They prayed as if girls are potentially good, but boys are potentially bad.

This morning I went to the parish church two miles away to offer Saturday morning Mass for the parishioners. Their priests were apparently away. At the Mass, the lector read the prayers of the faithful from some publication the parish receives as a subscription.

One of the petitions.

That the church will continue to appreciate the contributions of women.

I guess it implies or presumes that the church could be in danger of ceasing to appreciate the contributions of women.

Another petition.

That little girls will grow up to be proud of their womanhood,
and that little boys will grow up to be respectful of women.

Does that imply that without our prayers little boys might be likely to grow up disrespectful of women?

I looked through the publication, and found it consistent in its agenda or attitude of promoting females (which is not a bad thing), while it unfortunately also had an attitude of praying to“restrain” males in various ways from their possibly inherent “badness” towards women.

The sad and irritating irony is that this small city of Oceanside is the home of one of the world’s largest Marine bases, and has seen many males wounded, disfigured, crippled or killed in war.

I wish I had had the courage (or foolishness) to have added the following petition.

That little boys will grow up to be proud of their manhood,
and that little girls will grow up to be respectful of men.

If it’s good for the gander, it’s good for the goose. Equality, man!

I have posted a copy of the Pope's letter to the Catholics of China

Friday of the Thirteenth Ordinary Week of the Church Year

I have posted a homily for today's Mass.

FIRST FRIDAY

It is a Biblical practice to be mindful of the days of the week. The Old Testament tells of keeping holy the seventh day of the week. The New Testament shows the Church observing the first day of the week, the day of Christ’s resurrection, as “The Lord’s Day.”

Together with weekly mindfulness of the day on which Christ rose from the dead, one naturally recalls also the day on which he died, the sixth day of the week. The Lord himself spoke of the day “when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” [Mark 2:20]

The followers of Christ have long observed Friday as a weekly day of fasting and abstinence. The Church still directs us to abstain from meat on Fridays, except those that coincide with liturgical solemnities.

Many Catholics keep special devotion for the first Friday of every month. At my monastery we see more people at Mass on those “first Fridays” than on other weekdays (though never as many as at our Sunday Mass that always has standing room only).

I wonder how many Christians are just as mindful that the first Friday in history was the day on which the Lord God made the human race and passed his first judgment on it? “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was VERY GOOD. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.” [Genesis 1:31]

Despite God’s primordial, original judgment on that first Friday that humanity was very good, humanity went on to commit the original sin.

The remedy was to be on another Friday, the Friday of the Cross.

I have posted a homily for Independence Day.

The government of China has suppressed it.

LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER

POPE BENEDICT XVI

TO THE BISHOPS, PRIESTS, CONSECRATED PERSONS

AND LAY FAITHFUL OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Housing and meals FREE OF CHARGE for a retired Catholic priest willing and able to provide daily Mass

The offer comes from the nuns who run Good Samaritan Retirement Center in San Diego County.

Please pass this information on to priests who might be interested.

The nuns and their center have a website.

Since Thursday, Fr. Dwight Longenecker has blogposted twice about the Benedictine way.

The Thirteenth Ordinary Sunday of the Church Year

I have posted a homily for today.