Sheltering in Place with Kindred Spirits!

Saint Martha's Guild has assembled a delightful collection of projects to keep your family focused on growing in holiness while introducing a variety of Catholic traditions and resources. 

Looking for directions to make your own scapular?  A pocket shrine?
A set of 40 eggs to tell the Resurrection story from Ash Wednesday on?

The narration is amusing and the variety of projects is impressive!  You'll be buying craft supplies before you know it.

Always be ready

Good Friday activity for children

I'd like to share this holy week tip from a good friend who is always looking for new ways to bring the congregation of her little domestic church closer to God.

I like to have something "meditative" for my kids to do alone during the hours between noon and 3pm on Good Friday. Last year we did these Stations of the Cross, this year I'm preparing the Sorrowful Mysteries.

You can get your own set here.

Instead of Martha Stewart, Try St. Mary and St. Martha

Thanksgiving can be a stressful holiday, with the fattening stressful mix of intense cooking, intense cleaning, visiting relatives and the hard push of the TV, only the 32 days until Christmas, how do we make this holiday a day of blessed sacred time?  By following the Saints, Saint Mary in being present and in awe of Jesus, and Saint Martha and being the hands and feet that prepare the feast out of love for others, love for Christ.

Click over to this timely post from the My Year of Faith group blog from the diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend, Indiana.  There, you'll see Sherry Antonetti's suggestions for Thanksgiving hostesses to relieve stress, realign priorities, and re-energize a sense of gratitude.

Praying with the Nashville Dominicans

Today on Father Powell's site:

Nashville Dominican Sisters Say NO to Anti-Catholic Mandate

We beg God for the preservation of our great and beautiful country, and of the freedom we have all enjoyed and been privileged to share with others. The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia invite you to join with us in a novena of prayer and fasting, asking Mary, Patroness of the United States of America, to implore God's loving mercy on us at this critical time. The novena will begin February 11 and end February 19, 2012. The sisters will be praying the following prayer each of the nine days.

Act of Consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother; in union with Mary, we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom, which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our president and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the poor, the tempted, sinners - on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give our country and ourselves to your sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced by the sword of sorrow prophesied by Simeon, save us from degeneration, disaster and war. Protect us from all harm. O Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, you who bore the sufferings of your Son in the depths of your heart, be our advocate. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the will of your divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God. Amen.

(Imprimatur, Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, 1959, for public consecration of the United States to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; renewed by U.S. Bishops, November 11, 2006)

You Smart Cookie!

I'm always so impressed with Grace's baked creations, and these little works of art for the Presentation and Candlemas are almost too beautiful to eat! Check under her"You Smart Cookie" tab for more inspiration.

Jam-spiration

Margaret at Ten Thousand Places has just opened her jam shop for the season, and her flavors sound so wonderfully adventurous (Plum and Crabapple with Lavender, anyone?) I'm especially intrigued by the savory offerings, including a Pinot Noir jelly (for cheese tastings, of course!).

This post describes her stock, as well as promising details in future posts. Or, you can just head straight over to her shop to peruse.

Adoration Resources

I was just writing a little piece for my parish on Eucharistic Adoration and found a nice resource I wanted to share with you.

The Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association has compiled an impressive map and listings of places in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico which offer times of Eucharistic Adoration. As their name indicates, they offer a number of resources on the topic as well, including an option to download their listing onto your mobile device to more easily find a chapel while you're traveling.

Obviously, I can't vouch for their accuracy (so you may want to call to confirm details if you're traveling a while to get to one of these chapels), but I did check the ones I personally know of and they were all accurate and included mapquest links to show the way.

What a very nice resource, and thank you to those who have made it possible!

Uniting the Faith with Daily Life

In this week's Lesson Plan feature in the Catholic Spirit (diocesan paper of St. Paul/Minneapolis) Maria Wiering has a great article on simple ways you can work to build a Catholic culture in your family.

Do you go to Mass on Sunday, but feel like Monday — and Tuesday, Wednesday and the rest — are detached from what you experience at church? For many Catholics, it’s a challenge to unite faith and the normal tasks of daily life. There’s something about a meeting at the office, or washing dishes, or shopping for groceries that seems very ordinary and outside of God’s interest in our lives.

Yet, St. Ignatius of Loyola preached that it is possible to find God in all things. With this in mind, it doesn’t hurt to add a few things in your day that are specifically about reminding yourself that what you have on Sunday should be part of every day.

I've listed the basics below so you can grade yourself, but go to her article for the details of each. There are simple ideas and some that will require a little more commitment. Almost all will work with family members of every age and there are definitely some you can try today.

1. ___Feast on feasts
2. ___Talk about the readings at Sunday brunch
3. ___Say your bedtime prayers
4. ___Learn about each day's saint
5. ___Follow the liturgical seasons
6. ___Greet the day
7. ___Pray the Rosary
8. ___Hang your crucifixes
9. ___Attend a funeral
10. ___Have your home blessed
11. ___Make a pilgrimage
12. ___Recite the Angelus
13. ___Bless your door
14. ___Thank your priest
15. ___Pray before car rides
16. ___Attend religious ed.
17. ___Give something up
18. ___Mail a holy card
19. ___Read a book
20. ___Open your Bible
21. ___Attend a daily Mass
22. ___Look at art
23. ___Eat together
24. ___Pray for the Pope's intentions
25. ___Pray for the Pope
26. ___Volunteer for a cause
27. ___Talk about God
28. ___Memorize a psalm
29. ___Visit an empty church
30. ___List your prayers
31. ___Plant a garden
32. ___Be grateful
33. ___Light a candle
34. ___Try adoration
35. ___Leave out your nativity set
36. ___Make a confession
37. ___Schedule that retreat

And this is my prayer: that your live may increase

ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception,

to discern what is of value, so that you may be

pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

filled with the fruit of righteousness

that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

~Philippians 1: 9-11

A Valentine's Day Challenge

We Church Ladies tend to be big fans of the Corporal Works of Mercy (go figure). Personally, I like them so much that I'll sometimes expand the list a little. After reading this challenge, I'm tempted to add "Send Valentines to the lonely" to my canon of tasks. Go read the post, and I guarantee someone will spring to mind immediately. Dash off a little heartfelt note - along with, if appropriate, some chocolate - and brighten someone's day.

A surprise from Church Ladies Down Under!

Your blog hostesses received a surprise in the mail yesterday from our Australian counterparts: a package containing bottles of Golden Syrup (you're right, ladies, we hadn't seen that before),

and a cookbook from the Country Women's Association of Australia,

containing such delightful-sounding recipes as "Puffaloonies", and several ingredients with strange names that we had to google (they turned out to be pretty common things like golden raisins and peppers).


The card enclosed with the package said (in part), "N.B. pages 170 & 172 for ANZAC biscuits, originally invented to sustain the soldiers of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps." Naturally, that was the first recipe we tried, with delightful results.


Many thanks to you, Rosalind and Lucy, for your wonderful gift! It is much appreciated, and we'll be drinking a cup of tea to your health and saying a rosary for your intentions!

"And I got to help."

Altar Boy by Vincenzo Irolli (Source)

"The Mom" at Shoved to Them offers a beautiful reflection on her son's first Mass as an altar boy:

My eldest son served his first Mass today. Dressed in the traditional black and white, with his hands perfectly folded, he took slow, measured steps up the aisle as my heart swelled within me and my eyes brimmed with tears.

Here was my tiny baby, the one who should have died, the one who shouldn't be able to hear, the one who shouldn't be able to do so many things. Here was the boy who brought me faith walking solemnly behind the crucifix.

He snuck out of the sacristy before Mass to show me how splendid he looked this morning.

"Mom, I look like a priest. Did you ever think you would see me looking like a priest?"

How does a mother answer that except to smile with her heart shining in her eyes, caress a still smooth cheek and then hurry him back to where he should be?

Read the rest here.

Mantilla the Hon

Famous ecclesiastical fashionista, Mantilla Amontillado (Father Longenecker's guest blogger, and one of his alter egos) uses her impeccable taste in all things ecclesial and her degree in Ecclesiastical Haberdashery from Salamanca University to comment on a wide variety of topics of interest to Church Ladies. Her basic philosophy is as follows:

I say, if you're going to be a Catholic look and sound like a Catholic. Throw out the polyester. Bring in polyphony. Those cheap see through cassock albs are surplus. Bring back the cassock and the surplice. Throw out the people of the parish parade. Bring in the procession with lots of brocade. Men should know their place: it's wearing lots of lace. Forget the reform of the reform. We're talking revolution of the reform.

Mantilla on Beauty and Truth: "Now I'm realizing that when I see that polyester chasuble with felt grapes on it, it's okay to be a little bit angry. When I see a church that looks like a cross between a slaughterhouse and a dunce cap and feel angry, that's okay, because ugliness is next to Godlessness. But when I see this nice brocade vestment or this antependium made out of this nice tapestry or I see a gothic chasuble in dark purple silk, or an altar boy wearing a lace cotta or a nun praying in a full habit it is okay for me to be happy because beauty is truth and truth beauty and this is all you need to know..."

Mantilla on Altar Dressings: "And what if you are going to visit someone important or maybe go to a wedding? Do you wear flip flops and a T-shirt? No you do not. You dress up you know? Well, it is the same thing with what you do with the chalice on the altar. You should make it beautiful, after all, you know the Mass is a kind of wedding banquet. It's the marriage supper of the Lamb. So you put the purificator over the chalice, and then the paten on top with the priest's host, and then the veil on top of that and then the burse with the corporal inside."

Mantilla Goes to Mass: "I go to this mass not long ago at another parish, and no, I'm not going to tell you which one, but Fr. Elvis comes in and he's got this kind of a game show approach to the liturgy. You know? I thought he was going to say, "Mantilla, today is your lucky day! Come on down and let's make a deal!" But he didn't he sort of saunters in and says, "Howya all doin' today? Anybody from Cincinnati? How are the Red Sox doin'? I heard this story once about this girl who wore red socks...The Lord be with you." You know what I mean? Well, I'm sitting there and my fan is going faster and faster, and it's not because of the flies I can tell you."

Mantilla on Clergy Hats: "I tell you someting. Listen. Whenever I see a priest in a hat it gives me what do you call it? Goose bumples. I get this shiver go right down my back and for the longest time I don't know why. Any other priest comes marching into mass and I maybe just yawn and flick my fan out and chase away a fly. Then we get this new priest in the parish and he's wearing the biretta. Wow! I give my friend Salsarita an elbow in the ribs, "Salsa, will you look at that new priest! He's wearing a biretta!" I haven't seen one these in years and it makes me think about priests in hats. I like it when a priest wears a hat, and maybe, you know, this is one of the nice things about being Catholic, that the priests put on headgear."

As you may have guessed, she has many more opinions and all are worth reading. Visit the Standing On My Head blog to read them all, and Father Longenecker - more Mantilla, please!

Ladies' Guild Tea

A lovely time was had by all.

Long and short stitch lessons online

Needlenthread.com has been running a series of lessons for working a long-and-short stitch sampler in DMC floss. Why might this be of particular interest to Church Ladies? Despite the prosaic name (it's also known as needlepainting), long-and-short stitch is the basic technique used to produce, for example:

(Source)

(Source)

and, in a more modern example, parts of this:

(Source)

Have a look, and make sure to click on the source links for more pictures!

Marriage, Moxie and Modesty With a Vintage Twist

What a delightful morning I’m having! After laughing myself silly over Jen’s "bringing down the wrath of the poop-fates" and reading the promises of "odes to cute dresses, date night tips, and insights into modesty" I simply had to visit the blog of this wonderful friend.

The first post I saw was this one. It's not at the top any more, but read it and then skip over to the Popular Posts on her sidebar - you'll be hooked.

The Edith Stein Conference

There is a WONDERFUL conference going on right now at Our Lady's University, our alma mater.

The Edith Stein Project is an annual conference that addresses various issues of gender, sexuality, and human dignity by exploring what it means to be authentic women and men. The conference began with a focus on women and attempted to provide a new feminism which had a a vision of women and men as both equal in dignity and complementary. This vision remains the hallmark of the Edith Stein Project. However, because we firmly believe that the cooperation of both men and women is necessary to more fully realize their dignity in society, we have worked to make the conference more accessible to men. We acknowledge that these issues are not one-sided: women and men live in community with each other. Accordingly, ESP seeks to engage both men and women in ways relevant to their lives. Our goal for the conference is to promote fruitful dialogue on issues of human dignity, with an emphasis on the dignity of women. We foster a spirit of openness while remaining rooted in the Catholic Church’s teachings on authentic personhood—to provide a forum for discussion that is not reactionary, but positive and optimistic.

Conference Schedule 2009

Friday, February 13

11:00am-12:00 pm – Registration

12:00-12:15 pm - Introduction to the Edith Stein Project Auditorium

12:15-12:50 pm - Father Sam Martin, Diocese of La Crosse: Love: What Hurts and What Works? Auditorium

1:00-2:00 pm - Dr. Philip Mango, St. Michael's Institute for the Psychological Sciences: The Neurological and Psychological Contributions to Love Auditorium

2:15-3:15 pm - Dr. Tim Alan Gardner, Sagamore Institute for Policy Research: (Authentic Relationships) Auditorium

Caroline Lashutka, Alumna: No Chicken Soup for the Soul
and
Genuine Beauty and the Hook-Up Culture Room 102

Panel Chair: Natassia Kwan, Student

Panelists:

Nathan Loyd, Right to Life and Pure Love Club

Mark Skylling, Iron Sharpens Iron

Jim Redden, Knights of Columbus

Michael Bohnert, Knights of Columbus

Melissa Buddie, Student

Katie Michel, Student

3:30-4:30 pm - Dr. Philip Mango, St. Michael's Institute for the Psychological Sciences: Marriage Preparation Before You Are Engaged Auditorium

Fr. Martin Connor, L.C.: "Blessed are the Pure in Spirit:" The World, Youth, and the Search for the Sacred
and
Patrick Tighe, Student: Pornography Hurts: How to Heal the Wounds Room 102

5:00 pm - Mass with Bishop D’Arcy, Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese Alumni Hall Chapel

5:45-6:15 pm - Pizza Dinner McKenna

6:15 pm - Bishop D’Arcy, Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese : Love and Vocation Auditorium

7:30-8: 00 pm - Notre Dame Undertones: Valentine's Day Performance Auditorium

8:00-8:45 pm - Dr. Susan Ohmer and Dr. Don Crafton, Notre Dame Department of Film, Television, and Theater: Love in Film and Television Auditorium

9:00pm-1:00 am - Movies and Snacks Knights of Columbus

Saturday, February 14th

9:00-10:00 am –

Sr. Prudence Allen, R.S.M.: The Passion of Edith Stein
and
Dr. Sarah Borden, Center for Ethics and Culture: Retrieving Aristotle for Feminist Purposes Auditorium

Sister Terese Auer, O.P.: Returning Love for Love
and
Nathaniel Campbell, Student: Divine Love as both Creative and Rational: The Theophany of Caritas in Hildegard of Bingen’s Liber Divinorum Operum Room 102

10:15-11:15 am - Dr. Janet Smith, Sacred Heart Major Seminary: Hormones "R" Us: How Contraception Affects Our Relationships and Health Auditorium

Anamaria Scaperlanda, Alumna: How Can We Be Lovers if We Can't Be Friends: Expanding Our Understanding of Vocation

and

Caitlin Dwyer, Alumna: Bound to be Free: Finding Happiness through a Committed Life in a World of Endless Options Room 102

11:30 am - 12:30 pm –

Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, Harvard University PhD. Candidate: Life as a Mother and Student

and
Bernard Klinkhammer: Balancing Work and Family Life in a Hectic World Auditorium

Dr. Gary Anderson, Notre Dame Theology Department: The Concept of Family in the Book of Ruth
and
Dr. Daniel McInerny, Notre Dame Philosophy Department and Center for Ethics and Culture: Lost in the Junoverse Room 102

12:30-2:00 pm - Lunch

and
Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, Harvard University PhD. Candidate: Heart to Heart Chat with Catherine South Dining Hall Oak Room

2:00-3:15 pm –

Violence Against Women: Hurt, Healing, and Hope for a Better Future Auditorium

Panel Chair: Amelia Ruggaber, Campus Minister at Holy Cross College
Panelists:

Survivors of Sexual Assault, Personal Testimonies of Two Notre Dame Women

Scars on the Heart: A Story of Struggle and Strength

Natassia Kwan: Behind Closed Doors: Domestic Violence in the U.S. Past, Present, and Hope for a Better Future

Tim Latham, Men Against Violence, Real Men

Fr. Joseph Carey, C.S.C.: Healing Encounters with Jesus

3:30-4:30 pm - Kate Sweeney, ENDOW: John Paul II’s New Feminism: A Call to Authentic Womanhood Auditorium

Amy Kleczinski, Student: Sex and Abstinence: The Perfect Couple

and
Theresa Schortgen, Counselor: The Creighton Model: Discovering What Every Woman Has the Right to Know
and
Victor Saenz, Student: Dostoevsky: The Grand Inquisitor and Contraception Room 102

4:45-5:45 pm - Dr. Janet Smith, Sacred Heart Major Seminary: What Does the Church Teach About Homosexuality? Auditorium

Joanna Roman, Student: Dietrich Von Hildebrand on Love
and
Dr. David Fagerberg, Notre Dame Theology Department: Sacramentality of Marriage: Source and Summit Room 102

6:30 pm –

Closing Banquet

and
Dr. Lawrence Cunningham, Notre Dame Theology Department: Deus Caritas Est McKenna, Lower Level

Image: Raphael's allegory of Theology

Helping them work on it

See Jennifer's 'blog, Conversion Diary for a really outstanding discussion on how to get children to behave at Mass.

This truth finally crystallized for me the other day when I was asking my good friend Elizabeth Esther for advice. I was expecting a laundry list of tips about what toys to bring or what order to have everyone sit in the pew, and she caught me off guard with a simple question:

"What are you doing during the week to help them work on it?" she asked.

Uhh...what? She went on to explain that the way she grew up, Sunday service was the very center of life. Because it was seen as the most important activity and the focal point of every family's week, mothers would practice with their children at home to help them be better prepared to make it through the services on Sunday. Elizabeth, who has five young children (including one-year-old twins!) told me about the improvements she'd seen with her own kids after having them practice quiet time on mats at home on weekdays.

Our conversation made me realize that the problem was not that I hadn't found the right book to bring or discovered some magical church-only discipline technique; the problem was rooted in the fact that I didn't see the Mass as the center of my week. If I were to have the privilege of a recurring appointment with the Queen of England and had issues with the kids' behavior during those meetings, you'd better believe that I'd be working at home to help them learn age-appropriate self control for next time. So why am I not as motivated to deal with the problems that occur at Mass, a weekly appointment far more important than with any earthly royalty? Why am I not willing to devote any more effort into it than the hour or so spent actually sitting in the pews? That, I realized, is the question I need to be asking.

Image: Christ Blessing the Children by Lucas Cranach, the Younger

From the Mailbag

Reader Micki wrote to inform us of her own way of organizing her holy card collection: namely, a blog with pictures of the cards (over 750, she says, to date!), along with various prayers and quotes. A personal favorite: the "Ave Crux, Spes Unica" card from last week. (Given your Blog Hostesses' great fondness for Our Lady's University, are you really Surprised?)

Reader Teresa in Germany (I presume from her address) writes about embroidery, and shares an image of her own handiwork:

I made a pall for a newly ordained priest, as a gift at his "Primiz"-greeting (after his first Holy Mass) and the sample was from this blog too. I'm looking forward to create a maniturgia. There are also groups on yahoo (sew4church and catholiccyberneedles), where people can compare notes about this matter.

Last but not least, a reader wrote to enquire about a source for "Pray for Priests" magnets in bulk. If anyone has such information, please do leave a comment.

True Girls, True God ~Truly Gorgeous!

I was recently introduced to a fun resource for teen girls, TG! Magazine. From their site:

We are glad you are here. TG! magazine is a Catholic magazine for teen girls. Our target audience includes girls aged 12-18; but we have been known to have subscribers between 10 and 20 years of age.

On our cover, you will see the phrase True Girls, True God ~ Truly Gorgeous. Each issue will contain features with each of these three elements. We believe that with God all girls can be truly gorgeous. Click here to subscribe.

Look for articles on the beliefs of the Catholic church, profiles of positive role models, reviews of current & classic books, movies and music, advice, fashion, makeup and more. We will take a look at what we print through the lens of the Catholic faith.

Our models are not professionally trained; their photographs are not airbrushed. Our advertisers agree to adhere to modesty standards and they support Christian values. We strive to achieve a fun and wholesome publication that "trains them up in the way they should go" (adapted from Proverbs 22) and gives glory to God, our Father.

The issue I have features articles on a trip to Australia for World Youth Day along with contests, Saint stories, a Rosary reflection, and a regular feature called Ask Father Leo. It's a full color, glossy, bi-monthly publication that will likely appeal to the up-and-coming church ladies in your life. Consider supporting them by subscribing or advertising.