We have a winner of the giveaway of the signed copy of my new book! If it is you, an email will be wending its way, so look for it!
Thank you all for your kind and encouraging comments about God Has No Grandchildren! You really know how to make a gal's week! Now my turn:
For this week only, receive 20% off your order of God Has No Grandchildren from Arouca Press! Use the code PiusXI (case sensitive) to receive a 20% discount on the book. This offer is good until June 14th!
And — I had an idea…
How about this? If you organize a reading group to study Casti Connubii using my guided reading, God Has No Grandchildren, I will join you via some form of online conferencing (like Zoom or whatever platform you prefer if I can make it work) for your last meeting!
I will talk to your group, if you like, for free! It will be fun! You can gather your thoughts and questions and arguments and we can have a good talk for about an hour or so.
I can offer this online get-together to 10 groups. (I charge $$$ for an online conference, so this is quite a giveaway!)
Email me at LMLDblog@gmail.com to set it up. First come, first served!
Remember: for this week only, receive 20% off your order of God Has No Grandchildren from Arouca Press! Use the code PiusXI (case sensitive) to receive a 20% discount on the book. This offer is good until June 14th! (To apply the code, go to the shopping cart after you have entered your selections and see “What would you like to do next?” with the option “enter coupon code.”)
And don't forget, the publisher will offer a discount on bulk orders (email him at info@aroucapress.com for details.
On to our links!
bits & pieces
- The Heroic Capuchin Friar Who Saved Thousands of Jews During World War II: “The first reason for my action is justice,” Father Marie-Benoît wrote in a note that Lormier found in the Archives of the Capuchin Order in Paris. “The reign of Jesus Christ, which is a reign of love, is also, because of this, a reign of justice: whoever sincerely loves his neighbor, respects first of all his right to life, and therefore cannot remain indifferent and passive in the face of a persecution which is as atrocious as it is unjustified. The duty to intervene is therefore imperative …”
- Someone posted a meme around Mother's Day that was a mug that said something like “I ❤️ my Birthing Person” and I just want to say that making lame jokes that aren't really jokes is how things get normalized. (I am all for good jokes that go for the jugular, however). It's already happened; the experiment already succeeded: The dark, enduring legacy of Friends (not to mention a whole host of sitcoms before that one).
- A homily worth listening to again, when the subject of obedience comes up: Obedience & Prudence, Liberty & Responsibility.
- If you want to know what is being sold online, the answer is… you — literally, your engagement and its optimization. Figuring out how to use this tool is the challenge of our day. “Social media is initially appealing to us because of our natural sociability (which evolved in face-to-face societies). But, like an engineered virus that escapes the lab, it has taken on a life of its own.” I found this article well written and penetrating without completely dismissing the value of this means of communication: “Social media tribalizes thought, but it also liberates thought from the monopoly power of the propaganda state that operates through the legacy corporate media.”
- The implications of the state taking over matters that are not proper to it: Young Chinese professionals reject having more children. The issue is not as simple as oppression and then the lifting (if even partial) of oppression. Habit and custom affect how people live. Even in a free society like ours, popular pressure to limit family size coupled with the assumption that a woman's highest calling is to work will affect childbearing, even when the government begins to realize that population has been suppressed and perhaps should be stimulated. What one has switched off is not so easy to switch on again.
- Do you have a good article about magnesium supplements to help children with anxiety, moodiness, and picky eating? I found this one: Magnesium Supplements for Children with Anxiety – Are They OK? (answer: yes) I think it was one of our readers who mentioned that children who are excessively picky about food sometimes have a magnesium deficiency… which of course is not helped by their pickiness! I'd like to see what you have found on this subject too!
from the archives
- Well, I wouldn't have put “grandmother” in the title, necessarily, but in case you missed it, here is an interview with me about Bishop Schneider's recommendations for a “survival plan” for keeping the faith in the family.
- How to overcome the sort of “child resistance” that is reported in China and exists here too: My third secret for destruction-proofing your family.
liturgical living
Memorial of St. Boniface, bishop and martyr
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The boards of the others: Rosie’s Pinterest. Sukie’s Pinterest. Deirdre’s Pinterest. Habou’s Pinterest (you can still get a lot of inspiration here! and say a prayer for her!). Bridget’s Pinterest.
Mrs. T says
Auntie Leila, your home looks so warm, attractive and inviting. Even with all its imperfections. I just love it. Give me a home like this over Pinterest any day.
Leila says
Aw, thank you! You are so kind!
Cherie says
re: The dark enduring legacy of Friends.
I borrowed The Love Boat series and Fantasy Island from the library several years back. I was shocked at how the shows portrayed premarital … in almost every episode. Told DH that I don’t remember my folks censoring these shows for us kids. My siblings and I all would have been 12 and under in 1978. No wonder this becomes everyone’s ‘normal’.
Anne Marie Hart says
Where do I enter the code for the book discount? I would like to purchase but don’t see a place to enter the code.
Leila says
Anne Marie, when you go to your shopping cart, if you look down a bit you see “What would you like to do next” and then an option for “enter coupon code.”
The option also appears in the checkout phase.
Thanks for buying!
Anne Marie Hart says
Well, that was easy! I don’t know how I missed it!
Marissa says
Re the dark legacy of friends, have you read Carl Trueman’s new book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self? He writes about how many young people aren’t reading Nietzche but think in his terms because of the entertainment they consume. I think you would really enjoy it.
Ginni says
There is a dark side to the “Friends” because I loved the show. I squirmed at all of the innuendo and downright overt sexual stuff, yet I enjoyed the goofball humor, and said, “I know better. That stuff does not rub off on me” But then I had children. And I woke up. I am now conscious of all of the shows that my strict upbringing still allowed because my parents thought that it went “over our heads.” I sneaked and watched MTV at friends houses, even though it was banned at our home. “I know better. That stuff does not rub off on me.” But I know that it affected my thinking. TV glamorized sin better than anything else could.
This weekend I was seated with a fellow Catholic Mom as listened as she advocated a new series on Disney Plus. “I love it! I can enjoy it with my kids. Well, there is one part where a girl likes another girl, but they don’t dwell on it. And there are two Moms married on the show. But we all laugh so much. Isn’t it great to have such good family shows?!” I was shocked. The normalizing of sin is not good family fun. Isn’t it Pandora’s Box if I just let my children watch whatever they want? That same Mom ten minutes later lamented that the media has too much influence over her children, and that she cannot control what they watch. (Her children are 10 and 12.) I know better. Nothing goes over their heads. It goes INTO their heads. (Why else would advertisers pay millions to advertise to them?) It is a poison, sure and slow. It is a drip here. A drip there. But it is insidious and it pervades their innocent minds. I am super restrictive about what we all watch, the music that we hear. (Oh, what junk I listened to because I liked the music…Please join me in rolling your eyes at the stupidity of it 🙂 I feel that my biggest job is protecting their innocence. It may be the thing that God asks me about on Judgement Day, and I do not want a failing grade. I homeschool my children for that reason. No regrets.
Ginni says
Wait- I need to clarify: “No regrets at all with homeschooling my children.” Lots of regrets elsewhere. Ha!
Donna L. says
Ginni~ Thank you for sharing this! I nodded along with many points you made, and you are right–I, too, had overly permissive parents, and it went into my head, too. May God bless you as you protect the innocence of our next generation! You are not alone and you can do this-