David Ancell / Thursday, July 29, 2004 / Comments(0)
It appears that I had a VX2 variant of the adware on my computer. It was designed not to be detectable by any current spyware/adware detection programs. If you have this and can’t remove it, check out Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware with VX2 Cleaner plugin. Once I used the plugin, I was able to get rid of the pop-up ads.
I can’t believe that these people are legally allowed to do this. It ought to be considered trespassing. Then again, I don’t know who did it, so pressing charges would be very difficult.
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David Ancell / Wednesday, July 28, 2004 / Comments(0)
Well, it’s my birthday again. I’m not very old (I’m 29.), but I’m now getting to the point where I feel like I can do without more birthdays. Maybe I could stay in my 20’s for a while longer. Oh well, at least I have another year.
On another note, some infernal jerk has installed adware on my computer. I don’t know who did it, but I didn’t ask for it. It started to appear yesterday. I put ZoneAlarm on my computer as well as a couple of anti-spyware programs. The anti-spyware programs didn’t get rid of it, but the ZoneAlarm appears to be preventing it from calling home.
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David Ancell / Tuesday, July 27, 2004 / Comments(0)
Interesting, very interesting . . . .
The feminazis are out crusading to defend the precious “right” of every woman to murder her unborn child in the womb. Are the “women voters” (whomever they may be talking about) really interested? Are they really worried that this precious “right” will be taken from them?
Well, apparently they are not. In fact, the pro-aborts themselves are admitting it. One pro-abort organization took a poll that revealed that 51% of women oppose most or all abortions.
Are you surprised? I’m not really . . . . it’s just part of the trend that I’ve been gratefully observing. It’s kind of like all of those people trying to make the Church “relevant.” No one is really interested in what they are doing. Abortion just isn’t an appealing prospect for women of good sense anymore than false teaching is an appealing prospect for Catholics with good sense. Pray that people will continue to not listen to the pro-aborts and not support their cause. Then, we need only to present them with the Gospel truth if they do not already know it.
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David Ancell / Monday, July 26, 2004 / Comments(0)
I finally made it back from Steubenville last night. I mentioned before that I found that my entire itenerary was cancelled when I arrived at the airport in Memphis. The flight they put me on went pretty well. I had to connect through Cleveland, but it wasn’t much of a problem. The connecting flight was overbooked, but I managed to get on. The plane was a small plane that was very noisy, but kind of fun to fly on.
The trip back was sheer, utter hell. I was set to connect through Atlanta (which I would never do intentionally). The first leg of the trip was supposed to last about an hour and a quarter, arriving at about 9:15 PM. Instead, it arrived in Atlanta at about 12:45 AM. A weather problem kept us in a holding pattern until the plane was almost out of fuel, at which point we and about four other planes had to land in Greenville, South Carolina. We had to just sit there for a long time (I don’t remember how long.) before we finally got back into Atlanta.
Miraculously, my connection plane was still there. It was supposed to leave at 10 PM, but they hung around until about 1:30 AM. It was the most uncomfortable plane ride I’ve ever been on in my life. It was extremely cramped. Fortunately, the flight from Atlanta to Memphis was fairly short.
My problem didn’t end there. To add insult to injury, my luggage apparently didn’t make the trip with me. The lady at the baggage claim office wasn’t able to do much for me because their computer didn’t work. So, I didn’t get a “file number,” as they call them. I called their toll-free number the next morning, and I think I got one of those overseas outsourcing companies. I explained my whole story, including the fact that I didn’t have a file number, and then the rep asked me for the file number that I just told him I didn’t have. He wasn’t very helpful.
To make a long story short, their system still says they don’t have any information on my baggage. However, I have my bags. I called the local office just to see what I could get, and my bags mysteriously appeared at the airport . I’m tempted to continue to monitor the system for my bags to see how long it takes them to figure out that I already picked up my bags.
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David Ancell / Sunday, July 25, 2004 / Comments(0)
Today was the third and final day of the conference. It started off with a conversion story. Unfortunately, I forgot the guy’s name. He was good, though. He was a classmate of Scott Hahn’s in the Calvinist seminary. Rosalind Moss gave the last talk. It was pretty good, but it was kind of hard to tell you what exactly it was about. Maybe it will be clearer when I get the CD set that I ordered. I always get more out of the second time around.
The closing Mass was celebrated by Fr. Michael Scanlan. He gave him homily on prayer and ways to pray. He suggested a way to holiness that consists of five minutes each day of listening to God, and then doing what he says.
They usually take time to talk about the pre-theologate program here. Fr. Scanlan told us about the differences between men and women looking at consecrated life. A man goes in to the pre-theologate saying he is going to be a priest, but often Fr. Scanlan will get his wedding invitation later. A woman shows up with her letter of acceptance to the convent saying she is still discerning.
I’m going to hang around and pray and take pictures of the area. Hopefully, I’ll be back in Memphis tonight, and I can provide more reflections. I’m just praying that all my stuff and the stuff I bought fit in my luggage. It’s the greatest challenge of the conference for me.
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David Ancell / Saturday, July 24, 2004 / Comments(0)
This morning, we were at Mass with Cardinal Arinze celebrating. He was just awesome. I had to listen closely to understand him through his accent, but it was well worth it. He taught us a new term (new to me, anyway) – “ecclesiastical refrigerator.” He told us that the secularists want to keep religion in the Vatican museum or the ecclesiastical refrigerator. As you might expect, most of his talk was on the liturgy. He described people who violate the norms in the name of making the Mass more relevant as not only not knowing what the Mass is about, but also not knowing that they don’t know.
Patrick Madrid took a swipe at my favorite topic/pet peeve – moral relativism. He also did an afternoon workshop that I attended on the lies society tells us. I also heard Ralph Martin again on obstacles to growing in holiness. Of course, both Scott and Kimerly Hahn were there as well.
I spent a total of about two hours waiting in line for confession. Only in Steubenville would this happen. I guess we all know that there should be longer lines in the average confessional.
The evening concluded with the Holy Hour. I was a bit disappointed with part of it. Instead of beginning with O Salutaris Hostia, it began with Michael W. Smith’s Agnus Dei. Now, I like the song, but I wish that we could have sung O Salutaris Hostia first. Likewise, the Holy Hour ended with Salvation Belongs to Our God instead of Holy God We Praise Thy Name, which would have been better. It was, however, great to see Fr. Michael Scanlan whom I had heard so much about.
Jim Cowan has apparently written some new songs that he is trying out this year. These songs appear to be among the better ones he has written. I only wish the recording was out.
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David Ancell / Friday, July 23, 2004 / Comments(0)
It’s late, and I’m back at the hotel after my first day in Steubenville. I had an adventure getting here. I found out at check-in that my flight was cancelled, and so was my return flight. I had to connect through Cleveland instead of getting here directly. The connecting flight was on a plane that couldn’t have held 20 people. I was just waiting to find my baggage or hotel reservation lost, but neither happened.
I missed the first early bird session, but I did get to hear Steve Ray. The title of this topic was The Moral Authority of the Pope. My favorite part of the talk was when he talked about how he responded to people who suggested he leave the Church because of the scandals. He explained that people didn’t leave the country because of the sex scandals in the White House caused by a certain former president.
The evening talks by Ralph Martin and Alex Jones were a bit more difficult to describe. They dealt with our call to personal holiness and evangeliztion. In this day and age, we must not forget that, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.
Anyway, it’s past my bedtime. I’ve got an early morning tomorrow. Mass will be at 8:15 AM with Cardinal Arinze. This is the main attraction as far as I’m concerned. It’s also the reason that I came back here instead of trying something else this year.
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David Ancell / Thursday, July 22, 2004 / Comments(0)
Fr. John Corapi gives one of the best detailed explanations from the Catechism of what constitutes being an accomplice or an accessory to another’s sin. Of course, he is talking about the necessity of voting pro-life. He tackles all of the “arguments” for voting pro-abort head on.
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David Ancell / Thursday, July 22, 2004 / Comments(0)
We have enough problems with people who have broken away from the Church on the grounds that the Church has broken faith without this stuff going on. It only serves to add fuel to their fire.
Now, granted, I’m not advocating that we change the way we do things to please schismatics. However, I have a saying that I once used at a Frassati Society meeting. If you are going to be written off as a kook, at least make sure that the people writing you off don’t have a legitimate reason for doing so.
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David Ancell / Thursday, July 22, 2004 / Comments(0)
Add Bishop Robert Vasa to the list of courageous bishops (link shamelessly stolen from Jeff Miller). I’ve been reading some things about him, and I don’t think that the Diocese of Baker could ask for better. He actually understands that his real superior is the Pope.
The web site has been done in a fashion in which it is difficult to find information, but prior to this I was able to find his letter and Affirmation of Faith that he requires. If this were my diocese, I’d gladly sign it and support my bishop.
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