Author: JenniferFitz

Quiet at the Castle

In working on the homeschooling book (still working on it), I begged Karina Fabian to tell me about her experiences with homeschooling versus school-schooling.  She obliged me despite a crazy-busy spring, and this is the crux of what she shared: “I’m a better mother when my kids go to school.”

Me?  I’m a better mother when I’m not allowed to walk.

Started back to school this week, and conveniently I came down with some kind of foot-ailment on Saturday.  While awaiting diagnosis the nurse advised me to keep my weight off the thing, and I agree — what with the bit about how it only hurts when I use it, hehe.

–> Turns out I’m a better teacher and a more attentive, involved mother, when I’m not sidetracked trying to do everything else other than the heart of my vocation.

Reminds me of that twinge of dissappointment when the lights go back on after an evening power outage.   The house flips back to life with buzzing and beeping, you blow out the candles, and family members gathered by the fireplace disperse to their preferred distractions.

***

These moments of forced-quiet are an illusion.  Lacking electricity, there’s no reason to think the SuperHusband and I wouldn’t assemble plenty of lower-tech conveniences and distractions.  Blessed with a permanent injury, I’d figure out how to re-mobilize and get just as busy as ever.   I score in the 99th percentile for the ability to think up new hobbies.

But for now, I’m enjoying the quiet.  In a wishing-I-could-grow-up-to-be Bill Shannon kind of way.  Incorrigible.  Utterly incorrigible.

Milkshakes all around . . .

. . . is what we get if I pull a would-have-drowned child out of the pool, and she gets an all-clear on the lung check afterwards.  Yay!  A certain mother needs to work off a  little adrenaline now . . .

***

In the meantime, back-to-back interesting posts by Eric Sammons:

Just say ‘no’.  Hands down this is my number one spiritual problem (in addition to all the others).  And of course he posts these timely words just when I’m trying to goof off on the internet to unwind a little, heh.

And then, 100 things? I’ll consider it, if I get to count all my books as a single item.  Otherwise, I guess it’s 99 books and a toothbrush?  I think everything else maybe I could borrow from someone.

***

Funny story about self-denial and materialism: SuperHusband and I are in the market for a new motor vehicle.  Exact nature TBD, but we’re leaning towards a commuter-mobil.  There’s about $5K difference between the car he really wants, and a less-expensive, more practical car that would (we think – haven’t test-driven yet) do everything we’d expect from the dream car.   Poor guy, he’s checking out vehicles on the internet last night, and his wife leans over and says, “$5k would build a lot of houses in Haiti.”

Or, part of a hospital?  Investigate this one, if you are looking for a worthwhile cause.  No personal connection on my part, so do your own due diligence.

***

Meanwhile, a funny story from the child-not-drowning incident:

So I’m watching my preschooler from the sidelines at my local community pool, because I am one of those mothers who lifeguards her own children even when there is one lifeguard on duty and three others giving swim lessons nearby, and I see Squeaky go under.  So I walk in and pull her out — real easy, because we’re in the shallow end, and she is right next to the wide concrete staircase so it’s just step in, pick up child.  Hurray.

[Yes, my child was literally one step from where she could have stood up and been fine.  But she stepped down to where it was just over her head, panicked, and didn’t think “oh, just walk up the stairs”.]

I carry her up out of the water, do my check to make sure she’s okay (she is), and I’m standing there with her swim instructor from the previous hour’s lessons,  who had come over both because she saw the incident and because she had some papers to give me.  Then the lifeguard on duty looks over in our direction; the whole incident couldn’t have lasted ten seconds, probably more like three or five — and he didn’t see it happen.

[No fault here: there was nothing for him to hear – neither my daughter nor I made any noise through all this — and this one guy has an entire pool of swimmers to watch.  No one can physically keep their eyes on that much space and that many people simultaneously.  The best a lifeguard can do is scan continuously, and hope he sees what he needs to see when he needs to see it.]

So the poor guy sees me there standing soaking wet in my street clothes, realizes something is amiss, and comes over to speak to me.  And his brain has not connected all dots yet, so it falters on the what-happened-here process:   He kind of hestitates, then says, “Um, we’re supposed to wear swimming attire in the pool.”

I assured him I don’t *usually* swim in leather shoes.

***

Have a good week.  And no combox pile-on about my lifeguard.

DVD Review: Father of Mercy

Tiber River is the catholic media-review project sponsored by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods. After a few false starts, I finally got going as a reviewer this past week, with the DVD Father of Mercy. I chose it from the available review items because it seemed like a good fit for my eldest child’s study of just warfare this year. Not disappointed. Not at all.

What It Is: Father of Mercy (“The Children’s Angel” is the Italian title) is the made-into-a-movie telling of the story of Father Carlo Gnocchi, an Italian priest who served on the front lines as a chaplain in World War II, and afterwards undertook a massive work of mercy taking care of the many children injured and/or orphaned by the war. Fr Gnocchi was beatified in 2009, and the network of hospitals he founded is still in operation

The story is told in two parts. Part one begins during WWII, and tells of Fr. Gnocchi’s decision to leave his post as a high school teacher and university chaplain, and go to the front lines – first to the Albanian front, and later to the Russian front. Part II picks up during the Italian/German retreat from the Russian front, and tells the story of the vast works of mercy that Father Gnocchi undertook once back home. The two stories are told seamlessly in a single narrative, Part II literally beginning right there in the snow where Part I ended, with only a short intermission-style bit of music to tell you at the end of Part I to please go to bed and take it up again in the morning. (Total running time is 200 minutes.)

The DVD also includes a short study guide produced by Ignatius Press – excellent supplement, very helpful, provides both some historical background and a good breakdown of the moral issues presented in the film.

The story is somewhat fictionalized – timeframes are compressed or glossed over, and some real events are told via fictional characters (ie: Father Gnocchi did donate his corneas, but he donated them to others than the person depicted in the film). There is a love triangle among three youngsters thrown in for the purposes of building up of themes, and frankly in order to keep more of a plot going through the second half. (One of the supporting characters also helps ground us morally as the others are headed off to war in support of fascist Italy.)

What I Thought: Well, it was exactly what I had hoped. My boy watched the whole thing through in English, and hung around for a second viewing in Italian. (He tells me the light weapons were all authentic to the period, though he couldn’t verify the tanks.) We got to see a heroically-brave priest (and some heroically-brave soldiers), the honest horrors of war, and the waging of peace. More than I had hoped for: We get a film that is morally complex without being morally ambiguous. A mother and a catechist falls in love – yay! It’s a keeper! This is a movie you are perfectly happy for your youth to watch over and again. Even better: That study guide is VERY HELPFUL for those who need some assistance navigating the moral complexity.

But Was It A Perfect Film? No. Here are a few things you should know up front, so you don’t send me hate mail because I said it was a great movie and it turns out it triggered a pet peeve.

  • I don’t usually mind voice-over, but . . . it sure seemed to me like the original Italian had much more depth and vivacity than the English voice-over. And there are a couple spots in Part II where children-extras sound like they’re being faked by adults. Subtitles were fine.
  • I don’t do the “drama” genre much . . . so to me, the intensity of the playing pushed my suspension of disbelief, particularly in Part II. Part I held up fine because war, well, it really is that dramatically intense. But in Part II, I’m afraid I maxed out on the warm-hearted orphan scenes. (I would have preferred a good accounting-thriller for Part II. That’s a lot of hospitals the man founded – how come we only get to see the funding of the first one?? But perhaps my tastes are in the minority there.)
  • The story-telling was not as neat as I’d have liked. Some of the supporting characters were a little thin, and at times character development and plot points felt abrupt. Part of it, I suspect, was the effort to squeeze such a rich story into limited minutes. [Note: My children complained about none of these things, and probably most people who are used to watching TV and stuff wouldn’t notice either.]

I would say above all, and this is not so much a problem as a fact: There is definitely a genre divide between Part I and Part II. Part I is an intense WWII film, and very honestly it is exactly the one I wanted. The portrayal of war rings true with what I have heard from combat veterans, and it is stunningly lovely to see difficult questions of faith dealt with in a war film, with no namby-pamby mushy platitudes for the conclusion. Part II is more soap-opera-meets-warm-hearted-family-drama. (I know many people who would hate Part I, love Part II. It’s a taste thing. Though I think there is actually more kissing in Part I, hehe.)

And speaking of kissing, violence, graphic horrors of war, etc . . . the film is not rated. I give it a solid PG-13. Language is clean, kissing scenes are strictly kissing. (And not for nearly as many seconds as a certain 10-year-old-boys complained.) But the war violence is definitely there – scary, suspenseful, morally demanding. At times you get to see good guys do the wrong thing. And though the gore is very restrained, blood does spurt and wounds are shown; whole corpses (no piece parts) lay about in those places corpses are wont to lay, often with faces clearly visible. We see the lead-up to an unmedicated amputation, and there is a firing-squad scene where Fr. Gnocchi blocks our view right before we hear the shots fired.

Summary: I’m very glad I got this DVD – it was everything I had hoped and then some. Inspiring, well-told despite my quibbles (nicely produced, by the way), pleasure to watch both times through. I definitely felt pushed and moved – this is a story that stuck with me. My boy was inspired to go learn more, so it was an academic success as well. I give it a “buy” recommend if you want a solidly catholic movie that fits this era and these genres.

Follow-on to the review below:

If you are a catholic blogger who needs a steady supply of free, top-notch spiritual reading, I see that the The Catholic Company is still accepting new reviewers.  Highly recommended program, well-run and I have never, ever, had any difficulty picking a new book from the list of available titles.  There are usually a dozen or more options across a wide variety of mostly non-fiction genres.  You pick one out, they ship it to you, you post your review, you pick a new one out.  Very well-run.

–> My next pick (so look for a review one of these days) is Jimmy Aiken’s The Salvation Controversy, which promises to set me straight on my TULIP problems.   Well-timed.

Also look for a review here of the DVD Father of Mercy, my first blog-review for Tiber River.  Finished watching it (once in English voice-over, then with much relief again in the original Italian), just need to type up my thoughts.  (Hint: I don’t pick lousy product.)

So that should be posted soon, assuming no more exciting sub-plots here at home.  Been one of those weeks, hehe.  And also maybe a review of John Hathaway’s Prayer CD “Hide Me In Your Wounds: Daily Prayer with the Saints”, soon as I get through the whole thing.

In real life: We’re doing a math-n-craziness theme at school this summer.  New school year starts August 15th, and I’m planning to pretty much hit it running from the get-go.  Oh and we joined the YMCA.  Man I love that place.

Book Review: Sex Au Naturel

Sex Au Naturel: What It Is and Why It’s Good For Your Marriage

By Patrick Coffin

Emmaus Road, 2010

Having already blushed my way through the opening lines of Dark Night of the Soul, of course I had to jump on any Catholic Company review book featuring a picture of Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss on the cover. Survival of the species might very well depend on it, you know.

Well, sorry, go ahead and put away the candles and silk sheets; turns out Patrick Coffin’s book isn’t quite about that.  What it is, however, is a pretty good one-stop overview of the Church’s teaching on birth control, in the context of contemporary culture.

Coffin opens with some background: How we got the encyclical Humanae Vitae, and why from the very beginning it was not universally embraced. He shares his own spiritual history by way of example, and also the reasoning that made him eventually accept the church’s doctrine.

From there the book moves into a comprehensive review of the major elements of NFP-apologetics.  There are chapters on:

  • Church Tradition concerning the use of birth control
  • Birth Control in the Bible
  • The Sacrament of Marriage as a reflection of the Holy Trinity
  • Natural Law arguments against contraception (including a nice explanation of what “Natural Law” actually is)
  • Contraception myth-busting — one chapter covering a potpourri of topics, and a second addressing the question of population control
  • How sterilization fits into church teaching – both for those considering the procedure, and those who have already been sterilized
  • What, exactly, are the differences between contraception and Natural Family Planning?
  • How do modern fertility treatments fit into church teaching?

An appendix provides a useful array of recommended resources for those who want to learn more, including contact information for the major NFP methods taught in North America.

The book is short (134 pages) and the tone is conversational.  Each chapter is compact and easily readable — at times to the point of being a mite choppy.  I think the book would be most helpful to a catholic reader who wants to quickly dive into the subject and get a good grasp on the major issues. Between the appendix and the many well-known authors quoted throughout the book (Kimberly Hahn, Janet Smith, Christopher West, etc.), for any given topic, Coffin’s book is a jumping-off point: You get the main ideas, and he gives you clues for where to look if you want to dig deeper.

I don’t, however, think the book would normally be helpful to a reader still struggling with the church’s teachings on sex.  In such a compact work covering so many topics, there isn’t space to develop arguments as thoroughly as such a reader would need. At times as I read I thought, “But what about____ objection?” or “But that wouldn’t makes sense to someone who has ____concern” or simply, “This argument needs to be developed more explicitly”.

I am hopeful that Sex Au Naturel will go into second and third editions. There are areas where I think a more thorough or carefully developed treatment would be helpful. But at its base this is a great first go-round at attempting to put a lot of material into a compact and readable form, accessible to ordinary catholics.   I firmly intend to keep it on my own shelves for future reference, and should also add this is a good title for the shelves of any parish library.

 

 

Cover art courtesy of Emmaus Road.

I write like . . .

. . . a complete goof-off.

Visited the I Write Like text analyzer, because it seemed like such a better idea than accomplishing any of the items on my to-do list.  Copied and pasted an entry from the blog, and learned I write like:

Dan Brown.

No, no, that won’t do at all.  But they asked me if I wanted to analyze another text. Yes!  Please!

What I would have done if blog post #2 proved equally brownian, I do not know.  But there was hope.  Analysis #2 determined I write like:

Charles Dickens.

I was not entirely persuaded this was an improvement, but at least my friends who are smarter than me might be impressed.  Decided I’d give it another shot.  The writing analyzer told me that blog post #3 was written like:

Cory Doctorow.

Who??  Apparently I do not read like a Writing Analyzer.

But maybe this was an improvement.  I picked another post, and this time the Writing Analyzer told me I write like:

Stephen King.

So I’ll just stop there.

Catholic Writers Conference Live

Highly recommended.   Here’s the main site – top of the page is where you click to see the conference schedule and all that.  (See Karina Fabian’s site for yet more info.)   In case you weren’t sure, Mark Shea and Michelle Buckman are both stupendously enjoyable writers.    And this is pretty much the go-to event for hanging out with the superstars of the catholic world.   Attend the writers conference, and you get to go to the Catholic Marketing event free.  So it’s a combo deal.  Plus, the writers conference will be relatively small, which for individual attention and encouragement is much much better than some giant massive event.

If you are going to be in or near Valley Forge, PA August 4-6, plan to attend.

(Hey I thought I would add just to clarify: Sadly, I will be nowhere near VF, PA on the necessary dates.  Just in case anyone had been secretly hoping to see me there, thought I’d dash your hopes now rather than a week from now.  But all the other cool kids will be there, so go anyway.  🙂

No news is good news on this end. Castle residents are mostly healthy, house-cleanout is progressing nicely, and VBS starts tomorrow. Violated my sewing moratorium to put together some Roman garb for myself, as the ol’ “Bible Voyage” will be wandering the Roman Empire with the Apostles.   Need to get my special-effects in order for a shipwreck on Tuesday.

***

Tara Livesay has a guest post by Amie Sexton, looking at inter-racial adoption. Go read it right now.

I had much more to add, but got my finger stuck in the door on the way into Mass this morning.  Not so bad an injury, but it hampers the typing.  So you are spared my deep thoughts.  Happy Sunday.