TITLE: Children of the Last Days: Eclipse of the Sun
GENRE: Book Review
REVIEWED BY: SH

Stationed this summer far away from a movie theater, books became (once again) a great source of entertainment.  If you haven't read a good book in a while, it's like finding an old friend.  I have been in the process of reading Michael D. O'Brien's  "Children of the Last Days" series.  Like many novels out there today, this series is apocalyptic, or having to do with the end of the world.  Unlike many novels, this series is well written and thoroughly Catholic.  I spent most of my time on the book, Eclipse of the Sun, the story of a family, a priest and a child in Canada when the world ends.  It is at once a refreshing story and a commentary on the world in which we find ourselves in 2006.  A very hopeful book, it nonetheless uses many of the very startling factors of today's world and puts them in such an order that gives the reader pause.  Not as great as the other books in the series--Father Elijah, Plague Journal, or Strangers and Sojourners--this installment of the series is still good.  Each of the books can be read independently, so if you haven't read any of the other books in the series, starting here is as good as any other place.  Of course, this novel weighs in at near 900 pages, so it is good to make sure you have some free time!  O'Brien is a truly captivating author.  His Father Elijah is easily one of the finest novels written this decade.  O'Brien himself is an author and a painter, making his writing vivid and incredibly visual in its descriptions.  Eclipse of the Sun is a fast read, an intriguing story, and a great way to get away from the T.V.

posted by: crossman at 22:18 | link | comments |
catholic blog review

Plan B - Morning After Pill...

The FDA approved the Plan B "Morning After" pill last Thursday in which a person 18 years or older can purchase the pill over-the-counter without a prescription, but only in pharmacies. They tout this pill as being completely different from the abortion pill because they say that, "The morning-after pill, also called emergency contraception, prevents pregnancy but has no effect if a woman already is pregnant." They say this, because it makes it sound like another means of birth control, which the Church also considers immoral. Their definition of pregnancy, however, is the misleading element of their claim. They say that:

It (the Plan B pill) works by preventing ovulation or fertilization of an egg. While it also may prevent the egg from implanting into the uterus, the medical definition of pregnancy, recent research suggests that’s not likely.

The medical definition of pregnancy is where it is misleading. Life begins AT CONCEPTION and not at implantation of the fertilized egg into the uterus. An egg will only attempt to implant itself onto the uterus wall if it is a fertilized egg - if it is the beginning of a new life. Any possibility of this pill preventing that is abortion plain and simple.

Pro-abortion groups are not satisfied with the FDA, however. They want the pill available to everyone, not just persons 18 years and older. The manufacturer, lawmakers and other advocates said they will press the government to let minors purchase the pills over the counter (Kansas City Star). 

"We shouldn’t be putting barriers between young people and pregnancy prevention," said Peter Brownlie, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. Maybe the best way of pregnancy prevention is ABSTINANCE!!! Mr. Brownlie. Of course, that would mean Planned Parenthood would lose millions upon millions of dollars on abortions and contraceptive sales. They said as much theirselves when they commented, "Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri has provided more than 10,000 women with emergency contraception this year and expects that number to increase rapidly now."

It saddens me so much that our country is so focused on quick fixes for unplanned pregnancies. They focus on covering up or simply dismissing the "mistake" made by the person for having unprotected sex or pre-marital sex. Instead of focusing on the morning after, their efforts should be on abstinance and on moral means of fertility care. I am referring to Natural Family Planning such as the Creighton Model of fertility care or the Couple-to-Couple League.

Responsible, moral sexual practices within the context of marriage and abstinance outside of marriage make so much more sense than worrying about the morning after and how one can simple 'get rid' of what they did last night. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 17:13 | link | comments |
blog

And so it begins...

Well, I am settled in at Kenrick for my LAST year of seminary. It has been a busy few days. I arrived on Tuesday afternoon and spent most of the rest of the day moving my stuff in, trying to figure out where I want to arrange or in this case rearrange thing and just trying to make that mental shift to school.

Wednesday, I had volunteered to serve as the deacon for the day (I 'volunteered' because someone saw me in the building Tuesday evening). In between Morning Prayer, Mass and Evening Prayer, I got the Student Computer Services department organized. I also went shopping for all those little things you need for school but really don't think about until right before you need them.

Thursday was our first day of orientation for returning students. I am still trying to figure out why 4th year even had to return before noon on Friday. The only events that even involved us was our Student Life Association meeting (our Student Government) and individual photos for the yearbook.

Friday we actually had a couple of meetings to attend. There was a liturgy meeting at 9:00 am, a Student Handbook meeting at 10:00 am and a pastoral formation meeting at 11:00 am. Actually, the only meeting we really had to be at was the liturgy meeting. They could have put the pages we needed to add to our handbook into our mailbox. Fr. Rothschild himself said that the deacons didn't really need to be at the pastoral formation meeting...yet here we were.

Today we had our Day of Recollection. We have these once a month in which the day centers around prayer and includes a retreat director. I was the deacon of the day again, so my day centered on leading Morning, Daytime and Evening prayer, assisting at Mass and leading Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. My Day of Recollection was busier than a full day of classes.

Classes start on Monday so I guess we'll be off to the races. I have two classes on Mon. and Wed. and only one class on Tue. and Fri. That class is a course titled Medical Ethics, so it shoud provide some good knowledge and material for our pro-life discussions. Anyway, it all begins on Monday so until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 17:21 | link | comments |
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The end is here...

No, the title does not refer to the End Times. As Jesus said, "of the day and hour no one knows...but the Father." The end I am referring to is my summer and time here in Kansas until Christmas. Our orientation begins Wednesday and as such we have to be back to Kenrick by 4 pm on that day. I am actually going over on Tuesday so I can get some things organized, such as Student Computer Services of which I am the Director. Anyway, as you can guess I will not be blogging again until Thursday.

I ask that in this last year of my school you pray for me. Pray that I may prepare myselft for my ordination to the priesthood next spring. Pray that I may seek to learn what I need to be a holy and pastoral priest. PLEASE pray for my sanity. Lastly, pray for those who are studying for priesthood, those who have given their life to be priests and for an increase in vocations to priesthood and religious life. Until Thursday...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 10:14 | link | comments |
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Pro-abortion persons in Hollywood

On July 31st, I blogged about some of the corporate supporters of abortion. I thought I'd also point out some of our TV and movie stars who promote abortion. Like the corporate sponsers, I encourage you to consider boycotting TV and movies in which these persons appear.

Some of these persons are not surprise, such as Ellen Degeneres, Rosie O'Donnel, Alan Alda and Alec Baldwin. Other names, however, were quite a shock to me. These include: Kelsey Grammer, Martin Sheen (although he claims to oppose abortion personally but recognizes the right of a woman to have one), Kirsten Dunst and Henry Winkler to name a few.

What is more interesting, though, is the names of those who are pro-abortion and are also "Catholic" with the word Catholic in quotes because one CANNOT be pro-abortion and Catholic. Some of these persons include: Rosie O'Donnel, Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Linda Grey and Marlo Thomas. It saddens me to see persons claiming to be Catholic to support and immoral issue so vital to the faith.

I just wanted to briefly explore those persons who may have influence on us in the world of entertainment. In a future blog, I'll list some very devout Catholic actors who ARE good role models for us to emulate. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 17:17 | link | comments |
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The Ninth Day Portrays True Christian Sacrifice

TITLE: "The Ninth Day Portrays True Christian Sacrifice"
GENRE: Movie
REVIEWED BY: CM

The German made film The Ninth Day skillfully portrays a Catholic priest who truly lives out his calling to die to self that others may live. The movie begins with one Fr. Kremer in the Nazi death camp Dachau during World War II. He witnesses many of his priest brothers die of thirst and literally crucified by their Nazi torturers. At one point in the movie one finds that Fr. Kremer carries a great burden of guilt as he reveals that he is responsible for the death of a companion priest. Fr. Kremer however is given a chance to redeem himself when he is released from the death camp for nine days. During his nine day leave he soon finds that he has been targeted by the local Gestapo to be used in a plan to persuade the local bishop to sanction the Nazi occupation of Luxembourg. Fr. Kremer is given two options, either he successfully gains the bishop’s ear or he fails and returns to the horrific life of Dachau. By the ninth day of his leave he must come to a final resolve. Much of the movie focuses on his wrestling with the dilemma of saving his life while abandoning his faith principles versus a willful embrace of the cross to save others. The movie does a wonderful job of getting the viewer to really understand the struggle inside of Fr. Kremer. One will inevitably ask themselves while watching the movie: “Could I do it?” Even if this question is hard to answer it still reminds us of our basic Christian duties to stand up for the faith. Finally, this movie speaks well of the priesthood and Catholic Christianity since all the faithful are called to imitate Christ and offer their lives in union with Him to God the Father.

posted by: crossman at 18:08 | link | comments |
catholic blog review

Home, Home on the range

I am back home in Princeton for a few days before returning to Kenrick for my last year of seminary (one more year...one more year - that's my new mantra)! I hope to blog 3 or 4 times this week, but it depends on how many times I am able to sit down to the computer.

My summer at Holy Trinity came to a close Saturday morning. It was an extremely productive and educational summer. Because of Fr. Tom's hip injury, I ended up exercising my deacon ministry much more than I had thought. When I left on Saturday I had celebrated 13 baptisms, 2 weddings, 2 funerals, adoration and benediction twice and gave homilies for six weekends. That pretty much covers every element of my ministry I can exercise as a deacon.

As I enter the fall semester in St. Louis, I am very comfortable with serving as a deacon at whatever parish I am assigned as well as serving at Kenrick. The experience I gained this summer, both in exercising my ministry and in learning about the administration of a parish, will be absolutely invaluable to me in coming years. I thank God, Fr. Tom, Fr. Regie, Tina, Nick, Stan, Stuart, Paula and everyone who gave me this wonderful experience. The grace of my deacon ministry bestowed on me through the Holy Spirit has been a blessing in deepening my faith and helping me draw closer to God and His people. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 12:08 | link | comments (1) |
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The world in chaos...again

The blog entry page has been down for the past couple of days, so I've been unable to blog. It seems to be back up and working now.

A couple of things before today's blog. I've decided to wait until August 25th to post the first Catholicism 101 class. The reasons for this are twofold: 1) I realized that the original date would be right in the middle of me moving back to St. Louis and 2) I had originally wanted to have this feature on every other Friday and since August 15th is on a Tuesday then that dosen't quite work. I had hoped to post this first class on the Assumption, but that isn't going to work :-(

I am sure all my readers are aware of the attempted terrorism plot that was broken yesterday. From reports, this looks to have been a massive plot involving numerous planes and dozens of terrorists. In reflecting on this last evening, I wondered what role religion played in this. After the World Trade Center bombings, many were asking why God would allow such an evil event to occur. The short answer, of course, is that God gave all of us free will, even if we decide to use that free will for destructive and absolutely evil things.

This plot has the same free will factor to it, but my mind actually drifted to another thought. Religion was involved in that it looks as if Islamic fanatics were behind this plot. Notice the emphasis on the word fanatics. Free will also allows one to develop a 'religion' based on hate, destruction and terror. Religion is identified in the Wikipedia as:

a group of beliefs or attitudes concerning an object (real or imagined), person (real or imagined), or system of thought considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine or highest truth, and the moral codes, practices, values, institutions, and rituals associated with such belief or system.

This 'religion' violates numerous true definitions of religion. First, moral codes is completly lacking in this 'religion.' EVERY true faith existing in the world condemns killing. There is not ANY culture on the planet that condones free and open killing of others. One can only kill in defense of one's own life. Secondly, their 'system of thought' is not supernatural, sacred, divine or the highest truth. Rather, it is the systematic destruction of anyone not Muslim including those they do not see as 'true' Muslims.

These are a couple of important elements of faith that fanatic groups do not meet in order to be a religion. Their focus and goal is not worship of God - Allah or otherwise - but destruction of those who don't see things the way that they do. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 13:14 | link | comments |
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School is almost here

Well, it's almost time for another (and last!!!) year of seminary. This year will be very exciting, though. While returning to school is not tops on my list, it will be a very interesting experience. First, my classmates and I will be deacons and that means we will be very deeply involved in the liturgical functions of the school. It also means that we will be assigned to a parish on the weekends to serve as deacons. We haven't been told to what parishes we have been assigned yet, but we should find out around the end of this month.

Another reason this will be an interesting year is that I only have 10 hours of classes. I have a class called Further Celebrations in which we will learn hot to conduct funerals, reconciliation, anointing, etc. I also have a class titled U.S. Religions in which we will study the history of religions in the U.S. Another of our classes is Medical Ethics, which is pretty self explanatory. This will be a very informative class and may be the source material for many of my blog entries in the next few months. Then there is the priest practicum where we practice saying Mass, hearing confessions, etc. I am also continuing my Spanish studies and hope to improve my ability to hear and understand others speaking to me in Spanish.

That is a quick peek at my coming year. As I return to school, I will begin to blog more about life at seminary. I will, however, continue my discussions on pro-life issues as well as the Catholic church worldwide. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 14:22 | link | comments |
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Where has the time gone...

I am going to do something I rarely do on my blog today...make a double entry. Its been a very interesting week that has kept me busy, so I haven't had a chance to keep up with my blogging or to post the next article of our Catholic Blog Review. So, below this entry, you will find the latest Catholic Blog Review article.

Secondly, I want to thank you for your votes on our first topic for Catholicism 101. We actually had a tie with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Eucharist receiving 28% of the vote. I had a suggestion in our comments section to combine the two topics as one. Unfortunately, I don't think I can properly speak on both in a 3 -5 minute presentation. So, what I have decided to do is a 3 - 5 minute presentation first on Mary and then in two weeks on the Eucharist. This seems to be the most appropriate and I place Mary first because she ALWAYS leads us to Christ. God willing, the first mpeg presentation will be posted on August 15th.

Part of the reason that this week was so busy was due to the fact that I was in St. Louis from Monday evening through Wednesday. I went over to finalize my Masters Thesis so I can defend it around Sept. 15th. Everything is all set for my defense (thank you Heavenly Father!!!)

The other reason I haven't blogged much in the past few days is that this Friday is my last day at Holy Trinity. As the title says, "where has the time gone?" It seems that just yesterday I was moving in for the summer. It truly has been a blessed experience at Holy Trinity. Not only did I get to exercise my ministry (alot!) I also was able to grow in my faith and in humility in seeing the deep and strong faith of the parishioners here. I thank Fr. Tom, Fr. Regie, Tina, Nick, Stuart, Stan and all the staff as well as the parishioners at Holy Trinity. I also thank Archbishop Naumann for giving me the opportunity to serve at Holy Trinity.

Because this is my last week at Holy Trinity, I will probably only be blogging three or four times in the next couple of weeks since I am not returning to seminary until the 21st of August. As my time here at Holy Trinity comes to a close and my final year of seminary begins, I ask for your prayers that in this coming school year God may grace me with the knowledge and virtues I need to be a holy and humble priest of Christ. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 09:15 | link | comments |
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Superman Returns

TITLE: “Superman Returns”
TYPE: Movie
REVIEWED BY: JM

Nineteen years after Superman IV: The Quest for Peace flew onto movie screens, a new Superman movie makes it way back onto the big screen. Lex Luthor, Superman’s nemesis has recently been released from prison after Superman failed to make a parole hearing regarding Lex Luthor. He immediately swindles an dying widow out of her fortune and then makes his ways to Superman’s island retreat, where he steals the crystals from Krypton and discovers that these will grow into entire bodies of land, when exposed to water. From these newly grown lands, Luthor plans to control the world with all of the alien technology that will come forth from the crystals. Superman, in the meantime returns from his expedition to the remains of his home planet, and finds his life on earth in pieces as well. Mr. Kent has died and Lois, his love has moved on. She now has a child an is living with the son of the editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet, and is preparing to accept a Pulitzer Prize for an editorial entitled “Why the World Does Not Need Superman.” With the impending scheme by Lex Luthor, the world will quickly see how necessary Superman is, and will quickly welcome back the Man of Steel as the hero and protector of Metropolis and the world.

Like many works involving superheroes, this movie shows the great courage and moral decisiveness of the hero. Superman is seen fighting for the cause of good and trying to stop as much evil as possible. At one certain scene (which was a free preview from I Tunes), Superman must decide whether or not to go and fight Lex Luthor or to fly and save the innocent people affected by the earthquake and ocean surge as a result of the land shift. This moral choice is just one example of many good moral qualities in the movie. Also, what I really like is the self-sacrifice Superman exemplifies in risking his own life over and over again in order to save others.

But like many modern works, it seems we must find the fatal flaw in our heroes. “Superman Returns” is no exception. Through many twists, the audience finds out that Lois’s child is actually Superman’s, conceived out of wedlock by Superman and Lois Lane. Further, Lois moving in with a man with no immediate plans of being married is simply wrong and does not provide a good, committed relationship to raise this child. Finally, Superman nor Clark Kent seem to accept the responsibility of raising the child. Simply saying “I’ll be around,” does not exemplify the values of a superhero, but a cancer, which is killing our society, with more and more children growing up not knowing their fathers.

If one can see past these moral shortcomings, the movie does have a good entertainment value. Superman, though tainted, is still trying to do the good thing for humanity, which is admirable. Thus, I recommend the movie, but to go in with a critical eye toward these more negative parts of the story, and make these parts a good discussion topic on the way home as to what is the family and is it always necessary that the hero have his fatal flaw.

posted by: crossman at 09:14 | link | comments |
catholic blog review