do is say oh I'm Catholic but don't go to Mass, don't pray, etc. then you're really not Catholic. God could make my computer into a better Catholic than you (which is basically what St. John is saying when he tells the Pharisees and Sadducees that God could raise up children to Abraham from the stones). And if you're a cafeteria Catholic (which means that you pick and choose what you believe in) and you "disagree" with fundamental Church teaching, guess what, you've excommunicated yourself. You don't need the Pope to send you an official notice, it's already done. This isn't multiple choice people, you're either Catholic or you're not. And if you're not, please don't insult the rest of us by associating yourself with those Catholics who actually take their faith seriously.
Just for the record, cuz I know some of you are gonna take this the wrong way, I'm not saying I'm perfect. There are plenty of times that I've been a bad Catholic. I admit it. But I'm trying. That's what God asks of us. He knows we're gonna mess up but do we get back up and try again. Jesus fell three times on the way to Calvary. But He got back up and kept going.
Actions speak louder than words. If you're going to say you're Catholic, then act like it.

A Healthy Balance

There seem to have developed in the Church over the past couple decades two different sects: the charismatics and the traditionalists. And each group seems to think, or at least has people in the group who think, that they are better than the other group. Let's get something straight: we are all Catholics. As long as we remain true to the teachings of the Church then both groups are striving toward the same goal, Heaven, and we should support each other.
I personally like a healthy balance of both charism and traditionalism. I love the Latin Mass for example, I think it is absolutely beautiful, but at the same time I am never happier than when I am at a charismatic XLT. There is nothing wrong with either of these approaches as long as they remain true to Catholic teaching. And so we should not be hindering each other in our pursuit of the ultimate goal. We should rather be supporting each other as a community of faith. If the Latin Mass isn't your thing then don't go to it, but at the same time there is no reason that you can't support those who truly find God in it. The same with things like XLT, if it's not your style don't go but support your brothers and sisters in Christ who find God there.

Clean Out Your Life

Today after Catholic League my friend Aileen opened up my bag and (as usual) yelled at me to clean it out. Because basically, it's a mess (along with my room, my locker, my notebooks . . . . ). Then she said to me something along the lines of Clare, this bag represents your life, your life is a mess, CLEAN OUT YOUR LIFE!
This got me thinking. If you're bag is a mess the logical solution is to clean it out. So if you're life is a mess wouldn't the logical solution be to clean that out? If your soul is a mess you should clean it. How? Go to confession. That's what it's there for - to help you clean out your life.
Yes, I know, everyone hates to go to confession because they don't want this priest to know all the terrible things they've done. First of all, you do have the option to go behind the wall thing, the priest never has to know who you are. Secondly have you ever noticed that when you come out of confession you feel like this huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders? Like you just feel so clean! It's an amazing feeling!
Last year at Kellenberg we had a day where pretty much everyone went to confession. My friend Harry said that afterwards it felt like you were walking in a school filled with saints.
There is something terribly humbling about having to tell another human being your sins but it makes the cleansing that much more powerful.
Let God clean out your life - go to confession.

Mary

Our Blessed Mother Mary is obviously an amazing role model, particularly for girls, since, you know, she was a girl. I always found it so cool how Mary did everything. She was the perfect wife, the perfect mother, and she was the first nun (which she was also perfect at). I've gone through periods of serious vocation confusion. I've always wanted to get married and have lots of kids but then we would have vocations talks at XLT and stuff about how every Catholic should consider the religious life. So then I was like I don't know maybe I should be a nun. Mr. Lemieux once told us how he couldn't freely marry his wife without "dating" the priesthood first, meaning that he went on a vocations retreat and just gave the idea of being a priest serious consideration. I think that's true for girls too. You can't give yourself fully in a marriage unless you've also tested being a nun. Go on a vocations retreat. Talk to nuns. And pray to Mary. She was all of the above so she knows the pros and cons of each of the options and can therefore guide you very well no matter where you end up.
And besides vocations Mary is just the perfect person for girls to turn to. If you're having mood swings, if you're caught up in teen drama, if it's just one of those girl things, talk to Mary. She's a girl so she knows what you're going through. I'm sure she experienced the teen drama, saw all those mood swings, had girl moments. So girls, just talk to her. I guarantee she'll give the best advice.

Pro-Choice

"I call Heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live."
~Deuteronomy 30:19
I read a fantastic story about being pro-choice in the book Pro Life Answers to Pro Choice Arguments by Randy Alcorn. Mr. Alcorn says "When I present the prolife position on school campuses, I often begin by saying 'I've been introduced as being prolife, but I want to make clear that I'm really pro-choice. I believe that a person has the right to do whatever she wants with her own body. It's none of our business what choice she makes, and we have no right to impose our morals on others. Whether I like someone's choices or not is irrelevant. She should have the freedom to make her own choices.' I'm normally greeted by surprised looks and audible affirmation, including smiles, nods, and even applause. I have used the sacred buzzwords of the pro-choice movement - rights, freedom, and choice. I have sounded tolerant, open-minded, and fair. Then I say this: 'Yes, I'm prochoice. That's why I believe every man has the right to rape a woman if that is his choice. After all, it's his body, and neither you nor I have the right to tell him what to do with it. He's free to choose, and it's none of our business what choice he makes. We have no right to impose our morals on him. Whether I like the choice or not, he should have the freedom to make his own choices.'"
For those of you who haven't caught on Mr. Alcorn does not really support the choice of a man to rape a woman. Nor does he support the choice of a woman to kill her child.
What he is saying is that we are all pro-choice. God Himself states in the quote from Deuteronomy that He gives us a choice. God created choice. But just because there are two different choices does not mean that both choices are acceptable. God also states there is a choice between life and death, blessing and cursing (the words blessing and cursing are interchangeable with good and evil).
In the abortion debate we are presented with these same two choices: life and death. That's it. You can't be kind of sort of maybe for life except in this situation when you're for death. PICK A SIDE! It's not that hard. God Himself has given us the choice between good and evil, now it's up to us to decide. But if you choose evil there will be consequences. There is no way around it. That's why so many women who have had abortions turn to drugs, alcohol, depression, and suicide. Because you can't choose death and evil for another without there being some ramifications to yourself. That's called justice. P.S. - that's why there's confession, so if you chose death/evil and you see that you made the wrong choice and are truly sorry for it you can receive forgiveness. But it's better not to make that choice in the first place.
One last note: I find it interesting that God says "choose life, that you and your descendants might live". I find this statement kind of ironic since we (as a country) are choosing death for our descendants. One child isn't born, so then they don't have the children they would have had, so they don't have the children they would have had, so they don't have the children they would have had, and on and on and on. You're not just killing one person when you go into that abortion mill you're killing all the people that would have come from them.

Going to Steubie!

I just want all of you to share in my joy that I got accepted to Franciscan University of Steubenville!!!!!!!

"20,000 Ghosts"

I saw the movie Amazing Grace for the first time tonight. If you haven't seen it yet go rent it. The basic story is about a member of the English Parliament, William Wilberforce, who pretty much single handedly abolishes the slave-trade in England. While watching this movie I found many parallels to the pro-life movement. Some quotes particularly struck me.
"You told me you live in the company of 20,000 ghosts. The ghosts of slaves." -William Wilberforce
Since January 22, 1973 (the date of Roe vs. Wade) there have been at least 30 million abortions. That's 30 million ghosts. Ghosts of children. Haunting every mother, father, brother, sister, abortion doctor, senator, congressman, governor, president, every single person who has not stood up against murder. 30 million mothers live with the ghosts of their children. 30 million fathers live with the ghosts of the children they couldn't protect. Our nation lives with the ghosts of 30 million children whose deaths we have sanctioned.
"This isn't a game for them" -James Stephen
Sometimes we get so caught up in what we're doing that we forget who we are fighting for. It is then that we have to stop and think of the 30 million faces we'll never see, the 30 million names we'll never know, the 30 million voices we'll never hear, the 30 million friends we'll never have. And we have to cry. We have to cry for them, we have to pray for them, and we have to get back up and fight for them. But we always have to remember them.
"I wish I could remember their names. My 20,000 ghosts. They all had names." -John Newton
I think this one is pretty self explanatory.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

I am not a feminist. The only feminists I have any respect for are feminists for life. But we're not talking about them today. We're talking about feminists who have Margaret Sanger as their patroness, who are running Planned Parenthood, etc. These feminists aren't about promoting the so-called "rights" of women and gaining equality with men. They are about bashing men. All men. They are not about becoming equal with men they are about becoming better than men. Before I go into the main point of this post let's get something straight. Men and women are different. Yes, I know you learned this in third grade but some of us don't seem to have gotten it through our heads yet. Because we are different we are meant to fulfill different roles. That does not make either gender "better" it just makes us different. And because we are different we "complete" each other. But that's a topic for another day.
The point today is how much man-bashing there is. These feminists bash both gentlemen and jerks alike. Lets start with jerks. These feminists talk about how ALL men think of women as sex-objects. This is blatantly untrue. As I've stated several times before there are many gentlemen in this world you just have to search for them. But the feminists don't like the gentlemen either. They don't like them because the gentlemen of this world are generally more traditional. They hold doors open for women. They pull chairs out for them. They treat women with RESPECT! And they don't give Planned Parenthood any business. The guys giving Planned Parenthood business are the jerks. They are the ones forcing their girlfriends to have abortions. The feminists always talk about the woman's right to choose when in reality the woman is very rarely the one making the choice. A lot of times it's her jerk boyfriend who doesn't want his life interrupted.
But the gentlemen are chivalrous toward women. Shouldn't we like that? Apparently not. Girls don't need guys to hold doors open for them. We don't need chairs pulled out for us. We can "do it ourselves". Yeah, we can. So what? My teacher told us that "women don't know how to be women anymore and therefore men don't know how to be men". Let's face it girls, guys aren't all that intelligent. They need us to show them what to do. And we're confusing them. We say we don't want them to respect us but we don't want them to treat us like sex-objects either. Until we make up our minds don't expect them to figure it out. Personally I'm going with a gentlemen.
P.S. - just kidding about the guys not being that smart thing :-)

I Can't Think of a Snazzy Name for this Blog

There is this singer I really like named Taylor Swift. I was listening to her c.d. today. She has a couple songs where she sings about how a guy has hurt her, treated her like dirt, etc. I realized I hear a lot of songs like that. There are a lot of guys out there who are jerks. But I want you girls to understand that you are not condemned to that. I understand that there are guys who seem one way and then turn out to be the total opposite and really hurt you, and there's nothing you can do about that. But when you know a guy is a jerk and you go out with him anyway, or you find out he's a jerk and you stay with him, then you have no right to be sitting around crying your eyes out singing some sad song cuz he hurt you. YOU let him hurt you. You let him treat you like dirt. You let him take advantage of you. And then HE breaks up with you and you turn into a total man-hater cuz he broke your heart and you talk about how all guys are such jerks. How would you know that all guys are jerks? You've dated one. He doesn't stand for the entire male race. He stands for him. I can guarantee, from personal knowledge, that not all guys are jerks. There are quite a few guys out there who are nice guys but because you let one guy be a jerk to you now all guys are total dirtbags. I know it hurts if you find out he's a jerk. But if you know he's a jerk why on earth would you stay with him just to get hurt more? End it now, cry a little, and MOVE ON!!! The longer you hang on the harder it is to break off and the worse it hurts when it ends. And it will end, whether it be tomorrow, next week, or in twenty years.
Us girls have to stop settling. It's because we settle for jerks that there are so many jerks out there. If we let guys know that we won't stand for that there'll be a lot more gentlemen in this world.

The Perfect Man

My teacher once told us this story: "Every year a girl I teach will come to me and say Mr.------- (name omitted to protect the innocent) so-and-so just asked me out! And I'll say But he's a dirtbag. And she'll say oh no he's really great, I love him, he's awesome! And then a week later she'll come crying to me and say Mr.------- he's such a dirtbag!"
I think this is very revealing. I have met many guys, particularly at Kellenberg, who are not dirtbags, they are actually gentlemen. Why would any girl go out with a dirtbag who'll treat her like crud when she could go out with a guy who will actually respect her and treat her like a lady? I don't understand that.
There's nothing wrong with a guy being macho or whatever, that's not what I'm saying. But men are meant to be protectors. That's their "nature". They are supposed to respect women, to hold doors open for them, push chairs under them, and beat the hell out of any guy who disrespects a woman, particularly "their woman". Alot of times nowadays you see that not only are guys not protecting "their woman" they are the one disrespecting and even abusing her!
Girls, remember when you were little and you dreamed of Prince Charming and your Knight in shining armour? Did you ever imagine him pressuring you, hurting you, cheating on you? No? Then why are you settling for that? There are Prince Charmings out there you just have to look for them and accept nothing less. Let any potential boyfriend know that if he doesn't treat you the way you expect to be treated he's through, no questions asked. And if he doesn't respect that then break up with him. Don't cut him any slack. God has something better for you, don't settle for less.

Space Cushion

So in driver's ed they tell you that you should always have a "space cushion" between you and the cars in front of, behind, and next to you. This means that there should be a certain number of feet between you and these other cars. I think this should apply to walking as well. There is never any valid reason why you can't have 6 inches between you and the people around you. Do us all a favor and respect personal bubbles.

Good Comedy

I am so sick of comedy that isn't funny. All it is is dirty, degrading jokes and cursing. That is pretty much all the comedy I hear. Can someone please explain to me what is so funny about that? Cause I just find it disgusting. And you know what else I've noticed? It's not just professional comedians. This type of "humor" has drifted down into normal society so that I can no longer walk down the hall without hearing "that's what she said." Wow you are so hilarious. That is so original, I never would have thought of that. I mean come on, is someone really a funny person because they can repeat what everyone else says? Like, try some originality, and for crying out loud keep it clean! It's really not that hard, I promise. If you want to see real comedy watch something like The Honeymooners or Brian Regan. You know why they're funny? Because they're original. They make everyday occurences funny and do it in a way no one else thinks to. If you can do that, you're funny. If all you can do is "that's what she said", then please just stop trying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYIXrntwDL0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89frRi8GgGA

Lemieux 2008

In case you have not yet heard Mr. Todd A. Lemieux, a Scripture and Morality teacher at Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale, this week announced his candidacy for president of the United States. He is the founder of the Universal Political Party. To learn more about Mr. Lemieux visit www.Lemieux2008.blogspot.com the official website for this candidate. When you cast your vote this time next year i ask you to consider a man who will take care of "first things first" and write-in your vote for Todd A. Lemieux.

i was just thinking . . .

I had a revelation at Mass the other day. There were these people in front of me and they weren't paying any attention to the Mass and it was kind of annoying. And then I realized, if you notice that other people aren't paying attention you can't be paying attention either.