Top 10 Reasons I'm Catholic

1. Mary, the Mother of God, is a connection to God that is female
2. The Rosary, praying that is meditative, easy and relaxing
3. Jesus, the Savior of us all
4. Communion, I wanted to experience the Real Presence in the host
5. Friends and Family, Many of my friends are Catholic and some of my family, I wanted to participate in that community
6. Social Justice, the Catholic church has a strong desire to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give rest to the weary
7. Saints, I like the historical connection to others in Heaven
8. Ritual, the celebration of the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of Eucharist are full of beautiful rituals that delight the senses
9. The Catholic church is the original church, so it's like I'm going back to my roots
10. Nuns, who doesn't like these nice, strong, faithful women in funny outfits :)

Transub-stan-ti- What? Transubstantiation and the Real Pressence

Transubstantiation. Long word. The longest word I think I learned while becoming Catholic. It is a concept that I am still learning about.

It means changing the substance. The substance being changed is the bread of communion to the host of Jesus. The form remains the same, but the substance has changed from bread to host when consecrated by the priest through prayer and belief.

Redecorating, Changes to the Blog

Well, I've been doing some rearranging on here, as you can see.

I installed the Networked Blogs widget and got it all registered nicely. I even figured out how to work it. Please click the follow button and let me know who you are.

What else? Oh yes, I changed the layout a bit. If you remember, there had been only two columns, now there are three. The rightmost column contains info about people: me, followers, archives, labels and blogs I like. The leftmost column contains podcasts in my iTunes library and websites related to topics of interest. The middle column is the meat and potatoes of the blog, the blog posts.

Hopefully, this layout is pretty good for a while. Let me know what you think and if you want to, suggest some sites for inclusion in the lists to the left.

Thanks!

anonymousknitter.com blog review

Go ahead and head on over to anonymousknitter.com. The blogger is a Catholic lady. She also, surprisingly, knits!

She even has blue spaghetti, see it here: Blue Spaghetti

Knitting Prayers, The Our Father, Meditation and Knitting

When I am by myself, I like to knit with the tv off and maybe a podcast going, but usually just the quiet is nice. Working with folks with various diagnoses and ways of being vocal but not verbal, quiet is sometimes really desired. The calmness

iPod blogging

Trying a new thing tonight, I'm blogging from my iPod touch. Not sure how this will work. I type as I think, my fingers moving as I think. Flying along as I see the thoughts racing across the sky like wondrous birds in flight. To type on the iPod is picking and slower than my thoughts can process. It is a little like using first grade ledgers instead of writing freehand in cursive as an adult.

Homosexuality and Christian Marriage

Homosexual and Christian. Heterosexual and Christian. What's the difference?

Musings on Mental Health and God

Not sure on the official Catholic position on the topic of Mental Health, except to say likely a take the best of what others have discovered and apply it as applicable to your situation and also to trust in the Eucharist to bring God into your being. The soul also outlives the body, and as such we shouldn't despair of finding healing either here or in Heaven.