Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Fight Back Against Letitia James Trying to Shut Them Down

Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Fight Back Against Letitia James Trying to Shut Them Down

Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Helped More Than 2.1 Million People Last Year

Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Helped More Than 2.1 Million People Last Year

Why You Should Not Use Bad Language

Why You Should Not Use Bad Language

Remembering Getting Ready for the School Year

In 25 years of teaching, August 1 was always a significant date.

It marked the end of reading just for fun and pleasure, and writing whatever work had been my focus - a short story, play, that blasted novel I never seem ever to finish.

It was time to get ready for school.

My summer reading had already included new works I would be teaching, or rereading some that I would be teaching again. But now I would begin focusing on works I would be teaching.

Some teachers create detailed lesson plans. They would plot out the entire year. But that was not my style. I would plan what works I would be teaching, so I knew the order and about when I would be teaching them. But day-to-day plans - no.

What I would be doing is researching all the works and history surrounding the literature I would be teaching.

For example, if I know I would be teaching Uncle Tom’s Cabin that year, I’d try to find information about the slave trade, collections of slave songs, descriptions of the Underground Railroad, local links to the Railroad, the poems and essays of other writers dealing with the issue at that time, and so on.

August would also visits to my classroom, ordering needed supplies, making sure we had enough books available for my students, making photocopies, a least one faculty, a department meeting and in-service, and so on.

Later in the month I would go in to set up my classroom. At the last school where I taught, I built bookshelves to hold all the books I wanted to make available for my students. When I retired, I donated those shelves and many of those books to the school.

And now, in retirement, I read only what I want to read or think I should read. No lesson planning or background research, No school workshops and meetings.

I’m enjoying retirement, But part of me misses those days. I miss the students and the camaraderie of fellow teachers.

And I don’t have a handy excuse any more for not finishing that blasted novel!

Pax et bonum

U.S. bishops invite Catholics to pray for end to taxpayer-funded abortion

U.S. bishops invite Catholics to pray for end to taxpayer-funded abortion: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has invited Americans to participate in a daily prayer to St. Joseph to stop federal funding of the abortion industry.

Remembering a Visit to the Solanus Casey Center

Back in August 2009, the private school where I was teaching and serving as principal sent me to a conference in Detroit run by the network to which the school belonged. I knew that Detroit was also where the Franciscan monastery where Solanus Casey had lived for many years - St. Bonaventure Friary - and was the home of the Solanus Casey Center. I had read about him, and as I was at the time in formation with the Secular Franciscans, I wanted to learn more about him. At the time, his cause for sainthood was underway and he was “Venerable Solanus Casey,” having become the first U.S.-born male to be declare Venerable.S (He would be beatified in 2017.)


I planned to visit the friary and the center if I could get any free time. I was able to visit after the conference officially ended, and I stopped there for a short visit before leaving Detroit to drive home to Western New York.

Knowing my time was limited, I made a quick walk-through. Then I went back to a few spots and took some pictures.

The center had a nice exhibit about Father Solanus's life with lots of picture and artifacts. Among the items on display were his personal effects,

including the beloved violin he would play to entertain (well, by all accounts of his ability, not exactly "entertain"!) his fellow Franciscans, and in the chapel for the Lord.

The exhibit also included the vestment he wore for his last Mass, and his Chalice and Paten

...and the rubber stamp he used to sign the many letters he sent to people in response to their letters asking for his prayers and guidance. (He received so many letters that, as he got older and struggled with health, he would dictate letters to secretaries, then stamp them with his signature.)

His tomb had been moved into the church once the process had begun to investigate his sanctity - a first step toward him possibly being declared a saint.

The tomb of the long-time porter is located, appropriately, at one of the entrances to the church. There is a carving of a violin on it. 

It was also covered with slips of papers on which there were prayer requests. I wrote my own request, asking him to pray for something that is troubling my heart.

At the entrance to the Center, there is a garden with art reflecting lines from St. Francis of Assisi's "Canticle of Brother Sun."

I also got a lesson in Franciscan poverty. I'm a bibliophile (with a house jammed with far too many books). After my initial swing through the center and the chapel, I went to the bookstore/gift shop, hoping to find a book or two that I did not already have (or three or four!).

It closed at 4 - before I got to it. Ha!

In the years since that visit, Father Solanus has been beatified, and there is a miracle being currently investigated that could lead to his being officially declared a saint, though, in my mind he already is. I made my Secular Franciscan Profession in 2011, and took him as my patron saint.

Meanwhile, the center has undergone a major renovation since my visit. I believe the tomb has been moved.

I hope to get back there again some day.

Pax et bonum

Ozzy Was a Whiz Kid

Ozzy Osbourne
was by water borne
to the Alamo
where he was heard to mumble, "When ya gotta go, ya gotta go."

(According to the San Antonio Express News, on Feb. 19, 1982, an intoxicated Osbourne publicly urinated in Alamo Plaza, specifically on the Alamo Cenotaph, a 60-foot monument commemorating the men and women who chose to defend the Alamo in 1836.

He was arrested and paid a fine, and was banned from performing in San Antonio for 10 years. He apologized, and was eventually allowed to perform in that city again.

Then, in 2015, 33 years after the incident, he was finally welcomed back to the Alamo for a segment of the History Channel's series, Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour.

After his death July 22, the Alamo, on its Instagram account, issued a statement: 

We at the Alamo are saddened to hear of the passing of legendary musician Ozzy Osbourne. His relationship with the Alamo was marked initially by a deeply disrespectful incident in 1982. This act profoundly and rightfully upset many who hold this site sacred.

However, redemption and reconciliation eventually became part of his history as well. In 1992, Ozzy personally apologized to then-Mayor Nelson Wolff and expressed genuine remorse for his actions. Decades later, in 2015, he revisited the Alamo grounds to learn and appreciate the site's profound history, openly demonstrating humility and understanding. 

At the Alamo, we honor history in all its complexities. Today, we acknowledge Ozzy Osbourne's journey from regret to reconciliation at the historic site, and we extend our condolences to his family, friends, and fans around the world. May he rest in peace.)

Pax et bonum