The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
Last Saturday was graduation day at Thomas More College, and even though our baby graduated last year, we were in attendance for several reasons.
First, we have three faculty members in our household — Phil is director of the Center for the Restoration of Christian Culture and teaches a course in the spring semester, Bridget was the Sacred Music Guild Master this past year, and John, our son-in-law, is the Sacred Art Guild Master and teaches in the Way of Beauty program.
So we had to represent.
That's Kevin Ryan and his wife, Marilyn, on the right, William and Amy Fahey on the left, and Paul Jackson on the far left. William is president of the college, Amy teaches there as well, and Paul is the development director. Kevin received an honorary doctorate to recognize his considerable achievements in furthering the cause of Christian education.
In addition, Phil was asked to give the commencement speech, and he was also awarded an honorary doctorate. You can read about his talk here and watch it if you like. If you want to see a grown man get choked up about the Holy Eucharist…
I love that this is the photo the school shared on its Instagram…
Phil's students loved his class (“Just War”) and asked for a photo:
We had a great time on a beautiful and classic New England spring day (so unlike the chilly dampness of last year!) and we wish the class of 2019 all the best!
I would be happy to answer any questions you might have about the school; if you have high school students, do consider the summer programs and/or a visit in the coming year.
On to our links!
- We just got a dozen chicks! I'm looking forward to a flock again, and my grandchildren are too! We're excited about fresh (and colorful) eggs (white ones too for Deirdre's pysanky), and also for clearing out the ticks. I liked this article on putting chickens to work in the garden.
- A reflection by Cardinal Gerhard Müller on Pope Benedict's assessment of the sexual abuse crisis in the Church and in the world. “The scandal reaches its pinnacle when the blame is not laid upon those breaking God’s commandments, but instead the commandments themselves are made responsible for their transgression: The cause of sin becomes God, who is allegedly overtaxing us.”
- When we consider sacred music and sacred art, we must understand that the whole of salvation history must somehow be embedded in every element — there cannot be expression only of crucifixion or only of triumph in resurrection. Even the Nativity carries within it something of the sacrifice of the cross. We touched on that in our reading of The Spirit of the Liturgy here on the blog; this article examines the same reality: The Paradox of Haec Dies.
- Not to go on and on, but the Thomas More College site hosts a great blog from the school librarian, so all you book lovers, see what you think! Also, Amy Fahey's lecture is the latest one in the Center's series — you'll want to hear her on the state of children's literature.
- Continuing the vaccination discussion: the moral and medical realities of using aborted fetal DNA in vaccines.
From the archives:
- People always ask about good books for their children — what you find in most libraries and most bookstores is truly horrifying and in my view, much of it is downright abusive! Imagine a grocery store for kids that had aisles of sugary cereal, sugar, candy, and a nicely decked out cyanide bar! No, build your own library and feed your child's imagination with good, hearty food for the mind. Here is the page with the book lists I've collected. Don't forget the LMLD Library Project! You can find all the posts here.
- I have a series on what I call “destruction-proofing” your marriage. There are no guarantees in this life, but these are the four factors that I have identified as the necessary foundation for preserving your family intact.
Today marks three feasts: St. Bede the Venerable, priest and doctor; St. Gregory VII, pope; St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, virgin.
Coming up this Thursday, the Solemntiy of the Ascension! If we ever have a chance to update The Little Oratory, I will add a section on this most necessary and beautiful (but sadly neglected, even by us) moment in salvation history! Be sure to celebrate!
While you’re sharing our links with your friends, why not tell them about Like Mother, Like Daughter too!
We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).
Margaret says
One thing that gives me pause about sending children to Thomas More or another similar institution is their prospects after graduation. I absolutely believe that a liberal arts education is an important good in itself, but I also want my children to be able to support themselves and their families. Most people I know who attended small Catholic colleges then go on to get humanities Ph.D.s or work for Catholic organizations, at tiny salaries that leave their spouses and children struggling. What are your thoughts on this?
Katie Lloyd Martin says
Bachelors degrees from any school – not just liberal arts ones – are insufficient now. Most people find they have to go further. Sadly.
My husband and I are graduates of TMC. He is now a physician and feels that TMC gave him an invaluable foundation for his current work. Also he leads a lot of philosophical/theological study groups at our parish which keeps him thinking/building on what we were blessed to get at TMC. Also, as an aside, the faculty there really want their students to succeed after graduation, and they go out of their way to help them in that regard.
Jamie Castillo says
Your family is so beautiful as always. Regarding OBGYNs, I am 40 and have never had one. I only mention this because in our culture, women have been told they HAVE to have an OBGYN for all “down there” care. And sometimes, that is not the case.I stay out of the traditional medical system as much as I can. I used an out-of-hospital midwife for prenatal care and birth, and have had a few “well woman” visits with a family-practice doctor. Anyways, the article was interesting to read. Also, I want to thank you for linking the book Primal Loss a few weeks ago. It has been eye-opening to me, and I regret not taking a firmer stance when my sister-in-law confessed to wanting to divorce her husband. I maintained the “not my business” mode, or “you never know what goes on behind closed doors” attitude and just stayed out of it. I wish I defended her marriage more. Now they are divorced and she left to move in with her boyfriend, leaving her kids and husband behind. And it all just seems sad and unnecessary for all. Her husband is devastated. There is another blogger online called The Transformed Wife, and while she writes more “controversial” posts than you do, and I don’t always agree with her (not agreeing with everything a person writes has never been an issue for me to not continue reading them if I think they overall have something of truth to share) she is a big defender of marriage and talks about female discontentment quite a bit. I guess nowadays 80% of divorces are initiated by women.
Cate Nunan says
Thank you Leila for the link to Dr. Amy Fahey’s talk on children’s literature. I live in Australia and have grown children but am going through the reading process all over again with a sweet baby grand daughter – such a delight! I subscribe to the Reading Aloud Revival podcasts, and then listened to this video and was appalled at what appears to be happening with the books that I, and my own kids, grew up devouring. They shaped us and it is no mystery that our modern, secular world is targeting that younger age group. Amy’s comment that children are not just “tabular rasa” was thought provoking. I would never have found this on my own, so thank you so much.
Michelle says
I am in a bit of shock at my complete ignorance (until I read this link at Children of God for Life) on the abortion tissue connection to vaccines. I do not know how I had never heard this even mentioned. I have been against vac since my 9 year old had seizures after her vacs at birth and 3 mos and I looked into the connections and emailed Dr. Sears for advice in my child’s specific case.
After I followed your link, I also found a list of additional “products” etc. using tissue for research, and was sickened to see Nestle refrigerated coffee creamers listed! We have been buying/using weekly… no more!
Thank you for bringing this issue to the forefront and I will begin doing the research to be more diligent in my choices as we do NOT in any way want to contribute to or support abortion.
Dixie says
WHAT? I had no idea ordinary products like coffee creamer used fetal tissue in their research. Can you link to your source? I’d love to know more.
Michelle says
Hello, the info I got was at the Children of God for Life site linked above re the vaccination discussion.
My family and I immediately decided that we are no longer using ANY Nestle products (Creamer, Ovaltine, Cheerios, candy bars, bottled water) there are a lot of items we had used regularly, but cannot fathom giving that company a single dime as long as they continue using a company called Senomyx for taste testing etc.
Here is the link with a list https://cogforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/fetalproductsall.pdf
All of this was very eye opening and overwhelmingly saddening to say the least.
Veronica McDonald says
Even though this is an older post, I am just chiming in to thank you for including the link to Caritas Women’s Care! Dr. Kargas is my OB-GYN, and I am very thankful to have found the practice.
Veronica McDonald says
Also, I should probably learn to spell check better. I will blame my misspelling of Dr. Karges to infant-induced sleep loss.