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LAFAYETTE – Celibacy isn’t the only aspect of Roman Catholic priesthood that is dissuading young Catholic men from entering the seminary.

Salary, insurance and retirement plans need to be updated for the modern Roman Catholic church to be more viable in today’s competitive business climate, according to some Acadiana Roman Catholic priests.

“It’s the modern world we live in,” said the Rev. Robert Fisher, St. Anthony Church pastor. “There are countless other opportunities today for younger people to make a better living for themselves that weren’t there in the early 20th century, when being a priest was a more prestigious occupation.”
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And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” Simon Peter then asked “Do you offer a 401k plan with health benefits” and Jesus answered “Come and see my competitive offer for Tuition Reimbursement, Disability, Dental & Optical, and full medical coverage.”

Here are excerpts from an interesting graduation speech.

Monsignor John J. Bendik, pastor of St. John’s Church and vice president of the Board of Pastors of Seton Catholic, delivered the homily during liturgy and reminded the graduates of their transformation – physically, intellectually, spiritually and socially – throughout the past four years.

Monsignor Bendik compared the graduates’ situation to a bag of popping corn. While some kernels are transformed into popcorn, others remain apparently unchanged by the process.

He advised graduates that even the unpopped kernels, having a purpose, can be planted and will eventually produce a plant.

The following would probably give Nihil Obstat a coronary.

Monsignor Bendik lightheartedly referred to his “special prayer” and “motto,” telling the graduates, “Be what you is, because if you be what you ain’t, you ain’t what you is.”

Nice article on Tom Monaghan in which he says:

He gives the same answer every time: “I want to go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can. I can’t think of a better way to do it than through Catholic education.”
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A Dutchman who ended up in court for going into a library with smelly feet has lost his appeal and had his fine more than doubled.

The 39-year-old Rotterdam man was fined �70 for repeatedly going into the university library in Delft and taking off his shoes.
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TS O’Rama of Video meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor say’s it better than John Lennon ever did, especially the last line of his post.

From The Lemon:

BAGHDAD, IRAQ — In a surprise move, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein began his 2004 re-election campaign today with the slogan, “Go and die fighting for your country so I don’t have to kill you myself.”

Thanks to Kathy Shaidle for first introducing me to The Lemon. This is the third issue of The Lemon which seems to be updated weekly and getting funnier each time.

WASHINGTON — PBS commentator Bill Moyers scored big time with two of the
Media Research Center’s Dishonor Awards Thursday night. The annual ceremony
highlights stupid or biased statements out of the mouths of the mainstream
media news and entertainment stars.

..The Ozzy Osbourne (Wackiest Comment of the Year) Award:
David Wright of ABC News who said Saddam Hussein’s 99.7% vote in a sham election
was such that it was "impossible" to tell if that was an "accurate" reflection
of the cruel and barbaric dictator’s support among the masses.

…The And They Called It Puppy Love Award: Barbara Walters for saying Fidel
Castro’s
Communist Cuba was "one of the freest nations on earth."

…Helen Thomas, the highly opinionated veteran White House correspondent, who
has
written that George W. Bush is "the worst" of all 43 presidents in
America History, was up for two awards, but fell just short. But syndicated columnist
Mona Charen said next year Thomas would be up for a Lifetime Achievement "Dishonor" award.
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Also there is Brent Bozell’s column on Anti-Catholic "Entertainment"

And Mark Steyn’s column "Moore
is hell" includes this:

After all, most of the booers were only booing the other
booers. As he explained afterwards, "The booing that started was way up
in the balcony" – that is the nobodies in the cheap seats – "and
then the people supporting what I was saying started booing them."

He must have truly acute boo hearing senses to be able to detect true booers from boo booers. I normally don’t think Michael Moore is that funny, yet that has got to be the funniest thing he ever said. Too bad it was said not out of intentional humor but the highest level of spin doctoring.

Michael Moore also offered another excuse in another article:

A word of advice to future Oscar winners: don’t begin Oscar day
by going to church. That is where I found myself last Sunday morning, at the
Church of the Good Shepherd on Santa Monica Boulevard, at Mass with my sister
and my dad. My problem with the Catholic Mass is that sometimes I find my mind
wandering after I hear something the priest says, and I start thinking all
these crazy thoughts like how it is wrong to kill people and that you are not
allowed to use violence upon another human being unless it is in true self-defence.

The Pope even came right out and said it: this war in Iraq is not a just war
and, thus, it is a sin.
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I see that he is still up to the same
high level of fact finding as he uses in his "documentaries".
The Pope has made no such blatant statement. Of course Michael Moore is also
a supporter of abortion – something the Pope actually says is a sin and never
just, just
one more inconvenient fact for him. He should have saved his book title “Stupid White Men” for his autobiography.

This website has information on the Church of the Good Shepard where it says that Gary Cooper had converted to Catholicism before his death.

(CNSNews.com) – Animal rights activists are blasting the
U.S. Navy for its use of mine-detecting dolphins in the war with Iraq because,
according to the activists, the marine mammals "have not volunteered" to
be part of the war.

Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist with People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA), said the use of dolphins to sweep for mines in Iraq is "just
ridiculous."

"These are animals that, number one, have not volunteered to take part
in this whatsoever. Number two, they are being put in harm’s way…when they
don’t even know they are in harm’s way," Boyles told CNSNews.com.
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The dolphins also did not request or authorize PETA to defend
them. If we have an ongoing dolphin draft I wonder if we will have some draft
dodging dolphins swimming to Canada or joining the dolphin ROTC to get a deferment.
I am sure
that if Flipper was still around he would have done his patriotic duty and
volunteered. There might also be some international consequences of us drafting
dolphins since
they are actually citizens of another sovereign country, Finland.

In what could be the simplest explanation for one component of global warming, a new study shows the Sun’s radiation has increased by .05 percent per decade since the late 1970s.

The increase would only be significant to Earth’s climate if it has been going on for a century or more, said study leader Richard Willson, a Columbia University researcher also affiliated with NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

The Sun’s increasing output has only been monitored with precision since satellite technology allowed necessary observations. Willson is not sure if the trend extends further back in time, but other studies suggest it does.
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Sound pretty absurd to me. What in the world could the sun have to do with warmth? Or maybe there are SUVs driving around up there during the night or sunlings using aerosol spay cans with freon.

St Joseph represents the last of the Old Testament patriarchs. For seventeen hundred years, even since God said to Abraham, the first of the patriarchs, “Go forth from the hand of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house” (Gn 12:1), God has been calling His people forward, calling them out of themselves into His way. St. Matthew traces Jesus’ lineage from Abraham through David to Joseph – that is, from God’s first call to faith, through His promise to make David’s royal throne firm forever, to the man designated to be Mary’s husband and Christ’s foster-father. When we encounter Joseph in the Gospel, we encounter a man who lets God rule his life, a man who does not demand his own way, a man who let God call him forward. He took Mary into his house when an angel told him to do so; he led Mary and Jesus to Egypt when they were in danger; and when he found Jesus, at the age of twelve, in the Temple, he accepted the words, “Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2: 49). If we are true Christians, there is something of Joseph in each of us, something that says, God directs my life, and that’s how it ought to be. St Joseph, pray for us! –Fr. Joseph T. Lienhard

Most merciful Father, call me out of myself and direct my life that I may love and serve you like St. Joseph.

St. Joseph patron saint of workers please pray for those who are unemployed.