'Lost' in translation

"I think religion becomes most meaningful in people’s lives when it’s told in the form of stories, where people can connect. I always judge a homily on how well a priest does at integrating whatever lessons of the week are in the gospel into stories. And those stories are the ones that I think really land for the parishioners much more so than some kind of didactic analysis of the readings or the gospel. I feel like that’s kind of our role as storytellers on the show - to try to take those themes which really are meaningful for people and put them in forms of good yarns and stories.”

— Carleton Cuse, executive producer of "Lost," from his interview on "Personally Speaking with Monsignor Jim Lisante." Found on "Personally Speaking" producer Tony Rossi's blog, The Intersection.

This video would have had me in stitches ...

... were I not already in stitches. Ha!

The "Tale of Two Brains" — male vs. female — arrived in my e-mail today from a priest. Be careful not to watch it while eating or drinking anything that may damage your computer screen.

Prayer request

My friend Mary-Rose Lombard requests prayers for Father Daniel J. Kennedy, whose funeral is tomorrow.

Father Kennedy, parochial vicar at St. John the Evangelist in Winthrop, Mass., died January 27 of a heart attack. He was only 34, and had been ordained just last May.

You can read Father Kennedy's reflections upon his ordination on Cardinal Sean O'Malley's blog. The Boston Globe has his death notice, and numerous videos of him, including his first Mass, are on the Web site of St. Mary of the Nativity, Scituate Harbor, Mass. Information on where to send donations in lieu of flowers is on the Russell Funeral Home Web sitte.

Please also pray for Father Kennedy's family, friends, and parish, who must all be suffering greatly from the loss of one so young, who so loved being a priest.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord ...

Op, up, and away — Part 1

At ten minutes to six yesterday morning, I met my wonderful father, stepmother, and sister in the lobby of my apartment building for the short walk to George Washington University Hospital.

Sis was in town from Cincinnati for the occasion. My mother and stepfather had also offered to come, from New Jersey, but I declined, though I was very happy to receive their care package of a week's worth of soups.

I felt very prayed-for going into the hospital, thanks to my friends and blog pals who had offered to pray for me, and especially thanks to my pastor's having given me the Anointing of the Sick. It was my first time ever having received the sacrament. What is particularly beautiful about it is the way it unites one's suffering's to Christ's. As an admirer of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, I didn't want to have any "wasted pain." Receiving the Anointing gave me the assurance that God would receive my suffering on behalf of my prayer intentions, even if I forgot to keep those intentions in mind while experiencing pain.

Before leaving my place, I had removed my Miraculous Medal and Brown Scapular and placed them in my purse — no jewelry is allowed on the operating table. Wanting to take as many saints as possible with me, I wore my "Chesterton University" T-shirt underneath my sweater and packed Sheen's Peace of Soul into my carrying back.

It was very moving to see how concerned my family was for me, especially my dad. I knew as the intake receptionist put the band on my wrist that my father, who turned 70 last year, could remember the day in 1968 when I wore my first-ever hospital tag.

At the hospital, I enjoyed VIP status, thanks to my father's having worked for the George Washington University Medical School for nearly 30 years. I don't doubt that the care would have been excellent anyway, but it was a great blessing to be surrounded by people who knew and respected my dad. One of the third-year medical residents who was to take part in my surgery told me beforehand that my father was "like a mentor" to him.

It's quite amazing how God works things out. If I had remained in New York City, at my old job, where I was until last June, I would not have received nearly the same level of care at a hospital there, and it never would have occurred to me to attempt to get the procedure done at George Washington University Hospital. Funny how it took a job switch — to a Washington-area position that ended prematurely — to get me to the place where I could get the best possible treatment. (Speaking of jobs, I am very happy to be beginning a new one — more on that when it's confirmed.)

There was very little time yesterday morning when I felt alone. It happened only briefly, after saying goodbye to my folks and following the nurse into the pre-op room, when I was left to put on my gown and slippers. That depressing feeling one gets in the hospital of being at others' mercy was just beginning to hit me, when, for some reason, I looked at the label on the package of slippers, which was hermetically sealed. It read, "Medline Industries, Mundelein, Ill."

The name "Mundelein" jumped out at me. I knew I had read about a Mundelein in Sheen's biography, Treasures in Clay and that he was a bishop, though in my mind at first I had him confused with Bishop Spalding, who prophesied that Sheen would be a bishop himself. Somehow, I knew that the town of Mundelein was named after him. (In fact, it remains home to the seminary the cardinal founded, which I now see is four miles from where the slippers were made.)

Even not quite remembering who Mundelein was — he was in fact the sixth American cardinal, of the Archdiocese of Chicago — I knew for certain that he was a prelate, and that he was of Sheen's home state of Illinois. Just seeing his name printed on that plastic bag at that moment gave me great comfort, especially as I had asked Sheen's intercession before leaving the house that morning. It felt like a sign the angels and the saints were with me. I shed a few tears, half a remnant of fear and half an offering of joy.

Only after getting home tonight did I learn that there is indeed much to admire about George Cardinal Mundelein's earthly life. Although liberal and a close friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he gained a reputation for speaking boldly against "Austrian paperhanger" Hitler more than four years before the United States entered World War II.

Cardinal Mundelein also established the Associated Catholic Charities of Chicago, which in turn founded, under his direction, the Misericordia Maternity Hospital. The hospital's purpose was, as the Cardinal said, "for the saving of the souls of the babies." A contemporary biography of Cardinal Mundelein notes that special precautions were taken at the hospital to secure the baptism of the children and protect their right to life.

Next up: Psalm gave all ...

The promise

The day after the March for Life, I heard a pro-life leader say that there was a rainbow over the Supreme Court at the end of the march.

He said it was a sign from God that the marchers' prayers were being answered — that there would be an end to abortion, and that there would be reverence for life at all stages.

Now, thanks to blogger Theobromophile, I have an idea of how beautiful that must have appeared.

All sewn up

Home from the hospital, my stitched-up throat looking like it's wearing a "Cleopatra necklace," according to my stepmother, but the important thing is that my thyroidectomy went very well and I am very thankful for your prayers. Will write more after getting rest — have a few stories I'm looking forward to sharing.

Less of me

Tomorrow morning at 7:30 p.m., if all goes according to plan, a surgeon will remove part of my thyroid — and, if he finds cancer, he'll take out the rest of it as well.

I would like to thank everyone who has written to let me know that they are praying for me and for the doctors and other staff at the hospital. Your prayers are buoying me.

I don't want to exaggerate the seriousness of the operation; it is a common procedure, and patients typically recover from it very well. Nonetheless, it's stressful to have it ahead of me, and I'm glad for all your encouragement.

One e-mail from reader Daniel Kane, a medical physicist and fellow at the Westchester Institute, was particularly memorable:

Consider it part of the plastic surgery that will give you the long neck you always wanted. While no doubt the yuck factor is high, it is not a big deal. Or as the beloved Fr. Groschel said in the NYT last Sunday - "They said I would never live. I lived. They said I would never think. I think. They said I would never walk. I walked. They said I would never dance, but I never danced anyway." Or, as I tell all my patients, you have just as many days now as you did the day before your diagnosis. Certainly, what is a surprise to you is not to Christ.

* * *

Today, a nurse called me with a long list of questions about past medical conditions and so on.

When she got to the question about whether I ever had anesthesia, I felt compelled to warn her: The last time I went under, for an eye operation in late 2000, a nurse told me afterwards that, while I was knocked out, I kicked her in the chest.

The nurse on the phone chuckled. "I'll put down, 'May get agitated under anesthesia."

I'll be spending the night in the hospital tomorrow, so I'll write again when I'm home on Wednesday. God bless!

Quote of the day

"There is no such thing as giving the body without giving the soul. Those who think they can be faithful in soul to one another, but unfaithful in body, forget that the two are inseparable. Sex in isolation from personality does not exist! An arm living and gesticulating apart from the living organism is an impossibility. Man has no organic functions isolated from his soul. There is involvement of the whole personality. Nothing is more psychosomatic than the union of two in one flesh; nothing so much alters a mind, a will, for better or for worse. The separation of soul and body is death. Those who separate sex and spirit are rehearsing for death. The enjoyment of the other's personality through one's own personality, is love. The pleasure of animal function through another's animal function is sex separated from love."

— Fulton J. Sheen, Three to Get Married

Thanks very much to those of you who have been praying for me in advance of my thyroidectomy, which will take place tomorrow afternoon. I've been busy these past few days catching up with my sister, who has come in from out of town to be with me in advance of the operation. Hoping to find time tonight to catch up on e-mail and write a personal update here.

Free speech ends at the Golden Gate

In other Planned Parenthood Golden Gate news, the chapter is currently attempting to censor the USCCB's pro-life ads.

In fairness, the Planned Parenthood chapter has censored itself in the past, like when it took down a "Real Story" from its Web site when it was caught boasting that it covered up an 11-year-old's rape, or when it quietly removed its own "Superhero for Choice" video in the face of public outcry.

RELATED: Canada's Metrobus caves in to pressure to ban pro-life ads.

Poverty's final solution

Planned Parenthood Golden Gate President Dian "A Superhero for Choice" Harrison describes how one of her clinics helped a young pregnant woman out of poverty — by sticking a pair of scissors into her baby's brain:

After much thought, Patricia decided to have an abortion. She asked to speak with Planned Parenthoods chaplain, the Rev. Lisa Sargent, who provides counseling and support to patients at Planned Parenthoods health centers throughout the Bay Area. Patricia shared that she simply could not imagine how she would provide for and care for two children by herself and what she needed to do now was to go back to school and create a better life for her son.

Planned Parenthood. Breaking the cycle of poverty. One baby at a time. (And on the taxpayers' dime.)

TRACKBACK: Athos of Chronicles of Atlantis observes that Planned Parenthood's solution "demands more and more victims."

RELATED: See Harrison blow up peaceful pro-lifers with her condom gun at taxpayers' expense in the notorious "Superhero for Choice":

Blogs weigh in on Planned Parenthood worker's failure to report child rape

Red State says that the failure to report the crime comes down to Planned Parenthood's philosophy of "free sex at all costs," while What's Wrong With the World observes that "choice devours itself."

Meanwhile, the Eugene, Ore., Planned Parenthood staffer (and I do believe she is whom she claims to be) continues to blog away as Hormone-Peddling Wench.

TAKE ACTION: To contact the Oregon Department of Justice about this possible case of unreported child rape, write doj.info@state.or.us. To contact the Eugene Police Department, write policedept@ci.eugene.or.us.

Planned Parenthood's latest gimmick: a 'talking cervix'

Even direct marketing professionals think it's "stupid."

Link contains anatomical language and saucy use of typogr@phic $ymbol$.

Listen to 'Chastity: An Alternative Lifestyle'

I'm delighted to announce that the talk I gave at Monday night's Arlington Diocese Theology on Tap is now on the series' podcast page.

For those who have already heard me speak, about sixty percent of the talk is new material. Yay!

I've linked the podcast page rather than linking directly to my talk, because there are loads of other talks on the page as well, which show why the Arlington Diocese Theology on Tap has a reputation as the best such series around. One of my favorites is "Sacramentals: Are You What You Wear?" which was given by a priest and a nun — the priest being Father M. of Patum Paperium — who engage in comedic repartee a la Sonny and Cher (though with a different experience of Chastity).

Buy The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On from Amazon.com.

UPDATED: While we were marching ...

... Planned Parenthood was getting three "clergy" to bless the abortion wing of its new Schenectady, N.Y., clinic.

From the Albany Times-Union "Local Politics" blog:

To commemorate Tuesday’s 35th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, Mohawk Hudson Planned Parenthood in Schenectady has asked local clergy to bless its new facility.

Officials at Planned Parenthood invited the media to tour the surgical wing and the new building at 1040 State St., calling the event in a press release: “On Sacred Ground--Blessing of the Building by Schenectady Clergy.”

After the ceremony, the three clergy members will speak “in support of the Planned Parenthood mission, birth control and the continued need to keep abortion safe, legal and accessible for all women,” according to Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Lindal Scharf.

UPDATE: And here's how it went, from the Albany Times-Union:

[T]he blessing occurred at the newly constructed 18,000-square-foot building at 1040 State St. that opened in September to replace a facility on Union Street.

"Clergy have long supported Planned Parenthood's mission and believe women are moral decision-makers, and they trust their right to make a personal decision based on their moral beliefs and whether ... we concur ... we still need to respect that decision," Scharf said.

"The clergy were instrumental in getting abortion services legalized in the United States and right here in Schenectady," she added. "I know a member of the clergy who was part of an underground who directed young women to safe abortions before Roe v. Wade." ...

At Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Rev. Larry Phillips of Schenectady's Emmanuel-Friedens Church declared the ground "sacred and holy ... where women's voices and stories are welcomed, valued and affirmed; sacred ground where women are treated with dignity, supported in their role as moral decision-makers ... sacred ground where the violent voices of hatred and oppression are quelled."

The minister has been affiliated with Planned Parenthood going back more than 30 years, Scharf said. About three dozen people gathered at the facility, known as the Evelyn & David Sencer Center, to offer prayers during the half-hour ceremony.

The Rev. Abby Norton-Levering led the group in prayers for the center's doctors and staff. "We pray that you will make this a place of safety and give a sense of sanctuary," she said.

Rabbi Matt Cutler of Temple Gates of Heaven blew the shofar as "a renewal of commitment to keep reproductive rights in the hands of women."

The Rev. Bill Levering, senior pastor of First Reformed Church of Schenectady, said the right to privacy is endowed by God.
"There are some decisions that are left to the individual. Even God respects the right of privacy. We make women into children when we say they cannot control their own bodies," Levering said.

Phillips led everyone outside where they laid their hands on the brick and limestone as the minister declared, "This is sacred ground."

Mementos of the march

Thomas Peters of American Papist is currently uploading what's shaping up to be a fine album of March for Life photos, including one of me speaking at the Blogs for Life conference at Family Research Council.

Soul survivor

If you have a few minutes to spare, Angela M. has a grace-filled conversion story to share.

News on the march

Exhausted after more than a day's worth of public events, all of which went very well.

More than 200 young adults (and a few oldsters) packed Pat Troy's pub in Arlington for my talk last night at Arlington Diocese Theology on Tap. A podcast of it should be available shortly; will post the link when it emerges.

Today, I had the honor of speaking at Blogs for Life at the Family Research Council. Afterwards, I went to the March for Life for a couple of hours and then hosted a tea party at the Catholic Information Center for pro-life bloggers and the people who love them, including Jill Stanek and Dr. Michael J. New, both of whom gave excellent presentations at Blogs for Life. American Life League's Judie Brown, Anita Crane, and Michael Hichborn also came by, and we had a highly enjoyable chat around the CIC's conference table with several other guests as we wound down from the long day. I won't say what we discussed, as I didn't ask if it was bloggable, but I will say that I complimented Hichborn on the great job he's been doing with ALL's video news updates.

A highlight of the day was getting to meet Catholic seminarian Jeff Geerling, in town for the march from St. Louis with some of his schoolmates. Jeff promptly took advantage of the CIC's free wi-fi to immortalize the moment with a photo on his blog. You can see how happy I was to meet him for the first time after corresponding with him on and off for more than three years. He is one of the Dawn Patrol readers who helped lead me to the Catholic Church.

Jeff is the producer of the legendary "Duel of the Seminarians," which is well worth an encore appearance on this blog:

I have updated Saturday's entry on an alleged Planned Parenthood employee's failure to report child rape, as the alleged employee's blog now reveals her location. See the "UPDATE" at the end of the entry for details on how to let authorities know of the blogger's claim that she provided a 12-year-old with contraception while apparently not reporting her suspicion that the child was a victim of statutory rape.

I would like to state again that the only evidence in this case so far is the blog entry by a person who claims to be a Planned Parenthood employee and who backs up her claim with an apparent insider's knowledge of Planned Parenthood procedures. Even so, if there is the slightest chance that the blogger's claim is true, the authorities should be informed.

In bed with the sexperts:Planned Parenthood, media hook up vs. abstinence

H.G. Wells once observed, in light of media pronouncements by "expert" economists, that to style oneself as an expert is "proper enough in a hairdresser or a fashionable physician, but indecent in a philosopher or a man of science."

More than a century later, the cult of the expert retains its hold over the newsroom—and never more so than in coverage of abstinence-education programs. With their vigorous efforts to put forth a crew of experts whose mainstream-media credibility far exceeds those of abstinence advocates, Planned Parenthood, SIECUS, and their allies effectively control the debate. ...

Read my full article in the Culture of Life Foundation's E-Newsletter.

Supreme irony

At the March for Life conference at the Capitol Hill Hyatt today, I stopped by a display table filled with books and devotional items from Marytown, the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe (right).

A soft-spoken, gray-haired woman with kind blue eyes at the table explained to me that she and the other volunteers there were members of the Militia Immaculata, the group started by St. Maximilian to spread devotion to Jesus through Mary.

The woman introduced herself as Margaret Mary and said she was a convert to the Catholic faith, received into the Church on September 8, 1966. We spoke for a few minutes about St. Maximilian, who is a patron saint of the pro-life movement.

As I walked away from the table, one of Margaret Mary's fellow volunteers told me something quite beautiful and poignant about her. He said she was the daughter of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger — who presided over the Roe v. Wade decision, which made abortion legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

She is now doing her part to bring healing and justice in the wake of her father's actions, which have resulted in the legal murder of more than 48 million children since 1973. God bless her, as well as her fellow convert to Catholicism and the pro-life cause — Norma McCorvey, aka "Jane Roe."

See you at the March for Life and beyond

Again, hope you can come to one of my talks this week in Alexandria, Va. (at tomorrow night's Theology on Tap), Washington, D.C. (a brief appearance at Blogs for Life), and Beech Grove, Ind. — see my book's Web site for details.

If you're attending the March for Life, stop by the tea party I'm hosting from 3 to 6 p.m. that day at the Catholic Information Center for pro-life bloggers and the people who love them.

UPDATED: 'Planned Parenthood employee' fails to report child rape

A blogger who claims to be a 25-year-old female "family planning assistant" at an Oregon Planned Parenthood clinic writes about her conflicted feelings about giving a 12-year-old girl contraception — but implies that it's not her place to report such abuse.

Here are the facts: The blogger in question goes by the nom de plume "Hormone-Peddling Wench" (HPW). While it is possible that she is not what she claims to be, her writing about her alleged Planned Parenthood job contains sufficient detail to suggest that she has an insider's knowledge of the organization.

If what she writes is true, Oregon's statutory-rape reporting laws require HPW to report the 12-year-old girl's case to the authorities.* But did she? It sure doesn't look like it, judging by her blog entry.

HPW begins by describing how, at Planned Parenthood," to "hope" a patient is to give her contraception without a pelvic exam. (It's from the acronym HOPE —"hormones with optional pelvic exam" — as noted on this Planned Parenthood Web site.)

The blogger then writes (emphasis mine):

Yesterday, I Hoped a twelve-year-old girl. She was the last patient I saw, and I have been thinking about her since. She came with an adult friend, maybe an aunt or family friend, and I could not decide whether I thought she was lucky or unlucky. To my mind, she was far too young to be having sex, and it was difficult for me to tell exactly what the situation was with her partner. I do not ever ask the age of sexual partners, and she did not reveal the age of hers**, but I could not shake the feeling that hers was older, possibly very much so. I could not get it out of my head that she didn't exactly give consent, though I had no reason to believe she didn't. Maybe I was projecting. I try to fight it, but there is some part of me that does not believe that such young girls are able to give consent, particularly if their partners are much older and there is a great imbalance in experience between the two. This part of me undoubtedly borders on patronizing. I don't really know what this girl's situation was, nor do I know what her role in it was. It is presumptive in the highest to assume that she was somehow victimized. But I still feel like she was too young. Clearly, that's my issue, not hers.

If this girl was lucky, it was because she had someone she could trust to talk to about all this. She knew she didn't want to become pregnant, and she recognized the connection between sex and pregnancy. (This seems like it should be obvious, but you have no idea how many women come in for pregnancy tests saying they weren't using birth control and they aren't seeking pregnancy.) This girl was taking responsibility for her decisions, which is more than I can say for many women two or three times her age. Her decision to come to Planned Parenthood and begin birth control was not lucky; it was smart. What's lucky is that she has an adult to help her find (or order and pay for) her birth certificate so that she can continue to get her services paid for by the FPEP funding. What's lucky is that she has someone to talk to if the gray area of consent becomes less gray. What's lucky is that the responsible adult in her life thought it was more important to support her and address her health needs than to shame her.

This girl left with pills, which I actually think she'll do a decent job of taking. I gave her a huge bag of condoms, which I always wonder if anyone actually uses. She has a Plan B on hand to take if she needs it, and a prescription for more as needed. I hope she loses the boy. I can't help it. Some part of me really wants her to wait a few years. But dammit, I'm glad she came in. I'm glad she didn't wait until she was pregnant to think about birth control.

Read the whole thing.

In her Blogger profile, HPW admits to being fond of eugenics:

Depo Provera freaks me out, but sometimes I am relieved when a particularly stupid or offensive woman chooses it as her birth control method. ... I know I am not ready to have children because my primary motivation for desiring them lies somewhere between pure narcissism and narcissism tinged with eugenic tendencies—my babies would be intelligent, attractive, healthy, strong-willed, talented, and well-adjusted, just the kind that the world needs.

HPW's profile states she is female, 25, a Taurus born in the Year of the Dog. That means she was born between April 20 and May 20, 1982. If there is the slightest chance that she really is who she says she is, Planned Parenthood should comb its lists of "family planning assistants" in Oregon, find this woman, and require her to report the abused 12-year-old patient.

An organization this irresponsible and dangerous should not have tax-exempt status, let alone receive more than $300 million in taxpayer funds each year.

And yes, I say Planned Parenthood is irresponsible and dangerous even if HPW's post turns out to be a hoax. This is, after all, the same organization that boasted it covered up an 11-year-old's rape.

TAKE ACTION: Contact your U.S. senators and representative and urge them to support Sen. Sam Brownback's bid to defund Planned Parenthood.

UPDATE, 1/21/08: As HPW mentions in her blog entry today that she went to a Planned Parenthood benefit that took place in Eugene, the Planned Parenthood chapter that employs her — assuming she is who she says she is — is Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon.

To contact the Oregon Department of Justice about this possible case of unreported child rape, write doj.info@state.or.us. To contact the Eugene Police Department, write policedept@ci.eugene.or.us.
_____________________
*See page 96 of this online guide to statutory-rape laws. HPW is a "mandatory reporter" according to the law, and is required to report any suspicion they have that a minor under 15 has had sexual intercourse.

**Oregon law (on page 96 of linked report) states that a minor 15 or older may legally have intercourse with a person within three years of his or her age. Again, as a mandatory reporter, HPW is required to be concerned about the age of her charges' sex partners — but, as detailed in the footnote above, the case of the alleged 12-year-old girl would be statutory rape regardless of her partner's age.

Wright stuff

"To MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, [Wendy] Wright is 'the worst person in the world.' To The Nation’s Jessica Valenti, she 'does a huge disservice to young women.' And to prominent left-wing bloggers, who tend to be a bit less reserved, Wright has 'left the world of reality and entered a state of delusion' (News Hounds) and 'really is nuts' (Pam’s House Blend).

"What did she do to earn such outrage? Interviewed for a Dec. 31 Fox News segment on the debate over federal funding for abstinence education, Wright claimed groups that oppose funding for such programs really want teens to choose sex."

 — From my op-ed  "Crazy or Wright? Planned Parenthood's infectious sex-ed program in today's National Review Online.

Music to march by

Via Nick Alexander, here's a Web site featuring songs to inspire those marching for life.

First Things boosts pro-life blogger party

Thanks to Ryan T. Anderson for the great plug for the pro-life blogger discount at the Catholic Information Center and the tea party I'll be hosting there, both on the day of the March for Life.

A perfect Teng

Vienna Teng, a singer-songwriter who has been featured on Letterman, performs "Shasta," about a young woman who turns away from an abortion clinic after a pro-lifer reminds her of Jesus' forgiving love:



(Sorry the video's squished — it's the only one available of that tune.)

From the lyrics:

and you can't go back but you're going back
and you don't know what you'll say
you've got half-formed sentences
explanations for a life half-broken away
and they just may
they'll take you in their arms and then take out their knives
so you drive on thinking

so far so good
but you can't go on much longer like this you know
you're all alone in this world no that's not true
the nice Christian lady told you so

she was handing out pamphlets by the clinic door
saying "Jesus knows what you've been through
take the Savior into your heart my child
there's love waiting for the both of you"

well you don't believe but you have to believe
it's still crumpled there in your back seat
were you the hero or the worst kind of coward back there
putting pavement back under your feet
couldn't stand the heat
couldn't stand the thought of ghosts with a negative age
turn the page
OK

so far so good
you try to sing along to the radio
but it's not your language not your song
it's from some other time ago

and you're thinking about how someone died that day
the you that was so carefully planned
but then again maybe this life is like a sleeping mountain
waking up to shape the land

Teng's lyric about "how someone died that day/the you that was so carefully planned" is especially insightful. As the Sisters of Life explain when they train volunteers, women in crisis pregnancies typically believe that if they have the child, their life is over: "It's me or the baby."

The challenge for the pro-lifer is to show the woman in crisis, as does the sidewalk counselor in Teng's lyric, that she's not "all alone in this world," that "there's love waiting for the both of you" — not just in the abstract, but concrete love shown in willingness to be there for her in her time of need. Planned Parenthood doesn't do that for women who choose life; it's up to every one of us.

An article in the Arizona Republic sheds light on how Teng found inspiration for the song:

In the song, "Shasta (Carrie's Song)," Teng sings about a young girl named Carrie who struggles with the decision of having an abortion. Though Teng has never dealt with this issue in her own personal life, she seems to understand the hardships that come with making such a life-altering decision fairly well. ... Like most of the characters in Teng's other songs, Carrie is a figment of the artist's imagination -- and yet her entire existence addresses an issue which is very much real. "I started reading about abortion on a Planned Parenthood Web site," Teng explained about the song. "Then just to explore the other side of things I started reading some pro-life stuff ... And so it got really interesting and I started writing this little story in my head about this girl who decides not to have an abortion."

Unfortunately, according to Wikipedia, a portion of the royalties from Teng's album containing "Shasta," Warm Strangers (2004), go to Amnesty International, which, since the album's release, has made abortion advocacy a key part of its platform.

Addams ribbed

'Frustrated Monsters Everywhere Join the 'Emerging Lurch' Movement.'

NOTE: For those who don't get it, the post is a satire on this.

Sarkozy imitates Chesterton in the worst way

Reading Reuters' account of the French president's praise for Saudi Arabia along with his government's defense of his touting "spiritualities" makes me wonder if G.K. Chesterton foresaw him when creating the character of the nihilistic Islamophile Lord Ivywood in The Flying Inn.

One passage in particular sounds as though it were lifted straight from Chesterton's prophetic 1914 cultural satire:

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie responded by saying the government wanted "to help all spiritualities to express themselves, including those based on atheism".

The Flying Inn's plot, in the words of Touchstone reviewer Addison H. Hart,

has to do with a Britain that is rapidly losing her heritage and identity through the political maneuverings of one Lord Ivywood, a fastidious “New Age” type of convert to a highly nuanced brand of Islam. Lord Ivywood ... through Parliament, has succeeded in having legislation enacted in England that curtails the sale of alcohol, a “politically correct” legal targeting of the ancient institution of the public house and the free men who enjoy it.

The ultimate goal of Ivywood, however, is not mere teetotalism. Rather, he desires a wholesale spiritual transformation—indeed obliteration—of England’s Western and Christian identity.

Substitute France for England and "smoking cigarettes" (now banned in French cafes) with "sale of alcohol," and it begins to sound remarkably familiar.

Joy meets girl

"When I speak to people and tell them about joy and the difference between having it and not having it, they are curious about that, even if they don’t agree with me. C.S. Lewis wrote a lot about joy and longing. What we find is that our longings lead to Christ. Fulton J. Sheen wrote about how every man has in his heart a blueprint of the woman he loves and what we ultimately find when when we meet the person we love is that we love that person because they point us to the greater longing, which is for Christ."

— Me, interviewed by Sarah Mac Donald in the current issue of Ireland's The Word magazine. I am delighted at the piece and very much honored to be profiled.

There is one error in the otherwise very well-done article, in that it says I became a Catholic seven years ago; I became a Christian then but did not enter the Catholic Church until Easter Vigil 2006.

Photo by John McElroy, taken while Mac Donald interviewed me at the John Paul II Centre in Dublin last October. Many thanks to Anne-Maree Quinn for arranging the interview.

Rain of terror

I realize this may cause nightmares, but I just had to share this fragment of a 1980s commercial for a third-world charity appeal:

Cone but not forgotten

Found on YouTube, a bizarre Reagan-era relic: Carvel Ice Cream's 1982 commercial for Cookie Puss, aka "C.P. the Celestial Person" (!), and his Irish cousin, Cookie O'Puss.



It was a very strange time.

RELATED: Continuing the second-childhood theme: If three different commenters want to see YouTube clips of Lloyd Lindsay Young during his 1980s prime, he'll be up next. Make my day!

Complete 'Modest Proposals' seminar featuring 'Chastity All-Stars' now online

On November 13, a dream of mine came to fruition with "Modest Proposals," a meeting of minds at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Along with co-promoter and moderator Mary Rose Rybak, managing editor of The New Atlantis, I brought a group I like to call the "Chastity All-Stars" — me along with fellow authors Wendy Shalit (A Return to Modesty, Girls Gone Mild), Laura Sessions Stepp (Unhooked) and Dr. Miriam Grossman (Unprotected), plus Cassandra DeBenedetto (founder of the Princeton pro-chastity Anscombe Society) — before a standing-room-only audience to discuss the problems of sexual promiscuity on college campuses. The goal was to propose solutions that looked beyond simply getting students to use more condoms, as that strategy has failed to stem the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and the sharp rise in depression on college campuses.

Today, I am delighted to announce that the entire seminar is now online.



For members of my family who are reading this and would like to skip to the parts where I speak, here they are:

• Mary Rose introduces me at 1:24:36.
• At 1:47:49, I follow up on Cassandra's answer to Mary Rose's question on how to communicate a message of empowerment for women.
• At 2:03:38, I answer a question on how women can find healing after being emotionally harmed by unchastity. My answer applies to men as well.

Many thanks to the Ethics and Public Policy Center for making the entire video available.

Buy The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On at Amazon.com.

What a piece of work is 'Pan'

I was searching through the Dawn Patrol archives and happened across a list I made more than three years ago, counting down my five favorite bits of dialogue from J.M. Barrie's play "Peter Pan," which is in turn one of my favorite works of literature. I like Barrie largely for his humor and his insights into human nature.

The list starts with an exchange between two Lost Boys:

5. CURLY: Let us carry her down into the house.

SLIGHTLY: Ay, that is what one does with ladies.

4. WENDY: Oh, Peter, how I wish I could take you up and squdge you! [He draws back] Yes, I know.

3. WENDY [knowing she ought not to probe but driven by something within]: What are your exact feelings for me, Peter?

PETER [in the class-room]: Those of a devoted son, Wendy.

WENDY [turning away]: I thought so.

PETER: You are so puzzling. Tiger Lily is just the same; there is something or other she wants to be to me, but she says it is not my mother.

2. HOOK: Most of all I want their captain, Peter Pan. 'Twas he cut off my arm. I have waited long to shake his hand with this. [Luxuriating] Oh, I'll tear him!

SMEE [always ready for a chat]: Yet I have oft heard you say your hook was worth a score of hands, for combing the hair and other homely uses.

HOOK: If I was a mother I would pray to have my children born with this instead of that.

...And my Number One favorite "Peter Pan" quote, from a Lost Boy (which would be tragic, except that Wendy turns out to be unharmed)—

1. TOOTLES [gulping]: I did it. When ladies used to come to me in dreams I said 'Pretty mother,' but when she really came I shot her!

Free speech chill in Canada:Steyn, Levant fight government-sponsored tribunals

A Guest Post by NEIL FLAGG

It is my sincere pleasure and honor to have been asked by Ms. Eden to guest-post here on The Dawn Patrol! As a product of the secular-liberal Reform Jewish community who has made the rare transition to the pro-life camp, I have a fair bit in common with the host of this site, and a great deal of respect for the courage of Christians who dare to challenge the degraded cultural norms imposed by our nihilistic elites. I'm a full-time businessman, husband, and father of one (with a second due by the end of January), and a part-time blogger focusing on politics, culture, and public opinion in Canada. Blogroll or bookmark me at flaggman.wordpress.com.

Dawn asked me to write an entry on the topic of free speech in Canada, which has been a hot topic since Maclean's magazine — the Canadian equivalent of Time or Newsweek — was slapped with three "Human Rights" complaints by radical Islamic activists, for its publication of an excerpt from Mark Steyn's worldwide bestseller, America Alone, last year.

Established in the radical liberal era of the 1970s and early 1980s under the leadership of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Canada and each of its provinces has extra-judicial "Human Rights" tribunals created to deal with complaints of discrimination and bias. Without the constraints of the regular legal system, these tribunals can act on any hand-scrawled complaint, and enforce financial and restrictive penalties on defendants — defendants who have no right to petition for the dismissal of nuisance charges.

For more on Steyn's case, read his own recent editorial in Maclean's, "The Right Not To Be Offended." Even The Economist editorial board, which clearly despises Steyn and his ilk, leapt to his defense in this week's edition.

Now, for the first time, the banality of the Human Rights tribunals' work is being exposed for the world to see first-hand. Calgary-based conservative columnist and publisher Ezra Levant has been served with two complaints from local radical Islamists, and is being forced to defend himself for publishing the now-infamous "Mohammed cartoons" two years ago in his now-defunct biweekly magazine, The Western Standard.

Turning lemons into lemonade, Levant has taken the opportunity to attack the tribunal system itself, and, against the bureaucrats' unenforceable orders, has uploaded his appearance before "Human Rights Officer" Shirlene McGovern this past Friday to YouTube. Want to be inspired by a passionate, eloquent advocacy of free speech, free expression, and freedom of the press? Watch this, you won't be disappointed:



For more must-see video clips from this hearing, and more biting commentary, make sure to check out Mr. Levant's own blog, ezralevant.com. This is priceless video #8212; at once dramatic, brilliant, and illuminating — worth watching even for the body language of the inquisitor alone!

The lesson here is simple: free speech is under attack throughout the Western world, particularly by Islamists who are turning our own well-meaning but wrong-headed liberals into attack dogs for their own agenda.

Women like Ms. McGovern never even consider the fact that their sacred value, enshrined in no constitution — the right to not be offended— could be used as a weapon against the very bedrock of our free societies. Yet that is exactly what is happening, because progressives like McGovern hate sharp-edged conservative polemicists like Steyn and Levant more than they hate the avowed enemies of Western liberal civilization.

Greetings, LewRockwell.com readers

While I'm grateful for columnist Heather Carson's plug in her column on modesty, I'm afraid she sent you to the wrong place. This is my personal blog, which may or may not have modesty-related items on a given day. Feel free to stay and look around, but the material relevant to Carson's piece is best found at my book's Web site, thrillofthechaste.com.

My book, The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On, is about the transformative power that chastity brings to the life of a single young adult who has failed to find lasting love in sexual relationships. It is not about modesty per se, but it does include a "Clothes Encounters" chapter about how to dress in a way that lets your inner light shine.

On the side of 'The Angels ...'

Machinima master Charlemange applies her magic touch to a (Johnny Maestro and the) Crests classic, with stunning results:



The director writes: "The Crests are best known for their hit '16 Candles.' Their lead vocalist was Johnny Maestro and for a short time, Luther Vandross' older sister Patrica was a member of the group. This is a fictional story of Patrica appearing on TV with the guys."

You can see many more of Charlemange's remarkable videos on her YouTube channel.

Latest from Eden

Just wanted to say thanks again to those readers who have been praying for me since I had a tumultuous past month.

Things are going much better now. Although I still have the thyroidectomy to look forward to on the 29th, I have some great talks lined up as well, including a January 21 apppearance in my own back yard at the Diocese of Arlington's Theology on Tap. On January 22, I'll be appearing at March for Life-related events, including Blogs for Life and a tea party for pro-life bloggers at the Catholic Information Center.

On the job front, I'm waiting on confirmation of what would be a promising opportunity. In the meantime, I have an op-ed due to appear in National Review Online and I'm very happy to report that I've been invited to pitch the online version of The American Spectator.

As for my personal life, I really love living in Washington and am especially enjoying the area's rich Catholic culture. Building close friendships takes time (especially for an introvert like me— and if you think I'm kidding, I'm not), and I miss my friends  back in the New York City area very much. Thankfully, I'm gradually getting to know people here and am finding that DCers are generous with their invitations to social events.

Tonight, for example, I am going with a new friend to the monthly faith-sharing dinner held by a Catholic couple who invite one representative apiece from Protestantism and Catholicism to take turns briefly outlining a difference between the faiths. The floor is then opened up to questions from the 100-or-so guests, mostly young adults. Tonight's discussion will be on the Protestant concept of sola scriptura contra a Catholic concept heretofore unknown to me, sola verbum Dei.

'Bella' bellum: What Would Jesus Watch?

A Guest Post by SCOTT WADDELL

Republished with permission from Scott's blog, Cordelia's Shoes:

Dawn Eden praised the movie "Juno" and in passing made a few comparisons to "Bella" mentioning that she had no real interest in seeing it. This sparked some mildly heated exchanges, but thankfully nothing nasty like what happens in exchanges about a certain popular fantasy series whose name I will not utter here. Miss Eden also mentioned that, like me, she has not seen Mel's "The Passion of the Christ," and has no interest (also like me) in seeing that either. She said, "I can pray the Second Sorrowful Mystery without having to have the image of a Hollywood Jesus with his internal organs hanging out indelibly imprinted on my memory." Several posters took her to task for the "internal organs" part, but I think it is important not to skate past the "indelibly imprinted" part. Take Pink Floyd's album The Wall for instance. (Huh? Wha?)

Back in my early teens I was obsessed with The Wall. How obsessed? This was the Age of the Cassette, and I wore out three cassette recordings of this album listening to it. Then I saw the movie and it largely destroyed my interest. See, I had The Wall all worked out in my fevered brain and the movie with the silly Bob Geldof and the laughable pseudo-Nazi imagery turned it all into a joke. It was wonderful in my own imagination and someone else's hack interpretation imprinted itself indelibly on my mind.

I am squirming at this point to explain that I cannot listen to The Wall or most of the music I listened to back then. I wish I could say I was under the heavy influence of drugs but alas, I must confess that I went for this stuff with full command of my faculties which I regard as a pretty sad testament. I think many of us in our youth get hooked on various pop-culture phenomena like anime, fad music, boy-wizards, reality TV, gross-out humor, World of Warcaft, and such. If we are fortunate, we eventually get over it, but we feel like a burnt husk when we do.

As I've mentioned, I'm a-trying (frankly with mixed success so far) to reevaluate what I allow into my mind. My inspiration is an old and charming Medieval history professor who would say quirky things like how the greatest archaeologist of Roman ruins in England was the Luftwaffe. She also said that she spent most of her life acquiring all this furniture and knick-knacks in her house, and now she was spending the rest of her life trying to get rid of it. It's the same with pop culture. Watching the latest belch from pop-smog factory is like putting yet another a piece of cheap furniture in your mind. Unlike real furniture, it is even harder to get rid of under the idea that you can't unwatch it. There is plenty of good things to put in the mind, and I imagine "Bella" is one of them, but there also has to be interest, of which I have none. I'll not even bother with the contention that there is some duty to see it, or a dereliction of duty by not seeing it. "The Passion of the Christ" is similar but also includes the serious fact that it is directly connected to the Gospel narrative.

If I am blessed, I've got 40-50 more years on this earth. That's 40-50 Lenten seasons each with services recounting the crucifixion and who knows how many more times it comes up meditating on the sorrowful mysteries or simply looking at the crucifix. I don't care how good Mel's film is, I simply don't want images of his movie clanking around in my head like an old rickety table at Mass.

Persecuted Sudanese Christians desperately bid for asylum in Israel

A Guest Post by HEATHER ROBINSON

Reprinted from Ma’ariv, January 1, 2008

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Knesset recently that while he would like to grant asylum to 489 Muslim refugees from Sudan's Darfur region to protect them from genocide, he is inclined to send back some 2,300 refugees from southern Sudan, who are Christians. This would be a mistake. Both Sudanese groups face similar persecution back home, and the Christians, in particular, are natural allies of Israel.

The world’s attention on Darfur, where Sudan’s Islamist government and militias it supports have killed roughly 400,000 Muslim civilians since 2003, has diverted attention from the suffering in Sudan’s non-Muslim south. Between 1953 and 2005, the Khartoum regime killed as many as 3.5 million southerners, who are Christians and practitioners of tribal faiths.

True, in 2005 the Bush administration negotiated a peace agreement between Khartoum and the south. While that pact halted the slaughter of black Sudanese Christians, starvation and disease remain rampant, and conditions have deteriorated through neglect. In Darfur, some 300 nongovernmental organizations serve 1.5 million refugees. The few NGOs that had served 4 million refugees in southern Sudan have by and large either closed or decamped for Darfur.

“People in the south are starving and dying like flies under the trees,” says Simon Deng, an American human-rights activist who recently visited the region, where he was born. Mr. Deng, who was captured and enslaved at age 9, has also spent time with the Sudanese in Israel. “Hundreds of refugees told me, ‘If the Israeli government plans to send us back, we would ask one favor: shoot us here on the spot, rather than send us back to Sudan or Egypt."

Khartoum has not lived up to the terms of the peace agreement. Tens of thousands of Christians remain enslaved in defiance of the pact. John Eibner of Christian Solidarity International, an antislavery group, says at least one of the refugees in Israel is an escaped slave.

Deng notes that his fellow Sudanese Christians have a natural affinity for Israel. “They come from a country that considers Israel an enemy nation, but they are persecuted by that government.” Majier Pap, chairman of the Sudanese Refugees Association in Israel, describes his fellow Sudanese Christians as "Christian Zionists." He adds, “Because Israel is a democratic country, and we in Sudan are victim of fundamentalist Islam, we naturally identify with Israel.”

Deng and Pap both understand that Israel cannot open the floodgates to every persecuted African. But they pray that Jerusalem will not return these refugees to Sudan, a nation that metes out the death penalty for visiting Israel. Deporting them to Egypt, through which they escaped, is not much of an alternative: In December 2005, in front of the United Nations High Commission of Refugees office, Egyptian police bludgeoned to death more than 30 unarmed refugees, including women and children.

The 2005 peace agreement gave some autonomy to southern Sudan, and Sudanese Christians have high hopes of independence in the coming years. Israel can’t take on all the problems of Africa. But with some creative thinking and the stroke of a pen, it can save a few thousand, whose descendants will be counted as friends to the Jewish state.

Heather Robinson is a senior writer for the New York Daily News' Big Town, Big Dreams feature. She is the former managing editor of Town & Village News, a Manhattan weekly newspaper.

American Life League on Planned Parenthood's 'Mile High Club'

A good encapsulation of how our tax dollars support an industry that thrives on the failures of contraception:



By Planned Parenthood's own statistics (through its Guttmacher Institute research wing), six in ten women having abortions experienced a contraceptive failure.

Quote of the day

"History will judge [Gloria] Steinem and company very severely for their ethically obtuse indifference to the stream of working-class women and female subordinates whom Bill Clinton sexually harassed and abused, enabled by look-the-other-way and trash-the-victims Hillary."

— Camille Paglia

The importance of quoting Gilbert

After Mike Huckabee quoted G.K. Chesterton in his Iowa victory speech, a U.K. Telegraph reporter wrote that the great British author "is fast becoming the poet laureate of the political underdog."

With that in mind, a question for you: Given that the remarks of Chesterton, who died in 1936, remain apropos in this election year, what did he have to say about each of the current crop of presidential hopefuls? Which Chesterton quote could best be applied to Hillary Clinton, for example? What did he have to say about Obama, or McCain, or Huckabee himself?

Here's a page of choice G.K. quotations from the American Chesterton Society to get you started.

Begotten, not forgotten

"Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God," writes St. John in his first letter.

A few verses later, the apostle writes, "We love because He first loved us."

I believe it was my friend Steve Kellmeyer, author of Sex and the Sacred City, who noted — perhaps in explaining the Nicene Creed's use of the phrase "begotten not made" to describe Jesus — that a being can make something that is unlike itself, but can beget something only of the same kind as itself.

If the act of loving, then, makes us "begotten by God," it means that one's act of willing to love — for true love is always at root an act of will — automatically makes one like God.

At the same time, there is something paradoxical in that He loves us, we love, and it is then that we are "begotten by God." The act of begetting occurs not through His loving us, but through our returning His love.

The reflexive way in which God begets us and we are begotten by him is a mystery, yet I think in some way it images the communion of the Trinity.

I learned from Sex and the Sacred City that God's complete self-gift is automatic, in the sense that it is immediate, and it is continual. As Steve has noted in an article, "God is a family of persons whose life is love. In fact, the three persons of the Trinity are so closely intertwined in love that each Person can be distinguished from the other two only by these relations of begetting and generation. Father begets Son, Son is begotten of Father, Father and Son together generate Spirit, Spirit is generated by Father and Son."

God's automatic self-gift comes to mind when I ponder Jesus' agony in the garden of Gethsemane. He could not even think of man's sins without immediately sacrificing His own life to save us — hence His sweating blood ("the life is in the blood").

I am thinking about the topic of begetting because, this morning, I read a beautiful online journal entry by a college student who recently, through a Catholic youth retreat, came to understand that, although she had lost her virginity, she could regain the "gift" of it (her word) through Christ.

Some people refer to one's virginity as a "gift" for one's future spouse, and that is part of what the student meant. But what I found touching was not that the student saw her virginity as something she could give, but as something she had received as a gift.

I believe that whether one is a literal virgin or has been born anew in Christ, one should always view one's purity as a gift — not as something one has earned the right to possess through jealously guarding it or through "being good."

The student's words reminded me of something Sister Faustine of Jesus of the Apostolic Sisters of St. John said to me.

The nun said she advised young women who had engaged in sex outside of marriage that, by returning to God and his plan for their lives, they could receive "secondary virginity."

I interrupted and told her that I preferred the term "chastity" to "secondary virginity." The word "secondary" sounds like "second-string," I explained, and nobody wants to be a second-string anything.

"But I tell them that they can receive their virginity again," Sister Faustine replied.

I stared at her, probably looking the way Nicodemus did when He asked Jesus, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"

The nun patiently went on.

"When we give ourselves to Jesus," she said, "He gives us his."

I had never thought of it that way before. Uniting my heart to Mary, I had thought, could make me share in her virginity, but the even more present way to share in Jesus' virginity had not occurred to me.

It made perfect sense. We receive Jesus' body in the consecrated Host. In a real way, by choosing to unite ourselves to Him, we are renewed in His image.

Does that mean, then, that one should abuse one's body knowing it can be so renewed — to "sin that grace may abound," in Paul's words? "God forbid!"

What it does mean, I believe, is that in sharing in God's love, loving purely and chastely, I am begotten of God, and, in so being, I am like He who is begotten of Him.

The key, I think, is to remember that virginity. even if retained or regained in reserve for marriage, is not truly a gift one gives to one's spouse. Whether one is married, open to marriage, or consecrated to God, one's virginity can in truth — as with all embodiments of love — be given only to God.

A new Angle on cybercrime

Recent entries on the long-running Canadian Anglican news Web site The Web Elf Report (CaNN) state that the site has been targeted by a malicious hacker from "an Anglican office." CaNN Web Elf Binks promises details to come.

See you at Blogs for Life

The Family Research Council just announced the prelimary schedule of speakers at its annual Blogs for Life conference on the morning of the March for Life, January 22, and I'm honored to be included.

As mentioned earlier, I'll also be hosting a tea party for pro-life bloggers later that afternoon at the Catholic Information Center. Here again is the press release on that event, which includes details on how to register to receive a 15% discount on books and other items at the CIC on January 21-22:

DC's Catholic Information Center Boosts Bloggers Marching for Life

The Catholic Information Center, downtown Washington's "street parish" — thought to be the first U.S. Catholic bookstore on Facebook — is poised to be "Blogger Central" on the day of the 2008 March for Life, with free wireless Internet, a 15% discount for pro-life bloggers, and a tea party, plus celebrity book and DVD signings.

"Our store and chapel have traditionally been a respite stop for March-for-Life participants," noted CIC manager Kevin Jones. "This year, we wanted to do something more, so—since we already offer free wireless internet—we decided to create some special incentives to encourage marchers to show their support for the Culture of Life on the web."

The 15% discount for pro-life bloggers will apply all day on January 21-22. To receive the discount, pro-life bloggers must register in advance by e-mailing their name and blog URL to info@cicdc.org by Friday, January 18. On the day of the march, those who have registered may give their name to the CIC cashier to receive the discount on anything the store sells, including books, rosaries, jewelry, prayer cards, religious decorations, and stationery.

For the purpose of this discount, and to encourage pro-lifers to have a strong Web presence, the CIC is defining a "pro-life blog" as any family-friendly Web site that actively promotes the culture of life. This includes MySpace and Facebook pages, so long as they contain a prominently displayed pro-life item.

The bookstore recently augmented its own Web site, www.cicdc.org, with a "Catholic Information Center" Facebook page — believed to be the first-ever Facebook fan club for a U.S. Catholic bookstore.

Bloggers who visit the CIC during the afternoon of January 22 will find a special treat: a tea party immediately following the March for Life, from 3-6 p.m., hosted by Dawn Patrol blogger Dawn Eden. Eden, who has appeared on EWTN's "Life on the Rock," will be signing copies of her book The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On, which will be available for 25% off the cover price.

"I can't wait to meet fellow pro-life bloggers from around the country and connect faces to names," said Eden. "Many of us are already planning to come to the Blogs for Life conference at the Family Research Council earlier that morning, before the March. The tea party is a great chance to relax and get to know each other better after the long day and, thanks to the wi-fi, do some 'liveblogging' for the folks back home."

The CIC is located at 1501 K Street NW, and will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the day of the march. Mass will be in the chapel at 12:05 p.m., and the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed there from 1-4 p.m. For more information, contact CIC manager Kevin Jones, (202) 783-2062, or e-mail info@cicdc.org.

Full schedule of CIC events supporting the March for Life:

Monday, January 21

All day – Pro-life bloggers will receive a 15% discount. To receive the discount, send your name and blog URL to info@cicdc.org by Friday, January 18.

1 p.m. – Joyce Zounis, a seven-time "consumer of choice," will appear at the CIC to discuss the change of heart that led to her appearing alongside Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade, in the new DVD documentary I Was Wrong, about women who regret their abortions. She will be joined at the appearances by two of her friends, fellow post-abortive women who have likewise gone public with their experiences: Cynthia, whose story appears along with Joyce's in the book Motherhood Interrupted, and Millie, whose story is featured in the book Real Abortion Stories. Millie also directs the National Abortion Helpline.

Tuesday, January 22

All day – Pro-life bloggers will receive a 15% discount. To receive the discount, send your name and blog URL to info@cicdc.org by Friday, January 18.

3-6 p.m. – Dawn Eden, author of The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On, will host a "blogger tea party" and sign copies of her book, available for 25% off the cover price.

Quote of the day

"In the 2004 presidential debates, Senator John Kerry never sounded more ghoulish then when he was defending his position on abortion, often in the face of perfectly reasonable-sounding voters who were not happy with their country's regime of abortion-on-demand -- at any time, for any reason whatsoever.

"Democrats try various rhetorical devices to get around this voter discomfort. They say that abortions should be safe, legal, and, uh, rare. Or that they are personally opposed to abortion, but... they seek NARAL support anyway. Or that abortion is a matter that should be between a woman, her own personal Jesus, and her abortion doctor. Or, abortion is a matter best left up to conscience, not law.

"The final argument is darkly comic because it assumes a private notion of 'conscience' that those same politicians apply nowhere else."

— Jeremy Lott, "The Planned Parenthood Primary," The American Spectator

'I asked the waiter for iodine ... but I dined all alone'

A treat for those whose eyes are glazing over from all the campaign coverage on TV: Guy Marks' almost unbearably catchy "Loving You Has Made Me Bananas" —



Here are the lyrics, in their entirety (sans repeats):

Oh, your red scarf matches your eyes,
You closed your cover before striking,
Father had the shipfitter blues,
Loving you has made me bananas,

Oh, you burnt your finger that evening,
While my back was turned,
I asked the waiter for iodine,
But I dined all alone

Thanks to Kevin Walsh for the tip. I had never heard the tune, although it charted in the United States in 1968 and in Britain ten years later.

And a special Guy Marks bonus, from "The Dean Martin Show" — his Gary Cooper is truly uncanny:

Winning Notre Dame

Wonderful news! I have accepted an invitation to speak on March 28 at the annual Edith Stein Project conference at the University of Notre Dame.

Here is an updated list my confirmed speaking dates for the year so far. I'll be speaking about my book, The Thrill of the Chaste, and the joy that goes beyond pleasure.

My bookings are through the Ambassador Agency.

January 21

Talk on "Chastity: An Alternative Lifestyle," Arlington Diocese Theology on Tap at Pat Troy's, Alexandria, Va., 7:30 p.m., free.

January 24

Holy Name Catholic Church, Beech Grove, Ind., 7 p.m., free.

February 12

Legatus chapter meeting, Wilmington, Del., private event.

February 29

St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church young-adult dinner, Spring Hill, Fla., 6:30 p.m.

March 7-9

Church of the Holy Communion's Parish Lenten Retreat, Hendersonville, N.C.

March 28

Edith Stein Project's third annual conference, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind., details TBA.

March 29

Pre-Cana Day, Cathedral of St. Patrick, Norwich, Conn.

April 19

Connecticut Christian Singles Network seminar, details TBA, 10 a.m.

May 15

Seattle Chesterton Society, details TBA.

Pending (not yet confirmed, or details not yet available): Washington, D.C., and New Haven, Conn., college dates (February); London, Ontario, high school tour (April), Alaska tour (May), more Seattle dates (May).

Buy The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On at Amazon.com.

She's about a mover

Here I am earlier this evening, feigning sleep after spending a few hours unpacking boxes in my new co-op in the Foggy Bottom section of Washington, D.C. Actually, it just takes the sight of all the boxes left to unpack to make me tired.

When I left the Daily News last June to move to the D.C. area to work for the Cardinal Newman Society, I had to put my Morristown, N.J., condo on the market, after owning it for only a year. Most of my belongings went into storage and I lived out of boxes for six months in a furnished rental in Northern Virginia before finding the Foggy Bottom co-op.

Then, my Cardinal Newman job ended December 11, just one week before the co-op's closing. Thankfully, my mortgage had already gone through. Although it would eat up my entire savings, the combined monthly fees were less than what I was paying in rent and utilities, so I went ahead with the purchase. The movers have brought over my stuff from storage, so I'm doing some unpacking before moving myself in from my Virginia abode in a couple of days.

When it comes to stressful life events, I really hit the trifecta last month — losing my job, moving, and learning I would need a thyroidectomy. I'm very thankful that this month is shaping up much better so far. The opportunity has come up for some exciting and meaningful employment (will share more about that once it's confirmed), and I've been blessed by the prayers and outreach of friends, readers, and family.

One very happy development is that my sister, Jennifer, is flying in from her home in the Midwest to be with me when I get my operation on the 29th of this month. I think it will be the most time we've spent together since we stayed at the Gramercy Park Hotel to celebrate New Year's Eve 2003. That's us in the park at right; I'm the shorter one. You can see how happy I was — we had a beautiful time.

Speaking of my being a bit vertically challenged (actually 5-foot-3, but somehow I look shorter), that reminds me that I managed to finally throw out some old letters tonight.

In The Thrill of the Chaste, I wrote:

One way that I’ve tried to hold on to past relationships is by saving letters from former boyfriends. It didn’t matter whether I was the one who initiated the breakup or not—every mushy note, every cheesy birthday card, every casual e-mail was preserved.

A few years ago—about the same time that I began to confront my fear of intimacy—I began to realize that by saving those letters, I was reinforcing my own insecurity. It was as though I felt I needed proof that someone, somewhere, had once cared about me. By holding on to such trophies, I was holding on to the fear that no man would ever care about me again. So, little by little, I started to destroy those old notes, cards, and e-mails whenever I would find them.

To actually destroy a letter from a former boyfriend felt terrible. I would sometimes cry as I did it. It was like the boyfriend’s feelings for me were somehow still alive until I killed them by tearing up his letter—or, if it was an e-mail, hitting Delete.

But once the dirty deed was done, you know what? Relief.

It was as if a weight had been taken off my shoulders. I could finally let go.

A friend reminded me of that passage yesterday, saying it had helped him. He added an observation that I wish I had thought of: If one hopes to be married, holding onto such letters is disrespectful to one's future spouse. It implies that I am unable to give my whole heart; someone else still has a piece of it.

I felt a twinge of hypocrisy at my friend's complimenting my advice. Hours earlier, while unpacking my old files, I had discovered numerous letters that escaped the great purge I had described in my book.

With that in mind, arriving at my new place today to continue unpacking, I sucked in my gut and prepared to toss any missives from old flames that turned up.

It wasn't long before I found a few letters from a relationship that ended over ten years ago.

It really does seem silly to hold onto such things for that long.

I tried to avoid reading the letters before stuffing them in a garbage bag along with the paper that had wrapped my dishes, but my eyes fell upon one line.

It said in boyish block lettering, "DEAR MUNCHKIN."

Why my landlord should get a realtor

So that I don't have to show his apartment when I'm half asleep on a Saturday morning.

Man (Pentagon contractor): How's the water pressure?

Me: Good. Well, except for the shower. But that shouldn't matter to you, being a man. I mean, men don't really care much about shower pressure, because of not wanting it on their hair. Not that you would worry about that, I mean.

P.S. For those commenters who thought I was being cruel, the man actually had a good head of hair — that was why I said he didn't have to worry about hair loss. In any case, it was not my business to editorialize. I was just running off at the mouth because water pressure is not something I think about when I'd rather be getting an extra hour of shut-eye.

Glorious mystery

Father Stan Pondo of Holy Name Catholic Church in Beech Grove, Ind., uses a Father Brown mystery by G.K. Chesterton to shed light on Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the publican in a homily [right-click to download audio].

It was a delight to discover the homily on Holy Name's Web site, as I'll be speaking at that church on January 24 and didn't know the pastor was a fellow Chesterton fan.

Quote of the day

"There is one view very common among the liberal-minded which is exceedingly fatiguing to the clear-headed. It is symbolised in the sort of man who says, 'These ruthless bigots will refuse to bury me in consecrated ground, because I have always refused to be baptised.' A clear-headed person can easily conceive his point of view, in so far as he happens to think that baptism does not matter. But the clear-headed will be completely puzzled when they ask themselves why, if he thinks that baptism does not matter, he should think that burial does matter. If it is in no way imprudent for a man to keep himself from a consecrated font, how can it be inhuman for other people to keep him from a consecrated field? It is surely much nearer to mere superstition to attach importance to what is done to a dead body than to a live baby. 1 can understand a man thinking both superstitious. or both sacred; but I cannot see why he should grumble that other people do not give him as sanctities what he regards as superstitions. He is merely complaining of being treated as what he declares himself to be. It is as if a man were to say, 'My persecutors still refuse to make me king, out of mere malice because I am a strict republican.' Or it is as if he said, 'These heartless brutes are so prejudiced against a teetotaler, that they won't even give him a glass of brandy.'"

— G.K. Chesterton, The Superstition of Divorce (1920)

DC's Catholic Information Center Boosts Bloggers Marching for Life

I'm delighted to announce that I am volunteering for Catholic Information Center, which took me up on my suggestion that it reach out to bloggers attending the March for Life. Following is a press release I wrote announcing the center's special events to coincide with the march. See you at the tea party!

The Catholic Information Center, downtown Washington's "street parish" — thought to be the first U.S. Catholic bookstore on Facebook — is poised to be "Blogger Central" on the day of the 2008 March for Life, with free wireless Internet, a 15% discount for pro-life bloggers, and a tea party, plus celebrity book and DVD signings.

"Our store and chapel have traditionally been a respite stop for March-for-Life participants," noted CIC manager Kevin Jones. "This year, we wanted to do something more, so—since we already offer free wireless internet—we decided to create some special incentives to encourage marchers to show their support for the Culture of Life on the web."

The 15% discount for pro-life bloggers will apply all day on January 21-22. To receive the discount, pro-life bloggers must register in advance by e-mailing their name and blog URL to info@cicdc.org by Friday, January 18. On the day of the march, those who have registered may give their name to the CIC cashier to receive the discount on anything the store sells, including books, rosaries, jewelry, prayer cards, religious decorations, and stationery.

For the purpose of this discount, and to encourage pro-lifers to have a strong Web presence, the CIC is defining a "pro-life blog" as any family-friendly Web site that actively promotes the culture of life. This includes MySpace and Facebook pages, so long as they contain a prominently displayed pro-life item.

The bookstore recently augmented its own Web site, www.cicdc.org, with a "Catholic Information Center" Facebook page — believed to be the first-ever Facebook fan club for a U.S. Catholic bookstore.

Bloggers who visit the CIC during the afternoon of January 22 will find a special treat: a tea party immediately following the March for Life, from 3-6 p.m., hosted by Dawn Patrol blogger Dawn Eden. Eden, who has appeared on EWTN's "Life on the Rock," will be signing copies of her book The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On, which will be available for 25% off the cover price.

"I can't wait to meet fellow pro-life bloggers from around the country and connect faces to names," said Eden. "Many of us are already planning to come to the Blogs4Life conference at the Family Research Council earlier that morning, before the March. The tea party is a great chance to relax and get to know each other better after the long day and, thanks to the wi-fi, do some 'liveblogging' for the folks back home."

The CIC is located at 1501 K Street NW, and will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the day of the march. Mass will be in the chapel at 12:05 p.m., and the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed there from 1-4 p.m. For more information, contact CIC manager Kevin Jones, (202) 783-2062, or e-mail info@cicdc.org.

Full schedule of CIC events supporting the March for Life:

Monday, January 21

All day – Pro-life bloggers will receive a 15% discount. To receive the discount, send your name and blog URL to info@cicdc.org by Friday, January 18.

1 p.m. – Joyce Zounis, a seven-time "consumer of choice," will appear at the CIC to discuss the change of heart that led to her appearing alongside Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade, in the new DVD documentary I Was Wrong, about women who regret their abortions. She will be joined at the appearances by two of her friends, fellow post-abortive women who have likewise gone public with their experiences: Cynthia, whose story appears along with Joyce's in the book Motherhood Interrupted, and Millie, whose story is featured in the book Real Abortion Stories. Millie also directs the National Abortion Helpline.

Tuesday, January 22

All day – Pro-life bloggers will receive a 15% discount. To receive the discount, send your name and blog URL to info@cicdc.org by Friday, January 18.

3-6 p.m. – Dawn Eden, author of The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On, will host a "blogger tea party" and sign copies of her book, available for 25% off the cover price.