One of my favorite Christian bands is Sanctus Real, a rock group headed by singer Matt Hammitt. He's famous for capturing hearts with his emotional lyrics paired with powerful melodies. Go on and listen to "Lead Me" on their website to get an idea of what I mean.
Earlier this fall, Hammitt found a new source of inspiration: the birth of his third child and first son, Bowen. He's had so many bumps and triumphs in his first months of life, and tonight his story graces ABC World News during an episode of gratitude.
This resonated with me, as someone who followed baby Bowen's progress on the radio, through Matt's Twitter, and Bowen's Heart, a website the family built chronicling his struggle for anxious supporters. I had a rough start, too -- born 3 months premature, I was under 2 lbs and spent 81 days in the hospital.
We all have a lot to be grateful for this week. I hope all of you have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!
Here's the segment from ABC. Grab your tissues.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
New York's Dolan to Lead U.S. Bishops
There has been an especially large amount of buzz in Catholic news lately. There are two stories I want to cover that have broken over the past few days, so bear with me as I work to sort out the details.
The first comes out of the nation's capital from Tuesday. Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, has been elected to lead the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The USCCB serves as the main body of Catholic leadership and guidance in America.
The question here is likely "So what?" The answer is that no one saw this result coming. The USCCB has consistently elected its Vice President into the top spot for every single election since its creation (then the National Conference of Catholic Bishops) in 1966.
Currently, the sitting vice president is Tuscon's Gerald Kicanas, an outspoken liberal in his theology who has aligned himself with pro-abortion and GLBT causes and politicians. There have also been instances of priests abusing children under his watch. For the more progressive of the Church, Kicanas has been seen as a rallying point and hope for the future. As VP, his elevation to president was virtually guaranteed.
But after the third round of voting, Dolan emerged as the clear winner, defeating Kicanas 128-111. Known as a fierce defender of both the Pope and conservative values, he has become a favorite among those who toe the Church's party line. The decision is a startling one, both because it was unprecedented and because, as the bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, he is one of the most prominent faces in Catholic America.
The one thing I will say without compromising my objectivity is that it's great to see a bishop have so much charisma. Let's hope that personality serves well in the Church's relations with the country's political scene.
The first comes out of the nation's capital from Tuesday. Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, has been elected to lead the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The USCCB serves as the main body of Catholic leadership and guidance in America.
The question here is likely "So what?" The answer is that no one saw this result coming. The USCCB has consistently elected its Vice President into the top spot for every single election since its creation (then the National Conference of Catholic Bishops) in 1966.
Currently, the sitting vice president is Tuscon's Gerald Kicanas, an outspoken liberal in his theology who has aligned himself with pro-abortion and GLBT causes and politicians. There have also been instances of priests abusing children under his watch. For the more progressive of the Church, Kicanas has been seen as a rallying point and hope for the future. As VP, his elevation to president was virtually guaranteed.
But after the third round of voting, Dolan emerged as the clear winner, defeating Kicanas 128-111. Known as a fierce defender of both the Pope and conservative values, he has become a favorite among those who toe the Church's party line. The decision is a startling one, both because it was unprecedented and because, as the bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, he is one of the most prominent faces in Catholic America.
The one thing I will say without compromising my objectivity is that it's great to see a bishop have so much charisma. Let's hope that personality serves well in the Church's relations with the country's political scene.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Post #50!
Permit me a moment of unprofessionalism, okay?
B101 PHILADELPHIA IS OFFICIALLY FLIPPED TO 24/7 CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!!!
I have been waiting for weeks! Woohoo!
Enjoy it on 101.1 FM!
B101 PHILADELPHIA IS OFFICIALLY FLIPPED TO 24/7 CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!!!
I have been waiting for weeks! Woohoo!
Enjoy it on 101.1 FM!
A Matter of Time
Last night was the last meeting at CCM until after the brief Thanksgiving break. When we return for Mass on Sunday the 28th, it will be the first Sunday of Advent. If you'll recall my post from last year on this season, this means that there will be only four weeks standing between us and Christmas.
It's funny how the season tends to sneak up on us, at least for me.
Ironically, last night our chaplain used the meeting to talk about time. Advent is a subdued kind of season as we all dig in our heels and reflect back on everything that has gotten us to this point, repenting as we find we need to. It's a time to focus on all that Christ has done (this is especially true for this weekend's holy day, the Solemnity of Christ the King) for us, the direction our lives are headed as we seek to follow Him, and of course, the end of time.
Father told us a story of a woman he had known named Connie, a poet from Pennsylvania who, after suffering a terrible stroke, lost her ability to communicate. She was virtually a soul trapped in a shell.
Her daughter was one day very emotional over this, and wrapping her arms around her mother, said, "Mom, if it weren't immoral, I wish I could help you move on to heaven so you don't have to suffer like this."
Using a touch pad to spell out words, it took Connie hours to type this: "I am in God's time. Don't cry for me, Argentina...this has happened so that I have to depend fully on Him."
Woah. Now that, friends, is faith -- and a peace with death that I imagine many would envy.
After the talk, we went downstairs to our chapel that was pitch black, with a special surprise: the place was lit entirely by luminarias, bags of sand with candles inside.
We prayed Compline together, better known as Night Prayer, a collection of hymns, psalms and Scripture that the entire Church prays together.
"Watch over us, Lord, as we stay awake, and protect us as we sleep; that awake, we might keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in His peace."
The theme was darkness and light, which was perfect for the coming Advent season. The whole experience encouraged us to pray for peace, and trust without anxiety that God will take care of us.
It's just a matter of time.
It's funny how the season tends to sneak up on us, at least for me.
Ironically, last night our chaplain used the meeting to talk about time. Advent is a subdued kind of season as we all dig in our heels and reflect back on everything that has gotten us to this point, repenting as we find we need to. It's a time to focus on all that Christ has done (this is especially true for this weekend's holy day, the Solemnity of Christ the King) for us, the direction our lives are headed as we seek to follow Him, and of course, the end of time.
Father told us a story of a woman he had known named Connie, a poet from Pennsylvania who, after suffering a terrible stroke, lost her ability to communicate. She was virtually a soul trapped in a shell.
Her daughter was one day very emotional over this, and wrapping her arms around her mother, said, "Mom, if it weren't immoral, I wish I could help you move on to heaven so you don't have to suffer like this."
Using a touch pad to spell out words, it took Connie hours to type this: "I am in God's time. Don't cry for me, Argentina...this has happened so that I have to depend fully on Him."
Woah. Now that, friends, is faith -- and a peace with death that I imagine many would envy.
After the talk, we went downstairs to our chapel that was pitch black, with a special surprise: the place was lit entirely by luminarias, bags of sand with candles inside.
We prayed Compline together, better known as Night Prayer, a collection of hymns, psalms and Scripture that the entire Church prays together.
"Watch over us, Lord, as we stay awake, and protect us as we sleep; that awake, we might keep watch with Christ, and asleep, rest in His peace."
The theme was darkness and light, which was perfect for the coming Advent season. The whole experience encouraged us to pray for peace, and trust without anxiety that God will take care of us.
It's just a matter of time.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Music Monday: Audrey Assad
A lot of people will tell you that today, the contemporary Christian music scene is largely dominated by men. If I were to list a few of the most popular groups and artists played on the nationally-syndicated station Air 1, you'd hear names like these: tobyMac, Skillet, Kutless, Third Day, Tenth Avenue North, Jars of Clay, Jeremy Camp, Brandon Heath, David Crowder.
Not a woman in the mix.
This sad fact has only recently been pointed out in Christian media outlets; a particularly good read is this feature from Christianity Today on Addison Road's frontwoman, Jenny Simmons.
While I have nothing against male artists, because of the lack of females in the industry, I'm much more likely to gravitate toward them.
One of my favorite Christian artists made her solo debut just recently, and has had a firm grip on my attention ever since. Her name is Audrey Assad, a pianist/singer/songwriter hailing from the Phoenix area. Her music is incredibly simplistic, rarely more than piano and rhythm underneath her airy yet powerful soprano vocals.
In every sense of the word, her music is a form of prayer as she touches on subjects that many of her genre shy away from: doubt, suffering, apathy among them.
"Fear is a current we all get caught in
and in its motion, faith can be so hard to find.
And we all falter, 'cause we're all broken
we're just trying to turn the shadows into light ...
You say I am blessed because of this
so I choose to believe
That if I carry this cross,
You'll carry me."
This is just one example of how Assad speaks candidly to both the worries Christians face, and the hope that we can be sure of in Christ.
Random trivia: She's a Catholic convert, the only one in her family, and got her start singing backup vocals for her best friend, Matt Maher. I wrote about Matt (who is also Catholic) on this blog last year.
Check out this video of Audrey Assad performing "For Love of You," the first track off her debut album, "The House You're Building." Then, do yourself a favor and buy the CD.
Not a woman in the mix.
This sad fact has only recently been pointed out in Christian media outlets; a particularly good read is this feature from Christianity Today on Addison Road's frontwoman, Jenny Simmons.
While I have nothing against male artists, because of the lack of females in the industry, I'm much more likely to gravitate toward them.
One of my favorite Christian artists made her solo debut just recently, and has had a firm grip on my attention ever since. Her name is Audrey Assad, a pianist/singer/songwriter hailing from the Phoenix area. Her music is incredibly simplistic, rarely more than piano and rhythm underneath her airy yet powerful soprano vocals.
In every sense of the word, her music is a form of prayer as she touches on subjects that many of her genre shy away from: doubt, suffering, apathy among them.
"Fear is a current we all get caught in
and in its motion, faith can be so hard to find.
And we all falter, 'cause we're all broken
we're just trying to turn the shadows into light ...
You say I am blessed because of this
so I choose to believe
That if I carry this cross,
You'll carry me."
This is just one example of how Assad speaks candidly to both the worries Christians face, and the hope that we can be sure of in Christ.
Random trivia: She's a Catholic convert, the only one in her family, and got her start singing backup vocals for her best friend, Matt Maher. I wrote about Matt (who is also Catholic) on this blog last year.
Check out this video of Audrey Assad performing "For Love of You," the first track off her debut album, "The House You're Building." Then, do yourself a favor and buy the CD.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Off Beat: Writers beat the clock in November
A lot of writers, whether professional or amateur, have big dreams. Many of them long for the day that their name graces the front cover of the New Releases section at Barnes & Noble, or even better, the New York Times' Best Seller list.
Every year, some of these people set out on the journey to write that great American novel. But the majority of them aren't crazy enough to try it in a month.
That's exactly what hundreds of thousands do each year during November, though. Armed with nothing but a flash of plotted brilliance and gallons of caffeine, they tackle the fiction beast that is National Novel Writing Month.
The event, which began on a whim in 1999 with freelance writer Chris Baty, offers hopeful novelists a quick and dirty opportunity to get their ideas down on paper. Beginning at midnight local time on Nov. 1, they have just 30 days to write a 50,000-word work of fiction.
In its first year, NaNoWriMo had just 21 participants, mostly Baty's friends from the San Francisco Bay Area; only a third of these met the goal. Eleven years later, 197,000 adults and young people from all over the globe have signed up for the challenge.
A popular component of the experience is the write-in, a meeting of local participants (called "wrimos") in venues throughout a specific region. Most of these people meet via the website's forum system, which includes regional chapters. According to the NaNo website, there are currently 164 people from South Jersey who have written at least a word this year (including me!).
The task of writing at least 1,667 words every day to hit the big 50K by the month's end may seem daunting, but it ends up not being so bad. If a person types as little as 30 words a minute, it will take just under an hour to get the day's quota done. With careful examination of our daily schedules and a little trimming here are there, it's a piece of cake.
The hardest part for a lot of participants is turning off their "inner editor," that voice of criticism that threatens to beat the hopeful writer into the dirt with every sentence. That's why the month-long deadline is in place. You have to write quickly, not worrying about being critical; in this way, you end up writing for the love of it.
To learn more about National Novel Writing Month, its sister program Script Frenzy, or the Young Writers Program, visit their website: The Office of Letters & Light.
A popular component of the experience is the write-in, a meeting of local participants (called "wrimos") in venues throughout a specific region. Most of these people meet via the website's forum system, which includes regional chapters. According to the NaNo website, there are currently 164 people from South Jersey who have written at least a word this year (including me!).
The task of writing at least 1,667 words every day to hit the big 50K by the month's end may seem daunting, but it ends up not being so bad. If a person types as little as 30 words a minute, it will take just under an hour to get the day's quota done. With careful examination of our daily schedules and a little trimming here are there, it's a piece of cake.
The hardest part for a lot of participants is turning off their "inner editor," that voice of criticism that threatens to beat the hopeful writer into the dirt with every sentence. That's why the month-long deadline is in place. You have to write quickly, not worrying about being critical; in this way, you end up writing for the love of it.
To learn more about National Novel Writing Month, its sister program Script Frenzy, or the Young Writers Program, visit their website: The Office of Letters & Light.
Friday, November 05, 2010
Losing Christ in Christmas
I was really hoping that I would be able to save this post for another week or two, but it looks like the time has come sooner than I expected.
Or I guess what I should say is that "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."
Today, I went to spend some of the birthday money that's been burning a hole in my pocket at a mall about 30 miles south of Rowan. Signs were up all over the place advertising the upcoming arrival of Santa Claus for photos and eager wish lists on ... Nov. 13! How about that. Don't you think it would be easier to, you know, put the Halloween decorations away first? Goodness, we still have a solid three weeks to go before Thanksgiving, even.
Now in the spirit of full disclosure and integrity I have to confess that I'm probably more excited than my baby cousins (seven of them ages 2 to 6, one on the way) when it comes to the holiday season. I'm guilty of blasting Christmas music in my apartment on campus by the second week of classes, have had ideas for gifts since the third, and was very close to buying my outfit for the family party today. I'm really terrible about it.
In my own defense, however, the reason I'm so crazy is because my family has taught me to appreciate the joy and simplicity of this time of year, despite the rushing and preparations. It's an opportunity to slow down with my family and be thankful that we've gotten through another year. For me personally, the coming of Christmas has given me so much more to celebrate now that I actually celebrate it for its purpose -- Christ. (So that's what Christmas is about? Jesus? Go figure!)
The stores were full to overflowing today with trees, candy canes, snowmen and enough reindeer to fill a barn...yet, ironically, the only time I saw anything to do with spirituality was in a gift card envelope. Even that reference was one use of the word "holy" in a ridiculous and cheesy rhyming couplet. I read it, groaned, and put it back.
Where, I kept asking myself, did they hide the Christ child under all of those snowmen???
Keep the faith, friends. ;)
(I'm thinking of turning this into a column for The Whit...Cuddy, when you see this, do you think it's got a shot if I clean it up some?)
Or I guess what I should say is that "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."
Today, I went to spend some of the birthday money that's been burning a hole in my pocket at a mall about 30 miles south of Rowan. Signs were up all over the place advertising the upcoming arrival of Santa Claus for photos and eager wish lists on ... Nov. 13! How about that. Don't you think it would be easier to, you know, put the Halloween decorations away first? Goodness, we still have a solid three weeks to go before Thanksgiving, even.
Now in the spirit of full disclosure and integrity I have to confess that I'm probably more excited than my baby cousins (seven of them ages 2 to 6, one on the way) when it comes to the holiday season. I'm guilty of blasting Christmas music in my apartment on campus by the second week of classes, have had ideas for gifts since the third, and was very close to buying my outfit for the family party today. I'm really terrible about it.
In my own defense, however, the reason I'm so crazy is because my family has taught me to appreciate the joy and simplicity of this time of year, despite the rushing and preparations. It's an opportunity to slow down with my family and be thankful that we've gotten through another year. For me personally, the coming of Christmas has given me so much more to celebrate now that I actually celebrate it for its purpose -- Christ. (So that's what Christmas is about? Jesus? Go figure!)
The stores were full to overflowing today with trees, candy canes, snowmen and enough reindeer to fill a barn...yet, ironically, the only time I saw anything to do with spirituality was in a gift card envelope. Even that reference was one use of the word "holy" in a ridiculous and cheesy rhyming couplet. I read it, groaned, and put it back.
Where, I kept asking myself, did they hide the Christ child under all of those snowmen???
Keep the faith, friends. ;)
(I'm thinking of turning this into a column for The Whit...Cuddy, when you see this, do you think it's got a shot if I clean it up some?)
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
The Hallowed Three
Hi. My apologies for the lack of updates -- I came down with a bad cold early Monday morning and have spent the better part of this week in bed. :( Fun stuff. I'm still not better, but I'm definitely getting there.
I had wanted to write this week about a series of holy days that the Church observed this week that are all interconnected -- All Saints Day on Nov. 1, All Souls Day on Nov. 2, and believe it or not, Halloween.
I know, that seems a little crazy. But the spookiest day of the year has more ties to Christianity than most people realize. As a matter of fact, I only learned this last week myself. I got most of my information from a homily by priest acquaintance of mine, Fr. Brian Ditullio, the Vocations Director in the Diocese of Paterson.
Most people know that Halloween traces its roots to two different cultures -- the Mexican Dia de los Muerte (Day of the Dead), and the ancient Celtic feast of Samhain, still celebrated today by Pagans and Druids worldwide. But as Catholicism began to spread around the world, the blending of these different cultures both eased the conversion process while creating a unique day of remembrance.
Of course, in many religions that believe in an afterlife, the deceased play various roles in faith even though they are no longer present. The Church has always honored its martyrs in the spring, but that feast was eventually moved to coincide with All Saints (this is where dressing up in spooky costumes comes from). The name Halloween comes from the phrase "all hallows eve," meaning the night before a sacred (hallowed) day. It was always the first day in a series of three to honor the dead -- one for the martyrs, one for those who are in heaven with God, and the last for those being purified before heaven in purgatory.
While it's true that Samhain has ties to occultism, especially in those faiths that contact the dead through witchcraft, it's got practically nothing to do with Satan.
So go on -- indulge in some of that super cheap post-Halloween candy and remember all of your loved ones who have passed on.
I had wanted to write this week about a series of holy days that the Church observed this week that are all interconnected -- All Saints Day on Nov. 1, All Souls Day on Nov. 2, and believe it or not, Halloween.
I know, that seems a little crazy. But the spookiest day of the year has more ties to Christianity than most people realize. As a matter of fact, I only learned this last week myself. I got most of my information from a homily by priest acquaintance of mine, Fr. Brian Ditullio, the Vocations Director in the Diocese of Paterson.
Most people know that Halloween traces its roots to two different cultures -- the Mexican Dia de los Muerte (Day of the Dead), and the ancient Celtic feast of Samhain, still celebrated today by Pagans and Druids worldwide. But as Catholicism began to spread around the world, the blending of these different cultures both eased the conversion process while creating a unique day of remembrance.
Of course, in many religions that believe in an afterlife, the deceased play various roles in faith even though they are no longer present. The Church has always honored its martyrs in the spring, but that feast was eventually moved to coincide with All Saints (this is where dressing up in spooky costumes comes from). The name Halloween comes from the phrase "all hallows eve," meaning the night before a sacred (hallowed) day. It was always the first day in a series of three to honor the dead -- one for the martyrs, one for those who are in heaven with God, and the last for those being purified before heaven in purgatory.
While it's true that Samhain has ties to occultism, especially in those faiths that contact the dead through witchcraft, it's got practically nothing to do with Satan.
So go on -- indulge in some of that super cheap post-Halloween candy and remember all of your loved ones who have passed on.
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