Theo’s progress
Little Theodore is making great progress! His breathing rate is down where it needs to be with minimal supplemental oxygen. They are hoping to remove his oxygen tomorrow. Your prayers mean everything. LeXuan was allowed to hold her baby for the first time today.
Saint Theodore
The name Theodore means “gift of God”. I really like the saint’s bio:
“Saint Theodore was born of a noble family in the East, and enrolled while still a youth in the imperial army. Early in 306 the emperor put forth an edict requiring all Christians to offer sacrifice, and Theodore had just joined the legion and marched with them into Pontus, when he had to choose between apostasy and death. He declared before his commander that he was ready to be cut in pieces and offer up every limb to his Creator, Who had died for him. Wishing to conquer him by gentleness, the commander left him in peace for a while, that he might think over his resolution; but Theodore used his freedom to set on fire the great temple of Isis, and made no secret of this act. Still his judge entreated him to renounce his faith and save his life; but Theodore made the sign of the cross, and answered: ‘As long as I have breath, I will confess the name of Christ.’ After cruel torture, the judge bade him think of the shame to which Christ had brought him. ‘This shame,’ Theodore answered, ‘I and all who invoke His name take with joy.’ He was condemned to be burnt. As the flame rose, a Christian saw his soul rise like a flash of light to heaven.”
Set the great temple of Isis on fire, did he? Not very ecumenical of him. :-)
Welcome, Theodore!
Our beautiful son, Theodore Andrew Culbreath, was born yesterday morning five weeks early via C-section. He weighed 6 lbs 9 oz and seems strong and feisty, but has a condition called pulmonary hypertension which is potentially dangerous. Last night he was flown to Sacramento for treatment. Unable to locate a priest in time, I baptized him last night in the neo-natal ICU. His mother is recovering well but is naturally worried about her baby. We are told that most of these cases resolve with happy outcomes. Still, if you can spare a prayer or two, we’d be grateful!
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Catholics looking for a decent place to settle and raise their families ought to consider La Crosse, Wisconsin. La Crosse is usually overlooked in online discussions about orthodox Catholic communities (overlooked by traditionalists, at any rate) but I think the area has much to recommend it. The single most important consideration, of course, is the Mass: the traditional Roman Rite is offered weekly, on Sundays at 9:30am, at the incomparably beautiful Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe just a few minutes south of town. Also encouraging is the fact that the Shrine is staffed by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, an order known and respected for its muscular orthodoxy. I would expect that the Shrine has plenty of opportunities for boys to serve at the altar, for older children and adults to sing in a choir, and for everyone to participate in extra-liturgical devotions. I would expect that these good Friars not only provide excellent spiritual direction but also inspire new vocations. Let it be noted, too, that living in close proximity to a friary opens up the possibility of establishing a Third Order community, though I don’t know whether one exists in La Crosse at present.
Unlike many diocesan Latin Mass locations, the Shrine is not an experiment. It has the feel of permanence and the Latin Mass is perfectly suited to it. It will always have the special solicitation of its founder, Cardinal Archbishop Raymond Burke, so long as he lives, and its charism will be secure for generations to come.
One consideration that young couples should be thinking about is whether they are living in a place where at least some of their children are likely to remain and thrive. It is desirable to establish a home not only for oneself, but for one’s progeny. In fact, I would argue that the suitability of a place for future generations is much more important than one’s own preferences. For some families, this consideration may rule out the smaller towns and rural areas that are often mentioned as traditionalist enclaves. La Crosse, however, is fortunate to have one of these rural hamlets within its own orbit – the village of Cashton just 28 miles away. Cashton is home to St. Mary’s church, which offers weekly and daily mass in the old rite, and is staffed by the Institute of Christ the King.
Most people today are not called to life on a farm – or even life in a very small town – despite the attractiveness and romance of the idea. Your grown children will need to live in or near a city with job opportunities and a diverse economy. They will want access to music and the arts. They will want some freedom to move about socially. They will need more intellectual stimulation than most small towns tend to offer. If you want them close to you when you’re old, and close to each other when you’re gone, you may want to establish them in such a place now, even if it means tolerating some of the negatives of city life.
With a population of just 50,000 in the city limits – or 100,000 in the greater area – La Crosse is small enough to have character and to be friendly and familiar, but large enough to have an economic base and the social advantages one’s grown children may need. The city has two universities, one technical college, two hospitals, and a symphony orchestra. The city is predominantly Catholic, with six parishes including the diocesan cathedral, and boasts a high percentage (64%) of religious adherence generally. LaCrosse has one diocesan Catholic high school and a private, K-12 Catholic academy modeled on the classical Trivium. Housing is surprisingly affordable and the crime rate is impressively low. La Crosse offers a busy calendar of festivals, concerts, performances, exhibits, and civic events all year ’round.
La Crosse does have a few negatives, to be sure. It’s in Wisconsin, a great state but cold in the winter. It has a reputation as a beer-saturated “party town” and its students are known to get rowdy. Its politics lean toward the liberal side – solidly Democratic since 1988 – but that’s typical of college towns, and of old-line mid-western Catholic cities, and LaCrosse is a little of both. There doesn’t seem to be a lot going on in terms of Catholic homeschooling (yet), which is only to say that I couldn’t find anything on the internet. That’s about it.
Some helpful links and media:
La Crosse, Wisconsin City-Data Page
La Crosse, Wisconsin Wiki Page
Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate – La Crosse
St. Mary’s Church in Cashton (I.C.K.)
University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
Against false apocryphal ravings
“Before she was in labour, she brought forth; before her time came to be delivered, she brought forth a man child.” – Isaiah 66:7
This pious belief should be non-controversial: that the immaculately conceived, ever-virgin Mother of God did not suffer the pangs of childbirth is the logical consequence of who she is. Conceived without original sin through the merits of her divine Son, it follows that Mary was not subject to the punishment imposed upon Eve and all women - “in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children” (Gen 3:16). Furthermore, Mary’s perpetual virginity, which is also a dogma of the Faith, strongly implies that she retained her physical integrity before, during, and after the miraculous birth of Our Lord. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia:
“After bringing forth her Son, Mary “wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger” (Luke 2:7), a sign that she did not suffer from the pain and weakness of childbirth. This inference agrees with the teaching of some of the principal Fathers and theologians: St. Ambrose, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. John Damascene, the author of Christus patiens, St. Thomas, etc. It was not becoming that the mother of God should be subject to the punishment pronounced in Genesis 3:16, against Eve and her sinful daughters.”
We do have, as just mentioned, the testimony of many fathers of the Church. Best of all, we have the sound teaching of the Angelic Doctor himself, the only teacher recognized as the “common doctor” of the Universal Church:
Article 6. Whether Christ was born without His Mother suffering?
Objection 1. It would seem that Christ was not born without His Mother suffering. For just as man’ death was a result of the sin of our first parents, according to Genesis 2:17: “In what day soever ye shall eat, ye shall [Vulgate: 'thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt] die”; so were the pains of childbirth, according to Genesis 3:16: “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children.” But Christ was willing to undergo death. Therefore for the same reason it seems that His birth should have been with pain.
Objection 2. Further, the end is proportionate to the beginning. But Christ ended His life in pain, according to Isaiah 53:4: “Surely . . . He hath carried our sorrows.” Therefore it seems that His nativitywas not without the pains of childbirth.
Objection 3. Further, in the book on the birth of our Saviour [Protevangelium Jacobi xix, xx] it is related that midwives were present at Christ’s birth; and they would be wanted by reason of the mother’s suffering pain. Therefore it seems that the Blessed Virgin suffered pain in giving birth to her Child.
On the contrary, Augustine says (Serm. de Nativ. Supposititious), addressing himself to the Virgin-Mother: “In conceiving thou wast all pure, in giving birth thou wast without pain.”
I answer that, The pains of childbirth are caused by the infant opening the passage from the womb. Now it has been said above, that Christ came forth from the closed womb of His Mother, and, consequently, without opening the passage. Consequently there was no pain in that birth, as neither was there any corruption; on the contrary, there was much joy therein for that God-Man “was born into the world,” according to Isaiah 35:1-2: “Like the lily, it shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise.”
Reply to Objection 1. The pains of childbirth in the woman follow from the mingling of the sexes. Wherefore (Genesis 3:16) after the words, “in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children,” the following are added: “and thou shalt be under thy husband’s power.” But, as Augustine says (Serm. de Assumpt. B. Virg., [Supposititious), from this sentence we must exclude the Virgin-Mother of God; who, "because she conceived Christ without the defilement of sin, and without the stain of sexual mingling, therefore did she bring Him forth without pain, without violation of her virginal integrity, without detriment to the purity of her maidenhood." Christ, indeed, suffered death, but through His own spontaneous desire, in order to atone for us, not as a necessary result of that sentence, for He was not a debtorunto death.
Reply to Objection 2. As "by His death" Christ "destroyed our death" [Preface of the Mass in Paschal-time], so by His pains He freed us from our pains; and so He wished to die a painful death. But the mother’s pains in childbirth did not concern Christ, who came to atone for our sins. And therefore there was no need for His Mothert to suffer in giving birth.
Reply to Objection 3. We are told (Luke 2:7) that the Blessed Virgin herself “wrapped up in swaddling clothes” the Child whom she had brought forth, “and laid Him in a manger.” Consequently the narrative of this book, which is apocryphal, is untrue. Wherefore Jerome says (Adv. Helvid. iv): “No midwife was there, no officious women interfered. She was both mother and midwife. ‘With swaddling clothes,’ says he, ‘she wrapped up the child, and laid Him in a manger.’” These words prove the falseness of the apocryphal ravings.
Amen
“We love your childish estate, your powerlessness, but we suffer from the continuing presence of violence in the world, and so we also ask you: manifest your power, O God. In this time of ours, in this world of ours, cause the oppressors’ rods, the cloaks rolled in blood and the footgear of battle to be burned, so that your peace may triumph in this world of ours. “
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