Thanks to friends for more March photos!

St. Paul Indulgence

For Catholics in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, a plenary indulgence is granted this year for those who attended the Mass of the Conversion of St. Paul celebrated in our parishes this weekend, and who fulfill the other requirements as follows:

• pray for the intentions of the Holy Father



• go to confession



• turn away from serious sin

The plenary indulgence removes not the guilt of the sin (this is done in confession) but the debt owed because of the sin. This debt can be paid either in this life, through prayers and sufferings, or in purgatory. The plenary indulgence offered this year removes all the temporal punishment due to sin. It can be applied to the life of one seeking the indulgence or to the life of a soul in purgatory.

some impressions from the March for Life

1. We had some guardian angels helping on the way here. Our bus driver originally thought we left at 5am not 5pm on Tuesday, so his sleeping schedule was a little off, and he had a hard time staying awake, or so it seemed at times. Some brave pilgrims tried to keep talking to him throughout the night so we could get there safely, and we did!


2. Should have had Powerbars, not fast food. Stomach ached a lot.


3. Sleeping pills or no sleeping pills? I have one, but am scared to use it.


4. 16,000 people at the Shrine Mass - it's neat, but so crowded - no way to do an outdoor Mass in DC in January, is there? The new football stadium? They have football there in January!! Jesus was born outside (almost) - am I crazy here?


5. Young people are learning how to pray. No complaints from our group about Mass, rosary, Liturgy of the Hours - they eat prayer up and are always ready for more!


6. Politically, it is still an advantage to be pro-life, up to 3% more of Americans are against abortion, but not many of those are 'single-issue' voters.


7. Without Catholics, the March for Life would die, but with them, it is 200K strong, and is the most consistent and enduring civil rights demonstration in US history.


8. One theme of the March is that if Obama wants to be like Lincoln, he should find a just cause and deliver the neglected and the innocent from oppression - there was optimism that He could really be converted to the cause of life. This surprised me.


9. Obama was challenged to know what an abortion really is, to meet with mothers and fathers harmed by abortion (as President of all Americans) to define when his life began, to define when the lives of his daughters began, and to explain why abortion on demand is necessary.


10. Another theme was that some Americans are for abortion because they do not see abortion. Again, greater effort must be made to show exactly what we have made legal in the country, and familiarize Americans with abortion procedures. It is not medicine.


11. Pro-lifers were encourage to pray, to live joyfully, to make friends, to be community organizers, and to persevere until the cause is won.


12. There is still great optimism among pro-lifers for our country. That our country can be a moral leader, and be the first country who once legalized abortion who later came to the defense of the unborn.


13. We had a gorgeous day on which to March - 42 degrees and sunny! We didn't have to offer up the bad weather!

Every once in awhile, you'll find a priest who can 'rip it' - is that the right terminology?

Priests do lots of stupid and fun things

Pope Benedict choosing 'friendship' with Obama first?

Deacon Greg Kandra in his blog is proposing that Pope Benedict is taking a more conciliar tone with the new American President than are the American bishops, who have immediately decided to challenge the new President on his stance on abortion while the Pope has only sent friendly greetings to date. Given that this Pope has been unpredictable in his decisions of when to push buttons (see dialogue with Muslims) and when not to, but has been successful when doing both, I can only assume that the Pope would like to see U.S. policy change in many areas, and sees a chance to build a friendship with President Obama on many fronts, before directly confronting his stance on abortion. How will it work? Time will tell.

Vatican has new YouTube channel - watch!

If you didn't already know this, the Vatican is up with its own YouTube channel so make sure you tune in regularly for new videos of papal addresses and events! This does not replace the need to make a pilgrimage to Rome, but might intensify your desire to do so! This week's feature video - the blessing of the lambs on the Feast of St. Agnes - the blessed wool will be used to make palliums for the new metropolitan Archbishops named during the last year. The palliums will be given by the Holy Father on June 29th, the Feast of Ss Peter and Paul.

March for Life Photo Gallery from Washington Post

A nice gallery of HD pictures - there were about 200,000 people this year - best estimates. For those of you who have not been on the March, these pictures represent the diverse sentiments within the same pro-life message. This is much better coverage than the March usually gets from the Post.