Actually, Image Is Everything
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Thursday, July 05, 2012
Yesterday’s closing mass for the Fortnight for Freedom was stirring in several ways.
We arrived an hour early and the 3500-seat Basilica was already mostly full.
By the time Mass started there were people not only packing the aisles and side chapels, but standing outside in the heat just to take part.
The entrance procession, with its Knights of Columbus color guard and incredibly long train of... READ MORE
Tell Us About Your Fortnight
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Tomorrow, Cardinal Wuerl will close the Fortnight for Freedom with Mass at DC’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception at noon.
Archbishop Chaput will be the homilist.
If you’re there, perhaps we’ll see each other. (Or watch it on EWTN.)
Tonight we’re attending a talk on religious liberty, followed by a holy hour of prayer for the country.
Tell us about your Fortnight activities—especially tell us about parish or diocesan events and how they went, and your reflections on the experience of two weeks of intense prayer and educational activity.
(One of the coolest things I heard about was a parish entering a religious liberty float in their town’s Independence Day parade.)
Don’t just share with us. If you’re on twitter, share reflections using hashtags #Fortnight4Freedom and #SacredProperty.
The Declaration's Blessings
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Family on Monday, July 04, 2011
“It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning cannot be applied to this great charter.
If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people.
Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.”
—Calvin Coolidge, 1926,
Speech on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
Have a wonderful Independence Day, everyone!
A Little Lincoln For The Fourth
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Sunday, July 04, 2010
Here’s Abraham Lincoln on the meaning of Independence Day. It’s from a speech given July 10, 1858.
It’s worth reading the whole thing, if only to see how funny Lincoln is, but here’s the part about fourth of July:
Now, it happens that we meet together once every year, sometime about the 4th of July, for some reason or other. These 4th of July gatherings I suppose have their uses. If you will indulge... READ MORE
How Do You Celebrate?
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Family on Saturday, July 04, 2009
Rachel showed us her yummy ol’ flag.
We have family traditions and political traditions. On the nerdy side, we usually attend a potluck cook-out with other political philosophy grads who’ve ended up in official Washington.
It’s nice to see that policy wonks have families and eat hot dogs like everyone else.
But it bores the stuffing out of the kids, to be honest—it’s usually... READ MORE
America the Beautiful
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Just me on Saturday, July 04, 2009
My mother handed on to me a penchant for enjoying singing all the verses of songs. (You should hear us at Christmastime!)
When I was a child and we sang patriotic songs in school, it disappointed me when we’d stop after the first verse.
And with good reason, because those continuing verses are often the best part of the song!
“America the Beautiful” is my favorite. In honor of our Independence Day... READ MORE
Calling All Patriots
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Just me on Friday, July 03, 2009
Here’s wishing you and your families a wonderful 4th of July celebration!
Share it with us, won’t you? I love to hear how other people and other communities observe our religious and civic feast days.
The similarities and the peculiarities are so interesting.
So: take pictures, blog about it, and tomorrow at noon I’ll put up a post where you can leave the results all weekend.
Firework Frenzy
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Just me on Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Happy Canada Day!
I practically grew up in Canada. My childhood home is less than a mile from the Canadian border.
Our wedding reception was held on the sixth floor of a building near the river that separates the US and Canada, and my younger brothers had fun proving to their disbelieving cousins that the buildings on the other side of the river actually were in a completely different country. ... READ MORE
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