NOW FOR SOME REALLY CONTROVERSIAL ITEMS!

The Church has always experienced division. Jesus, too, cause division during His public ministry. The comments on the previous blog, a record number for this blog, show that when Catholics separate themselves from the Magisterial teachings of the Church, they head for divisiveness and cause rupture. This is the first time I've had to delete quite of few for their mean-spiritness and antipathy toward Holy Mother Church and her teachings in this area. These comments go to prove the main point of the previous post and how secularizing tendencies influence Catholics more today than Scripture, Tradition, Natural Law and Charity! Catholics, wake up and smell the Second Coming! In all of this, nothing is new under the Son, but the Church of Rome continues on with her pope and bishops. Sobering!

I just got back from North Dakota and have to say that they are the friendliest people in the world and the stewardship talks all went fine. Stewardship ultimately means turning our lives over to the Lord Jesus and letting him purify and redeem us. Of course, this means that we believe in the Lord Jesus and what He teaches us in His Holy Catholic Church. But there will always be those who will take exception to one or another of our Lord's teachings and to Jesus Himself. Jesus never forced anyone to believe in Him or to follow Him and neither can the Church. In John's gospel, many of Jesus' followers found Him altogether too much. They didn't try to stay and change Jesus or His community, they acknowledged their disagreement and when unwilling to repent and conform to Christ they moved on. And that's the way it is, for better or for worse.

Some pictures I took with my blackberry:


Remnants of a blizzard from last week, but the weather was warmer there than here on Tuesday! They will be in the 60's this weekend too!

This is a part of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The Bad Lands are a gorge made by the Missouri River over thousands of years. While you really can't tell the depth of this, it is very similar to the grand canyon and goes on for about 150 miles northward. Spectacular beauty. I thought I was on Mars at times!

This is like the Grand Canyon and almost as deep!

I've never was to Montana or North Dakota, but drove up to the sign across state line and now I can say I was to Montana! Made an illegal u-turn on the interstate and head back for North Dakota!

A real wild horse in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and I was beside myself!

Home on the Plain (a real town in N. Dakota) and yes where the buffalo and the antelope play! These are wild ones!

I think these excited me the most, Prairie Dogs on the Prairie. In the national park there were areas with hundreds of these little critters. I've never seen them up close and in person except on TV and they are as cute as buttons.