Yellow Blog Journalism

On Notre Shame

It is the honour and responsibility of a Catholic University to consecrate itself without reserve to the cause of truth. This is its way of serving at one and the same time both the dignity of man and the good of the Church, which has "an intimate conviction that truth is (its) real ally ... and that knowledge and reason are sure ministers to faith"

~John Paul II
Ex Cord Ecclesiae

I've been thinking about truth lately, and while I've avoided the often repeated pitfalls of "What is Truth" I have been able to gain some perspective while pondering 'What is true and who am I' which are pretty foundational questions, the answers that we give the first guide the second.

When I first converted, some of the people who knew me in the years before I became Catholic asked me  in one way or another why I wasn't an evangelical any longer. The best answer that I could give was that I didn't believe what evangelicals believe. The reciprocal, and positive, response to that is that I do believe what Catholics believe.

Initially this was a "good enough" answer, but now that I've been Catholic for eight years (well, in a month) not only do I believe what Catholicism teaches, but I have, in fact, become Catholic. It is more than simply the belief structure and sect that most closely matches my personal theological and philosophical leanings, it is a point of identity. When I judge myself, taking long looks in the mirror, I judge myself by the standard of this identity. There are times where I live out my Catholicity and there are times where I am not very catholic. The antidote to that is obviously repentance, confession, reparation.

Notre Dame, its catholicity at the very least, functions essentially the same way. It can call itself a catholic yet the truth of it's identity is revealed in it's actions. Its the difference between being a father and being a Dad. Catholicism demands more dedication than Brother Love's Travellin' Salvation Show. Its not enough to claim to be ardent and practicing, you actually have to do it. Or else, an antidote is needed; repentance, confession and reparation.

_____________________________

Every Catholic University, without ceasing to be a University, has a relationship to the Church that is essential to its institutional identity. As such, it participates most directly in the life of the local Church in which it is situated; at the same time, because it is an academic institution and therefore a part of the international community of scholarship and inquiry, each institution participates in and contributes to the life and the mission of the universal Church, assuming consequently a special bond with the Holy See by reason of the service to unity which it is called to render to the whole Church. One consequence of its essential relationship to the Church is that the institutional fidelity of the University to the Christian message includes a recognition of and adherence to the teaching authority of the Church in matters of faith and morals.

_____________________________

Notre Dame has been wandering in the woods for quite a while now. From actively dissenting and defiant faculty, campus activities such as the Vagina Monologues that depart from a genuine morality to awarding an honorary degree and providing a platform to speak to an ardent and practicing pro-culture of death politician, when does Notre Dame feel that it has 'consecrated itself without reserve to the cause of truth'?

Maybe the defiant faculty could be meandered around, certainly there are many faithful among them. QUestionable activities by some students can be explained. By no estimation or requrement are all students Catholic. However as the Keynote speaker at a formal event, not only taking a position of honor, but even being awarded an honorary degree, the pesident of the school, Fr. John Jenkins is acting directly, on behalf of the institution defying the Church and her Bishops.

It may not be common use any more to call this a culture war. The Keynote speaker himself said that culture war is so 1990's while mocking the pro-life movement during the campiagn. The language has changed. Maybe we can call it the Homeland Contengiency Contingency Operation. The fact is that this is a culture war regardless of what you would like to call it. This is more important than Kooky professors who teach kooky things. Its more important than Vagina Monologues. Its more important than Nine Trillion (!!!) in deficit spending or releasing terrorists into the United States. It is more important than Teleprompters and Pirates. Its more important than Capital Punishment and Clown Masses. This is the trump card in the deck.

On Truth, Marriage and Beards

To live well, you have to live a life that is rooted in truth. Sometimes things that are true are easy to accept. Sometimes they are not so easy to accept and then there are the truths that I don't really want to admit. Its easy to accept that plenty of people like my beard. Less easy to accept that my wife isn't one of them. And I really don't want to admit that, right now, I don't like it much either.

I was talking to my wife not too long ago about our relationship when we got married. We were pregnant well, before we got married and having Jack so soon into our marriage made things difficult. Its a truth that we have to adjust for. We don't have the typical problems that people married a year have, though they are becoming more and more typical as time goes by.

We've adjusted alot in the last year. To marriage, to children, to messy husbands and neat wives. We've had to recognize that there are times where things aren't what we wished that they would be, and we've had to adjust to that reality, that truth. Thankfully it isn't all hard truth. It is laced with joy and common ground.

Someone told me that marriage has ups and downs, usually starting with downs. That is true. I'm happy with my wife and our relationship, but there are a dozen reasons that I can give you that this has been the most difficult year of my life. Like I said, we have to adjust ourselves to the truth of the situation, and usually adjusting ourselves means adjusting our expectations.

I usually wake up with certain expectations for the day. Opening my eyes, I expect that today is going to be pretty straight forward. Wake up, Shower, make breakfast, make lunch, kiss my sleeping wife goodbye and go to either work or school, do some work, come home, kiss my wife again, dinner, give Jack a bath, give him a bottle, put him to bed, spend some time with Jenn, go to bed and Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Usually it doesn't work out that way. Not even close. Either I adjust my expectations as my day happens, or I experience a friction rub when things don't go my way.

Or to put it another way, I get angst-y when life doesn't let me live in my utopia.

Sometimes people love my beard. Sometimes my wife doesn't and sometimes I don't either, even though I really want to.

Sometimes I have to be willing to shave when my way just isn't working out.

I'm going to shave tonight.

On Cars and Finances

On Wish Lists

What do you get a guy that seemingly has everything? Try this!

On Learning to Walk

I just started what I hope to be the last two and a half years of school that I will ever go through. When I finish, I'll be an RN, God willing, and able to make some very good money working three days a week. Good enough that Jenn will be able to decide if she wants to work or not. Good enough that I can spend four days a week being A husband and Dad.

In the mean time, I'm going to try and collect as many instructor certs and "fun certs" as I can. By fun, I mean Tactical Medic and other such 'break things and blow stuff up' certifications. Right now, I'm working hard to try and retrain the way I think. My ambulance habits need to be reformed and I need to master a new "reality" to really use all this new knowledge that I am shoving into my head right now. I'm learning how to walk again. And hopefully this will be the last time. I am ready to retire to a bandaid station and have the family, house, dog and SUV.

Meanwhile, I watch from over the tops of books while jack is learning to walk for the first time. so far we are both doing plenty of face plants. His first steps are weeks if not days away. I'm hoping that he decides to take them at his birthday party... it will save us quite a few phone calls, and the more witnesses the better.

Once he takes those steps, I'm going to give him six months and then we will discuss potty training.

On Ice Cream and Self Control

Today in our posting, we've spent significant amounts of time at both Dairy Queen and Zesto. Besides the problematic presence of Ice Cream at both locations, Zesto has pulled out far ahead of the Queen for the simple fact that it has free wifi. I may be a disappointment to both of their managers, sitting within their line of site with a jar of sunflower seeds and foil packs of Tuna.

In a year I want to be a trim and fit beast. There isn't a much better way to describe someone who is 6'5 and about 250 lbs. Beastly. Unfortunately I'm fighting with a beast that resides right around my midsection, which is not a good indicator for someone who wants to live to be 105. SO I'm starting with changing my eating habits. Lots of veggies, lean meats and earth crunchy snacks like sunflower seeds. Not so much for the snickers (like I had last night) and the curly fries. I'm looking forward to getting my metabolism rolling again. Then I can have snacks like that... sometimes.

Lately I've been talking to alot of my patients, and the common thread in much of their disability is the food that they put into their bodies. They lose legs for the sake of sugar and sweets. For lack of pushups, they die at 50. I'm living that way too. I've got to shape up, literally.

So I'm sitting outside of Zesto, and the only service of theirs that I plan on taking advantage of is their wifi.

On Winning and Losing

Sometimes You are the Juicer, sometimes you are the fruit...