Liberal Press

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Can someone please tell me exactly who the liberal press are that we are blaming everything on? If the stats are true, and based on the number of newspapers that are folding each day, 90% of Americans do not read the newspapers and 45% of Americans do not have cable, so we get our news from the radio that is populated by the conservatives last time I checked.

So that being the case who is this liberal press?

Fr. John at Orthodoxy and Culture has a run down of what he says the President has accomplished in his 100 days, here is an excerpt:

Well, over the last one hundred days the harvesting of human beings for body parts has been once again made legal (fetal stem cell research), several states have legalized ‘gay-marriage’, euthanasia has been legalized in Washington state, incredibly vast sums of money has been poured into the “Economic Stimulus Bill”–while the regime still pretends that there will be no middle class tax increases, and the list continues.

Okay the stem cell thing I will buy but last time I checked the President of the United States has nothing to do with state government and most of these things were in the pipe line long before he was sworn in. I clearly forgets that President Bush had his own Stimulus Package that was oh so successful as well.

I said this on my radio show the other day. STOP BLAMING PEOPLE! We need to stop blaming and work to change. We also need to stop, and I say we so that is both sides here, spinning things. One party did not get us into this mess and one party will not get us out. We all need to work together to make this country work. If all you are going to do is blame people and complain I would rather you just simply Shut Up!

Christmas in Russia

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I am putting a Pilgrimage or sorts together to Russia for New Years and Russian Christmas. Although I do not have all of the details yet it is looking like the cost would be somewhere around $3,000 – $3,500 all inclusive.

The plan would be to arrive in Moscow on the 30th of December and spend New Years Eve there with tours of Museum of Icons and Christ the Savior Cathedral, Kremlin with Cathedral Square and Cathedral of Assumption, where royal weddings and coronation ceremonies used to take place, also Cathedral of Annunciation and the Cathedral of Archangel Michael (Mikhail).

On January 2nd we will board a train for St. Petersburg and visit the Palace Square with the magnificent Winter Palace, to St Isaac’s Cathedral. We will see St Peter and Paul’s Fortress, Nevsky prospect, St Basil’s Island, the famous Bronze Horseman, Smolny, and the city’s other highlights. Nevsky Abbey and Hermitage the Winter Palace (previously the residence of the Imperial family). It contains over three million exhibits and one of the best art collections in the world. The gallery is most famous for its collection of West European art, with paintings by Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Picasso, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rubens and Rembrandt.

January 7th is Christmas in Russia so we would attend Liturgy in one of the Churches of St. Petersburg and return to the US on the 8th.

If you are interested in the tour please leave me a comment or email me and I will put you on the list and keep you up to date on all of the details.

Proposed Itinerary

The Mental Murder of Torture

Posted on by Fr. Peter
For some time now I have been thinking about this torture thing that everyone is talking about. How does this effect all of us and should we be concerned about it. Yesterday I posted a poll for my daily radio show about waterboarding. The results were not surprising to me but a little disturbing none the less. A vast majority of the respondents believe that it is not torture to waterboard someone.

So I came across this article on the First Things Blog by Russell E. Saltzman and he has helped my clarify my thinking on this position. Right in the center of the article the author makes this statement:

I’ve been trying, like many Americas, to think this thing through. There is the altogether practical question: Did torture help us? Did it make America safer? Was the information really good, helpful, in thwarting terrorists? Did it actually in fact spoil pending plots? Frankly, the evidence is mixed.

But I really don’t care. Whether torture “worked” or not as an interrogative tactic is far from the main question. I’m a pastor. I think as a pastor, which is to say as a parish theologian. I don’t care if these guys shrieked like little girls on the playground and blubbered out plots for everything from the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre to knocking over Bagdad candy stores as juvenile delinquents. Torture is morally wrong. It is morally wrong, theologically speaking, because it is an attack upon the imago Dei, upon the image of God inherent to every human life.

Now, I’m not so dumb or so liberal that I can’t understand and remember and share the anger the September 11 attack produced in America, nor was I the least bit hesitant in supporting the studied determination of making sure that nothing like it ever happens again. But if there is anyone suggesting the American homeland is safer today for having abandoned the ordinary principles of humane treatment for prisoners in American custody, then he’s a moral midget. Torture is not what Americans do. Not if we still have some lingering respect for the rights with which God endows humanity.

The important phrase in this entire discussion is the image of God. That is what it all boils down too. As Christians we cannot stand for anything that diminishes the image of God in one of his creations. No matter who, or what that person is we cannot allow this to happen. Any torture is a moral outrage and we need to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.

This will take many hours of thought and prayer and discussion but it is a discussion that we need to have.

Thomas Sunday

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Though the doors were shut at the dwelling where the disciples were gathered for fear of the Jews on the evening of the Sunday after the Passover, our Saviour wondrously entered and stood in their midst, and greeted them with His customary words, “Peace be unto you.” Then He showed unto them His hands and feet and side; furthermore, in their presence, He took some fish and a honeycomb and ate before them, and thus assured them of His bodily Resurrection. But Thomas, who was not then present with the others, did not believe their testimony concerning Christ’s Resurrection, but said in a decisive manner, “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.” Wherefore after eight days, that is, on this day, when the disciples were again gathered together and Thomas was with them, the Lord Jesus came while the doors were shut, as He did formerly. Standing in their midst, He said, “Peace be unto you”; then He said to Thomas, “Bring hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not unbelieving, but believing.”

And Thomas, beholding and examining carefully the hands and side of the Master, cried out with faith, “My Lord and my God.” Thus he clearly proclaimed the two natures – human and divine – of the God-man (Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-29).

This day is called Antipascha (meaning “in the stead of Pascha,” not “in opposition to Pascha”) because with this day, the first Sunday after Pascha, the Church consecrates every Sunday of the year to the commemoration of Pascha, that is, the Resurrection.

Earthquake shakes parts of Bulgaria, Romania

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Let us pray to the Lord! Lord have mercy!

An earthquake of about 5.3 on the Richter scale shook northern Bulgaria and parts of Romania at about 8.20pm on April 25 2009.

Initial reports from seismologists said that the epicentre was in the region of Vrancha mountain in Romania, about 145km north east of Bucharest and about 400km from Sofia, with the quake emanating from a depth of about 114km.

Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said that the quake was felt in the Bulgarian cities and towns of Pleven, Varna, Dobrich, Svishtov and Belene. Other Bulgarian-language media said that residents of Rousse, on the Danube bordering Romania, felt the quake “strongly” and some fled high-rise flats.

While in a number of the cities in Bulgaria and Romania that felt the quake, people left their homes to stand in the streets outside, initially there were no reports of serious injuries or damage.

Svishtov residents returned inside after about an hour. The town has vivid memories of 1977, when it was among the places hardest hit by an earthquake in which more than 100 people in the town died, among the more than 1500 Bulgarians and Romanians reported killed at the time by the quake, which also destroyed more than 8000 buildings.

A resident of a Bucharest, severely shaken by the quake told BNT by telephone that people had been frightened at the time of the incident, but calm had returned.

Easter Week

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Well blogging has been light all week as I try to recover from Holy Week. It was a great week here at St. Michael’s and I think the week after Holy week is busier than Holy Week mostly because of all of the things we let go that week.

The weather on Sunday was great and I broke with my usual tradition and went to Bourne, Massachusetts for a concert put on by the Scottish Association that I belong to. It was nice but a long drive down (2 hours) and a long drive back (2 hours) made for a long day. I was back about 8:30 and promptly fell asleep as 4:30 comes early.

The radio show continues to go along well I think and we have some plans for the future and will be looking to take the show on the road. We have one date already, Saturday, June 6th is Southbridge Fest here in the Village and I will be broadcasting from the Town Common along with several others on that day. I will post more information as that date gets closer. We are also looking at broadcasting from the Brimfield Flee Market coming up in May. This is one of the largest events in Central Massachusetts and draws about 20,000 people over the three days of the event. It is also done in July and September. We will see how the first one goes and then decide if we want to do it all over again. But the show goes well and I continue to learn. If you have not tuned in and you live in the Southbridge area I am on Monday-Friday from 7-9am on WESO 970 am but you can also listen at www.fatherpeterlive.com

On Thursday night we hosted Dave Ramsey and his Town Hall for Hope. This was a historic event as it was the largest Internet simulcast ever with more than 1 million people watching at some 5,000 host sites around the country. Dave Ramsey is a Christian finance guy that has a wonderful radio and TV program and his entire mission is to get us out of debt with very simple advice. The theme of the Town Hall was hope and the hope we need to have in America to get the economy moving. The negativity needs to stop, we need to stop blaming people, and we just need to get moving. “We will be the healing agents of change” he said during the broadcast. I was inspired by this and plan to do more reading and teaching on this so watch this site for more.

Friday the weather was just amazing! This weekend promises to be even better. I spent some time outside getting my new screen house set up. Maybe a little too early but I wanted to get it set up and arranged so I know how it was going to look.

Today I dash off to family in New Hampshire for a little meeting about the New Hampshire Highland Games and our participation this year so that will be fun to see the folks. Long drive but it will be fun. Then back here to get to work for tomorrow. I hope to get some outside work done as well latter in the afternoon and also tomorrow after liturgy.

That’s all for now!

Town Hall for Hope

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Tomorrow night at the Church we are hosting Dave Ramsey and his Town Hall for Hope. Well we are not actually hosting Dave Ramsey but rather a live stream of the event via the internet. Here is a little bit of information from the Town Hall of Hope website:

Town Hall for Hope is your opportunity to sit down with people in your community for a nationwide town hall meeting led by Dave Ramsey. Thousands of venues across the country will host the event, broadcasting Dave’s live presentation. In the opening half hour, Dave will offer straight talk about the economy, recession, foreclosures and more. He’ll carefully explain where we’ve come from, where we are now, and what we should be doing with our money during this time. Then, Dave will spend an hour answering your questions live!

We’ll take questions by phone, email, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more! Check out our Get Involved page to see all the ways in which you can join in the conversation! And remember, this is a free event!

I feel that as church we need to host events such as this because we are the hope that people need in this economy. As I said in my Easter Sermon only Jesus Christ can being the hope that we need. The government cannot do it for you only Jesus can.

Dave says “The solution to America’s economy is to get people to believe again. It’s time to connect with families to instill hope and optimism in our economy and our country. We the people are the healing agents.”

Who is Dave Ramsey?

Dave Ramsey is a personal money-management expert, an extremely popular national radio personality and best-selling author of The Total Money Makeover. In his latest book, a follow-up of his enormously successful New York Times best-sellers Financial Peace and More Than Enough, Ramsey exemplifies his life’s work of teaching others how to be financially responsible, so they can acquire enough wealth to take care of loved ones, live prosperously into old age, and give generously to others.

Ramsey knows first-hand what financial peace means in his own life-living a true rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches story. By age twenty-six he had established a four-million-dollar real estate portfolio, only to lose it by age thirty. He has since rebuilt his financial life and now devotes himself full-time to helping ordinary people understand the forces behind their financial distress and how to set things right-financially, emotionally and spiritually.

Ramsey offers life-changing financial advice as host of a nationally syndicated radio program, The Dave Ramsey Show, which is heard by nearly four million listeners each week on more than 400 radio stations throughout the United States.

Ramsey is the creator of Financial Peace University(FPU), a 13-week program that helps people dump their debt, get control of their money, and learn new behaviors around money that are founded on commitment and accountability. More than 750,000 families have attended FPU classes at their workplace, church, military installation, local nonprofit organization, community group or Spanish-speaking organization. The average family pays off $5,300 in debt and saves $2,700 in the first 91 days after beginning FPU and is completely out of debt, except for the mortgage, in 18-24 months.

Ramsey created a group of products in an effort to teach children about money before they have a chance to make mistakes. Financial Peace Jr.is an instructional kit designed to help parents teach their young children about working, saving and giving their own money. Through Ramsey’s entertaining children’s book series, The Super Red Racer, Careless at the Carnival, The Big Birthday Surprise, My Fantastic Field trip, A Special Thank You,and Battle of the Chores, children learn about working, saving, giving, budgeting, integrity and debt.

On October 15, 2007, Ramsey added television host to his title when The Dave Ramsey Show on Fox Business Network debuted nationally.

Ramsey earned his B.S. degree in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Tennessee. A frequent speaker around the country at large-scale live events, Ramsey is a passionate and inspiring presenter who is at ease on both sides of the microphone. More than 600,000 people have attended Ramsey’s live events.

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