Hollywood versus reality

Aw geeze! I just saw the trailer for "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown. I'm honestly astonished that it appears to be even more anti-Catholic than "The DaVinci Code" was. You hear the words "the truth" thrown around in the trailer alot, which is so ironic given the flimsy plots of all of Dan Brown's books.

It looks like it will present itself as some sort of heroic movie pushing the question of science versus religion driving the two things into a strict either/or situation rather than seeing their compatibility.

The plot of the story is just completely absurd. The whole irony is that people will get pulled into the whole "religion versus science" debate and have doubts about religion, yet will fail to miss all the poor science and non sequitur moments in the actual plot of the book.

This will be the new controversial film of the year because you can tell the studio is going to hype this with all the advertising they can. Of course the other irony is that the movie will try to tell people not to have blind faith regarding religion, but obviously if they are going to see the movie, they will have proven that they have blind faith about the advertising. Sadly, this film will be a blockbuster, mainly because of the advertising, not because of the content. Don't believe me, just look at what happened with "The DaVinci Code." The media and controversy surrounding it made it a blockbuster, but the critics and most moviegoers said the movie was lame. I'm sure this time the studios have hired actual writers to clean the script up. And people say that those who follow religion are just dumb sheep. Ugh.

I would say that this is the perfect time for the Church to emphasize more the compatibility of scienc and religion, as it always has.

For instance, do you know where the theory of the Big Bang came from? A Catholic priest named Georges Lemaitre.

Hopefully Amy Welborn is writing a new book as we speak. LOL.

RS

Black History Month

A history lesson for Black History Month.



RS

Religious persecution and the rise of communism

Although there is a lot in the gloom and doom crowd who are fearing the complete supression of religion under Obama, I think we have to realize that we here in the United States are VERY blessed with religious freedom to the degree in which we have it. But in spite of what happens, I think all Catholics and other Christians need to ask ourselves: if religious persecution does happen, are we willing to stand up and sacrifice ourselves for the Truth? I think many of us fear increases in religious persecution because it might mean we would have to do something and put ourselves in the way of danger and stand up for our beliefs and convitions ... and really look at ourselves and see if we really believe our beliefs and are convicted about our convictions.

It reminds me of a friend of mine who was born in Cuba and was a small boy when the communist revolution there happened. He said that Catholics who had been going to daily Mass for years were suddenly persecuting the Church and handing over priests to be arrested. He ended up fleeing Cuba with his mother. I can tell you, the popularity of the Che Guevara icon and the pro-Cuba leanings of many in the entertainment industry drives him nuts.


Fr. Tim Finigan at The Hermeneutic of Continuity posted this video from the Don Camillo series in Italy, which should be a reminder that religious persecution has been pretty recent.



And communism is still a player in Italian politics. I took this photo in October of 2008 just outside of Norcia, Italy:


And, sadly, the Democratic party has been sliding down the path to socialism and communism as well, esepecially under Barak Obama. It's a slippery slope, and once a country falls under it's spell, it is hard to let it go. As momentous as the fall of communism was in the Soviet Union, there is a growing number of people in Russia who want communism back. People had become so dependant on the government, that they are willing to throw away liberties to have programs spoon fed to them by the government again.



Hopefully, our country can wake up from its morbid fascination with socialism and move back to freedom and responsibility.

RS

Amazing pictures from Life Magazine

Second Vatican Council in Saint Peter's
The Life Magazine photo archive is online now and hosted by Google. There are some amazing high quality photos from the last century, even ones from Rome and papal ceremonies. For instance, do a search for "Vatican" and you'll see some amazing pictures. The picture above is just one example (and that's the "small" picture).

LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

Note: Not all their photo descriptions are accurate. This picture is actually in Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, not Saint Peter's. And I've seen several that were at also labeled as being in Saint Peter's when they were actually in the Colosseum!

RS

Mmmm ... mmmm ... good!

Wow, I have got to make a road trip. I already love bacon. It's sort of like the candy of meats ... so easy to just keep eating it.

Well, of course in the spirit of Texas, just like at the State Fair, this guy has taken bacon to another level. Even without the bacon, who can't resist a place where the owner says about their steaks "we don't use ounces in this place ... it's pounds."



Mmmm, I can feel my arteries hardening already!

RS

Halloween

The other night a friend of mine (about a generation ahead of me) approached me after Mass, and we started talking about Halloween. We were noting how both of us grew up with the usual Halloween things and yet are Catholics today. While I certainly understand wanting to protect children from some of the absolutely crazy things in this world, I do sometimes find some rather extreme opinions on less serious things even among Catholics. For example, say "Harry Potter" and some will say you are one step away from practicing witchcraft.

I will admit that sometimes people can go a bit too far for Halloween in terms of decorating their house or dressing their daughters up like ..., anyway ...

I was told of a good post on the topic of Halloween among Catholics by Ma Beck. I found it rather balanced, and it does give an interesting perspective to celebrating Halloween. Ceremonial bow to Father Erik at Orthometer for pointing out the article.

Obligatory Hallowe'en Post

I prefer a good All Saint's party myself. I've seen some pretty good Saint costumes in previous years. Still, Ma Beck's post makes sense.

Roman Sacristan's cameo in the movie "Scream"
(which ended up being a deleted scene)
Whatever you do, don't answer the phone!
LOL!

RS