Catholic Dads » Adam

“I will give to you the keys of the kingdom…..”

Adam — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:56:00 +0000

“And I will put them in my mouth!”

St. Joseph patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!

Catholic Book Review (sort-of): Last Child in the Woods

Adam — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:56:00 +0000

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

So the second installation of my book reviews is not necessarily written by a Catholic author or written to a Catholic audience, but I believe it’s message is appropriate for the faithful. The book is called “Last Child in the Woods (saving our children from nature-deficit disorder) by the 2008 Audubon Medal winner Richard Louv.

The entire premise of the book is that in modern times, children spend way too much time indoors being entertained by electronics, tv, video games, and the like, and that this over-reliance on these things is stunting our childrens’ imagination and ability to think creatively. This is a phenomenon that I completely agree with and hope that I would be able to encourage Abigail to spend as much time outside as possible, although I would also argue that there is an appropriate place and time for household play as well. This is illustrated by Louv when he states, “The problem with computers isn’t computers–they’re just tools; the problem is that overdependence of them displaces other sources of education, from arts to nature.”

This is a book that I finished with some difficulty. Much of the book reads like a manuscript that just summarizes Study X or Study Y from some highly unique environment where children are given the opportunity to have free play in a large field at school, or is about a town that spends crazy money planting gardens or whatnot. It was somewhat annoying to read about all these studies and it left me wondering if Mr. Louv did not just create an elaborate meta-analysis of nature play. Part of my cynicism must be due to the amount of scientific research I read in grad school and the over-riding sense of “research never proves anything”/”there are always limitations in research”.

Louv does a good job of organizing the text, however. He begins by describing the problem, offers some reasons as to why it is a problem, proposes some solutions, then illustrates what could be in store if the solutions are carried out. Then, at the very end, he lists, “100 Actions We Can Take” which are practical, everyday solutions to the problem of nature-deficit disorder.

Overall, I am glad that I read this book. Although I pretty much agreed with most of what was written, the practical application section was very interesting. I do not know if I would recommend this book to someone who is already planning on immersing their kids in nature and the outdoors, but it certainly would help convince someone who is on the fence, or fuel the fire of activists for the cause.

St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!

You Know You’re Catholic When

Adam — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:25:00 +0000

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

Your golf balls are marked with a monogrammatic cross

St. Joseph patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!

Mise en Place

Adam — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Mise en place is a French term that cooks use to describe the preparation of ingredients prior to use in recipes. Common tasks would include cutting up vegetables, preparing sauces, or breaking down certain cuts of meat.

One of the sacrifices that Diana and I have found it necessary to make is the amount of times that we eat out per month. The amount of income that we would devote to this each month was too high and we are learning that we must change this practice.

Now that we are settled in with Abigail and she is starting to put herself to sleep after minimal fussing, Diana has found it easier to get housework accomplished. One of the greatest things that she is able to do now (and God bless her for it!) is plan meals up to 2 weeks ahead and stick to that menu through the week. We were successfully able to buy groceries and, surprisingly enough, only eat the meals we planned, for the two weeks surrounding Abigails baptism. The feeling that I get knowing that the income I provide is going towards healthy and wholesome meals is very encouraging.

The most interesting thing about this is that the amount of mise en place type activities that occur is phenomenal. Below is a sampling of the changes that we have made to accomodate more home cooked meals (saves a bunch of money too!):

-Buying stalks of celery, bags of whole carrots, and whole big tomatoes and cutting them into salad topping size
-Making homemade bread for sandwiches; homemade pizza dough; homemade breadbowls for soup
-Buying a block of mozzarella cheese and shredding it as opposed to buying preshredded cheese
-Buying bulk items such as tuna and meatballs as appropriate
-Making cookies instead of buying them

We are also making a desparate attempt to eat all of the food in our house before we make large scale grocery trips. For example, we made a large grocery trip on 5/6/09 and did not need to make another until this past Monday. I will say that these changes are made much easier with our purchase of a food processor, and the presence of a nice breadmaker and the stand mixer that we recieved as gifts. Also, Diana has been extra dilligent about clipping and using coupons to save a few extra coins here and there.

As I type, my extraordinary wife is stirring some homemade broccoli cheese soup that we are going to enjoy in the aforementioned breadbowls. I am so thankful for Diana and the work that she has done to “make the home”. God bless wives!

St. Joseph patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!

Dad-chores: Vegetable Planter Box

Adam — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:19:00 +0000

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

Sometimes I surprise even myself.

For the past few years Diana has maintained some simple vegetable plants on her back porch. I believe she started out with just tomatoes, then added bell peppers last year. These plants have been very successful with the intense morning sun that they get on our back porch.

This year, Diana and I brainstormed a better way to plant these veggies, as the pots just did not seem big enough and not the most effective way to grow these plants. Our solution was a planter box that would be deep and wide enough to plant several plants and fit on our back porch as well.

Following a gracious gift of plywood and lumber from my Dad, I put the following together:

The materials

The walls and supports are cut

The frame put together

All settled in on the back porch!

I used only my battery powered circular saw, drill, and some decking screws. The dimensions of the box are 60″x14″x16″ which we plan on filling with dirt and planting 3 cherry tomato plants and two red bell pepper plants. Also, we have a mint plant, 2 zucchini plants, and several flowers that are going to be put into pots to finish the ensemble. Diana is presently working on planting everything.

It was kind of a cool moment in the street when I was putting everything together and it actually felt sturdy! If I had to do it over again, I would have cut the plywood in more daylight. As it were, I had to cut it later in the evening and my lines were not as dark as I would have liked and the longer cuts got a bit crooked, but overall everything fit together pretty well.

Hopefully this is the first of many things I will be able to build for the family. I already have plans on building a set of wooden blocks for Abigail to play with, and hopefully, a playground set for our future backyard!

I will update when everything is planted.

St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!

crossposted at http://anewparacletes.blogspot.com

Officially a Catholic Dad!

Adam — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:59:00 +0000

My wife and I delivered our daughter, Abigail, two weeks ago today. She has been such a source of joy for us in her first two weeks!

We are learning everyday what it means to sacrifice ourselves for her. We originally struggled with getting her to nurse effectively and had to pump and cup feed for a bit in the hospital. Now, she nurses well; almost too long, in fact! At her two week appointment, we learned that she has not gained any weight in the past week, despite growing almost two inches in length and her head growing a bit. We are trying not to make mountains out of mole hills, but this is an especially difficult time for my wife, who is beginning to doubt if she can provide for Abigail the way a mother should.

I find myself missing them more and more each day when I go to work. I feel like I should be doing more to help the situation. The physical sacrifices that are being made make it more and more difficult to feel spiritually close to God, my wife, and my daughter.

I pray that this situation resolves itself soon.

St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!

Catholic Book Review — Triumph: The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church

Adam — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:31:00 +0000

I apologize in advance for the length of this post!

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

I have begun to work on my lengthy list of books that I have started but not finished. The first in a hopefully continual series of books that I will review is Triumph: The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church by HW Crocker III.

This book serves as a history lesson of the Catholic church in historical terms. That is, it does not necessarily delve deep into the history of Church teaching and the development of Church doctrine; but rather, it illustrates how the Church has survived from the time of its inception to the present day.

HW Crocker III does a fantastic job in my opinion of acknowledging the fact that the Church has seen some times of poor leadership and questionable decision making in its political and military sphere, but always keeps a sense that God protects His Church from doctrinial error and will always lead it through times of trouble.

This point is best illustrated by Crocker as he chronicles the Church center moving from Constantinople (now Istanbul) to Rome, then to Avignon for a brief period, then back to Rome. There have been times where the papacy was hunted and papal states attacked, but despite these worldly attacks, the Church always survives.

In reflecting on this book, I thought about the faithful citizens of the Church during such turbulent times as the Arian heresy and the rise of Protestantism. How hopeless must they have felt seeing such change and such a departure from the Truth in their neighbors. I liken it to the present day where we are feeling a similar attack from the rise of secularism, “feel good Christianity”, and an overwhelming sense of trust in material possessions. Some days, the cause of the faithful must feel pretty hopeless but we must remember that God will protect His Church and He will lead His faithful to Heaven. Yes, it is hard; but, it is not unprecedented. How interesting it must be to live another 2000 years from now, God willing, and look back at today and say, “wow, God led His people through THAT?!?!“

There were several passages that struck me and caused me to dog-ear the page.

The first is a quote from Martin Luther who literally had the revelation that sparked his protest while sitting on the privy:

“Be a sinner and sin on bravely, but have stronger faith and rejoice in Christ, who is the victor of sin, death, and the world. Do not for a moment imagine that this life is the abiding place of justice: sin must be commited. To you it ought to be sufficient that you acknowledge the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world, the sin cannont tear you away from him, even though you commit adultery a hundred times a day and commit as many murders.”

No comment.

The second quote is a comment on Pope Leo XIII’s inability to stave off the French Revolution, and holds particular relevance today when Catholic and democrat do not seem to mix:

“If the future of the Western world was democratic, he [Pope Leo XIII] wanted to set a precedent that established that Catholics could be good democrats and that such political designations should not interfere with the faith.”

Next, a quote referring to Nazi Germany’s rise to power. Again, particularly interesting given today’s attitude on pro-life work:

“Almost immediately after signing the concordat, the Nazis fell afoul of the Catholic Church by legalizing abortion and sterilization (for non-Aryans)–surgical procedures that are now known in the Western world as constitutional rights, but to the Catholic Church were a sign of barbarism of the new regime.”

How proud the pro-abort camp must feel for promoting a procedure that the Nazi’s praised.

Finally, one excerpt that I found quite interesting in that I had never really considered this position before:

“It is, however, a backhanded compliment to the papacy and the Catholic Church that no one asks why the Free Church of Scotland . . . or any other of the innumerable Protestant churches did not do more to help the Jews. In such enormous world crises [Nazism], there really is only one Christian voice and one Christian institution that matters; the rest–whatever great and heroic individual efforts are made–are so fractured, politically unimportant, or compromised as to be irrelevant.”

Come to think about it, no other “church” ever comes out and makes a united stand against the tragedy of abortion, or other social injustices. Very interesting point to consider.

In conclusion, this book was an excellent read: rich in information and very readable. One could read this book for facts and historical knowledge but I think the greater purpose of the book is to gather that the Church has survived for this long and through considerable strife, and that it is not going anywhere.

St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!

March for Life

Adam — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:34:00 +0000

The 2009 March for Life is being streamed live.

Very interesting to see the National Mall filled with pro-lifers after just a few days ago being filled with thousands of Obama supporters.

I actually got chills watching some of this coverage. God bless those in Washington today and God bless all the unborn!

St. Joseph patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!

Fall on your knees

Adam — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 01:11:00 +0000

Enjoy this transcendant version of the beautiful Christmas hymn, Oh Holy Night.

Merry Christmas everyone! God bless!

St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!

Crossposted at anewparacletes

Beautiful new pro-life ad

Adam — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:02:00 +0000

The Knights of Columbus have began running a new pro-life radio ad encouraging people to “vote pro-life”.

I don’t know how to embed the audio so if you do, please educate me! Here is the link to the official press release from the Knights’ website with the mp3

St. Joseph, patron of families, champion of purity, and model of humility, pray for us!

Cross posted at my own blog