Saturday, the Solemnity of All Saints TLM

Note to all who are interested:

My pastor will be celebrating Holy Mass according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (aka Traditional Latin Mass) for the Solemnity of All Saints this Saturday, November 1st, at 10:00am at St. Theresa's in Sugar Land.

Mass will be celebrated in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite at 8:30am.

Thought this was good, from MSNBC of all places



Some studies suggest that more than 90% of all babies diagnosed with Down's Syndrome are aborted.

The Swift-Boating of Joe the Plumber

Watching what the media has done to Joe Wurzelbacher is sickening. From Mark Shea:

So poor old Joe the Plumber is minding his own business when Obama walks past and they end up having a too-candid-for-the-candidate moment. As is only possible in our media-soaked culture of insta-fame, the guy suddenly become The Face of the Common Man, McCain's Last Best Hope and the Fear of the Dems.

So, overnight you get:

- Andrew Sullivan at the "Atlantic Monthly" insisting he's not really a plumber, because he doesn't have a license, followed by post after post aiming to destroy the guy (sandwich in between post after post demanding to know who Trig Palin's mother *really* is).

- A news report from Bloomberg saying Joe has a $1,200 tax lien against him.

- KOS searching the tax records to find the tax lien, and going a step further by publishing Joe's home address.

- "Democratic Underground" publishing any rumor they can get and soliciting more: "Feel free to post your own JOE THE PLUMBER facts, links and trivia. I have a good nose for bull shit and man my bull shit detector is off the dial right now with this guy."

This is the punishment meted out to a guy for speaking his mind to the Son of God. Coming soon to an Obama critic near you.

I am surprised that the mainstream media felt so threatened by this guy -- a guy who is not running for President! So, you have to have all of your finances in perfect order before you can ask a candidate a "real" question? Or perhaps the lesson is you can't ask a question for which you think the candidate might shoot himself in the foot on camera. Maybe the lesson is that it is wrong to question Dear Leader period.

*throwing hands up in air*

Precious Venus

Homer has it right:



... because aside from the Glorious Feast of All Saints (Nov. 1), Halloween is really just about the candy.

Theology of the Body with Brian Mullady, O.P.

Seminar on "Theology of the Body"
... in the thought of Pope John Paul II.
with Fr. Brian Mullady, O.P.

Saturday, October 25th
9:30 A.M.—3:00 P.M.

St. Theresa Catholic Church
115 Seventh Street
Sugar Land, TX

The Adult Education Committee presents a seminar on "The Theology of the Body," reflections based on the teachings of Pope John Paul II on the human person. Fr. Brian Mullady, O.P., a renowned professor and preacher will clarify the teaching of Pope John Paul II and help us to apply it in our own lives. There will be three presentations during the course of the day:

• The Original Unity of Man and Woman
• Blessed are the Pure of Heart
• Marriage and Celibacy for the Kingdom

Fr. Brian Thomas Becket Mullady is the son of an Air Force officer and was raised throughout the United States. He entered the Dominican Order in 1966 and was ordained in Oakland, California in 1972. He has been a parish priest, high school teacher, retreat master, mission preacher and university professor. He received his Doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD) from the Angelicum University in Rome, Italy and was professor there for six years. He has taught at several colleges and seminaries in the United States. He is an academician of the Catholic Academy of Science. He most recently was a Professor of Theology at Campion College in San Francisco and now preaches parish missions and retreats. He has had five series on Mother Angelica's EWTN television network. He is the author of two books and numerous articles. He is the author of the Question and Answer column in Homiletic and Pastoral Review. He is the Theological Consultant to the Institute on Religious Life.

Did you miss the 2008 Federal Election...

... in Canada?

Last month, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked that the former Canadian Parliament be dissolved, and a new election was scheduled for October 14th, which was last Tuesday. In this election, Harper was able to pick up 19 more seats in the Canadian House of Commons for his Conservative Party (up from 124 seats), but it was still shy of a full majority (155 out of 308 seats). Harper's Conservative Party was brought into power in 2006 after twelve years of government by the Liberal Party of Canada.

Prior to the election, the "top" federal party leaders got together in debates in both English and French. The party leaders include current Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party, Stéphane Dion of the Liberal Party, Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Québécois, Jack Layton of the New Democratic Party, and Elizabeth May of the Green Party.

Here is a clip from the English-language debate. Sound familiar?



Here is a clip from the French-language debate. Can you tell who isn't a native speaker in the group?



Honestly, I followed the Canadian election more out of sheer curiosity, a welcome distraction from American politics. And about the debates - I prefer this debate format. Sit the party leaders around the table. Video cameras, no audience. Of course, they all went after Harper. But notice how real things were discussed. It makes our system of debates seem primitive by comparison.

Melissa Ohden, Abortion Survivor

Courtesy of Feminists for Life:



Melissa Ohden speaks about being aborted at five months gestation. Melissa survived a saline abortion and was placed in a neonatal unit, where her parents found her and adopted her. Today Melissa works in a social welfare agency in the Midwest.

This spring Melissa gave birth to a baby girl in the same hospital, the same maternity ward, where she had been aborted

Mike Wallace and Margaret Sanger

Carl Olson points us to this 1957 Mike Wallace interview with racist eugenicist Margaret Sanger, who founded the American Birth Control League, which, of course, was later renamed to Planned Parenthood. In the interview, she takes on a number of things, including the Catholic Church, who opposed her efforts for government legislation for birth control in a big way (and still does). Back then, she claimed that increased birth control would eliminate the need for abortion. Of course, because of the effect birth control had on the overall value of sex (and sex within marriage), and because people like Bernard Nathanson and Larry Lader managed to convince the feminist movement that abortion was an issue of women's rights, the opposite became true.

Sanger was a proponent of negative eugenics, outbreeding of ethnic minorities, the poor, and those with disabilities. I don't know if you've noticed, but most Planned Parenthood clinics are in the poorer areas of most communities, and it isn't because the real estate is better in those places.

Prayers for America and Her Leaders

Lay Dominican The Practicing Catholic takes the right approach.

I prayed this [prayer] especially on behalf of our civil leaders and those running for office:

Wisdom 9:1-6,9-11

God of my fathers, Lord of Mercy,
You who have made all things by Your word
and in Your wisdom have established man
to rule the creatures produced by You,
to govern the world in holiness and justice,
and to render judgment in integrity of heart:

Give me Wisdom, the attendant at Your throne,
and reject me not from among Your children;
for I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid,
a man weak and short-lived
and lacking in comprehension of judgment and of laws.

Indeed, though one be perfect among the sons of men,
if Wisdom, who comes from You, be not with him,
he shall be held in no esteem.

Now with You is Wisdom, who knows Your works
and was present when You made the world;
who understands what is pleasing in Your eyes
and what is conformable with Your commands.

Send her forth from Your holy heavens
and from Your glorious throne dispatch her
that she may be with me and work with me,
that I may know what is Your pleasure.

For she knows and understands all things,
and will guide me discreetly in my affairs
and safeguard me by her glory.

No matter who becomes president, he will need wisdom from above… I just hope he is open to receiving it.

No Way, No How, Nobama!

I posted on this back in March.

Barack Obama spoke to Planned Parenthood on 7/17/07.



"broader struggle for women's equality"?

During the Q&A session, which is not shown in this video, Obama declares:

"The first thing I'd do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act."

Support the work of Democrats for Life to fight the suppression of the pro-life voice in the Democratic party. Promote viable Democratic candidates to provide Americans with solid options!

To use a well worn cliche, it's time to turn the page on Barack Obama.

The Rule of the Dominican Laity

I had been contemplating all week about writing about my reflections on the Rule employed by the Dominican Laity (Latin: Regula Fraternitatum Laicalium Sancti Dominici), but Tom beat me to it! So I'll just refer to him, at least for now:

The current Rule of the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic was definitively approved by the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes on January 15, 1987. This is the fifth Rule for Lay Dominicans, with the others being approved in 1972 (on an experimental basis), 1964 (in response to Vatican II), 1923 (in response to the 1917 Code of Canon Law), and 1405 (the year formal papal approval was first obtained). The 1405 Rule is essentially the one by Munio de Zamora, OP, written in 1285 to supersede the many Rules written by and for the individual fraternities that sprang up around Dominican houses in different cities.

The official Rule is, of course, written in Latin. The story of translating this Rule into English is long and dull -- unlike the Rule itself, which is short and (in its way) surprising. The Latin text, along with some introductory material and an English translation made by "a team of Latinists of the English Province of Dominican friars," can be found here.

Since my Lay Dominican Chapter is reviewing the Rule according to a new translation (not yet on-line) -- more accurate than the one I'd promised to live according to for life several years back, less Latinate than the one the English friars produced -- I thought I'd post some comments on the Rule on my blog.

As mentioned above, the Rule itself is short, less than five pages leisurely formatted. This is consistent with the let's-get-on-with-it spirit of St. Dominic, who adopted the relatively brief Rule of St. Augustine for his new Order of Friars Preachers. In fact, without the animating spirit of St. Dominic, the Rule of his Lay Fraternities has no real life of its own. Those who promise to live according to this Rule, then, must take care that they don't substitute some other spirit -- or worse, inform their accord with no spirit at all and let it remain a dead thing.

I'm glad he brought up the issue regarding the translation of the Rule. The Dominican Laity Inter-Provincial Council met recently to review a uniform English translation of the Rule. Up until this point, the translation we had been referring to in the Southern Province was actually slightly different than the one used by the Eastern Province, and so on. The more I study the Rule, the more I appreciate its spirit. Tom is fundamentally correct: The Rule is short, flexible, and to-the-point, animated by Dominic's own spirit.

Cardinal DiNardo in Galveston

Rocco reports on this article from the Houston Chronicle on Cardinal DiNardo's mass in Galveston this past Sunday. I was downtown in Houston on Saturday morning for our work with the homeless community; while things appear to be coming back to life (power restored to much of the city, high-rise windows very obviously boarded up, a few streets blocked off), there is still much work to be done. But Galveston obviously fared much worse.

The archdiocese has set up a recovery fund for donations, but there are still many avenues to help.

Dilbert!

Understanding Verner's Law

Prof. Richard Nokes of Troy University takes us on an odyssey that is Verner's Law, revealing, of course, that language change is more regular than chaotic. Prof. Nokes links to three simple videos that explain it for us:

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:

A 269 tie - Electoral College Doomsday?

Or so reports Joseph Curl of the Washington Times.

President Obama, with Vice President Palin? President Biden? President Pelosi? Call them the "Doomsday" scenarios -- On Nov. 5, the presidential election winds up in a electoral-college tie, 269-269, the Democrat-controlled House picks Sen. Barack Obama as president, but the Senate, with former Democrat Joe Lieberman voting with Republicans, deadlocks at 50-50, so Vice President Dick Cheney steps in to break the tie to make Republican Sarah Palin his successor.

It seems like every election season, someone brings up all the wild scenarios. Even though the results are sure to be close this time, chances are they won't be too extraordinarily surprising.

Hurricane Ike: Physical vs. Moral Evil

From my pastor in this week's parish bulletin:

The last week has been a vivid reminder of the fragility of human life and of our dependence upon the human technology that has made our lives easier and richer. As hurricane Ike plowed through our area, most of us lost power, the ability to communicate through telephone and internet, and wreaked havoc on our property and lives. At the same time, we are conscious of the fact that so many people have suffered far worse than we, losing their homes, livelihoods, and even their lives. We should be grateful that we were spared the brunt of the storm, and we do well to continue to pray for those who still have many months of hardship ahead of them.

We wonder about suffering because we know that God provides for us. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encourages us to trust in the providential care of God: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?'... Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well" (Mt. 6:31-33).

Our trust in God, however, does not allay the tension that evil introduces into our understanding of the divine. Catholic theology understands evil in two ways. There is physical evil and there is moral evil. Physical evil refers to the incompleteness of the physical world. In this sense, evil is regarded as a privation or imperfection. The world that God created is not perfect in the sense of being complete.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this imperfection by saying, "with infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world 'in a state of journeying' toward its ultimate perfection. In God's plan this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect, [and] both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good there exists also physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection" (CCC, no. 310).

In addition to physical evil, there is also moral evil. This category is usually what we refer to when we speak about evil. Moral evil is rooted in the decisions made by free creatures, angels and men.

As creatures made in the image and likeness of God, we have been endowed with an intellect and a will. The intellect is one's capacity to know the good. The will is one's capacity to choose the good. Of course, the opposite is also possible. One can pursue and embrace what is evil.

If the created world is "in a state of journeying," so is the human race. This is expressed in the Catechism: "Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil (emphasis added). He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it" (CCC, no. 311).

Could God have created a world without the possibility of moral evil? Yes, but it would be a creation without angels or humanity. Without free will, man would be nothing more than an animal, or worse, like a robot or machine. Without free will, we would also be incapable of good, and would act purely on instinct, as the lower creatures do.

How should we respond to the existence of evil in the world? St. Paul has a remedy. In the Letter to the Romans, the Apostle encourages us: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom 12:21). The existence of evil in the physical world and in the human heart forces us to consider that we cannot be morally neutral. The antidote to evil is our resolve to become saints and to increase the weight of good in the world.

The Purity of God's Word

From the Holy Father's message at Vespers to young seminarians and religious at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris (Friday, Sept. 12th, 2008):

In a particular way, men and women religious and all consecrated persons draw life from the Wisdom of God expressed in his word. The profession of the evangelical counsels has configured you, dear consecrated persons, to Christ, who for our sakes became poor, obedient and chaste. Your only treasure – which, to tell the truth, will alone survive the passage of time and the curtain of death – is the word of the Lord. It is he who said: “Heaven and earth will pass away; my words will not pass away” (Mt 24:35). Your obedience is, etymologically, a “hearing”, for the word obey comes from the Latin obaudire, meaning to turn one’s ear to someone or something. In obeying, you turn your soul towards the one who is the Way, and the Truth and the Life (cf. Jn 14:6), and who says to you, as Saint Benedict taught his monks: “Hear, my child, the teaching of the Master, and hearken to it with all your heart” (Prologue to the Rule of Saint Benedict). Finally, let yourselves be purified daily by him who said: “Every branch that bears fruit my Father prunes, to make it bear more fruit” (Jn 15:2). The purity of God’s word is the model for your own chastity, ensuring its spiritual fruitfulness.

Lehman's Non-Electric Catalog

Lehman's is known for its non-electric items, both vintage as well as modern. In light of recent events, their catalog might be a good thing to own if you are looking to get through a power outage, camping trip, or anything else. Coffee maker, goat cart, grass scythe, hoof trimmer, man-powered lawn mower. It's all there. Their catalog even has a special chapter, "How to Live without Electricity - And Like It."

Irish Dominicans



The Dominican History blog presents the reception of the Dominican habit in Limerick, Ireland, 2008.

Civil War Schooner uncovered by Hurricane Ike?

The AP reports:

When the waves from Hurricane Ike receded, they left behind a mystery: a ragged shipwreck that archeologists say could be a two-masted Civil War schooner that ran aground in 1862 or another ship from 70 years later.

The wreck, about 6 miles from Fort Morgan, had been partially uncovered when Hurricane Camille cleared away sand in 1969.

Researchers at the time identified it as the Monticello, a battleship that partially burned when it crashed trying to get past the U.S. Navy and into Mobile Bay during the Civil War.

After examining photos of the wreck post-Ike, Museum of Mobile marine archaeologist Shea McLean agreed that it is probably the Monticello, which ran aground in 1862 after sailing from Havana, Cuba, according to Navy records.

Our Lady and the Jewish Author

So the pope was recently in Lourdes, France, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions at Lourdes and the message delivered through St. Bernadette Soubirous. I thought I would recall the "personal preface" to the best-selling historical novel, The Song of Bernadette, written by Jewish author Franz Werfel:

In the last days of June 1940, in flight from our mortal enemies after the collapse of France, we reached the city of Lourdes. The two of us, my wife and I, had hoped to be able to elude them in time to cross the Spanish frontier to Portugal. But since the consuls unanimously refused the requisite visas, we had no alternative but to flee back with great difficulty to the interior of France on the very night on which the National Socialist troops occupied the border town of Hendaye. The Pyrenean départements had turned into a phantasmagoria -- a very camp of chaos. The millions of this strange migration of peoples wandered about on the roads and obstructed the towns and villages: Frenchmen, Belgians, Dutchmen, Poles, Czechs, Austrians, exiled Germans, and, mingled with these, soldiers of the defeated armies. There was barely food enough to still the extreme pangs of hunger. There was no shelter to be had at all. Anyone who had obtained possession of an upholstered chair for his night's rest was an object of envy. In endless lines stood the cars of the fugitives, piled mountain-high with household gear, with mattresses and beds; there was no gasoline to be had. In Pau a family settled there told us that Lourdes was the one place where, if luck were kind, one might still find a roof. Since the famous city was but thirty kilometres distant, we were advised to make the attempt and knock at its gates. We followed this advice and were sheltered at last.

It was in this manner that Providence brought me to Lourdes, of the miraculous history of which I had hitherto had but the most superficial knowledge. We hid for several weeks in the Pyrenean city. It was a time of great dread. The British radio announced that I had been murdered by the National Socialists. Nor did I doubt that such would be my fate were I to fall into the hands of the enemy. An article of the Armistice provided that France turn over certain civilians to the National Socialists. Who could these civilians be but those who had fought the modern pestilence in the days of its modest beginnings? In my friends' eyes I read the same conviction, although their words sought to calm me. A few of the initiated pretended to know the number of those who were to be turned over and the very order of their documented names. At such moments the boundary between rumour and fact is obliterated. The most sublime stubborn reports predicted again and again the conqueror's occupation of the Pyrenees on the following day. Each morning when I woke up it was in ignorance as to whether I was still a free man or a prisoner condemned to death.

It was, I repeat, a time of great dread. But it was also a time of great significance for me, for I became acquainted with the wondrous history of the girl Bernadette Soubirous and also with the wondrous facts concerning the healings of Lourdes. One day in my great distress I made a vow. I vowed that if I escaped from this desperate situation and reached the saving shores of America, I would put off all other tasks and sing, as best I could, the song of Bernadette.

This book is the fulfilment of my vow...

I have dared to sing the song of Bernadette, although I am not a Catholic but a Jew; and I drew courage from this undertaking from a far older and far more unconscious vow of mine. Even in the days when I wrote my first verses I vowed that I would evermore and everywhere in all I wrote magnify the divine mystery and the holiness of man -- careless of a period which has turned away with scorn and rage and indifference from these ultimate values of our mortal lot.

Franz Werfel, Los Angeles, May 1941

Anne Rice: Called Out of Darkness

Anne Rice discusses her recently written memoirs, particularly pointing out the elements of her childhood that not only influenced her writing, but also aided her in her return home:

Baptism's Indelible Mark

We profess that baptism permanently configures one to Christ and to His priesthood. CCC 1272:

Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, Baptism cannot be repeated.

The indelible seal is also spoken of with respect to confirmation, which is intrinsically linked to baptism, and Holy Orders, which configures one to the priesthood of Christ in a particular way. CCC 1121:

The three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders confer, in addition to grace, a sacramental character or "seal" by which the Christian shares in Christ's priesthood and is made a member of the Church according to different states and functions. This configuration to Christ and to the Church, brought about by the Spirit, is indelible, it remains for ever in the Christian as a positive disposition for grace, a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and as a vocation to divine worship and to the service of the Church. Therefore these sacraments can never be repeated.

Does this indelible mark overrule the will or necessarily eliminate one's proclivity toward sin? No.

Cardinal DiNardo on Hurricane Ike

From the Archdiocesan website:

Last weekend Southeast Texas experienced a very strong storm. Hurricane Ike has affected us all and has caused massive damage to our coastal communities, especially to the city of Galveston and the Bolivar peninsula. Many people have lost everything; many others have been seriously affected. The lack of power and fuel has been of real concern. These realities are very hard on families, some who have evacuated others who remain here and are pressed for food and water.

We put our trust in the Lord and make significant efforts to help one another. Our Catholic Charities and Societies of St. Vincent de Paul were already operating on the Sunday after the storm in various ways. We cooperate with the civil authorities. In all things patience is the operative virtue. Our hearts go out to all the people in Galveston and to the severe disruption this storm has caused. Our prayers and our support will be with all the faithful in Galveston and Bolivar.

As far as the celebration of weekend Masses, the decision to open a given parish is that of the Pastor after he has reviewed the damage and the ease of access to the buildings. Where the celebration of Mass cannot happen the faithful are excused from their Sunday obligation...

My conviction and hope are that our Catholic community will rise to the occasion with genuine care for the other. Volunteers are needed throughout the area; Catholic Charities is particularly in need of volunteers. Be attentive to neighbors, especially the elderly. Share your goods. Let us be an example of good witness under the fire of some adversity.

Also, an interview with the Sioux City Journal:

HOUSTON — Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo said people are in high spirits while dealing with the loss of power and other devastation Hurricane Ike has dealt to the gulf region.

DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, who was the former bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City for five years, said even though the hurricane is a category two, the destruction has taken its toll on the people of Houston and Galveston.

“This was a hurricane, category two,” DiNardo said. “But, it was so big and when you have a big thing like that I don’t care what category it is. It’s rough and the winds were pretty consistent. If you have eight to 10 hours in Galveston of 105 mile per hour winds that’s heavy stuff.”

He said shock is the best way to describe people’s reaction in Galveston and residents in Houston are used to bad weather but this situation is trying their patience.

More from the archdiocese on what we can do to help. And did I mention giving blood?

Of course, things like this are easy to overlook if you're determined to overlook them.

In case you haven't figured out...

The Internet has now been restored in my neck of the woods... but it's relatively minor compared to the thousands who are still without power, including families just north of us across the Brazos River.

The gates of hell shall not prevail...

Jeff Culbreath posts this recent video showing a group of young adult Catholics in Argentina praying the rosary and defending their Cathedral from a rabid gathering of folks from the pro-abortion Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres in Neuquén.

Strange Maps

Matthew over at Holy Whapping pointed out one of the best blogs ever: The Strange Maps blog.

The world as seen from Paris:


Country Music's Favorite States:



Poor Florida :(

The Catholic Computer Scientist

Computer Scientist Dr. Thursday says it better than I can, and from a Chestertonian point of view:

You, courageous reader, must often wonder why a computer scientist deals with Chesterton, DNA, fiction, astronomy, Catholicism, Latin and Greek, children's stories, and all the other odd things I mention from time to time. Speaking strictly from the professional, rather than from the personal, view, it is simple to explain. Computer science might be (in a broad sense) called "applied mathematics", or perhaps the Engineering branch of the Mathematical Science... it is applied, you see, to anything and everything which may need or benefit from its assistance. Clearly I do not use software to make my coffee, or my brownies, or to select the colours for my artwork, or to assist me when I go to Holy Mass, or to write poetry. But computing is a Chestertonian discipline, indeed a catholic discipline, unlike most other branches of engineering. It has come to serve, and so it has the Chestertonian perspective of things. (Of course it is possible I am merely trying to explain how my Catholicism has "leavened" my profession, but such things are beyond analysis.)

This is why I love the Catholic faith :) The computer scientist in me flavors everything I do; even so, my Catholic Christianity makes me a better computer scientist.

Help for Hurricane Ike Aftermath

There are plenty of organizations that are doing great things to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston points out some things folks can do to donate to recovery efforts. You can also give blood.

I work with folks who still don't have power or water. Some areas won't get power restored for weeks.

Why did Ike get so large?



Dr. Jeff Masters analyzes this question.

Hurricane Ike grew unusually large, eventually filling up the entire Gulf of Mexico and becoming larger than Katrina. How did it get so big? Well, one theory is that the storm's passage over Cuba helped it to grow in size. During the day and half the eye of Ike traversed Cuba, the thunderstorm activity near the center was suppressed by land. However, a large portion of the storm was over the exceptionally warm waters of the Loop Current on either side of Cuba. Since the storm couldn't put any energy into intensifying and maintaining its core, the energy pulled out of the Loop Current went into expanding and intensifying the outer portions of the storm that were over water. When Ike finally emerged into the Gulf of Mexico, its scale had been reset to this new larger size, and the storm was able to maintain the new scale. A similar transition to a new larger scale also occurred to Hurricanes Katrina and Andrew after they passed over South Florida.

Aftermath: Hurricane Ike

We survived the hurricane with relatively little damage; our yard was littered with broken tree limbs, leaves, and moss. No damage to our house that we can tell. We lost power by 10pm Friday night, and it was restored to us by 3pm on Saturday. We were incredibly fortunate, as many thousands around the Houston area are still without power and will be even for the next couple of weeks. Lots of downed trees around our neighborhood. By 4am Saturday morning, the wind seemed to be at its highest intensity around our house. The radio confirmed at that time that the eye was passing over downtown Houston, 30 minutes northeast of us.

The Irresponsible Media

Here in the Houston area, there has been a very careful evacuation plan for those who are most vulnerable to Hurricane Ike and, in particular, those who are directly exposed to the massive storm surge that is expected. Houston is the 4th largest city in the nation, and nobody certainly wants a repeat of the disaster that resulted from the panicked evacuation during Hurricane Rita in 2005.

This afternoon, I saw some goon on CNN exhorting all of the 5-6 million residents in the Houston metro area to evacuate. "If my family were in Houston, I'd get them out now!" he said, in a panicked tone. This is the type of over media hype we don't need. The local government is carrying out a measured plan of evacuation to ensure that those who are most vulnerable are able to leave in as orderly a fashion as possible. Residents need to heed what their local government and county tells them to do, not some goon on CNN who thinks he knows the local situation.

If any of my readers are curious as to what's going on, I would encourage you to keep tabs online at a place like Weather Underground rather than CNN or FoxNews who love the sensational news a major storm always brings.

Remembering September 11th, 2001

O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths and traditions,
who gather today at this site,
the scene of incredible violence and pain.

We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to all who died here --
the heroic first-responders:
our fire fighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel,
along with all the innocent men and women
who were victims of this tragedy
simply because their work or service
brought them here on September 11, 2001.

We ask you, in your compassion
to bring healing to those
who, because of their presence here that day,
suffer from injuries and illness.

Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families
and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy.
Give them strength to continue their lives with courage and hope.

We are mindful as well
of those who suffered death, injury, and loss
on the same day at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Our hearts are one with theirs
as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.

Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.

God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.

Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost here
may not have been lost in vain.

Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.

The prayer of Pope Benedict XVI during his recent visit to the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Hurricane Ike Update

The computer models appear to be converging just north of Matagorda Bay for landfall.

Hurricane Ike

Ike is getting close. Coastal counties up and down the coast have already issued mandatory evacuations. The computer models have been varying wildly over the last 24 hours, so at this point, the location at which Ike will make landfall is still not certain. Most likely, it will hit between Corpus Christi and Houston on Friday night/Saturday morning. While coastal communities are fleeing, many folks around here don't seem to be taking it too seriously. History has shown, of course, the folly of that line of thinking. I should note, however, that the evacuation for Hurricane Rita in 2005 was its own disaster that resulted in loss of life. We are inland quite a ways, and while our county isn't technically an "evacuation county", we can still expect hurricane force winds and a lot of rain depending upon the location of landfall.

One little scary bit: Google Maps currently has Ike going directly over my office:


View Larger Map

NHC and Weather Underground aren't that precise :) Oh, and I'd like to plug the blog of Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground.