A Look at One of the Toughest Jobs - Military Casualty notification

Blog by the Sea has nice and moving Memorial Day post and link up here at Final Salute.

I recall reading this story when it came out. It appears there has been a book released just a few weeks ago that follows in more details the work of these Marine. Anyway the article and photos are compelling and gives a light of light to this mysterious yet profound job

Holy Father's Angelus for Corpus Christi Sunday

I cam catching up on my regular posting that I do. One of those is to get the Holy Father's Sunday Angelus up. Here is a full English translation from Zenit news as to Pope Benedict Sunday Corpus Christi Angelus.

The Priesthood and Baseball!!!

Dugout Catholicism has an "timely" post since baseball is in the air. He talks about being a Priest and being a baseball Coach and the real results that come from it. Go see Crown of Victory .

I think that makes boys and young men in the making very much appreciative of the Priesthood in all it facets. I also saw on TV, Priests that were like the "boxing Coach". I suppose that many of Catholic Priestsor Brothers also functioned as a Coach in many other sports in the high days of Catholic education and schooling. Ditto for the Sisters

What Is A Catholic To Pray, Think and Do As To Ted Kennedy

I have never been a Ted Kennedy hater. I very much wanted him by some stroke of Divine Intervention defeated but alas that never happened.

I once researched why Ted Kennedy was so popular. In a sense he is very much like the famous (now passed) Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. Every Saturday , after his staff went through the papers, the good Senator would call every girl that was going to get married that next week and say CONGRATS. He knew all politics was local. Kennedy has largely been the same way.

Mrs Scalia, who is also a well known Catholic Blogger I link, have written a piece over at Inside Catholic called The Crucible of Ted Kennedy It is a well done piece and I agree totally that should Catholics attitudes. The comments though as to her piece though still show almost a sense of betrayal as to Kennedy and raise of course important points.

Ted Kennedy it should be remembered was Pro-Life as to the abortion issue once. He and his family like other Catholic political icons such as the Cuomos etc got quite a bit of political mileage from the Catholic connection. However in the end at a crucial point they deserted some BASIC tenets of their faith. To see how truly devastating this was see at Catholics in the Public Square good piece Catholics, Republicans and Abortion: How We Got Where We Are Today which links this article Criss-Cross: Democrats, Republicans, and Abortion

Also despite his good personal relations with Senate Republicans, Kennedy could serve the political bile up to groups that thought opposite of him. That is all at play.

In the end he was and is a scandal to many Catholics. We are left with a great "what if". What if Bobby had survived ? Would he have been a mitigating force against the movement for Life? OR would he have embraced the same things as his brother. In Kennedy we see both unanswered questions and to many a waste. Many people are asking and wondering why would this politician that received the fruits of the public trust now be protected from the truthful analysis of his career. Well he should not. It is evident that some personal failings of him had true real public consequences

However the Mrs Scalia is right and as Catholics we should know she is right. Any person that takes the Sacrament of Confession in a serious nature should be the first to show mercy. As Christians we should know all about Mercy. I GUESS people are still saying the standard prayer of Contrition in Confession. I know I am. We say:

O my God,I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee,

and

I detest all my sins,because I dread the loss of heaven,and the pains of hell;but most of all because they offend Thee, my God,Who are all good and deserving of all my love

.I firmly resolve,with the help of Thy grace,to confess my sins,to do penance,and to amend my life.
Amen.

There are far more vivid Catholic prayers that hopefully are coming back in "vogue" that truly remind us of the Mercy that Christ gives us underserving sinners

She says in part:
The Kennedys are neit