Category: Uncategorized

Product review: Pet Vet Center

I don’t usually do product reviews, but I’m so pleased with the birthday present we just gave our six-year-old daughter! It’s the Pet Vet Center by Lakeshore Learning Materials.

I thought it was kind of pricy at $29.99, but ordered it anyway because I was in a rush.  Turns out it’s really high quality.  The puppy is extremely sturdy and much bigger than I expected, and the legs are jointed, so you can pose it.  The cards and other accessories are heavy and durable.  The biggest surprise was the stethoscope.  It actually works!  We’ve had a LOT of doctor sets in our day, and the stethoscope usually works about as well putting a glass on a wall.  But with this one, the sounds are very clear and very loud.  You can hear your heart beating and your gut swishing around.  Very cool.

It doesn’t come with a carrying case, but the box is very strong and looks like it will last.  Overall, a very nicely designed toy, very appealing and sturdy, and made with actual kids in mind.

I ordered it through Amazon.  As with all the Amazon products I link to, I get a small percentage of any sale made (including any product on Amazon.  So if you click on a link I post on a book review, browse around, and end up ordering Epsom salts and a package of underwear, I still get a percentage).

Soon you’ll have to opt IN to get porn online in the UK

Says David Cameron, the Prime Minister:

Children can’t go into the shops or the cinema and buy things meant for adults or have adult experiences – we rightly regulate to protect them.

But when it comes to the internet in the balance between freedom and responsibility, we have neglected our responsibility to our children.

My argument is that the internet is not a side-line to ‘real life’ or an escape from ‘real life’; it is real life.

It has an impact: on the children who view things that harm them on the vile images of abuse that pollute minds and cause crime on the very values that underpin our society.

He is introducing a number of measures to make it harder for people to look at child porn and depictions of rape.  And pornographic images will automatically be filtered out by default, unless you deliberately opt out of the filter.

But what about free speech?  I’ve been around and around that mulberry bush more times than I can count, so I’m no longer surprised when people imagine that a free society entitles them to shit all over the whole world — and that it’s parents’ job to shovel a little path through the shit for their kids, if they’re going to be super uptight about it.

This law doesn’t outlaw pooping.  It just acknowledges that shit is shit, and it should be treated accordingly.

It should be hard to find porn.  It should be embarrassing.  Using it should make you feel nervous and guilty, because it is bad for you, bad for your family, and bad for society.  And if you are enslaved to it, you should be grateful that the public and private sectors are working together to make it less accessible and normalized.

How I wish we could see laws like this in the United States.  It’s still a parents’ job to protect children, and it’s still up to the individual to fight back against the flood of porn.  But making it a little less normal, a little less accessible, is a wonderful thing.

For help in breaking an addiction to porn, or for dealing with it if your spouse is addicted, see these resources:

Integrity Restored

Matt Fradd’s The Porn Effect

Fight the New Drug

Porn No More

Marcel Lejeune’s list of strategies.

Feel free to add your own recommendations in the comment box.  Porn is powerful and corrosive, but the fight against it is by no means hopeless!

Young Catholic women: what do you want to know about sex and the spiritual life?

I’ve very graciously been invited to lead a Theology on Tap discussion this Tuesday in Keene, NH.  Here’s the event description:

Think “Fifty Shades of Grey” is shocking? We’ll see your fifty and raise you 5 years and 129 talks–that’s what it took for Blessed John Paul II to outline his “Theology of the Body”, in which he explained the relationship between sex and spirituality. We’re so often taught in church that sex is a black-and-white, “do it” or “don’t do it” issue, but Theology of the Body teaches that there are so many shades of grey–we have to ask “why?” and “to what end?”, not just “can I?”
Join us as we split the ladies …and gents for separate discussions about Theology of the Body, sex, spirituality, and the practical application of the connection between the two!
The ladies’ conversation, led by author and blogger Simcha Fisher, will cover the basic ideas of ToB and how it impacts our relationships with men and our own bodies. Meet at Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant on Main Street!
The gents’ conversation will be led by Deacon Arnold Gustafson and will meet at Ramunto’s Pizzeria, also on Main Street!
Both groups will meet in private rooms at the venues so as to assure privacy when talking about this delicate topic.  See you there!
Local women, I would absolutely love to see you there!  Whether you can make it or not, I need your help.
What questions do you have?  What topics would you like to see addressed?  There is SO much here, and it’s just one night, so I’d like to focus the discussion on things that people really want to hear about.

Shame on you for not reading me

. . . says Steve Gershom, in a nice acknowledgement for the interview we did a couple of weeks ago.  Steve expands a little on his favorite parts, and remarks rather poignantly,

As a celibate gay man, I seem to spend half my time telling secular people that I’m just the same as other men, and telling Christians that I’m extremely different from other men. The truth is in the mean, I guess, but sometimes to make the stick straight (heh) you have to bend it too far in the other direction.

If you’re not reading Steve Gershom, you’re missing a lot of candor and insight, plus a good amount of heh.

If you missed our interview about the ex-gay movement and what we are really talking about when we talk about trying to change our orientation, here is part 1 and here is part 2.

Summer read-aloud recommendations?

Our summer is turning out a little bit too much like this:

 

 

My go-to solution is a read-aloud book, to at least save some part of the day we had rued.  Despite having written dozens of posts about good books for kids, I’m having a hard time finding something suitable.  My goal is just to have something pleasant and enjoyable to do together, and not necessarily to tick off any Indispensible Classics from our Well Rounded Children list.  (I save the list for reciting to myself in the middle of the night, so as to make sure I have something to feel guilty about.)

Any suggestions?  Adventure/humor would be best, something boys and girls would like.  Kids I’m targeting are ages 9-15, and I’m aiming for the higher end of that group.  In the past, they’ve enjoyed of course the Narnia books, LOTR, some George MacDonald, Freddy the Pig books, The Phantom Tollbooth, Robert Nye’s retelling of Beowulf, and Jack Tales.

I just started Alice in Wonderland, but we may ditch it, just because we’re all a little more familiar with it than I realized.

Help me!

EDITED TO ADD:
Oh, and if you have something to recommend, it would be very helpful if you could mention (a) the age range of the kids who enjoyed it, and (b) a little bit about the book – plot, tone, etc.  Thanks!

 

Oh fer

Seen on Target’s Facebook page:  “Corn on the Cob Survival Kit”

Up next:  a special truss for guiding your tootsies in the general direction of your flip flops!  How about some lotion to rescue your fingertips from the ravages of pressing the OnStar button in your SUV if you get lost on the way to Starbucks?  Or maybe an itty bitty squeegee for clearing the fog off your upper lip when you courageously tackle an ice cream cone?  Take heart, Americans!  We will survive the summer.

It does happen.

family reunion of a couple of years ago, when there were only 33 cousins

I posted this on Facebook this morning, and it got 218 likes in 38 minutes.  So I figured it was something people need to hear!  From our trip to the beach yesterday:

Lady at the beach:  “Are these ALLLLL your children?”
Me:  “No, actually, I have two more at home.”
Her:  “Two more!  So how many in all?”
Me: “I have nine children.”
Her:  “OH, GOD HAS BLESSED YOU!  MOTHER MARY IS WITH YOU! YOU’RE DOING A BEAUTIFUL JOB!”
Did not see that coming!
Several FB friends mentioned that they make a special effort to say friendly, encouraging things to parents with lots of kids.  I guess because we live in small town New England, it’s pretty rare that I get nasty, sneering comments (although it’s fun to have snappy comebacks at the ready); but lots of big (and even “big”) families get nothing but scowls and horrified gasps when they set foot outside the door.  So if you have something nice or encouraging to say, say it!  Or at least give a big smile.  Some moms really need to know there’s someone on their side.
Also, the nice lady at the beach told me that she “only has two kids,” and I was quick to tell her that there is no such thing as “only” two kids!  People with smaller families often seem to feel like they need to apologize or explain their family size.  No need, no need.  My children are not a statement, and I remember all to well how difficult it was to have two children.  We’re all fighting our own battles, and the last thing Catholics need is to get into fertility contests with each other.

An indulgence for THAT?

Probably you’ve heard, you can get an indulgence if you follow the events of World Youth Day via Twitter.

Of course the secular media is reporting that you can get an indulgence “through” Twitter, as if it’s something you can download.  And wouldn’t that be an interesting topic for another day?  I can’t be the only one who reifies technological processes in my imagination, picturing digitized data as twinkling clouds that swirl through the air and down through the vent in the side of my laptop.  Zwoosh!  Downloaded.   I may be a technological moron who engages in magical thinking when it comes to computer stuff, but the typical secular person is just as childish when it comes to understanding and imagining spiritual things.  I suppose that, when they hear “grace” or “salvation,” they think of moonbeams or pixie dust.

Anyway, about those Twitter indulgences.  The usual crowd of indignant neckbeards are grousing at the loosey goosey way Francis is handing ‘em out for cheap  — forgetting, apparently, that there’s a long tradition of earning indulgences through doing things that by no means guarantee a spiritual experience.  The actual action you perform — going to Mass at a certain church, finishing a certain novena – isn’t necessarily a difficult thing.  In part, it’s kind of a hook, something to grab your attention and give you some structure, so that you get the spiritual benefit of the proscribed action, and you’re also motivated to do the other things necessary to gain an indulgence.  Here’s a good overview.

It occurs to me that Francis has actually done something brilliant here — something even the Frankophobes can’t argue with:   he’s making the media help him catechize the world.

 

I mean, imagine if he sent out a tweet saying, “Your word of the day is ‘indulgence,’” and then went on to define it.  No one would care.  Instead, he’s made it into a story, and now people are actually having to look it up and see what the deal is.  Haters gonna hate, but plenty more people will learn something they never would have otherwise.

Love that man.

Good for CVS!

Rolling Stone, in its wisdom, has chosen to feature alleged Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover, presumably because the murder of innocents is always edgy, especially if there are big brown eyes and lavish curls involved.

CVS is refusing to sell the issue.  Here’s their statement on their Facebook page (via Gawker):

CVS/pharmacy has decided not to sell the current issue of Rolling Stone featuring a cover photo of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect. As a company with deep roots in New England and a strong presence in Boston, we believe this is the right decision out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones.

Don’t waste your time with the comments, as usual.  There’s a bunch of disingenuous snark about how National Review must love and endorse Obama and Osama Bin Laden, since they put him on their cover, nyeh nyeh.  Ugh, as if there isn’t enough stupidity in the world, we have to have people pretending to be stupid.

Anyway, good for CVS.  May God for give Tsarnaev, and may the rest of us have the strength to refrain from sexifying evil.

My profile of Dr. Carpentier in OSV

I wrote this article about Dr. Paul Carpentier quite a while ago – glad they are running it for NFP awareness week!  A great doctor and a good man.

Doctor keeps medical practice in line with Catholic teaching

 

Dr. Paul Carpentier, founder of In His Image Family Medicine in Gardner, Mass., said he doesn’t have an especially unusual mission.

“It’s just one of stewardship,” he said. “I intend to do the best I can with the skills God has given me, for the community that presents itself for care.” But something sets him apart.

On his website is this notice: “Please be advised that this practice does not provide abortions, sterilizations, contraceptives, artificial reproductive technologies or assisted suicide, nor do we refer for these services.”

“I’m not inflicting some kind of hardship on patients,” Carpentier told Our Sunday Visitor. These services are available everywhere, and Massachusetts health care covers most of them. When Carpentier tells his patients that he can’t perform certain practices because they are against his conscience, he said most people don’t object.

“In 23 years, I’ve only had two patients storm out,” he said. They were mothers who had taken the day off work to bring their daughters in for contraceptives. “I actually talked to the daughters,” he said. “I told the moms, ‘Talk to your daughters. They don’t want to be on the pill.’”

Read the rest . . .