The new masthead - likey or no?

Yes, looks proud and strong and Polish.
No, less is more. Falcon makes the page too busy.

The irony of Heaven

Heaven

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
as I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
by the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
who made me sputter and gasp —
the thieves, the liars, the sinners,
the alcoholics, the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
who never said anything nice.

Uncle Bill, who I always thought
was rotting away in hell.
was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How’d all these sinners get up here?
God must’ve made a mistake...

And why’s everyone so quiet, so somber?
Please give me a clue.”
“Hush, child," said He. ‘They’re all in shock.
No one thought that they’d see you!"

- author unknown

Those who do not read are no better off in life than those who cannot read....

Margy and I really have really tried to encourage
literacy in our children at a young age.

Nicholas laments the state of our culture.

Michael peruses some typical reading material.

Children's literature

I came across this book on the Sophia website. You may click on the headline to link to that page. I have not read the book, it just looks like something helpful - BK

Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls: "Caryll Houselander is best known for the intensity of her vision of the suffering Christ and His immeasurable love for us, a theme that she frequently spoke of with breathtaking luminosity in her many books about Him.

Few know, however, of the many remarkable stories she wrote for Catholic children — delightful tales that are simple but not shallow. Indeed, like her books for adults, they manifest a tender love of Christ and His little ones not commonly found among us these days. Here are twelve of Houselander’s best tales, charmingly illustrated with Renée George’s lively drawings of pirates and princesses, castles and kings.

Through the tale of Jack and Jim, even young children will grasp the meaning of Christ’s suffering; in Racla the Gypsy, they’ll discover the charity which is at the heart of the Eucharist; in the The Curé’s Guest, they’ll see how Christ makes up for the sins of others.

All the stories touch on Catholic themes, but these tales are not really catechetical. Yes, they do take for granted that Catholicism — especially prayer and the Mass — plays a large role in the lives of these children, but they do something more . . . and more important.

Tale after tale introduces children to the tender love that Jesus has for each of them, and to the fire of love for Him that can burn in the hearts of Catholics — even in the hearts of little ones like themselves. There is no better gift you can give to a young child."

Happy 43rd Anniversary Mom and Dad!

I don't have a picture of you two together, so this will have to do!

An article In honor of Mom and Dad's courageous fidelity to Christ and His Church in regards to Life Issues

They have taken lots of flak for their openness to life. So have many of their children. But you will know a tree by its fruit.

Click on the headline above for Archbishop Charles Chaput's devastating analysis of the effect of contraception on our society. He shows how Pope Paul VI correctly predicted what would result if people did not heed the truth of his encyclical Humanae Vitae, which reaffirmed the Church's constant teaching that artificial birth control is wrong.

Notre Dame football ticket raffle

Dear all,
I am selling raffle tickets to raise money for the Christ Child Society of Fort Wayne. The raffle is for 6 VIP box seats on the 45 yard line three rows behind the ND bench for the Notre Dame vs. Navy game on November 12, 2005. They are $5 per ticket or 6 for $25. Let me know if you are interested. Love, Ruth (Hanlon) Beier
Srmrrabfam@aol.com

Jeff, Mom and Dad...

One benefit of being young and single is the ability to enjoy one's travels for work. Jeff has had some nice jaunts into the Northeast and New England recently. Its a very interesting part of the country with lots of things to see.

Many of you remember that Mom and Dad honeymooned at Niagara Falls. In honor of their 43rd wedding anniversary tomorrow, here are some of Jeff's pictures from his visit there while he was on his way to a sales call for Keystone.

I lifted this post from "Rock's House" on www.NDNation.com

I have added the pictures below to enhance the words. The large man is Charlie Weis our football coach. The boy is a recruit. It's good to have a competent coach again - and a Notre Dame man to boot!


Dusk at the grotto tonight. About 8:00 p.m. The weather is warm and still. Sky is pink. Two or three priests standing around talking. Another two Dominicans in their full white habits kneeling in prayer. A middle aged woman leans all the way back on her bench, lost in thought. Well dressed visitors from a wedding rehearsal speak in hushed tones as they wander by on the way to their cars. Kids with bicycles surround the drinking fountain.

Slowly, two golf carts approach largely unnoticed. In the first is a large man wearing a white shirt and a tie. Next to him, a well built, wide-eyed high school boy. In the second looks to be the boy's family. They drive up, stop for about one minute and do not say much of anything. They just sit there in silence and take in the beauty. The large man leans towards the kid, murmurs a few soft words and they turn and leave. The kid looks pensive, lost in thought. The second cart hesitates, then slowly follows.

Tonight there is no bravado. No fast talking.

Just letting the Grotto speak for itself.

Regardless of whether the kid comes to Notre Dame, we can be sure of one thing - the guy in charge, he's one of us.

I couldn't help myself. A candle now burns for that man and that boy.

True story.

"MARRIAGE AND MARGARITA'S"

This Wednesday at 7:00 pm at Antonio's Restaurant Lisa will be giving a talk on Marriage and Sexuality as explained in basic Church teaching and as illumined by John Paul the Great's "Theology of the Body". This talk is for men and women ages 18 and over and will be held in the new banquet room (where Kathy and Kevin's rehearsal dinner was). Hot and cold appetizers and soft drinks will be served, a cash bar and Margarita specials are available for those over 21. The price is $10 per person. If interested call Renee Campanello at 875-8798 or e-mail her at r_campanello@hotmail.com. Payment is at the door.

For those who might not know, Lisa has given several talks on the Theology of the Body to seminarians, parishes and RCIA groups. This seems to be a hot topic among many right now, and it proves NEVER to be boring. "Marriage and Margaritas" is sponsored by the Elkhart County Catholic Men's Group.

The knife cometh again...

Today, Tuesday, August 2nd, I'll be having my fifth vocal cord surgery (see figure A). It promises to be a fun and wonderful day where I'll be able to visit with all my old doctor and nurse friends.

Yippppeeeee!

We're going in to eliminate all the polyps and pappillomas. The polyps are shown above; the pappilomas look much like the cancer shown above. That is why we must remove them - they are prone to change into cancer.

Ouch. My throat hurts already and we haven't done anything yet. Once again, do not expect to hear my voice for about a week. Then it will take another week or two for my voice to come back to normal (Hopefully it will come back to normal!).

I welcome your prayers. For those of you who are interested, the polite gift for someone having this sort of surgery is:

Since Mary Jo just made her first blog comment, here is a picture of her and Richard and their children

I know the little boy is Benjamin and the little girl is Meghan, but I don't know about #3. Boy or girl?

I've noticed people enjoy seeing pictures of our extended family and friends. If anyone would like to send me updates, I'll post them.