2011: The Year in Review

I usually do this on Facebook, and I may still, but I figured the blog might be a good place for a year-end review as well!

So without further ado... 2011 at a glance...

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’ve never done before?

Sing and cantor at my Church in Another Smalltown for my brother's wedding; own a smartphone.

Ooo pretty.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Yes, sort of. It's usually the same - exercise more, lose weight, be happier.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Piper Margaret (Piper) was born in January, Bentley Stewart (Bentley) was born in June, and Daniel James (Danny) was born in October. I "stalk" all of these babies on Facebook; not to worry, their the children of my friends so that makes it okay. Plus, Danny's mom has appointed me the President of his 2-year old brother Mikey's fan club so... it makes it even more legit, right?

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Dr. Biggs - Requiescat in Pace.

5. What countries did you visit?
I stayed in the United States of America this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A full-time job maybe? And less loneliness.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 25 - my brother's wedding. December 12 - my 26th birthday (see #25).

 8. What’s your biggest achievement of the year?
Successfully passing comprehensive exams... so I'm practically ABD at this point.

9. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I slipped on leaves in October and had a slight sprain to my wrist but nothing more major than that...

10. What’s the best thing you bought?
A pair of comfy sweatpants. Nothing like the comfort of some ill-fitting clothes that makes you all warm and cozy.

11. Where did most of your money go?
Car payments and rent. Boo.

12. What did you get really, really excited about?
Attending the Catholic New Media Conference in Kansas City

13. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Nicki Minaj's Super Bass

14. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? Richer or poorer? Thinner or fatter?
Happier, poorer, and thinner... whoop whoop!

15. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Spending time with the people who mean the most

16. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying and working. I feel like I'm always working.

17. How did you spend Christmas?
Annual Christmas Eve Drop-in, Watching The Sound of Music, Sleep, Seeing Santa’s gifts Christmas morning, Mass at 10AM, Christmas dinner, Opening gifts with family, and a long winter's nap followed by Baby Jesus birthday party, watching football with family, and teaching everyone how to play Words with Friends

Coooookies.

18. Did you fall in love in 2011?
Negative. Maybe in 2012... hopefully before the world ends.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
I've really started to get into How I Met Your Mother - but I'm starting from the beginning. So I'm only like, 7 years behind.

Good show.

20. What was the best book you read?
The Happiness Project - it's like Gretchen Rubin is writing about me, even though she's writing about herself.

Good book.

21. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Michael Buble's Christmas album

22. What did you want and get?
So many things. I am incredibly blessed.

23. What did you want and not get?
I'm adopting this attitude that if I don't get it, then I don't really need it. And therefore shouldn't want it. (Easier said than done though... I'm taking this outlook one day at a time!)

24. What was your favorite film of this year?
Bridesmaids, hands down. 

Good movie.

Although I also REALLY liked We Bought a Zoo.

Another good movie.

25. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 26 and a really great friend took me to city-close-by for an afternoon and evening full of some of my favorite things: First shopping, then an incredible Italian dinner, a trip to an amazing half-priced bookstore, dessert, coffee, all the while viewing displays of Christmas lights along the way. It was really a perfect birthday!
(If he happens to read this... thank you so much, again.)

And I went to lunch with Organist-Friend the next day. And she gave me a SWEET BLANKIE!

26. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Less worrying and taking more action in my life

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept for 2011?
I think it got better. More snazzy. People have noticed.

28. What kept you sane?
Going to Confession more often. No joke. And having friends who will listen to me rant. Thanks guys!

29. What celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I still love my George Clooney. 13 years strong. I'm probably one of his longest relationships. Heh.

Be still my heart.

30. What political issue stirred you the most?
oy... let's not get started...

31. Who did you miss?
Friends and family in SC

32. Who was the best new person you met?
Priest-Friend; I technically met him in 2010, but didn't get to know him until he moved to Smalltown, USA in July

33. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
"Gentleness, patience, joy. Gentleness, patience, joy. Gentleness, patience, joy... Give Me these three things in your external life - in  your judgments - your thoughts - in your feelings. Gentleness is the fruit of Love. Patience is the fruit of Faith. Joy is the fruit of Hope.When these alone fill your heart, I will reign in it as King." -Our Lord to Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity

Speed Update of what I promised previously..

A week ago I posted this. And sadly, I only got to one of those things on the list. Christmas was a busy time for Prudence! In a quick micro-update to atone for the lack of updating about things promised, I give you:

The list:

My flight experience to Another Smalltown on Tuesday (this should be up by Thursday PM): See this post. 


More on Prudence's Dad and his craziness (based on a conversation about Justin Bieber and what promises to be an adventure in last minute Christmas shopping over the next 2 days): My dad is one of the funniest people I know. While I was in Another Smalltown for Christmas, we watched a few Christmas specials, including re-watching the one by this beautiful man: 

Photo Cred: FAMEmagazine

But before Mr. Buble serenaded me on his very first Christmas special for the second time this holiday season, we watched the adoption special "A Home for the Holidays" (in which Mary J. Blige was wearing what can only be described as a red adult onesie.) 

Mary J. Blige's Fancy Red Onesie. Photo Cred: CBS

And like in the Buble special, one Justin Bieber makes an appearance to sing his one-hit Christmas wonder, Under the Mistletoe. 

Now... don't ask me how, but my dad somehow understands/gets/whatever's Lady Gaga. But he couldn't seem to grasp the idea of the term "shawty." Example (from Under the Mistletoe):

I should be playing in the winter snow / But Ima be under the mistletoe. / With you, shawty with you, / With you, shawty with you, / With you, under the Mistletoe, yeah.

After explaining that a "shawty" is a term for an attractive girl or girlfriend or whatever (according to Urban Dictionary), I did like the Spelling Bee, and used it in a sentence (or... in other song lyrics, actually):

 Go shawty, it's your birthday, you're gonna party like it's your birthday.

I think he got it after that. ANYWAY. Mr. Bieber gave us another round of his "Under the Mistletoe" in the Buble special. But this time, Dad wasn't as concerned with the term shawty but more about that level at which young Justin decided to wear his britches. My dad exclaimed, and I quote:

"Oh my goodness! Look at him. He's wearing them below his A$$!" 

Photo Cred: Aurora Record Company

 Oh Dad. Again, you get Lady Gaga, but not The Biebs. Guess he's just not a Belieber like Mr. Buble.

The Importance of Family and Traditions (because the season just begs for this): One of the last things we talked about in my 4th grade Sunday School class on the Sunday before Christmas was tradition. Catholicism is chock full of tradition, and I love every last bit of it. I had my students talk about their family traditions, and as expected, many of them revolved around being together, decorating the house for Christmas, getting a tree, and opening presents. I think these kinds of traditions are super important because it really helps to ground your family. It gives you something to look forward to time and time again.

In Prudence's family - we've ALWAYS had a Christmas Eve Drop-In at our house. I think this year marked the 25th annual - since I'm 26 and I was only 13 days old on my first Christmas - I don't think Mom entertained friends that year. But for 25 years, family, friends, and neighbors have come over to our house (yes, even when we moved about 7 miles from the old dwelling) on Christmas Eve to enjoy each other's company and enough food to feed an army. We're talking Smoked Turkey, BBQ, Rolls, Stuffed Mushrooms, Veggies, Cheese Dip, Spinach dip, and enough sweets to make you want to join Weight Watchers on Christmas morning. If we stopped having the drop-in, I don't know what some of our friends would do since they've ALWAYS come to our house on Christmas Eve. 

The Smoked Turkey from this year's Christmas Eve Drop-In

The Desserts. Mmmmm.

While putting everything together sometimes seems like a hassle, it's still a pretty great feeling to entertain friends and family and to enjoy the company of other people. On my (delayed) flight to Another Smalltown, I picked up a book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. 

I'll do a more full-fledged post on it when I finish reading the book, but yesterday on the flight back to Smalltown, USA I read the chapter "Lighten Up" where Gretchen refers to "being a treasure house of happy memories." It's often the traditions and rituals we have with family and friends that supply us with our happiest memories. 


Christmas in Another Smalltown (because that's happening in t-minus 3 days...err, it happened 3 days ago): Christmas was grand in Another Smalltown. As I mentioned with family traditions, Prudence's family does indeed have a drop-in on Christmas Eve were upwards of 60 people come to our house for food and fellowship. Lots goes into preparations for the evening, but it's great to see family friends who've watched me grow up - especially since I've moved away from Another Smalltown and am only there about 3 or 4 times a year now.

This Christmas, we had two new additions to our family gathering: My brother got married in June, so this was Sister-in-Law's first Christmas with the Thorne family. And earlier this year, Brudder and Sister-in-Law adopted a beagle, so it was Spanky's first Christmas with us too. Food was eaten. Presents were opened. And fun was had. It was a really great Christmas - it just went by too fast!

So...there you have it. A relatively speedy update of topics I had promised previously. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, readers! Happy 4th Day of the Christmas Octave!

Flight of the Prudence.

I'm back in Another Small Town for Christmas. I flew in Tuesday but, per usual, was delayed before even leaving the first airport. I'm all for enacting rules about pilots not flying a sh!t-ton, but make sure you don't schedule said-pilots to fly a sh!t-ton and then realize that oh they can't fly this last leg because they've already met their limit. I mean right? Duh. 

Photo Cred: Music Master Oldies

After being delayed about an hour while we waited for a new captain to arrive on scene AND being rescheduled to a new flight into my final destination city because my layover was only 40 minutes in connecting city, we boarded the plane and I had the luxury of being seated next to EXTREMELY DRUNK LADY named 'B,' who, I learned, had never ever flown before. I mean, this lady was LIT. Poor thing. She lost her ticket when someone walked by and it swooped out of her hands about 4 rows back so she got up to go get it (not that it really mattered - she was already on the plane and in her correct seat. I've NEVER seen flight attendants check tickets after you're seated unless someone questions an assignment). So... that happened. And she was loud. But she was a happy drunk.

Photo Cred: Car Seat Blog

Shortly after everyone appeared to have boarded the plane, a TSA official squatted down in the aisle by our row and told 'B' that she would have to get off the plane because she was intoxicated. 'B' was in disbelief, and he responded that she couldn't even put on her seat belt to which she responded "but I'm trying!" ....Long story short, 'B' got off the plan on her own, but her boyfriend and son-in-law stayed on the plane and went to connecting city without her. Poor 'B'. I suppose she still has never flown before.

So now I'm in Another Smalltown taking part in Christmas festivities with family and friends. There's lots of fun in store ahead for me... Stay tuned for a riveting account of what's in store for Prudence over the next couple of days!

Coming Soon

Here is a list of things I plan to blog about in the very near future:

• My flight experience to Another Smalltown on Tuesday (this should be up by Thursday PM)

• More on Prudence's Dad and his craziness (based on a conversation about Justin Bieber and what promises to be an adventure in last minute Christmas shopping over the next 2 days)

• The Importance of Family and Traditions (because the season just begs for this)

• Christmas in Another Smalltown (because that's happening in t-minus 3 days)

And of course I'll post about anything out of the blue that happens, because my life is crazy and that's how things tend to be. So... there IS stuff to look forward to!! I just have to get it all written in  between edits on the proposal for THE BIG PAPER.

Until then! Keep it real, readers!

Pride Goeth...

Since my last post (which was made in the wee hours of Sunday AM - before attending Mass for the weekend), my Mimi sent me a little reminder from beyond, something that she always used to say when she was living. The message was:

Pride goeth before the fall.

Photo Cred: I Can Haz Cheezburger?

Yup, you guessed it. After boasting that I had my Mass parts memorized, at Mass on Sunday evening, I slipped into autopilot on the "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof" part in favor of the old version.  

Oh fiddlesticks!

Revised Missal Mini-Update

I learned this week that I have pretty much got the revised responses MEMORIZED! Boom!

 Except for the last couple of days at Daily Mass some people (coughpriest-friend&otherscough) have gotten me confused when they READ the Mystery of Faith and end with "in glory" instead of "again." I double checked the Pew Card (and the USCCB site just now, actually) and I'm PRETTY SURE (actually confident) that it says "again" and not "in glory." ..."In glory" was in two of the old ones. Just sayin...

I definitely don't have the Creed down yet (it's long, and we don't do it at Daily Mass so...). But I DO have the Confetior. And I can do it WITHOUT laughing.

Photo Cred: Lower Your Nets

And since we introduced all this in Advent, I don't have the Gloria memorized yet because you don't DO the Gloria during Advent. But... it's direct from the Latin, which I know fairly well, so I'm not overly concerned.

Yay for the Revisions!!

Non-Update Update

Prudence has been busy writing THE BIG PAPER this week. Sorry for the lack o' updating.

Since the last update: Fun things have happened. People have been seen. Friends have been hung out with. Fun has been had by all. And 26 hasn't killed Prudence yet.

Next week, Prudence travels back to Another Small Town  (this time by air.. ooo flying!) for Christmas with the family. There are sure to be updates from that insanity.

True to Life: Prudence's Family Christmas Tree 2011

Plus, at some point, Prudence should delve into the whole idea of VOCATIONS since that was part of the major impetus of starting this blog in the first place. Be on the look out. It's coming.

And, I'd just like to note that this whole post was written in the 3rd person. It's easy to do that when you have a pen-name. That is all.

Another year older..

Yesterday, I celebrated my 26th birthday.

Photo Cred: Sending Sunshine

And it was actually one of the best birthdays I've had. Ever.

Of course last year's was wonderful - my mother threw a dinner party with significant people from throughout my life (including babysitters and whatnot) invited to attend. 25 years is an accomplishment, I guess!

The 25th Birthday Desserts (and Spirits!) Spread

And then there was my 21st birthday, when my beloved roommates decided to take me to see the Chippendales. Except for I wasn't quite 21. And I couldn't have a drink to get me through what was perhaps the most uncomfortable couple of hours of my life. I think taking me to that was more for them to see the look on my face at the sight of the dancers. I'm pretty sure I turned every shade of red possible.

Nope, not quite the same thing as a Chippendale.

But yesterday was the first birthday of what will promise to be many that are spent several hundred miles away from my family. Even in my college days, I was only an hour and a half away from home so my parents made frequent trips to see me and vice versa.

But now I'm about 10 and a half hours away from home (though it took me 12.5 to drive home at Thanksgiving with stops), so there would be no family to celebrate 26 years with me on my special day.

But that didn't stop Mom and Dad from their ritual of calling me at 8:29AM, my birth time, to be the first to wish me a Happy Birthday on my actual birthday, down to the minute. And I even was serenaded with an every-other-note Happy Birthday song (and if you know my parents - they're actually quite good singers - so it was ever so loverly!)

I received many a text message, Twitter greeting, and Facebook wishes. People sent cards. My brother and sister-in-law sent me back to Smalltown, USA with a gift that I was instructed not to open until the day of my birthday - and my discipline kicked in as I waited 9 days, staring at a beautifully wrapped gift!

And, thanks to great friends in Smalltown, I was not alone celebrating my 26 years. In fact, I was FAR from it. I had lunch and dinner over the weekend with friends, and then a really quite perfect birthday evening followed by a day-after-birthday lunch with Organist Friend whom I haven't seen in ages. I really couldn't ask for more.

So for all these things, I am eternally grateful. Thank heavens for great friends who practically are family. I don't think any of them will really know just how much they mean to me!

And, the first full day of being 26 has been really great. Maybe this will be my year!

It's the little things...

I'm on my "lunch break" from writing THE BIG PAPER... so of course, I turn to writing here, because that makes sense...

It got cold in Small Town, USA. So cold that my HVAC unit froze and sounded like it wanted to take flight every time it kicked in trying to heat up tiny apartment. Which makes it difficult to sleep, in case you didn't know that. I took a gamble and switched my thermostat over to Emergency Heat last night, and said HVAC quieted down and I slept in peace. (And when I checked when I quickly stopped in at home to make lunch, HVAC was no longer frozen. Yay.)

But then I was almost late for Daily Mass this morning. Apparently you shouldn't set your alarm for 7AM, turn it off after it blares "Hakuna Matata" at you for a few seconds, and turn the TV on to watch Boy Meets World (with Cory and Topanga - the greatest love story we'll ever know, children of the 90s) -- because you might fall back asleep. God smiled on me though, because I made every light through Small Town's Uptown area and got into the Church before the sacristy door creaked open, cuing the start of Mass at 8:30. Yay.

On my way to pick up my morning coffee and blueberry scone, I was on the phone with my Dad for the second time (ever since I got back to Small Town, he's been much more chatty on the phone - me thinks someone misses me! Aww Miss you too Daddy!) and some kind stranger offered me 50 cents for the parking meter. What a nice act of kindness! I mean, I know it's only 50 cents, but that's a whole hour on the meter. And I really only needed like 10 minutes to run in and out of Small Town Coffee Shop that I love so dearly. It made me reflect on this season of Advent - showing others, even complete strangers that you'll never, ever see again and don't have to impress because of that -- random acts of kindness and compassion. It's good stuff. I like it. Yay.

Oh. So my last post - Pumpkin Pie and Prevenient Grace - I realize, ha, I never explained what prevenient grace is or why I randomly threw a BIG CRAZY THEOLOGY term in the middle of a post primarily about whipped cream and pumpkin pie. So here goes:

Simply put, prevenient grace is the grace that our Blessed Mother received from God at her conception. With the celebration of the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception yesterday and with the new translation of the Mass, you may have heard the term plopped down in the middle of an offertory prayer that the priest offers just before the preparation rite. When I heard it at the Vigil Wednesday evening, my ears perked up at the sound of a cool new word - a word that I had no CLUE about what it truly meant. And I meant to make a mental note to ask Priest-Friend about it later, but then I had a long meeting about Soup and Snack (and some other Churchy things) so... I kind of forgot about it. Plus, who remembers words like prevenient when you only hear it once, unexpectedly?

Well... God smiled again, because out of the blue Priest-Friend brought it up in conversation and I got to learn! (Learning is fun.) After learning more about the COOL BIG THEOLOGICAL TERM, I had fun telling other people about my new-found knowledge, including my Dad. Now, Dad has quite the sense of humor, and he's also more in-tune with some of the pop culture lingo than I'm necessarily comfortable with. So... in explaining that "prevenient grace is the grace that God granted to Mary at her Immaculate Conception because He saw the future merits of her bringing Christ into the world for our salvation" to him via text message, he responded: "Like Gaga said: She was born that way.

She scares me. Alot.

Yeah..  I was at a loss for words too.

Pumpkin Pie and Prevenient Grace.

Today for lunch I had some whipped cream with a side of pumpkin pie. No, seriously. It's the lunch of champions I tell you! I even ate most of the pie crust. Which I don't do. Ever. Unless it's graham cracker....

I had WAYYYY more whipped cream than that. WAY.

So, obviously... this afternoon I went to the gym because of the pumpkin pie (and yesterday's sinful St. Nicholas doughnut treat). I ran 3 miles. Go me!

^^ That's a true story. Yup, sure is. ^^

In other non-Prudence related news, how cute is Pope Benedict XVI? Love him!

According to Whispers in the Loggia, Papa Benny remotely lit the "World's Largest Christmas Tree" recently (the post at Whisper's says earlier tonight - but it was posted at 2:05 this afternoon, so... that confused me but whatevs.) And because he's COOL LIKE THAT he used a "tablet computer" which if you ask me closely resembles an iPad or maybe a Kindle Fire or something like that. Regardless - I love it when octogenarians embrace new technology! Get it Benny!

Photo Cred: Whispers in the Loggia

The Pope's Christmas wish makes him even cuter, if you ask me:

"My first wish... is that in our outlook of mind and heart, we won't stop only at the horizon of this world, of material things, but might be a little more like this tree, that always points upward, toward God. He never forgets us, but asks that we, too, don't forget him either!"

Awww. Great sentiments from our Holy Father.

Photo Cred: Mary Pages

And on this eve of the Immaculate Conception, we should be reminded that God certainly HAS NOT forgotten us. By choosing Mary, our Blessed Mother, to be without original sin from her very creation, a young girl was able to say "Yes" to God, to become the new Eve. She would bear the Savior of the World... our Redeemer. Without Mary (which, if you've read the side of my blog, you'll know that I think she's one cool Lady) we would be in pretty bad shape, salvifically speaking. (I may have just made up that word... "salvifically"...)

Just a Random Post.

I'm not feeling particularly creative at the moment (that's what happens when you sit, staring at a computer screen trying to write THE BIG PAPER for.. oh, 6 hours straight). So I'm just going to post some randomness...

Today is the feast of St. Nicholas. He's a cool 4th century saint on whom the modern conceptualization of Santa Claus is based.

In honor of the feast of St. Nicholas, Priest-Friend brought treats in the form of sinful ICED & GLAZED doughnuts to share with Church Office Ladies. And I got one too.

After eating said doughnut as my lunch and a half a bag of potato chips when I got home this evening, I have failed to get off my tukkus and go to the gym.

And so now I feel fat. That's the bad thing about the holiday season I think. Temptation. Food.  And it's cold so who wants to work out?!



However, I have a HOT DATE with this beautiful man in less than an hour:

So I guess I better go make some dinner (more food - because there's been very little nutritional value to anything I've eaten today - Sorry Organist-Friend!) and enjoy my evening with Mr. Buble.

And work on some Christmas cards. Because I do enjoy spreading the Christmas cheer!

And so does Spanky! He say's WOOF!

Prudence Rants. But yay Roman Missal!

We're two weeks into the use of the NEW ROMAN MISSAL and I have to say - I'm still giddy as all get out because I just LOOOOOOVE it. Although, I would personally like to hear another Eucharistic Prayer: Each Mass I've been to (and I typically go to Daily Mass so... it's more than just the 2 weekend Masses) since the implementation of the revisions has used Eucharistic Prayer II which employs the wording: "Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall..." Now, don't get me wrong, I love it too... but can I get a little "from the rising of the sun to it's setting..." (Eucharistic Prayer III) or, better yet, THE (revised) ROMAN CANON?! The only way us regular lay folks are going to get used to all these "changes" is to be exposed to them. JUST SAYIN'...

 
Which brings me to: CRITIQUES OF THE REVISED ROMAN MISSAL. There's always been this notion, especially among Conservatives, that our media here in the United States is a bit liberal. And...being somewhat of a media junkie... I agree (which is real close to blasphemy in my line of work). But.. I really think you can see this here. Grad School-Friend shared a link with me this morning that she'd seen on a news report on CBS Sunday morning. The story is primarily a two-year old non-story about a nun in Phoenix who was excommunicated for giving the go-ahead for a team of doctors at a Catholic hospital to perform an abortion in 2009. (The excommunication was lifted recently which I guess makes this story somewhat worth reporting on...but this post isn't about that!)

The story tries to tie too many things together [in my humble opinion] and gets an awful lot wrong. Vatican II is mentioned as a mere "advisory council" that became known as the Second Vatican Council that implemented some changes that allowed people to really "make their own decisions about their faith." [Um... not exactly, CBS people. The basic beliefs and tenets of the Faith have NEVER changed. Ever. Period. 2000+ years. A faith instituted by Christ Himself.]

But to get to the meat of the matter here, the news report goes on to suggest "another reform hallmark of Vatican II [was the] use of the English-language Mass" [Okay.... yes... Mass in the VERNACULAR would be more accurate but... continue...]

"...The Vatican has now directed American churches to institute a new mass featuring an English translation more faithful to the original Latin - a mass critics say is harder to understand, less English-speaker friendly." [Totally wrong. The Vatican has directed Churches in ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD to use a REVISED Mass featuring an English translation more faithful to the original Latin - a Mass that is NOT harder to understand if you just LISTEN with your EARS and... that last part is dumb. Can you read? Then just read the responses off of the Mass cards or from the Missalette. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.]

What really burns me about this is that alot of people see this on CBS (one of the original big three networks and still a relative powerhouse in the grand scheme of the American media landscape) and take it as Gospel truth. I mean, it has to be, right? The media wouldn't lead us astray, would it?! Yeah... about that. I've only copied and pasted TWO SHORT paragraphs from a much longer news story.. and you can see how many things they got wrong in just those two short paragraphs. Where's the oversight? Where is the TRUTH!?

Photo Cred: Quick Meme

Sigh. This is what we're fighting, folks. Secularism. Lukewarmness. A people who think they can make decisions about their own faith. As the article points out, it IS a critical time for the Church... but NOT for the reasons that it points out. It is a "battle between Catholic and Catholic [I would argue that that should be "Catholic"], between past, present and future..."

Yes. It is. But the battle is more about gaining control of and telling OUR OWN story as Catholics - and not letting a secular news source twist it into the dramatic piece that was produced for Sunday Morning news on the Second Week of Advent.

And in case you were wondering, I'm still giddy as all get out about the revisions. The media can't rain on this parade!