Strong Fathers

Strong Fathers

I just HAD to share this lovely, loving tribute to fathers.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Join me and a growing group of Catholic bloggers at Sunday Snippets.  Thanks to RAnn for hosting!  I've discovered some wonderful blogs here.

Semper Gaudete!: Thank God for Family!

Semper Gaudete!: Priests For Life Hit By Hurricane Sandy

Semper Gaudete!: How Winky Spent His Time

Semper Gaudete!: kcolC ehT

Semper Gaudete!: Books Read In The Past Week

kcolC ehT

What does "kcolc eht" mean?

It's just a reminder that we tonight we turn the clock back.

Books Read In The Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

"Rhoda Thornton's Girlhood" #

by Mary Elizabeth Pratt 

[children's fiction, some Christian (Protestant) themes] {This is the book

I grabbed and put into the shopping bag when we were getting ready to leave on Sunday afternoon, and as it happens, I hadn't read it before.}

"Portrait of a Lady"#

by Henry James

[fiction]

{Only partially read.  Kathryn lent it to me after I finished Rhoda Thornton's Girlhood.  I hadn't finished this when we were ready to leave, so she gave it to me as a gift. However, when Mom, Winky and I returned home,  I decided that I wanted, needed, to read a book I already knew and loved. 

I do, however, plan to read, this book some time in the future.}

I am currently reading (make that re-reading, and you can add quite a few re's!):

"Papa's Wife"

by Thyra Ferre Bjorn

[fiction, Christian (Protestant) themes.]

How Winky Spent His Time

This  post is about Winky, and how he spent the time we were away because of Sandy.

Paul, Kathryn's husband, is extremely allergic to cats, so Winky had to stay in the garage.   And yet, in spite of his allergies, Paul sometimes went into the garage to feed the cat!

Mom visited Winky every day, but we agreed that it would be best if I didn't go into the garage until we were ready to go home. 

Meanwhile, what did Winky do while he was in the garage?   He ran around, he climbed, he explored, he had a terrific time.

Winky was on vacation!

Priests For Life Hit By Hurricane Sandy

  I received the following e-mail from Fr. Frank Pavone.   I ask everyone who can make a donation to do so. I did.  But what I am doing most of all, what we ALL need to do most of all, is pray.

Dear Rochelle,

We need your help. Right now.

You’ve no doubt seen the path of devastation that Hurricane Sandy left in its wake.  Homes destroyed.  Buildings demolished.  Hospitals without electricity.  Generators failing.  No heat.  No hot water.  No gasoline.  No food.

As you pray this Feast of All Saints, please remember the victims of this terrible storm.

Sadly, Priests for Life has not been spared. As you know, our headquarters is located in Staten Island, New York - right at the center of the storm! We lost all power Monday.  Our computers are down.  No phone service.  No fax service.  Water damage everywhere. Mail delivery is spotty.  No email all week until just a couple of hours ago.

One of our own Priests for Life staff members lost her house (please pray for her). Others are under water.  Most have lost their power.

It will take weeks to recover. Or months.

If ever I needed you to give Priests for Life a donation, it is right now.

Please click here and make as large a contribution as you possibly can.  Send whatever you can ... $5 ... $10 ... $25.  Obviously if you can send more do that. 

But the important thing is that you give whatever you can right now.

I have so much to tell you, but no time really.

The big thing right now is LOST CONTRIBUTIONS that we were counting on to fund our last-minute efforts to rally the People of Life all across the country and convince all Americans to VOTE PRO-LIFE ON NOVEMBER 6 ... and in every election!

The storm has cut off mail delivery ... and almost all contributions to Priests for Life.  The only donations we’re getting are the few that are trickling in over the Internet.

We were counting on additional donations to fund all of our “Political Responsibility” efforts over this final week of the campaign season.

But Hurricane Sandy has hit us hard, and we don’t know what to do.

Or was it the devil?  Is this his work?  His attempt to thwart our efforts to end legalized abortion-on-demand in America?

Personally, I cannot help but believe that it is.

Well I refuse to allow him to destroy us or our work!  Literally tens of millions of innocent lives are at stake in its outcome.

So rather than wait for the mail to resume and the contributions to pick up I took a leap of faith and decided to go full speed ahead with everything we’d planned for this final week, including:

• My whistle-stop Gospel of Life tour through the state of Ohio, which concludes tonight in Cincinnati
• The pro-life mission trips of our priests and Pastoral Associates to other states
• Our special election programs that continue to air on EWTN
• The final wave of our nationwide “Voter Guides” distribution effort
• A special “Get Out the Vote” video that is being sent to hundreds of thousands of pro-life activists

Speaking of that “Get Out the Vote” video, it was scheduled to go out Monday.  Final edits were being made when we lost power.  So one of our dedicated staffers spent countless hours WORKING IN HIS CAR to finish up the video and prepare it for viewing.  What commitment!

And he’s only one hero.

In spite of the bridges to Staten Island being out, homes flooded and damaged, and lingering flood waters, most of our staff have come to the make-shift office we set up at a local hotel that has power so that they could carry on with the fight to save the lives of our unborn brothers and sisters.

In spite of tremendous personal loss, they are giving everything they have to the pro-life fight.

And that’s what I’m asking of you right now.

Please click here and make an emergency contribution to Priests for Life.

Don’t let the devil and Hurricane Sandy shut down our efforts to advance the cause of life in America.

Make whatever size contribution you can.  I don’t care if all you can give today is $10 ... give it.

Please!

We are literally fighting for the survival of the pro-life movement.

Thank you.

And again, please PRAY!!!  Pray for everyone suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  The devastation is far worse than I can describe.   So many need so much help.

But no one needs our help more than our unborn brothers and sisters.  Homes and roads can be repaired.  Businesses and subways can be rebuilt. 

But a life snuffed out in abortion can never be restored.

For their sake I ask you to please click here and be as generous to Priests for Life in this emergency as you possibly can. 

Thank you again and may God bless you.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

Thank God for Family!

Mom, Winky, and I stayed with my ex-sis-in-law Kathryn (still VERY much family!), her husband Paul, his son John Paul (called J.P.) and my nephew James from Sunday afternoon until today.

It was SO good of them to ask us to stay, and SO good of Kathryn to come pick us up.

And, as it turned out, this time we really NEEDED to evacuate.  The neighborhood we live in was hit, and I mean SLAMMED!!!  

I can't blog much about it yet; I am still overwhelmed by all the damage Sandy did, even though our house itself wasn't hit TOO badly.  Only the basement got flooded.  HOWEVER, I had a LOT of books  down there!  I don't know which books I've lost, and which I still have; I haven't been down there yet.

But books can be replaced, and we are all safe.

Thank God for family.

Let me modify that.

Thank God for caring family!