Great video about the Twin Cities

(Brendan)

I saw this on the Star Tribune web site and thought I'd post a link here, enjoy! It's all very true, though I'd rather not get the word out so that we don't have lots of people move here :-)

You are invited!

(Brendan)

If you read this blog, you are invited to our housewarming party! We are having an open house on Saturday, September 4th, from 1-5pm, so if you are interested to see the new home in person or just want to come to meet Francis :-) then please stop on by. 

We are serving light refreshments, so in order to get an accurate count I would request that if you are planning to come that you drop me a quick e-mail (then I can send you the exact address of our house). Don't be shy, you are invited! Kids are, of course, more than welcome. Click on this link to get to my profile page, and then click on "Email" on the left-hand side. 

Hope to you see you Sept. 4th!

What we've been up to lately...

(Brendan)

One of these days, I will actually be able to do work on our house solely because I want to, and there will be no "have to" part. The continued dearth of blog posts is again due to more work on the house, this time mostly because of exterior painting. As you know, I have a bunch of things that I am doing that are actually part of the construction contract. Because these items are part of the contract, and are thus part of what our bank based the home's appraised value, they have to be done by the final closing so that the bank knows the home is worth what they planned on. Still, what's the rush? Well, we locked in an interest rate a while ago, and that lock runs out on May 13. Due to paperwork reasons, our home closing has to be on May 7th (which it will be, at 2pm), and the final inspection of the home by the bank needs to be 3 days before that, on May 4th. So essentially I have to get my items done by next weekend (yikes!). Never fear; I'm on track thanks in large part to my Dad's help on the exterior painting.

On the builder's side, tomorrow they are starting the install of our driveway, and after that will come the concrete pads for outside doors and the concrete sidewalk to the front door. Then comes final grading, and also installation of gutters. 

As far as pictures, I know if I were reading this blog I'd want to see some pics of the outside of the house, but at this point, after all the work painting, I refuse to post exterior pics until the painting is done. The exterior brick was installed last week, so when the painting is done the house will truly look complete from the outside. I can't wait to show it to you! I'll also post a video update, doing a walk-through of the interior of house now that we've moved in. By no means are we settled, but at least there's some stuff where it's supposed to be.

Now, on a random note, Molly and I just recently went to our first baseball game at the Twins' brand new ballpark, Target Field, and I thought I'd throw in a few pics. For Minnesotans, this ballpark is a huge deal as we finally get to have a great urban baseball experience, and see baseball the way it should be: outdoors! Last Tuesday was 72 degrees and calm at game time... heaven on earth!

First a pic from the Target Field web site showing what the exterior facade looks like, clad all in Minnesota limestone. The design of the ballpark is actually quite modern, which I liked in the final product.

Here's an aerial rendering of the ballpark. Downtown Minneapolis is actually to the rear of this particular view. Two different train systems actually connect right to the ballpark, which makes it very accessible and well-designed. You can see the light-rail transit train just off left field.

Here's Molly and I at the game...

The view...

A few more angles...

What's baseball without food? I had a Polish sausage and Molly had a steak sandwich...

Twitter for unborn babies

(Brendan)

This is hilarious!

Though I think, after a while, little unborn child may have to have their Twitter account deactivated due to too many tweets.

A retreat I highly recommend!

(Brendan)

The retreat with Miles Christi was absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend it for anyone around the US. Miles Christi priests travel all over the country directing these retreats (for men only and for women only) and so there has to be one reasonably close which you could take advantage of. Here's their upcoming schedule of retreats. Anyone looking for an extremely simple, practical retreat focused on helping you work on holiness, this is the retreat for you.

Plus, anyone looking to work on their Latin would love Miles Christi retreats!

I'll be on retreat this weekend...

(Brendan)

I'll be on a retreat this weekend in Buffalo, MN with these guys...

The Miles Christi order of priests specializes in running retreats using the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. We became acquainted with them as they often have a booth at the Minnesota Catholic Home Educator's Conference that we attend yearly at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. This particular retreat is for men only (they also run retreats for women only). Here's the details on the retreat I'm attending.

You know the Miles Christi priests are solid not only by the fact that they wear cassocks (as pictured above), but they also have the following on their homepage :-)

Just plain cool

(Brendan)

As you may know, today (June 29) was the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, one of my favorite feast days of the liturgical year. Because of the close association of these two apostles, and their martyrdom in Rome, Sts. Peter and Paul have always shared a feast day going all the way back to at least the year 258 A.D. (and that's only because it's the earliest Roman calendar of the martyrs that has been found). It took some research for me to find that out, as I've always wondered why these great apostles did not have their own feast days. You can't argue with hundreds and hundreds of years of Church history!

Anyway, last Sunday marked the end of the Church's "Year of Saint Paul," and in case you missed it, Pope Benedict made a stunning announcement in his homily. The Holy Father closed the Year of Saint Paul by celebrating mass at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome (image at left), one of the four major (or "Papal") basilicas of Rome. Side note: Molly and I had the great experience of visiting this basilica when we went to Rome in 2000 as chaperones for a parish youth group trip for World Youth Day. (I wanted to dig up some pics for this post, but unfortunately I think those are packed :-) Anyway, the basilicas of Rome aren't located where they are, respectively, for no reason; just like the Basilica of St. Peter, there is a very specific reason the Basilica of St. Paul is located right where it is: the burial place of St. Paul himself. A news story quote (see also here):

With “great emotion” [the Pope] announced that a recent scientific probe confirmed what Catholic tradition has always held, namely that the body of the Apostle Paul is located under the papal altar in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls....

The Pontiff said that recently the tomb was “subject to a scientific investigation. A small hole was drilled in the sarcophagus, unopened for centuries, and a probe was introduced. It found traces of a valuable purple fabric, in linen and gold layer-laminated, and a blue fabric with linen threads. Red incense grains and substances containing proteins and limestone were also discovered. Small fragments of bone were found and radiocarbon dated by experts who did not know their place of origin. Results indicate that they belong to someone who lived between the 1st and 2nd century A.D. This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition according to which these are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul. All this fills our soul with deep emotion.”

Amazing. Imagine consecrating the Holy Eucharist during mass on an altar beneath which lies the body of the Apostle Paul himself! Couple this with the relatively recent (1950 and 1968) strong archaeological evidence that the tomb of St. Peter is directly below the altar of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome and it's doubly amazing. Whoever said the faith is boring?!

Christ is risen! Happy Easter!

(Brendan)

The artwork below is done by, Anthony Visco, a friend of mine. He has an updated website, here, that is worth checking out. The piece below is one of 20 that he did for each of mysteries of the rosary on the Rosary Walk at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse, WI.

Rejoice! Our Lord has risen!

The Resurrection
Anthony Visco

Only in Minnesota...

(Brendan)

I repeat, only in Minnesota. This is why I love living here!

Food for thought on inauguration day...

(Brendan)

It's nice and "crisp" out there...

(Brendan)

We Minnesotans pride ourselves on our ability to shrug off extreme cold; it comes with the territory. We laugh when we hear of a mere 1 inch of snow shutting down an entire city down south, or guffaw when we travel elsewhere and hear a temperature like 12 degrees F being described on the local news in the most apocalyptic terms possible. In the Twin Cities we are now going on almost 90 straight hours of being below zero, air temperature. An air temperature of -46 degrees F was reached in Glenwood, MN in the past 24 hours, with windchill readings in northern Minnesota reaching near -65 degrees F. I would only note, as any good engineer would, that this means if you go into your kitchen and stick your head in your refrigerator you would be 100 degrees warmer.

Check out this great clip...

(Brendan)

This is a very well-done video clip from a story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press of a seminarian that Molly and I know at St. Paul Seminary (the major seminary of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis). Justin was stationed at our parish for some weeks to observe parish life, and he is also a good friend and classmate of my brother Evan, also a seminarian at St. Paul Seminary. Heck, you can even spot my brother a couple times between the 1:34 and 1:37 mark in the video!

Please pray for our seminarians!

Worth a view...

(Brendan)

This wonderfully produced clip is worth a few minutes of your time as we wind down the presidential campaign. It's a great reminder, even a wake-up call, that there are some issues that transcend all others.

I would only edit the last statement to say, "Inform your conscience with the truth, then vote your conscience." :-)

It's our 1-year blog anniversary!

(Brendan)

On July 9, 2007 I started off this blog with an "under construction" post, and followed the next day with our first official post (which is permanently linked in the upper right of the blog, under "New to this blog?"). We've been amazed at the readership our little blog has generated and have been blessed by the experience of sharing our thoughts online and getting feedback from others. Here's some numbers from our first year:

Number of posts: 126
Site Visits: 14,419
Page Views: 25,298
Number of U.S. states with visitors: 50
Number of countries with visitors: 105

It's that last one that blows me away. Here's a diagram of the countries with visitors to our blog, along with a list (the darker color is the majority of our visitors, the U.S.):

Argentina
Antigua and Barbuda
Armenia
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bahrain
Belgium
Bermuda
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
British Virgin Islands
Brunei
Bulgaria
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Columbia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Egypt
El Salvador
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guam
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Ivory Coast
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kenya
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malawi
Malaysia
Malta
Mauritius
Mexico
Moldova
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Pakistan
Palestinian Territory
Peru
Phillipines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Saint Helena
Saudi Arabia
Serbia and Montenegro
Singapore
Slovakia
South Africa
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen

When I just try to imagine someone in the Palestinian Territories, or Iran, or Mozambique, or Yemen, or Ghana pulling up our blog on a computer screen, I just amazes me. Even the fact that we've had visitors from all 50 U.S. states is fantastic. Not too bad for a blog that, honestly, was started just to keep family and friends up to date on our home project.

Looking back over the past year, I tried to think of my favorite post, and decided on this one:

The Domestic Church: Are Large Families Harmful to the Environment?

This is one of the many ways that I feel that God has used this blog for the "new evangelization." Case in point, if you search in Google on a phrase such as "Large families environment" or "large families harmful environment" or the like, the post I linked above appears on the first page of the results, and in some cases at the very top. Praise the Lord! Knowing that someone researching this question has a decent chance of ending up at that post and reading it (amidst dozens of other sites claiming the world is "overpopulated" and that children are bad for the environment) gives me great satisfaction and hope that such a person would be led to the truth.

Molly's favorite post from the last year was:

The Domestic Church: To "Santa" or not to "Santa"...

This ended up being (just by a hair) the most commented post of the year. The fact that one commenter compared parts of the post to the "Byzantine iconoclastic heresy" was quite entertaining :-)

Just to close, on behalf of Molly and myself, thanks so much for participating in our blog and we hope you continue to read! By this time next year our house will be half-way through construction!

George W. Bush: America's First Catholic President?

(Brendan)

How's that for a provocative title? But, it may in fact be true! Oh sure, JFK was Catholic, but he famously played down the role of his faith in his presidency, and considering the sort of "Catholic in name only" approach of most of the Kennedy family, their pro-choice stance and social liberalism, it's hard to really call JFK a particularly Catholic president. George W. Bush, on the other hand, has had a deep affinity with the Catholic faith, which has been clear in the number of Catholic advisors with which he has surrounded himself, the number of Catholic judges he has nominated to the bench, his extremely friendly relationship with both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, and his clear and overt references in his policies to many Catholic principles and teachings. So if Bill Clinton can be called the nation's first "black president," perhaps George W. Bush is truly the nation's first "Catholic president."

Except that soon, we may be able to remove the quotes around "Catholic president."

If I wasn't suspicious before (due to the many meetings President Bush has had with Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict, and his recent pomp and circumstance welcoming of Pope Benedict to the White House), I really became suspicious when I heard President Bush was to meet with Pope Benedict AGAIN last week on his farewell tour of Europe. "Again?! He just had Pope Benedict at the White House a month ago." Something's up here. I immediately thought that President Bush wanted to discuss something specific with the Pope. Perhaps converting to the Catholic faith?

The backstory is that President Bush's good friend, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, just converted to the Catholic faith a few months ago after scheduling a special meeting with Pope Benedict to discuss the matter. He is formerly an Anglican.

Also, President Bush's brother, Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, has already converted to the Catholic faith some years ago, and Jeb's wife is also Catholic. Throw in the fact that President Bush has been rumored to be discussing the matter with some close Catholic advisors, such as Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor of the journal First Things, and I think there are some significant legs to this story. Prime Minister Blair waited (understandably) until he was out of office to convert to the Church, and President Bush would likely do the same. So it will likely be some time until we know for sure. But, here's the low down from elsewhere in the media:

A Catholic Wind in the White House -- The Washington Post

Bush 'May Convert to Catholicism' -- The Independent

George W Bush Meets Pope Amid Claims He Might Convert to Catholicism -- The Telegraph

Will President Bush Convert to Catholicism? -- About.com Catholicism Blog

Bush Becoming a Catholic? -- Newsmax.com

English Paper Announces President Bush May Be Considering Catholicism -- Catholic News Agency

I don't think it's a slam dunk yet, but I'm reaching the point where I think I'll be surprised if he doesn't convert.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis officially has a new archbishop!

(Brendan)

Archbishop Harry Flynn, who is celebrating his 75th birthday today, received a birthday present from Pope Benedict... his request to formally retire has been granted. Archbishop Flynn has done a good job shepherding this archdiocese, with the foremost of his accomplishments being the amazing job he has done fostering vocations to the priesthood. The surest way of evaluating the health of a diocese or parish is to look at the number of vocations being produced. St. John Vianney minor seminary at the University of St. Thomas (in Minneapolis, MN) has so many young men now discerning the priesthood that they are building a new dorm building to house them all! Archbishop Flynn will continue to be in our prayers as he enjoys his retirement, thanks for all you have done and all those you have served!

This also means that as of 5am this morning we have a new archbishop! Archbishop John Niestedt now has the full reins (he has been coadjutor of this archdiocese as of last year, appointed by Pope Benedict), and we look forward to his leadership. Our prayers and support are with you! I think he would appreciate the prayers of all the readers of this blog as well, his leadership and fidelity to the teachings of the Church, and his focus on proclaiming the Gospel and articulating the Church's teaching on moral issues such as abortion and so-called homosexual marriage, have already earned him the ire of the media here.

Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt

The Cathedral of St. Paul, in St. Paul, MN

Catholic universities need to remain faithful to the Church's teaching...

(Brendan)

As a close follower of the state of Catholic higher education in the U.S., and the deep problem of Catholic identity at the majority of Catholic Universities (where "academic freedom" masquerades as the ability to allow teaching against Church doctrine in the classroom and the undermining of Church authority), I was so very glad that the Pope said the following in his address to the presidents of Catholic universities today in Washington, D.C....

In regard to faculty members at Catholic colleges universities, I wish to reaffirm the great value of academic freedom. In virtue of this freedom you are called to search for the truth wherever careful analysis of evidence leads you. Yet it is also the case that any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the Church would obstruct or even betray the university's identity and mission; a mission at the heart of the Church's munus docendi and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.

Teachers and administrators, whether in universities or schools, have the duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction in Catholic doctrine and practice. This requires that public witness to the way of Christ, as found in the Gospel and upheld by the Church's Magisterium, shapes all aspects of an institution's life, both inside and outside the classroom. Divergence from this vision weakens Catholic identity and, far from advancing freedom, inevitably leads to confusion, whether moral, intellectual or spiritual.

Thank you Holy Father! In his ever-gentle way he has laid down the gauntlet for the future of Catholic higher education in America. If you are going to call yourself a Catholic university, you must uphold the teachings of the Church and her authority.

Closer to home, in Minnesota I can't think of one Catholic university in the state (including my alma mater, St. John's) that doesn't need to take heed of this message and make some changes to ensure fidelity to the Church. I pray that they listen and take action.

Welcome to the U.S.!

(Brendan)

A most sincere welcome to the Holy Father, and a happy birthday! The Pope turns 81 today. I've read his address to President Bush this morning and look forward to reading his homilies from the masses he is celebrating, as well as his address to the United Nations. From what I've read so far, he will be focusing on the concept of true freedom, meaning the freedom to do the good and the right, (as opposed to license, which is the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want, which is a false concept of freedom), creating a culture of life and protection of all life from conception to natural death, and on the aridness of moral relativism. His homilies will no doubt focus on his theme for this visit of "Christ our hope."

The Holy Father's pre-visit message to the United States...

(Brendan)

It's great to hear his message in English!



I pray for the success of his visit, the Church to be strengthened by his presence, and for all of America to listen to his message.

Some pics from preparations in D.C. from Thomas Peters...

Have a Blessed Holy Week

(Brendan)

May the Lord truly bless you this Holy Week and may we all be grateful for the suffering he endured for our sake.

Below is an image of my favorite painting at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, a painting that is worth sitting in front of and reflecting upon (the real painting is roughly 4 ft. by 5 ft., quite large)...

The Betrayal of Christ, Sir Anthony Van Dyke, oil on canvas, ca. 1618

God bless you!