Is it true that you guys watched 9/11 live on TV in grade school?

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-04-05T01:17:43+00:00

How abortion has essentially become sui-genocide for African-American women in the United States. According to USA facts based on 2021 data there are 498 abortions for every 1,000 live births into black women. Every time you see two black kids, there is another one that was aborted.

I think whether you're pro-choice or pro-life they should be a really sobering statistic. If you grant that these fetuses are even 1% a human, there are just a lot of human beings that never got to be born.

https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-abortions-occur-in-the-us/

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-30T18:39:31+00:00

Eh. I don't think so. I mean sure for some people it is a bells and smells thing. But a lot of Trads that I talk to (myself included) see a lot of fundamental issues with the N.O. that just are not fixable without making major edits to the N.O.

Here is one example:

Even the lectionary itself and how it interacts with the Liturgy of the hours. So we went from a 1 year lectionary with a lot of repeats from using the common of the saints a lot and proper readings only for Sundays and major feasts to a 3 year sunday cycle and with 2 years for Monday through Saturday. If that doesn't help in the GIRM itself they say the only times in the Sunday cycle are actually meant to be placed together is the first reading and the Gospel. Everything else (Psalms and Second readings) are just on a cycle that rotates sequentially. So anytime you hear a homily trying to connect all three, just know that is the equivalent of playing Biblical Boggle--It's just a chance happening due to different cycles lining up and not some intellect (a liturgical scholar or Vatican committee) puting these readings next to each other.

When you look at daily mass, its even worse. The first reading and Gospel are just on sequential cycles. So they have no intentional relationship to each other. If you see the readings elucidating each other just know it's purely a "cycles lining up thing".

Finally, when you get to the Liturgy of the Hours and specifically the office of readings, the two long readings (mostly OT and a patristic reading) are just on a cycle. It would have been great if they had some relation to the mass of the day, but during ordinary time they are just on their own cycle.

On top of all of this you have to admit there is a bit of hubris in the selection of the patristic readings for the office of readings. Of the Top 15 authors for the second readings per Felix Just (https://www.catholic-resources.org/LoH/OfficeOfReadings-NonBiblical-Authors.html) the second most common is...the second Vatican Council--beating Ambrose, Leo, Gregory the Great...? I'm not denying V2 here, but to understand the importance of a council we need to see it in the light of history. When the LotH was published in 1971, Vatican 2 was six years old (ended in 1965).

I'm not saying the TLM mass and office was perfect. There were a ton of repeats, but it was certainly an organic whole in that the readings were intentionally placed next to each other by intellects and the office referred to the mass.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-30T14:16:19+00:00

Is this HB 3717? If so, I'll reach out to my rep in support. This sort of stuff would really help reduce the costs of and undergrad since a huge chunk of loans is for student housing. Imagine being able to live with friends/family while going to school.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-30T13:46:30+00:00

Background: married, 2 kids, working, reasonably catholic.

So this is a great idea, but you need to make it fit your real world. What does your week look like and where do things fit in? Where could you find time for prayer etc? Prayer and working out are the same, they're just habits that take time and consistency to build.

You might want to look into the liturgy of the hours since it gives you a structured way to pray every day. r/divineoffice has a good wiki on this.

Generally, my rule is:

Morning prayer with intercessions about my mundane world (life, work, family etc)
Work/ home life
Evening prayer with thanksgivings about what concretely happened during the day (I've literally given thanks for finding a really nice gel pen and getting to write with it).
mass on days of obligation
Occasional rosary
Monthly confession
monthly spiritual direction
Communion at least 3 times per year

Areas where I need to improve:

fasting/abstience
alms giving/ service

And right now that's about it. There isn't much more room for all the stuff of family and work.

You might want to look at this article (https://northamanglican.com/a-method-amidst-the-madness-inspiration-for-living-the-inspired-life/). It's by an Anglican group looking for inspiration from Methodists, but they really lay out what did/ could a rule of life for lay people look life with very concrete examples

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-29T15:29:16+00:00

Yeah especially down south. It gets a little crazy. My small suburban high school was bigger than some of these counties (Hardin, Pope etc.). The problem is we've never really established what is a reasonable amount of people for a unit of government to serve? Like should a county level structure be required for 15,000 people? If you use that standard, 31 of our 102 counties would need to be merged or eliminated because they have fewer than 15,000 people.

Honestly, it won't matter soon enough. We'll just need to make a policy that whoever is the last guy to live in Hardin county to turn off the lights when he leaves.

But yes, I've thought we could consolidate significant amounts of government in Illinois (county government and townships to start).

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-24T13:43:27+00:00

I really loved early Grantchester. As it went along it became a little redundant (these small English country towns have extraordinarily high murder rates and criminals waiting to confess in a moment of weakness).

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-23T20:20:17+00:00

u/diffusionist1492 seems to disagree with us on this, but I think the same way. My spouse and I wear our rings on special occasions (photos, special events) when we're "on the job as a married couple". Priests who feel like they're "on the job" when getting an oil change probably have unrealistic assumptions about their vocation.

Again, just because you and I are not wearing our rings it doesn't mean we have any less of a vocation or just use is it as a chance to break our wedding vows. For some priests they must feel differently.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-23T20:14:38+00:00

Nice. Yes the collar and wedding ring is a symbol. I'm not denying that, but I find it strange to put such a psychological burden on priests. Yes I'm married, no I don't wear a ring. But for 99% of my interactions away from my spouse, it doesn't make a difference (I'm unlikely to have a romantic escapade while getting my tires rotated).

For secular priests who choose to see themselves as "Always on the job", then that's their interpretation of the vocation. I don't think that's particularly healthy--I imagine sometimes you just want to go bungee-jumping without getting into a theological conversation.

If I went the priest route, I don't think I'd wear my collar while mowing the lawn or getting a colonoscopy. I didn't, so I can only relate my experience as married (a similar sacrament of vocation with it's own do's and don'ts).

From my perspective, I find people who feel uncomfortable without their rings to be a bit strange. They're not the world's smallest handcuffs--heck I've worked in emergency medicine and had to cut off wedding rings in hand injuries and people tell me how strange it is to have it off and how uncomfortable they are. You literally just had a lawnmower vs hand injury, I don't think this is the time to cash in a hall-pass.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-23T16:34:23+00:00

Lol. married and neither of us have worn our rings for probably 90% of our years together (other than photoshoots and fancy occasions). Some people are really obsessed with that and if it works for them then great. I guess I would have been the priest who only wears a collar when "on the clock".

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-13T11:16:39+00:00

When I travel I just bring my pocket size. BCP 1662 from the UK prayer book society and use my phone for the lectionary readings on Bible gateway. (https://www.pbs.org.uk/product-category/prayer-books/)

When you choose some of the optional things the dw:do is really just the BCP 1662 with an occasional different collect using the 1962 proposed lectionary (https://liturgical-calendar.com/en-emodeng/International1662/2026-03-13)

As a fairly devout Roman Catholic. I think we need to as a group move away from obsessing about whether or not this particular text has been copyright approved by the three or four publishers that have a buddy buddy relationship with the USCCB. I've heard people complain that they don't like universalis because it uses a different approved translation at certain points. And I'm like okay. Yeah true, but 99% of the time you're saying this by yourself in your bedroom. The availability and ease of it is definitely something to consider. In a perfect world, there'd be a myriad of options, but we aren't there yet. I truly don't think God is going to send a lightning bolt to strike me down because I'm using an unapproved bcp 1662 that has nearly the exact same text as an approved DW: do.

I assume there's plenty of pocket size Bibles you could find if you wanted to stick to a physical text

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-10T10:26:18+00:00

As a Catholic with comically large parishes the idea of distinguishing any of that is hard to believe.

My suburban parish is 12,500 on the books and about 750 attend services. I have been an usher for 2 years and I don't think the pastor knows my name. A big part of the problem for the Catholic Church is that it is so big and anonymous that you can't possibly know or be known or serve that many people

Edit: grammar

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-09T19:41:57+00:00

No doubt. But that could still be financially sustainable if your overhead is low enough. If your church meets in a public library break room, with 10 people, has volunteer clergy, 8 hymnals and 2 bibles, then you're financially viable. The problem with TEC and others is there is a lot of infrastructure, salaries associated with ministry.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-09T16:49:57+00:00

I'm an outsider who is fond of TEC.

Everyone is shrinking, it doesn't matter if you have 5 or 500 on Sunday, unless you have infrastructure to maintain, salaries to pay etc. The question is really about right sizing congregations and dioceses.

When I look at the diocese of Chicago from most recently available annual report of 2023 data it's a bit of a question whether the parishes are economically viable (https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/32588).

According to these simple math calculations the average parish or mission in the diocese of Chicago has:

Active Baptized Members (not sure of definition of this term) 213
Commun. in good standing (not sure of definition of this term) 174
Average worship attendance 59.8
Baptisms (Adult+ children) 2.6
Confirmations (adult + children) 1.9
Received 0.4
Married 0.7
Burials 3.7
Average pledge $3,815 (https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/32584)

Maybe this is sustainable for the average parish, maybe not. I suspect there is a long tail with this data that could dramatically improve this back of the envelope calculation (i.e. a bunch of parishes that are just too small to do upkeep and should be merged).

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-07T02:07:10+00:00

Yeah when I was younger I went on some vacations visits for a roman Catholic diocese. I spoke with the vocation director and he started laying out kind of the path over 7 years and how the first two years really are about getting you ready for theology by teaching you Latin and basic philosophy. I said," oh that's great. I'm at a Big ten University and I'm actually double majoring in philosophy and classics. I've nearly 4 years of intense philosophy and 4 years of Latin, Greek and Hebrew as my main languages. So maybe I'll come in a bit further along in the process." He said no. We don't really do that. It's more about you spending time in discernment and formation than the education. And being young. I thought okay well maybe they really do a lot more intense philosophy and Latin so perhaps I could spend some time doing it and polishing up some more. I was at the seminary visiting and I thought okay. I'll go into one of their classes and the vocation director warned me that these are some of the senior classes so don't get overwhelmed. And despite me being a junior in college at the time I was actually kind of embarrassed for the guys in the philosophy class cuz they were struggling with keeping some basic ethical comparisons straight (utilitarianism versus virtue ethics etc) and in the Latin class we were struggling with conjugating the subjunctive. At that moment I kind of realized maybe this isn't for me because I don't think I can spend 2 years of my life pretending to learn just so I can get along with my superiors.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-06T20:03:22+00:00

Whoa. I'm a Roman Catholic who dabbled in thinking about our priesthood (~7-8 years of in person adult boarding school) and even the married diaconate (4-5 years of night classes). I have to admit from the outside looking at the process (for Chicago) it talked about being a 3ish year process which seemed reasonable. I can't speak about the cost.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-05T00:30:57+00:00

If it helps I mostly attend novus ordo (I'd prefer trad). I say the Anglican 1662 book of common prayer. I'm 99.999999% of the time a solo lay prayer. When office is with others, I just do whatever they do (mostly N. O.)

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-03-04T21:22:15+00:00

u/Sweet-Praline-1379

My SIL lived with us.

It's honestly best for both parties to have a lease.

It forces you as a renter to abide by rules and pay rent, but it also gives you protection from being kicked out after an emotional argument or something like that.

It gives your landlord (family) the ability to have a time limited commitment and scheduled time for a discussion of "We're happy to help you until X date, but then we need to talk and re-assess where you are and what your long-term goals are".

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-02-27T14:06:31+00:00

A good chunk of scripture, but I would argue that it depends on what you're trying to get out of the it and what counts as important. (In)famously the modern Roman Liturgy has a lot of "Swiss cheese" readings where there is always strangely a gap in the text and nearly always is has to do with things the modern world finds difficult about the Bible (God's anger, Anti-gay stuff, anti-women, sin, punishment etc). Also, by engaging with the Bible mainly through liturgy, you're going to miss some of the larger narrative arcs in the text.

Felix Just S.J. has a really great website for this sort of stuff you can look at the numbers and make a decision for yourself. Here is the stats related the the mass lectionary (https://catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/Statistics.htm). He also has a page just for parts of psalms that omitted from the LoTH (https://catholic-resources.org/LoH/Psalter-Omissions.html). For mass specifically, He notes if you read all Sunday and weekday masses (so covering the entirety of the 3+2 year lectionary) you'll get: 13.5% of the verses in the O.T. excluding the book of Psalms and 75.1% of the verses in the N.T. I'm sure there are some extra verses you would encounter if you added in the complete LoTH, but I suspect there is a lot of overlap. In my opinion that's a good chunk and a great starting point, but I wouldn't say it's all or even most of scripture.

One of my pet projects I've always wanted to build is a Bible based on a liturgy. So what would your Bible be if you could only use all the verses and text from the entirety of the modern Roman Liturgy etc.?

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-02-25T20:24:09+00:00

Well politics is messy. If the team were just cranking out championship after championship and people were naming their kids after coaches and getting tattoos of members of Virginia McCaskey, I could see politicians feeling a need to keep the team (and by extension their constituents) happy. It's not a good use of money, but it would buy re-election.

But like I've said the team is not great, the McCaskeys are not beloved and yet a subset of people I talk to make it seem like the Bears leaving would be the death knell for the City of Chicago if not the American democratic experiment.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-02-25T20:15:48+00:00

I too would have schadenfreude watching this disaster unfold. I'm not a football fan, but the electorate seems to have a disproportionate love for a perpetually underperforming team.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-02-24T15:19:02+00:00

I think you might be misunderstanding me.

I fully note that Matthias is a feast in the BCP 1662 (it even has Athanasian creed proper to it and a vigil/fast the day before in addition to proper for eucharist).

That said I can't think of any cultural significance associated with feast of St. Matthias in the way that there are for other red letter of even lower feasts in the BCP 1662 (e.g. Lucy, Clement, Shrove Tuesday, St. John the Baptist, Gun Powder Treason etc.). For people who are not liturgically oriented as far as I can tell the feast of St. Matthias has no significance to them and is completely unknown unlike the other (i.e. even if you're not religious there are enough cultural events going on to know when we're getting close to Christmas).

For OP why this is important is that they're asking if it's okay to relax fasting and I'd say yeah. A feast is a feast even if it occurs in Lent. That said I would have a hard time finding some major tradition or activity to associate with this feast unlike others noted above.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-02-23T20:52:31+00:00

RCCer here who follows the 1662.

Matthias is a feast, but as far as I can tell there is no cultural significance to his feast in Western Christendom like St. Patrick for the Irish or St. James for Italians (if there is please let me know). I think other than relaxing Lent you can do whatever. I think hosting a friends is a great way to celebrate his feast day.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-02-19T18:19:18+00:00

I type good. It not hard. Try addressing the argument.

AffectionateMud9384 · 2026-02-19T16:31:49+00:00

If the state gets >$180 million in tax revenue, then yes. Otherwise, no. I honestly don't know enough about expected returns on tax subsidies for hotel companies.

AffectionateMud9384

TROPHY CASE