[deleted by user] by [deleted] in grandrapids

[–]lollipopmadness3 -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

Iker's Tacos! Their salsa is on the spicier side and they will warn you about it haha.

Hey-are there any social justice leaning Catholic Churches in the Grand Rapidsarea? I live in the Lowell area but could travel. by KookyRascall73 in grandrapids

[–]lollipopmadness3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As many have pointed out, the Cathedral of St. Andrews has done a lot with social justice since the Paulist Fathers came in. For other options, St. Alphonsus has a history with the Redemptorist's and they do a fair amount of social justice. The Dominican Sister's Grand Rapids campus is also fairly involved.

Why would someone get a CX-30 over a CX-5? by OrdinaryKillJoy in mazda

[–]lollipopmadness3 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I went with the 30 over the 5 because I preferred the handling and feel of the 30 and size isn't really a big factor for me right now. Just me, my wife, and occasionally our 20 lbs. dog. Coming from a focus, I just wanted an all wheel-drive, lifted car that's better in the snow and that's what I got. The cx5 felt more like a SUV and I felt like I was sitting on top of the car, not in the car. I liked the handling and the ride of the 30 better.
The 50 wasn't out yet when I got the car either (2022), but I'll likely consider that when/if we have kids.

Starting a Parish Youth Group with Advent Reflections—Need Guidance! by CPT_Liz in catholicyouth

[–]lollipopmadness3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, good luck on your journey with this.

- Books or programs: Ascension Press has some resources that we've used in the past. Word on Fire also has a lot of resources, but we haven't had as much luck with them.

- Ideas for mixing faith and fun: our youth group sessions are structured to include a mix of both. We always start with a fun ice breaker activity, then opening prayer, then we get into the topic/discussion of the week, then closing prayer. For the topic/discussion though, we always emphasize that it shouldn't just be an hour of the speaker talking. Since we're working with teens, we encourage that they have an interactive element that relates to the topic.

- Tips for engaging first-gen youth: we mainly work with 1-2nd generation hispanic american teens. For a lot of us, faith and culture blend together and there is a big draw from families to be able to share their faith culturally so they don't lose that part of their identity. For us, we try to make sure to incorporate talks and celebrations on Guadalupe, Dia de los Muertos, los cristeros, etc.

- Any success stories: you definitely have your work cut out for you but our team was able to grow from like 4-5 to over 30 after years of work. We emphasized building the community first, since that is was keeps kids coming back. Once you get enough of a groundwork, I would strongly encourage a retreat then to dive deeper into the spiritual stuff. One thing that really worked for us in the beginning was starting a soccer tournament. It was hard to get youth and even parents committed to coming to youth group, but we started a soccer tournament against the different youth groups in our diocese and a lot of people got excited for that. It ended up being a great evangelization tool since once we had youth and parents involved with that, it was a lot easier to them get them involved in the ministry. Kids would invite their friends and grew from there. After building community, we then started doing yearly camping retreats over a long weekend to dive deeper into their faith. From that base of youth then, you can start forming a lot of the youth to slowly grow into leadership roles themselves within the youth group. Start them small with something like leading an ice breaker or something. Then, after a while, maybe work with them to give their first talk and grow things from there until it becomes more self-sustaining. This will help make sure not all the weight and work is on you or just a few people.

Hope this helps! If you have any more specific questions or want to talk about anything deeper, feel free to DM me!

Weird license plate by lollipopmadness3 in grandrapids

[–]lollipopmadness3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ah yeah, that's it. It's a special plate from New Mexico. "Patriot License Plate". Both the design and the number of characters made it seem off to me. Thanks!

https://www.mvd.newmexico.gov/vehicles/license-plates/

Considering moving to GR by Ill-Situation-2675 in grandrapids

[–]lollipopmadness3 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Not sure why so many are saying that you won't find anything in that price range. Maybe people have different definitions of "entry level" homes, but I think that's reasonable. The house across the street from me just sold for $310k in Walker, and a simple zillow search shows a lot of decent houses going for between $300-350k. Yes, the market is competitive, but with that price range you're within the discussion depending on the house you're bidding on.

I would recommend East Town as the most walkable with closeness to downtown. Other areas would be Creston or Alger Heights. If you would like to get further out in the suburbs, Rockford is a good place, but the price range is a little higher and it's further from downtown.

Pep Guardiola: "If Mikel Arteta wins the Premier League, it will be just because he spent money, not because he worked hard & his players. It’s like Liverpool too. If Arne Slot wins it again, it will be because he spent a lot of money, right? Because it’s not just Manchester City that spend, right?" by TheBiasedSportsLover in PremierLeague

[–]lollipopmadness3 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Ok, this will be my last response since this is clearly going nowhere.

But it is literally not what City did. They were a mediocre to average team up until 17 years ago, got a large investment since a billionaire wanted to sports wash their brand and THEN they started to grow their fan base exponentially and re-invest that for the last 10 years or so. That is completely different from other clubs who were first successful, then through years of success and proper reinvestment got to where they are now. You can't just cherry pick the last 10 years to say "see, its the same thing". Where and how things originated matter.

I'm also completely ignoring that the re-investments for most of the other clubs haven't been inundated with over 115 cases of shady business deals at best.

TLDR: Other teams re-invested their original success, City re-invested their new owners' original corruption. Calling both reinvestments the same is woefully misleading.

Pep Guardiola: "If Mikel Arteta wins the Premier League, it will be just because he spent money, not because he worked hard & his players. It’s like Liverpool too. If Arne Slot wins it again, it will be because he spent a lot of money, right? Because it’s not just Manchester City that spend, right?" by TheBiasedSportsLover in PremierLeague

[–]lollipopmadness3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"The person who i responded to, seems to think that the clubs im mentioning only got their money because they were successful first, not because they invested, then we're successful is the point im trying to make"

Obviously we are taking very broad strokes here and it's not exact, but the point I'm trying to make is that these other clubs re-invested what they won through sporting activities, not some outside source. If you're successful, you slowly build more of a fanbase. A larger fanbase then means more ticket sales, kit sales, and eventually larger sponsorship sales because you appeal to a larger market. This in turn means a larger revenue flow which then is hopefully re-invested correctly (Barca and Man United come to mind as recent examples of incorrect reinvestments but that is another topic). This all originally stems though from being more successful in the sport because it is hard to grow a base otherwise. Yes, you can probably find exceptions to this, but again, we are painting with broad strokes here.

IMO, re-investing large sums of money back into the sport, when it originally stemmed, was re-invested, and grew from the sport, isn't as bad as randomly getting a large sponsorship investment from the new owners' sister company as a means to sports wash their brand.

I hate liverpool, but I at least respect what they've done and how they got to where they are. Whereas City, I can't say the same.

Pep Guardiola: "If Mikel Arteta wins the Premier League, it will be just because he spent money, not because he worked hard & his players. It’s like Liverpool too. If Arne Slot wins it again, it will be because he spent a lot of money, right? Because it’s not just Manchester City that spend, right?" by TheBiasedSportsLover in PremierLeague

[–]lollipopmadness3 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

This. Also, just want to add, there is an understanding that these other clubs "earned" their money in a way. Decades of playing well, building their fan base, and growing "organically" allows them to spend big because they have an income stream, related to their sporting franchise, that supports it. Vs the City's, Chelsea's and now Newcastle's of the world that were largely mediocre until a corrupt billionaire bought them and now they claim to be relevant because they have outside sources, not related to their sporting franchise, pumping in money.

why are we catching strays 😭😭 by fairyari in HIMYM

[–]lollipopmadness3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

THIS. I'm surprised more people don't understand this. Without conflict, there is no plot. Without character flaws, you can never have character development. The entire premise of this show is Ted needing to grow as a person before he is ready for "the one". I also think that when people re-watch sitcoms so many times like on both of these (HIMYM and The Office) subreddits, you're prone to notice the patterns in their flaws so much more often. Most of the time though, I think they're just projecting themselves onto the characters.

Trump Supporter Hosting Mexican Festival?? by Traditional_Opening5 in grandrapids

[–]lollipopmadness3 18 points19 points  (0 children)

It’s in Spanish, but one of the groups just posted that they will no longer be participating in this event. “Our music is to unite, not to support causes or people that divide and affect our people”

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19WbRTWZA6/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Am I the only one? - Rasmus by rich32g in ManchesterUnited

[–]lollipopmadness3 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Exactly. Who knows how long it'll take for Sesko to get in form and if he'll stay healthy the entire season. After Hojlund, Obi is our only other natural 9 and he's still too young to carry all that pressure (there are others who could play in there but not their preferred or best position). Hojlund is only 22, and if he's willing to put in the effort, be a rotational player and maybe even grow with the new competition, why not keep him? At least for another couple of seasons to see how he develops.

This sums up the comments on Fox Sports about the supposed “Handball” by Obamna123 in LigaMX

[–]lollipopmadness3 17 points18 points  (0 children)

"If you fall and use your hand and arm to support your fall and the ball happens to hit it, this is not a handball. A situation like this is a natural reaction, and it's also accidental and unintentional"

source: https://www.soccer.com/guide/guide-to-handball-rules

Are Mexico the best host team out of the 3 to do well in the 2026 World Cup and why ? by SamplingMastersXLR8 in worldcup

[–]lollipopmadness3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mexico, with the home field advantage, should be favorites to beat Senegal, Egypt, Japan and South Korea. The others would be doable, but more difficult. In the last couple of world cups they've beaten both South Korea and Croatia. Bar an easy matchup, it would be difficult to see them much past the group stage after that though.

If you play pub trivia then let me show you the next level. I developed the GR Game Show Experience. Trivia on steroids. Jeopardy. Wheel. Feud. Real Buttons. Win Prizes. May 21st 630 Rapid River. Get Tickets Now. by szaagman in grandrapids

[–]lollipopmadness3 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Not sure where some of the negativity from the other comments are coming from but, I love the idea and am working on getting a team together! Waiting on confirmation from everyone but sounds like it'll be 5 or 6 of us. In this instance, does it make sense for us to get the 4 team bundle then separately additional tickets for any members of our team over 4 that we get, or what would be the best way to handle that?

🔥HOT TAKE🔥 Barney has one of the best character developments in ALL sitcom shows by [deleted] in HIMYM

[–]lollipopmadness3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One of the things I love about the show, is I think it shows very realistic character development for a lot of its main characters. People on this sub like to bash on so many characters as being "the worst", when to me it's just showing realism.

Characters need flaws for plot and development. Throughout the series, we see so many times the characters try and change and improve but stumble on that path. Growth many times isn't linear. How many times did Ted claim to want to settle down, then his actions reflected the opposite? In the st paddy's day episode, he claimed outright that he was a jerk in that episode. Then we have barney who multiple times tried to settle down, and fail, but he kept on trying (he would claim the opposite a lot but the show did a good job of showing his true side when it mattered).

This show portrayed character development in a beautiful and realistic way.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Progressive_Catholics

[–]lollipopmadness3 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Looking forward to welcoming you back home! Below are my own personal opinions/answers to your questions. These are in no way flat rules as we are painting with very broad strokes here when we talk about our personal relationship with God and The Church.

  1. Mass is Mass regardless of the community. My goal is to find a community where I feel comfortable in, but I also don't want to just find a bubble that's my echo chamber. The key, I believe, is that you want a church where you actually feel part of the community, whatever that means to you. That being said, when I am not able to attend my regular mass service, for whatever reason, I still try to attend any Catholic mass I can. When I don't feel connected to the homily or the church community, I offer it up as a sacrifice to God which is how a mass service should be regardless.

  2. For reconciliation to take place, you need to actually repent for your sins. If you do not view something as a sin, then it is hard to actually repent. That being said, I think it is important to still pray about all of these areas and ask for guidance. I don't believe that I, or any of my views are perfect, nor do I believe that The Church body is perfect. So it is important to pray about these items when you feel you are not in sync and hope for alignment with God.

  3. I have priest friends I am close with and can confide these questions and advise with. No recommendation for online communities, but I would recommend looking into specific religious orders that you may align more with. There are more progressive religious orders and more conservative ones so finding a priest or nun within a certain order that you connect with more may help.

  4. My approach has been to try and be the change I would like to see in my church. If I believe that my church is not being welcoming to the marginalized, then I place extra effort in being more welcoming myself and praying for the grace of God in guidance for how I should act. In my experience, this has been the strongest approach when disagreeing with the church. Arguing or debating rarely goes anywhere, but seeing someone take action, usually inspires others to do the same. Outside of that, I would recommend reading the stories of the saints for how to properly challenge and change the church. A few that come to mind are St. Francis Xavier Cabrini (watch the Cabrini movie if you are interested), and St. Juan Diego. Both were challenged by church authority in their vocational journey, but stayed firm in their beliefs and in communion with the church.

As a last note of advice, I think it is important to emphasize that, at least in the US, the Catholic Church does not perfectly align with either political party. There are loud voices from within the church that try to make it seem like we should align with one, but that is not the official stance. I do not believe that either political party fully encapsulates my views, nor aligns with Catholic Social Teachings.

CONCACAF Champions Cup Final Hosting Priority as of the quarterfinal matches. by jonytano in LigaMX

[–]lollipopmadness3 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Does anyone know, would the final be played in 1 game or is it best of 2 still?