Seven Links

What time is it?! MEME TIME!

Emily at Day in the Life tagged me!

1. Most Beautiful Post

"Mary's Vapor Rub"

2. Most Popular Post

"Beyaz Yourself"

3. Most Controversial Post

One of my most controversial posts is also my most popular post, "Beyaz Yourself... In the same vein is my recent post, "Freedom" for the Say Yes to Life blog carnival.

4. Most Helpful Post

If by "most helpful," you mean "most utilitarian" and "most recently popular through Google searches:" "How to write a letter to someone on a retreat "

5. Post Whose Success Surprised You

"Accept them, forgive them, let it go"

6. A Post You Feel Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved

"Mass-ive Disruption"


7. Post you’re Most Proud of

My reversion story, "Young Woman at the Well." I could do it differently, but I like that I kind of spit it out over the course of an hour instead of honing it and making it look practiced.


Please join me!


Paige at S'aint Easy
Lisa at "nunspeak" (and on Twitter)
William at New Media Catholic (and on Twitter)
Fire of Thy Love (and on Twitter)
Ciska at This Journey That's Called Life

I'm more than Pinterested - 7QT, Volume 38

Click here to read the original post at ConversionDiary.com


*1*

I pulled a muscle patting myself on the back an hour ago.

Not really, but I am happy that I posted three "substance" posts and one mini-announcement about Fire of Thy Love's Say Yes to Life blog carnival this week!

*2*

Speaking of the blog carnival, here are the contributions:

• Fire of Thy Love: My Post, The Truth About Sex 
• Fire of Thy Love: My Wife’s Post, Her Take on NFP  
• Day in the Life:YES to Life and No to Birth Control
• Isidore’s Digital Doorway: Say Yes! To Life 
• Team Orthodoxy 
• Startling the Day: Freedom 
• The Fringe Economist: Dissecting the Lies of the Pro-Choice Movement 
• Accepting Abundance: Six Years Later 
• The Corner with a View: Evil Don’t Look Like Anything 
• The Nerdy Wife: Children are Always Blessings 
• Rowles Family Four: Summer Loving 
• The Emmaus Road: Why the Pill is a Problem

*3*

Leah responded to my reaction to the Turing Test. She concluded that the test was ethical because it allowed for those being tested to know the potential consequences of their participation.

I respectfully point out that her test-making ethics were not in question. It's the intent of the test, where the rubber meets the road, that concerned me and Stacy (and Bryan). We didn't want to fill in a digital bubble to guess what someone's belief systems probably were when so many factors go into our faith.

*4*

My beau and I can't wait for World's Toughest Fixes to come back with new episodes... however, I fear this TV show has gone the way of many excellent shows that came before it. It's like Freaks and Geeks all over again. 

This guy cracks me up.

*5*

I think I decided I'm going to submit for this sketchbook project. I need to get back in the habit of indulging my visual creativity and this is a great kick-start. On top of that, I can attempt to use it as a forum for Christian witnessing! 

We all "know" what "most" artists feel about religion? Their stereotypical reputation precedes them... I will submit a sketchbook full of non-tacky, Christian messages.

That is, if I can get around to filling one. I'm almost done with my original.








*6*

Kendra, Emily and I discovered this week that our love for Pinterest may have reached obsession. Their servers were down for a full hour (I know, right?) and, as Kendra pointed out, we had to hold open tabs with those items we wanted to "pin" until it was back up and running.

Sound intriguing to you, run, don't walk, and get your own Pinterest account.

If this makes you think #FirstWorldProblems, then I will direct you to this link.

Preview: The Domino's Pizza tracker is not working. Now I don't know when to put my pants on.

*7*

Did you have time to hop over to see the Bright Maidens topic this week? Fr. Corapi and the importance of Christian witnessing.


Trista's, "Believe Me If You Like"
Julie's, "There’s A Wideness in God’s Mercy, And No Measuring Tape Can Reach"
Mine, "What do John Mayer and the Catholic Church have in common?"


Paige at S'aint Easy
Tony at Outside the Asylum

Say Yes To Life -- Freedom

Today, the National Women’s Law Center will be co-hosting a blog carnival with Planned Parenthood to discuss the upcoming decision by the Department of Health and Human Services on which preventive services will be covered without a co-pay by all new health insurance plans.  They are hoping and actively working to get artificial contraception, namely the prescription birth control pill, on that list, and have titled their event “Birth Control: We’ve Got you Covered.”

So this is the response. A pro-life, open-to-life blog carnival. Click here for more.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've already ranted about the ridiculous birth control commercials that feed our culture with untrue, blissful ideas of "freedom." Whether it be condoms, "the pill," an IUD, or the shots that trick your body into thinking it's pregnant, I stand in opposition to their fake "promises."

What about the flip side? What about the results of these commercials and the messages pushed by the birth control agenda? Who do they affect?

I've heard birth control be likened to the "greatest invention of the 20th century," especially for women. I've heard the arguments about how the existence of birth control is something I'm "just going to have to accept." I've been accused of neglecting to think about the poorer community or of judging those who do not have my beliefs and therefore don't agree with me.

I've been asked questions like, "Don't you know what having a lot of kids does to a woman?" Questions like, "Are you naive enough to think that you can be married and not have sex when you want to?" Things like, "What about over-population?" And finally, "Don't you think you should keep your opinion to your unmarried self?"

To the last question, I can only smile.

It saddens me to think that the culture of convenience and reverence to "science" and technology above all else has caused people in our society to neglect some of the most basic and natural parts of life.

Secularism tends to make some people more comfortable. God gave us the ability to find Him, no matter how hard we try to avoid Him, so I'll stay secular for five minutes.

Sex between a man and a woman has several results and purposes:

• It bonds a man and a woman.
• It can provide pleasure for a man and a woman.
• It can result in a child; it always has the possibility of producing a child, no matter what time of the month it occurs or what precautions have been made to prevent a child from being produced.

These are biological results, broken down to their most simple forms.

I don't own the rights.

Chemical or barrier contraceptives attempt to divide an entire purpose from sex. This is spiritually unhealthy for a couple because they are interrupting something that would otherwise be a natural expression of their life outside of the bedroom.

Having sex as often as possible with reckless abandon, or anything more than in the infertile times of the month, while using contraception isn't a total example of Love for the simple fact that it leaves out part of sex's purpose.

It also invites lust, which would otherwise be left out if the couple were totally open to creating a new life.

No one should suggest we force people to have sex without contraceptives; that's impossible and unethical. But let's be faithful to our beliefs, not defeatist because our 7 billion person world is divided on one of our opinions.

"Keep your opinions to your unmarried self."

Nope. I explored this topic and completely changed my opinion of it. I'm now a young woman who looks forward to NFP and the discomfort that will accompany the abounding bond that it will bring with God and my husband.

Follow up: I recognize that many women take birth control as medical treatment for illness. While I still think there are alternatives for almost all cases, I recognize I am not in their position. If I was in this situation, I think I would try to follow NFP charting, while on the contraceptive medicine, so I can still keep the value for procreative sex, though my chances of producing a child are far less.

Say Yes to Life Blog Carnival Tomorrow!

Hello friends!

Tomorrow I will be posting a piece related to Fire of Thy Love's "Say Yes to Life Blog Carnival."

 

To post something to the carnival, enter your information in the form on this page.

To post the image I have here, paste this into your HTML side:

 <a href="http://fireofthylove.com/2011/07/16/y2l/%E2%80%9D"><img src="http://fireofthylove.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/y2lbanner2.png" /></a>

Also, LIKE Fire of Thy Love on Facebook. They need 6 more likes before they can personalize their username... I'm geeked out and excited to help them do that, so LIKE THEM!

What do John Mayer and the Catholic Church have in common?

Fr. John Corapi and the importance of Christian witnessing

"There’s A Wideness in God’s Mercy, And No Measuring Tape Can Reach" by Julie at The Corner with a View
""Believe Me If You Like." Trista at Not a Minx, a Moron, or a Parasite

"What do John Mayer and the Catholic Church have in common?" by Elizabeth at Startling the Day

The "Bright Maidens" were originally three from the oft-mentioned, widely-speculated upon demographic of young, twenty-something Catholic women. Now, we all take up the cross to dispel the myths and misconceptions. Welcome!

John Mayer is at least $600 richer because of me, not that he needs it. I've been to nine John Mayer concerts over the last ten years and I own every track he has ever written or on which he has played.

But I haven't heard his voice in twelve months.

More than a year ago, John Mayer lived up to the reputation I always knew he deserved and acted like a jerk in an interview. He spoke inappropriately about his ex-girlfriends, Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston, and burned himself into our memories forever as the musician with a dirty mind, bad taste, and loose lips.

You can see why I was so attracted to him.

I didn't stop listening to him on purpose; remember my past: I have been a devoted fan for almost half of my life and I wouldn't boycott his music because of his off-stage behavior.

However, every other time one of his songs would come on, I would skip to another song or change the radio station. I lost my taste for his music because I could not disassociate his music from his words.

The situation with Fr. Corapi is two-fold. He lost his revered reputation because of an accusation and the Church was once again stained by scandal, though they tried to distance themselves from it immediately.

The difference between my former music idol and this situation is a matter of innocence vs conjecture. However, both John Mayer and Fr. Corapi and the Catholic Church are stained with the same results. John Mayer definitely said the awful things that he said. We don't know if Fr. Corapi did what he did, but in both cases, the connotations of the figures are corrupted.

Another difference: importance. John Mayer will still sell records and his image is unrelated to faith or salvation. The Catholic Church has seen 2000 years of scandal and unrest, yet it still survives.

According to a PEW study, roughly 10% of all Americans are "former Catholics," perhaps the largest identifiable demographic of "faith." This is scary.

I know several former Catholics who left in the face of scandal. They made decisions that are far more complicated than I can imagine, so I'm not condemning them. The truth is, however, they left Catholicism in a time of unrest.

We need to be like this, standing strong among the secular.

On a micro scale, I know many "former Catholics" who left for reasons that seemed to be unrelated to the scandals. When I speak with them and they mention "growing up Catholic," they seem to brush it off as if they grew up in Alaska and now they live in Hawaii.

It was just a change of address. The teachings were just too ridiculous, like the weather was just too harsh, and a move was necessary.

I venture to guess that these individuals grew up in a home and decade where the teachings were THUS, The End. Take it or leave it, no explanation needed or provided.

We've confronted hundreds of these decades over the centuries and we've seen millions of faith-casualties fall in their wake, so this is a reasonable guess.

It's time to stop making these snap decisions and to stop fostering an environment that allows uninformed people to exile themselves.

Micro

Yesterday, I attended one of my great aunt's funerals, over which her priest brother presided. He is the most "conservative" priest I've ever encountered and I know his preachings turn off a lot of listeners. He asserted that he would not "put [his] sister in heaven today, because there is a reality of Purgatory that the Church has taught for 2000 years."

The tension in the church was palpable. At the Wake the night before, my great aunt's son spoke about his mother sending him a sign of a bluebird to let him know she was in heaven with his father. He asserted that she was in heaven and my great uncle the priest asserted that she probably was not.

Rather than explaining the teaching of Purgatory as the Church teaches (including the complicated concept of time and how it is a human relativism) the priest ticked off a lot of people on a sad day. These moments that priests have to approach their sheep on a micro level are critical for the Church's image.

The macro situations involve scandal and accusations, like those of Fr. Corapi. We lose brothers and sisters in the Church to both because of a weakening of our community. We, the survivors, can't give up.

If you occasionally miss Sunday Mass, if you go to daily Mass, if you occasionally go to Mass: let this be our call to help bring others back. We are a community, one billion strong, and if we let our brothers and sisters stand on sand, we run the risk of following them.

Ask questions, learn more about the faith from several Catholic sources, listen to those parts of the Mass you might glaze over, pray 5 more minutes today. Take some steps and think of it as a rescue mission for your friends and family.

You'll be there when they have questions of their own. We're in this together, so start the hike back to Christ's Church.

"Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me." -Matthew 5:11

Philosophical chatting

Ahh, Gchat! You weren't the first chat vehicle, but you sure do provide a forum for some deep discussions.

As you may have seen, Leah of Unequally Yoked is holding a Turing Test for atheists and Christians to participate. Julie emailed a bunch of Catholic bloggers, informing us of the need for participation and Stacy wrote back with a whole post dedicated to why she cannot take the test.

It's a brilliant explanation and I encourage all of you to read it before continuing.

Did you read it? Okay, good. Now you can read my cop-out.

I read Stacy's explanation and wondered how Stacy managed to reach into my head and tidy up the thoughts that were going through my head when I was struggling with Leah's test! I simply could not vote in Leah's test and it was bothering me.

Don't feel trapped.

First of all, I was a little afraid, which can be a great challenge for faithful individuals. Fear is okay; I assert that it's a good thing. A fearless person of faith hasn't explored enough, if you ask me.

I responded to Stacy with the handy "reply all," thanking her for her words, which also reached Bryan of Calling All Witnesses. He used the ever-powerful Gchat to spark our own response.

Please forgive me for my laziness, but I'm just going to share it with you:

Bryan: Hey! I just saw  your e-mail and I had to log on and tell you that I had that SAME  feeling too!! If we're all feeling that way, there's gotta be something  to that... :)

Me: I agree!

Bryan: There was one that I read and my first reaction was "man, that's gotta be an atheist, because they are way off!"
But  then I thought, "Well, what if that really was a Christian, and they are  either just getting started, or haven't formed their beliefs properly  just yet?"

me:  Exactly! I was thinking the same thing as Stacy and you, but I didn't want to  back down because it would look like fear of the unknown to Leah.
When you break it down like that, you realize Leah might be trying to point out  (either knowingly or unknowingly) that any disagreements among  individual Christians proves that Christianity is so flawed that it  can't be true.

Bryan: Good point. And  in the end, it's not about what you or I think about what the Church  teaches (in the case of Catholicism), it's what the Church in fact  teaches... And why.

me: Bingo.
There  is an ultimate Truth. Getting a consensus on the fact that people  disagree on what that ultimate Truth is doesn't disprove that the  ultimate Truth exists.

Bryan:  Yes! There were a lot of people that thought the Sun revolved around  the Earth.  And when there was disagreement, it didn't mean that there  was no Truth... It meant that the ultimate Truth was that the Earth  revolved around the Sun. Fr. John has a great line about the Earth being round...He says: "You can want the Earth to be flat all you want, but you wanting it to be that way, doesn't make it so!

Bryan pointed out that "Truth transcends time..."  Even if there hasn't been enough time to fully discover the Truth, it still exists. He said that, for example, "'It takes the sperm from a man and an egg from a woman to produce a baby" is true for all people, at all times... two sperm together won't produce a baby and neither will two eggs."

As Stacy pointed out, Leah took care to be fair and keep things balanced in this little experiment. I don't think she purposefully targeted faith as if it's an object sitting in a room, waiting to be ridiculed, as evidenced by her commitment to understand her boyfriend's Catholic faith over the last year.

We should take these strides to understand one another, but we need to recognize that in many ways, we're not speaking the same language with the same definitions.

"Where (I) am going you know the way."(John 14:4)

Arr'ray Pottah - 7QT, Volume 37

Click here to read the original post at ConversionDiary.com

*1*

I have to be awake in 4 hours for work... because I just got home from watching my childhood end.

I saw the final chapter of Harry Potter close onscreen tonight (this morning?). I am grateful, as my sisters said, that the books will always be there, preserved, for me to read.

*2*

This is the first midnight showing I attended and as it was the final opportunity, I had to dress up! I have more photos than this and I will post them after I sleep, but here I am in my car mirror.

... oh no wait, that's Rita Skeeter after she went brunette (you didn't know she went brunette? You must have missed that part of the book...)

UPDATE: I was not happy with most of the pictures we took before going to King's Cross, I mean, the movie theater, so I only have this photo of my sisters (Hermione and Tonks). Tonks is doing her pig nose, obviously:

*3*

The rest of this 7QT will be quotes from my sisters chronically quotable nannyees (those kids whom she nannies). All names have been changed:

My sister and the kids were talking about getting shots at the doctor.

Hermione (what? I'm sticking with a theme, here): "One time I had a shot and it felt really good."

Ron: "It couldn't feel as good as a hot dog would feel. Or a piece of pizza."

*4*

Friend from pool, Harry: "Have you ever been to the solar system?"

My sister: "No I've never been."

Harry: "Well, I'm going to go one day, I just have to pick a day."

Harry walks away.

Ron: "I'm going tell him that he needs to wait until he's a grown up because he might forget his oxygen suit."

*5*

Hermione: "What if your nose is underneath of your mouth?"

*6*

About an 80-year-old woman at the pool with notoriously healthy-sized teeth:

Ron: "That lady never frowns!"

*7*

Hermione to my sister: "I'm splashing water up your boogery nose!"

Tim McGraw sang to me

He really did! No, he did not point in my general direction. He pointed DIRECTLY AT ME, looked me DIRECTLY IN THE EYE, and sang the chorus to "Just to See You Smile" RIGHT TO MY FACE.

I was about three feet from the end of his pointing finger.

This is no mistake. Tim McGraw. Pointed. At. Me.

That is all I can think about as I look at these photos from the night. Forgive me, I only have a cell phone camera and an SLR. I lost my mom's sunglasses during the concert, so I'm really glad I decided not to bring my SLR.

This was about 60 seconds before he sang to me.

The Band Perry -- I adore them!

Luke Bryan

He was a lot of fun!

The man, the myth, the legend: Tim McGraw

Is this related to Catholicism? Nope. Did I have an amazing time watching the talent that God gave these people utilized about a yard from my face? Yes. Now it's related.

7 Quick Takes Friday, Volume 36

Click here to read the original post at ConversionDiary.com

*1*

he Little Mermaid has always been my favorite Disney Princess movie until a college freshman friend told me that "those who love the Little Mermaid have a deep-seeded, unquenchable satisfaction. They can't be happy where they are." Thank you freshman year, Psych 101.

Well, it's official. I'm Ariel, according to Disney itself! Their description sounds nothing like that of the 18-year-old friend of mine:

My favorite part is "just a bit headstrong." Nuh uh!

*2*

n my July-is-for-saving-money vein:

PlasticJungle.com

That is all.

*3*

n my July-is-for-saving-money vein:

Restaurant.com

I used a gift certificate from here to go to a restaurant, saved more than 50% (well, I only spent about $4 for $25 of a $44 bill and someone special wouldn't let me pay for the rest). I'm glad I saved that much because I also ruled out that restaurant as a NEVER GO THERE AGAIN place.

*4*

ore July-is-for-saving-money:

AllYou.com and RetailMeNot.com

*5*

hat have I noticed? This saving-money experiment is actually wreaking havoc on my brain. I can't stop thinking of ways to save money and that's starting to bug me.

Also, I keep finding myself prepared to buy something, just because I have a coupon. That's no good, the idea was to SAVE money. Beware of that.

*6*

ur birthday present to my father was tickets to the Darius Rucker concert here in Richmond and it was a BLAST. What a beautiful, talented man!

It was about 90 degrees when the sun finally went down, so we were pretty toasty. For your information (and playlist-making pleasure), he played the following set list:

• Love will do that
• Alright
• All I want
• Don't think I don't think about it
• The craziest thing
• I got nothin'
• I only wanna be with you (from Hootie and the Blowfish days)
• Southern state of mind
• Let her cry (from Hootie and the Blowfish days)
• You never even called me by my name!
• It won't be like this for long
• Space Cowboy (Steve Miller Band)
• This
• Come back song
• Family tradition (Hank Williams)
• History in the making
• In a big way 
• One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor (no idea...)
• Purple rain (yes, THAT Purple Rain, by Prince)

Before the concert began, my family and I made lists of six songs we "bet" he would play. The winner got to pick the ice cream cake flavor.... my dad won! I guess he knows Darius best.

*7*

ll of the Bright Maidens and Bright Men who contributed this week had interesting takes on the topic of Tattoos! Read below or see here:

Trista, "In Memory of"
Elizabeth, "Needle and the damage done"
Emily, "No Tattoos For Me"
Paige, "Inklings..."
Chloe, "An Echoing Breeze"
Stacy, "My Body My Choice - Casey Anthony's 'Bella Vita'"

Julie is still working on hers and I'll post it when she has it!

Also, do you tweet? Tweet with us @BrightMaidens :)

Needle and the damage done

Tattoos

"Ain't Tat Something" by Julie at The Corner with a View
Trista at Not a Minx, a Moron, or a Parasite

"Needle and the damage done" by Elizabeth at Startling the Day

The "Bright Maidens" were originally three from the oft-mentioned, widely-speculated upon demographic of young, twenty-something Catholic women. Now, we all take up the cross to dispel the myths and misconceptions. Welcome!

How appropriate that we review a topic like tattoos after one of the most shirtless days of the year!

In April, I made a little comment about the calf tattoos (calftoos or calftats, if you will) I saw when running in my first anything-K race. I took a dip in my gym's pool yesterday, taking a look around at the surplus of Americans celebrating America's day.

Then I started calculating how much all of that ink was worth.

A friend once showed me his three inch ankle tattoo and told me it cost him almost $200. It costs at least $60 for the tattoo artist to touch the needle to your skin. You better know what you want because not only are you paying a hefty amount upfront, but you're generally stuck with it. No pun intended, but pun emphasized.

Let's get out of my penny-pincher mind; what are the teachings and why?

Many Protestant theologians teach that the Bible forbids it, often citing this: "You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord" (Lev. 19:28).

If these preachers stick to this (look, another pun), then I assume they also don't wear blended fabrics. Leviticus is certainly an important part of the Bible, but we need to be careful not to pick and parcel out what we want to believe from what we don't want to believe. That's how the Protestant churches lost sight of the true teaching of the Eucharist.

So what does the Catholic Church teach? The consensus among Catholic biblical scholars is that this teaching on tattoos is not part of the unchanging moral law.Cite 

Like many parts of the Catholic Church's teachings, they leave it up to the church members (you and me) to discern. The Church teaches that it is not in opposition of the Bible to tattoo oneself, but they offer sound principles explaining why, in some situations, it is sinful to be tattooed.

Sinful? Now, no one wants to hear that! Do you know how much I paid for this?! It's a picture of my dog playing a keytar, get a grip, Church!

A lot of pain for no gain. Gross.

Calm down for a second. For example, if one gets the tattoo with a bad intention, like in spite of one's parents, that person is sinning against them. If the intention of the tattoo is not one of love ("I want to piss off as many people as possible, because I can"), the evil intention makes it a sin, according to the Church.

To get a clearer understanding of these principles, read here. 

Back to the pool

After hanging out at my gym's pool, my family held a little Independence Day shindig (Happy birthday, Gramma!). One of our guests was a man who went to the Naval Academy. You would think a midshipman who is officially a member of the Navy would have dozens of tattoos by now, easily hidden, of course.

He surprised me by vehemently exclaiming that he can't think of one item he would want to have on his body for his entire life. How succinctly put!

Tattoos have a special, quiet place in my opinions. I have so many that they nestle quite nicely among the spiky, bickering items like abortion, justice and crunchy vs. creamy peanut butter (crunchy, obviously).

I have wanted a tattoo (or several) for the last fifteen years. Throughout those fifteen years, if I shared that tidbit with friends they scoffed in surprise; never could they imagine their quiet, somewhat-goodie-two-shoes friend inking herself. Part of me still wants to shovel out the ridiculous amounts of money to get one.

Much like I know not to date bad boys or have multiple drinks at a cocktail party, I know I won't get a tattoo. 

First of all, the double standard on tattoos makes them very undesirable on female skin. Yes, that's still true. No, it hasn't changed.

Second of all, after youthful days pass me by, I'm more likely to find a jalapeno pepper in the exact same place I had once paid someone to ink a strawberry.

Thirdly and most importantly, I ask myself, why do I want to get a tattoo? I can't think of a single answer at which I wouldn't roll my eyes. 

So often, tattoos are a fad that fades with youth. They skipped my parents' generation, perhaps proving their trendiness.

When I ask myself, why don't I want to get a tattoo?, I have a thousand answers. The big one: I don't want my future kids to see a tattoo on their mom.

Because of my remaining desire to get my own tattoo, I don't judge people who have their own (except to think, how in the heck did you pay for that?).  We make our own decisions in life.

Like any decision that affects us for the rest of our lives, we shouldn't take the decision to go under the needle lightly. 

7 Quick Takes Friday, Volume 35

Click here to read the original post at ConversionDiary.com

*1*

in't this the truth?

Me: "The Vatican needs a new webmaster."
Julie: "Yeah, it's probably a cardinal being punished."



It turns out that they might have a new webmaster, as the site looks slightly different... Here is Brandon's (The Thin Veil) reflection on the NEW Vatican news website. Follow Brandon on Twitter, too!

*2*

ow cool is our Pope? Pope Benedict XVI tweeted about that NEW news site for the first time this week from the Vatican News Twitter handle, @News_va_en.

And what from what did he Tweet? An iPad.

 I guess that settles any debate about Mac vs. PC, right?

*3*

ne of the treasures of college that I miss the most is history and art history classes.

 Enjoy this video as it scans through 500 years of female portraits.

Ahhh culture, I love it.

*4*

f you have yet to learn about the University of Seattle's permitting Planned Parenthood on campus for student internships, please read here. To sign the petition, click here.

When it comes down to it, this is a CATHOLIC university. 

There are probably professors and students at the university who support abortion on principle or in general. There are people on campus (or who know about the issue from anywhere in the nation) who support abortion... this doesn't matter. 

Disclaimer: I don't think many people hold this opinion anymore.

This is not a political issue because this is a Catholic university. It receives funding from the Catholic Church, a body that opposes abortion and supports LIFE in every doctrine of its Magisterium.

Some Planned Parenthood offices cannot perform abortions. However, the organization funds all of its offices; all of that money is bloody. This university should become a public institution before it allows this publicly funded firm to offer opportunities on its campus.

I wrote my "Judgement for bloggers" post three days before I published it this week. I think it's well-timed because this is a topic that ruffles a lot of feathers. We who oppose abortion should always choose to love the women who have abortions and love those who hold a pro-abortion opinion. 

I love them, but I hate the sin. I hate how many people in my generation are not around today because of organizations like Planned Parenthood. I'm not going to keep my mouth shut on this one.

*5*

hat was heavy. Please enjoy this mental break:

*6*

y goals for July:

*Carve out the time to read and comment on more of YOUR blogs.

*Attempt to use a coupon or discount on every single thing I buy this month (attempt) and add up the savings, just to pat myself on the back.

*7*

eminder! The Bright Maidens are tackling the topic of "tattoos" on Tuesday!


If you haven't participated in a Bright Maidens post before, please join us! Write a little blurb that approaches the topic, grab our image here, and post the link to your POST on our Facebook wall on Tuesday!

Tattoo Tuesday... it has a nice ring to it!


The last topic was "Catholic Modesty" and it turned out really well! Lots of dicussion. Check out the full list of posts here.


Sure enough, Simcha offered her hilarity for the modesty debate (coincidence).

Sneak preview:

"It’s true that women have a responsibility to dress decently so as not to deliberately provoke lust in men. But they do not have a responsibility to make it impossible for men to lust after them."