SUBJECT: RELIGION!!! -- Happy New Year!

Greetings to my six (or is that seven?) good readers!

Today is the New Year for the Church -- the 1st Sunday in Advent in the Year of Grace 2010!

May God bless you and your loved ones richly this year!

Blessings,

Papa Z

SUBJECT: RELIGION!!!

We have a new Archbishop!

Bishop Jerome Listecki, currently Bishop of the diocese of LaCrosse, Wisconson, and a former Auxiliary Bishop in Chicago, has been named as the successor to Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who was transferred to New York in April.

A hundred thousand welcomes to Bishop Listecki! May your time in Milwaukee be most blessed!

Papa Z.

SUBJECT: SOCIETY!!!

Today is Veterans Day. On this day in 1918, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month -- the guns went silent in Europe, bringing the Great War to a close.

Under President Eisenhower, this day, formerly called Armistice Day, in remembrance of the conclusion of the First World War, was formally changed to Veterans Day -- to honor ALL our Veterans -- Past, Present, and Future.

So here's a heartfelt "Thank-You" to all our fine men and women who have served, are serving, and will continue to serve our nation to keep us free.

Here's to:

The Army

The Navy

The Air Force

The Marine Corps

The Coast Guard

The Merchant Marine

Your sacrifices will never, NEVER, be forgotten.

God Bless AMERICA!!!

Papa Z.

SUBJECT: POLITICS!!!

I'm not usually dreadfully political on this blog -- but this is a big deal to me.

20 years ago today -- the Berlin Wall fell.

On June 12th, 1987, President Ronald Reagan gave the following speech:

"Tear Down this Wall".

Do you remember?

He was mocked at the time by the press and by the pseudo-intelligentsia of the West. We were supposed to appease the Soviet Union. We were supposed to compromise. What about Detente? How dare this "warmonger" use such strong language against our "good friends" in the Eastern Bloc?!

Do you remember?

A little more than two years later, on November 8th, 1989, the Wall fell. Almost immediately, one by one, the nations of Eastern Europe began to break free. The "republics" comprising the USSR began to break free. (Ironically, the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize went, not to Ronald Reagan; not to Margaret Thatcher; not to the Servant of God Pope John Paul II (the Great) -- but to General Secretary Mikael Gorbachov!)

It began 20 years ago today.

And where is our President?

Where?

Why is he not in Berlin?

What are his priorities?

This is not a "Left vs. Right" issue. This is not a "Conservative vs. Liberal" issue. This is a day of rejoicing in freedom -- all throughout Europe.

And our President -- ostensibly the "Leader of the Free World" -- is absent.

What a shame.

Papa Z.

SUBJECT: RELIGION!!!

I've seen quite a few bloggers and commentators begin to refer to Pope Benedict XVI as "The Pope of Christian Unity", and I plan to begin using the same reference. The Holy Father, building on the foundation of the Servant of God Pope John Paul II (the Great) has done more to effect authentic Christian unity than any Pontiff since the Protestant Revolt.

May the words of Our Lord in the 17th Chapter of St. John's Gospel come quickly to fruition.

Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.

Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast given me in thy love for me before the foundation of the world."I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word,that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. O righteous Father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee; and these know that thou hast sent me. I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." (Revised Standard Version)

Blessings,

Papa Z.

SUBJECT: RELIGION!!!

I told you I'd have more on the subject!

The Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus has officially been promulgated, "Providing for Personal Ordinatiates for Anglicans Entering into Full Communion with the Catholic Church."

Read it here:

ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS

I would invite commentary.

Blessings,

Papa Z.

PS: BTW, for ongoing interesting commentary on this subject, please visit -- in addition to this blog -- "Per Christum" (to which I am an occasional contributor), "Whispers in the Loggia", "What Does The Prayer Really Say". I recommend them both.