1981: A New Beginning

All this year at my Facebook page, which you can view from the link in the sidebar here at my website by joining up yourself and 'Friend'-ing me, I am taking a daily trip back in time to the 1980's. Each month I am highlighting a different year chronologically, and this month have been featuring the music, tv, movies, and important events of 1981. You can also follow this little mini-series of articles on each year of the "1980's'" by clicking on to that 'label' below this article.

As we all know, a new decade does not actually technically begin in a year that ends in a zero, it begins with the year ending in one (1). So while 1981 might be the 2nd year of the 1980's, it's the first year of a new decade and marked a beginning in a couple of different chapters of my own life.

In late September of 1980, my little young family had moved into an apartment in South Philly. 1981 would be the first and only full calendar year that we would live there. It was an interesting year at what became simply known as 'the apartment' in our little circle of friends. We had many a Friday night party at the place in the early months of the year, but as the summer drew on things got a bit more crowded.

In another development of those early months, the news came to us that a new addition was expected in the Veasey clan. Having given birth to Chrissy the previous February, we learned that Anne was pregnant again. Given that she was due at the end of July 1981, it appeared that this was a post-World Series baby conceived in the immediate aftermath of the Phils' first-ever championship at the end of October.

So leaping forward, on July 30th, 1981, Kelly Anne Veasey came into the world. We had planned all along to actually name her 'Kerry' rather than 'Kelly'. But another young couple who lived on Anne's parents block in Prospect Park, PA, were due at the same time. They gave birth just before us, and named their new daughter 'Kerry'. That killed it, we weren't going to be seen as copy-cats. So 'Kelly' it was. A fine Irish name.

Kelly's sister Christine had been almost too good to be true as a baby. She was quiet, happy, mostly healthy, slept through the night. A dream for a young couple who already had enough on their plates. Kelly - not so much. She was sickly for much of her first year, puking up everywhere and crying incessantly. We were paying the price for the good luck the first time around.

Kelly would grow out of that illness and crying period quickly the following summer, and would go on to be a wonderful, happy, care-free joy to be around for anyone who knew her. Well, maybe except for the whole pulling-out of her sister's hair episode. She remains that lovable way to this day. But as for that first year? Well, for the sake of the love that I have for her today, I'll pass on further commentary.

I began to get a little more responsibility in my job at First Pennsylvania Bank as well. In those days my work mostly consisted still of duties as a Messenger Clerk, and I was also getting involved in bond reconciliation and cremation procedures. It wasn't much, but for a kid who was still a teenager it was good, steady work with a small but livable paycheck. Most importantly for my young family, the job came with a good health care plan.

In the spring of 1981 an old friend from my Two Street neighborhood who also was working for the bank, Bob Bergmann, got me started in a venture that would change my life. Bob remembered me as a good ballplayer as a kid, and so he recruited me for a men's softball team for which he was playing in the bank's large intra-mural program.

I joined up with the team called the Pirates managed by the head of the bank's mailroom, Rich Quick. The team had a couple of strong hitting stars in a big lefty 1st baseman named John Dunn and a fast, strong, young outfielder named Fran Mehaffey. We were expected to contend, but fell short of those expectations. The personalities on the team never seemed to mesh, but the experience did get me back into athletics on an adult level and would expose me to my future as a ballplayer.

The fall after that season was finished, I was approached by a man from another area of our Trust Department by the name of Ed Markowski. Ed had been around the bank for a long time at that point, and was the head of a team known as 'Pennamco' which was usually a .500 team in the bank league and which had a large number of older players.

Their team was trying to get younger, and Ed recruited me, as well as a number of other younger guys, to play for them the following season. I hadn't been real happy with the Pirates experience, but loved playing again, and so I joined Ed's team. We would eventually go on to become the Brewers softball team, and the rest is a history that you will read in future months.

Out in the real world at large, 1981 saw the changeover from the national malaise of the Jimmy Carter years to the new hope of the Ronald Reagan presidency. As I have said before, I was a card-carrying fully indoctrinated liberal Democrat at the time who thought that Carter was a brilliant man and that Reagan was a dunce. I couldn't understand how the country had voted him in to office. How time would prove me wrong.

Reagan was sworn-in to office on January 20th as the 40th President of the United States. Just minutes later, Iranian officials released the 52 American hostages which they had been holding captive in that country for more than a year since a militant Islamic regime had taken power, ending what had become known as the 'Iran Hostage Crisis'.

A week later the entire Philadelphia region was abuzz as for the very first time our own Philadelphia Eagles had advanced to play in the Super Bowl. On January 11th, the Birds had sent the rival Dallas Cowboys packing with a thrilling 20-7 victory in the NFC Championship game. Under their brilliant young, driven head coach Dick Vermiel, the Eagles were led by quarterback Ron Jaworski, running back Wilbert Montgomery, veteran wide receiver Harold Carmichael, and a tenacious defense led by linebacker Bill Bergey.

The Eagles went into the Super Bowl as the favorites against the AFC's Oakland Raiders. I remember the exciting buildup to the game both in the local media and among my own young circle of friends. We planned a big Super Bowl party that Sunday to match the bash we had enjoyed just months earlier when the Phillies won the World Series. A keg of beer was on ice in my kitchen, food was brought by all of the group, and the party was just getting ready to start.

It all came crashing down really, really fast, for both myself and the Eagles. A short time before the game was to begin, I got a phone call from my step-grandmother Kay. She was telling me that my grandfather Ray, the man who I grew up knowing simply as 'Pop' and who lived just a half block from my apartment, was having some physical problems.

I quickly left the apartment and the party and went to Pop's house, and found him there mostly unresponsive. At Kay's direction and with her help, we loaded him in to Pop's car and I drove to the hospital. It was here in a hospital E/R where my grandfather was being diagnosed with and eventually treated for what turned out to be a stroke that I watched the Super Bowl.

By the time that we got Pop checked-in and I had a chance to check a TV for an Eagles update, the rout was on. The Raiders had scored two early touchdowns on passes from veteran quarterback Jim Plunkett who would go on to be named the MVP as the Raiders became the first NFL Wildcard team to win a Super Bowl in what ended up as a 27-10 Oakland romp.

Pop ended up recovering from that stroke and he lived for more than another decade. He was a great guy who was very close to my family while I was growing up, never living more than a block away from my mom. She was sick at the time, and he took on a lot of her care in the 1970's and into those early 1980's before I took over that role. It's after him that I wanted to be called 'Pop' by my own grandkids when Elysia was born in 2002, and so I am.

Despite the Eagles upset in the Super Bowl, this was a time of unparalleled cumulative success for Philadelphia pro sports teams. Within the same calendar year of 1980-81, the Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and 76ers all appeared in their respective title games or series. The Phillies would win that 1980 World Series, the Flyers won Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. The Eagles won that 1981 NFL Championship game, and the Sixers would go on to win the 1983 NBA Finals. It was the only way that I really knew. I thought we were supposed to always win like that. I would learn differently soon enough.

On March 6th of 1981, iconic CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite signed off the air following his final news broadcast. In those pre-cable days, network news anchors were considered the kings of the news media, and none was bigger or more popular at that time than Cronkite. He had been guiding the country through difficult news times for decades, including the Kennedy assasination. He signed off just before nearly having to repeat that terrible broadcast.

On March 20th, President Ronald Reagan stepped out of the Washington Hilton Hotel where he had delivered a morning speech and moved towards the open door of his waiting limo. With a full phalanx of Secret Service officers around, a lone gunman suddenly rushed forward and shot Reagan at point-blank range. Though he was seriously injured, his lung collapsed, and he nearly died, Reagan recovered relatively quickly.

Press Secretary James Brady was not so lucky. Also shot during the hail of bullets, Brady had been struck in the head. He became permanently disabled, and the shooting would lead to the various measures and efforts to restrict handgun access and violence. The would-be assassin, John Hinckley Jr, had been obsessed with actress Jodie Foster, and claimed that the shooting was in part inspired by her role in the film 'Taxi Driver' and to gain her attention.

On April 12th, the United States moved into a new era in space exploration with the launch of the first-ever Space Shuttle. The shuttle 'Columbia' lifted off on the 20th anniversary of the first human space flight, moving America back into space after almost a decade away.

On May 13th, the danger for world leaders reared it's ugly head once again as a Muslim assassin shot the wildly popular Pope John Paul II at close range in St. Peter's Square. The Pope would go on to recover from his injuries as Reagan had, and eventually would both meet with and forgive his would-be Turkish assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca.

On June 5th in Los Angeles, five homosexual men were reported by the Centers for Disease and Control as having a rare pneumonia-like illness that had seriously compromised their immune systems. The men became the first officially recognized cases and victims of AIDS.

A week later, on June 12th, Major League Baseball players began a strike that would cancel almost 40% of the regular season schedule and eventually result in the first and only split-season format in MLB history. Nine days later, Wayne Williams was arrested in Atlanta. He would be eventually charged in the murder of 30 people in what was known as the 'Atlanta child murders'.

The eventful year continued when on July 7th, President Reagan nominated the first-ever woman for service on the Supreme Court of the United States. Sandra Day O'Connor would eventually be confirmed and serve on the highest court in the land for a quarter century. On July 27th, a young boy, Adam Walsh, was kidnapped from a Sears store in Florida. His murder would spur his father to eventually form the 'America's Most Wanted' program.

Two days after Walsh's disappearance, most of the world was focused on the massive, ornate celebration of the wedding to end all weddings. On July 29th in England, Lady Diana Spencer married Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince Charles, in front of a worldwide television audience.

1981 has already given us enough of note? Not so fast. On August 1st, the now-legendary and iconic vision of the astronaut planting a flag on the moon appeared across cable services for the very first time to herald the launch of MTV, the Music Television Network. Two days later, the nation's air traffic controllers would go on strike. Two days after that, President Reagan fired all 11,359 of them in the greatest labor-busting move in U.S. history.

The 2nd half of the year seemed to slow things down from the explosiveness of the first half, but it did serve to supply one major end-of-an-era moment. On December 11th, boxing legend Muhammad Ali stepped in to the ring and fought against Jamaican-Canadian heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick. Berbick had lost a hard-fought 15-round decision to champion Larry Holmes months earlier, and on this night he dispatched the great Ali in what would prove to be the final fight in the career of the man simply known as 'The Greatest'.

1981 was a year of fighting on many fronts. Fighting through barriers, fighting through disaster, fighting through change on numerous fronts. The 1980's were now fully underway with Reagan in the White House, Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, the Cold War coming to a head, radical Islam beginning it's march, the Space Shuttle program launched, and both MTV and CNN changing how we view it all.

BORN 1981: Kelly Veasey, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Serena Williams, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce Knowles, Natalie Portman, Jessica Alba, Josh Groban, Eli Manning, Jennifer Hudson, Howie Day, Elijah Wood, Julia Stiles, Hayden Christensen, Justin Morneau, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Anna Kournikova, Jake Peavy, Adriana Lima, Roger Federer, Carl Crawford, Tila Tequila, Ivanka Trump, Barbara & Jenna Bush, Natasha Bedingfield, Amy Lee

DIED 1981: Bill Haley, Natalie Wood, Richard Boone, Joe Louis, Bobby Sands, Bob Marley, George Jessel, Harry Chapin, Adam Walsh, Paddy Chayefsky, Lowell Thomas, Anwar Sadat, Moshe Dayan, Edith Head, William Holden, Jack Albertson, Hoagy Carmichael

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

A good household will inevitably include within it an area for a good library, a book shelf, table books, or some combination of these. And in every single one of those homes the one indispensable 'must-have' book is a good, readable copy of the Bible, the very Word of God.

In every Catholic household, and in fact in any home that wishes to explore an even deeper study and understanding of the Bible and the teachings of the Church, there is one more book that is also important to own. That book is the official "Catechism of the Catholic Church", which has now been available for more than a decade.

On September 8th, 1997, Pope John Paul II promulgated changes to the 2nd Official English Edition of the book in order that it might conform to changes made to the Latin version on that same date. In the end, what currently stands is intended to be a 'universal catechism', one to be used as a resource or reference point for all other such efforts within the Christian Church at large.

The modern Catholic Catechism is in John Paul II's own words "a full, complete exposition of Catholic doctrine, enabling everyone to know what the Church professes, celebrates, lives, and prays in her daily life."

In 1985, the Catholic Bishops recommended that the effort should be made, particularly with the many changes to Church practices in the decades since Vatican II, to explain more fully, clearly, and substantively the Church official teachings on the many and varied topics for which it is responsible.

The following year, John Paul II appointed an official 'Commission of Cardinals and Bishops' to study the matter and develop a compendium of Catholic doctrine. This commission was to be led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Their results were packaged and sent out around the world in 1989 to all Bishops of the Church for their amendments and suggestions.

Over 24,000 such amendments were received, and all were studied closely and considered carefully resulting in numerous alterations to the volume originally circulated. By 1991 the commission was ready to present their official version to the Pope for his evaluation and approval. On June 25th, 1992, John Paul II gave his approval, and on December 8th made it official with an apostolic constitution.

The new Catechism was then first formally published in French in 1994, and subsequently translated into many languages. On August 15th, 1997, the Pope formally proclaimed the Latin version as definitive. This version contained a few changes from that first French-issued version, and thus an official 'Second Edition' was released in other languages that year, including the current English version.

Let's cover what the Catechism is not. It is not at all like the Bible. It is not meant to be a history of existence or of the world. It can not be read cover-to-cover almost like a story. It in fact does not contain the Bible, nor any of it's stories and teachings directly in God's own words. It is not 'readable' for many youngsters, and would not be necessarily interesting for those looking to 'read' a book.

What the Catechism is intended to be is a resource, the definitive resource of the teaching of the Church relating to all matters of faith. It is particularly aimed at the Bishop's, the Church's most influential teachers of the faith, but it is also made available to the body of the Church faithful as a tool for appropriately guided individual education.

There is no way in the space of a short article to explain or describe every area that the Catechism covers. Suffice it to say that the Catechism refers to Holy Scripture, as well as the teachings and positions of the Church Fathers and Ecumenical Councils, themselves inspired by the Holy Spirit, to explore and explain all positions and beliefs of the Universal Church.

Among the important topics covered in the Catechism are 'The Profession of Faith', also known as the 'Apostles Creed', which has been in existence and utilized as a basic profession of faith in Jesus Christ since the early centuries of Church development after his death.

The 'Celebration of the Christian Mystery' is also covered here. This includes public worship in the Catholic Mass, as well as God's active participation through Grace in the sacraments of Confirmation, Baptism/Christening, Holy Eucharist/Communion, Penance/Confession, the Anointing of the Sick/Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony/Marriage.

Christian Prayer is an important topic that is covered, which includes an exploration of the Lord's Prayer, also known to many as the 'Our Father' prayer. First offered by Jesus Himself at his Sermon on the Mount, it is by far the most well-known and widely used Christian prayer in history. I personally learned to say this prayer in Latin as an act of faith and a New Year's resolution a few years ago during a time of personal struggle, and do so now every night before going to sleep.

The Catechism also covers life in Christ, particularly by exploring the Ten Commandments. These most vital religious and moral rules were validated by Christ, and are accepted by well over half the population of the entire planet. Handed down by God Himself to Moses and subsequently to all of God's people, these are God's own basic precepts for mankind.

There is much falsehood and uninformed or ignorant commentary out in the world today regarding the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church. If you are genuinely interested in learning the truth regarding Catholic doctrine, or are already a believer and simply wish a reference material with which to more deeply explore the Church teachings, the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" (Second Edition) is a must.

NOTE: this is a contuation of the 'Sunday Sermon' series presented here on many Sunday mornings. All articles in the series can be viewed by clicking on to that 'label' below the original article at www.mattveasey.com

The 1980's

My life has pretty much been able to be compartmentalized into and defined by each of the decades in which I have lived. The 1960's were my childhood at home on American Street in South Philly being raised by my parents. The 1970's were defined by my own adolescence and high school days, as well as my mom's illness and my parents divorce. The 1990's were my early policing days, and highlighted by meeting and getting married to my wife. This past decade by our life in Somerton, my becoming a grandparent, becoming a police supervisor, and attending and graduating college.

The decade of the 1980's were my 20's, highlighted by my becoming a young parent, my first marriage, my days in the banking industry, and my joining a softball team that would lead me to the best friends of my adult life. The decade began with a life-changing event, the birth of my first daughter on February 2nd, 1980 and ended with another when I took the written exam to become a Philadelphia police officer in December of 1989.

Those who know me or have followed this website over the years know that those 1980's were not just another world for me as far as my family life and my career, but they also found me a completely different person politically and culturally than I am now. As I've stated here before, I spent the 80's and early 90's as a political liberal Democrat who voted for Ted Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, and yes, even Michael Dukakis during the decade's various presidential races.

The world was pretty much dominated during that decade by the presidency of Ronald Reagan, a period of renewed optimism and patriotism and pride that I would not fully recognize and celebrate as positive myself until the next decade. Reagan, certainly the greatest of the 20th century President's, led America to victory in the Cold War after decades of living under the threat of nuclear war. He also teamed with world leaders such as Pope John Paul II and Lech Walesa of Poland to bring about the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall.

Ronald Reagan was just a couple of weeks shy of his 70th birthday when he was sworn in as the 40th President of the United States on January 20th, 1981. His policies became known collectively as the 'Reagan Revolution' highlighted by his vision of political and social conservatism and a belief in capitalism and free markets taking hold not only in the United States, but in Europe and other areas of the world as well.

Just two months into his first term, Reagan was shot and critically wounded outside of a Washington, D.C. hotel where he had just given a speech. The assassins bullet narrowly missed his heart, but did strike his lung causing it to collapse. Breathing problems as a result of the lung collapse combined with rapid blood loss to put Reagan's life in serious jeopardy, but he valiantly recovered to become the first U.S. President to survive being shot in an assassination attempt.

Reagan's economic policies known as 'Reagonomics' limited government involvement in business and society drastically and led to a major economic recovery during the decade. His political attacks on the Soviet Union were dramatic. He increased America's own military budgets, pushed for creation of a 'Star Wars'-like missile shield, called the Soviets an 'Evil Empire', and supported efforts to overthrow socialist dictators in South America.

In 1984, Reagan was re-elected in a landslide under the banner that said his first term had led to a 'Morning in America' with the image of the sun rising on America specifically and freedom in general. By the time he left office in January of 1989, Ronald Reagan still had a 64% approval rating. His policies and vision have left a lasting impression on a new generation of Americans fighting to maintain America's place in the world as a free, capitalist, God-fearing nation.

Reagan was far from the only major political and social figure of the decade to have a lasting influence. In October of 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland was elected to the papacy and became known as Pope John Paul II. The Pope, the first non-Italian to hold the post in more than 450 years, became the most well-traveled and possibly the most beloved pontiff of all-time.

Like Reagan, Pope John Paul II survived an assassination attempt that left him in critical condition. On May 13th, 1981, just a month after Reagan had left the hospital, the Pope was entering Saint Peter's Square outside the Vatican, an Islamic gunman pumped numerous shots into his abdomen. The Pope lost 3/4 of his blood, but was saved by surgeons aided by divine intervention. Two years later the Pope visited his would-be assassin in prison and forgave him.

During his lifetime, John Paul II traveled to more than 129 countries, including a visit to my hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania here in the United States in October of 1979. The Pope's visit to his homeland of Poland that summer sparked the 1980 'Solidarity' labor union and social movement led by Lech Walesa. This movement and the support for it by both Ronald Reagan and John Paul II would be pivotal in bringing down the Soviet Union.

Lech Walesa was a shipyard worker in Poland and in his 20's during the 1970's had become an outspoken labor leader in a Communist country that did not recognize and in fact forcibly suppressed entities such as trade unions. Walesa became the leader of striking workers at the Gdansk shipyards in 1980, a labor movement that eventually led to similar work stoppages all across Poland.

In the aftermath of these labor events, trade unions were formally recognized for the first time ever by a Communist state, but Walesa was arrested for his role and served almost a year in jail. In 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership of the movement which he continued throughout the decade. Ultimately, Lech Walesa was elected as the President of a Poland that freed itself from the Soviet and Communist sphere of influence thanks largely to his work with Solidarity.

Margaret Thatcher became the Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1979, and would prove to be a pivotal ally and friend to the United States in general and Ronald Reagan in particular during the 1980's. The woman known as 'Maggie' also survived an assassination attempt, this one when the IRA exploded a bomb at the Brighton hotel where she was staying with the British cabinet in October of 1984. She would go on to provide vital support to the U.S. in Reagan's battles to bring down the Soviet Union.

Reagan, Thatcher, Walesa, and Pope John Paul II were the world leaders who provided the most influence during the decade. The defeat of the Soviets in the Cold War highlighted by the fall of the Berlin Wall was certainly the most important event of the decade. But the 1980's will forever be remembered for much more than its incredible political developments.

Some of the key events that happened during the decade include the murder of John Lennon and the volcanic eruption at Mount St. Helen's in 1980, the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, and the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut in 1983 that signalled the beginnings of the Islamofascist War against America.

Also during the decade the Live Aid concerts were held in 1985, the space shuttle Challenger exploded and the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in Russia occurred in 1986, 1987's 'Black Monday' saw near panic on Wall Street with a collapse of the stock market, and in 1989 the Exxon Valdez spilled millions of gallons of oil on to the Alaska shoreline while Chinese students were murdered in demonstrations at Tiananmen Square.

The 1980's brought us the explosion of cable television along with entities such as MTV, ESPN, and CNN. The 'Rubik's Cube', 'Pac Man', and 'Cabbage Patch Kids' helped keep Americans entertained in the early years of the decade. AIDS was first diagnosed and became both a plague to the gay community and a warning scare for adulterers everywhere. IBM introduced the 'PC' or personal computer to the market, and the beginning asphalt was being laid on the information superhighway that would eventually be known to us all as the internet.

In the 1980's we discovered the wreck of the ship Titanic, watched as Sally Ride became the first woman in space and Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, and saw a new technology known as 'DNA' introduced in the courtroom. Our hearts were touched when 'E.T.' went home, and we marveled as a young Michael Jackson moonwalked across the stage.

During the 1980's, I worked at First Pennsylvania Bank for the first seven years and then at Fidelity Bank for the last three. I lived in South Philly with my first wife, and saw the birth of and began to raise two beautiful, wonderful daughters. I marched in the Mummer's Parade at the beginning of the decade with the Clevemore Fancy Brigade, and then towards the end with the Downtowners Fancy Brigade. And I played softball and won championships in both 1985 and 1989 with the Brewers softball team.

The 1980's were an unforgettable decade of challenge and struggle for me and my family personally and for the world in general. They were also a time of incredible growth, of learning valuable life lessons, of experiencing intense emotions and events. All during the rest of this year, I will be celebrating the decade of the 1980's with it's music, movies, television, and news stories both here at my website and at my Facebook page.

Oh Christmas Tree

For many people the world over there will be a new addition to their homes in the coming days and weeks, if that addition has not already arrived. As homes are decorated for the season a large number of families will haul an evergreen tree inside, continuing the tradition of the Christmas tree. But what is the origin and meaning of this grand holiday tradition?

There are many people who will try to tell you that the tree goes all the way back to early pagan cultures, or to the ancient Druids, or to the Roman seasonal celebration known as Saturnalia. But in actuality the Christmas tree dates back to the early years of the 8th century and the life mission of a man born as Winfred in the year 672, but who has become known in history as Saint Boniface.

Winfred was born into a wealthy family, and had to overcome the protestations of his family when he received a calling and entered the Benedictine monastery in late 7th century England. In 802, he became an ordained priest and took the name Boniface, becoming a teacher. Years later, and after previous attempts, he undertook a mission to convert the people of Frisia, an early Germanic tribe that lived along the North Sea.

The Frisians had an ancient symbol known as Thor's Oak which was dedicated to a pagan god. The location of this tree was the main point of veneration for the early Germanic people. In the year 723, Boniface approached this tree and stated his intention to chop it down, an attempt which the tribes believed would cause his death at Thor's hands.

Boniface began to chop at the tree, calling on Thor to strike him down if the tree actually held any power or symbolism. As Boniface chopped a great wind came along and helped topple the massive tree. When the tree fell and no harm came to Boniface, the Germanic people began to believe him and thus began their conversion to Christianity.

There was a fir tree growing in the roots of the former oak, and legend has it that Boniface claimed this as a new symbol saying "This humble tree's wood is used to build your homes: let Christ be at the centre of your households. Its leaves remain evergreen in the darkest days: let Christ be your constant light. Its boughs reach out to embrace and its top points to heaven: let Christ be your Comfort and Guide."

Subsequently the earliest actual references to a specific seasonal tree trace their roots to the Germanic people. Church records from the year 1539 at the Cathedral of Strasbourg mention the erection of a Christmas tree. Also during this time many guilds, or union houses, maintained a custom of preparing Christmas trees in front of their guild houses by decorating them with apples, dates, nuts, and paper flowers.

After hundreds of years as a custom in the Germanic towns, the Christmas tree slowly began to spread as a tradition into the more rural areas, ultimately moving into the aristocracy and spreading east into Russia, Austria, and into France by the mid-19th century. The British royal family also began to help celebrate the holiday season with a Christmas tree during this 19th century period.

During the 1850's, a popular ladies journal in America known as 'Godeys Ladies Book' published a picture of a family gathered around a Christmas tree with presents laid underneath. By the end of the decade the picture and its popularity had caused the tradition to begin and spread in the United States. By the 1870's, putting up a Christmas tree had become the norm here in America.

In its original tradition, the Christmas tree was brought into the home and setup with decorations on Christmas Eve, not to be taken down until after the traditional '12th day' on January 6th, which was the eve of the Epiphany, the day celebrating the 'Magi' or 'Three Wise Men' adoring the Christ child. It was the commercialization of the Christmas season that resulted ultimately in trees being erected at earlier points.

In celebrating the final Christmas of his life in 2004, Pope John Paul II spoke of the true meaning and purpose of the Christmas tree calling it "an ancient custom that exalts the value of life." He pointed out that the evergreen remains unchanged throughout the harshness of winter, and further stated that it represents "the tree of life, a figure of Christ, God's greatest gift to all men."

In past years it had become a tradition in our own family that my family would get together with my brother Mike's family and a few others. We would travel to the area around New Hope, Pennsylvania to a tree farm where we would select and cut down the tree for our respective families. We would then stop for a nice lunch or dinner on the ride home. We abandoned this long ride and tradition when our kids got older, but it remains a nice shared Christmas memory for our family.

My wife and I took part in this now wide-spread tradition in the way that has become customary in our home when we took a drive out yesterday and went to find our home Christmas tree. After making our selection with one of the many tree sales locations that spring up this time of year, we brought our tree home. We will put it up in it's stand today in our living room, let it 'settle' for a day, and then begin to decorate it tomorrow night.

As we decorate we will play Christmas music, enveloping our living room in the Christmas season. And as we do so we will look on the beauty of its lights and decorations and ornaments and we will be reminded of the light and joy that was brought into our world with the birth of Jesus Christ two thousand years ago. As you put up and admire your own Christmas tree this season, remember to consider that light of Christ, the true meaning of the tree and of Christmas itself.

Debunking 'Angels & Demons' Premise

A bomb. A secret sect of anti-Catholic scientists. A church straddling ancient traditions and the modern world.

Although the plot of “Angels & Demons” is a hunt for centuries-old clues that could lead to a hidden explosive set to blow apart Vatican City, a recurring theme in the movie revolves around the relationship between faith and science.

According to the movie, scheduled to open in theaters May 15, the two have been at odds since the springtime of science and today they continue to see themselves in antagonistic and sometimes irreconcilable terms.

But this perception is far from reality, according to Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, an astronomer at the Vatican Observatory in Arizona and Castel Gandolfo, the papal villa outside Rome.

“Quite simply, the church has always supported science,” Brother Consolmagno told The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Modern science was born in European Catholic universities and some of history’s best scientists were clergymen, he noted.

That’s why the books of Dan Brown – the author of “Angels & Demons” and “The Da Vinci Code” – are in the bookstore’s fiction section, where they belong, he said.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia whose column appears occasionally in The Catholic Review, said misunderstandings about the compatibility of faith and science arise because of the different “languages” they use.

In actuality, science and religion have distinct yet compatible domains, he added.

Brother Consolmagno said the myth of the “war” between science and religion grew out of the Enlightenment at the end of the 19th century. In order to attract students to the emerging German secular universities, Enlightenment supporters portrayed the church as anti-science and against progress, he said.

“It really doesn’t go back to Galileo; it goes back to the politics of what was happening in Europe and America 100 years ago,” he said.

The case of 17th-century astronomer Galileo Galilei is the often-used example of a collision between the church and science. Galileo was condemned by the church’s Holy Office for suspected heresy in 1633 for maintaining that the earth revolved around the sun but he was “rehabilitated” in 1992 by a special Vatican commission established by Pope John Paul II.

The Galileo controversy has taught the church to be careful when speaking on matters of science, Father Pacholczyk said. For example, on the topic of evolution, the church continues to engage in an ongoing discussion about the proper understanding of evolutionary science.

A person seeking to understand humankind’s place in the universe should seek to understand both faith and science, the priest said.

As Brother Consolmagno put it: “My religion tells me God created the universe. My science tells me how he did it.”

Although the church is not against science, he said it acts as a check on science’s rapidly advancing abilities. In the early 20th century, for example, the Catholic Church called for a stop to eugenics, which aims to improve the human species by selective breeding.

“Eugenics is bad science,” Brother Consolmagno added. “Even if it is good science, it still would have been wrong. That’s an example, I think, where people who treat science without religion can fall into grave error.”

Today, the church rejects technologies that devalue the dignity of the human person, such as cloning, embryonic stem-cell research and the production of weapons of mass terror.

WRITTEN by Maria Wiering as "Catholic Scientists Debunk Movies Depiction of Science, Faith Clash" at The Catholic Review online May 15th, 2009

Behind the Angst at Notre Dame

It might be hard for alumni, sports fans and fundraisers to admit but, at the end of the day, not every educational institution matters. Few are unique; most are redundant and easy to replace.The University of Notre Dame, though, is different.

This is not merely because of past (and, we can hope, future) football success, a catchy fight song and savvy merchandising. Notre Dame matters because it aspires to be something different and interesting: a great research university that is excellent precisely because it is meaningfully and distinctively Catholic.

This project is not about nostalgia, heritage, school spirit or "branding." Instead, Notre Dame's aim is to achieve genuine excellence, and thereby to engage and improve the world through — not despite — its Catholic character. This character is to be pervasive, animating and enriching, not merely a decoration or garnish, a little "something extra" sprinkled on top of an otherwise standard-issue enterprise.

Notre Dame's project is challenging and vulnerable, but it's also exciting and important — and not just to Catholics. We all have a stake in its success. Conversations are made deeper and richer, and the diligent search for truth is helped by the presence of diverse, distinctive — sometimes dissenting — voices. Institutions, like individuals, provide these voices.

Peter Parker's Uncle Ben was right to say, "With great power comes great responsibility." Similarly, institutions that matter carry a burden. This is why Notre Dame's decision to honor President Obama with an honorary law degree is so controversial. Most graduation speeches, of course, are entirely forgettable hodgepodges of Dr. Seuss, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Starbucks-cup quotations.

This year, however, Notre Dame's commencement speaker on Sunday could hardly be more prominent or memorable. And yet, the choice has divided sharply not only the Irish Nation but Catholics generally and has prompted many of us who love Notre Dame and embrace its mission to ask: Is Notre Dame's decision consistent with the character and commitments that make it distinctive? That make it worth caring about? That make it matter?

To understand what the controversy surrounding Obama's invitation is about, it is important to understand what it is not about.

Most important, the issue is not, as some commentators have suggested, whether Notre Dame should welcome, engage, debate and explore a wide range of viewpoints. Of course it should. It was, after all, a central message of the Catholic Church's Second Vatican Council that "nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo" in Christians' hearts, and the same can be said for the work of a Catholic university. Such a university has nothing to fear from — indeed, it has the best possible reasons to welcome — inquiry, investigation, argument and testing. And so, no one could reasonably oppose inviting the president to Notre Dame for discussion and dialogue on immigration, education, health care — or even abortion.

The question on the table is not whether Notre Dame should hear from the president but whether Notre Dame should honor the president. A Catholic university can and should engage all comers, but in order to be true to itself — to have integrity — it should hesitate before honoring those who use their talents or power to bring about grave injustice. The university is, and must remain, a bustling marketplace of ideas; at the same time, it also has a voice of its own. We say a lot about who we are and what we stand for through what we love and what we choose to honor.

The controversy at Notre Dame is not about what should be said at Catholic universities, but about what should be said by a Catholic university.

It is also a mistake to frame the controversy in terms of academic freedom. Obviously, this freedom, properly understood, is central to the mission of any great university.

Even so, no one is proposing limits on what can or should be discussed, debated, taught, studied or written by students or scholars. The American Association of University Professors is right to insist that "the opportunity to be confronted with diverse opinions is at the core of academic freedom," but wrong to imagine that this principle requires a university to be indifferent to the messages it sends through the honors it confers.

No university is entirely neutral; every university makes decisions about what to affirm, through its policies, as good or true. One can (and should) affirm the right (and duty) of scholars at Catholic universities to be true to their scholarly vocations while still asking whether Notre Dame is being true to itself.

Next, some have suggested that it threatens the separation of church and state for Catholic bishops to express regret and criticism regarding Notre Dame's decision. This suggestion is badly misplaced. A Catholic bishop who calls on a Catholic university to be true to its Catholic character is exercising, not undermining, religious liberty.

Finally, the reason some say that an authentically Catholic university — even one that appreciates fully President Obama's appeal and the historical significance of his election — should not honor him with a ceremonial law degree is not because he rejects "Catholic" views on abortion. The worry, instead, is that Notre Dame will send the wrong message and say something that is inconsistent with its Catholic character and with its commitment to human rights by honoring — at this time, anyway — a president whose record so far on abortion and embryo-destructive research is glaringly in conflict with that commitment.

The Catholic view on these matters, after all, is that there is no specifically or narrowly "Catholic" view. The church affirms that human life is sacred, and that every human being, at every stage of development, should be welcomed in life and protected in law. This affirmation rests on the same foundational principles of human dignity and equality that animate the Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, principles that were celebrated not only by Pope John Paul II but also by Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln.

The president's error is not failing to submit to "Catholic" authority — why should he? — but aggressively and consistently promoting policies that are unjust because they deny the basic equality of every human being.

To doubt that a Catholic university should honor Obama at this time, and to worry about the message such an honor sends, is not to engage in partisan or "single issue" politics or to deny that there are many things to be celebrated and admired about our new president's life, campaign, election and vision. Indeed, these things make it all the more regrettable — tragic, really — that he is so badly misguided on such a fundamental issue of justice.

WRITTEN by Richard W. Garnett for USA Today and published on May 11th, 2009

Praying the Rosary

The medical and scientific communities have recently proclaimed what Catholics have known for centuries — reciting the Rosary is good for you.

However, the medical experts missed the raison d'être for the origin of the Rosary when they hypothesized it was developed by man to give those praying a sense of well-being as a result of their slowed cardiovascular rhythms.

Not quite, O men of modern science; but, nice try.

In truth, Heaven was the originator of the Rosary. The Blessed Virgin, in the 13th century, gave the Rosary to St. Dominic. Because belief of this Sacred Tradition requires faith, it is much easier to reason that man, for health reasons, devised the Rosary.

The above modern hypothesis is not entirely in the wrong, for there are a great number of benefits (graces) received by reciting the Rosary, both of the body and of the soul.

Praying the Rosary does bring us peace when prayed well and it consequently does slow down the cardiovascular rhythms of our body. More importantly, it gives us a more perfect knowledge of Christ. How does it do this?

The Rosary is 'a Christocentric prayer. It has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety.

The Rosary is the perfect compliment to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It sustains and echoes our sacramental life. The Rosary is a 'path to contemplation' — a path that Pope John Paul II said he follows daily, realizing each day's work within the mysteries of the Rosary.

Moreover, the Rosary purifies our souls, gives us victory over our enemies, allows us to practice virtue, sends us graces and merits, and allows us to help pay our debts against our temporal punishment.

The Rosary is also a prayer for peace in our families and in our world. What better time than in this era to pray the family Rosary, as Fr. Patrick Peyton instructed. He said, "The family that prays together, stays together."

Pope Leo XIII, often called "the Pope of the Rosary," strived to maintain the tradition of this prayer, which he asserted was a strong spiritual weapon against evil.

In addition, Sacred Tradition tells that The Fifteen Promises of the Virgin Mary (to those who recite the Rosary) was revealed in a message to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan 1208 A.D.

Our world owes a great debt of gratitude, perhaps more than our human minds can understand, to the holy St. Dominic. It is impossible to talk about the Rosary without significant mention of St. Dominic. Sacred Tradition and thirteen recent Popes tell us that Mary first revealed the Rosary devotion to St. Dominic.

Having received a vision of the Blessed Mother, Dominic began to spread the prayer of the Rosary in his missionary work among the Albigensians, a neo-Manichaean group of fanatical heretics. Albigenses believed that everything material was evil and everything spiritual was good. St. Dominic used the Rosary to convert the heretical Albigensians.

The Rosary was most strongly supported by the tradition of the Dominican Order. Pope Leo XIII affirmed over and over the Dominican origin of the Rosary and in a letter to the Bishop of Carcassone (1889), he accepts the tradition of Prouille, France, as the place where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to St. Dominic, revealing the devotion to the Rosary.

Pope Alexander VI in 1495, addressed St. Dominic as "the renowned preacher long ago of the Confraternity of the Rosary, and through his merits, the whole world was preserved from universal ruin."

During an interview that Pope John Paul II gave in Germany during 1980 he held up his Rosary and said:

"This is the remedy that should be used in the struggle against evil. Pray the Rosary daily."

Mindful of the action of Pope Pius V in the Battle of Lepanto, Pope John Paul II, said in his Angelus address of October 1983:

"It is not a question now of asking for great victories, as at Lepanto and Vienna, rather it is a question of asking Mary to provide us with valorous fighters against the spirit of error and evil, with the arms of the Gospel, that is, the Cross and God's Word. The Rosary prayer is man's prayer for man."

On 16 October, 2002 the Pope John Paul II began the twenty-fifth year of his service as Successor of Peter. He chose to celebrate his anniversary — the fifth longest Pontificate in history — by writing an Apostolic Letter: Rosarium Virginis Mariae, The Rosary of the Virgin Mary.

In one of the most beautiful of his documents Pope John Paul announces the Year of the Rosary — October 2002 — October 2003. He urges us to rediscover the Rosary: to 'contemplate with Mary the face of Christ.'

Those who pray the Rosary regularly would do well to be enrolled in the Dominican Archconfraternity's Spiritual Rosary Confraternity.

As Pope Leo XIII said in his encyclical on the Confraternity, "whenever a person fulfills his obligation of reciting the Rosary according to the rule of the Confraternity, he includes in his intentions all its members, and they in turn render him the same service many times over."

A plenary indulgence is granted if the Rosary is recited in a church, or public oratory or in a family group, a religious community or pious association; a partial indulgence is granted in other circumstances."

Carry your Rosary upon your person whenever possible. The popular devotion is the most powerful prayer outside of the Holy Mass. Do not miss one day without it.

WRITTEN by Barbara Kralis and published by RenewAmerica.us on September 18th, 2004 and viewable by clicking on the title of this post.