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I'm sorry I don't update this thing often but I've just had no compelling thing to write about, added to my newfound fear of writing publicly in any venue.

Anyone can read this, anyone can become offended, anyone can take things the wrong way. It's not something I want to risk since I very much love the school I'm in and am not willing to risk my ability to stay here.

I don't say this in response to any particularly recent event, but I had to put that out there. But that's that.

Today I got my religion paper back. It was on the nature of Catholic marriage. I got an A- on it so I'm very happy.

I had to separate myself from my writing (despite warned not to do so by a peer) but I when I was writing I was conscious of the fact that I was writing about the Catholic/Christian take on marriage, not the Buddhist take or Muslim take, secular take, or even my own take on it.

I think that for my next paper I'll write about St. Thomas Aquinas' and C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters views on the nature of virtue. That should be more interesting.

That's all for now.

Look forward to my post concerning Pope Benedict XVI's one year anniversary as new pope.

I feel like I'm preaching to an empty auditorium but ah well. Maybe God's listening.

Recently there have been many controversies with historically Catholic colleges around the country and the questions that always arise seem to be the following:

Is academic freedom compatible with Catholicism? and
Where do you outright draw the line between academic freedom and outright defying Church doctrine?

First of all, what is academic freedom? To me, academic freedom doesn't mean the ability to teach what you want, but the ability to teach from every different angle. I don't have to be a Marxist to teach you about Karl Marx and it doesn't make me a pro-choicer when I present the views of the pro-choice movement/perspective. It means understanding the opposing point of view in a fair and most importantly, honest way. Many people find that they learn more about their point of view when they study the one in opposition.

The recent controversies in Catholic colleges have involved the exercise of this freedom versus keeping in line with the mission the schools claim to uphold, that of the Catholic tradition. One notable example of this clashing happened at DePaul university, in light of a new minor studies program termed as "Queer Studies".

Although the classes offered within that subject matter have been around for about a decade, the official declaration of the minor away sparked an uproar among alumni and the "watchdog" organization called the Cardinal Newman Society (which is partly responsible for the de-Catholicization of my own college circa 2003). These classes would only serve to taint the school's identity as a Catholic school and place the "homosexual lifestyle" in a positive light, despite claims by professors that they would incorporate a discussion about homosexuality and the Church within their individual curricula.

In my opinion, Catholic colleges shouldn't serve as "indoctrination camps" in neither the orthodox sense or the liberalizing sense.

It isn't about forcing people to adhere to the Church in every orthodox way they can, yet at the same time it shouldn't be about changing political opinions. What it should be about is having honest and open discussions about issues and discuss them from all angles.

For a Church that encourages the mature formation of a personal conscience, I think it likes to do alot of the forcing its own conscience upon other people. This is not to say that you can use the "conscience excuse" to go out and do whatever you want, but it is a call to come into union with the mission of a Church that calls itself "universal", a Church that should allow the fostering of a universal education that freely investigates and debats about all with a sincere desire for knowledge.

It's the reason why I think and applaud the importance of interfaith programs within educational institutions, whether they happen to be already religiously affiliated (eg. Catholic) or not. I say this, despite my occasional qualms with the way my school seems to dilute their religious identity in the name of being independent. I don't see why my school should be ashamed of its Catholic roots. Being Catholic does not mean you cannot be interfaith oriented, in fact the word Catholic means "universal." I guess the word "Catholic" just doesn't "sell" these days to people shopping for colleges, which is why I think my people behind my school are such cop-outs.

Moving on, problems haven't just been brewing at DePaul though. Other schools like Catholic University in Washington D.C. and Notre Dame have been under fire for intending to show the play called "the Vagina Monologues", known widely for its donation of money to women's causes. Many of those who opposed the showing of it denounced it as "immoral filth", basing an opinion mainly on a supposed scene (I use the word supposed because I haven't seen the monologues) where an older lesbian seduces a 16 year old girl. Again the Cardinal Newman Society came into action and in this case, won, having the play either cancelled or supressed in both universities.

The leader of the Cardinal Newman Society by the way is a graduate of Fordham and was inspired to start it (?) when he saw what was the disintegration of Catholic identity among universities, particularly his own Fordham (which still maintains Catholic affiliation today).

I can understand the outrage of organizations like these, but at the same time I may be biased toward the causes these "renegade schools" are butting heads with the Church about.


However, in the end...Catholic means universal and that's the definition that I think will matter for the years to come with Catholicism in America.

Universal or Relativism? You decide.

This blog seems to have become into my personal advertising venue for cafepress.com revenue/google adsense or whatever the money-making endeavor du-jour seems to be. I'm the proverbial broke college student so I apologize whenever I go up the wahoo with these things.

I was thinking of starting another blog, one with perhaps a more focused/meditative nature (in contrast to the overly politicized religious blogs that abound the web right now) but I figure it's best to follow my fellow blogger Pastor Clint's advice and keep pulling through with this one for now.

I forewarn you it won't be the last time I'll have thoughts like these. Writing takes practice but besides the occasional writer's block (I prefer to see myself as a rambler than a writer, because let's be honest, that's what I do most of the time) sometimes you feel squeezed dry of viable things to say yet other times you feel overwhelmed with things to say but not having the means to say it in an eloquent and concise manner.

I don't know where to use my God-given skills anymore. Not to sound fatalistically pessimistic, but I sometimes wonder if He gave me any at all.

I'll see what happens. For now, I have bigger fish to fry with this math homework ahead of me and a B- screaming to be remedied.

Peace +

I tell you, one of the most daunting things in this world is seeing a blinking cursor on a blank white screen.

I'm not sure what to write about anymore. Maybe I do, but I just don't have the time anymore.

Today was Ash Wednesday and I like a good Catholic boy got my ashes and abstained from meat (even though that ham and cheese hotpocket at lunch today looked sooo good). I also [involuntarily] fasted for two out of the three meals of the day like I was supposed to.

It's quite frightening how many things one does because one is supposed to. While I understand most of the preceding things are done in emulation of Christ's sacrifice (and in recognition of our mortality, namely the association with the ashes, i.e. from dust you came to dust you shall return), I always feel like I'm missing some very meaningful part out of it.

Strangely enough, when I got my ashes today, Brother Frank said "Turn away from sin and follow the Gospel" instead of the conventional "Dust you are and to dust you shall return"(dust or some other relative of dirt...you get the point).

In other news, I'm starting mass promotion of the new mini online shops. My main mini-shop will center around selling religious articles. If I get enough of a response, I'll update the shop to premium and we'll see where it goes from there.

As for the other shops, it's pretty much a free for all in terms of what I'll do for them. Right now I'm using them to custom-make t-shirts for my friends and family.

Wish me luck on this endeavor.

For Lent I will try giving up worrying too much. Maybe meat too.

I hate all these stupid articles decrying the evil nature of Harry Potter. Harry Potter is not evil. It's fantasy. Repeat after me: fantasy.

[Sister Maria Blagoveshenia added that] when children watch the movies, they might believe in the existence of "black" or evil magic, and "white" or good magic. This is "absolutely wrong, because there is only one (kind of) magic, that which is aimed against God" and thus evil, she explained.

"Harry Potter speaks the language of snakes, which are symbols of the devil," she said. "I don't want to watch movies which contain such issues." says 11 year old Ksenia Nikitina.

It's sad how a billion people can follow a Church and not understand its beliefs. When I hung out with my friend Edwin last week, he told me about how it's the same in Mexico. People don't understand the Church but they still follow it. They follow it because it's what's been passed down to them. Just perform the rituals, wear your rosary (which you aren't supposed to do) and say the responses. Leave the deeper thinking to the Tommy Aquinas' and Augustines intellectuals.

Granted, simple faith can be more powerful than that of the complex intellectuo-babbler, but it becomes rather dangerous when it's applied to such a well structuredand well controlled organization like the Catholic Church.

I love being Catholic. I love Jesus, I love the Blessed Mother and many of the saints, but (and I am guilty of this) it is quite frightening when the very basic belief in Christ becomes the very blind belief of just doing what the Church says.

I'm not advocating the so-called "dictatorship of relativism" Pope Benedict XVI so coined, but rather, I'm asking this question: where have our personal consciences gone? When did it become the conscience of our superiors?

Just because some nun in hoo hoo land thinks Harry Potter is evil I have to deduce that too?

In theory, no. Doctrinally, you don't have to believe anything the Catholic Church says unless it is infallibly defined (things which would encompass the dual human/divine nature of Jesus, the ressurection, etc...very basic but foundational things like that used to weed out the Gnostics and other early heretics).

In the end, people have to look beyond the occult aspect of Harry Potter to see and interpret the universal themes that ring through it (if I wanted to get all Disney on you, it'd be things like the triumph of good over evil, friendship, the portrayal of good role models e.g. Dumbledore, Hagrid).

To be honest, I just go watch the movies for a good time because I doubt someone will go home after watching a movie and satanically sacrifice their dogs as part of a ritual to get revenge on a teacher (I guess that's another movie...).

And that's what it really is. A good time.

(I apologize for the abrupt ending. Once I work on my anxious and rushed writing habits, I'll be more refined in developing my points in future---somewhat far into the future---posts.)

Peace and all good

She has arrived folks. The "free" Mac Mini has arrived. Well not here, but it's back at my house! All in all, in the end this project cost me about $70-100. Not bad for a $500 computer but definitely not worth all of the anxiety and headaches.

I should go home either this weekend or the next to hook it up for my parents. Yay! Lord, I certainly hope it's Airport/Bluetooth model with wireless internet because otherwise it'll be useless for my parents. Alas, I am still grateful I got it. I think sometimes God favors me too much.