Sr Helena at the Boston Eucharistic Congress!

Boston is the nation's most social-media savvy archdiocese, so you know that there would be social media follow-up to this weekend's Eucharistic Congress:

Bl. Alberione's 7 tips for Catholic Apologists

Back in 1960, Bl. James Alberione included these "rules" for effectively presenting the faith; they are still just as valid as ever in the age of new media!

The first step is prayer and study. Prayer so as to love  people with a sincere heart. To be moved by the sight of hunger, sickness and moral suffering brings us into line with the sympathetic heart of our Teacher. But even more worthy of our compassion are those who do not know God, Jesus Christ, or the Church; all those who are blinded by error and prejudice or overwhelmed by vice.

You need to study their errors, difficulties and objections in order to give suitable instruction, to reply clearly, to use the proper means.

Some rules:

1. Convey Christianity as the religion of goodness, order and peace.

2. Prepare an introduction to the study of Christian doctrine; this acts as a preliminary stage to the basic notions regarding doctrine, morals and worship.

3. Treat people with patience, respect and constant kindness; be like Saint Francis de Sales ...

4. Avoid becoming ill-tempered: show yourself to be conciliatory to the limits of truth; avoid questions of pure politics; be dignified, honest and sincere; admit what is or was truly a mistake.

5. Combat error and sin, not the erring or the sinner; if possible always leave the way open to take up the written or broadcast debate later on.

6. Make abundant use of the defense of truth and justice; employ discussion with a great deal of prudence. Polemics, too, requires greater intellectual preparation, greater love for the truth, greater spiritual balance. To avoid becoming emotional is a great virtue.

7. Organize groups of people who will pray...and who are capable of offering sacrifices in view of helping."

What would you add?

William Congdon: the original "Painter of Light"

I just learned that the Knights of Columbus Museum is holding an exhibit by my favorite 20th century artist, William Congdon. Congdon was part of the "Action" movement in art (think: Jackson Pollock), but shocked his fellow artists when he became a Catholic. "Poor Bill," they all agreed, "As a Catholic, he'll never do worthwhile art again."

You decide if they were right:

Congdon spent the second half of his life in Italy and ended his days as a long-standing guest in a monastery. He never stopped painting. But rather than use a brush,  he used a kind of pastry spatula, the sort you use in frosting a cake. This gave his images heft and texture that is visible even in 72 ppi.  He also mixed gold into his paints, giving them a breathtakingly solar quality:

In his mature years, his characteristic theme was the Crucifixion. Having witnessed the liberation of the Bergen-Belson concentration camp, Congdon was indelibly marked by the suffering written into the bodies of the survivors. He came to realize that every suffering of ours is Christ's in us; every suffering of his is ours. (See the article linked to his name, above.)



There is one of Congdon's paintings I have only seen in a black and white reproduction in print; it is nowhere to be found on the Internet, but for me it is the Angelus in a few strokes. (I would so love to see it as it was meant to be seen!) Mary is depicted as a kind of "C" shape in the lower left corner. In the opposite corner, a heavy streak of white is tearing toward her. That is all. Perhaps because I saw this image when Pope John Paul had barely finished giving his "Theology of the Body" talks, it has become for me (even though I have not seen it since) a kind of Theology of the Body in essence.

So I am going to see what I can do to get to New Haven this summer when I am in Boston for my retreat and the sisters' Jubilee celebration. What about you?

Pope Benedict agrees: Nunblogger got it right

There's nothing like having your point of view validated by someone with much better credentials in the field. And that's how I feel, having read Pope Benedict's recent letter to the Bishops of Germany on the controversially literal translation of "multis" (many) in the consecration of the Mass:

Take this, all of you, and drink from it: for this is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this in memory of me.

See, the Germans are gearing up for their new Missal now, too. And some of them are uncomfortable with having to follow the Latin so closely. As was the experience in the United States, the words "pro multis" (for many), which we find right in the Gospel, in the very context of the Last Supper, were translated as "for all." To go now, after so many decades, to "many" sounds scandalously narrow. It can give the impression that the "many" aren't really that many.

The Pope recognizes this. He has heard the bishops on this, and recognizes that the point is not trivial. But he also recognizes that the well-meaning move to translate "multis" as "all" was based on a scholarly consensus that has now been discredited, and that the "translation" was an inappropriate and intrusive interpretation that limits, rather than expands, the liturgy's true voice. For this reason, the Pope says, the more accurate translation must not be simply thrust on people: they deserve time to process the change (and others), and to see them in their full context.

That "many" also leaves room for "more," meaning that it is also a call to mission:

The many, who we are, must consciously experience their mission in responsibility for the whole.... We are many and we stand for all. In this way both words, 'many' and 'all', belong together and relate to each other in responsibility and promise.

Other voices:
Canon Robert Hill, Glasgow
Dr Edward Sri

Eucharistic Reflection

Since the Church associates Thursdays in a special way with the institution of the Eucharist, I hope to offer a weekly reflection on Eucharistic spirituality. Here's the first in what I hope will be an enriching series:

The Hour of Eucharistic Adoration gathers in itself the fruits of all the other practices and brings them to maturity. It is the secret of our transformation into Christ: 'Christ now lives in me.' It is experiencing the relationships Jesus had with his Father and with humanity.

Blessed James Alberione

Diocese sued over IVF firing: what's wrong with those Catholics?

Even though the "news" is old (the event took place in June), it's in today's papers. Turns out that a Catholic school teacher was fired for pursuing in-vitro fertilization. And she's suing the Diocese of Ft. Wayne-South Bend, arguing under the Americans with Disabilities Act that this was a form of gender/disability discrimination. (Infertility is recognized as a disability.)

Not only was she fired, the plaintiff says, the pastor added insult to injury by saying she was a "grave, immoral sinner." Right there, I have a bit of a problem with the story. Not that the woman didn't feel she was being called a sinner, but that this is simply not the way Catholics talk. (The teacher in the case is not Catholic.) But it is the way our society tends to think: personalizing everything, even a statement that was probably right out of the books, and maybe out of the teacher's contract. Catholic school teachers are to be models for the children, and gravely immoral public acts are considered a "source" of scandal. Not that anyone was actually scandalized, but that the situation has the potential for a young person's moral compass to be influenced. And, really, aren't our moral compasses set not so much by what we are told is right or wrong, but how we see the trusted, caring people in our lives act? Don't we take our cues from the values that inform their choices?

So what is wrong with the Church that she insists that IVF is gravely immoral? Why does the Church claim to be "pro-life" and yet deny infertile couples legitimate recourse to reproductive "technologies" like IVF?
 
While I think it is best to let the experts speak--and who better to represent what the Church teaches than a former IVF doctor who stepped out of the field when he was at the peak of his career when he recognized how much harm was actually being done--I can propose an image that might at least clarify the one question of how the Church can condemn IVF even though wonderful babies are brought into the world daily through this intervention. It is the age old issue of the "end" (or good outcome sought) not justifying the means.

We all agree, don't we, that going to Heaven is a wonderful thing. In fact, while not everyone in the world wants to have babies (for various legitimate reasons...I am one of them), everyone probably wants to be happy forever in perpetual love. So going to Heaven is a universal good, and nothing can diminish that.

And yet the Church says (and insists!) that not all ways of going to Heaven are legitimate. That there are some attempts to achieve this greatest of all good goals that are gravely immoral! That doesn't mean you will definitely miss the goal and end up in the other eternal option; it is just saying that there are some approaches to eternal life that, by their nature, contradict the very good you are hoping to achieve.

Suicide is the clearest case (even though--your attention, please--most suicides are not carried out in a fully informed act of freedom, but profoundly influenced by suffering, including mental illnesses that diminish the person's ability to make a fully free decision). The Church still teaches the principle that suicide is not an option for those who want to get to Heaven.

Think of the suicide bombers, pursuing "martyrdom" by murdering as many as possible in their last action. Sorry: this is not a legitimate way to attain eternal life.

Euthanasia is also a serious problem; that the person who is seriously ill will go to Heaven "sooner" doesn't resolve anything.

In each case, the goal is the same: to depart this life and go immediately to Heaven. In each case, the Church perversely insists that the means is gravely immoral, even though there are often extenuating circumstances, such that we may very well meet in Heaven anyway. The outcome is not the issue; the means for attaining it is.

And so it is with IVF.

Sr Helena in Boston

Sr Helena's on her way to Boston where she will give the opening talk of the Archdiocesan Eucharistic Congress this weekend!

Community catch-up

We just concluded a lovely visitation by our newish provincial and her councilor. Visitation is a time not just of fellowship and prayer together, but where the superior gets a sense of a community's life and mission; the situation of the local Church itself; the opportunities and so forth. And each of the sisters has the opportunity to make her own perspectives known, too. Our provincial came to office a year ago, after being "back" in the States for only two or three years: she spent most of the last thirty years serving in Germany (20 years) and Russia (8 years), so she really has a broad experience with which to look at how things are developing in our various settings. Although the provincial superior isn't required to visit the communities in person, there is certainly an advantage if she can do so. And given that Sister Leonora was "in the missions" for so long, her visit gave us all a chance to get to know her on a different level, while she had the opportunity of getting the big picture of our mission in the US and English-speaking Canada. During the week, I tried a few new recipes out on the sisters, and we had a real treat on Sunday with the fajita party. Dessert was courtesy of our postulants in St. Louis, who shared a box of Godiva chocolates with us when I was there the week before to give them some background on our Pauline history. (Honestly, sisters, y'all can do that chocolate-sharing thing any time.) When I had a chance for my one-on-one with the provincial, "I did it my way." We took a trip to Old Town and the Spice House. Between the cinnamon, cardamom and caraway seeds and then our sushi lunch across the street, I shared some of my ideas and questions, and presented a few special requests (all granted!). We made it back in plenty of time for her to meet with a retail specialist for a consultation on making the most of our fabulous location here in downtown Chicago. All in all, it was a wonderful experience, even if Sr. Leonora had to leave earlier than planned so as to be with the sisters at the motherhouse for our Sr Concetta's funeral. Next up on our community schedule: hosting our missionaries to the Spanish speaking communities as they focus on learning English this summer!

Advent Women's Retreat--Sneak Peak

It really is too soon to think about it, but not too soon to begin to plan for it: our Chicagoland Advent Women's Retreat has just secured Pat Gohn (coordinator of the "Among Women" podcast) as its director! It looks as though the retreat will center on the Women of the Bible. The retreat will be held, as usual, at St Peter's in the Loop, on the first Saturday of December (Dec. 1).

TOB Tuesday

Dr Anthony Caruso was President-Elect of the Chicago Association of Reproductive Endocrinologists. He had 15 years of experience doing in-vitro fertilization procedures. And then he quit. A Vatican document helped him understand his profession in a completely different light.
Read his story here, along with his advice for couples struggling with infertility, and comments on the related issues of sex selection, twin "reduction," cloning and embryonic research.

The Sisters and the Bishops, updated: Pulitzer winner interviews Nunblogger

I got a request from the newly minted Pulitzer winning columnist of the Chicago Tribune for a bit of a response to the news that a bishop was being appointed to oversee/facilitate a kind of renewal of one of the official representative organizations of women religious (sisters) for the United States, the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious). The Daughters of St. Paul belong to this organization, as well as to the other, also official, organization of sisters. The news got many people talking: some triumphantly ("Finally they are calling those wacky nuns into line!"); others in hurt ("Don't they see the good we are so committed to?"); others in anger ("Those patriarchal male hierarchs have to do something to hold onto their power, and putting women down is the easiest way to do it.")
Me? None of the above. ("Meh" comes kind of close, though.)
I first became aware of the LCWR when I was a junior sister, during the first visit of Pope John Paul II in 1979. The President of the sisters' group, Sister Theresa Kane, did a good job of alienating me from the organization and its goals when she, in her capacity as the official representative of all the women religious of the United States, took the occasion to make a public call for women's ordination. That pretty much sums up the disconnect I have always felt with the LCWR as an individual, even though the organization does offer a number of extremely valuable, indeed precious, services to the member institutes. They never managed to speak for me.
I also do not empathize with the interpretation that this is some kind of power play on the part of the Vatican or the bishops. Really, if you were a bishop today, would you be the one to suggest, "Oh, while we're trying to get people to pay attention to the threats to religious freedom, support families founded on marriage and preserve our social apostolates, let's confront the most powerful women in the Church and put them in their place!" In fact, if anything, I would suspect that they kept putting that last on every list they ever compiled. (Not that the bishops can control or direct congregations, or that religious orders' charisms are in any way subject to a bishop's whims, because the Holy Spirit rather typically uses charisms of religious life to surprise the Church by answering needs the hierarchy is usually unaware of.) Given that Sr Theresa's affront to Pope John Paul was in 1979, and that there have been not one, but two major interventions in religious life in America since that time (in 1984 and then last year with the Apostolic Visitation), a move to renew the LCWR is not all that surprising; it does not seem abrupt.
But for many devout, profoundly dedicated women, this is a disappointing state of affairs. They must feel rather demoralized, and many have expressed the suspicion that this is just a move to quash the powerless (which they believe themselves to be); that their "prophetic" contribution is being dismissed out of hand. They need our prayers; their works for the poor and disenfranchised still need our support--because many of the congregations in LCWR are addressing the most ignored populations in our country, even while it would be encouraging to hear more statements about the sanctity of life in all its dimensions, and fewer about women in liturgical ministry. I would love to hear more about their services to poor women, helping those who have chosen life to continue their efforts to get a solid education and job training; about their child-care initiatives; their work on behalf of families whose wage-earners were deported, leaving children bereft of a father or mother and prey to gangs. Because many of the LCWR women are on the front lines in these gritty battles.

Here's a healthy take; be sure to read the whole thing: Diary of a Wimpy Catholic
And here's the article by Pulitzer winning columnist, Mary Schmich. See if you can find my sentence! (The newspaper used a photo from another story, about the new Franciscan sisters here in Chicago.)

Visitation weekend

Our provincial superior and one of her councilors drove in from New York yesterday for our community visitation. Basically, meetings, prayers and lots of exchange of ideas for four days. So my time is pretty much all accounted for right there. The provincial got a call from the motherhouse late this afternoon that another visitation was imminent (maybe a matter of days): Jesus was coming for one of our senior sisters. At supper we got the news that that ultimate visitation had, in fact, already happened.

Rest in peace, Sr Concetta.

I can't bear not to share this!

Don't let your friends, especially the younger ones (and their youth ministers) miss this hilarious (and accurate!) infomercial!

The Song Paul Loved to Sing

I nearly lost it last week when the iPad containing my last several talks went into some kind of catatonic state. I had done all my work on the iPad and (uncharacterstically) hadn't yet transferred the finished files to any other device. The full "restore to factory settings" that was necessary ensured that the files were lost, unless they had providentially made it to Apple's famous "iCloud" somewhere along the way. (They hadn't; only the inconsequential files, not the ones carefully organized into folders, were safely ensconced online.)
Thankfully, at least two of those missing files have been restored to me, but in a different format. When I gave the retreat talks last month at the Cathedral of St. Paul in the Twin Cities, they were recorded, and an urgent e-mail to the program director is all it took for two CDs to be delivered Priority Mail.
As I continue to hunt for scraps that will help me recover the complete parish mission offered at St. Rita's (my New Orleans trip), pour yourself a big mug of coffee and listen to part 1 of "The Song Paul Loved to Sing."

Planning something different

I found some wonderful thoughts from our Founder about Eucharistic adoration, and thought how wonderful it would be to share these with you on a somewhat predictable basis. Maybe each Thursday (which the Church traditionally associates with the Eucharist)? And while I'm at it, to maybe set aside my Tuesday post to highlight some news or insight related to the Theology of the Body.
This could help me to renew my blog a bit, giving me a bit of a structure--and you some consistency and hopefully, something specific to look forward to.
What do you think?

A first hint of Pentecost

Did you notice how "pentecostal" the Mass readings are today, the first day after the Octave of Easter? It is as if the Church can hardly wait for the 50th day of the season; as if the mystery of Easter isn't "complete" with Jesus' rising from the dead, or even his Ascension: it seems as if the whole point is to make us capable of receiving the Holy Spirit from the Risen Christ. As Jesus said at the Last Supper, "Unless I go, the Paraclete will not come to you, but when I go, I will send him to you."

In the first reading, "the house where they were gathered shook as they prayed" and "they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God's word boldly." This wasn't Pentecost! This was just an example of the Church praying fervently during a time of danger and stress. In the Gospel, we have those solemn words of Jesus, "The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

I think that one of the biggest spiritual challenges in life is precisely that we don't know where that breath of the Spirit is going. I would be a little more eager to surrender to the Lord ... on my own terms!

Chesterton in Chicago

I first discovered Chesterton in my high school library. First I consumed all the Father Brown stories. Then I tackled Chesterton's autobiography (and my book report on it earned the teacher's high praise!). I am ever so grateful that our official visitation will have concluded on time for me to attend this conference on Chesterton and Humor, just eight miles down the road at the U of C. (Thank you, Lumen Christi!).

Meeting the new Catholics

Source: thecatholicspirit.com

With all the depressing news around us about the Church, the HHS mandate, the loss of the Millennial generation to wholesale atheism (and more!), it is surprising to note that over 100,000 people accepted God's call into the Catholic Church this Easter. Among them, nine motherless siblings in St Paul, led by the ten-year-old, who was the first to announce his desire for baptism. Great story! (Three hankies.)

From the convent kitchen

One thing about major feast days that really distracts me: preparing the feast! I enjoy cooking so much, there is a real risk of me losing track of the feast day itself. (See yesterday's post.) This year, we  had a vegetarian guest for Easter, so we offered salmon in addition to the ham (generously provided by volunteer Bill). I prepared the salmon with capers, onions and rosemary (from Mom's garden, which I always raid when I am in New Orleans), and folded it into an "envelope" of parchment paper and foil. Baked at 400 for around 15 minutes; opened the envelope and baked it a bit longer, then slid it onto a bed of fresh rosemary.

As a side, I prepared mushroom-cheese filled "eggs" of puff pastry. This was a total experiment, but came out pretty successfully. (I don't usually abide by the rule that you avoid trying new things out for special occasions.)

The lamb cake was a bit more ambitious. The recipe I followed (I'm not a baker, so I dare not wing it) was for an old fashioned pound cake. It called for vanilla extract, almond extract and bourbon (we've been working on the same bottle of bourbon for three years now). You fold a meringue into the batter (which incorporated eight--8!--egg yolks), and pour that into a lamb cake mold.

Well, something went a bit wrong, and during the hour and a half baking time the batter began oozing out from the lamb's head all over the baking sheet below, where it puffed up nicely. What could I do but cut it into samples and serve it while the lamb continued to bake? With all that flavoring, plus the meringue, it was fabulous. (Who needs frosting?) Of course, the lamb needed a little coat, and some features. So I did the coat and Sr Frances, who decorated our chapel and dining room spectacularly, provided the details.
More photos later!

A sample of Sr Frances' artistry from our dining room.

Triduum insight

This year our community did a little something different for the Triduum. Instead of attending services downtown for Holy Thursday and Good Friday, leaving the Center closed on Friday so we could make our retreat (on our own), we all headed out to Mundelein for our retreat from Thursday afternoon to Friday evening. So for the Triduum services on those days, we joined with the De La Salle Christian brothers, who were making their retreat on the seminary grounds as well.
The brothers couldn't have been warmer in their welcome, and it did us good, too, to be immersed in the natural beauty that can be found just an hour's drive from the city. But what the overall experience did for me was even more important. My reaction to the extremely low-key liturgy (not my cup of tea!) with the brothers told me that I am beginning to take things too much for granted, above all the Eucharist and the Word of God. It was a good wake-up call for me. Later, as I sat with the choir at Our Lady of Mt Carmel (for a Vigil Liturgy much more aligned with my natural inclinations, as well as with the, um, rubrics), I was inspired to ask the Blessed Mother to take me as a "special case" disciple: to read the Scriptures to me in her voice, the way she would have perhaps been repeating them to herself and the apostles during  that first Vigil in the darkest night the world has ever known.
Now I know that this is something I don't want to let go of. I want Mary to be my teacher for a special, intensive course in hearing and keeping the Word of God, especially during this Easter season. I don't expect to get a diploma at Pentecost, but I hope that by then, the Holy Spirit, seeing Mary's work, will come with new fire.
Was there any special grace for you this Easter?

This is the Day!

"This is the day the Lord has made; 

let us be glad and rejoice in it."

This is the Day for which the Lord made all other days; the Day when the Lord arose from his own Sabbath rest, so that we could find rest for our souls. This is the Day that never sees sunset; the Day we still await definitively; the Day we commemorate every eighth day.
Let us be glad and rejoice in it!

Godforsaken

"Jesus dies as head of the Mystical Body. Hence all the experiences we have which we find hard to describe or communicate to others, that is to say, which we identify as abandonment, anguish, loneliness, isolation, lack of faith, of hope and of love in God--all this is a way for us towards knowing Christ... Thus Jesus, even in his abandonment, shows himself to be our friend, revealing to us who we are and through what mysterious underground passages we may come to knowledge of God and freedom of heart."

Carlo Cardinal Martini, Promise fulfilled

While they were at table...

"Christ Washing Peter's Feet"
by Ford Maddox Brown (Tate Gallery)

Born in France in 1821 and educated in Belgium and France, the young Ford Madox Brown visited Italy and was strongly influenced by the historic masterpieces there and by the first stirrings of a new movement in art. "Modern" artists of the 19th century sought to re-establish the "natural" and "heartfelt" approach that they believed had dominated painting, sculpture and literature before the more staged and self-conscious style of Renaissance artists like Raphael. Eventually, this movement organized itself into the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood." Brown never actually joined this group, but he sympathized with its goals and was close to many members.

Brown's "Christ Washing St. Peter's Feet" (1856) is almost four and a half feet across, and about four feet high. The figure of Christ dominates the foreground as in almost no other artistic rendition of this pivotal moment at the Last Supper. The hem of his garment even seems to flow past the edge of the canvas. Brown shows us a Jesus who is entirely focused on his self-appointed task. His head is bent at an uncomfortable right angle to the chest, perhaps hinting of his bowed head on the cross; his eyes are fixed not on Peter's face, but on his feet. The sleeves of Christ's tunic are pushed up, revealing his muscular arm all the way to the shoulder. The painting seems to impose an atmosphere of profound silence even on the viewer. Certainly, the apostles are struck dumb at seeing "the might of the Lord's arm" employed in such a pointedly servile manner (see Psalm 98:1). If John is peering over Peter's shoulder in thoughtfulness, the other apostles (again, save one) are looking on in horror. Only Judas seems blasé as he bends down over his own feet to loosen his sandal. Peter, on the receiving end of the Lord's quietly deliberate action, looks decidedly ill at ease, but his sandals, with their straps hanging down limply, tell us that he is on holy ground.

At first, Peter's response had been almost the opposite of the Virgin Mary's. She had said, "be it done to me": he had protested, "You shall never wash my feet!" Mary called herself God's slave-girl. Peter, at this point in his life, cannot bring himself to say anything similar. Peter realizes that "If I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, then you must wash each other's feet…" And unless he accepts that, he can "have no share"—no communion—with Jesus. He doesn't yet understand, but soon enough he will. And when his own hour comes, he will write to a new generation of disciples, "Christ suffered for you and left you an example, to have you follow in his footsteps" (1 Pet. 2: 21).

When the Rating is "R"

Next week I'll be going to the screening of "For Greater Glory" (formerly titled "Cristiada"), a movie that is being promoted to Catholic audiences...with an "R" rating. Sister Rose, our girl in Hollywood, writes:

"A pastoral associate just asked me if it was proper to post the poster for the film FOR GREATER GLORY opening on June 1. 

"The film is rated "R" for "war violence and some disturbing images". Ratings are information about content to guide parents. Here the "R" rating is appropriate because the violence, though in context and not exaggerated, is intense.


"This is the story of a war, the Cristero war, that took place in Mexico between 1926-1929 over religious freedom and persecution of religion, especially the Catholic Church. It is very well acted and sheds light on not only Mexican history but the US part in the story as well. Highlights the lives of two 'Blesseds': Jose Luis Sanchez and Anacleto Gonzalez Flores.


"[In summary: ] R rating does not mean 'bad' automatically. It's about age appropriateness but only from the content perspective - the rating does not address what the movie means."

Given the timely nature of the theme (Government push for total secularization of society, marginalization of the Church--and of faith itself--from society), this is probably one of those movies that Catholics should see--and talk about.

Issues in the news

Read an interesting piece on the fertility industry; timely, in the light of the HHS mandate for infertility drugs during an epidemic of infertility that causes so much suffering. Turns out, the infertile couples aren't the only ones who suffer. When they turn to egg "donors," there is no tracking of the effects to their health once they go through a complete donation cycle. In addition, "It is ironic that many of these buyers [of human ova, or eggs] probably seek hormone-free meat and eggs for their dinner table yet have no compunction about treating a woman like an industrial farm chicken and pumping her full of hormones to make her produce more eggs." Read more here.

More trailers here.
Struggling with infertility and the Church's seeming lack of compassion? This book may be a good place to start healing: The Infertility Companion for Catholics: Spiritual and Practical Support for Couples

RCIA-at the last minute

This is the time of year when we see wide-eyed and worried people come through our door (sometimes for the first time). They have just realized that Saturday (this Saturday!) their relative/friend/neighbor/co-worker will be baptized/confirmed/received into full Catholic communion. And they have no idea what to do to commemorate an event like that in the life of an adult.
Well, this year it's kind of a no-brainer for me.
Forget the patron saint medal, the extra-nice Rosary, the four-way cross. This is the year for a missal. Not just because it's new for all of us, but because in giving a new Catholic a Sunday missal, you are giving them a tiny package with all the Scripture and prayers that they will be receiving from the Church Sunday after Sunday, Holy Day after Holy Day. You are helping them to continue their journey in the faith without the illusion that everything is finished when the chrism wears away.
Here in Chicago, Sr Frances is going to try to prepare some beautifully gift-wrapped missals for those poor souls who will duck in on Holy Saturday. Do you know anyone who might be on the receiving end this year? What are their stories?

Lamb: on the table and in the Book

The Chicago Tribune offered some seasonal lamb recipes recently, with a side order of Catholic culture.