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Thursday, April 15, 2010
Photo of the Day, 4/14/2010
Anyone who knows me remotely well knows that I love my high school. So much that I've been on the Alumnae Board for about 6 years now.
Today I amazingly had enough time after a doctor appointment to get to Baldwin a little early for my monthly board meeting. And as I was meandering down the hall looking at some of the student artwork, class projects, and sports updates, I noticed this mosaic.
This mosaic is made up of tiles from each of the members of the class of 2014. It was made 2 years ago, and each tile shows the students' personalities and hobbies and beliefs, and as I was looking at it, I saw the diversity in the student body. Some were musicians, some were athletes, some wrote bible verses, and some wrote in other languages. And then in the middle is the symbol that shows that - despite these differences -they are still all Baldwin girls.
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Today I amazingly had enough time after a doctor appointment to get to Baldwin a little early for my monthly board meeting. And as I was meandering down the hall looking at some of the student artwork, class projects, and sports updates, I noticed this mosaic.
This mosaic is made up of tiles from each of the members of the class of 2014. It was made 2 years ago, and each tile shows the students' personalities and hobbies and beliefs, and as I was looking at it, I saw the diversity in the student body. Some were musicians, some were athletes, some wrote bible verses, and some wrote in other languages. And then in the middle is the symbol that shows that - despite these differences -they are still all Baldwin girls.
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Friday, April 9, 2010
Crisis of Faith
One would have to be living under a rock the last couple of weeks (actually, the last decade or two) to not know that there's a serious crisis going on within the Catholic church. Particularly over the last couple of weeks, I have been struggling to comprehend what I feel about the Catholic church. While sexual abuse by priests is (beyond unfortunately) nothing new, the more and more I hear about these crimes, the more I question the men charged with guiding the Church.
I am a practicing (for the most part) Catholic, although I've always disagreed with some of the tenets of the Church's teachings. I have always been able to look at issues like homosexuality, abortion, contraception, and so many other hot-button issues as topics that I could disagree with the Church about, but still be able to retain my belief and faith in the core values of what the Church teaches us.
Particularly in the weeks leading up to Easter, I had a really difficult time thinking about the significance of the holiday. I couldn't go to church because I'm starting to question the sincerity - the holiness - of the priests who lead the Mass. How can I possibly rely on the leaders of the Church to set the example for me to follow if there's no guarantee that they're leading a Christ-like life?
While I completely understand and believe that there are far, far more good priests than there are pedophile priests, but the growing evidence that for decades, these criminals have been sheltered from prosecution, allowed to continue ministering to their parishes, and have NOT been defrocked sickens me. I wonder what roles the priests that I have respected and admired in the past have played - if any - in this debacle. Father L., my childhood parish priest, the one who baptized me? What about my priest in college, Father R., who served as a grandfatherly figure to so many of his college parishioners. And Cardinal B., who I considered a giant among men. And finally, JPII. A pope who I had the good fortune to bless me not once, but twice. The first of those two times, he actually placed his hand on my head to bless me as my mother held her baby up to him.
But did he play an active role in protecting these priests? What did he know? How could these holy men, the leaders of my faith, decide that protecting these horrible priests was more important than protecting children in the church? How could COVERING THIS UP help the church and its parishioners more than making an example of these criminals and showing that the church that professes to protect the vulnerable actually abides by that philosophy?
One of the other, really terrible side-effects of this is that I wonder if the priesthood was really the right choice for my college friend who is now Father G. While I know that he entered the priesthood with the purest of hearts, the purest of intentions, and a strong desire to both learn more and teach others about his faith, I worry that a dark cloud hangs over him, as one hangs over all of the other GOOD priests in the world. I feel as though I'm losing faith in my religious leaders. And that's not the way that I want to feel. Faith is supposed to give you peace, make you stronger, give you something that you know you can rely on. And I can't do that anymore.
For me, this isn't a debate about whether priests should be allowed to marry, or whether women should be allowed to be priests. That really has nothing to do with it. Rather, it's all about how the Church as an institution has made a massive failure out of its attempts to hold pedophile priests accountable for their actions, both spiritually AND legally. The Church has lost the trust of its followers all over the world, and this is a trust that they'll never be able to get back. And I therefore find myself in the terrible position of trying to figure out what this means for me. I've been asking myself that question for quite some time now, and I'm still nowhere near an answer or solution. Maybe what I do is just bypass the 'intermediaries' and just seek guidance and peace from the man upstairs myself.
I am a practicing (for the most part) Catholic, although I've always disagreed with some of the tenets of the Church's teachings. I have always been able to look at issues like homosexuality, abortion, contraception, and so many other hot-button issues as topics that I could disagree with the Church about, but still be able to retain my belief and faith in the core values of what the Church teaches us.
Particularly in the weeks leading up to Easter, I had a really difficult time thinking about the significance of the holiday. I couldn't go to church because I'm starting to question the sincerity - the holiness - of the priests who lead the Mass. How can I possibly rely on the leaders of the Church to set the example for me to follow if there's no guarantee that they're leading a Christ-like life?
While I completely understand and believe that there are far, far more good priests than there are pedophile priests, but the growing evidence that for decades, these criminals have been sheltered from prosecution, allowed to continue ministering to their parishes, and have NOT been defrocked sickens me. I wonder what roles the priests that I have respected and admired in the past have played - if any - in this debacle. Father L., my childhood parish priest, the one who baptized me? What about my priest in college, Father R., who served as a grandfatherly figure to so many of his college parishioners. And Cardinal B., who I considered a giant among men. And finally, JPII. A pope who I had the good fortune to bless me not once, but twice. The first of those two times, he actually placed his hand on my head to bless me as my mother held her baby up to him.
But did he play an active role in protecting these priests? What did he know? How could these holy men, the leaders of my faith, decide that protecting these horrible priests was more important than protecting children in the church? How could COVERING THIS UP help the church and its parishioners more than making an example of these criminals and showing that the church that professes to protect the vulnerable actually abides by that philosophy?
One of the other, really terrible side-effects of this is that I wonder if the priesthood was really the right choice for my college friend who is now Father G. While I know that he entered the priesthood with the purest of hearts, the purest of intentions, and a strong desire to both learn more and teach others about his faith, I worry that a dark cloud hangs over him, as one hangs over all of the other GOOD priests in the world. I feel as though I'm losing faith in my religious leaders. And that's not the way that I want to feel. Faith is supposed to give you peace, make you stronger, give you something that you know you can rely on. And I can't do that anymore.
For me, this isn't a debate about whether priests should be allowed to marry, or whether women should be allowed to be priests. That really has nothing to do with it. Rather, it's all about how the Church as an institution has made a massive failure out of its attempts to hold pedophile priests accountable for their actions, both spiritually AND legally. The Church has lost the trust of its followers all over the world, and this is a trust that they'll never be able to get back. And I therefore find myself in the terrible position of trying to figure out what this means for me. I've been asking myself that question for quite some time now, and I'm still nowhere near an answer or solution. Maybe what I do is just bypass the 'intermediaries' and just seek guidance and peace from the man upstairs myself.
Photo of the Day, 4/9/2010
I think this might be my earliest PotD yet!
This is what I saw when I walked out my door this morning. THIS is why I love spring!
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This is what I saw when I walked out my door this morning. THIS is why I love spring!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Photo of the Day, 3/31/2010
I'm going to try to capture ALL of the Phanatics across the city! This one is in LOVE Park.
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Photo of the Day, 3/31/2010
This is Spring to me: the sun shining through the new buds on the trees. I actually had a skip in my step as I walked to work today!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Another weekend.
I have found that weekends with plans, I mean, real plans where I have to get up off my rear and go somewhere or do something are the best for me. So, I was really happy when I went to Baltimore last weekend to see the babies. And I decided to go back this weekend, since it was K-bear's birthday, but her mommy is sick, so the birthday festivities have been postponed. And so now I find that the weekend that I was so looking forward to is not happening. And I'm suddenly in a panic because I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my weekend now. I'm in a place where I do better with plans. Otherwise, I spend too much time inside my head, and that's someplace that I just don't want to be.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Photo of the Day, 3/16/2010
This is an update from my last PotD. In case noone was able to identify the building, the photo that I posted was of the big ornate bronze (?) doors on the entrances to the Wachovia Bank building. Now that I work nearby, I walk past that building on a regular basis, and my eyes are always drawn to the details on the front of the building. Almost daily, I stare up at the building and notice something new about it.
So imagine my dismay when I heard on the evening news that there was a fire on the mezzanine level last night. It's now being reported as an electrical fire. But in under an hour, the fire burned so hot that it destroyed some of the windows on the front of the building. It's just so sad to see something of such beauty so damaged. I'm sure that they'll be able to repair the damage, but some parts of the building and the facade are just irreplaceable.
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So imagine my dismay when I heard on the evening news that there was a fire on the mezzanine level last night. It's now being reported as an electrical fire. But in under an hour, the fire burned so hot that it destroyed some of the windows on the front of the building. It's just so sad to see something of such beauty so damaged. I'm sure that they'll be able to repair the damage, but some parts of the building and the facade are just irreplaceable.
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Thursday, March 4, 2010
Photo of the Day (Week? Month?), 3/4/2010
Kudos to anyone who can identify this building.
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- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
What ever happened to the Photos of the Day?
So... I've been really lazy/lax about posting pictures. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, Sometimes I just haven't been in the mood to take pictures. Second, I came up with this idea because I wanted to get more practice using my new D40, but it's impractical for me to have it with me all of the time. And my camera phone and pocked-sized point-and-shoot camera don't really cut it for me. Don't get me wrong -- they're great to have on me for spur-of-the-moment photography, but as I'm trying to think more and more about composition, and picturing in my head how I want my pictures to turn out, it's when I realize that I really need my DSLR. And third, even when I do take pictures with my P&S or DSLR, I still have to download them to my computer, and sometimes that doesn't happen for a couple of days.
So since this experiment is more of a strategy to get me out and trying new things with photography, I'm going to make it more of a Photo of the Week project. That way I'll have far more time to really think about what I want to shoot, and then get the photos from the camera to the computer, and into the cloud.
Here's a photo that I took last week that just made it onto the computer... I'm not sure why I liked it so much, but there's something really neat about how the nighttime lights are so varying and colorful, even if it's impossible to tell what they are.
So since this experiment is more of a strategy to get me out and trying new things with photography, I'm going to make it more of a Photo of the Week project. That way I'll have far more time to really think about what I want to shoot, and then get the photos from the camera to the computer, and into the cloud.
Here's a photo that I took last week that just made it onto the computer... I'm not sure why I liked it so much, but there's something really neat about how the nighttime lights are so varying and colorful, even if it's impossible to tell what they are.
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