Yet Again I Return From a Long Absence (and a poem)

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!  I have overcome my absolute laziness had am writing a post on this blog!  Hallelujah, praise the Lord, and so on and so forth.  I will not say that I'm back and I will not say that I will post regularly.  This is to avoid the penalty of saying that which is I never post again for months.

Sometime next month I will post snippets of the scripts for the scenes I'm writing for my heavily theatrical summer camp which I've talked about before called Arcatheos (our video is up at www.Arcatheos.com)  I probably will also post movie trailerish snippets leading up to the camp.  (A highly dramatic line or two changed and then taken out of context and such.)  Also, questions are allowed and encouraged about the faith, philosophy, and such things.

Meanwhile, here is a spur of the moment poem I'm making up as I go along.  Think of it as a present in reparation for my not posting for eternity-and-a-half

Yogurt
I like to eat yogurt.
Everything will have a touch
I eat it in a yurt*
'Cause it don't rhyme with much.


*For the uneducated masses, a Yurt is "a portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia."  According to Wikipedia.

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Awesome Violinist!

I was just browsing Youtube randomly - well not completely randomly but you get the picture - when I managed to stumble upon this amazing violinist.  Her name is Lindsey Stirling and she is breathtakingly good.  Instead of me rambling on about how good she is, here are some of her music videos.

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Cardinal Thomas Colins

Well, it's a bit late, but I thought it would be a good idea to mention the new cardinal that we have.  Thomas Colins.  A Canadian!  He was formerly the Archbishop of Toronto.  Now he's a Cardinal and must be adressed as His Eminence.  An interesting fact about him is that before he came to Toronto he was the Archbishop of Edmonton, where I live.  Who knows, maybe he'll become pope? ;)

Well that's all for now!

Restoration begun on Catholic Church in Ukraine

Here is an article from the Catholic News Agency:

Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, Feb 14, 2012 / 03:24 am (CNA).- A church in the Ukraine that Soviet authorities once seized for use as a “monument of communism” will once again be a place for Christian worship after renovations remove a neo-classical façade erected to disguise its nature.

“The church does not look like a place of worship. It wears a mask, as it were. It is in disguise. We want to take away this mask,” Fr. Grzegorz Romanowicz, the Franciscan Capuchin provincial in the Ukraine, told the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

“Until now, many people do not even recognize the building as a church from the outside.”

St. Joseph’s Church in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine is now in Catholic hands after a 20-year-long ownership dispute. Franciscan Capuchins now have pastoral care of the church, and the last stages of restoration are  underway.

Since 1949 the church was used as a library, a boxing hall and offices. Soviet authorities erected the façade in 1949 to hide the building’s origin as a church. That façade is set to be removed later in February.

Fr. Romanowicz said the church was originally seized to serve as a “monument of communism.” Since the confiscation, the façade has acted like “a gag on the Church” that forces it into silence.

“Now the Church seeks to win back its identity.”

The Catholic Church moved to reclaim the property after the government promised in 1988 to return all religious property which had been confiscated. The building’s then-owner, Dugsburry Inc., contested a ruling that the Catholic Church was the property’s rightful owner.

The dispute even turned violent when security guards physically attacked believers, including elderly women, who were peacefully demonstrating for the property’s return.

The ongoing disagreement led to neglect of the building. Its roof was removed, exposing 130-year-old frescos to the elements. A 2006 arson also caused major damage. The property was legally recognized as church-owned in 2009, but other bureaucratic problems kept repairs from being made.

Aid to the Church in Need has given grants of about $185,000 to the church restoration project. It believes the building is important to pastoral work in the area.

Dnipropetrovsk is the third largest city in the Ukraine. It is within the Catholic Diocese of Kharkiv and Zaporizhia. The diocese serves about 60,000 Catholics, about three percent of the local population. 

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Lost Arts - Guest Post by Anne Therese

Anne Therese (and yes she is ever wonderful) has graciously accepted my invitation for a guest post.  It is on the subject of art.

Enjoy, I know I will.

Forgotten Arts

                When was the last time that you met a sculptor? If you live in Canada particularly, when was the last time that you saw a real nicely designed building? How many new books are coming out that are moral and enjoyable?  There are art forms that are slowly slipping away from our society, because so much is at our finger tips we don’t need to make the effort to become artists. Perhaps I better begin by showing what the definition of an artist is.

·         Somebody who does something skillfully and creatively

·         Somebody who is very good at a particular thing, especially something cunning

                We don’t seem to need creativeness , and we don’t seem to need to even create things. Everything is already created, and we just have to type it into our search box to find it. There are some art forms that seem to be done more then others. People still seem to have some interest in sketching, and I don’t think that a passion to write something will ever die out completely. But will those people who are challenging their minds actually finish what they have begun? Will they send out their works as a gift that others may enjoy them? I don’t know, but they should finish. We need people who finish their work. Just because that way they can develop and grow. If they finish their work then there will be another piece of art to be created. Singing is fairly popular, but what kind of singing is it? The beautiful sweet clear voice of a woman is discarded. Now we want either voices that yell or that whisper with a breathy annoying sound. That is what the modern world looks for in a woman’s voice. For a man, sad to say, they want it to sound like a woman’s voice. We are losing the power of art. It is changing, and I don’t think its for the better.

                I want people to recall those lost arts, because we need them. Everywhere we look things are losing their beauty and authenticity. Sure we have what people have made before us, but these things won’t last for ever. We need to keep on recreating, and not letting out minds fall into a stupor.

Especially as Catholics we need to recall the beauty of the church, we need beautiful paintings, beautiful music, beautiful minds that are challenging themselves, and trying to become better.

Thank you Rillian so much for letting me do this guest post.

~ The Rambling Artist Anne Therese

At the request of the still ever wonderful Anne Therese I shall write a post on Arcatheos.  Not just an ordinary post saying you should go, you should go, here’s the link.  She wants a post describing my experience with Arcatheos.  Quite a tall order... These friends of mine sure are picky. :)

Let’s see...Well the #1 thing I love about Arcatheos is the idea that there are all these other Catholic men and boys on the same path of life as me.  It reinforces in my head that I’m not alone in the world.  That there are tons of other men going through the same trials as me and I have support to fall back on when I need help.  Another thing I’ve seen about camp is that it is SUPER INTENSIVE.  Especially for the councillors - called officers (for now, we’re working on a better name.) - as they have a couple days before the camp officially starts where they have an excruciating schedule meant to show what they can and can’t do, what they’re good at and what they’re bad at.   The really nice thing about this is when I get back from camp, everything seems easier.  You could say life is thrown back into perspective.  Also, there is an enormous sense of accomplishment as an officer.  Especially last year.  Last year, the officers helped built the main fortress and we worked on building a fort from scratch.  Cutting down dead trees sawing them into size and building walls.  It was nice because when you stood back you could say: “Wow!  I built this with my own sweat!”  Spiritually, it was also terrific as there was daily mass and the rosary and the angelus and morning and night-time prayers and terrific talks to help build us up.

That was generic experiences that probably every officer had.  There were also specific experiences that I had.  I helped out a lot with the theatrics this year.  I helped out with special effects and I managed the costume tent.  That was a blast.  I also helped with running errands and helping out with whatever.  I feel that it really helped me grow as a person and really improved my initiative.  What was really nice is that when I got back from camp there was a message on my family’s phone saying how a friend of my family, who was at camp, was impressed with my initiative and how helpful I was.  That made my week..*sigh*  Nostalgia...Great times...

And that is why I reccomend Arcatheos to almost every boy and man.  (If you can’t handle sleeping outdoors under the stars for a day don’t go as an officer.  If you can’t handle sleeping in a tent, don’t go at all.)
Well,
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P.S Anne Therese, the answer to your other comment is: I’d love that.

P.P.S That’s really all for now...

Question #1

Yay!  My first question!  The ever wonderful Anne Therese has asked: "Let’s say that you work somewhere with a really nice person.  But they have a habit of once in a while, (a really long while) they use God’s name in vain.  Do you say something, or in Christian charity just say quietly to yourself, “Blessed be his holy name.”  What do you think?  Should we control others in this way?”

In this case, as far as I can tell:  I would wait until the person has calmed down - if they are going to use God’s name in vain they probably aren’t at their calmest - and then approach them asking them to try harder to not use His name in vain.  Also, you must approach them in the right way.  The wrong way would be something like this:  “You horrible person!  You need to stop swearing or else you’ll burn in hell forever!  You disgusting person!”  That way is wrong because A: It puts the person down and makes them feel that they are terrible.  B: It puts them on the defensive.  They might normally feel that swearing is bad, but if they’re being attacked verbally, they might decide to swear just to show you who’s boss.  From the sounds of it, there isn’t much chance of the latter happening as you said that the person is really nice.

The proper way to approach them is in a way that makes them feel that they are better than swearing.  For instance: “I’ve noticed that occasionally you use the Lord’s name in vain.  Would you like me to try to help you stop.”  If you do say that you have to be prepared with helpful ideas on how to stop swearing.  Another option is to just ask them politely to stop like this: “I've noticed that you occasionally use the Lord’s name in vain.  Could you please try to stop.”

If you (the reader) disagree with me in anyway or have another suggestion.  Feel free to leave a comment.


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