Baking Bread and Blogging

June 19, 2008
So it is 9:30 p.m. and I am baking bread and blogging. It has been a very long time since I blogged, and I was about to give it up. But I am sufficiently outraged, and I must write.
First, I read about a photography studio in Albuquerque being sued by a lesbian couple because the studio wouldn't do their wedding photos. They just politely declined, but were sued for hate speech or something crazy like that. The link is on catholicity.com. It seems crazy to me, because business is a private enterprise, not a public service. But it is actually part of a trend toward criminalizing acting on your beliefs. Making it a hate crime. Crazy, again.
Then, I read about my lovely Diocese of Richmond, VA being in hot water because apparently some folks in the Catholic refugee office helped an immigrant girl procure an abortion. This was after they helped to get her some contraceptives. Read about this at lifesitenews.com. These employees have been fired, and I think perhaps they should try to find employment at Planned Parenthood. If I wasn't already fed up with this diocese, I certainly am now. It is very liberal and many traditional Catholics have sought out the Maronite Catholic church here in town as a safe haven because of the liberal nature of the Latin rite churches.
Add to this that our Bishop recently gave the homily at my home parish here and failed to mention Christ once. He talked about the younger generation being cafeteria Catholics, though. A real message of hope.
On a lighter note, I celebrated my 13th anniversary this week. Really no big deal as it was in the middle of the week, but the cards were nice. It also happened to coincide with the date in California on which gay couples are legally allowed to wed - June 17. So I will share my anniversary with lots of those folks going forward.
I hope I don't sound hateful. I do not hate anyone. But I do hate that my beliefs are no longer being allowed in the public square. That really riles me. If I choose to follow the magisterium of the Catholic church in matters of faith and morals, that should be just as fine with the world as gay people getting married. But it is not. In the world today, it seems always wrong to say "No" to any behavior. It is only OK to give assent, over and over, until society unravels completely and all we are left with is a pile of string in the floor.
So, what does all this have to do with baking bread? Not much really, except I never expected that I would bake bread or homeschool or crochet blankets or sacrifice any of my wishes to a greater good.
I'm baking bread because tomorrow is the last day of Boy Scout Day Camp and I want to have something to serve with the vegetable soup I already made for dinner as tomorrow is Friday, and I don't eat meat on Friday per Church teaching. I thank God that the Scouts are a Christian organization and my son has truly benefited from his association with them thus far.
Tomorrow will be a day of obstacle courses, climbing walls, and water balloon fights. It will be fun, and I will be there with my camera and my children. And then we will come home and eat something healthy and homemade.