…and it is co-sponsored by none other than John Kerry’s fellow MA senator. Here’s pretty much what you can expect if this bill passes.
Author: Pete Vere
Retraction vis-a-vis John Kerry
When it comes to thugging our children, Team Kerry/Edwards/Fonda are equal opportunists…
During my frisking of [sic.] Katholics for Dean earlier this year, I stated something to the effect that pro-abort John Kerry was prejudiced against our children in the womb. I now wish to retract this statement. As of last Thursday, the Democrats have proven themselves to be equal opportunists when it comes to thugging our children. Here’s the photo along with the accompanying AP story:
Three-year-old Sophia Parlock cries while seated on the shoulders of her father, Phil Parlock, after having their Bush-Cheney sign torn up by Kerry-Edwards supporters on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004, at the Tri-State Airport in Huntington, W.Va. Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards made a brief stop at the airport as he concluded his two-day bus tour to locations in West Virginia and Ohio. (AP Photo/Randy Snyder)
Johnny Ramone — Political Conservative and Godfather of Punk
Man, it has been a rough summer with two of my conservative heroes passing away. The first, of course, is former president Ronald Reagan. The other, last Thursday, is Johnny Ramone — the godfather of punk. So I have spent most of the day listening to the Ramones while judging annulments.
Johnny, I hope you made your peace with Our Lord Jesus Christ before passing on. May your soul, and the soul of all the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Homeschooling – Pro and Con
Now that our phone line and internet is hooked up again, I have spent part of the day surfing the net. In so doing, I couldn’t help but notice some of the debates over homeschooling take place. While nobody disagrees that the education usually is superior to that of public schools, there is some question as to how well adapted homeschooled children are socially after they graduate.
In my experience, it depends upon the parents. I have seen both good and bad. In one particularly egregious example, one of my friends roomed in college with a homeschooled fellow who grew up in a very sheltered environment — to the point of social inneptitude. For example, he was clueless as to who Darth Vader was.
Another story takes place within the context of a particular post-conciliar traditionalist schisms, which has attracted many adherents to a certain geographical locale. As soon as the girls reach their late teens or early twenties, they marry guys in their late thirties to early forties. They simply cannot relate to guys their own age, as the girls find the guys their own age too socially immature and too sheltered to maintain decent employment and support a family. So, obviously, this is the downside.
On the other hand, some of the most socially well-adjusted young men I have met were also homeschooled. I’m thinking, in particular, of a friend of mine whom I met through the FSSP. His parents were both military officers and took the view that homeschooling was about raising their children to be tommorrow’s Catholic leaders. Therefore, they didn’t see homeschooling as sheltering their children, but as an apprenticeship to maintaining one’s faith while venturing forth in the real world.
So besides the usual homeschooling activities of catechesis, reading, writing, mathematics, history, geography, etc… their kids also participated in sports, the arts, community service, choir practice, boy scouts and even scuba-diving (my friend’s father explained that this wasn’t just phys-ed, but a reinforcement of the lessons learned in mathematics and geography as well.) Another homeschooled friend of mine, who I met through the charismatic movement, did small-aircraft piloting rather than scuba-diving.
In each case, some of the other parents in the respective parish thought these parents were too libertine, wasteful and risky with the lives of their children. But their children have all turned out well. They came out from homeschooling well-adjusted young adults, with real life skills and capable of assuming responsibility. All have all kept the faith. They are all grateful for their home-schooling background, and remain close to their parents. One is about to graduate with a double-degree in fine arts and engineering. The other is a well-liked pilot and aircraft mechanic. Both are active in their faith.
On the other hand, a lot of my homeschooled friends whose parents sheltered them have turned out aweful. The one that breaks my heart the most is an ex-girlfriend who rebelled against her parents, got involved with a drug-addict, had a child that was given up for adoption, never finished high-school, and now works in the so-called “adult entertainment” field and is bitter against both her family and the Catholic faith. Others have become a variation, albeit not as bad.
So my point is that homeschooling depends upon the parents. If parents use homeschooling to shelter their kids from the real world, this is not good. But if parents use homeschooling to prepare their kids for the real world, then the results are much better than a public school education.
The same can be said about private Catholic schools. I know some traddy schools that simply shelter kids, and the kids graduate knowing all sorts of facts and figures, but still socially and emotionally immature. On the other hand, St. Gregory’s Academy — under the auspices of the FSSP — openly has as its purpose not only classical education of teenage boys, but their formation and growth from boys into responsible young men. Thus the boys are expected to participate in sport, theatre, music and various social activities. When they graduate, it is a educated and well-adjusted young men.
Young and Catholic — X and Y Stand for OrthodoXY
This is one of the many reasons why I love writing for the Wanderer — Al Matt, Jr. is pretty open about me sharing my submissions on Catholic Light beforehand. That being said, here`s a rough draft of my September submission for Of Canons and Culture:
Of Canons and Culture…
X and Y stand for OrthodoXY
Pete Vere
Where are all the young Catholics? Admittedly, I feel a little sheepish asking this question. I just turned thirty. If I recall correctly, this puts me somewhere near the end of Generation-X and the beginning of Generation-Y. According to various pollsters, my participation each Sunday at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is somewhat of a statistical anomaly.
Yet I hardly feel alone as one who is both young and Catholic. Nor should I according to a forthcoming title from Sophia Institute Press. As a quick aside, most of our readers at the Wanderer should already be familiar with this publisher of orthodox Catholic books.
The title of the book is Young and Catholic: The Face of Tomorrow’s Church. This past weekend saw me blessed with the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the manuscript. Timothy Drake, the author, is a regular correspondent for the National Catholic Register. “In preparation for writing this book,” Tim states in the introduction, “I spoke to more than 300 young people from across the U.S. and elsewhere.” What becomes apparent in reading the book is that each of these young people takes an orthodox stance towards the Catholic faith. Thus orthodoxy is on the rise among Catholics who fall within Generations X and Y.
Undoubtedly, Tim’s analysis seems optimistic. Yet his book proves that such optimism is well-founded. Reflecting upon my own experience as a young Catholic, I agree with the author. For instance, I attend a parish across town where the FSSP administers the sacraments according to the old Latin liturgy. Many envision our parish as a refuge for both the elderly and the nostalgic. However, this stereotype of the traditionalist movement is probably as outdated as the membership of Call-to-Action and the editorial positions espoused by the National Catholic Reporter. Our pew count on any given Sunday easily shows young families outnumbering both the Boomers and the World War II generation Catholics.
Moreover, this phenomena is hardly restricted to the traditionalist movement. Our local (Novus Ordo) parish is administered by the Companions of the Cross – an orthodox society of priests that grew out of the Catholic Charismatic renewal. The Companions have never shied away from preaching Humanae Vitae to young families. Thus parish functions are bursting with children.
Earlier this evening, our family attended the local parish’s family soccer night. Everyone who attended was under the age of forty. While the men and children played soccer, the moms sat on the sidelines and chatted among themselves. A baby and carrier accompanied each mom. The only exception was my friend’s wife who carried their baby in utero. And with only two children in tow – Sonya and I would like to have more, but we’re waiting for God to do His part – we happened to be the smallest family in attendance.
In reviewing Young and Catholic, I discovered these experiences have become common across North America. Whether the purpose is prayer, catechesis or socialization among young Catholics, Tim documents several examples of young orthodox Catholics banding together. “Teens gather by the hundreds to attend special youth Masses in parishes around the country,” he shares, “often on Saturday or Sunday evenings… Young adults get together to discuss theology on a Saturday night in Newark, Ohio, and to study the Holy Father’s encyclicals in New York, Minneapolis, and Kansas City. Young Catholic leaders gather annually in Chicago and in Canada to network and collaborate with one another…
“They are converting to the Faith in large numbers on both secular and Catholic college campuses in California, Texas, and Illinois. They are swelling the ranks of religious orders in Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, and New York — to such an extent that some orders don’t have space for all of the new members. They are also being ordained priests in dioceses such as Denver, Baltimore, and Lincoln, Nebraska.”
In what will no doubt give Andrew Greeley ulcers, Tim spends the rest of the book documenting and supporting the above claims. Thus I cannot recommend Tim’s book highly enough. Young and Catholic gives hope to Catholics who have spent the last couple years suffering from the scandal caused by sexual misconduct among the clergy. It also provides the perfect rebuttal to Fr. Greeley’s nostalgic jeremiads against “Young Fogeys”, which have become as predictable as the plot to his novels.