#if i am required to attend mass it is not a secular event.

[elipsi]

the cattocomunisti are testing me.

[dvandom]

I got lucky. I've had some friction here and there, but I never got the "play along or you're out on the street" threat either explicitly or implicitly.

I went to Catholic School from grades 1-8, so naturally by 5th grade I was very much an atheist. Like, the most stridently so over the course of my 53 years of life. But I still had to go to the school. I still had to go to weekly Mass, but they let me go alone to a Saturday late afternoon service. I'd sit in the "crying babies room" and read...the formalisms were ingrained enough that I'd stand and sit and kneel at the required times (although after a while I stopped kneeling, feeling it was a bit hypocritical). I'd go up for Communion, that was not optional.

In high school, because that's when our church had shifted to doing Confirmation (as opposed to 5th grade, which would NOT have gone well), my parents insisted I go to the classes. They wouldn't make me get Confirmed, but wanted me to have all the paperwork out of the way in case I changed my mind later. Of course, as an academic nerd, I knew all the doctrine and had studied the Bible more than anyone else in my Confirmation class...I just didn't believe. The weekend when I was dropped off at college, my parents found a tiny Catholic church in the rural Missouri town where my college was situated, and that was my last full attendance at Mass. Since then there's been some weddings and funerals (some of that friction came when they didn't believe I was serious about not being willing to do an overtly religious reading during the ceremony and gave me one that Praised The Lord every other line...had to find a substitute on short notice because I am very serious about not bearing false witness on the matter of faith), and most recently coming along to Mass on my parents' 50th anniversary, but I just stand and sit (but don't kneel) quietly. I've mellowed enough to have no desire to disrupt services, but neither will I take the sacrament or otherwise participate.

I'm lucky. It never made it to trauma. It's just a low-level irritant that flares up occasionally, whether at family events, or when I get inconvenienced because of the primacy of Christian observances (e.g. my technically secular workplace is closed all day for Good Friday, and my grocery shopping plans are messed up by all the places closed for Easter). I got out, and the version I was in wasn't all that bad, but I can never completely escape it.

kids who werent raised christian being like "lol baptising children is whack if they tried to do that to me i would start doing things to make it look like i was possessed" no you would not. you would bask in the pride and approval coming from the adults around you and you would quietly wait your turn because you were told from birth that sinning sends you to hell and baptism is The Promise that youre dedicating your life to jesus that youve had hyped up for years and watched other people be fawned over as they cry happy tears about it and you do NOT want to fuck up your One Big True Promise To Love Jesus Forever So You Don't Get Tortured For Eternity when you are literally 8 years old. im begging yall to remember its a thousand times easier to see the church's bullshit for what it is when you're not actively in the church. eight year old you is not thinking about trying to fight back against an oppressive religious group indoctrinating children because You Are The Children Being Indoctrinated. stop acting like you would've magically known better if it were you.

[catholicartistsnyc]

Meet: Melissa Maricich

MELISSA MARICICH is an NYC-based actress, singer, dancer, producer and writer, as well as a Catholic Artist Connection board member. (www.mmaricich.com or melissa.maricich@gmail.com)

CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION (CAC): What brought you to NYC, and where did you come from? How long have you been here, and why did you decide to move here? 

MELISSA MARICICH (MM): I was born and raised near Seattle, Washington. Specifically, a lovely spot called Maple Valley, where I grew up on multiple acres of countryside as one of nine kids. I started out as a dancer, but once my voice sort of "kicked-in" during high school I became involved in musical theatre which led to greater interest in acting and film. Because New York has both theatre and film I was encouraged to move here rather than LA initially. A couple of years after gaining experience in the professional scene in Seattle I did just that, and moved to New York to further my opportunities of work in the entertainment industry.

CAC: How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist? Do you call yourself a Catholic artist?

MM: I want it to be very clear in my interactions with people that I am a Catholic, but I don't think my work could be termed "Catholic Art.” Our vocation as Catholics is to love and serve God and our neighbors, which we should do through our work, whatever that work may be; whether as postal workers or Hollywood / Broadway stars. I see my work as being a job (that I love to do), that often takes place in the secular arena, which is part of what gives me a greater opportunity to share the Good News of the Gospel.  Whatever our daily occupation may be, it should be a means by which we strive to serve and love. 

CAC: Where have you found support among your fellow artists for your Catholic faith?

MM: One of the beautiful things about life in New York is the hugely diverse places and ways one can make connections. I've met Catholic actors and artists in as many ways as the number of individuals I've connected with.  I've also hugely benefited from the Sheen Center and people I've met there - very particularly all the people I'm involved with for Catholic Artists Connection and Catholic Artists NYC... a perfectly "unbrazen" plug on my part, for the people making this very interview possible :)

CAC: How can the artistic world be more welcoming to artists of faith?

MM: The artistic world would have to make a decision to be humble enough, and open-minded enough, to entertain the thought that those with faith could have good reason for their beliefs. However we can only be responsible for ourselves and I think the artistic world will be more open to us once it is confronted with, and realizes, how many more of its members are people of faith than it currently suspects. That accomplishment rests in great part on our being more courageous, vocal and generous in sharing the Gospel. Of course, that definitely requires Prudence about the right time, place, and manner in which we share. (As an aside, I think that is a beautiful function the secular world unwittingly provides us with - opportunities to grow in virtue: particularly Prudence, Courage and Charity/)

CAC: Where in NYC do you regularly find spiritual fulfillment? Which parish(es) do you attend? 

MM: I've found a home and welcome at St. Joseph's Church in Greenwich Village. It has a vibrant community, with particular connections to NYU and the students there. It is served by wonderful Dominican priests. I've met performers through some of the parish ministries, even the Thomistic Institutes' talks and lectures there (which are hugely formative and inspiring I might add). I highly recommend signing up for the emails and updates for the Thomistic Institute events. I've not once been sorry I spent my time in attending them!

CAC: Where in NYC do you regularly find artistic fulfillment?

MM: A number of mentors, teachers and coaches are of course essential in this. It's fulfilling and satisfying to work with people who help you to be your best, who challenge you and help you to actualize your potential. I have a wonderful voice teacher (feel free to contact me if you are looking for one!). The Barrow Group (take Seth Barrish's class) and Jon Shears' "Take Action" Workshop (film work) are both wonderful resources. The Growing Studio and Max Theatrix are particularly helpful for musical theatre performers and making connections. The Growing Studio is how I was connected to my current agent. 

CAC: How have you found or built community as a Catholic artist living in NYC?

MM: I'd say the simplest description for how it has, and is continuing to happen for me, is simply by being open with the people I meet and by connecting as much in the moment with those who I come across as I possible. You'd truly be shocked at the strange way you can meet people in the business, and even other Catholic performers. Especially if you're simply willing to smile, say hello and introduce yourself. 

CAC: What is your daily spiritual practice?

MM: It can shift from time to time, but there are particular forms of prayer and different saints that tend to regularly be in the forefront. The Rosary - and with it Marian Consecration. St. Joseph, Francis of Assisi, Peter, Therese, Padre Pio, etc. etc. Whenever possible during the week daily Mass, and Adoration. And some kind of religious reading of which there's a large variety. Definitely anything Chesterton, or Lewis. Other recommended material is The Light of Christ, by Fr. Thomas Joseph White. A number of podcasts of which the most recent addition is Stacey Sumereau's "Called and Caffeinated". And Bishop Barron's "Word on Fire" is a staple.

CAC: What is your daily artistic practice? 

MM: They aren't ALL always daily simply due to constrictions of time, but, as much as I can I'll have hour-long voice practices a couple times a week, dance classes, reading on pertinent info for acting/material that is inspiring for production/writing ideas. 

CAC: What resources have you found helpful in securing housing/roommates?

MM: 80/20 Housing is quite the resource. For females, look into St. Agnes Residence or other women's residences. Unfortunately I don't know of the equivalent for guys... sorry fella's!

CAC: How can you find work in NYC? 

MM: If you are looking for a survival job, be willing to tell/mention it to random people you know or meet that you are looking for a job. I got my first hostessing job (glamorous, I know) because I mentioned in passing that I was looking for consistent work to a girl I was doing a temp-job with. She said, totally off-the-cuff "Oh, my roommate is leaving a place right now, and they are looking to fill it. I'll send them your resume." 

CAC: What other practical resources would you recommend to a Catholic artist living in NYC?

MM: Gingerb3ardMen Photography. Billy Bustamente Photography. Sean Turi Photography.

CAC: What are your top 3 pieces of advice for Catholic artists moving to NYC?

MM: Don't be afraid, and give yourself some grace and slack in expectations when you first arrive. (Of course don't slack in your devotion to doing what you know is necessary in pursuing excellence in your craft but DO cut yourself-slack in your expectations of immediate or worldly "success"). And make sure to get out of the city every now and then! Take the train up the Hudson or somewhere cute on Long Island. Get out of town every now and again. 

If you have recently arrived in this busy City, Welcome! Glad to have you here and look forward to meeting you soon!

[stevedonnellyfaith-blog]

Walking For Life (Post 73) 1-28-15

This weekend I had hoped to participate in the Walk For Life with Stephen, Abby and Nick, but work prevented me.  It is an important event, a chance to stand up and be counted as a Catholic within a secular society that seems to face tattoo itself with disfiguring shame at each and every opportunity.  For me the peaceful passage of the large walking group by the small number of howling counter-protesters is a metaphor for our daily spiritual walk though American culture and it’s blaring but impotent messages of death and iniquity. We do well to walk with Christian brothers and sisters to our right and left so that our path remains straight and the conversation pleasant.

Although, I did not make this year’s walk, here are my impressions from my experience last year:

Walk About

                        I decided to do the West Coast Walk for Life with Natalie, Nick and Abby this year, but circumstances weren’t turning out favorably.  Nick and I needed to work and Natalie had complained about walking from the parking lot of the Exploratorium on her birthday trip on Thursday, which meant that a three mile trek was beyond the forbearance of my now ten year old daughter. It looked like it would be down to Abby to represent clan Donnelly at the march on Saturday.  I was disappointed not to be able to accompany her.  

Abby had attended the March two years ago, but she and I had been tied up with work and care for Pam last year.  Stephen and Nick had gone instead and said they enjoyed it.  Abby, Nick and I attend the Men of St Joseph and Daughters of Mary meetings on Monday nights and both groups planned to travel on BART together to march platoon style under the leadership of drill instructor Joe Juarez, former Marine and one of San Francisco’s finest.  The Walk looked to be a good chance to participate in a cause in which I strongly believe and to take care of my Saturday exercise as a body and soul two-fer.

The holiday schedule and the Ministry Fair seemed to be colluding to prevent my participation for yet another year.  Holidays are a mixed blessing when you work in a factory that assembles mattresses. Often a Monday off is followed by a production Saturday to restock our customers after their holiday weekend sales.  Joe told me that I would be able to hustle back and still make the Ministry Fair after the walk.  He says that usually Father Jerry is able to sprint in from the parking lot, vest himself and say Mass on time each year.  Then we discovered that Natalie had Youth Choir pictures at 3:30 as well. Although I ceased and desisted from consulting my Lucky Eight Ball after joining the One True Church, the mortal sin of divinization was not required to see that I would need to wait until next year to march for babies.

But sometimes God smiles on the Irish and we got things buttoned up at the plant much earlier than I expected – it helped that all the hourly requested to start production at 5 AM. I was OK to leave the plant at about 10:30.  As I was in Richmond already, I called Abby to see if we could coordinate a rendezvous. As happens she was running late herself and had missed the Men of St Joe caravan leaving IHM.  As Father Jerry often reminds us, cell phones can be a distraction, but in this case, texting and GPS allowed us to make arrangements for Nick to drop off Natalie at choir and for us to organize a meet-up on the steps of the library where we almost immediately stumbled across Major Joe (ret) and his merry band of walkers.

It was motley bunch of close to forty good folks to which we were happy to belong.  2014 was the tenth anniversary of the West Coast version of the march, but I don’t think many in our group had participated in all of them. Truth be told, many of us had not been Catholics ten years ago and fewer still would have been considered devout Catholics in 2003.  To paraphrase a great priest, if I had been accused of being a Christian in 2003, I don’t know that there would have been enough evidence to convict me.

Anyway our group made it to the starting line and was awed at the size of the throng to which we had merged ourselves.  Demographically there was a mix of ages, sexes and ethnic backgrounds.  Curiously, I did not see many African American participants even though minorities are by far the largest victims of the abortion mills. Although even Margaret Sanger thought abortion was a disgusting abomination, she and her eugenic minions were definitely in favor of keeping minorities as minorities by any means. She once addressed a KKK assembly and overall considered them to be fellow travelers.

At least fifty percent of the marchers were women, which made demographic sense.  Logically speaking – I am a mathematician after all – you would have expected women to be underrepresented, if the Pro-Life movement was really intended to harm the fairer sex.  Instead there seemed to be an absence of the immature, the angry and the deceitful.  Men and women, young and old, all seemed to act politely and pleasantly.  It was as if the Holy Spirit was present in overall change of the shindig.

Anyway the march itself went very well.  Abby and I walked together in solidarity with hopes for a better future for troubled mothers. Ironically Pam and I were offered an abortion during her pregnancy with Abby.  All Pam’s pregnancies were difficult, but we were never really tempted to abort despite some pretty challenging circumstances. I have a lot of empathy for moms who end up in situations where they feel they have no other option.  

There were maybe a hundred counter protesters at the march who largely wasted their breath.  I hoped they were being compensated monetarily by the abortion industry; otherwise they are seriously deluded people.  Showing up to counter-protest at an event that has been blacked out by the media seems more like a reflex reaction rather than a true protest.  

One poor young woman walked along the side of the peaceful column shouting something incoherent, repetitive and probably unconvincing for what seemed like half of the march.  I understand that she intended to “speak truth to power,” but she wasn’t really speaking.  Also her cause generally avoids truth like Superman avoids kryptonite and the powerful people are the ones who embedded massive abortion subsidies into Obamacare.  

Jesus loves the poor young woman, I’m sure, but Abby and I were happy when she left us to uselessly harangue other members of the available thousands of marchers.   None of peaceful walkers would be likely to see the logic of her shouted slogan or whatever was scribbled on her poorly crafted signboard. To me she seemed like as impotent as a tiger pacing behind 6 inch thick display glass. Her socially liberal colleagues and the news media would have appreciated her obligatory hissy fit as high theater, but they had ambivalently decided to give the whole performance a miss. Maybe there was a better turnout of cameras and crazies during the early years of the march. On Saturday nobody cared to hear her.  I pitied the young woman, an emotion that would have enraged her all the more.

Abby and I had a nice walk together with our friends and saw many other IHM parishioners at the march, most of whom we would encounter again and again throughout this last year.  In reality the Walk For Life is not an activity that lasts a couple of hours only; it is continuous.  The faithful walk for life, whether they were present on Saturday or not, by doing God’s will.  Whether you sacrifice an afternoon that you could have spent relaxing, or whether you fill up a baby bottle with change for Birthright, opportunities to support life occur in our conversations and when we pray.  I encourage all parishioners to participate in some way, however they think best.  As the foundational human right, we must all embrace the cause of life to truly do God’s work.

[brandonspratt-blog]

Brandon Spratt

Spiritual Life Coaching spiritual life coach - Is it Necessary?

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Answers BrandonSpratt's Facebook Page that are wanted, whether for his personal life or the life of others, can come via the non secular teacher so long as he is able to be current and still and simply "be with what's." A non secular instructor doesn't "turn out to be" what he is. When a person feels that he is able to develop into a religious trainer, then he isn't a religious instructor. Moderately, he ought to feel that he's not ready to undertake the task as a result of he does not know anything, has nothing to show and nothing to say. Spiritual educating does not come from a person's private data; it comes by way of an individual. It is not a matter of being ready to be a spiritual teacher; it is a matter of getting enough space to develop into one. The religious teacher basically simply has to know learn how to get out of the way in which. Actually powerful things that he will do will probably be completed within the moment. It's going to happen as a result of the spiritual trainer gets out of the way. This is when the primordial intelligence within the power of life and the facility of now flow by way of him. That is how true creation happens. There is a period of psychological curiosity for seeking individuals trying to find religious solutions and we're advised throughout this stage of improvement BrandonSpratt's Facebook Page God sends them just odd teachers and non secular books for addressing the awakening of those souls. What's the forecast for them in the future? These are occasions of uncertainty and large change. Individuals are turning to yoga meditation and spirituality to find their very own inside consolation. Within the midst of a altering world, spirituality and yoga is extra significant now for discovering one's own internal middle and is shifting additional into society. The query is how do you find a religious teacher or the fitting house of worship? 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Not knowing God they can't cross on His realization to someone else; as an alternative, in their very own stupidity they not solely obliterate their very own would-be understanding, but that of their unfortunate followers as properly. Be wary of the hypocritical behavior of teachers, preachers and clergymen who exhibit any type of prayer or preaching in an overstated demonstration of fervor before folks attending worship to convince them of their spirituality and holiness to obtain fame, praise, material or financial gain. Self-elected or appointed soap box audio system can create emotional or mental upheavals within the ideas of spectators and be sincerely persuasive, but they're unable to uplift and save souls; during their period of prayer halfhearted mental rambling brings neither a solution from http://www.brandonspratt.com God or the targeted attention important for financial success in these troubled times. 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He needs to be nicely versed and imagine within the truths he strives to teach while attempting to realize them himself. Probably the most certified teacher of spirituality is the intuitional trainer and as soon as awakened by meditation doesn't have to depend upon reason, he knows. A religious instructor that doesn't have self-realization should make an ideal effort for subversion of the ego and God attunement and meditate earlier than instructing others, a much more valuable observe than formulating concepts from the opinions of others or books. Faith, spirituality, or houses of worship should never be commercialized or used for private achieve. It's fascinating that a trainer of spirituality not be given a salary. Once the teacher starts to simply accept money for doing God's work, it merely develops into a job; his thoughts can spiritual teacher WIKI be on wanting more money and making a dwelling, unlike the Christlike belief of serving God without the thoughts of compensation. 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Only a authentic follower or disciple who has experienced the disciplined spiritual practices of the sadhana, of a real grasp and who has cleansed his phantasm-infected ego will make it to grasp. Masters will not ask their disciples to show unless they're true from the past (earlier incarnations). All great masters chose their disciples in the identical approach. The essential requisites are a honest readiness to listen, attunement and good karma.