1) We continue to have a fascinating discussion on this post. If you have some time, grab a cup of hot cider and start reading. The conversation turned to the situation at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, which was stripped of its "Catholic" status by my courageous bishop, Thomas Olmsted. (Heads up: the comments go on to a second page -- it's easy to miss that).
2) If you have any interest in science vs. religion, you must become a regular reader of Stacy at Accepting Abundance. Stacy is an amazing Catholic convert, wife and mom, who just happens to be a Ph.D. in chemistry. I am not a science person myself, so I appreciate that she puts things in simple terms, so that even I can follow! I am learning something new every time I read her entertaining posts. She deserves a wide audience! Go Stacy! (Don't miss her "About Me" here.)
3) A lot of you already read Jen's Conversion Diary, but in case you missed her latest, she has posted her "12 Best Links of 2010". When Jen says they're good, I listen. :)
4) Which leads me to a Just Curious!! What is your "best link" from 2010? It can either be from your own blog, or from someone else's (or both, if you'd like). Post the link(s) in the comments section so that we can all have a chance to enjoy them!
Hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season!!
It's a newbie as in just posted in the last couple of days...and it is from Jenn's blog, but I can't stop going to the "The Saint's Name Generator" that she coded. Love it, love it, love it...so many uses!
ReplyDeletehttp://jenniferfulwiler.com/saints/
St. Rita, pray for us!
Just one? I read so many amazing blog posts this year-we have a wealth of knowledge in this blogger circle!
ReplyDeleteOne of the best would have to be this post by Elizabeth of That Married Couple. She wrote it during breast cancer awareness month and it, in my opinion, can help women far more than wearing a "save the tatas t-shirt".
http://thatmarriedcouple.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-prevent-breast-cancer-have.html
To be completely honest, my best link for 2010 is http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com :)
ReplyDeleteBUT in the interests of sharing a site that others might not know about, I'll share this blog:
http://catholicphoenix.com/
I started reading when I took a class from the blog founder, and eventually started contributing. Lots of great Catholic content from a variety of writers (in the interests of full disclosure, occasionally myself).
Joanna, you stole mine! Haha, hands down- best new blog- Little Catholic Bubble! I don't always have time to read through the pages of comments, but I know you are changing hearts and minds (and that for me) deserves an award!
ReplyDeleteLeila, what a great idea!
ReplyDeleteKaitlin, that was a great link! Thank you for sharing it. So informative and supports so many "theories" I had formed in my head! Now I have a reference.
As for my favorite link, it has to be this one:
http://ann-buildinganest.blogspot.com/2010/10/pregnant-for-now.html
It just made (makes) my heart so happy :)
This is my favorite link from 2010: http://www.kellehampton.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful and moving. I was at my desk at work bawling my eyes out reading it.
SC: Awww!
ReplyDeleteMore than anything: I was going to list that one, too. I've read it over and over again.
I ditto the endorsement of Stacy's blog!
ReplyDeleteBy far, the one thing I wrote in 2010 that I felt did the most good was something recent: “Enough, Enough, Enough”: 3-Year-Old Catholic Confronts Islamic Terrorists as His Parents Lay Dead
I actually got news that some of the family of the victims of the massacre were very appreciative and that had a profound impact on me.
Yes-everyone must read Kelly Hampton's birth story! Absolutely beautiful!
ReplyDeleteJBTC, I love the saint generator!!!
ReplyDeleteKaitlin, that was a brilliant article about breast cancer, and I soooo bookmarked it and now I'm gonna facebook it! Thanks!
JoAnna and GIMH, awww, thanks, guys!! I'm so glad to be here!
And, I agree that Catholic Phoenix rocks!
Second Chances, I could not agree more! I think that one almost set me over the edge with joy!
MTA, Ann, and Kaitlin, I LOVED the birth story, too! One of the best ever!!! And, the baby was born on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Powerful.
Lisa Graas, Oh.... that was so incredibly powerful. I still think of him daily. I pray to him. I am so happy that your words touched and comforted the family. Wow!
PS: I am going to add a link myself. It's one that I wish all pro-life evangelicals will read:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2010/10/10/what_about_ivf/?page=full
http://www.youtube.com/user/c0nc0rdance?blend=1&ob=4#p/c/D30619BD4F7492B0/0/uN3XZGgic4o
ReplyDeleteSo it was from 2009, but I didn't catch it until earlier this year. All this guy's videos are pretty good if you want science simplified.
Whoops! THIS ONE is better:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/user/c0nc0rdance?blend=1&ob=4#p/a/D30619BD4F7492B0/1/rzshC-rCXSE
Leila and Lisa, thank you both for the endorsement. You both inspire me and it is so wonderful to know that there are all these other people so passionate about our faith.
ReplyDeleteMy husband found this song this year and it touched us both. Eric Clapton, "Holy Mother"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2KgU1E6D1U
Since I'm the ONLY one that decided I like my own blog post! hahahaha But it's spectacular and I didn't write it hahaha! ;) hahaha
ReplyDeletehttp://sewinfertile.blogspot.com/2010/12/here-she-is.html
Here is one of my favorite blog posts too:
http://matchingmoonheads.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/who-are-the-lucky-ones/
http://thiscrossiembrace.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-would-wish-infertility-on-my-worst.html
The ulitmate quote of 2010 from that blog post "If before my relationship with Him was like that of a college child with their mother, now my relationship with Him was like that of a child in its mother's womb. Totally dependent, totally safe, totally carried, totally one."
I can’t narrow it down to one link ... but I can’t live without Little Catholic Bubble and Accepting Abundance. So many great posts on both of these blogs! One of the topics on both blogs that was fantastic had to do with Adam. Stacy’s was: http://www.acceptingabundance.com/2010/12/little-adam-of-baghdad.html Leila’s was: http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-rarely-do-this.html I also love reading Whispers in the Loggia at: http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/ There’s not a particular post, but the blog is informative and well written.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sponsoring this dialogue Leila! It’s been terrific checking out everyone’s choices.
Thanks to Lisa Graas for telling us about Adam so we could spread the word. That article was in our diocese paper, along with Lisa's prediction about him being the youngest saint named someday. It is a touching story and I think about him every day, praying his message will spread fast.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should check out Holly's blog too...it's great for techno info for Catholic moms and other touching tidbits. :-)
Oh my gosh, that birth story from Kelle Hampton is AMAZING! Grab a box of kleenex though. Whoa. So beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThat birth story is BEAUTIFUL! Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteIn reference to the link from Anonymous (sorry this is long):
The ID and Creationism ideas come from Protestants, not Catholics, as they relate to scientific matters. The Discovery Institute does not speak for the Church. This might sound harsh, but some proponents of ID and Creationism AS SCIENCE do set themselves up for ridicule by over-stepping the boundaries of *what science is.* Catholic scholars were wise to hold those boundaries firm. In our culture calling something *science* sells ideas, it sounds good.
ID and Creationism are NOT science though, they are theology that references some science. Science only deals with what can be 1) observed and 2) quantified. If God is a loving and personal, transcendental, ultimate being that created the material universe, then it's absurd to think we can step outside the universe and test for God's existence with science. We can't. Just as we reason using our intellect that reality is more than science, we are perfectly within reasoned discourse to claim belief in such a God, and in the fact that Jesus Christ became part of the material world to reveal God's plan of salvation.
True science only confirms how great God's creation is because we study what He created. In that sense Catholics are encouraged to take science of the material world very seriously.
When the guy at Discovery Institute starts talking about the improbability of genes evolving the way they did and attributes that to an Intelligent Designer (why can't they just say "God?") then they step outside of science. I do understand why they do this...it's because the secular part of Western culture broke the rule FIRST. Dawkins and the like started using science to say there is no God. Rather than play that game and break the rules, Catholics insisted rules be followed.
I love that! If we insist that science is only numbers and observation, then we reject any argument that goes beyond science as absurd. Then science, the savvy marketing ploy it's become, is held to its real entity. In the realm of theology we are free to look at science and use it with everything else in a unifying way - humanities, philosophy, hermeneutics, history, passion, art, intellect, (all those other human things) - to draw a grand conclusion about the meaning of life and purpose, about GOD and about ourselves.
That leaves the secular humanist far, far behind because if they are going to insist that science can explain everything, they are the ones left having to explain all the improbability that science reveals about our existence. They deny their own ability to reason freely by saying that the laws of physics explain everything, and they have no real explanation about man's purpose and meaning in the world, something theology has already addressed.
Some have even admitted to me that maybe they don't have a purpose and life means nothing. I think that plants a good seed about how ridiculous it is to put so much faith in science alone.
I've only been blogging for 3 months, so I don't really get a vote but, based on the number of views, I guess my best post was on same sex attraction:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zealforyourhouseconsumesme.com/2010/10/how-can-we-support-people-with-same-sex.html