Rounding up

It would appear the one and only American Papist, Thomas Peters, is spending some time in Wisconsin.

So then some dude started faking that he's the American Papist and says this:

So this is helping the gay marriage cause?  I replied

He sent some tweets back, but what's the point of talking to a person who goes to the extent of creating a fake account on Twitter to impersonate his opponent?  Big boys create things called thoughts and use things called words to express those thoughts. 

2011 Minnesota Abortion Report shows more women finding abortion alternatives: 11,071 total is lowest since 1975.... http://fb.me/1P86eXowX

Very interesting interview with former Green Bay Packers president Bob Harlan, talks about Brett Favre situation (and how the Mike Sherman situation went down).  He's very open about some of the inside decision making that went on.

Scythian released a new album!  Hmm, it's okay, not as good as the last album. 

Freedom From Religion Foundation is running an ad to convince people to leave the Church so they can be free.  In a similar way, the Church has been advertising to convince people to leave their sins so they can be free for like 2,000 years.  I guess we had it coming.  Lon Newman is one of the more "interesting" characters profitting from Wisconsin's lucrative taxpayer-funded Family Planning industry[pdf].  Newman's "Below the Waiste" website for young people is one of the more offensive websites out there.

St. John's Abbey in Collegeville is pretty gay, but we already knew that. 

I attended the Christopher Check Vendee talk in Cashton.  Fantastic!  He lives close in Rockford and also has a Cristeros talk he gives.  Perfect for a parish who also wants to show the new For Greater Glory movie.  There was a man who I assumed was from UW-L perhaps, who was a French Revolution apologist(it was "Catholics fighting Catholics" type), but Check handled the questions well and actually enjoys exchanges like that.  Check may be returning in the fall, but I highly recommend him as a parish speaker at your parish.  Some of his articles and radio appearances are on Catholic Answers website.

I finished reading The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture. It is the best book I've read on American Catholicism. I'll do a follow up post on that.

Fox6: “Catholic agencies are going to be defined how the government wants
to define it and not how the church wants to define it,” Listecki said. ”That’s
totally intolerable. That is not the sense of religious freedom as we know it.”

A lot going on for the Fortnight for Freedom.   And get this!  Cardinal Dolan says Church failed to teach against contraception. For the record, now is precisely the time that contraception as a affront to nature herself should be talked about.  Since we know that basically all Catholic hospitals prescribe and promote contraception, the issue is more than just a mandate.  Anywho, Abp. Listecki wrote several reflections via email.  Wisconsin Lutherans praised Listecki and the Catholic Church for their recent stand against the HHS mandate.  Bp. Callahan said there was a good crowd at the La Crosse Cathedral on the Fourth of July, and wrote op-eds in some secular papers.  The Friars of the Immaculate recorded the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty talk at UWL, and is available online.  Here's a slideshow of photos from a Madison area rally. 

Round Lake, IL pastor starts a 168-mile pilgrimage from Immaculate Conception Church in Waukegan to Our Lady of Good Help Shrine in Champion, Wis. They plan to arrive at the shrine on June 27 and average 25 to 30 miles per day.

Trish Cameron lost her teaching job at a St. Joe's Catholic School in Moorhead, Minn. after supervisors learned she supported same-sex marriage.  Wow, you mean there are still Catholic Catholic schools out there??  Can I send my kids there?

Sad story of a Green Bay church being turned into a music hall by St. Norbert's College.

A priest friend of mine, Fr. Joseph O'Hara, left the La Crosse Diocese to discern with the monks of Clear Creek, OK.  Please pray for him.  I still haven't found the article where he beat up the burglar in his church.

Let's see, okay, I'll share a story my wife relayed: 
Matt had his 1st day back to work today since the 22nd. Joseph must've been missing him this morning, so he pretended that he was talking to him:
Joe: Daddy, what car do you wanna be?  Oh no, Daddy's at work.
Pretending to be Matt: It's ok Joseph, we can play cars when I get done with work.
Joe: Ok Daddy. That's so nice!
"Matt": We can do Aaaaaannnnnnnything you want when I get home tonight.
Joe: Awww!

First Friday!  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, miserere nobis!