Friday, March 30, 2012

It Was a Tear Jerker

Photo Credit
I went with a few friends the other night to see October Baby and I went in knowing very little of what the story was about.  I had planned it that way so I would genuinely react to the scenes instead of having preconceived notions affect my emotions.  I had heard it was funny, sad and uplifting with a beautiful witness of life and forgiveness.  I hadn't told my gal pals about the sad part even though they knew the premise "a young woman learns she had been given up for adoption after a failed abortion."  I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it but you will cry for it is...
      heartbreaking    uplifting     emotional       hopeful  
It is a story of pain, mercy, forgiveness and hope.  

The great news is that October Baby made the top 10 list on it's opening weekend!  People want to see movies with Christian values and this one has all the drama, suspense and humor of non-Christian movies, yet it comes with a pro-life message that is important.  At times, the humor fell flat and other times, it did very well.  Go and see it!  Bring tissue!  It's only been released in a limited amount of theaters, so let's show Hollywood that movie goers want to see movies that are meaningful, heartfelt and with a moral message!

Resources:
Fox News
Huffington Post
The Daily Beast

Pray for us St. Maximilian Kolbe!
Pray for us St. Gerard Majella!

Blessings,
Noreen

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

October Baby



Going to see October Baby tonight!  It looks to have a strong pro-life message that is emotionally appealing to everyone.  I think it's a story that needs to be told.  Has anyone seen it yet?

Blessings,
Noreen

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Religious Freedom Rally ~ March 23, 2012

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I took the train downtown with many others to attend the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally at the Federal Plaza.  When we got off the train, it was POURING rain.  Seriously pouring with puddles everywhere but our group soldiered on with our umbrellas and walked the 5 blocks to the plaza. God blessed our rally by stopping the rain once we arrived and for it's duration!

We were pleasantly surprised to see the overwhelming turn out on such a rainy day!  I've read reports that over 2,500 people showed up alone at the Chicago rally!  Cincinnati had 500, New York had 900, Detroit had 1,000 people show up for their rallies.  It was a diverse group of Catholics, Lutherans, Evangelicals, seniors, children, nuns, priests, and pastors.  Eric Scheidler, the Executive Director of the Pro Life Action League and Nationwide Rally for Religious Freedom Co-Chair, with his crew were the organizers of this event.

Before the rally started, there was an issue with the electrical power being cut off minutes before the rally was started.  Not sure if it was weather related or not, but the organizers asked the employees of the Federal building, who had granted them the permit, to turn the power back on.  THEY REFUSED!  Can you believe it?  This meant the P.A. system was inoperable and many had difficulty hearing the speeches and most couldn't hear one word; however, one of the organizers brought a 100 foot extension cord to the Post Office that was across the street and asked if they could plug in their P.A. system and they graciously agreed!  Power came back on about 40 minutes into the presentations.  We found a place up close so we were able to hear a little bit of the following presenters:

  • Joe Walsh, U.S. Congressman
  • Dan Lipinksi U.S. Representative
  • Mary FioRito Executive Assistant to Cardinal Francis George
  • Dr. Anthony Caruso ob/gyn at Alexian Brothers Medical Center
  • Father Sammie Maletta from St. John the Evangelist Church in Indiana
  • Father Stewart Ruch an Anglican priest from the Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, IL
The youth group from St. John Cantius Parish of Chicago came in with hundreds of young people carrying the yellow Life balloons and some which they shaped into a rosary.  They let the rosary configuration up in the air over the rally.  It was incredible!

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There were other presenters as well but we left a bit early to catch the 1:30 train back to the suburbs.  We were told that since President Obama's campaign office was a block or two over, that they had representatives in the crowd assessing the turnout.  They were told that when they return to their offices, to inform President Obama that the people of Chicago and around America, do not support his HHS Mandate!

Even with the P.A. issues in the beginning of the rally, one could see the hope that was electrifying the group to fight for Religious Freedom for our country.  More work needs to be done.  We need to let our senators and representatives know how we feel.  We need to contact them asking them to oppose it too.

Blessings,
Noreen

Friday, March 23, 2012

Freedom Rally & October Baby

This morning I am heading to the Federal Plaza in Chicago to

Stand up for Religious Freedom

There will be 140 rallies around the U.S. today meeting at noon at their local federal buildings to STAND UP against Obama administration's HHS mandate.  For more information go HERE.

U.S. Capitol 

If you cannot make it to your own local rally, please take a moment at noon and join us in prayer for God to hear our pleas and the government to hear our voices!

********************************************************************************************
Don't forget to go and see October Baby movie that is being released today in select theaters around the nation.  It's a story about a  grown woman named Hannah who learns that her biological mom tried to abort her as a a baby, yet she survived.  This is her story.  I'm going this weekend with friends and can't wait to see it!

Blessings,
Noreen

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Joining RAnn from Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival and the other wonderful Catholic bloggers who join together each Sunday to share their posts.  Come and join us!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy Feast of St. Patrick!

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year, I decided to be a bit more festive than usual.  For my inspiration, I went to Xhonane HEREHEREHERE and HERE.  Thanks Xhonane!

My new camera broke so I brought it back to where I bought it and they've sent it in to be repaired or replaced.  So, I do not have any photos of my creations which turned out pretty good but not as good as the sources where they were found.  I'm going to use their lovely photos and give them the photo credit.  Here they are:

I made the cinnamon shamrock from Jessica of Catholic Cuisine and Shower of Roses Blogs.  It turned out very good.  To work with the cinnamon dough, you need to defrost it in the microwave for about 20 seconds so you can make the shamrock shape and then decrease the overall cooking time.  It should be baked for about 20-25 minutes instead of the 30-35 minutes the Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls calls for.  If you don't know Jessica, you should.  She is the best at creative ideas for celebrating the feast days during the liturgical year.  She completely amazes me and I feel blessed "to know her" through the blogosphere.  Thank you Jessica!!

photo credit
This one came from Jill at Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons.  Mine did not turn out as neat as Jill's because my shamrock cookie cutter was a tad bit too big.   About half of my tops came apart in 2 pieces. I was able to put them back on top and they still look cute.  Jill has many other very fun and festive ideas for celebrating this day.  Thank you Jill!!

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This next one came from Lolly Jane Boutique and these twin sisters Kristi & Kelli are crafty geniuses!  I love their use of color in their decorating and they've kindly offered the St. Paddy's printable for free!  Head on over there if you'd like a copy yourself.  While you're there, peak around at their other very cute crafting ideas to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  Thank you Krist & Kelli!!
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Here are some books that my son and I read over to learn more about St. Patrick the man.  They're all picture books but my son still enjoyed reading them over.  I found them through our local library.  I love that!

St. Patrick Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie dePaola:

St. Patrick's Day by Gail Gibbons.

Then, Saint Patrick by Ann Tompert.

The other day, I sent my godchildren and my RE first graders a St. Patrick's card with a couple of chocolate gold coins with an image of St. Patrick  Jessica from Shower of Roses created them and offered them for free!  Thank you Jessica!

This time I had a one inch circle punch which made it much easier!  They are so cute and festive!  Thank you to all the wonderful ladies whose generous hearts bless the rest of us!

I shared this post over at Community of Catholic Bloggers.

St. Patrick, pray for us!

Blessings,
Noreen

Friday, March 16, 2012

And the Winner is...


I will send Jennifer from Crafolic your email address so she can send you the e-file game.

Thank you to everyone who entered for a chance to win the Journey's End Game.  If you didn't win it and are still interested in purchasing it for a very reasonable price ($5.00) you can go HERE to do so. Lent is a perfect time to continue teaching our children about sin, grace that comes from confession and the importance of praying for the Souls in Purgatory.
Thank you Jennifer for your creativity and generous heart in sharing your God given talents with the rest of us!  You're game has enlightened and opened the hearts of my family as we played it.  I thank you for that gift!

Blessings,
Noreen

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Reminder: Last Chance

Jennifer's photo
Today is the last day to enter the Journey's End Game giveaway created by Jennifer!  We'll be announcing the winner tomorrow!

This is a great game to teach children about sin and confession any time of the year but it's especially meaningful during Lent.  HERE is the review I did after playing this game with my son and his cousins.  I highly recommend this game and thank you Jennifer for being willing to give one away!!

Blessings,
Noreen

Monday, March 12, 2012

Spiritual Viewing for Lent

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I came across mention of "Into the Desert: Lent and Film" at Decent Films Blog from Laurie at Catholic Baby Steps.  Curious as to what films were listed as "good viewing material for Lent," I decided to check it out.  The blog writer is Steven D. Greydanus who blogs for Decent Films: Film Appreciation and Criticism informed by Christian Faith.  Mr. Greydanus compiled a list of "spiritual viewing for Lent." You can find it HERE.  I went to my local library website and happily found the 6 movies he recommends and put holds on all of them. Some of them I noted, were created in a different language and would have English subtitles.  I'll have to see if that takes away from my overall experience of viewing them.

I also found on his site a link to the Vatican Film List which is an old list from 1995 that was comprised by the Vatican for the 100th anniversary of cinema.  It included  a top ten list of movies for religion, value and art.  I perused through that list too and was familiar with a few.

I would imagine the movie The Way starring Martin Sheen and written, directed and starring Emilio Estevez, would be added to Mr. Graydanus's recommendations for Lent and Films.  This movie came out on DVD last month to my delight!  I have bought it, viewed it and have passed it around to friends from my church.  If you haven't seen it yet, please do!  It should be in the local libraries by now if you don't want to purchase your own copy.

Lenten Blessings,
Noreen

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival


Today I am linking up with RAnn and other wonderful Catholic Bloggers at Sunday Snippetts--A Catholic Carnival.  Each Sunday, RAnn brings together in one site, many posts from Catholic bloggers about Our Faith.  Please come and join us!

Blessings,
Noreen

Saturday, March 10, 2012

St. Patrick's Craft

I've been seeing so many cute and fun St. Patrick crafts that celebrate the man/priest/bishop ~ Saint Patrick.  Not the secular view of this "day of partying."  Xhonane from Familia Catolica recently listed various crafts on her blog to celebrate this famous beloved saint of the Irish.  I decided to try my own hand at creating a St. Patrick craft that was educational for my first graders yet fun and simple for them to make.  As usual, my inspirations were Jennifer of Crafolic and Tiffany of Family at the Foot of the Cross who have really great craft ideas to celebrate the Feast of St. Patrick.  Then Xhonane of Familia Catolica and Gardenia of Love My Little Flower have created liturgical folders for many Catholic feast days throughout the year.  With this in mind, I worked on a couple of St. Patrick books that include how he supposedly taught the people of his time about the Holy Trinity and his Prayer for the Faithful.  Here is my first result:


On white card stock, I used a white crayon to write out Happy St. Pat's Day and then used watercolor paint over it.  Crayola site says it will work great but it didn't pop out enough for me on the paper so I went over it with a green marker.  Using watercolor paint on card stock made the paper wrinkle up a bit so I glued it to construction paper to stabilize it better.  Then used pretty ribbon to hold the book together.

I used this site for my large shamrock template.


St. Patrick's Prayer for the Faithful, I found at Our Catholic Prayers. The picture of St. Patrick was found  at St. Thomas Aquinas Church and I reduced in down quite a bit.  (Tiffany led me to this one on her St. Patrick Wreath).


The images of The Holy Trinity were found at Jennifer's Crafolic site HERE.


Here is my second result:




I worked with the same shamrock template as above on white card stock.  To create the little shamrocks on the cover, I used Jennifer's idea that she explains HERE.  A little bit of green paint and a Q-tip can make a very cute clover.





That's my attempt at being creative and crafty to celebrate Saint Patrick.  I'm very grateful for Jennifer, Tiffany, Xhonane and Gardenia for all of their generous hearts in sharing their ideas and resources!  Tomorrow morning, my first graders will be the recipients of their craftiness hearts!

Blessings,
Noreen

Thursday, March 8, 2012

A Crafolic Giveaway!

Crafolic photo credit
This great giveaway is an e-file so is sent to you on the computer.  No mailing distance restrictions here!  So, my friends across the pond can enter as well!!

Jennifer from Crafolic recently hosted a Journey's End Giveaway at Catholic Bloggers Network Share-A-Thon and now she is generously offering to do another here at Rosarymom!  I recently tried out Jennifer's game called Journey's End and posted about it Here.  This was an active game where kids can learn about sin, the need for grace that comes through confession and eternal destinations. Faith formation occurs naturally while playing this game due to the many questions that are raised during it.

The kids were able to make the connection that their actions affect their souls.  
Whether their choices please God or not.  
It was a time of exploring, learning and fun for all.

If you'd like to win your own copy of Journey's End, all you need to do is leave me a comment of your interest.  We will select a winner on Friday, March 16th!

Blessings,
Noreen

Friday, March 2, 2012

Doctors of the Church Book Review

   The Catholic Company sent me a book to review written by Pope Benedict XVI called Doctors of the Church.  This was the first time I had read anything written by our Holy Father and in his book he shares a collection of synopses of the great saints and teachers of our faith.  I would call his book "a treasure trove" of poignant life histories of men and women who followed the gospel and desired to answer God's call by teaching others the Word of God.

   Many of the saints I was familiar with on a rudimentary level such as St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Therese of Lisieux.  Others such as St. Lawrence of Brindisi and St. Isidore of Seville, I had never heard of.   In total, there are 32 saints discussed in his book, who are all recognized as Doctors of the Church.   Reading the lives of these saints illustrates that just because you have a devoted prayer life, does not mean that your life will be without trials and suffering.  These men and women carried heavy crosses in their lifetimes and wrestled with doubt during their lives.

   The Doctors of the Church taught about prayer, charity, love, sacrifice, and obedience during their times through example and by their speeches, documents, poems and songs.  Their life experiences are relevant to the modern day Christian.  We live in times of struggle, pain and suffering just like they did.  These men and women are the best role models on how to cope with our individual struggles and those in the larger community.  They didn't keep to themselves, they stepped out into their society and shared their faith with others even if it was against popular opinion.

     After reading this book, I have a greater understanding of the problems these great men and women faced, how they overcame their obstacles by relying on the Grace of God, and how their teachings formed the church that we know today.  God calls forth men and women throughout history to defend His Church and to evangelize it.  We must praise and thank God for choosing wisely and we must all thank these Doctors of the Church for responding to His call.  I read my way through this book very slowly to absorb the messages of these great men and women.  It's not a book to be read lightly in my opinion or else you'll miss the nuggets of brilliance in their lives.  This 269 page book has a different saint in each chapter, so the reader can jump around at will.  Pope Benedict's book is a handy resource to have in any Catholic household.

  You can purchase your own copy of Doctors of the Church, or Catechism of the Catholic Church or a Catholic Bible at the Catholic Company.


  "The mission of the Church in every age is to introduce the world to Christ, its savior.  The Church cannot accomplish her mission without learned men and women who are saints of God."  - Francis Cardinal George

Blessings,
Noreen